Does anyone suffer from this?

[saintanselm]

Dear All,

I've had two bouts of PTSD ( 2004 and 2006) and now have GAD. I'm on Mirtazapine 30mg and I have some diazepan for emergencies. They have helped a bit. Before I used to grade my anxiety from one to ten and I was always around the 8 to 10 mark. Now my everyday anxiety goes from 6 to 8, so that horrible feeling is still with me. That stated, thanks to breathing exercises, I haven't had a panic attack for years.

One symptom I think I suffer from is that I become obsessed with what people think about me, which is very self centred, I know, most people have their own problems to think about! So I know that sometimes I am being irrational. Its just that after the PTSD episodes ( one near death car crash 2004, another near death experience 2006) I did go through a period where I was visibly mentally ill. This isn't me being paranoid I had to live with my parents for a time and they pointed it out. Now I'm still concerned that I might come across like this now. If I have a meeting, if I send an e-mail and don't get a reply back, if I leave a message for someone to call me and they don't... I worry myself sick. They usually don't get back for the simple reason they are busy! Does anyone else sometimes feel like this?

[BobbyDog]

I worry constantly about insignificant things and I get very paranoid about the way that people respond to me. So I can understand how you feel.
These are all symptoms of anxiety. Hopefully when you start to feel a little less stressed these things will not seem so important.:D

[lleksam]

I get like this when people don't reply to me, I get all sorts of stupid ideas in my head "They don't like me" "Maybe I said something that offended them" etc etc and it always turns out fine.

So you're not alone :D

[dabrucru]

I get like this when people don't reply to me, I get all sorts of stupid ideas in my head "They don't like me" "Maybe I said something that offended them" etc etc and it always turns out fine.

So you're not alone :D

exactly the way i feel !!:ohmy:

[NoPoet]

A fellow mirtazapine taker! The medication can't change what's happened in your past and therefore it will never act as a "cure" for GAD. Medication simply helps to relieve the symptoms. In the case of mirtazapine, it also massively improves your sleep and makes you hungry. I am gradually swelling to the proportions of Barney the singing dinosaur.

A lot of anxiety-related issues are caused by repetitive negative thoughts that erode our self-esteem. Having PTSD probably means that your entire world view got flushed down the toilet* and you have issues with security and uncertainty, which are also linked to personality traits. Have you always been a worrier, or needed more reassurance than others?

These repetitive negative thoughts are so ingrained it's like a record constantly playing on loop - a bit like the "Born in the USA bike" from Top Gear's Vietnam adventure. We get so used to hearing it that eventually we don't hear it. Our subconscious does though, and that's when the damage really starts.

The good news is you can train yourself into a new way of thinking, which creates a new way of behaving. You are not stuck with a broken record. Unfortunately it's a long and somewhat annoying process, but if you stick to it and adapt your tactics as you gradually start to get better (because the illness will start to resist when it knows you're onto it), you won't believe what a difference it makes to your life.

* My apologies if this sounds dismissive. It isn't meant to be.