Well, what happened to me was that back in 2015, i was a good year after my periods had fully stopped. I was driving along the motorway one sunny june day without a care in the world. Nothing at all had happened, no other cars in sight in fact; i had the road to myself. Car running well. I was just on my own.
Literally, there was no cause for alarm at all when i was suddenly gripped by a feeling of intense anxiety.
My stomach knotted up and i felt that i wasn't seeing things properly in my right field of vision. Yet when i covered my left eye, i could see perfectly well.
This funny feeling continued over the next few days and i thought i had better go to the gp to see if i should be driving.
So he did those touch your nose with one eye closed tests and all was well. And advised me to go to the optician.
Again, all fine.
So i carried on driving because i knew if i stopped driving, i might never start again. And i never got tooted at, i could still park the car perfectly well so i reasoned my spatial awareness must be fine.
But all the time i was driving (no lane assist on the car) i was constantly checking my mirrors and the lane markings. Something i had never done obsessively before. And then i started getting sweats and palpitations.
And then it spread to all areas of my life pretty quickly. So i was getting these feelings just in my house too. And the whole time my stomach stayed in a painful knot all my waking hours. The second i woke in the morning, the knot was there and stayed the whole day.
I am one of those people, when i have a worry, i have to tell everyone! The only time i got any relief from this knot was when i was distracted in deep convo with pals.
So - back to the gp. I had a brain scan - all normal. Visual fields tested. Normal.
So it was me that eventually said to my gp - could this be psychological because i am more that happy to take anti anxiety pills if you think it is.
But my gp has known me for years and she did not think it was psychological.
After about a year of suffering, i even said to her i want to go on meds for anxiety. But she would not prescribe, saying it was not clinical anxiety (i really think she had no clue how my life was affected)
Meanwhile, i am talking anything herbal - kalms, that rescue remedy but nothing helped except one which i forget the name of now but it had 5 in the name. I got it off amazon; could have been anything!!
Finally, my friend suggested it could be the menopause.
It just so happened i had a smear test shortly after speaking to my friend and the nurse made the mistake of asking how i was.
I told her the full story and said i wanted to try hrt.
She put it in my notes for the gp.
The gp was reluctant to prescribe (this was 2017, pre Davina) and went on about risks. Honestly, if the risk of cancer had been 95% i would still have gone ahead. I was that desperate.
Very, very fortunately the first hrt tried suited me fine. Within 3 weeks, the anxiety just lifted off.
The joy of driving, my eyes were fine again! I dont even like driving much but i got in my car and drove miles that day!!
Honestly, i felt back to my old self after 18 months.
So - there's the story!