Hi, just wondering if someone can help me...This is the story, my mom has been feeling very depressed, I know she has depression because the doctors told us she does. The last 2 weeks, its been getting really bad. She goes to sleep and is perfect and happy but than like an hour later, she comes down crying and panicking. This usually lasts about 15 minutes and she is better and goes back to sleep. She has done this probably 8 times during the last 2 weeks. Today, it was really bad, after she went to sleep; she came down an hour later and was experiencing the following:
1. Flashbacks
2. Did not recognizing who we were (she asked my sister who she was)
3. Hard breathing
4. Crying
5. Shivering very hard
6. Head was feeling heavy
7. Looked very confused
8. Thought someone was upstairs, was very scared
9. Was looking for a long rope or something similar (My guess was she was suicidal, she told me to shut the lights and leave her alone downstairs)

I called my sisters and we tried to calm her down but she would not. Finally, after about 30 minutes she felt calm and was breathing normally and told us to sleep beside her in her room, so both my sisters did. My dad is out of town and he too is really worried but cannot return to be with her. I was really scared today when she was looking for a rope, is there anyone who know or as experienced these symptoms before or know what they are or how to deal with them? Some more information is that she is in her early fifties and has high blood pressure and is taking medicine for her depression but I forgot what she is taking (I will find out). Also, she recently had an operation (last year) on her shoulder and went to physiotherapy, which finished last month. However, she may need another operation on the same shoulder as it did not fully heal but that will be determined later on by the doctors (I don’t know if this would effect her?). Can someone please tell me what we should do? Any help is appreciated, thanks.

hi there,
i'm sorry about your mom and about how you must feel seeing her be this way!! i really am. she seems very anxiety-ridden and almost as if she has some sort of PTSD (post traumatic stress)....

is the dr. who gave her the depression meds aware of her blood pressure meds? when was you mom diagnosed with depression? i'm only asking that, bec. maybe she was placed on her antidepressant meds relatively recently and sometimes interactions between these meds and others, (i.e., those for high blood pressure) may be pretty bad.

you say these symptoms started only about two weeks ago. are you aware of anything unusual--anything at all--to have happened around two weeks ago, that may have made your mom more anxious than ever?

what really concerns me is the fact that she didn't recognize your sister when she came downstairs, she looked "Very confused," and she was looking for a rope... i really hope your mom is in therapy!!!!! she really needs it, superdips!!!!

in my opinion, i would say have your dad help her get checked-out by her doctors--all of them--again, and make sure that the prescribing dr. for the blood pressure medicine knows that she's taking an antidepressant.... she may be very, very sensitive to medication.

i'm really very sorry. if it comes to the point of her being hospitalized due to physical problems that may arise because of this (although i really don't know what it may be), i would even go for that. she seems to be in a very precarious position right now.

my best to you and your sisters!!! you are a very good son!! :angel:

Has she had a CAT scan or MRI? A friend's father had similar symptoms and was diagnosed with dementia. High blood pressure had caused brain infarctions. The primary symptoms were depression and confusion. He was slightly older, though.

Hopefully this is not her situation. Good luck.