angoisse
12-08-08, 19:49
Hello to all—
I’ve been following posts on this website for about a month now and feel finally ready to embark on this electronic endeavour. I’m 21, female, originally from Toronto but now reside in Montréal, and a sufferer of Generalized Anxiety Disorder as well as Health Anxiety and Emetophobia. I suppose I could say that I have been an anxious girl my whole life, and I know for sure that I have been terrified of vomiting since my very earliest memories—in fact it was realizing that being either terrified or at least uncomfortable every day wasn’t normal that took a long time. I have only been diagnosed for around a year and a half—I experienced my first anxiety attack in a café two years ago, to which I responded by calling InfoSanté (a telephone health line) insisting I was having a heart attack. It has been a roller coaster ride ever since.
After going to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for 8 months, I feel a lot better, but have a lot more to deal with. Recently, the “high” I was on after having finished CBT has begun wearing off, and I’m beginning to fear the worst—relapse. I have never taken medication for anxiety before, but am beginning to consider it as a last resort. I know that my relationship with my partner will begin wearing thin if I end up the way I was last year, locked in our apartment, hands bleeding from over washing, seeking reassurance at every minute of the day, not to mention the disappointment I will feel in myself.
Anyways, I was a little apprehensive joining this site in all honesty, as I fear that it may feed my anxieties rather than help them, but alas, so many of you feel as though it is therapeutic and helpful to connect to so many like-minded individuals, so I’ll trust you on that one. Not to mention the fact that you all seem spectacularly kind and caring!
Thanks for listening. I’m hoping to get to know you all a little better, and that we all start to feel a little better.
Sincerely,
angoisse
I’ve been following posts on this website for about a month now and feel finally ready to embark on this electronic endeavour. I’m 21, female, originally from Toronto but now reside in Montréal, and a sufferer of Generalized Anxiety Disorder as well as Health Anxiety and Emetophobia. I suppose I could say that I have been an anxious girl my whole life, and I know for sure that I have been terrified of vomiting since my very earliest memories—in fact it was realizing that being either terrified or at least uncomfortable every day wasn’t normal that took a long time. I have only been diagnosed for around a year and a half—I experienced my first anxiety attack in a café two years ago, to which I responded by calling InfoSanté (a telephone health line) insisting I was having a heart attack. It has been a roller coaster ride ever since.
After going to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for 8 months, I feel a lot better, but have a lot more to deal with. Recently, the “high” I was on after having finished CBT has begun wearing off, and I’m beginning to fear the worst—relapse. I have never taken medication for anxiety before, but am beginning to consider it as a last resort. I know that my relationship with my partner will begin wearing thin if I end up the way I was last year, locked in our apartment, hands bleeding from over washing, seeking reassurance at every minute of the day, not to mention the disappointment I will feel in myself.
Anyways, I was a little apprehensive joining this site in all honesty, as I fear that it may feed my anxieties rather than help them, but alas, so many of you feel as though it is therapeutic and helpful to connect to so many like-minded individuals, so I’ll trust you on that one. Not to mention the fact that you all seem spectacularly kind and caring!
Thanks for listening. I’m hoping to get to know you all a little better, and that we all start to feel a little better.
Sincerely,
angoisse