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Anxiety and insomnia are causing me physical pain
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Hi,
I am new here on this forum. When I am writing this post, my whole body is shaking.
For nearly 2 weeks I suffer from anxiety, insomnia and constant panic attacks. In the past week, I was lucky to have 10 hours sleep. No medications help, I was prescribed tablets which don't work on me. Each day was worst than the other as I fell into vicious circle: the more anxious, it harder it is to fall asleep. The less I sleep, the more anxious I become. 2 days ago I went to my GP again and received more medication for sleep. This only helped me to sleep from 10 pm to 1 am. I wake up at night and my body starts shaking, my stomach is hurting (i have diarrhoea), my heart is about to explode. I try slow breathing technique to calm myself down but nothing helps.
This week I was completely unable to work and took 1 week off. I am very diligent employee, working as management accountant in big international company and this never happen to me.
I am so scared, I will lose my job, my fiance and my world will collapse. I have no family here, they are all in Europe. The good thing is i have very loving and supporting fiance but I am afraid I will lose him too if this continues.
I have seen 3 diffrent GPs and they all give me diffrent advice. Once, my regular GP prescribed me these strong sleeping tablets but other GPs said they are addictive and I should not take them. But how should I function with no sleep at all and with the panic attacks taking control over my body? I am so tired during a day, I can hardly walk, so I am unable to do any physical activities.
When I dont work, I try not to stay home as I feel depressed ( i have moved recently with my in lows coz we bought the off the plan apartment and trying to save money for stamp duty and rest of the deposit). I go to the city, to the beach and try to load myslef with the positive energy. It is harder though, as I cant get no sleep, so I feel I can faint any time. When the evening comes, I worry even more that again I wont get no sleep.
I need help, and dont know what else to do. I have not private medical cover.
I have my first session with psychologist tomorrow (again this the costs of these visits worry me alot) and see if this will help me with anything. Maybe i need psychiatrist instead?
I need help as if this continues I cant see my life looking like this anymore. I can loose my beloved fiance, my deposit on house and my job.
Please anyone help me!
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I am sorry to hear what you are going through. It is great that you have seen your GP and organised a session with psychologist. It is also great to hear that you are trying different strategies to cope, like slow breathing and going for a walk. For the sleeping pills, as long as you use them as indicated by your doctor and for a short period of time, addiction is not going to be a big issue. If they don't help you, then something else is going on and you should go back to your doctor. I would suggest that you have a check-up to rule out any physical illnesses, like a hyperactive thyroid. Hyperthyroidism can cause anxiety symptoms like you described. A GP can write you a mental health care plan that entitles you 10 free visits to a psychologist. Don't worry about whether you need to see a psychiatrist. If your conditions warrant it, your GP will write a referral.
From what I read, you have some stressors in your life that may contribute to anxiety.
- You start living with your in-laws recently and this somehow coincides with the time when you experience anxiety. Are there anything that can be stressful when living with them? Even if you get on with them well, it certainly needs some adjustments to live with them and this can be stressful.
- A financial year just finished and you are a management accountant working in an international company. Could you be experiencing stress from work? I have family members working as accountants and year end is always full of work and stress.
I understand you are very desperate at the moment, but try not to think you will lose your job, house etc. Since you have always been diligent, your supervisor will believe that you are not feeling well (indeed you are). Try to think of other possible stressors in your life and sort these out with your psychologist.
Get well soon.
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You are definitely experiencing anxiety and panic and often people feel really confused as to why it has hit them at this moment and why they can’t “snap out of it”. The thing is, anxiety is not rational and often doesn’t “make sense” .
It comes from a really primitive part of our brain, our amygdala , which is tuned to danger and causes a fight or flight response when it perceives threat . Often it fires off this response at the wrong times and too often without using the higher part of our brain, the cortex , to modify the response. It is exhausting and scary.
SO… what to do ?
1. Know that you are in very good company as this is really common.
2. Dont stress about the sleep. Its the way your anxiety is trying to stir you up. Its an old anxiety trick! Just know that you are resting and whatever sleep you get, great , if you don’t sleep, thats ok .. your body will try again tomorrow.
3. Part of anxiety thinking is “catastrophising” where everything seems overwhelming and everything seems to end up in the worst possible place in your head . I can see it in your posts e.g. You go from having to take some time off to your world collapsing very quickly . I see this as quite typical of that type of “mind trick” that anxiety plays on us.
4. Maybe get the Sarah Edelman book “ Change Your Thinking “ to read more about this.
Finding a good psychologist is definitely a good idea as is cutting down on coffee, getting checked out for physical stuff by your GP, looking at a sleep hygiene website, plenty of exercise ( proven to help anxiety) and letting your best GP manage the medications for you.
So many people recover from this . It will be ok , but just keep putting one foot in front of the other and try not to fall for the tricks that the anxiety is playing on you.
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Thank you for your replies and support. I went to the doctor last week and received referral for blood tests including thyroid hormones. I've been sleeping better for the past few days, up to 5 hours after taking sleeping tables and returned to work. I have no longer panic attacks. However, I still wake up few times a night and I am afraid I would never go back to normal sleeping pattern again. Even after very busy day at work and intense exercise, I still find myself very alert and awake in the evening. Falling asleep is also a problem.
Thank you for recommending me a book, I have read something similar in the past like Secret, Power of subconscious mind, Believe in yourself but It is hard to put the theory into practice.
Anyway, I will keep fighting with my anxiety and lack of sleep and hope for the best.
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