helloworld
05-04-15, 14:54
Hi All,
My name is Mark and I live in the UK (south west). I just joined this morning and wanted to post my story - in part as a way of documenting what happened to me for my own sake- and also to hopefully receive and provide some support to other people with similar problems. Sorry in advance for the long post!
Until a few months ago I had never suffered at all from anxiety-related problems. Then, late last year I was working way too hard and started to experience (what I know recognise) as panic attacks in certain situations (giving presentations at work especially).. these became more and more frequent and occurred in more and more everyday situations until eventually I would be waking up in a state of high anxiety, unable to suppress my negative thoughts or concentrate properly.... I rapidly became semi-agoraphobic because of the fear of the panic...
I was aware that I was over-doing it at work- but hadn't expected anything as bad as this to be the consequence.
At this stage (xmas 2014) I saw a doctor and took some time off work (I was non-functional so this was unavoidable)... I was referred for CBT, eventually started taking sertraline, and started to try and practice mindfulness techniques....
As a result of one or all of these i very slowly got somehwat better - I can go to work and do useful stuff... but I now feel like I am a bit "stuck".... Although I have a bit more control over the panic- i still feel haunted by it- and I still can't lead a normal social life....
I'm also scared of whether I can really manage my job when it gets stressful again, and am wondering whether I should consider permanently changing my job, or the hours I work to try and make my life a bit more chilled out...
Anyway - I'm looking forward to learning more from the people here - as I've certainly found that sharing my experience with other people has helped me come to terms with my problems....
My name is Mark and I live in the UK (south west). I just joined this morning and wanted to post my story - in part as a way of documenting what happened to me for my own sake- and also to hopefully receive and provide some support to other people with similar problems. Sorry in advance for the long post!
Until a few months ago I had never suffered at all from anxiety-related problems. Then, late last year I was working way too hard and started to experience (what I know recognise) as panic attacks in certain situations (giving presentations at work especially).. these became more and more frequent and occurred in more and more everyday situations until eventually I would be waking up in a state of high anxiety, unable to suppress my negative thoughts or concentrate properly.... I rapidly became semi-agoraphobic because of the fear of the panic...
I was aware that I was over-doing it at work- but hadn't expected anything as bad as this to be the consequence.
At this stage (xmas 2014) I saw a doctor and took some time off work (I was non-functional so this was unavoidable)... I was referred for CBT, eventually started taking sertraline, and started to try and practice mindfulness techniques....
As a result of one or all of these i very slowly got somehwat better - I can go to work and do useful stuff... but I now feel like I am a bit "stuck".... Although I have a bit more control over the panic- i still feel haunted by it- and I still can't lead a normal social life....
I'm also scared of whether I can really manage my job when it gets stressful again, and am wondering whether I should consider permanently changing my job, or the hours I work to try and make my life a bit more chilled out...
Anyway - I'm looking forward to learning more from the people here - as I've certainly found that sharing my experience with other people has helped me come to terms with my problems....