….to think that anxiety is an evil fucker and if we all share hatred for it….

[BabbleBee]

….then I’ll feel better?

I’m having a flare of anxiety. Not coping with illness and minor change. I’ve started taking propranolol, all the usual coping mechanisms. That horrible knot in my stomach and nausea is refusing to budge.

I fucking hate anxiety. Anyone else want to slag it off and help me feel better about how fucking inconvenient and horrible it is?

@Fallenangelofthenorth I’ve decided not to go for a diagnosis as I’m in a place where I don’t feel it will help or make any difference to me as I’ve come to terms with who I am as I am. Lots of others I know have described the relief of understanding as an adult what caused so many of their issues and knowing that they are not broken or bad. Others would like to access medication for ADHD (although good luck with getting any right now).

For my DC the actual diagnosis has been essential in getting them support. And we needed it so we could understand them, the eldest in particular who has really struggled.

Woke at 2am this morning absolutely shaking - still am - just filled with dread. Have a lot going on which should resolve irself in a positive way in a couple of days but I'm so anxious I seem to be frozen stiff. It is centered around another person and I'm trying not to dump on him but it's really hard to cope. Fucking hate it!

Ahh well done! That’s great and sounds like you are doing amazing! I would definitely try have another day or two off if you can
a bit more time to even out and get yourself back together! I hope it is all starting to get easier

I find it helpful to see my anxiety as something I am experiencing, rather than 'me'. So a bit like a worried friend visiting. Then you can acknowledge the feeling but not let it infiltrate every part of your thought processes.

I'm the same! Watching real crime stuff soothes me, especially those real life murder ones. I'm not sure if it's relief that I haven't been murdered or that I'm not a murderer or something else 🤔 My family laugh at me and think it's odd so good to know I'm not the only one!

Yes, it's pretty horrible when it's in full swing. Anxiety, ocd, ADHD, ND, agoraphobia.

Years of therapy, meds, cutting out toxic environment, and people has mostly made it subside

My DD has auditory processing disorder too. Out of interest did you have any speech & language problems?

Sorry to hear so many people are having to cope with anxiety.

I started overthinking my current chest infection last night. Catastrophising is a speciality…

OP sorry to hear you are so bad at the moment.

I tried a different tack with it, instead of being angry and seeing it as something hateful, I viewed anxiety as a helicopter parent. I tried to think of it as something well meaning but unnecessary. I would say things like "I know you think you are protecting me from danger, but I am safe now and I really dont need you. Off you pop for a walk, I am just fine here, thank you".

Instead of seeing it as something I had to fight and be strong against, I saw it as as a nice old aunt/mother who was just worried for me and who I nicely cajoled into leaving me alone.

Its working great for me!

Great strategy. As you've found, anxiety is trying to protect you and steer you away from a danger that it believes you can't cope with, probably because at some point in your life you genuinely couldn't. Thanking it and letting it know you're now capable is often all it takes.

Anxiety is also the emotion that draws our attention to things that are too important to ignore. I have a suspicious patch of skin on my nose at the moment (waiting to hear about a dermatology appointment) and anxiety is making damn sure I put sunblock on it and remember to wear a hat.

On a normal day I use a very similar strategy, I ‘made friends’ with anxiety, acknowledging the warning message then taking control of the response. Self-empowering with saying to myself and out loud - thanks for the information but I’ve got this, I’m in control. Everything’s ok and there’s no need to panic.

This last week has been much harder. The physical symptoms have been really hard to ignore.

Don't fight it. Try and just sit down somewhere safe. Trying to power through is so draining 😞

@BabbleBee Looking back at your OP you say Not coping with illness and minor change

Could the illness be causing your physical symptoms (assuming it's you that's ill)? Try to break down the anxious thoughts to see which is troubling you the most and therefore the likeliest to be the one making you feel sick - it could be trying to stop you taking a course of action that you are dreading.