I think I'm about to break

[user1498911470]

That really, I'm struggling to hold it together, I'm having panic attacks at night and awful nightmares and I don't know how much longer I can keep being strong in front of everybody. My gp is useless and I have no support from family or friends.

I've been there OP it's anxiety/stress.

I felt like my head was going to explode all the time, lost it a few times at work, eventually I started shaking uncontrollably at work and was signed off work for six weeks and put on sertraline.

Change your GP or see another in the practice.

This can get better

Hi OP, not sure how much help I'm going to be advice-wise but am more than happy to hold your hand if that helps at all. Would it help to talk to someone? I've called the Samaritans before now because I just needed to hear a human voice if that makes sense. They can't give much in the way of advice but sometimes having someone just listen to you is enough.

Could you change your GP? I've moved house (and consequently GP's) several times in the 10 years or so I've had MH problems and some GP's are definitely better than others with MH. I'm at a bit of a loss to know what other advice to give but I'm here if chatting would help

I've seen all (3) GPs at our practice, they just dole out the pills and don't offer anything else to women my age, they wouldn't discuss HRT (since I'm that age) or offer any CBT/counselling as they only refer young adults for that.
Thank you. I'll call the Samaritans if I feel bad later.

Any other surgeries in your area you could switch to? That doesn't sound right about CBT/counselling only being offered to young people, is there a IAPT self referral service in your area? I know it's hard being proactive when you feel shitty but I'm finding more and more that you have to really push for the treatment you need (probably due to under funding) rather than it being offered as a matter of course, not right but how it is unfortunately. Try googling IAPT and your town or city name and see if you can self refer.

Do you have anything available through work, OP? I ask because the waiting time for counselling on the NHS in my local area was months, but through my health insurance at work I got six counselling sessions for free, and could access them right away. Made an enormous difference to me - we focussed on coping solutions and how to manage anxiety so that once the sessions finished I could still use the techniques we discussed. Is that an option for you? There are also websites that teach you CBT techniques.

I'll ask, thanks.