End stage anxiety recovery

[inthewoods4]

I have been suffering pretty badly for year, but am getting much better. I'm OK with being alone, go out and about with friends and am generally happy. But I still get a low hum of anxiety sometimes, and find myself constantly checking and waiting for something to happen. Has anyone else been through this 'almost recovered' stage?

Do you drink coffee, coca cola or any kind of caffeine? I used to more or less live on black coffee and diet coke. It made such a difference to me when I stopped it. You are doing so well.

If you're an anxiety sufferer I'm not sure there ever really is an end stage - there are brilliant periods and awful periods. During the brilliant periods the low hum is barely audible. But it never goes away. Rest assured keep working on your strategies and it will get quieter. But I don't think anyone is ever ex-anxious (if that makes sense)

Yes that does make sense! And I can manage it when it creeps in, compared to last year when I'd be in bed for days on end... I guess I'm looking forward to that really acute phase to be in the past, while accepting that everyone gets a bit of anxiety here and there

I've cut out coffee, but still drink tea...

Tea is not so bad. I've never really drunk it in all my life because I just couldn't take to it. Tasted like dead leaves in water to me but I used to be an absolute fiend for the black coffee and diet coke because I worked nights.

Anxiety is horrible. As is hyper vigilance and a terrible startle reflex. I didn’t used to like sudden noises at all or unexpected things.

Last morning, I woke up to some men on a crane right outside my window cleaning the gutters on the roof of my block of flats. Two years ago, I would have thought that the end of the world was nigh but I was alright with it really.

The copropriété could have told me so I didn't have go eye to eye with two blokes on a cherry picker at 7am but they meant no harm.

Have a look at this video - you are meant to feel anxious sometimes;

I did panic a little bit though. "Oh hell! The roof has fallen off the flats in the the storm. And I've got two cups in the washing up bowl."

For me now, I'm not worried about anything in particular, just the anxiety coming back so even when its not there I'll almost look for it!