Anxiety relapse

[amalee78]

I have felt pretty good the last few months. But this week has not been great. In the last week I have been really worried about North Korea starting the next world war, I have worried that I was going to lose a hand due to a too tight wrist brace, worried I had a blood clot in my leg because I banged it hard and it's been sore and bruised, worried that my husband has prostrate cancer because he said his prostate was sore....and now I'm worried about our fridge killing us because I just read a story about a leaking fridge that killed a child with carbon monoxide poisoning (and my fridge is 30 years old and isn't working well).

For the first few days, I really believed something bad was coming, but just today it occurred to me that my anxiety is getting away from me, all my worries I guess sound ridiculous, but I've been distracted, grumpy, scalp has been prickling, hands have been sweating and I just feel miserable. I have been doing some of my strategies which have helped in the short term, but I keep getting different worries that pop up as soon as the old one disappears.

i just don't know what to do to pull myself out of it.

[geoff]

hello Amalee, I'm sorry but anxiety has got you well and truly feeling terrible, I wonder whether you have been diagnosed with OCD and secondly there is a post called WW3 so if you type that in the search box at the top right it will find it for you.
The other option you haven't mentioned is whether or you're taking any medication, and if not then it would be a good idea to visit your doctor who will diagnose you and then prescribe medication to help settle you down.
Thet may feel it would be good for you to see a psychologist and give you a referral, however in the meantime scroll around the 'The Facts' section, plus if you go to 'All Posts' then there is a large section on anxiety to scroll through.
Let us know how you get on. Geoff.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi amalee78,

Thanks for your post.

Gosh they certainly are a lot of worries! You seem too have a lot on your plate so I appreciate you reaching out to talk to us about it.

I appreciate that you said that your worries sound ridiculous. I personally don't think they are ridiculous, but I think it sounds like it's chewing up a lot of your time.

A lot of the worries you've described you have some control over; you can talk to your pharmacist about your wrist brace/blood clot and see if that's worth getting looked at, if your husband is concerned about prostate cancer he could book in for an exam or have an refrigeration mechanic have a look at your fridge. The key is to bring the logic and control back; so that the anxiety doesn't overwhelm you.

North Korea I wanted to separate because this is out of all our control. It is scary but if I try to bring the logic into it I know that the weaponry that America has is so ridiculous in comparison to North Korea. I also know that North Korea doesn't have many 'friends' in comparison. The only 'friend' is supposedly Russia but the impact of economic sanctions on them makes it unlikely they'll want to go to war.

So while this has been a bit of a long (and maybe boring) reply; I think the key is to bring back the logic, turn off the TV (stories about a leaking fridge is rare and far between and the reports on North Korea aren't always accurate) and bring back the self-care and strategies you already know.

Hope this helps,