feeling anxious or low ~ what is it like for you?I am interested!

[labyrinthine]

Those of you who get anxious or low how does it feel and affect you?

Do you dash around trying to shake it off?
Do you sit down and suffer?
Do you try to sleep/drink alcohol to take it away?
Do you cry?
Do you keep busy with chores?
Does it stop you from going out/seeing friends?

When I have suffered with anxious feelings I have tried,and failed, to block the thoughts that come into my mind,usually about the past.
They often centre around everything being allright ~ the house,the children etc,sometimes smaller things like birthday parties going well or being parked properly,or an interview with a teacher etc.
Almost more of an obsessive wish for everything to be "right".

Equally at other times I'll be the most laid back person you could have!

How about all of you?

At your worst how bad did it feel?
Name change if you want!

at my worst I would hide away and drink too much and take too many prescription drugs. I used to self harm and just lie around being miserable.

now I am much better, but on low days I tend to just stay at home and really not do much except just make sure the children are fed.

when I am anxious I still have self-harming tendencies, picking at my arms/lips etc, but nothing too serious

I shut myself away from my friends. I think about 'doing something' to myself. I can't cry. I comfort eat.

I often feel anxious and low - and, like you, it centers around the past...the loss of two of my four sons. I am an optimist but sometimes it is hard to be the person propping all the rest of the family up.

In the past, when my sons died, I did turn to alcohol.....it seemed to take everything away BUT, of course, it doesn't.

I worry if I hear an ambulance in the morning and then check the clock and realise that my DS1 is already in work and is safe.

My 'thing' is keeping my sense of humour....without a sense of humour I dont know how I would manage at times.

I think, most of the time, I am able to convince myself that everything is going to be just fine....some days though are hard work. I suppose that is life. xx

Dior - I comfort eat as well, which makes me feel worse so I eat more

that sounds awful thisis,what was in your mind at the time to want to harm yourself ~ anger or distress or worry?

I am glad you feel much better.

at the time I just felt like if I didn't do it I would do something a lot worse. it was like a release for me, once I'd done it I felt all the anxiety drain away.
actually someone once described self harming as like when a thunderstorm is due and it's all muggy and wartm and suffocating, and then the storm comes and afterwards everything is fresh and clear again.

it was like that.

i know what you mean about wanting things to be "alright". for me it always tended to be lots of little things building up and up into this one big anxiety attack

shabster I guess the pain is too much to bear sometimes thankfully the years dull it a little bitxx

thats a really clear description thisis ~thanks.
sometimes little things build up that i can't fix and I feel in an uncomfortable state for a while until I get some reassurance
when something very distressing has happened i feel the need to go over and over it to make it right ~to change what happened

dior~I comfort eat sometimes but whereas when I was younger and just a bit off I would seek out friends to cheer myself up,when more serious things have happened I want to be alone and don't feel I have anything to offer friends.

A big thing for me is trying to deal with a practical issue from the past maybe to do with a loved ones death and feeling unable to do that thing ~ then once I think about it a lot of other thoughts come and I have to switch off from it as I start to get overwhelmed..

Anyone else do this?

Or found what helps?

Yes, I understand the 'nothing to offer friends' comment. I get that too.