au Lait
11-09-17, 20:08
Nice to meet you all. I've lurked for a bit here and today I decided I may as well join. What have I got to lose?
I've suffered from various forms of anxiety for most of my life. Mostly social anxiety, but within the past year it has taken a turn into full blown health anxiety. Things really escalated about a month ago when I had a stereotypical rabies scare (I've since learned this to be a fairly common scare for health anxiety sufferers). I don't want to get too much into the details as I don't want to trigger anyone's anxiety, but suffice it to say that the experience ended with me getting the series of post exposure rabies vaccinations. UGH! And the cat in question? Still very much alive and not rabid.
My most recent health anxiety fear is related to eating. I've developed an irrational fear of choking while eating, and this has caused me to avoid eating foods that I used to enjoy. This is a big problem for me because I love to eat.
These two recent developments are what made me realize that I really need to start making positive changes in my life. The person that I am today is not the person who I want to be.
I feel disappointed in myself on top of all of this, because about 4-5 years ago my anxiety was pretty much under control. I was doing so well, and now I've fallen so far back down the recovery ladder that I'm almost worse off than I was in the early days of my anxiety. It's so discouraging.
Anyway, this intro is long and taking a turn for the depressing. :ohms: I hope that I can help others by offering advice and encouragement. And in turn perhaps help myself.
Thank you for reading!
I've suffered from various forms of anxiety for most of my life. Mostly social anxiety, but within the past year it has taken a turn into full blown health anxiety. Things really escalated about a month ago when I had a stereotypical rabies scare (I've since learned this to be a fairly common scare for health anxiety sufferers). I don't want to get too much into the details as I don't want to trigger anyone's anxiety, but suffice it to say that the experience ended with me getting the series of post exposure rabies vaccinations. UGH! And the cat in question? Still very much alive and not rabid.
My most recent health anxiety fear is related to eating. I've developed an irrational fear of choking while eating, and this has caused me to avoid eating foods that I used to enjoy. This is a big problem for me because I love to eat.
These two recent developments are what made me realize that I really need to start making positive changes in my life. The person that I am today is not the person who I want to be.
I feel disappointed in myself on top of all of this, because about 4-5 years ago my anxiety was pretty much under control. I was doing so well, and now I've fallen so far back down the recovery ladder that I'm almost worse off than I was in the early days of my anxiety. It's so discouraging.
Anyway, this intro is long and taking a turn for the depressing. :ohms: I hope that I can help others by offering advice and encouragement. And in turn perhaps help myself.
Thank you for reading!