I think i have depression, but i'm not sure.. Help!!

[Pineapple98]

Okay so i don't know if its depression for sure but i always have anxiety attacks and can't breathe, my heart always goes really fast! i couldn't sleep the other day as i was having an anxiety attack so i checked my heart and it was going 153bpm! 
i cry at random times or when i'm really lonely. Sometimes i think life isn't worth living anymore 😕 but then sometimes i can't wait to explore life and i'm blessed to be here. I stress about school alot and i just started year 12 and i also do dancing and my mum and dad don't think i can make it as a career so its been stressing me out.. i'm so confused 😕 

[geoff]

dear Pineapple, thanks for posting your comment and it's good that we seem to be having more young people come to the site and then post a comment.

Starting year 12 is going to be a hectic year for you and all those other kids also doing the same, but it's an important year, because next year you are open to the big wide world of adventure and really your life begins.

My daughter in law teaches dancing, she loves it and does my little grand daughter, in which the classes she teaches are always full.

I appreciate what your mum and dad have said, so it's not for me to go against what they say, because the final decision will be made by yourself in the long run.

When we want to cry if we are alone it's firstly very sad, but this is what happens if are depressed as does the thought of life not worth living, so I am just wondering how strong your peer group is or whether you feel left out and this also includes your parents not knowing how you feel, because it' so easy to hide how we feel when other people are around.

The best suggestion I can give you is to go and see your doctor, and whether you want your parents to know is up to how you feel, sometimes kids just wish to keep it a secret, but really you need to have some support and from who is up to you, but there will be times when you want to talk to someone, and ideally you can't keep it all to yourself as it just gets worse.

It's a big year ahead so let your doctor lower this anxiety and depression to make it a bit easier.

I hope that we are going to hear from you frequently this year, I hope so, but I'd like to get a reply back from you. Geoff.

[White_Rose]

Dear Pineapple

Welcome to Beyond Blue and thanks for telling us about yourself. As Geoff has commented, year 12 can be very stressful and when you are statrting the year it probably seems an eternity.

Anxiety is, unfortunately, a fairly common problem. I don't know if it helps to know this but sometimes it is comforting to know you are not alone. It's difficult for us to make any kind of diagnosis as we are not doctors and there are probably other factors to take into consideration. You certainly sound a bit unhappy and confused so I will echo Geoff's suggestion that you visit your doctor.

At the risk of sounding too much like a grandma I will say that teenagers often feel very happy with life one day and equally unhappy the next. So you do really need to get a proper diagnosis.

My daughters were dancers and enjoyed this activity. They now have different lifestyles. So if you do not get into the world of dancing there is probably some other career waiting. Oh dear, that sounds even more grandma'ish.

May I suggest that you concentrate for this year on school and getting the most out of it. Continue with dancing and all your other activities and make your decisions towards the end of the year. By the way, what does your dancing teacher say about your future prospects? Does she/he believe you have the talent to make a career in this area?

Parents are very protective of their children and want them to be safe and happy. It may be they feel dancing is a lonely career and worry about your future. Talking to them about this may help to clarify how they feel. Also having your teacher's opinion wil be a help to you, whatever that opinion may turn out to be.

Would love hear from you again.

Warm regards

Mary

[Pineapple98]

Hello, thank you for helping me.. 
Yes i know year 12 is a very tough and a hard year and i'm actually really scared because of the stress levels i have to go through this year 😕 i'm doing an assignment at the moment about depression so this is why it lead me to this website but i'm happy it did 🙂 
My peer group at school consists of a very good group of 5 or so however i have 2 bestfriends that i can trust and tell anything too, so im glad for them to be in my life, although i havent told them about how i've been feeling. I'm scared to tell them because i know they will think im over exaggerating and say were all teenagers. thats why i havent told them. 

My dance teacher is also a counsellor which helps alot!! shes the only one who knows about my problem, actually she told me she thinks im going through depression. I hate hearing it because i think i'm fine and every teenager goes through this, so i think to myself 'you dont need help, you can do it alone' etc another thing i've noticed is ever since i started feeling sad my interest in dancing has been decreasing and i hate that feeling because deep down i know how much i love it and dancing is practically the only thing that makes me happy so whenever i feel as though i rather stay in bed then go to dancing, or quit for a year it saddens me to even think im thinking of that, i've told my teacher that and she was saying thats a sign/symptom of depression. My dance teacher has told me numerous of times that i can have a career in dancing and i can audition for schools all over the world, so shes the only one putting my self esteem up because i know deep down my mum thinks im going to quit or not get accepted and its annoying me. 

its just scary because my anxiety attacks go for awhile and i shake for a very long time and can't stop until i calm down, my bestfriends know about this so sometimes when i have it around them,they help and get me water but normally it happens when im alone. 

P.s can another people see this reply or do i have to reply to White rose (other repliers) again? 

[Chris_B]

Hi Pineapple98, your posts and replies can be read by everyone.

[Amy_G]

Hi Pineapple98, 

 With the symptoms you've mentioned here - anxiety attacks, crying more than normal, losing interest in things, not feeling that life is worth it - it sounds to me that it's very possible that you do have anxiety and/or depression. 

I can definitely sympathise with you on thinking that these kinds of things are something that all teenagers go through - my depression started in year 12 and it was only two years later (about june last year) that I started to realise that it was actually depression and not just typical 'teenage angst'. It can be a pretty difficult thing to come to terms with, around the time I was diagnosed I was constantly telling myself that it wasn't depression and that I was just lazy, but now I've realised that that self doubt is just part of the depression. 

Talking to a GP can be a big help though, they can give you a diagnosis and help you work out what to do about it. It would probably be a good idea to go to one sooner rather than later, too - the stress from year 12 might just make your symptoms worse, or your symptoms might make studying difficult (both these things happened to me). 

Do you have a GP that you could talk to? Have you thought about talking to your parents about this? It's great that you have your dancing teacher to talk to, perhaps she could even help you tell your parents if that's something you're worried about?

Hope you're doing alright 🙂

Amy G