Exposure

[ewood79]

Hi everyone

One of the most important things with anxiety is that we don't let it totally consume us and stop us from doing the day to day things....

I've been struggling a bit with things at the moment and normally I brush my anxiety off and carry on..... With my stressors up at the moment and me doubting that all I have is health anxiety etc I'm starting to feel like I'm falling in a hole. I've had all the health checks and all ok, stress test and blood test 6 months ago and all good yet I'm still so damn anxious.

I play sport and on Saturday I was like ready to play and had panic attack and was going to fake an injury and leave but I didn't I took a half a Xanax and rode through it.... I stayed and did well.

Then Sunday I was all anxious again about going to work Monday and I was like ahhhhhhhhhhh not again...

Im at work today and going ok, just trying to be in the moment etc....

Does anyone else have this daily struggle and what do you do to keep on keeping on.

Thanks

Jarrod

---------- Post added at 12:09 ---------- Previous post was at 11:02 ----------

Anyone?

[vicky23]

absolutely know what you mean! I've been doing this exposure thing for about 6 months now and still I'm anxious when doing certain things. These anxiety responses have been conditioned for a long time and it will take a long time for our brains to unlearn some of those things.
I know how frustrating it is and sometimes you wonder if you'll ever get better but focus on the progress you've made and reward yourself for your achievements.
For exposure to work, it needs to be repeated until our brain gets the message basically so it can be a long slog but keep going the hard work will be worth it!!

[Jamesk]

Absolutely. I have got to scared to do anything because I perceive myself as "not well enough." This in turn feeds the fear, because I haven't done anything, I am not now fit enough to do anything, which in turn does genuinely make me less fit.

It's a bit of a b@gger really isn't it.

Still made myself go for a walk yesterday in the crisp wionter sun and felt better for it.

[ewood79]

Thanks for your replies guys, i got through the day and yeah must keep on keeping on!!!

I knew if i stayed home id just dwell on things and fell 100 times worse!

well done on going for a walk James!!! keep it up!

[hanshan]

Hi Jarrod,

I'm also from Australia, although I 'm now living and working in Japan. I've also had about forty years of dealing with different kinds of anxiety.

For me, the solution was a combination of talk-based therapies over the years, plus the the right balance of medication. This has been mirtazapine plus pregabalin. For me, these medications have acted within a week. They don't work for everyone. Nevertheless, these drugs are worth a try, either alone or in combination.

Hanshan

[Pipkin]

Jarrod,
I absolutely agree with you. The only way I can carry on is to force myself to continue to get out of bed/go to work/go for a walk/eat etc, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I'm not well enough to do these things. When I do (rarely) take sick leave from work, I end up feeling far worse and then get extremely anxious about going back, convincing myself that I can't do it anymore and then get into a downward spiral where I imagine losing my job and all consequences of that.
I told my partner that I should never be allowed to say I'm not well enough to do something and he always makes me stay active - he's unrelenting in this which really helps, although I don't appreciate it at the time.
Like you, I've had all the tests but that never stops me imagining the worst when I feel ill. Deep down, I know it's my mind playing tricks on me but when did being rational ever come into feeling anxious?
P x