Does anxiety just creep up on you?

[Thaumatrope]

Recently - say the last few months - I've noticed myself becoming more and more anxious, and the past few days have been particularly difficult.

I would have said I was a very relaxed person ordinarily but I don't really recognise myself as that person. I worry about everything and am pretty much paranoid that people are rolling their eyes behind my back, trying to sideline me, or just don't like me. I know that realistically this isn't true (for example, I just had a really lovely lunch with an old friend) but I can't stop the anxiety creeping in. I worry about what people might be saying about me, which is plainly ridiculous.

I do have a few genuine stresses like selling my house and moving, worrying about work a little, but otherwise I know logically that things are fine.

I don't really know what to do or why it has come on now, when nothing is harder than it was before

Yes it does. I realised I had a problem when I was so exhausted that I had to go to the doctor. My anxiety is about something happening to a loved one and it takes over your life. Get to the doctor before it gets too bad.

Thank you. What does the doctor do? I have some diazepam (left over from something else) and took one last week, but really didn't like the 'hangover'.

CBT is good for anxiety. Worth buying 'The Worry Cure' by Robert Leahy which is really good at explaining the processes behind anxiety and getting you to see how worrying is unproductive but also something you can control.

I suffered from anxiety around a house move too, after a MC - I think it can displace from one area of your life to another if you see what I mean?

I wad referred for cbt. It is a long process and for me I didn't get the cure I wanted but I know it works for a lot of people. I can cope with it better now.

OK that does make sense. I had a rather 'final' MC some years ago and it is definitely since then that I've been feeling worse. I thought I came back from it well, until the point where a 'friend' humiliated me some months later, and I just got used to feeling rather crappy, I think.
Come to think of it, I had something fairly similar this summer and clearly haven't coped very well.
(Sorry, rambling, it just made a certain amount of sense suddenly that my anxiety would be about being disliked.)
I will look out for the book, thank you, and see what CBT provision there is locally.

Just wanted to ask if this feeling of not being liked is anxiety? I often feel this it gets me down. I make an effort to be nice to people but often feel left out ignored and like people are talking about me behind my back. The thing is I think they really are! How can u know the difference?

Mrspickle I would say yes, that's anxiety. You are worrying about something over which you have no control (what other people think/say). I'm sure we all get spoken about negatively at some times, but even the biggest people-pleaser cant control what others think or say or how they behave. If you are constantly thinking about this and letting it affect your quality of life then yes I would say that's anxiety. Worth getting the Robert Leahy book I mentioned up thread as he does specifically talk about this example iirc.

MrsPicklePants for me the difference is that it is running around in my head and I am finding myself making up conversations where they tell me why they don't like me and what I have done to upset them.
I know, rationally, that even if the things I am making up were true, I am still making them up! And letting them run riot in my psyche.

Today is better, I've had three bits of good news about professional things which have made me feel quite worthwhile - but I've never depended SO much on outside influences to make me feel just ok. It feels very wrong.