Recovering after a prolonged period of extreme anxiety... [Archive]

View Full Version : Recovering after a prolonged period of extreme anxiety...

KayeS

29-03-15, 23:22

So basically from about August last year until about 2 weeks ago, I was in the depths of extreme health anxiety. It was one thing after another, many tests, many worries, many occasions of being 100% convinced I had a terrible illness, and I am finally at a stage where I'm out of it, however I still don't feel 100% right in myself.

I feel like I still have the lingering effects of being under this much stress for so long. I often find myself starting to feel anxiety about something, but I am able to catch myself now and stop it, but I just feel as if it's always sort of there in the back of my mind, ready to attack me. I can tell I am still not fully relaxed in general as I often wake up startled, or just feel like I haven't had good quality sleep. I still feel lethargic and am still struggling to get back into my healthy lifestyle of training 5 times a week, eating well, and basically just feeling strong and solid like I used to.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get the mind right after going through such a thing? I know my body is not sick, but I need my positive attitude back. I almost now have a lingering depression, and I know this sounds absolutely crazy, but I almost feel like there is a void now that I don't have all these worries that took over my thoughts for the last year or so.

Gotagetthroughthis

30-03-15, 00:29

I have felt like you describe for the past 2 years to a degree. I still have anxiety but it has settled down somewhat as I have learnt to deal with it and if it is getting severe I usually manage to "catch myself" as you say. Still do have it hanging over me though and I still have various symptoms and generally do not feel right but under all that even if im having a decent day I still feel I have a lingering depression or some sort of void as you put it.

I think a lot of the anxiety and lingering depression feelings are habitual and will eventually lift if you live a normal life with passions goals etc rather than focusing on the negative feelings. There are obviously many other things like you can try on top of that, like getting back to your training/healthy life style and diet. Other more random things such as meditation, Yoga, acupuncture, any many other things can all help even if it is just a placebo affect to some degree.

If its more than just a blip tough and there is some underlying trauma or deep emotional problem then I think these feelings persist until that is solved and that is what I think is going on with myself. This would probably need to be tackled through some sort of therapy.

KayeS

30-03-15, 01:07

Gotagetthroughthis

30-03-15, 01:22

Thanks for the reply. I am having counselling once a week but I don't feel like it's really the right thing for me if I'm honest... I don't believe I have any underlying trauma, just persistent health anxiety for most of my adult life. Prior to the latest bout of it I was good for about 3 years.

I've considered things like yoga/meditation actually, might give those a try. I just wish I could completely rid my mind of not only the lingering anxiety, which is about nothing now, but even of the memory of the hellish last year... :/

Yea persistent health anxiety, but why do you have that? Theres probably some underlying reason for it but maybe not. I am in therapy too, have tried quite a few and im the same I don't feel its for me, it doesn't do anything for me and I cant seem to "think" or "talk" my way out of my mental state. Oh well we just got to keep trying.

pulisa

30-03-15, 08:47

I don't think therapy is for everyone. It certainly gets touted as the "gold standard" which is essential for "recovery" but I feel that we maybe should just accept ourselves for being prone to anxiety/depression etc and try to deal with episodes to the best of our ability but not necessarily resorting to therapies which are a bit hit or miss.

KayeS

30-03-15, 10:36

Yea persistent health anxiety, but why do you have that? Theres probably some underlying reason for it but maybe not. I am in therapy too, have tried quite a few and im the same I don't feel its for me, it doesn't do anything for me and I cant seem to "think" or "talk" my way out of my mental state. Oh well we just got to keep trying.

If I'm honest my health anxiety just started when I was young and watching things on TV like ER, and documentaries on hospitals etc... and I just started thinking I had everything I saw on there... I feel like I need a 2 week vacation somewhere just lying on a beach to be honest... now to find the time off work and the money for it... Lol.

---------- Post added at 10:36 ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 ----------

I don't think therapy is for everyone. It certainly gets touted as the "gold standard" which is essential for "recovery" but I feel that we maybe should just accept ourselves for being prone to anxiety/depression etc and try to deal with episodes to the best of our ability but not necessarily resorting to therapies which are a bit hit or miss.

Yeah I agree. I gave it a shot as I am open to anything and have heard it helps people, but yeah, I just don't think I'm the kind of person that benefits from that kind of thing unfortunately...

rcs

30-03-15, 20:08

I am like you in finding counselling not very effective and I even tried private CBT therapy which was slightly better but mostly I feel they are repeating the same script from CBT books and the therapist was getting impatient with my progress as was I .

I have been diagnosed with GAD and I also understand your health anxiety as I suffer from fatigue , sore stomach and sweating which I have seen the Doctor about and have had blood tests on (awaiting results)..

I would look into mindfulness it seems to be the latest thing and I am considering it as an alternative in the future if my problems persist.

Take care
RCS:ohmy:

KayeS

01-04-15, 01:40

Yeah I get the impression my therapist is getting impatient too... I must be bad lol. I'll look into mindfulness, thanks for the heads up :)