Overwhelmed with stress and anxiety

[Anothernewusername2]

I am suffering from extreme stress at work.
I’m waking up before 5am (no matter what time I go to bed). I’m going down a rabbit hole and the longer this goes on, the worse I am coping.

I’ve never experienced mental health issues in my life, so it’s ask very alien to me.

Yesterday after picking up the children from school, I could hardly speak to them. I’m very stressed and anxious about the future.

I saw GP and at the time, I didn’t want to go on any SSRIs (the side effects sound awful). I’ve been given propanalol to stop the heart palpitations- but these are obviously only used when my heart starts racing.

My extended family are not kind, so I have distanced myself from them. My husband has been wonderful.

I’ve been practicing box breathing to calm myself down. But I’m stressed 95% of the day and I’m exhausted

Please can I have some advice on alternative medicine to help me cope.

What is the cause of the stress? The nature of the role? A colleague?

Take some time off, don’t keep pushing yourself. Clearly your body is trying to tell you something.

pause, go back to your GP, speak to them about treatments.

What is it at work that's causing this level of stress?

I am off with work stress at the moment. I felt so guilty when I walked out the GP but I broke down in there and he was right to sign me off. It's been 3 weeks now and I am still waking up with a fright every day and clenched jaw, racing heart and stomach flips. I have been taking escitalopram 10mg for 3 weeks now and I haven't had any side effects. Like you I was reluctant to go on meds but I needed to do something. They have lifted my mood slightly and I have been focusing on gentle exercise especially walking outdoors which helps more than the meds. I have another 3 weeks off but know at the moment that I am not ready to go back yet even though I was adamant at the start that I just needed a few days.

Please take some time as this won't get better on its own and maybe something at work needs to change also.

Take the beta blockers regularly, not just when your heart is racing. And do consider ssris. I take them for anxiety and they have been life changing for me.

thank you all. Especially @arewethereyetmum78 and @Haggisfish3

The dr said there isn’t much benefit taking the propanalol all the time and only to use it when my heart is racing.

Unfortunately I’m self employed and booked up for many weeks ahead- I can’t cancel my customers as it would add to my stress. I’ve booked a week off work in June.

The nature of the stress is multiple. Big industry changes, regulatory changes, customer complaints, ontop of general day to day business stresses (also unkind family/family pressures). Every few days it feels like another new piece is stress comes along and knocks me off my feet.

I am prescribed propanalol to take regularly and it really helps at preventing me getting to a horrible level of anxiety

The nature of the stress is multiple. Big industry changes, regulatory changes, customer complaints, ontop of general day to day business stresses (also unkind family/family pressures). Every few days it feels like another new piece is stress comes along and knocks me off my feet.

Stress doesn't exist as a standalone entity; it's not something that goes on around us, it is our emotional response to what is going on around us. Low level stress keeps us focussed, high level stress destroys the ability to concentrate. Is there anything you can do – outsource/delegate work, tell family to knock it off if they want the fruits of your work to continue – to streamline your day? Are you getting enough sleep? It IS possible to change your way of thinking but only when you understand you are human and have limits and can stick to them.