Anxiety and Panic attacks are ruining my life

[KK7]

Hi everyone,

just need a moment to vent to people who understand how I feel, I’m so over my anxiety everyday I have an anxiety attack over the way my body feels, not being able to find something example if I can’t find my phone, feeling like I have failed my children, I cry all the time. I feel tired all the time, I’m constantly worrying if I’m going to die, my anxiety is health related and I’ve never been like this! In the past 2 months After having my baby I’ve had constant headaches, ear infection, really bad vertigo, bad sinus infection and pinched nerve in my shoulder and Burtist in my shoulder, I was on medication and It didn’t work for me at all it gave me nightmares, made me feel numb and not myself, so I stopped that real fast was convinced I didn’t need medication to help but it’s getting worse and paying $160 to speak with someone to help this isn’t helping, it’s just taking money I don’t have!

im constantly calling my husband home because I’m scared something bad will happen when he is at work! He is currently on the verge of losing his job because of me he tells me my heath is more important, but I can see it’s starting to drain him also!

im just trying to see what my next step is and if I should give medication another go, I’m tired and I need to feel myself again!

any advice would be great thank you 😊

[Emmen]

Hello KK7,

I think you should give medication another go. It may be that those you were prescribed are not right for you. Please talk to your GP about it.

I would also supplement this with a mindfulness app, like SmilingMind or Stop, Breathe & Think. You health symptoms can be exacerbated by the anxiety. Doing some mindfulness activities each day (simply using the app every morning and night) can help you slow down your thoughts and lessen your anxiety. It must be especially hard for you, since you also have a baby to look after. But that also gives you more reason to take a few minutes for yourself and slow down your mind.

With regards to your fears for your husband, is it possible you could arrange to have him text you at intervals instead? Perhaps every hour or two, he could just drop you a text just so that you know he is fine? It would be less obvious than calling and probably less disruptive to his work too.

Take care,
Emmen

[jess334]

Hi KK7,

I'm glad you've found a place to vent. Sometimes just doing that cab help us feel better for a moment or two.

It sounds like you have a very supportive partner.

Postnatal anxiety is really common. I had it bad after the birth of my child too. I felt like I was constantly on edge and falling into that pit of panic. I didnt start taking medication until my son was 18 months old, but it took 6 weeks before I started feeling better. I wanted to get better by myself, but in the end I wasnt able to. So I decided that a happy mum on medication was better for my son then me being anxious all the time without

I agree with Emmen that it does take some time to get the medication right. Also a lot of anti anxiety/depression medications have side effects. Most of them don't take long to fade away, but it can be pretty hard while you're in the middle of it.

There are some new type of anti anxiety meds (not SSRIs / SNRIs) that have fewer side effects. I'm on a tetracyclic antidepressant and my only side effect was a little weight gain (which was helpful at the time since I wasnt eating).

You can also give PANDA a call. They are a free helpline for postnatal depression/ anxiety. They can be incredibly helpful. 1300 726 306.

Kind thoughts, Jess