I've struggled with my mental health on and off my whole adult life. In the past, I've had social anxiety but it was linked to low self esteem and I overcame it with medication and therapy. A few weeks ago, I started to experience quite intense physical symptoms (dizziness, feeling faint etc) and panic attacks. No obvious cause. I've had several tests at the GP which haven't shown anything particularly wrong, except from low iron. I'm not sure whether it's all anxiety or whether the physical symptoms were making me anxious, and perhaps it became a bit of a spiral. I've been prescribed some beta blockers and iron tablets and I do feel better, both physically and with the anxiety. However, I'm continuing to experience the most crippling anxiety when speaking to people and it's really affecting my life. It's really come out of nowhere with whatever this is. I don't feel in any way shy or lacking in confidence. I just physically can't shake this awful anxiety around speaking to people. I'm struggling to even order a coffee or pay for petrol, and I haven't been able to go back into the office, or even see friends for a couple of weeks. The beta blockers are helping but I have no idea what to do at this point to improve this. Private therapy isn't an option, and the NHS waiting list is really long. I also don't feel that it would be particularly useful either, as I don't feel like there's an underlying reason.
Not sure what the point of this post is but has anyone experience similar? What helped you?