Am I having a recurrence of my anxiety problem?

Q: I am a 32 years old female. Almost six years back I was treated for anxiety for 3 months as I was anxious about my marriage. I imagined that my marriage may get dropped but all went off well and I was happy. I took depsonil 25 and funil for 3 months. Some months back my husband got high blood pressure and the doctor asked me to do ECG, ECHO, TMT and everything was normal. He is taking medicines now for BP, which is under control. I am feeling insecure and fear a heart attack. When I see anything related to a heart attack, I get nervous and I feel pain at the back of the neck, shoulders and feel an emptiness in the stomach.

A:It seems clear from your letter that you had an anxiety illness six years back, treatment helped, and your symptoms went away until now, when a new thing to worry about has caused a return of your anxiety illness. This is not surprising; both anxiety and depression have a tendency to come back, especially when there is a new, stressful situation.I suggest you go back to the doctor who treated you back then, as the same treatment will probably work again. It would also be good for you to get some counselling and education about anxiety problems, so that you can understand your illness, what triggers it, and what you can do in terms of better mind control, such as meditation and yoga, to control it, in addition to medications.