Can anything be done about anxiety?

[kickingking]

Posting this here as it seemed like the best place, sorry if I've misjudged that.

I'm under a lot of stress/pressure at work at the moment - well, have been for months, but it's all coming to a head. (School in SM, key inspection coming up, working all hours, threats being made, etc.)

Obviously, I'm anxious but the physical effects of that have become more severe recently and they are scaring me a bit - racing heart, chest pains, breathlessness, shaking hands, haven't had a full night's sleep in weeks.

I don't want to be signed off. It would probably finish my career. Can my GP prescribe me anything? I read about some of the medicines used to treat anxiety and it said they can make you drowsy. I need to be firing on all cylinders, but not feeling like I'm about to have a heart attack. Is it worth going to my GP at all?

I have such a sense of dread all the time, I don't think I can get through the next month.

Kicking that sounds awful..

Yes the doc can give you something. I currently take something called Propanlol 40 mg on a 'when needed' basis. They don't make me drousy and I feel and act like myself when I take them. They are betablockers and what they actually do is stop the physical signs of anxiety, such as a racing heart etc. The doc also sent me on a 6 week CBT course which addressed and helped me to understand my anxiety better.

The Propanlol can either be taken daily or on an adhoc basis (I know when I'm likely to have a panic as they happen during presentations or high pressure meetings). But beause the whole thing was getting me down I went through a stage of taking one a day to simply 'calm me'.