Glad to have found the site.

[B-Lo]

Hello,

I'm not really used to this introducing kind of lark, but anyway. I wanted to drop in and say that since first reading the Nomorepanic site, I've found it extremely useful - especially all the stuff Meg put together about symptoms and causes... when I read it I was nothing short of amazed - it was the stuff I suffer from all the time, off and on.

You name the symptom, I get it. I've been suffering from anxiety quite acutely for some years now, with the past 4 or so years being the worst time. It's not every day, but I seem to go through quite large phases of it, with different worries, different symptoms, that kind of thing. Health anxiety, social anxiety (sometimes), depression, attachment, loads of things bother me. Some days I really don't feel like talking to anyone much, so I tend to shut off for a while. I worry about everything. Having said all that, at other times I'm actually a bit cheeky.

I live a very creative life - I'm a freelance composer of music for TV and Film and I really enjoy what I do. It keeps me very busy a lot of the time, something I'm very happy about. This can be a downfall though, especially if I'm going through a period of insomnia (like this week) where all I can think about when I go to bed is new ideas for this, for that and the other - and not sleeping!

I'm also very keen on good coffee, which I don't think helps. I have cut down a lot over the past couple of years and now I don't drink more than one espresso or cup of filter coffee a day.

I've been in casualty twice now, convinced I was having a heart attack and twice now I've been told I suffer from anxiety and panic. The first time (a couple of years back) I accepted it for a while, but then thought 'how come this can happen when I'm not feeling anxious? Therefore it can't be anxiety, surely?', so off I went again into more panic and more anxiety. The second time, I had a chat with a knowledgable doctor who explained things in a bit more depth (after all the scans and blood tests etc) so I came away with a more positive outlook. Then I discovered Nomorepanic shortly afterwards, which brings me about a year on to now.

What a great help reading about this stuff is - having it all in one place is a wonderful resource. Many thanks indeed.

B-lo.

[tracyp584]

Hey B-lo,

I agree with you, this site is so great, and its somewhere you can find support and advice.

A big welcome to the site!
Take care,

tracy x x



Every time you avoid your fears they become stronger,every time you face your fears they become weaker.

[nomorepanic]

A warm welcome aboard B-lo.

I started the website as I wanted to help people and get help myself and then Meg and others on here wrote some fab web pages for me and the rest is history as they say. I think we have a fantastic mix here with the website and this forum so thanks for your kind comments.

Please feel free to ask any questions you want to and we will help all we can.

Nicola

[B-Lo]

Thanks both of you, for the welcome.

Nicola - I will check out the forum and I'm sure I'll have some questions. Well done for creating such a useful site... without it, I expect many of us would be sticking keywords into the dreaded google and coming away with more worries than we started with.

Cheers, B.

[Meg]

Hi B-Lo

Glad you've found some words of comfort here.

So what have you done to help yourself challenge and learn to overcome this variety of worries ?



Meg
www.anxietymanagementltd.com

Your anxiety is the human representation of the pictures that you paint using your many vivid colours of revolving and reoccurring thoughts.
How big is your gallery ?

[trac67]

Hi B-lo,

Welcome to the forum you will get a lot of great advice here and make some new friends.

Take care

Trac xx

'Live your life with arms wide open, today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten'

[seh1980]

Welcome aboard!!

"If life were simple, word would have got around"

[B-Lo]

Woo - cheers all. Nice welcome, thanks!

Hello Meg - in answer to your question, well - I've kind of taken the first steps towards recognising the various symptoms (even though I seem to get new ones all the time) and (in the case of the well-worn ones like the palpitations and chest pain anyway) now I'm armed with a little knowledge about what is actually happening, I'm able to have some control over my thought patterns and stopping the spiraling thing before it gets too out of hand.

This isn't always the case though - when presented with symptoms I've not had before, I still find it incredibly difficult to stay in control. The scariest symptoms for me were the light-headedness and chest pains (which inspired the two trips to casualty), but although I still get them, I try and think about my breathing and get things back to normal. I see those kind of symptoms as an annoyance now, rather than being completely obsessed by them. I'm always getting new symptoms to be obsessed about. [xx(]

I haven't taken any medication, as I'm not really into the idea. Just a personal thing - I know it works fine for others. I've thought about CBT sessions, to try and get to grips with some of the underlying causes of my anxieties, but I don't know if I'm ready for that yet. I'm using the site as a self-help guide, basically.

B

[Karen]

Hi B-Lo

Welcome to the forum.

Karen



Nothing tastes as good as thin feels

[chucklehound]

Hi B-Lo and welcome to the forum!

Take Care

Chucklehound

xxxx