scared to get out of bed!

[helenclaire]

Every morning I wake with that feeling of dread about what sort of day I am going to have.
I know I am making myself worse lying there thinking about it but I cant shake it off.
The longer I stay in bed the worse it is but its the only place I feel safe.
I get a lot of dizziness and lightheadiness so at least if I am in bed I know physically I cant come to harm as I have a fear of fainting so when im up I am constantly worrying about that.
I have never fainted and doubt I will but every time I feel off I think this is it.

How I would love to wake up and jump out of bed and embrace the day.
Maybe one day
x

[Raphaels]

Good morning Helenclaire,
I have the same issue. I have this dread in the pit of my stomach. Facing the day is hard. Yet once I'm up I feel better. It's the whatever. Believe when I say I know how hard it is. I feel safer in bed. It's even harder now because it's winter and cold. So throw back the duvet and face the day as I have now.

[fruity]

yep deffo can relate.

[helenclaire]

Well I am up, but still not ready to face the day.
Thinking about what I need to do today but trying to find the energy to do it x

[Rennie1989]

You say that staying in bed makes you feel worse and you worry about fainting. Firstly, anxiety cannot make you faint, you faint as a result of a low blood pressure, anxiety makes your bp rise so you cannot faint. If you get up, walk around for a bit the dizziness will go, because spending too much time in bed can do that. It's going to take some courage.

[ankietyjoe]

It's definitely a catch 22 situation.

When I got my first bout of anxiety several years ago I got to the point where I 'knew' I was going to start fainting when I was out and about, although I never did.

I eventually had CBT and the one thing I remember from the course more than anything else was the therapist saying 'so what?'

So what if you faint? You won't, but so what if you do?

A few years later I had a much, much worse bout of anxiety and I became pretty much glued to the sofa for several months. Every time I got up I got a pounding chest, dizziness etc etc. Making yourself immobile definitely makes it worse. At the very least I found it was a good idea to get up, get washed and get myself dressed.

It takes time, but small steps each day work wonders.

[Bonnibelle]

I used to have a fear of fainting, i guess I still do to some extent. I used to sit around all day, scared to get up and get on with my day. I soon realised i was just feeding the fear and anxiety, once I started doing more the fear got easier. It was tough at first but the more I did, the busier I was things got easier.

I had to say to myself, so what if I faint? why am I so scared of fainting? I realised it was really irrational and nothing to fear, certainly not something to sit around wasting my life worrying about.

Read the Claire Weekes book, Self Help for your Nerves. I can't recommend this book enough.