Coping with anxiety - tips?

pickledonionspaceraider

Hi rev

I recognise a lot of what you are saying. whilst you are suffering from these kind of anxieties they can and will take over your life, your mental health and physical well being. I wont bore you with my story but will let you know things I have learned - please note these are merely my opinions and as such may be wrong for other pple

GPs and health professionals can only do so much - medications, whilst they have their place in extreme situations, are not a cure.The fix for anxiety I think, will come from within, at the right time. I am struggling with this, but I do believe there comes a time when things will get easier - but i am waiting too

Too much time on your hands almost destroyed my mental health - I was a chronic over thinker and pretty depressed already, when I became unemployed. The amount of time on my hands was almost my undoing, as I literally had every minute of the day to obsess. You need to force yourself to get busy, even if it is voluntary work

To date I have tried every trick in the book and I know (as you do, with the unjustified fears you have) that my obsessive worries are mainly unfounded - it still does not stop - the worry is not something I have control over, and the worry easy boils over into several full blown panic attacks per day.

Huskyrunner

Rev wrote: »

My GP was utterly useless. I just stopped going in the end. I went a few years back because I had a lump in my breast. He refused to look at it. Didn't ask if I wanted him to bring the nurse in etc as he should have just simply refused to look and told me I'd have to wait until there was a female doctor available (there is a female doctor in the practice but she was on indefinite leave at the time). I went to he drop in centre in the end. Thankfully it was just a small cyst.


Thank you for the suggestion but I'm vegan so fish oil is a no go. I will see if there is a suitable alternative.


I have been on the mertazipine for around two years. Was on a differed one before that. It was given because it's also part sedative to help with sleep but that doesn't work at all now (it really helped for the first few months). I take it at 10pm and am often still wide awake at 6-7am.


Leaving the house in itself is fine. I'm not agoraphobic at all. But once out I worry that something will happen. Someone will break in. I've not turned the oven off. That's where the issues arise. Not in the actually leaving the house. If that makes sense? Sometimes I will come home because I'm just worrying too much.


I'm grateful I have such great friends. They understand and don't pressure me (they don't pander either) they just understand that right now some things are a bit too much for me.

VeGGie-STyLe wrote: »

I had the same reaction to Sertraline. It caused the break-up of my relationship at the time because I was SO convinced/terrified that he was plotting to kill me that I ran away in the middle of the night :rotfl:

My dad has just gifted me a Mindfulness-based CBT course from Wowcher (£29) which I'm quite excited to start working through. I learnt some of the concepts when I attended a DBT support group, and at the time I found them very helpful.

Also, just to reiterate what everybody else is saying about healthy diet and exercise. It helps.

I am glad i am not the only one re sertraline the only dose of the stuff i could get away with was 25mg daily ie splitting the 50mg tabs. It made me that bad my partner came home too me self harming which i have never ever done. And too top it i had began preparing for end.

Seriously guys try the Steve Peters book its makes you think very very different.

Wellyboots6

Thank you for posting this, I've found it very useful to read.

I hope you start to feel better soon. I totally understand what you say about worrying about things that haven't happened, that's my problem too!

tiger_eyes

How's it going, Rev? Did you book that appointment with your GP?

LittleOne

I suffer with anxiety, too. Mine sounds quite similar. I tend to overthink everything and what can start off as a walk with the dog or a trip to the shops can end up with me thinking all sorts of weird and wonderful things which are likely to never happen, but because they 'could' happen I end up either not going or making myself go and feeling sick with worry and heart palpitations.


I've never taken medication. People keep telling me about Mindfulness and I have bought a couple of books on Mindfulness recently. I haven't given it enough time but it seems a lot of people get results from it.
I also try and give myself things to look forward to. A meal with a friend, a family gathering, a concert... etc Small things like that really lift my mood and I find it easier to tackle my anxiety then.


Also, I don't know whether it's common or not but you could try Hypnotherapy? I'm having sessions at the moment for my fear of flying. I'm still in the early stages but it's a very relaxing and calming experience and with an open mind it may be able to help.

Rev

pickledonionspaceraider wrote: »

Hi rev

I recognise a lot of what you are saying. whilst you are suffering from these kind of anxieties they can and will take over your life, your mental health and physical well being. I wont bore you with my story but will let you know things I have learned - please note these are merely my opinions and as such may be wrong for other pple

GPs and health professionals can only do so much - medications, whilst they have their place in extreme situations, are not a cure.The fix for anxiety I think, will come from within, at the right time. I am struggling with this, but I do believe there comes a time when things will get easier - but i am waiting too

Too much time on your hands almost destroyed my mental health - I was a chronic over thinker and pretty depressed already, when I became unemployed. The amount of time on my hands was almost my undoing, as I literally had every minute of the day to obsess. You need to force yourself to get busy, even if it is voluntary work

To date I have tried every trick in the book and I know (as you do, with the unjustified fears you have) that my obsessive worries are mainly unfounded - it still does not stop - the worry is not something I have control over, and the worry easy boils over into several full blown panic attacks per day.

Thank you.


I feel the same about medication. You treat the symptom and not the cause. I'm hoping to be able to eventually find and treat the cause.


I is utterly bizarre isn't it. When you spend your life worrying about things that haven't and may never happen. Yet you can't control it.


I hope you find something that helps too.

Rev

Huskyrunner wrote: »

I am glad i am not the only one re sertraline the only dose of the stuff i could get away with was 25mg daily ie splitting the 50mg tabs. It made me that bad my partner came home too me self harming which i have never ever done. And too top it i had began preparing for end.

Seriously guys try the Steve Peters book its makes you think very very different.

Have downloaded that book so will get reading!

Rev

tiger_eyes wrote: »

How's it going, Rev? Did you book that appointment with your GP?

Hi, thanks for asking.


Yes I have an appointment for next week. I was on three propranolol a day but have cut to one. I spoke to a pharmacist who just said see your GP. I don't want to stop them entirely without speaking to the GP first. So have just cut back to the minimum dose.

Rev

Kirsty_A wrote: »

I suffer with anxiety, too. Mine sounds quite similar. I tend to overthink everything and what can start off as a walk with the dog or a trip to the shops can end up with me thinking all sorts of weird and wonderful things which are likely to never happen, but because they 'could' happen I end up either not going or making myself go and feeling sick with worry and heart palpitations.


I've never taken medication. People keep telling me about Mindfulness and I have bought a couple of books on Mindfulness recently. I haven't given it enough time but it seems a lot of people get results from it.
I also try and give myself things to look forward to. A meal with a friend, a family gathering, a concert... etc Small things like that really lift my mood and I find it easier to tackle my anxiety then.


Also, I don't know whether it's common or not but you could try Hypnotherapy? I'm having sessions at the moment for my fear of flying. I'm still in the early stages but it's a very relaxing and calming experience and with an open mind it may be able to help.

Yes that's pretty much what happens with me. Something simple. Walking the dog will turn into a massive thing just because my mind won't bloody shut up.


There was a spate of dog thefts in the area a while back. People just walking up to dog owners, attacking them and stealing their dogs and for months I wouldn't walk the dogs alone. And even then I was absolutely terrified.


It's bloody stupid. There's no more danger now than there's always been but for some reason my mind reacts completely differently now than it did before.

belfastgirl23

I read something once that referred to the naggy negative voices in your head as Mr and Mrs Yakety Yak and their children Blah Blah Blah - it advised you to think of them as slightly irritating next door neighbours and kind of roll your eyes at them or sort of usher them out of your headspace. I find this kind of a useful metaphor when I have a dose of negative thinking, partly because it brings up Mr Potato Head mental images and I can just imagine those voices quacking away and that makes me smile a bit but also because it sort of gets you to notice that there's a you that isn't just that voice. I hope this makes sense and doesn't sound too schizophrenic but I do kind of notice when my thoughts step up into this blah blah gear now...