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Wishingstar
21-07-04, 13:38
Hello everyone!

I posted a reply under another forum so thought I'd better introduce myself.

I'm Rebecca, 29 years old, living in London since 2001. Before that I was in the US, just north of Nashville Tennessee. (Yep, I'm an American living in Britain!) My husband is Scottish and is the reason I'm here. We were married about 2 weeks after I moved here, but we had known each other for about a year before that. No kids yet, but we are desperately hoping someday soon.

Aside from the basics, I've been struggling with anxiety and panic for about a year and a half now solidly. I've had a really horrible experience with the NHS and have not had any kind of real treatment at all. The only thing left for me seems to be private care because my GP is absolute crap. (That's a whole 'nother story tho!)

Right now I'm seeing a psycologist through a work funded employee assistance programme, but it ends after two more visits. And then I'm back to square one really. Other than that treatment, I try and do self-hypnosis and visualisation in the evenings, and try to do my CBT stuff as much as possible.

My symptoms change constantly. I have everything from a choking sensation to severe dizziness to headaches to pains in my rib cage, the list goes on and on. Just when I get used to one symptom, another one comes to scare me even more.

THe anxiety comes and goes for me. One day I'll be fine and confident, the next, getting home from work is too much to cope with. There's nothing specific that freaks me out, and so far there is nothing I can specificilly point to to say "there's the baddy! let's get him!" I have no idea what's causing this or what situation is triggering the attacks. And that is the part the frustrates me more than anything.

Anyway, that's a bit about me. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all. ALready this website has been a big help to me. :D

Meg
21-07-04, 14:58
Hey Rebecca,

Welcome to the site, glad you've found it of benefit .

I would hope that if your psychologist has been doing his stuff you should not be back to square 1 as its his/her job to help you recognise what caused this all initially , to teach you skills and provide reassurance so that when his support is over you can cope and continue to move forward in your progress .

Your symptoms are all so far entirely normal for anxiety and I hope you've found the list on the website of what ones you're not experiencing ..

Do check out First Steps to overcoming Panic and Anxiety (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=942) for things to do to identify and help yourself.

I would encourage you to think about what pops into your mind and you dwell on minutes before these symptoms happen.

Good on you for all your visualization and practicing your CBT .

Have you looked into changing your GP yet ? They are not all bad .



Meg

Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind.
If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.
Robert Albert Bloch

seh1980
23-07-04, 20:39
hello there,
Welcome to the forum! I'm an American living here in England as well!! I've suffered from panic attacks for about a year now and have founds tons of help and support here so I'm sure you will too. Take care.
Sarah (seh1980)

Caz Fab Pants
24-07-04, 18:41
Hi Rebecca,

Welcome to the forum and of course to the UK :)

Firstly I think you should give yourself some credit for getting through all these major life changes you've been through. Moving house (let alone emergrating) and getting married are thought to be 2 of the most stressful things to go through in one's life time. So I would say they may have something to do with your predicament.

I'm glad you have found this forum and think you will find it very helpful and inspiring.

Keep up with the self-hypnosis etc as I'm sure it all helps. Perhaps you could try some kind of exercise too as it is great for helping with anxiety and depression, something to do with the 'happy' endorphins it makes you produce.

Let us know how things are going.

Take care,
Caroline (Please excuse any spelling mistakes) :)
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