Hello everyone, this is my first here. These might sound pretty interesting mental symptoms but I am really tired of searching these on internet and could not find anything helpful for me so may be you guys can direct me in the right direction. Since last 3 years I am having trouble coping with artificial heat, whenever winter arrives, heating systems in apartment, trams and buses are turned on, and for some reason, since last 3 years I cannot tolerate it. Whenever I enter these places where artificial heat is on (trams, restaurants, friends apartments, buses), within few min, I start feeling pressure on my cheeks and mouth region, my nose starts itching mildly but worst of all it feels like I am going crazy, I become restless, my ocd worsens, intrusive thoughts become rampant in following days. Most of the times, I enter in staring spell with lack of awareness - within this period of lack of awareness, my friends pointed out, I space out and do some weird movement with my mouth without realizing it. This mouth movement happens without me realizing and causing me great tension as strangers on road give me weird look for that. I have to take anti-depressant (strain) to feel normal again, after that these symptoms go away, including intense pressure on mouth region. I know this condition/symptoms sound psychological, I also thought same initially but it is not. Because this year during summer I was feeling normal, I did not have to take sertraline as no heating was on, but suddenly during mid-october all these symptoms started, then I realized heating in my apartment was turned on by friend that time. This is also not case of carbon monoxide poisoning, as my friends stay in the same environment without any suffering it just feels like my body has developed some kind of reaction to it. This has affected my life negatively to great extent, I cannot take public transport, heater in my apartment is always off even when outside temperature is below 0, cannot go to the restaurants in winter as heating there is also on. I visited 2 doctors, both of them suggested allergy medicine which did not help. One of them said, it could be psychological, so he kept increasing sertraline dose, which also does not help. I am not sure what is this I am suffering from, I did not have this issue till oct 2018, started this from last 3 years. Anyone knows what this could be, what specialist might help me or direct me in right direction.

Dr. Saranya DevanathanPsychiatrist51yrs exp

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Dear lybrate-user, please get an eeg done and consult a neurologist. If she/he say nothing abnormal, go back to the psychiatrist or clinical psychologist for erp (exposure and response prevention)  

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Dr. Devendra KPsychiatrist22yrs exp

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Hi, the symptoms suggest more psychosomatic in nature however it is possible you may have seasonal affective disorder as it seems to occur during winter time. Some people feel low during winter and may focus on one thing where they believe could be the root cause.  

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Dr. Tharuj AmienPsychologist17yrs exp

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Dear sir, upon reading the description provided by you I feel a detailed analysis of your condition and past needs to be done in a counselling session. The reason is hidden and needs to be recognised which can happen only through deep exploration through talk therapy.  

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Ms. Rachna MishraPsychologist10yrs exp

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The most effective solution for dealing with anxiety for me personally was waking up early. I am not a morning person but once I tried this, I was surprised how good this made me feel. It helped me find peace and calm myself down. Having so much time in my hand I could do small things that made me happy and I felt a sense of accomplishment just by waking up early. I feel the most anxious during the night- so sleeping early really helped me tackle it to a great extent. Meditation was another thing I tried when my anxiety was at its peak. Trust me- for someone who thinks a lot, it is no joke to shut your mind down and focus on your breathing. I could concentrate for very few minutes in the beginning but my thoughts kept spiraling back. So listening to some meditation music while I meditate helped me increase concentration. It helped me analyse my recurring thoughts and gave me more clarity about them. Mostly during such times I don?t feel like interacting with anyone- thinking that nobody will really understand how I feel. It?s great if you can talk it out and rant everything going on in your mind to someone who cares to listen. Taking it all out really helps. If you?re someone who is not comfortable with addressing this with anyone, then you can try writing down all that is going on in your mind. Once you take it all out in any manner, you will feel relieved. If you feel like you are stuck between your thoughts and feel very helpless, just do something. Take a walk, call up your friends and talk about something random, play with your pet - just do something to break that cycle that is going on in your head. Do anything that will distract you even for sometime. Take action without overthinking anything. Just go for it. Being positive and thinking right is almost impossible during such times. One of the main reasons I avoid talking to people during this time is because they may feel bad/ give some positive shit which is not what I want. You know yourself the best- try starting small and appreciating small wins. Having a motivational self-talk session/ looking in the mirror and giving yourself some positivity might help. Appreciate yourself for how far you have come and remind yourself about your strengths. Try to get a balance of the basic things that need to be right- sleep, food, health and water level. Once you get these things in check it will show better results over time. Having any kind of physical activity or a workout routine will help you fight anxiety. Doing this releases endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in the body. It will also help you reduce stress, improve sleep and help in fighting with anxiety and depression. If all the above things do not help and you are still stuck with being anxious, then there is just one way out. Confrontation. Ask yourself what is troubling you and analyse your thoughts. Address it and not run away from it. You have to feel the anxiety, be curious about it and seek answers and find out what is really going on. There will always be an underlying message or something you?re trying to run away from and are too weak to confront that. No matter how much you run away from it, sooner or later you will have to face it. This is a long process and you need to be strong and have patience to tackle it. Lastly, know that you are not alone. This feeling is just temporary. Think of it as your body?s way to communicate something with you. We feel this only when we have lost perspective and when we are lacking inspiration. We have to just find ways to get out of the drama going on in our heads and gain perspective. Anxiety is something most of us go through at different levels. We are just too weak to talk about it. It is a part of being human- you are not alone.  

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Dr. Sangeetha P LPsychologist8yrs exp

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Dear lybrate-user, learning relaxation techniques and doing the techniques on regular basis could be helpful. At times, the more you want to control it, it gets worsened. Anyway, consult a clinical psychologist online/offline according to your preference could help. All the best sangeetha.  

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Mr. Saul PereiraPsychologist51yrs exp

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If you are taking sertraline randomly and without doctor's orders, you may be asking for trouble. Besides, you need extensive counseling to develop skills, tools, and techniques to handle your depression and anxiety. Humans adapt frequently to the surroundings with various methods and means. Some adaptations work well while others do not. Unknown to you, you may have resorted to this feeling the heat extensively and finding difficulty around your mouth and body reactions. You may not like to hear this but this is definitely a fact observable with many people. Now it only means that you need to get in touch with this tendency and unlearn your cultivated habits that seem to give you a distraction from handling your real problems. This is where therapy will come in very handy. Through the interaction with the counselor you will be able to identify when you started this behavior and how over the years you have reinforced this adaptation so successfully! I also strongly believe that every crisis offers an opportunity for change, if you seek it and grab the opportunity. Please meet with a counselor and work on your emotions, particularly anger and fear. Exercise is very important but you have to build on it developmentally. I suggest you do the opposite of what this depression makes you feel like doing (actually, not doing): you will need to fight this condition. You must become active; stay upright during the daylight time; meet people; never sleep during the day, wake up by 6 am every day, play some active games, especially contact games, do physical exercises, talk to people and join some social clubs, attend yoga classes etc. Watch sitcoms on tv or comedies and cheer yourself up. Go for excursions in groups, for outings, camps, conferences, and religious conventions. Get a pet dog and spend time training it, exercising it and relating to it. Expose yourself to some sunlight every day, at least 30 minutes but not in the scorching heat. Whatever happens, please incorporate these three important adaptations in your life: always be responsible, be respectful, and be functional. If you did these three, lots of things will go well in life. Please pray and have faith in god to alleviate your sufferings. Don?t wait for others to help. Use your own motivation, which might be at its lowest, but persevere and win this battle. Above all to be really happy, you need to live in love and for love. Learn all about emotions and how to handle them and that will get you out of the depression rather easily and quickly. A counselor is there only to facilitate you, all the hard work must come from you, and your cooperation with that person is very critical for your success. Be positive every day and learn to be content with what you have. Whatever happens please cooperate with the therapy and medication, and do not discontinue until the condition is completely resolved. Use medication strictly under the doctor's prescription only.  

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Dr. Shashank RaikwarPsychiatrist6yrs exp

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Sir, please get yourself evaluated by an allergy specialist thoroughly and only after clearance from them consult a psychiatrist. Subsequently as you said that most of symptoms came under control by taking sertralin earlier, it may well be psychological. Only difference now is that even sertralin is not working and you may be well with change of medications.  

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