Anxiety

[inlectorecumbit]

Has anyone literally not be able to move due to anxiety? Fearful of the future and trying to future plan.
I am sitting here and have been for the last 3 hours having a meltdown, l know it's irrational but can't stop crying?

I had a panic attack and I couldn't physically move. It was like all the muscles in my body just went into spasm and siezed up. Is what you mean?

Thanks l think that is what l mean.
So much shit going down and trying to hold it all together and failing miserably. Can't eat or sleep with a knot in my chest. Today l couldn't get of the chair.my jaw muscles were clamped shut.
I don't know how to go on anymore--life is too difficult

Yes it does sound like you are having panic attacks. So the most important thing is that you make yourself breathe and get in as much oxygen as you can in those moments. Think about the paper bag they use in films... imagine you are filling the bag, completely empty your lungs. Then slowly breathe in a massive lungful- count to 5. Then breathe it all out again, again counting to 5. Concentrate just on this for a while, it helps you get with it physically.

Lalalasee Thank you

Try to avoid looking at all the problems at once. Take it one day at a time. If that's hard, take it one task at a time. E.g. If you're having to go to court, start with having a shower. Don't think beyond that shower until it's finished, then move on to the next stage. Talk out loud to yourself if you're alone and find it helps. I hope that whatever is worrying you gets sorted soon.

Yes I can completely relate. I find myself just sitting there sometimes almost shaking and unable to move.
I worry non stop it controls my life and is slowly getting the better of me, after I’d been doing so well to not let it

I have always been a worrier, my mum was on medication for as long as l can remember and she had OCD. It rubbed off on me.
There is so much going on and l had been doing so well - so l thought- until 1 thing which has sent my right back. I can't see an end to it for a long time and l do recognise that the extend of the anxiety is so out of proportion but l can't rationalise my thinking.
Life sucks

Honestly I know it sounds so dramatic but sometimes, I’d rather be dead than worry as much as I do. Especially if it keeps me up all night. What’s the point in carrying on like this?

No l get this. The thought of not wakening up shaking, worrying about everything is very appealing. Tablets to sleep, tablets for anxiety and l am unwilling to restart Citalopram until l really need it -- that is my now and my future.

OP I expect to take citalopram for the rest of my life. On a low dose, but don't imagine I will ever stop. Is that so terrible? To me, it's preferable to 'the horrors'. And I have never been as bad as you, anything like.

I was on citalopram on and off for seven years for anxiety. It took the edge off but there were times where I would still struggle, even on the tablets. I had a chat with the doc and discussed trying sertraline. So I tapered off citalopram with the view of going onto sertraline but my husband somehow convinced me I should try going off anything at all. He seemed to think that being on tablets was a negative thing too... I promise you in my case they were not.

The anxiety was awful. I constantly had a tight chest where I could feel like I had surges of adrenaline. My brain couldn't function properly- I was so would up I couldn't even buy more than one meal in the supermarket as I just couldn't concentrate. I finally bit the bullet tried the Sertraline and I am so so relieved- those constant anxious feelings have abated almost immediately on the lowest dose. I wish so much that I had not gone through that period of time with no medication -all that angst and all those tears shed, the awful feelings that thinking I would always be like this - all so unnecessary.

Instead I can wake up in the morning like I have today and think about all of the things that are good in my life rather than all the things that are bad (and yes there are some things that are pretty bad right now but it helps to be able to think clearly about them rather than get myself in a mess worrying about them).

Please don't hold back on taking medication if you need it... citalopram might be your thing or the doc might suggest you try another, but if the citalopram did work for you it probably means your body isn't creating enough seratonin. Right now it sounds like you aren't. If that's true there is nothing wrong with taking a medication to help with that- it doesn't have to be a permanent thing, perhaps it will just be until your body is able to make more seratonin naturally (I am injured and not able to do exercise right now but the times I do lots of exercise have not unsurprisingly been the times I have managed to go off citalopram).

If your body wasn't making enough insulin you would take something for that. Your brain not making enough seratonin- is that so hugely different?

Great post Lala.