Anxiety support, Hand hold or chit chat come say hi

[Fairydust26]

going through abit of a crappy time with anxiety/health anxiety at the mo so thought it would be a good idea to create this thread. I always find that when I’m feeling anxious writing it down makes me feel a little bit better so hopefully some of you might too and we can support each other through this crappy time as I know it can make you feel pretty lonely. I’m trying to not drag myself back to bed and write today off so I’ve made a cuppa put the heating on sat by the xmas tree and going to try and have a clam Saturday so come say hi

How has everyone got on today?

Today hasn’t been to bad managed to keep anxiety at bay for most of it. Tried to make a doctors appointment to talk about potentially upping my dose but of course there are no appointments🙄 hope your days been good?

Hi. Managed to get through the day at work. Having a glass of wine now to try and relax - bad idea probs.
I'm trying to get my head round the idea of going to docs and asking for help. Seems as if sertraline is the first choice for most Gps and I'm really not keen. Also thinking of counselling but dont think CBT is for me and think I'll have to go private as the NHS hasn't got much to offer.
I just need to talk to someone.

Awful day at work. Got sertraline from the doc. Offered to sign me off, wish I'd accepted to be honest.

We have an employee assistance helpline through work. I think I should probably call them.

Ive been on the waiting list for the counsellor at the Gp practice for months. I had CBT when dc was tiny and I really struggled with everything.
Today has been ok but it's not a work day. Working the next 4 days and I'm not loving my job at all lately. I'd love to get signed off but we've just been taken over and a few people have had meetings to say they are at risk of redundancy. Trying not to worry that it will be me next

I’ve suffered with anxiety for years but since starting citalopram and propanol it’s been better. I’m just incredibly stressed at the moment. 1 of my D.C. is really struggling at the moment and I’m finding it hard to hold it all together. On top of this my once loved job has become so stressful and the old anxious feelings are coming back so bad before I go to work. I actually had a panic attack for the first time in months on my way in the other day. It feels like my body is collapsing with stress - my jaw is completely locked so I can’t eat and am in constant pain, I get chest pains and short of breath, I’m constantly feeling sick and tired and headachy. My jaw is permanently clenched and I wake up in the night with blood in my mouth and have bitten the side of my cheek badly.

I don’t know what to do

Hey can I say hi? I have really bad health anxiety which I'm finding so hard to deal with I also have bipolar but that doesn't give me too much trouble as I've been stable for a while. I go back to work tomorrow after a year on maternity leave- really nervous!

Hi pinkcoat going to the doctors to discuss how you’re feeling isn’t a bad thing it’s actually quite brave, you might even find it quite a relief?.

Hi thefutureisours could you request a phone call from your gp and see if they will still sign you off if you feel you still need to? Also good luck with the sertaline hopefully it will help you.

Hi sparklytrees I’m exactly the same I was off today so I felt okay however the thought of work tomorrow fills me with absolute dread doesn’t help that my hours are being cut next year also.

Hi NeverSurrender when I’m really anxious I clench my teeth too It gets to the point where it wakes me up in the night and I’m left with a banging headache and toothache for the rest of the day☹️

Hi Bumplovin HA really is deliberating it’s somthing I’m trying to work on and then I’ll get a symptom or somthing and I’m back to square one☹️. try not to worry about going back to work (easier said than done I know) but you never know you might surprise yourself and enjoy it good luck!.

Evening, hope everyone's ok.
Had my first session with my counsellor today, think it went pretty well. She's going to do some cbt with me to manage my symptoms but she wants to get to the root cause of my anxiety so we can have a longer term solution. At £35 an hour it's going to be expensive to do that! Might end up going for once a fortnight rather than weekly sessions once I'm feeling a bit better.
Her advice today seemed to be not to beat myself up if I wake up anxious and worry about worrying. Basically it's on to have an off day, it doesn't always mean I'm getting ill again. She was really good and felt at ease with her so hopefully make good progress :)

Hi there
Can I join? I've had Ha for years, take citalopram and propranolol which helps a bit. I've gone the other way where I am terrified of going to the docs in case I get bad news. It really sucks, but nice to know others understand

My anxiety has been not too bad today although I remembered I hadn't looked at my eye in the mirror for a while- I have one pupil slightly bigger than the other.

Sorry I posted too soon meant to add I feel I can't go back to the doctors again about it because she didn't seem worried I have days where with the ha I convince myself I must have a Brain tumour

Hi everyone
Does anyone have an opinion on the benefits of taking sick leave from work? I've been fighting the anxiety and stress for months and coping with increasing physical symptoms and nothing seems to be helping. I'm wondering if a break from work would reset my spiralling stress levels but I'm worried about letting work down. Not that I'm doing anything very well at the moment anyway

Morning all.
Fairy I am going to have to pluck up the courage to go to the docs. I am so embarrassed about it and I know I shouldn't be but I am. I'm scared of going on medication, scared it will make my anxiety worse because sometimes I'm fine, happy, then something happens and I will focus on it and worry myself sick. When the thing I'm worrying about resolves, I am OK again. Then again, meds might help me to be a bit more relaxed about stuff.
The idea of CBT is excellent, changing the way you think about things. This is exactly what I need but I can't do it. Or I haven't been able to with the telephone CBT I had or the many self help books I've read.
the future the employee assistance helpline sounds like a good idea. Give them a ring and see what they have to offer. I'm going to check with my work too.

I totally know how you feel.

I suffer so badly with health anxiety. It's at an absolute peak at the moment because I've had acid reflux for over two weeks and terrible diareah since the weekend. A distant relative has been diagnosed with cancer and I feel like a selfish cow but I've been sitting here crying worrying if I die next year my partner won't know all the little things my daughter loves to make a stocking.

I absolutely hate being like this. I try so hard to keep it under control. I do yoga twice a week, meditate using the headspace app daily, eat healthily don't drink or smoke and I feel like I'm not winning the battle.

This year I've got my self into a state about ingrown hairs, muscle pains, mouth ulcers, gum disease, acid indigestion amongst many other things.

I've had two rounds of CBT on the nhs. One was useless and as nice as she was I'm convinced she was doing work experience. The other was online and was better but again was limited to six sessions and then you're just left alone.

I feel like there is no point in trying to seek any more treatment. I know the gp wants to put me on medication and the thought of that gives me anxiety in itself.

I genuinely wouldn't wish health anxiety on my worst enemy.

Sorry this is no help at all but you're not alone x

hi, I thought I would join you all because today I am suffering anxiety for pathetic but forseen reasons:

gas man is coming to service boiler - I worry that he will go into bedrooms and see the untidiness therein , I worry that he won't sign boiler off, and I worry that he won't be able to think of a way to fix the shower thermostadt (long running saga) or might even, horror want another appt to fix it which involves long drawn out tinkerings...

I am travelling on thursday next to foreign climes with family long haul, I hate leaving house, and worry it will be burgled cats will die, person feeding cats will leave door unlocked, pipes will freeze, smoke alarms will go off and battery will need replacing up a ladder whilst I am not there to oversee

Lots of paperwork to do, all a bit nebulous, but some urgent, which I can never remember in one long list, it just pops out at me when I am not thinking about it, like renewing resident's parking, then I worry I won't do it before we leave.

THERE I feel better already. I've got quite a lot done this morning, far more than I thought I would manage when I woke up feeling terrible dread... house is much tidier, washing a bit sorted, and ds has been hellping me.

I often think these worries are very small, and come from context of much bigger worries that hang over, which one appears to be managing, in my case three kids doing public exams and two with SNs that are being managed fine, but the tension just builds up in the background. Trying to see these small worries for what they are, just manifestations of bigger tensions. (which for some reason DON't worry me on surface)

cosmic I often feel that health anxiety, like any other anxiety is a sign that there really is something physically/biologically wrong somewhere that is causing the faulty thinking. In my case I am almost sure I can pin it on something going wrong with my generic thyroxine dose, I think I have mixed up the packets (but then I worry about doctor's appt and having to explain this in case he thinks me incompetent) However, I know exercise and talking to people make me feel loads better so there is a physical outlet which solves some of my anxieties. And I know alcohol makes me feel much much worse after initial relaxing hit (I'm talkign one glass of champagne at xmas sort of hit) so I avoid it completely in the eves.

CBT helps me a lot. I try it all the time. I break each problem down into tiny steps and work through them, trying not to get sidetracked into more anxieties

I saw someone properly for CBT for 6 sessions, it was a very good basis for DIY CBT. I had one "catastrophe" where I imagined the newspaper I had laid on the tube platform bench, flying onto the track and causing a crash. CRAZY. I can laugh now at that. But she talked me through it.

And most of the time I am not anxious at all, just today I noticed how ridiculously quickly the dread reappeared when demands were made on me, out of the ordinary demands.

Phoned the employee assistance helpline. Spoke to someone for about half an hour. Was nice to talk to someone that doesn't know me. Have the option of counselling if I feel I want it. Thinking about it.

How is everyone else doing today?

Feeling a bit better today thanks.
Ended up having a pyjama day though because ds1 and I are absolutely full of cold at the moment, gave him a day off as he has study periods most of Tuesdays anyway.
Been quite nice to just potter about and get my admin in order. DH back at work tomorrow night so feeling a little anxious because I don't drive and we have a really busy week with school stuff but I'll get there.

Hallo. Been in bed all afternoon. It's been a tough couple of days for me and I haven't been running because the pavements are treacherous and the gym has been shut. It all seems too much. I just want to be asleep.

Pinkcoat don’t feel embarrassed about going to the gp I felt just like that I even spent the whole appointment crying felt like a right tit after woods but it felt like such a weight had be lifted to know that something was being done. I totally get why you would be scared to take medication it wasn’t something I’d accepted at first but it got to a point where the bad days were out weighing the good and I just couldn’t cope with it anymore. Even though I’m on a low dose it really has helped.

Cosmic it really does help knowing I’m not alone in feeling like that. I feel like I would probs benefit from some cbt or somthing like that but as silly as it sounds I just couldn’t face going through all of that right now 🙄.

thefutureisours glad you managed to speak to someone it must feel like somewhat of a relief that the options there if you need it😊.

Welcome newbies😊. Today’s been quite good work wasn’t too bad even managed to do a food shop looking forward to getting into bed a chilling hope everyone else has had a good day?

Cosmic I've been there with the health anxiety. Each little symptom that I noticed, that didn't go away after a day or two, I would be on it. Obsessing about it and no sooner had it cleared up, I would be on to the next thing. I'd often be worrying about some spot, ache, unusual symptom then I'd notice something else, forget the original thing and start obsessing about the new one. Exhausting! Eventually I'd go to the docs get reassurance, be happy for a while until the next thing. Mine were usually cancer related.
the future great that you phoned the employee assistance. That's a good first step and if the counseling is available, even better as its there if you want it.
knitting you wouldn't believe the stuff I have worried about. Looking back it seems so stupid that I was upset about such trivial things but at the time, when it was happening, it was deadly serious to me.
big glad you've had a better day. Hope you have more and more of them. I'm pleased your counseling went well.