Fed up :(

[kipperfish]

Hey all me again,

I'm really getting fed up of all this anxiety now :(

I was meant to be going on a shopping trip with my sister in law today but I pushed it back to this afternoon and now feel like just cancelling it all together.
I was getting so much better, I started leaving the house more; I even had dinner at my boyfriends house (ok his family weren't in but that's still a massive step for me) and when she asked me to go shopping I was really excited about it but now this morning I can't stop crying and I feel sick and blargh.

I feel like I can't do anything I want to because when it comes to the day of it I just wake up and don't stop panicking until it's convinced me just to stay in the house

What do you think? Shall I just go and risk looking like an idiot or put it off till i'm feeling better...if that'll ever happen

Kip

[THETIGERSHULL]

Hey all me again,

I'm really getting fed up of all this anxiety now :(

I was meant to be going on a shopping trip with my sister in law today but I pushed it back to this afternoon and now feel like just cancelling it all together.
I was getting so much better, I started leaving the house more; I even had dinner at my boyfriends house (ok his family weren't in but that's still a massive step for me) and when she asked me to go shopping I was really excited about it but now this morning I can't stop crying and I feel sick and blargh.

I feel like I can't do anything I want to because when it comes to the day of it I just wake up and don't stop panicking until it's convinced me just to stay in the house

What do you think? Shall I just go and risk looking like an idiot or put it off till i'm feeling better...if that'll ever happen

Kip

Hi Kip

I'm Paul from the Uk too.

I took some hair loss medication recently and this has caused me terrible anxiety which I never had before.

I now spend most of my days indoors, not wanting to go out. I'm also off work sick because of my anxiety. I've never felt like this before and nobody seems to be able to help me so I know how your feeling.

Do you take anything for your anxiety, can you tell me anything I might be able to try?

Thanks

[Speranza]

Is there any chance you could go but make it a much smaller trip out? I would be wary of giving in altogether because you may stop being able to leave the house, but on the other hand, only you know how much you can reasonably push yourself.

[kipperfish]

Hi Paul,

I used to take citalopram for anxiety and depression but i suffered quite badly from side effects so they took me off them and haven't had anything since except rescue remedy and Kalms tablet things.

My secret help so far has been a bottle of frozen water because my anxiety is mainly driven by heat (whether its a symptom of the anxiety or the cause i'm not sure) so whenever I feel really anxious I just grab my frozen water and just hold it between my wrists so it cools me down and it really helps plus it doesn't make me look too weird in front of other people.

I too had to leave my job because of my anxiety and have been house bound (except to go to university on a friday). When I was really bad and I couldn't leave the house I tried to take things really slowly, I started off just by walking out of the front door and then built it up to the end of the driveway, then to the corner of the road and so on but it took me ages before I could get anywhere where there were other people.

There isn't much else I can help with except for think positive thoughts, don't think to yourself "I'm not panicking" because by saying panicking it makes you panic like when you say don't think of a tree you think of a tree and all that. So instead try and think of "I am fine, I feel calm, I feel relaxed" or try and imagine yourself in the place you feel safest and most relaxed and if you start to feel anxious picture that place in your mind with a little remote on a table and in your head pick up the remote and turn down the dial that says calm or relax or whichever word works.

I know it sounds cheesy this has all come from hypnotherapy but it worked for me for a while!

---------- Post added at 12:58 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

Hi Speranza,

I tried that by pushing it back to the afternoon because I know she has to be somewhere by six and that would mean coming back earlier and less time there etc.

I'm actually feeling a bit better about it now I've spoken to my partner and I've got my safety bottle of ice in the freezer all ready so I think I'm going to try and tackle it.

I hate shopping in big stores normally because the lights and heat and everything gives me migraines and everything but I've drugged myself up with all my meds I have for migraines etc and feeling a bit more driven to give a go for some reason! (Although i probably won't be saying that in an hour when I have to leave!)

[THETIGERSHULL]

Hi Paul,

I used to take citalopram for anxiety and depression but i suffered quite badly from side effects so they took me off them and haven't had anything since except rescue remedy and Kalms tablet things.

My secret help so far has been a bottle of frozen water because my anxiety is mainly driven by heat (whether its a symptom of the anxiety or the cause i'm not sure) so whenever I feel really anxious I just grab my frozen water and just hold it between my wrists so it cools me down and it really helps plus it doesn't make me look too weird in front of other people.

I too had to leave my job because of my anxiety and have been house bound (except to go to university on a friday). When I was really bad and I couldn't leave the house I tried to take things really slowly, I started off just by walking out of the front door and then built it up to the end of the driveway, then to the corner of the road and so on but it took me ages before I could get anywhere where there were other people.

There isn't much else I can help with except for think positive thoughts, don't think to yourself "I'm not panicking" because by saying panicking it makes you panic like when you say don't think of a tree you think of a tree and all that. So instead try and think of "I am fine, I feel calm, I feel relaxed" or try and imagine yourself in the place you feel safest and most relaxed and if you start to feel anxious picture that place in your mind with a little remote on a table and in your head pick up the remote and turn down the dial that says calm or relax or whichever word works.

I know it sounds cheesy this has all come from hypnotherapy but it worked for me for a while!

---------- Post added at 12:58 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

Hi Speranza,

I tried that by pushing it back to the afternoon because I know she has to be somewhere by six and that would mean coming back earlier and less time there etc.

I'm actually feeling a bit better about it now I've spoken to my partner and I've got my safety bottle of ice in the freezer all ready so I think I'm going to try and tackle it.

I hate shopping in big stores normally because the lights and heat and everything gives me migraines and everything but I've drugged myself up with all my meds I have for migraines etc and feeling a bit more driven to give a go for some reason! (Although i probably won't be saying that in an hour when I have to leave!)

Hi Kip

Thanks for that info, I'll try what you suggest.

Do you find exercise, like running helps at all?

Also, what caused or triggered your anxiety?

[Speranza]

Just literally take it a minute at a time. And if you feel your anxiety rising while you are out, just make a mental note if it: "Hey, that's once..." and so on. If you focus on something like counting how many anxious thoughts occur to you instead of entering into them and being drawn into being anxious, it may just give you enough mental space to get through it. Good luck, let us know how it went! x

[kipperfish]

Will do Speranza, thinking happy thoughts... wish me luck!

Paul- Exercise does help definitely, I'm not much of a runner myself but cycling definitely helped or even just taking the dogs out for a quick walk.

I'm not sure what actually caused my anxiety because I've had it so long but I think it got much much worse when I left home and went to University, after all my exams, stress, pressure, emotions all over the place and everything I had a lot of things bottled up and when I went to uni I had what i would describe as a mini breakdown half way through my first year and it's just been up and down since then really!

[kipperfish]

Sorry for the late reply! But i managed just about to get through it, didn't help that there was a major car crash on the dual carriageway which i had to drive past, luckily my trusty ice bottle helped me out a lot.

Didn't actually buy anything but I really did enjoy myself and even got praise off my sister-in-law for how well i was coping with it!

Pretty pleased to be honest :)

[Speranza]

YEY! Well done you! That's what to focus on next time - the sense of achievement. Really well done! :hugs:

[kipperfish]

Now i've got my next major stressors coming up! My final coursework deadline for my Masters but it's a 20 minute presentation to a large group of people so naturally i think anyone would be scared!

Then after that i've got a job interview which is going to be absolutely horrific! The last job interview I had was bang in the middle of when I was suffering from major depression as well as panic and the woman was horrific to me, very patronising (actually told me i didn't know anything and i was stupid because i misunderstood one of her questions) made me burst into tears in the middle of the interview and when I got home she had the cheek to have emailed me to say I was unsuitable for any job in that line of work and I'd never get anywhere in life which a weak attitude like mine (now I've got a Masters in that area and for both my undergrad and my masters i've achieved top marks and been recognised as the best in the year both times so clearly she is the one in the wrong)

*sigh* it never ends does it! lol