do your family know?

[mummy4]

about your panic and/or anxiety?

its really sad to say but mine have no clue!

im 26 married and have 4 children and the only person who knows about my 'problems' is my husband.

my parents have no clue and i must admit i find this hard to deal with at times. for example in march me hubby and kids are going to disney land paris with my mum and im dreading having a 'panic' and so worried ill look a fool. the thing is i really do not know how to approach her to tell her. my anxiety is something that def effects my life.

for example mum recently told me my aunt does not leave her house (accept to go visit my nan, her mum who lives over the road from her) and this is due to panic and mums comment to me about it was 'i dont know what her problem is and why shes like it its really silly' i felt i just wanted to shout 'well im not much better!!!' but i just couldnt bring myself to do so :( i find it very very frustrating!

do your parents/family know about your 'problem' and if so how did you go about telling them??

[sammi]

my family no but they arent very supportive i think its because they dont understand my mum tries to but my partner thinks its all in my head and i bring it on my self he always gets angry that im the way i am like i choose to be like this its very annoying and i can feel it comin between us already my anxiety started a month ago and i dont no if i can go on feeling guilty about it because thats how he makes me feel. like i should be ashamed of myself for letting anxiety take over me.

[Going home]

My parents never knew, my mum only knew about my fears later in life, but my children grew up with my anxiety unfortunately. They saw the effects that tranquilisers had on me and then the withdrawal from them. A long time ago now...my eldest son is now 37 and i'm 56, and I was in my 20s when the fears really set in, not long after I had my second son actually. When I recovered from it all I became a volunteer for MIND, and would counsel others coming off tranquilsers too.

I'm nowhere near as bad as I was then, but I still have some agoraphobia although it comes and goes, and not crippling like it was in the past, and have suffered lifelong claustrophobia which isnt so bad if I avoid the triggers!

GH xx

[mummy4]

sammi thats how i feel too....like i should be ashamed. that really is not a nice feeling though as it feels like im failing just by thinking this way. my hubby knows and tries his best to understand but like your partner he too thinks its something thats 'all in my head'.

wow gh good for you for becoming a volunteer for MIND thats great!

xx

[Alicat]

Hi,

My family know about my depression but not necessarily the anxiety part of it. I can't explain it to them and I never talk to them about it. My dad once referred to my ADs as 'funny tablets' and if he ever says 'depression' it's said in a weird 'hush hush' or 'not a problem illness' voice. It would be so much easier if I could talk to them about it.

Some of my friends are great with it though.

[fishman65]

I kept it secret from my family for the first three years (dec 85 to feb 89),but attempted suicide tends to raise questions.

[Midnight]

All my family know about my anxiety as I was about 11 when it first started so my mum was at all my appointments! I am lucky as my husband and family are very supportive.
Maybe you should speak to your mum and explain how you feel and what causes it. Anxiety is an extreme form of fear - it is often irrational but those fears are real to you! If she understands more about it then hopefully she will fully support you in your recovery

[JaneC]

People can surprise you. I've always felt my mum wasn't very understanding about my anxiety/depression, she's from a generation when these things were even more misunderstood and stigmatized than now.

When I was quite ill in the summer due to abrupt AD withdrawal she seemed very impatient about it and why couldn't I have just left well alone? A couple of days later she gave me £100 (she's been a pensioner for 20-odd years) to buy myself something nice, which really touched me.

Maybe those who keep their problems secret would find people more understanding (or prepared to try to be) than they expect - especially as a lot more people have been touched by these issues than you would ever imagine.

[Pinkangels]

Well, I have only really just found out in the last month that it was anxiety causing me problems, though its been going on for a long while.

I will prob tell my mum about it when i see her, not sure how I will bring it up!
Ive been a single parent for a good few years now, so have no partner to try to explain to!
I have 3 kids, and my eldest is 12 and she knows about me "always feeling faint" Shes been so used to me not feeling right. Its a shame this has become the norm in our life at the moment
I did explain to her that there is in fact a name for how I have been feeling.

Along with my new relaxation routine, Im teaching my kids about relaxation, and taking time out to have a peacefull mind. Its beneficial to all of us after all.

[fishman65]

about your panic and/or anxiety?

for example mum recently told me my aunt does not leave her house (accept to go visit my nan, her mum who lives over the road from her) and this is due to panic and mums comment to me about it was 'i dont know what her problem is and why shes like it its really silly'

I used to get this too in the early days,that's why I kept it secret.I remember one day sitting in the back of the work van,my dad and brother were in the front having their tea break.I used to read out the questions from the Daily Mail's master quiz and one question was 'a person who experiences anxiety or depression is suffering from what?'.The answer was neurosis but I think my dad said nutter and my brother said bonkers.This was one of many reasons I tried my best to hide it.I could only imagine the shame of it if my 'problems' were ever discovered.

Fishy