My Severe Anxiety/Depression Journey.. I need help..

[crazyhayz]

Hi everyone,

Basically i started having anxiety and panic attacks that were really bad about 3 months ago. Ive had relationship problems for a while and we split up 2 weeks ago. I have an 18month old son who i look after full time and i had a terrible time after i had him (couldnt walk for 2 weeks coz i had to have stithces which were not done correctly). I was always very teary in the newborn stages, hence the depression then started. Anyway, back to the anxiety stuff... I was having such awfully bad physcial symptoms that i was convinced i had something seriously wrong with me. (which in turn made me more anxious lol) So anyway, i was having CONSTANT blurry vision, dizziness, sickness and sharp pains in my head. I ended up going to A&E and they booked me in for a brain scan. For some reason, as soon as i got the results, (which were all clear btw!), my anxiety seeemed to completely disappear, and my panic attacks stopped! I have never felt so normal in my entire life! Everyone was telling me i was back to my normal self! The yesterday, after 6 days of feeling completely normal and no anxiety atall, I had an argument with my ex partner (my babys dad) and then started to shake. I then started feeling dizzy and sick, blurred vision, the lot! I was squeezing my arms coz they hurt so much, rolling around the bed, sasying i had 'cracked up'. I now am almost blaming him for bringing back my anxiety and depression again, but maybe it never actually went? I honestly felt great the last 6 days.. now i feel a mess again. Im on 10mg Citolapram. Please someone tell mew whats going on!! Am i depressed or am i going mad? I feel like i am completely cracking up.

[gypsywomen]

hello no your not going crazy. you proved it ,when you got your resuts you felt fine ,but as soon as you were put under pressure anxiety aised its head making you feel like you do as the case is with this illness no sooner do we get over one thing ,,then another one comes along ,, try to relax do something to take your mind off these feelings hope you feel better soon xxx

[crazyhayz]

Thanks for your reply. I just cant blv that one bout of stress has made all this come back again. I actually felt like i had my life back after i got my all clear, and now i feel like a wreck once again. Thing is, my anxiety and panic attacks started coz i thought i was ill (having really bad headaches and chest pains) so it all just escalated from there really. Once i knew everything was ok and i wasnt seriously ill, the anxiety went! so how can it all come bk again just from one argument? which by the way happened evening time yesterday, and im STILL NOW getting physical and mental symptoms of anxiety. What can i do. Im also worried i may have had post natal depression ages ago that didnt get treated (doc didnt think i had pnd, she just thought i was feeling very run down). can untreated pnd cause severe anxiety? can stress cause severe anxiety? What i mean by severe anxiety is actual bodily symptoms and unable to cope with life feelings/feelings of going mad.

[Typer]

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

I know a lot of us recommend Claire Weeks' book - but if you do manage to read it, you'll understand why this argument with your ex kicked off the anx again.

According to Dr. Weeks' you are sensitized, therefore even small things, let alone arguments and anger, will kick it back off.

What you do know is that your symptoms do come from anxiety. ead Claire Week's book

Essential Help for your Nerves: Claire Weeks

[lizzie29]

Hey

I went through a similar thing where I'd recovered and then bam it all hit me and my anxiety flared up again. I know how frustrating and upsetting it is, cos you feel like you've lost everything again and are back at square one. But you're not. You've beaten this once, and while it may not be an instant this time, you'll still beat it in the end.
The Claire Weekes book mentioned above is really good. it will help you understand the symptoms and how they're normal, and how you have to try to accept them, rather than fight them. Fighting them only increases the adrenaline already in your body, which then obviously makes the symptoms worse. She talks abbout floating through your symptoms rather than fighting them - realise that yes, you're light-headed / shaky / feeling sick etc, but they're all just the body's reaction to adrenaline. It's best if you read it as it probably makes more sense than I do!
And you're not going mad! The fact that you realise you have anxiety is a sign of that!
Hope you know that people are thinking of you, and you're not alone.
Take care
x