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Anxiety and sensory overload - advice needed

6 replies

SkyBlue1987 · 10/08/2026 22:10

Good morning. Has anyone struggled with increased anxiety about leaving the house or being somewhere you can’t escape from after having children, or possibly since covid, and how did you treat it? I don’t know what the trigger was as my eldest was born early 2020 just prior to lockdowns anyway. I also struggle with increased sensory overload. If I am in a busy supermarket I have visual overload from all the choice, plus if it’s noisy or my children are asking a million questions to me I kinda shut done and need to flee. It’s been on and off the last few years but I really want to look at treatment, preferably non medicated to start with. I think I have access to a counsellor through my work but not sure how much they can help or if I should look at a psychiatrist. Any advice appreciated.

OP posts:
dogtot · 10/08/2026 22:12

yep me, and I did counselling for a year, but to be honest it was sertraline thats "fixed" it the most, so I wish id just tried that sooner.

OneNewEagle · 10/08/2026 22:17

Yes I was diagnosed with agoraphobia type illnesses. Had therapy, it’s helped somewhat.

OneNewEagle · 10/08/2026 22:18

Oh and I don’t have kids I just can’t do crowds noise lights and so on.

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FusionChefGeoff · 10/08/2026 22:21

I had to abandon a basket of pizza and just walk straight of Aldi a few years ago as it all got far far too much all of a sudden.

I started HRT about 6 months later and it’s changed my life.

Are you potentially perimenopausal?

SkyBlue1987 · 10/08/2026 22:24

FusionChefGeoff · 10/08/2026 22:21

I had to abandon a basket of pizza and just walk straight of Aldi a few years ago as it all got far far too much all of a sudden.

I started HRT about 6 months later and it’s changed my life.

Are you potentially perimenopausal?

Maybe but I don’t think that’s possibly the cause. I am 38 and this has been something that’s happening for a least a couple of years. My oldest was born when I was 32 and my younger child when I was 36.

OP posts:
shakercream · 10/08/2026 22:36

I used to have this and my anxiety would manifest as nausea and I'd feel so so panicked if there wasn't an easy access to an exit or a toilet incase I needed to be sick
Worried about that made me feel sick
Repeat for years
Tried hypnotherapy..citalopram..didn't help one day after years it just magically stopped

That's not helpful probably but I'm absolutely fine now randomly and I had it for years x

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