well, take heart from the fact that you have said it to the right person in the end - and I'm sure the "wrong" person won't hold it against you.
now, another "trick" to help you feel a little better - what is your favourite colour? exactly? see it in your head.
Now, I want you to imagine a thick, fluffy, lovely wrap made in that colour (wrap could be a duvet, a blanket, a shawl, a dressing gown, whatever you like) - make it of whatever material you like the feel of most. This wrap can be as big as you like and as light or heavy as you want.
Now, keep this picture of this wrap in your head and when you feel overwhelmed, I want you to wrap yourself in it, or crawl under it, or do whatever makes you feel safest. The wrap is going to protect you from all the bad stuff out there, it is able to draw all the negativity out of you and deflect it down into the ground where it can't do any harm. Under/ In this wrap, you can feel safe and comforted.
Give the wrap a name, like "comfort wrap" or whatever means the most to you. And the more clearly you can see it, the better it will work.
A client of mine has a real skyblue fluffy dressing gown that she uses (skyblue is her favourite colour) and finds it helps a lot when she is in the depths.
Hope that helps, in the meantime keep posting