Ongoing anxiety

[mrsrabbit33]

Something happened last week that triggered me feeling quite anxious. I have experienced anxiety before but usually in the form of panic attacks which although intense and horrible, were thankfully quite short lived.

Since this incident I feel like I've been permanently anxious. Unless I'm occupied by something else I just notice that awful nervous, jittery feeling in my chest. I keep randomly retching. I wake up feeling sick and achey because I've been tense all night. It's horrible. Is this what anxiety is like for people?

I don't take any medication because I don't generally get it to this extent but it feels like since it started last week I can't get rid of it even though the issue that started it is now sorted and fine.

Yes that is ‘I’ll level’ anxiety and it can get a hell of a lot worse so deal with it immediately. I left it till I was completely a mess, couldn’t eat or sleep, and the recovery was significant. Medication played a big part in getting me better. I’m off everything now and it’s been a good few years but it was horrific and took about a year to be steady again.

I’ll = ill

It's just unusual for it to carry on like this for me. I'm ok when busy but when I'm sat at home I just can't relax and keep getting these symptoms. Totally lost my appetite too.

That happened to me when I had bad postnatal depression and anxiety. It just built and built until I was basically having a 24/7 neverending panic attack - couldn't eat, chest and arms and legs would get horrible waves of cold and nausea.

I started on medication then which probably honestly saved my life. I just called 111 and said I couldn't wait and needed help immediately. Went off it after 6 weeks, then it happened again about 6 months later so went back on medication and then tapered off again. Still get anxiety but I have a handle on it now and it's much easier to deal with.

Good luck <3

Not sure how old you are, but for the first time in my life I started to suffer this when I was 47.

It turned out to be peri-menopause and I needed HRT which stopped it in its tracks.

What medication do people take for it?

I get fairly regular "physical" anxiety, which affects my heart rate, my eating and sleeping. The feeling is awful. I find if I can calm my heart down, the eating and sleeping can improve, but it all hinges on that.

HRT has improved it a little but by no means completely.

@mrsrabbit33 you have my sympathy. It's very debilitating.

I think with some issues you’ve got ongoing anxiety for quite a while even if it’s resolved e.g if something happened with a child, then it’s resolved but you are unconsciously anxious that it might happen again.
Are you sure that you are not unwell by the way? Something happened with me last week, it’s not resolved and I’m still very upset and anxious about possible consequences. I also don’t feel well, I suspect Covid as the last 2 times I had Covid I felt terrible anxiety. It was not about Covid itself as I was vaccinated and my Covid was more like a heavy cold but I was more sensitive and anxious than usual about everything.
Or if it’s generally a very busy time of the year for you, the incident last week could be the last straw as you were exhausted already.
Try to slow down a bit in other areas, sometimes brain just needs time to recover.

It's funny you say that @pizzaHeart as I have had some health concerns this week which I've been to the GP about today but it's definitely been playing on my mind. Also incredibly stressed with organising Christmas and so many plates spinning, things to do, appointments to keep, I'm just not coping very well with it all. Maybe it has just got too much. I just really hope this is temporary as I'm not functioning particularly well and feel so down with it.

It definitely sounds as too much, organising Christmas is often a big itself but if you have appointments on top… I cancelled a few things already tbh like hygienist appointment and a meet up with one friend. Both things will be equally good in January 🙂
Hope you can do some “cuts” here and there to make things easier.

So if you saw your GP today did they not give you any advice or suggestions?

I didn't see them about the anxiety I saw them about the health issue I've been worrying about.

Yes, this is what it's like for me, I suffer on and off since childhood. It's awful and at its worst I basically can do very little of anything, hardly eat, hardly sleep and don't function anywhere near properly.

If it's been more than 2 weeks I'd make a GP appt tbh.

OK. It just seems odd to not mention an extreme medical condition when you saw a GP today so I was confused.

I think you should make a fresh appointment and explain it all to the doctor. Good luck.

@Jagoda I suppose it's harder to talk about than a physical issue. And it's new to me in this form so I'm hoping it'll settle down. But if it continues I will have to do something. I had citalopram a few years ago and didn't really like how it made me feel but if this doesn't get better I will have to try something.