I would definitely discuss any changes in dose with your doctor. Just to be clear - I am not in the medical profession and am not qualified in any way to give you advice on depression Gareth. However I can certainly try and help with the FD."I am totally convinced that approach to movement, approach to life in general, is a factor in this dystonia. I feel that my dystonia is my body's expression of an inner tension, an anxiety if you like. It is the build up of approaching life / movement / thought in a certain way for my entire adult life."
Yes I think you have realised an important truth here. It sounds a bit Yoda like but I have made real progress by adpting the zenism - "Think, then do or do not. There is no try, only do". There is obviously a whole lot more to this than a simple sentence but we have to start a journey facing in the right direction otherwise we'll never get there.
To give a practical example of what I'm getting at, suppose I decide to cross the road. The simple way is this: Look both ways and if there is nothing coming, cross. The FD way goes like this: I'm going to cross the road now, it might be dangerous (I nearly got knocked down once), I'd better be very careful. I'll stand on the pavement, not too close the edge in case a truck is coming. I'll look both ways, hmm, nothing is coming, shall I cross? Heart is racing. Better look again just to make sure. No, nothing coming, I'll step out. My legs feel weak and trembly as I'm crossing (what's wrong with me), wait is that a car I can hear? I'll run the rest of the way across. Damn, I tripped over the curb on the opposite side when I panicked...
In my case I was running a similar scenario in my head whenever it came to simply moving my dystonic finger. No wonder my subconcious got so messed up!
Who did your diagnosis? Are you sure you have Focal Dystonia as it is usually confined to certain set patterns of movement or specific actions i.e. playing the guitar, doing up shirt buttons...
