Has anyone's anxiety reached a point where you thought you may go crazy? This is me right now and I don't know what to do.

[Picklingwalnuts]

I don't know what to do with myself anymore.

I have suffered with anxiety, ocd, various phobias, panic attacks and overthinking since I was a small child. As an adult I have lost count with the amount of CBT therapies that I have had. I have also seen a psychologist, tried EMDR and various alternative therapies. Some helped a bit, most did nothing to help. I put my heart and soul into trying because let's face it, no one wants to live like this but nothing has had a lasting impact. I feel as though anxiety, low mood and constant rumination is part of me like I will never escape it.

Alongside this I have various chronic health issues including IBS-D, endometriosis and aura migraines. As a result I now have a massive, overwhelming fear of losing my visions since suffering from aura disturbances and a constant fear of my digestive system letting me down. I never feel great either physically or mentally. I live in fear of something going wrong with my body every single day. It's exhausting, I am exhausted.

I live the healthiest life of anyone of my family and friends. I only drink water, each a special diet for my tummy issues (I know these go hand in hand with my mental health issues and feed off each other). I have no caffeine or stimulants, never smoked, I exercise every day and listen to hypnotherapy etc. I would probably be worse if I didn't do these things but I still feel that nothing is helping me.

Thrown in perimenopause which I have been struggling with the last 6 years, now caring for my mum who has Alzheimer's and I am at rock bottom.

HRT makes my endo worse so that's not an option and the various antidepressants that I have tried have made my gut issues worse but I desperately need something to help because I genuinely feel as though I am going crazy right now.

What can I do?

Yes, I've received tly been in a bad spiral with MH, really bad panic attacks lasting for hours and constant anxiety. I'm emetophobic and anxiety makes me have stomach issues, which sends me into panic attacks.
I've been on citalopram for years but think it's finally stopped working for me. I've started fluoxetine so serious hoping that sorts me out. Have you tried any medication or just therapy?

Sorry I've just read bad about gut issues.. have you taken them long enough to see if the gut issues die down?

Read "at last a life, anxiety and panic free".
It might not work instantly but the logic of what he says seeps in.

The principle is, accept the anxiety and don't let it stop you living anyway, because fighting it constantly, seeking ways to escape it, doesn't work.

Yes, it’s happened to me before, and I ended up having a full breakdown. It was the worst thing I’ve ever been through.
I understand SSRIs affect the gut, but I think you need them anyway. I need SSRIs and I’ll be on them for the rest of my life. They really are so helpful for anxiety and I deeply regret not taking them sooner than I did. I spent thousands on alternative treatments in order to avoid medication, but truth be told I needed the medication, and chances are you do too.
They definitely do upset my stomach but it’s more than worth it.
I take Escitalopram which is a very good SSRI for anxiety, and my psychiatrist added Pregabalin as well. Magic combination for me.

It's not clear from your OP: you say you've tried everything, but don't mention medication.

Sertraline works for me.

Sorry, ignore me, I've now read your OP properly!

Yep. I had a full breakdown at 20 and took about 10 years to fully recover. In that time I was agoraphobic (still working on this), emetaphobic, serve OCD in the form of intrusive thoughts, depression, panic attacks and health anxiety. I genuinely didn't want to die, I wanted to be better, but couldn't find a way out.

Fluoxetine has helped massively and I'm no longer scared of being sick, my OCD blips are not as lengthy and depression has completely gone. I'm still an anxious person, but definitely a lot better.

I'm worried that peri will kick it all off again to be honest.

Pregabalin or amitriptyline

Short course of clonazapam might help too. My dr will give me 4/5 pills a year in times of horrific anxiety.

"Fluoxetine has helped massively and I'm no longer scared of being sick"

I'm praying this is what it does for me!! My spiral really kicked off after catching norovirus in October 😨

I have tried Sertraline, Citalopram and Duloxetine but they all made my IBS worse. I took them all for at least 3 months.

Good luck with the Fluoxetine, I hope they help you.

GoldVermillion thank you, I will take a look.

LeaveALittleNote I would love to find a medication which helped but the ones I tried gave me such a worsening of my gut issues that I just could not carry on. I had diarrhoea all the time and terrible stomach pain, I managed for 3+ months but it was hell.
I have been offered Escitalopram but as the Citalopram was one of the meds which upset my stomach I've been put off trying them.

tinkersfig I need something like this but without upsetting my stomach. I too have emetaphobia and I also have the diarrhoea equivalent as I have such awful IBS and upper gut issues. Peri has not been great for my mental health but I am sure if you are already taking meds you have a buffer. My sister is on sertraline and isn't struggling with peri in the way I am.
I haven't heard of clonazapam so will look that up, thanks.

Amitriptyline is good for ibs-D, sometimes it's prescribed just for that alone but it is an anti-depressant also just not an ssri. Have a look into that and see if you feel it's for you then ask your GP specifically for it. It also helps with sleep if you take it at night time, I'll bet anything with all this going on your sleep isn't great? Which only perpetuates everything.

I have been advised by my GP not take take any TCA's because my mum has Alzheimer's and these drugs carry a risk of developing .

I recommend asking your GP about Pregabalin.

Yes just wanted to say you are not alone. My
anxiety gets so bad I cannot concentrate and struggle day to day with my mental health. I do feel crazy and its exhausting going over the same things constantly. I have no advice other than to try and be kind to yourself and try and distract yourself from the worries.

Do GPs prescribe this? I was under the impression it was only pscychiatrists?

DH was prescribed pregabalin by his GP and it's worked really well for him. However that was before it was a controlled drug, I'm not sure many GPs would prescribe it now (in my area at least)

@user1492538376 I don’t actually know. Mine was prescribed to me by a psychiatrist. It might be worth having a conversation with a GP about it though, and it’s definitely extremely effective for some people.