To ask if anyone else has had their life ruined by anxiety?

[BoiledOnions]

Just that really.

I've suffered with anxiety all of my life, it began when I was a child. I was always a worrier and automatically assumed the worst in every situation. This has got much worse as I've got older and anxiety consumes my whole existence. I may have a few good days/weeks but it inevitably comes back again. I was on anti depressants for a year and because I thought I was better I stopped taking them, and for a while I was ok but of course it came back again.

So I worry about ridiculous things that might never happen. Mainly my worries are centred on awful things happening to my family, friends and even my pets. If one of my parents says they feel unwell I automatically thing they are dying or about to drop dead. They are not getting any younger and so obviously their health isn't as good as it used to be, but really I have no evidence to really suggest that they are going to die it's just my over active imagination.

Recently I've been fine until today, but I've had a lot of physical health problems over the past few weeks and it seems to have reawakened my anxiety. I just don't know what to do, whenever I feel like I'm getting better it seems to come back again and I feel like I'm never really free of it. There have even been occasions when I'm worrying badly and I can't remember what I'm worrying about!

I feel my life has been ruined by it. How can I get over it?

Nothing ever helped me, not meds, which left me feeling like a zombie. Not talking therapies, which came at things from completely the wrong angle.

Claire Weeks' books saved my life, quite literally. They're a bit antiquated as written in the 60s, At Last A Life by Paul David uses exactly the same methodology but was written only a few years ago so easier to read.

Please consider trying one of these to help escape the anxiety vicious circle that traps people into a life of exquisite torture

I feel like my life has been hugely delayed by anxiety mainly health anxiety. Not entirely ruined but it has the potential - im considering hypnosis tbh now

Hi there Boiled ,

have a really good read over here, with regards to Vitamin D ,

           <a class="break-all" href="http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2421492-Vitimin-D-can-it-have-this-effect" target="_blank">www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2421492-Vitimin-D-can-it-have-this-effect</a>

It can be very helpful,  for general health, not only anxiety.

BTBH

Hi,
I really feel for you, it sounds tough.

I have a question, I often want to ask another friend I know who suffers terribly but won't take ADs but I don't inadvertently want to say something ignorant.

But if the ADs make you less anxious, why do you not want to be on them? Were there side effects that are worse than the anxiety? If not, surely being on meds is better than being so unhappy and feeling so held back?

Yes I suffered this and it was hell getting through each day. I still struggle a bit now but what helped was intensive trauma based CBT (I had PTSD after two stillbirths) and mindfulness training. I have gone from feeling I have no future and being terrified of anything to training as a professional now and mixing in large groups. I still worry but use the CBT to live with it. I have learned to accept the feelings and live in the moment more. Good luck.

OP, I've just ordered a book by Joshua Fletcher called Panicking about Anxiety or similar for a friend and for my sister. It's had rave reviews, was written by an anxiety sufferer and may be worth a read. Please have a look at the reviews and see if it might be worth your while. Best of luck.

Dietcherrycola ADs can bizarrely heighten anxiety. For some that passes within a few weeks.
For me it didn't and I ended up admitted to a psych ward because ADs sent my agitation off the scale and I thought I might kill myself. No previous MH problems, I had a bad reaction to them. I'm not alone in that. In the U.S. they come with black box warnings that suicidal ideation and thoughts may happen on startup.
There is also no definitive advice on how to get off them, beyond 'do not stop this medication suddenly'.
I had to do tons of my own research to find out the safest, least traumatic way to wean down.
There's also a condition known as Prozac Poop Out, in which ADs just stop working over time.
Basically the research thus far is bloody sketchy on if it's actually safe to remain on them long term, what to do if you want to stop etc.

Just some reasons not everyone is happy to start or persist with them.

Helpful Getyercoat, thank you. I can see that those points could make a person choose to avoid them. I'm sorry that's how it was for you too.

I have lost 10 years of my life to anxiety. I started having panic attacks when DH, DC and myself moved abroad, literally when the plane landed. I spent 2 years convinced I had a physical illness before I accepted that the physical symptoms were my sympathetic nervous system in complete meltdown! I had an abortion because I thought I was going mad ('harm' OCD). We lost our home as we had to come back to the UK as I did not believe the doctors in the country we were in this it was 'just' anxiety, had to hand our mortgaged house back and lost all equity in it. Came back here penniless and scraping by in rented ever since having to move every year or two. I recently gave up my 1st job in 7 years due to having panic attacks in meetings so financially we are up shit creek again.

I also lost my family as after therapy, it was clear to me that they (or rather my mother) were the root cause of my anxiety issues. I confronted her so she cut me off, along with the rest of my family.

I have been diagnosed with OCD and recently 'complex' PTSD due to a the traumatic birth and death of my DC2.

It is an absolute nightmarish hell to have to live each day and I enormously sympathise.

My only advice is to accept, that for the moment, you are suffering from anxiety, don't beat yourself up about it. My anxiety worsened as my self esteemed plummeted through thinking what a 'pathetic' person I was. Pat yourself on the back for getting through each day and acknowledge how bloody brave you are. Go back to your GP and ask for a referral to 'Healthy Minds' who can offer CBT on the NHS (only a 4 week wait in my area). Sometimes we need to dip in and out of therapy and if you have been anxious since childhood (as I have too), it's a hard 'habit' to break!