Anxiety making a return

[help643i]

Hi all,

I have had anxiety for a long time. It has been unpredictable for about 5 years now...I am 15. My anxiety was born out of a fear of fainting. I always had to leave the house eating a well balanced meal. This was manageable until life happened. I moved schools and felt alone which led to my thoughts wreaking havoc over me. I now have friends at my new school even though it took a year but I am now accompanied by a scarier version of what used to be my anxiety. I had a huge panic attack at work and went home feeling stupid for leaving etc. Self doubt spiralled into more environmental factors. My mum says I’m low in iron so now I’m scared I will pass out at any moment but I am too scared to take a blood test because I’m my head losing blood = fainting. My parents say they understand but yell at me for using the “sympathy card” when I’m just saying how I feel. I think they think I am self involved and ungrateful. I’ve shut them out, I want to move out and be free from work and school. I am so lucky to have everything I have got but I can’t enjoy it with this thing. I am doing a brief summary but basically my life has been planned in order to cater towards my anxiety. When friends ask to go out I always say let’s go to my place or your place because a home is the only place where I feel really safe. I’m kind of scared that my heart is just going to stop working from all of the stress I put on myself unnessecarily. I hope this is only a short part of my life because I’m really finding it hard to pretend it’s not there. Any tips on how to overcome this? I’m not sure if it’s physical or mental but it always ends up being mental so I’m going to believe it’s mental and not that I have some terminal disease that is making my heart beat weirdly and me feeling weak all the time. I kind of needed to rant and hear a kind voice in the midst of all this yelling.

[White_Rose]

Dear Help

Hello and welcome. There are many people with anxieties such as yours. For whatever reason in the past they are afraid that something bad will happen to them, such as fainting. Have you ever fainted? I ask because you have described situations where you have a panic attack but have not fainted. A panic attack makes you feel the way you describe and for many people it feels as though they are having a heart attack and/or going to die. That is scary.

Fortunately the panic wears off leaving the person OK. What do you think will happen if you faint? Why is it so distressing? No need to answer here but it may be useful to consider these questions. Often we get no further than the actual belief without considering what makes it so bad. Having a low iron count is unlikely to cause you to faint. It makes you tired if it is really low.

Why not go to your GP and talk about all of this. You can talk on your own to the GP without mom being in the room. And the GP cannot discuss you with your mom or anyone else. I think you need to get this sorted out as living in such anxiety is bad for you.

Come and talk some more.

Mary