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

All the time inthewoods4. I lie awake all night making up scenarios what could go wrong next day and what else could happen. And then I start thinking about situations that happened months or even years ago and get upset about it.

I’m really struggling at the moment to get up in the morning. I have Monday’s off and two days a week I don’t start work until 3 pm. I feel like there’s nothing motivating me to leave the bed so I usually stay in it until noon. I hate it because it makes me feel really sluggish. But on the other side my bed is my comfort zone where I feel safe. It’s like if I get up I have to live in the real, scary world.

I also live alone. No pets, no children. So there’s nothing really that depends on me.

Do you have any advice on how to make myself get up earlier? I would like to start a regular bedtime and morning routine but I just can’t do it.

inthewoods4 whenever I’m on my own I become my own worst enemy I constantly overthink. Dp is away this weekend and I’m dreading it can already feel the anxiety building😞.

Fairydust that is my major trigger!! Work is my saviour. Dh even talks about being away I go to bits. Will be here all wknd for you xxxx

Reike But on the other side my bed is my comfort zone where I feel safe. It’s like if I get up I have to live in the real, scary world - this 100% I work pt and the days my Ds is in nursery and I’m off I too don’t seem to have the motivation to get up, my pets are no help as they’d happily stay in bed with me all day if they could ha!.

Reike - we have a loft conversation and if I'm off on my own I spend all day up there, safe from the world. I know exactly what you mean x

Thank you gttia😊 I know I’ll be fine just overthinking nice to know if I have a wobble I can come and speak to you guys xxx

Please do xxx

bigfatmeanie I forgot to mention earlier check out The Anxiety Guy on YouTube he has loads of videos/podcast on health anxiety which you may find helpful.

Thanks fairy I definitely will, sick of waking in utter dread every morning too scared to get out of bed.
It’s crippling, i’m avoiding googling and not going to the dr about the problem repeatedly like I did last time.
My health insurance includes 6 free sessions of phone counselling with one of their counsellors so might give that a go.
It doesn’t help that we’re currently looking at our 3rd diagnosis of ASD for our youngest dc but they want to wait six months because dc is so high functioning that she may not be as seriously affected as our other dc.

Hand hold please, my anxiety has been creeping up over the last few weeks as I have been ill for over a month, and I think it's just spilt over.

@bigfatmeanie, I am so with you right now, your first couple of lines I could have written.

On top of my own thoughts, I saw my friend yesterday and she told me something so triggering I couldn't believe it. I'm so annoyed, she knows exactly what I'm like and this was after I told her where I was at the moment, plus also tried to stop her as she started - "is this really going to help me?!" I can't get that out of my head now.

Last night I phoned our employee assistance programme and had a chat to a counsellor (got put straight through, how good is that) and they're also arranging a face to face session within a week.

I'm so scared I'm going to have another breakdown.

Just waiting for duty dr to call, only wanted to see if there was a cancellation for goodness sake.
Probably not the worst thing ever, having a terrible morning.
My gp had given me the option of sertraline or prozac for anxiety and as sertraline made me too groggy I’m going to see if they would let me try prozac.
Anyone else had it?

I take Citalopram bigfatmeanie but they're all from the same family and often people find that if one doesn't suit them another one does, so worth a try. I hope your day gets better, my anxiety is usually worst in the morning.

Thanks Bunting, taken my first fluoxetine. Took the side effects leaflet and binned it and am going to avoid googling it.
Really feel determined for this to work, I can’t spend my whole lift miserable and making everyone else the same. We’ve got a weekend away next weekend and really want it to be a proper break for us.

The employee assistance sounds a lot like the wellbeing line my health insurance have, every time I call they ask which company I work for. We’re quite remote by their standards so think i can only get phone counselling but going to give it a try. Hoping that meds along with some counselling etc might make a longer term difference

bigfatmeanie I’ve only taken sertaline so can’t give any advice on the Prozac. Has your gp called yet? I hope the fluoxetine gives you some relief.

Welcome Bunting9 hand hold for you🤝 I’d be annoyed too why is it always the things you don’t want to hear that stick around in your thoughts. Your employee assistance programme sound good hopefully the face to face session will help you a little bit.

bigfatmeanie good idea about binning the leaflet when I first started I expected side effects that’s why I think I noticed them so much should of done the same as you🤔

Good on you bigfatmeanie, you've got a great attitude and I know how brave you're being. Interesting that you mention making others miserable, I worry so much about this when I'm bad, I must be a broken record and no fun at all. So I keep apologising and everyone tells me not to be sorry! Definitely give the phone counselling a go, I had a counsellor on the phone last night who was lovely.

Hello fairydust26, yes I was fuming... don't want to write it here as it may also be difficult for others, but seriously after saying "this is what I'm worried about" and even trying to stop her when I thought I knew where it was going she carried on... I'm going to have to avoid her for the time being, can't believe her.

My GP spent 15 mins this morning listening to me through my tears, I shouldn't have gone as I was reassurance seeking but I was so so panicky and a last minute appointment was available. At least I've come home, thrown the windows open and put washing on for the first time in a couple of weeks. I keep getting surges though and had to see off a rising panic attack less than half an hour ago. Yuk!

Has anyone found any supplements that help at all? I saw a headline earlier that indicated that vitamin d deficiency could be linked to IBS. My IBS has returned this winter after a couple of years being free and I realised that last winter I had a holiday in the sun and the winter before that I was on pregnancy vitamins. I'm going to start taking vitamin d and see if that makes a difference to my digestive issues, which is the thing that's causing me the most anxiety.

Went on a long walk today, feel much better for it. I have caught a cold and am trying not to link my chesty cough to something more sinister like cancer of the oesophagus but it's so hard. I've had a few distractions today that have helped immensely.

Hope everyone else is doing OK today.

Vitamin D is a good thing to take in the UK anyway as many of us don’t get enough especially in the autumn and winter and it can be hard to get the right amount from food alone. There was a big health campaign/message about it last year or the year before recommending supplements all round. I thought the link was to musculosketal health but it may help other things including the mystery IBS or maybe anxiety. Problem with IBS is that it tends to flare up when anxiety does, which then makes people with anxiety more anxious, which then can make IBS worse etc etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have a flare up soon as I am very anxious at the moment. Please remind me about what I’ve said when I do!

Bunting9 Rightly so, unfortunately some people just don’t get it and don’t give a second thought what they say. I hope you feel abit better after speaking to your doctor well done for doing some washing small little things like that do great things to your mind when your feeling crappy.

Fitzsimmons I did start to take a multivitamin recently and I think it helped abit however I kept forgetting to take them though which reminds me I should really start again!

Anybody else feel their anxiety building and the only way to release it is to have a good old cry? I keep feeling like this today however I can’t cry sounds so silly. Seems like everyone around me is stressed at the mo and I have a busy weekend too which doesn’t help things. Thanks for letting me offload to you guys always feel much better once I do xx

Thanks, it’s kind of a fake it till you make it scenario, I keep telling myself I can fix this and it’s just the anxiety.
Bunting I get what you mean about the triggering, I explained to a mental health worker that the word related to my phobia was enough to set me off and she said “what? *the triggering word” as if to say look we can say it nothing to be scared of. She seems to tale a tough love approach including telling me about how to record my feelings on paper and telling me no she insisted i did it her way when i said i’d use a diary

I think unless someone experienced anxiety it can be really hard for them to understand what we are going through. I have been told many times by well meaning family members that I should just stop worrying and pull myself together. If only it was that easy.

Fairydust I think crying can be a good way of releasing tension. I often feel strangely calm after a good sob.

I agree a good cry can release a lot of emotions

Big fan of a cry here too, go for it...