Panic/anxiety attacks at the thought of another lockdown

[forinborin]

I am not usually prone to panic. I have a scientific degree, I work professionally with data and statistics, including biomedical data. So - rationally - I am not that worried.

However, just a thought of another lockdown throws me into a cold sweat and my heart starts racing. I lost a job after the first lockdown (due to taking excessive amount of unpaid leave - single parent of two young children, one with SEN, sole carer) and was on the brink of a breakdown during the second with a full time intense job and homeschooling.

Juat read the recent article by Dr Whitty where he strongly hints at the need for new restrictive measures and have something that feels like a bad panic attack again, with heart palpitations and a sense of doom. I know how stupid that might sound, but it is the first time in my life.

If you experience something similar, can I please ask you for your managing techniques?

Oh gosh I was just reading that and thinking ‘noooooo’. Is your work still intense and full time ?

Maybe it won’t come to it ? Who knows !

@BlowBadness

Try mindfulness and being in the moment, it's imagining the future that's bothering you. Good luck!

Yeah don’t think further ahead than now !

Horrid for you.

I'd stay off social media for a start. Give your body less exposure to the drama.

Remember the remarks from a leading scientists that it's highly unlikely this will reboot the pandemic. Those in hospital are largely unvaccinated or part vaccinated. Not like Britain.

Distract, distract, distract.

Can you paste a link for the article please?

I’m really sorry you’re feeling so terrible. You have been through a lot and have a huge amount in your plate. I would make an appointment with your gp. You can self refer for talking therapy on the nhs website too xxx

Btw I’m on my with my kids / full time work so totally get it ( we are going through massive redundancy programme right now so am just praying I do keep my stressful job tbh (

I’d stop reading the news too or at least. Limit yourself to once a week x

@Isthisthereaklife

Oh gosh I was just reading that and thinking ‘noooooo’. Is your work still intense and full time ?

Maybe it won’t come to it ? Who knows !

Yes, even more so - starting a new project in Jan and it will be pretty much non-stop. Definitely not compatible with homeschooling.

As a frontline worker during first lockdown and a single parent of 2DC one with ESN I survived by only doing a wee bit of home schooling in the evenings no more than an hour and another few hours over the weekend. Both have now fully caught up with their learning . Too much emphasis is put on parents home schooling, as far as I’m concerned no kid died last year from limited learning. Great believer in education does not stop when kids leave school particularly for those who the “one fits all approach “ doesn’t work for so many.

@Explosionsinthosedays

Horrid for you.

I'd stay off social media for a start. Give your body less exposure to the drama.

Remember the remarks from a leading scientists that it's highly unlikely this will reboot the pandemic. Those in hospital are largely unvaccinated or part vaccinated. Not like Britain.

Distract, distract, distract.

Yes, I fully understand this on the rational level - I am not afraid of the pandemic itself. It is the idea of the lockdown that triggers a completely irrational reaction.

@Fet2021duejuly2022

Can you paste a link for the article please?

I’m really sorry you’re feeling so terrible. You have been through a lot and have a huge amount in your plate. I would make an appointment with your gp. You can self refer for talking therapy on the nhs website too xxx

Here it is. Sorry, it is just an article based on quotes from him, not an article by him.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59434196

@Fet2021duejuly2022

I’d stop reading the news too or at least. Limit yourself to once a week x

The problem is that reading pandemic updates is a (small) part of my job.

It would be a huge dereliction of duty by the government to just plunge us back into lockdown without trying to limit spread with lesser measures first. I wouldn’t give it too much headspace for now.

I doubt they will try tight restrictions, Whitty himself said he wasn't sure the public would comply and one look at the many threads on mn would seem to confirm that.

Maybe mask wearing and social distancing but honestly unless the new variant is virus resistant and causes severe illness I can't see them trying to enforce 'stay at home' on anyone, people just won't. You have the likes of Carol Mcgiffin screeching constantly that it's all 'bullshit' and sadly some people take the word of a Loose Women presenter over actual epidemiologists.

@giggly

As a frontline worker during first lockdown and a single parent of 2DC one with ESN I survived by only doing a wee bit of home schooling in the evenings no more than an hour and another few hours over the weekend. Both have now fully caught up with their learning . Too much emphasis is put on parents home schooling, as far as I’m concerned no kid died last year from limited learning. Great believer in education does not stop when kids leave school particularly for those who the “one fits all approach “ doesn’t work for so many.

Our school was quite militant about home learning - with two virtual registers per day and monitoring attendance of virtual lessons.

There are many many breathing techniques social media detox is a good call its the uncertainty that messes you up I have a definite Christmas plan around my daughter coming home via the train me returning her on the 27th in my car and today its fucking snowed i cant drive over a Welsh mountain in the snow and the train might not bloody run in the snow my stomach is upset because of this then there are rumours of lockdown so I'm breathing deep and thinking worst case scenario? We face time on Christmas day its not the end of the world I have sen children too im fortunately on carers allowance right now so I don't have to juggle a job but this pandemic has 12 months to piss off because if he gets dropped on renewal I'm back at work and that is going to be tricky.....

I get through it by planning alternatives many many alternatives I'm practically planning for a zombie apocalypse today 😅

We are not locking down.

There won't be another lockdown, those in power know that the majority wont comply so what's the point, they know this
I do think restrictions to other countries will happen , red list countries etc
I'd try not to think about something that's unlikely to happen and try and focus on that say today.

Sorry I have no answers other than that
I'm currently in bed with covid , tested positive Monday, I dont need hospital so I'm grateful and that's a positive for me that I can look after myself at home. I'm not worried im looking at the positive. I know its easy to say , I've also took myself of social media which has helped massively
I'm looking forward to Christmas just our family , I've not been in contact with most of my ' family ' since lockdown 1 as I found out who was there when I had a breakdown, not many, so I cut them off. Cut negatives and toxins from your life and try not to read too much doom and gloom,

Covid has affected everyone's life to a small extent or a large extent but its affected everyone
Its not going anywhere, if it goes at all , so I know this is a hated phrase but it's TRUE, we have to live alongside it
The country wont lockdown. Boris has ruled it out , furlough has ended and everything has reopened up , massive events , gigs , stadiums full ,
Keep yourself safe , I wont attend massive events anytime soon . I still social distance, tell people to move away if they get too close . I still managed to get it though

Please be a bit kinder to yourself. You start by talking about your scientific background and then mention your irrational reaction.

I would say that your reaction is entirely appropriate and rational. As you say yourself it’s not the pandemic that is causing your fear and anxiety but the thought of another lockdown.

Your past experience of lockdowns meant losing your job and trying to manage pressure from school with kids with SEN whilst isolated. That was not a good experience and your brain is very rationally letting you know that this is something that will be a bad experience for you.

Have you acknowledged to yourself quite how hard it was for you? What you and your family went through? It sounds like it was really tough and I am not in the least bit surprised that you are wry anxious about maybe having to go through it again.

I feel the same OP but I also think another lockdown is highly unlikely, and I catastrophise terribly. I just don't see the government taking that step, and for what? The vaccines being developed/distributed was the basis for the last lockdown. To do it now would be admitting that this is sort of it from now on. I just can't see it.

That sounds really rigid and lacking in empathy for families. Our school was much more realistic, have focused more on supporting mental health than learning in lockdowns and has been catching them up whilst they have been back. I would talk to other parents you trust if there is anyone you feel you could confide in in real life, try to support one another a little.

Great post @WireyGirl

Really feel for you OP. Think take one day at a time. Try online relaxation exercises daily- there are loads on YouTube for Deep Muscle Relaxation. When you start to panic, try to do something active or go to a different room/ do a task- change whatever it is you are doing anyway. Hopefully nothing as extreme as schools shutting will happen again, as it only became clear over time how very damaging this was.

I was going to say the same as WireyGirl. I think it’s actually quite rational to think back to something that was really stressful for so many of us, coming pretty much out of the blue.

Whitty talking about stronger measures is starting from a position of pretty much no restrictions, there’s a fair bit they can do without lockdown.