Can anxiety ever be forgotten?

[Mojo61]

Is it possible to ever completely forget you had anxiety once you are better? For the past 6 months I have thought EVERY single day about my anxiety and if I will ever get over it. It consumes me and it is all I ever think about unless I am asleep. Sometimes I will "forget" for a brief time if I'm distracted by something else, but it always comes back to remind me that it's still hanging around.

Now I'm taking citalopram and I'm seeing some glimpses of normality, but what I'm wondering is, even if I do completely recover will I ever have a life where I'm not constantly thinking about if it will come back?

I guess it is rather like a person who is in remission from a disease, it is always there in the back of their minds "Is it going to come back?"

[23fish]

I was on Cit for about 15 years, and once it kicked in I hardly ever thought about anxiety and just lived a normal life with the usual ups and downs which didn't bother me. It only came back when I hit the menopause!

[Mojo61]

Thank you! I think the menopause is what started my anxiety off last year.

[Lisah34]

I managed 12 years anxiety free, i was able to live normal without thinking about anxiety at all, even discussing anxiety with people if the conversation arose. Anxiety dont need to consume your life

[HalfJack]

People recover all the time, it's definitely possible. I still have anxiety but it's not something that I think about all the time, or even everyday anymore.

[NoPoet]

I read once that "pain, once forgotten, cannot properly be remembered".

You may recall it during bad moments and bad days, but once you start recovering from anxiety it feels more like an old bruise or a healed burn than horror or terror. It goes from being blasted with a cold hose to a gentle summer rain.

Once you've recovered, you don't "need" to feel the old ways any more. You don't "need" the anxiety. It isn't your habit any more. Your first reaction will be to fight, to use your coping strategies and to keep moving forwards.

Recovery is not the absence of fear. It's about moving forward and putting your lessons to good use.

[Fishmanpa]

It's like a severe physical illness. I have the physical scars that remain and remind me of that time in my life but the pain eventually fades.

It's also similar to heartbreak. You'll always remember but the pain does eventually fade.

I believe it's good that we remember, even the bad times, as they allow us to see just how far we've come.

Positive thoughts

[Mojo61]

Thank you all so much for your wise words which have comforted me.

I guess it is just hard for me to believe that I will ever "forget" the anxiety because it is all I've thought about for the past 6 months. Prior to that I had never had an anxious thought in my life (well, apart from the normal ones that everyone has but they didn't bother me) It is nice to hope that one day I will get back to that state and be able to live my life again.

[23fish]

I keep telling myself the menopause can't last forever and maybe I'll get back to how I once was!

[fretty freda]

I had severe anxiety 15 years ago recovered then 6 years ago recovered and relapsed now . In the in between years I guess panic attacks where always in the back of my mind but just like what if it comes back , not thinking about it 24/7 but in my subconscious while I carried on life as usual, if any stressful situation happened it would bring the fears into my concious like I feel panicky . I guess what I'm saying in a nutshell no not really it's always un the back of your mind somewhere .don't get me wrong many days I'd be happy and anxiety free but there's always that doubt of relapse if you focus on the thought of doubt it grows . Hope this makes sense .I'm sure you can be in recovery and happily not focused on anxiety x

[HalfJack]

...I guess what I'm saying in a nutshell no not really it's always un the back of your mind somewhere...

I think some experience that and other's don't.
For me I relapse with depression a lot but I've never been able to overcome it in the same way I have with anxiety issues, I think my depression is due to biological reasons where as my anxiety began after I experienced mild trauma and due to my depression being misdiagnosed for so long etc.

I still consider myself agoraphobic, but I know that it will never again make me housebound, because I've overcome that aspect of it. It doesn't cause me to panic, but it's not gone. I experienced relapses while overcoming it, but now things that used to trigger me don't etc. And I handle a lot of things better than I did before I even had anxiety! I overcame health anxiety completely like 100%.
Everyone is different, regardless of what kind of recovery you'll make, there's no doubt your life can get better x