What Do I do

[Jewel]

Hi

I just need some advice really and something to help myself get better.

At the moment I really dont know if I can cope any longer and I dont know why. I just feel inferior to everyone as I have nothing wrong in my life to make me feel like this.

I have developed an obsession with singing songs in my head and it is driving me nuts. Really scaring me keep thinking that it is something taking over my mind and I dont know what to do about it. I dont tell anyone because it is sooo weird. I just want to be normal and live my life like everyone else does aithout feeling terrified all the time and out of touch with whats really going on at any particular time.

I cant go on with this obsession and I dont know how to stop it. If I could believe that it is nothing but I cannot get myself to believe this, it makes me panic and the more I dont want to sing the more I do. It is on my mind 24/7.

Has anyone felt like this and got better and can you help.

Thanks

Nicola

[nomorepanic]

Hi Jewel

I replied before under this post ...

advice please (http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=2125)


Nicola

[Merlinssister]

One of my friends who was eventually diagnosed with OCD would obsess about songs. He wouldn't sing them in his head, but he couldn't rest until he knew where a line came from, for example. I'm not saying that is your situation, but it does sound just like a symptom, and some symptoms of anxiety and depression can seem strange. My friend is now back to teaching (which when he was very ill he never thought he would do). It's been a tough road, and he has the occasional lapse, like we all do, but he has got through to the other side. I'm sure you will as well.

[sal]

Hi Jewel

It is hard when you cant stop doing something and you become obsessed with it as it does make you more anxious.

You also need to remember it becomes a habit and even people who dont suffer from anxiety will do that and think nothing about it at all. Where by we punish ourselves and convince ourselves we are losing it.

My daughter Sam has starting this irritating habit of whistling all the time, she thinks nothing of it at all, and why should she as its a habit she has picked up, nothing more or nothing less, only that is driving me nuts!!!



Lots of Love Sal xxxxx

[doddy]

Hi Jewel,

This sent a shiver down my spine when i read this as I use to do exaclyn the same!!! From the moment id wake up Id have songs going round my head!!! if someone said something to me a minute later id have a song realted to the subject in my head!!

so.....a couple of things for you to think about here.......

Firstly, you are not losing your mind and I can tell you that for definate.......and I can also say for definate that you will get better.......but dont expect for it to happen tommoroe as it wont happen that quick.....day by day little steps forward......walk enough little steps and youve soon made a mile!!!

I use to sing the songs out loud!!! would make me laugh as they were usually normally crap songs!!!

dont dwell on this at all.........songs are better that nasty thoughts and dont worry it doesnt develop into this.

I can tell you now that when i had the songs it was probably the start of my recvoery............i would say that im now 95% panic free and almost there....and you will get there.

i found Meg to be a great source of imformation and support...........listen to her.......she speaks common sense and puts things into perspective.

be content with a slight improvment......wont happen overnight but it does....and it really does get better........

try to read a really absorbing book......distract yourself and you watch the songs stop.....the miond can only concentrate on one thing at once.

im here if you need me.

take care....remeber the small steps.

andy

[tana]

hi jewel,i have one song in my head for every situation that happens to me,even when i get up during the night to use the bathroom ill sing the same song,this has been with me since i was a little girl,i waS SHY AND MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS YO YO DIETING,so she never spoke to me about how i felt,so i used music as my answer,but i find what trigers it off for me is when i cant make a possitive dission,so i am able to recognise the situation,but i will battle with myself for days until it finally goes away,frinds of mine are the same so you are not alone,cds is in all of us,but some people recognise it some choose not to,things that annoy us are a problem,but we have the choice to ignore it or let it take contol! tana x

jharris

[Jewel]

Thanks for all your replies. They were great. At the moment I am trying to convince myself that it is just a habit and nothing to be frightened of but it does seem to happen when you least expect it. Funny thing is that I went to a Yoga class and it seemed to disappear the next day or perhaps I didnt think about it.

So the thing that I have learnt is that I do need to relax more as it seems to help, which is easier said than done. Does anyone feel as if they are in a different world to all the rest of the population. Or is it just my imagination.

You see the reason why I get so wound up is because when I first had a panic attack after my Grandad had died I moved back to England and after a few weeks I started to feel strange. Doctor said it was just adjustment stress and to give myself time to settle in. Anyway I didnt listen thought it was something far more sinister than this, was prescribed variuos medications etc, none really worked, and just kept getting worse. After one of my numerous visits to the doctor she sent me to see a Physciatrist which in the state that I was in convinced me that I had lost the plot. So instead of getting better, I just kepr getting worse and worse and was eventually admitted to a clinic, which was extremely frightening and confusing as it was for Alcoholics to Mental Patients. So you can imagine which bracket I thought that I fitted into.

Anyway I got really bad and some Nurses and Doctors would say it was nothing others were really concerned they tried all sorts of medications and offered shock treatment, kept asking if I was hearing voices, which really frightened me and set off the most enormous obsession that kept and made me so ill.

So to cut the long story short every time I do not feel 'well' I automatically think that it is all going to happen again and I dont know how to get out of this thinking and get my confidence back.

This all happened 8 years ago and I have not told anyone about it and have lived in fear of it happening again.

Sorry for the ramble

Thanks so much

Nicola

[Meg]

Dear Nicola,

Yes it is now a habit that needs to be broken and the best way to do this is distraction initially.
Yoga is great as if focuses you on another train of thought anfd relaxes you. Keep going as its a cumulative response.

Feeling like you're on another planet is fairly common and is due to the stress hormones raging - it passes as you relax down.

Remember that the more you know and learn the more you're insuring yourself against you going back to square 1 as you know too much about how to help yourself and to recognise this is manageable.


Meg
www.overcominganxiety.co.uk

You cannot conquer fear until you have learned what it is you're afraid of. The enemy is ignorance. Vivian Vance