Getting help

[mike92]

Hi, I'm mike. Long time lurker, finally got round to posting. I guess recently things have finally got bad enough for me that I do need to seek professional help. Problem I have is how do I do this? I suffer from social anxiety which is now seriously affecting both my personal and professional life. I know telling the doc about my problems is the first thing to do but it seems so hard as I cannot open up to people.. Especially telling a stranger my problems face to face. Any suggestions? Really appreciate it..

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya mike92 and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[mike92]

Thanks, will check them out :)

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Mike and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Have you thought about writing it down? It's hard just getting the points across when you are anxious and you often forget things or go off on a tangent. Even bullet points will help.

Please don't worry, as hard as that sounds, your GP is used to difficult situations and anxiety is very common these days. You will find it the same at first in talking to a therapist but they are trained to get the information they need of us.

I would suggest raising threads on the main boards too as they very more replies than this one and talking about what you want to. I was a lurker too and I knew I could trust the people on here from reading their responses and no one makes any judgements as we all understand how anxiety feels.

Good luck!

[mike92]

thanks for the reply Terry. Is it possible to email doctors these days? I really can't see my talking face to face about it.. It's something I've really bottled up for a long time in which even my partner doesent know,

[Rainboww]

Hi Mike,
I thought I'd share my story with you as I had a similar experience.
I have suffered from anxiety for about 5 years now and up until 6 months ago I never once told my GP how I had been feeling...
For the last year and a half things have been really bad and I was finding it difficult to control my thoughts.
I made an appointment with my GP and I won't lie, it was awful. I started to talk and just burst into tears. Like you, my friends and family have no idea and I find it difficult to talk about.
My GP was very supportive and asked me a few questions, mainly asking how long I had problems for. She offered me medication which I refused - I was worried that I would become anxious about side effects and felt that would add to the problem - I also have to take medication for other things and didn't want to add to the pile.
She gave me leaflets for different types of therapy and told me how I could access them.
6 months later I am slowly feeling better than I did. I have started CBT and find it is helping but I still have a long way to go.
I am really glad I spoke to my GP, I would hate to think how bad things would be now if I hadn't.

Talking about my anxiety was the hardest thing I have had to do but I am so glad I did it. It felt like a weight off my shoulders.

I hope this helps you, and you get the help that you need x

[MyNameIsTerry]

thanks for the reply Terry. Is it possible to email doctors these days? I really can't see my talking face to face about it.. It's something I've really bottled up for a long time in which even my partner doesent know,

I think they do this in other countries such as the US.

I know you can because I've heard people on TV say they do it, but it might be a case of having an expensive doctor as they their services are more bespoke as opposed to us sitting in the packed waiting rooms!

You could write it in an email and take it with you. Explain to your GP that you will struggle to discuss this and hand it over to him/her.

[Davit]

Well Terry

I was going to suggest the same things.

I would definitely write, that way nothing gets missed.