To ask; does anyone else have anxiety going into work for no reason

[Mammylamb]

For the past few days I have felt sick with anxiety going into work and at work. There is no logical reason for it; I'm not overworked or have anyone bullying me. But I feel completely panicky and can't concentrate on anything.

I get this going to my MIL's. I'm not always sure why but I never feel very welcome so I dread having to go. Mostly I just avoid it.

Yes

I can relate to this OP. I few years back I suffered a period of acute anxiety, for no obvious reason. Looking back I think it was an accumulation of unaddressed anxiety from the past, IYSWIM.

Yes but I have a diagnosed anxiety disorder and I get anxious about going anywhere really. Well, almost everywhere, and even if I'm not anxious about the place I'm going, I'm anxious about getting ready to go there and making the journey there etc, there are only a few places I can alone otherwise I need a chaperone. And at home I spend most my time anxious anyway about other stressors or about the place I need to go later or tomorrow etc. It's awful and exhausting. I'm sure this is often fuelled by my Asperger's, in particular because I have decent insight into my condition (or at least, the condition, which admittedly isn't the same thing) so I find talking to people exhausting, the sensory input exhausting, and am constantly pretending to be normal and making sure I don't stim, I don't say something funny, wondering when it is my turn to talk in a conversation, stressing about whether what I'm wearing is appropriate, etc etc it's exhausting.

mackerel I could've written your post. I had several awful jobs (for the same company) was so stressed, not supported in roles I was put into where I didn't have the skills and experience to do the job, shouted at when I asked for help etc. Ended up off sick with anxiety and depression for a few months.

Fast forward to now - nearly 4 years later, after taking voluntary redundancy and paying off my mortgage early, I'm working for a charity in a lower paid but much more suited to my skills, job. Overall I'm happy there, but any hint of any stress, say a difficult conversation I have to have with someone, or not being sure of what I'm doing, and the old feelings of fear and anxiety come flooding back.

I've decided I like my work, I just don't like going to work! I too am often on the loo before a stressful day.

I'm in the same boat, I'm not very good at my job anymore and feel sick at the thought of going into work.

We are set targets and deadlines that are super unachievable and cannot be met.

I've been applying for jobs in a different field at a lower rate but feel job satisfaction and a better work life balance is the healthier option.

The odd thing is I'm quite a confident outgoing person but my job is slowly stripping that away and I want to get the old me back

I used to but it's largely under control now. A combination of lousy job (but the right environment), rubbish pay, awful hours (5 a.m. starts), working outside and morons in charge. However, the night before my first shift, I take an Amitriptyline tablet. It's designed as an antidepressant but it has a great sedative quality as well. It helps me to mellow out and get a decent few hours of shut-eye. I only take a small dose once a week but it's helped me enormously. It's prescription only but my GP had no hesitation in prescribing it.

NO.

Yes every day! And weepy sometimes too.
I can relate to the dizziness and I do grind my teeth. There's really no reason for it but I am an anxious person anyway. I can relate MeadowHay
No solution here but to op and all on here suffering with this xxx

Yes. No idea why. I was good at my job, had worked up to a £50k role at 26 years old, but I was miserable and anxious. Crying like a baby to DP before work every day. I quit and went self employed. Money is incredibly tight but not having that feeling every night and morning is worth it. Sometimes toy with the idea of going back, but then I remember how I used to feel and can't put myself through that at the minute.

I wonder if there is a root cause that makes some of us feel this way?

I can totally relate.

On Sunday nights I don't sleep. This Sunday I had literally an hour sleep.Monday night I had no sleep at all. Tuesday was beyond horrific, I sat and cried on commute home from sheer exhaustion.

Weekends/holidays or if I'm working from home the next day I sleep fine.

I've had CBT but it didn't really help. Used to take amitriptyline but currently TTC so doctor has banned me from taking them. Spoke to doctor this week and was told to consider putting TTC on hold. But I'm 35 so that's not ideal
This would be our first child.

Ironic thing is, I actually like my job. I'm good at it, get loads of positive feedback, my colleagues are lovely,I'm well paid.....have autonomy and am respected.

Like previous posters I have had a previous job where the boss ground me down.

Could have written AF's exact words at 8.27 yesterday.

I've tried CBT which has helped to some degree but I still can shake the general uneasiness and its physical effect on me.

All. The. Time. And I like my job, I'm good at it and my performance is good. I feel like I spend too much time stressed and worried

I used to. I'm a worrier, and for some reason always felt inadequate at work. I was terrified something would go wrong and I'd be to blame. I hated taking holidays for that reason.

Yet I'm conscientious and competent.

My anxiety affected my life and I could not enjoy life outside work because I was always so worried about it.

Every time I get the feeling of dread I change my job! It appears you are not alone!

AF and Choco, that vertigo feeling is what panic attacks are, just some people get them on a grander scale.

Be kind to yourselves, you're being warned that something somewhere is a wee bit much for you, and your brain's not quite managing to funnel the stress away properly. You don't want it to get properly difficult, because it's a real bugger to fix once you start having proper 'spells'.

Yes but I it's because I absolutely haaaate my job and I'm stuck there for another 6 months...i work extremely long hours and have a bully for a boss and it's made me go from being super competent to a complete slacker who spends her days hiding from work. I sometimes cry on my way to work. A couple of times, while walking to work, I turned around when I saw the building (went back a few mins later of course)...sorry I'm not very helpful here.

I used to be a nurse and felt like this...I changed jobs and haven't felt like it since.

Work could be a red herring

I get this sometimes and I love my
Job !! Have great friends there and have a lot of my self worth tied up in the job I do !

But I have anxiety generally although under control now and I think it could just be the fact you have to get up leave the comfort of home and be a certain type of person with responsibility etc

I could be wrong but I thinks that's why I get like it

I get this. Anxiety is my default setting and if I'm not anxious then I usually find something ridiculous to worry about.

My manager has just been promoted and they've not backfilled his role. He's spread very thin now, managing a very big team and I've been left to it a bit (I don't have a team, my role is standalone). When I've got stuff to do its fine, but when I get low on things to do and can't get hold of him I start to get bored and then I'm anxious about going to sit and be bored for 8 hours a day.

I used to be much worse though- had a boss who micromanaged and pulled us all up for the mistake minor transgressions. She really was a bully. I thought I'd be OK with managing my own workload - and I am, mostly - but I find I thrive when I have a bit of a project and deadlines to adhere to. I'm starting to envy our project management team, who I work alongside, as they seem to have that type of role. Thinking of doing my Prince2 - I've worked as an assistant PM before, but where I am won't look at you unless you have P2.

I feel like this all the time although I have bad anxiety generally. I have a 'McJob'- minimum wage and unskilled so apparently anyone can do it. In reality you do need to have a specific skill set and a very thick skin- I have neither. However I think environment is really crucial. I've worked for this company for 5 years on/off. I was in a lovely quiet store for 3+ years, good managers etc. Now based in a huge, busy store and my confidence and self-esteem is crumbling. I only work 3 days but my last shift was so terrible I've thought of nothing else on my days off. I wonder in the days of full employment/manufacturing and 'jobs for life' if people felt like we do, or is the changing nature of employment and work environment- service sector, fast paced, targets, deadlines, reduced staff and ever increasing expectations of employers etc. creating a culture of anxiety?

I used to get the anxiety too (I'm currently off work not related)- and would have the early morning rushing to the loo. I was also that person that when the going got tough I got going. Only one job I was able to cope with the stress and that was because my manger and team were fantastic.

Yeah definitely. I worry a lot about everything anyway. The thought of going to work makes me want to be sick. Am ok once I'm there though

I suffered with this too. To my demise, I tried to ignore the anxiety/panic feelings as thought this was something I just had to 'get over'. I then started to get physical symptoms too, such as the dizziness others refer to. Eventually, because I kept fighting against it, I ended up seriously ill and lost the ability to walk for several months. I'm doing ok now - in the same job but in a different team but I've learnt the hard way to pay heed to these feelings now.