How do you guys cope?

[RVP]

I honestly can't take anymore, I have good days and bad, but my bad days very quickly wipe out any days I felt normal.
I go to sleep thinking "will I wake up" I get over one fear, and another one overlaps it. I don't want to live like this, I hardly ever cry, but sometimes I feel the only way to relieve some anxiety is by totally draining myself emotionaly and physically and I feel as if having a good cry does that for me.

People say "get help from a professional" but I can't see how by talking to someone my health anxiety will vanish.. And the only way I know my health anxiety go is of course, by having no aches or pains.

Sometimes it gets so bad I have suicidal thoughts and i've only had this pathetic anxiety for just over 2 years. Which is nothing compared to a lot of you. How do you cope with it on a daily basis? because I can feel myself slowly breaking apart.

[Confused&scared]

Just want you to know you're not alone. I had very bad HA after the birth of my first child, which was then taken over by post natal depression, after the birth of my second child. For some reason it has suddenly come back over the past few months after a few years without (although I have had other types of anxiety instead). I am at the end of my tether now, so sick of worrying that I'm going to leave my children without a mother :-(

[cattia]

Sorry that you feel so bad. It's hard when it gets so bad that you feel like there is no way out of it. I've had anxiety for 15 years, probably longer really as looking back I even had it in childhood but in different forms. I can honestly say that there have been quite significant lengths of time when my anxiety has been so well under control that it hasn't bothered me much and I can live a normal life and enjoy things. Sadly that isn't the case at the moment, but I know that it is possible and it will happen again. For me, peverse as it sounds, accepting that anxiety is something I will always live with was actually a real help. In my twenties, I spent a lot of time when my anxiety was feeling not so bad, just worrying that it would come back again. That actually gave it a lot of power over me. Accepting that it will come back again but that I can spot it earlier, manage it better and get it into remission more quickly is what gives me hope.
I know it feels that talking about your anxiety won't help, but actually it can help to gain more understanding of what makes your mind function in this way and how to alter the thought processes that feed the anxiety. It's also unrealistic to expect that you can ever be symptom free - every human being on this earth suffers from minor physical symptoms all the time - aches and pains, the odd headache, mouth ulcers, tiredness, muscle strain, stomach aches, you name it, these things are just part of being human. The difference is the way that we focus on them and interpret them as having more meaning than they actually do. As long as you think you can't be anxiety free until you are free of physical aches and pains, you are committing yourself to keeping on with the anxious feelings. I know this is hard to accept, and honestly I could be writing this to myself, but I also know that this is true. Anxiety disorders aren't fussy about what they latch themselves onto, it can be almost anything.
Counselling and medication really can help, and they are both ways that you can stabilise your moods and feelings while you learn coping strategies. It really can get better, just hang in there and keep working through it.

[RVP]

I can be perfectly normal, but once I've been dragged into the whirlwine of aches and pains, I can't seem to get out.
I know people always say everyone gets the odd headache and ache ect..
but we don't get it like that, I've had head pressure for god knows how long, made countless posts on it and even the doctor seems like she doesn't know what it is.
Yesterday all of a sudden whilst sat down I got quite bad around my shin, all throughout the night till about 9AM until it slowly went, I haven't noticed it all today but now it's starting to hurt again..
I have quite a high pain threshold, and this pain was atleast a 6 which to me is high. It stopped me from getting to sleep and surely this isn't anxiety related.. I really don't know what's going on with my body.

My problem, even though people have said countless times DO NOT SEARCH IT UP, DO NOT SELF DIAGNOSE I still can't help but do it :( so now I think I have a blood clot, and because I read some people don't get swelling or redness that is what I have.
It's really doing my head in, and that's not the pressure :P

[Khadijah]

Hi there, I am very sorry to hear you are feeling this way.

I think even without any aches and pains, you would still feel the same. I have no worrying symptoms but just negative thoughts and it still takes over my life. Constant fears of having a heart attack / failure and dying. :weep:

I think anxiety won't be helped by counselling either, but honestly..it is worth a try. Even if you feel the counselling may not help but they can refer you for CBT which works for 80% of patients! :)

[grace.M]

I'm sorry to hear your feeling like this x. I've been dealing with anxiety for a while now and sometimes i do find it really hard to cope, some of the feelings just feel too overwhelming and the recurring fears and worrys seem to have no end! my ways of coping have changed a lot and thay will differ from person to person, music and movies used to be great for me because i could switch my concentration from my mad worrys to the nice tunes or some lighthearted movie plot :P I'm struggling now because i have anxiety on a daily basis and i have had a few times where i don't see it getting better, but it does! and about seeing a professional its really up to you i mean i see a counsellor at my uni and no-one aside from the student support system know about it.. so I'm happy to talk, and it may help you understand how you feel the way you do its nothing scary like tests or formal discussions.. just someone who will listen to your worrys :)

as for coping now i find having set comforts really help.. like i just got a big pack of sweet tea which helps calm me down.. I'm also trying aromatherapy.... basically just bying perfume... but its something that seems like a constant when i worry so much :P and I'm also trying 'rescue remedy' its like a natural therapy i was recommended and you can get sprays tablets or drops... but i opted for the sweet chews lol i dunno having something you can keep a constant like something that is garenteed to make you feel a little better really helps, like saying you'll go or a run at a certain time every day, or having a sweet or tea that you can grab when you feel anxious might really help :) feel free to pm me if you have any questions... a lot of the time when i post in here its all a little disjointed and i ramble on ha

[RVP]

That's the problem..things that people do to relieve their anxiety just doesn't work on me.
Having a cup of tea, eating sweets and going on walks for fresh air, doesn't make my anxiety or stress levels any better.

Actually, I do find when I excercise, especially when I go on a cycle I feel a lot better, but that's hard to do everyday.
The only time I get peace is when I'm a sleep :(

[grace.M]

i tend to sleep off my stress a lot.. but now i sleep way to much lol. i think it might take a while to figure out what really helps take the anxiety down a notch, perhaps looking into things you can happily focus on without having the worry take you out of it.. perhaps books or comics, writing down my worrys really helps me look at it differently :) with the exercise... if that helps, mhaby trying to wander around the house and find someone to take your mind off it might help,

do you feel your getting anxiety/stress on a daily basis now then? or is it just the same kind of triggers?

[RVP]

Nope, defintely on a daily basis, but it gets worse when there's something of mine hurting or if I'm worrying about something.
I would say my anxiety is definetely when I'm at home.
When I'm out with my friends or at uni I love it, and I get on with my day because I know I can't ponder on anything.

I can't stop googling stuff everytime I get an ache, even if it has only been hurting for 2mins.

[grace.M]

yeah sounds a lot like what i was like before i went to collage... my anxiety would be at an all time high because of some ache or weird tingle in my body and i would freak out.. it was purely health anxiety then...only happened when i started thinking in the evenings, my best advice would be to take yourself away from the situation, don't look for what it is online (google searching was my biggest downfall) and rather if you have to post on here and leave it at that :) you'll find a lot of people with similar issues (I'm sure you have already :P) if you still feel uneasy, talk to a friend about it... you don't need to explain about the anxiety, just ask 'do you get this sometimes?' ask your family.. thay are the first to tell you its probably only worry :) or just talk to someone in general to take your mind off it... just make sure you get up and move around...take yourself away from the worry x

[MikeT1991]

Hey man don't worry yourself health anxiety is bad, where you say talking about it how does that help? Its realises the issue out of are heads, talking about it makes us realise its anxiety its a physical way of telling are minds its not true, I have been that bad I wind myself up and sit there in silence with pains aches pressures but I speak to my friends and it starts to subside, pushing yourself to stay busy slowly makes us better, because we soon realise it comes and goes? When am not thinking about it, it isn't there?! :O so its easier to say yeah its anxiety, we all know it deep down but at the lowest your scared to believe it incase something is wrong with us, yeah the is, we suffer from anxiety that's it, it is an illness. You are far from alone