Don't know how to deal with anxiety

[keepcalmdontpanic]

I have always suffered from anxiety but I seem to be in the middle of a bout and I don't know what to do.

It always follows the same pattern. Every other aspect of my life is fine and then something happens which I obsess over and work myself up into a state. I don't feel like I've slept for days.

This time it's our gas fire. It's had a fault recently and the other day lit with a bit of a bang! It was really scary but luckily everyone was fine. I've booked an engineer to come out on Monday to look at it and check that everything is fine.

So in reality, nothing to worry about at all. However I can't stop. It's also leaking out into worrying about crashing the car, and all sorts of other accidents.

DH doesn't help as he just thinks I'm being ridiculous. I can't make him understand that this makes me feel worse, not better. He thinks he's reassuring me that everything is fine but, in my head, I think he is refusing the accept any possibility of danger and therefore making me panic even more that he is irresponsible.

Help

I've had Beta Blockers in the past (I still have some in the cupboard) but I'm not sure I can just take them without talking to the doctor again.

I plucked up the courage to visit my gp about anxiety two weeks ago, after suffering all my life. Mine's mainly health-related, but I worry about other stuff too.

I was prescribed citalopram. I'm waiting for it to kick in. I have had beta-blockers prescribed before but it didn't do much.

I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone, and that anxiety is a very real and debilitating condition.

Thank you.

Did he suggest counselling too? I've had counselling in the past but I'm not sure what to do. I know why I'm anxious, and what causes it but I can't seem to make it go away.

DH has taken DC out for the evening. I should be having a lovely evening to myself but instead I'm sitting here crying because I worry they won't come back.

I had seven years of psychotherapy, which helped me to change a lot of things in my life that needed to be changed, but didn't really help the anxiety.

That's hardwired in, sadly. Therapy helped me understand the causes, but didn't alleviate the symptoms. As I said to the GP, it's all very well knowing that your leg is broken and how you did it, but it still bloody hurts.

I resisted medication for as long as possible, but in the end I had to give in. I just want to live normally.

You really must go to the doctor. It won't get better on its own.

Get yourself to your GP first thing Monday.

Sorry you're feeling like this, but it is not something you can wish yourself out of, unfortunately. There are lots of effective treatments though.

How is your breathing? It helps me a bit to breathe in through my nose for count of 4, hold breathe for (quick!) count of 16, then exhale through my mouth for count of 8. But I do get physical symptoms with my anxiety.

Be gentle with yourself, and get plenty of rest today/tomorrow.

Thanks I think I might do. I had acupuncture at the beginning of the year and that seemed to really help but it seems to have spiralled out of control again.

My issues all surround DH and I can't seem to piece it all together. I have no perspective. He just tells me I worry too much.

It all seems to surround a loss of control. Because DH won't acknowledge my fears as reasonable, or do anything to help, I feel even more out of control and I don't trust him.

For example, he wasn't there when the fire went bang. Came back and turned it on again and it was fine. Therefore he thinks I'm exaggerating but I'm genuinely not. I had to hide the controls from him so that he didn't use it.

Now I'm panicking that the engineer will come, say the fire is unsafe but DH won't believe him and insist on using it anyway and blow us all to bits!

I'm sorry to go into so much detail but it helps to get it all out.

Obviously, writing it down, I know it's ridiculous as, if it was unsafe, the engineer wouldn't be allowed to leave it in working order and would have to disconnect it.

I can see all of this when I write it down but still feel in a terrible panic.

Go to the doc, get some drugs to help in the first instance but what you really need is some counselling to uncover the root cause of the anxiety and come to terms with it. Good luck OP.

I have some diazapam which i normally take if I have to fly. I've taken one so hopefully I can get some sleep.

I'll try to make an appointment with the doctor on Monday.