Constant worry

[Garymac]

Hi guys

I am 45 and have suffered from chronic anxiety for as long as I can remember.

I do go through ok periods where my anxieties are just low level background noise in my head,lets face it there are things that are genuine to worry about in life that we need to process and act on. My problem seems to be I either take a problem, or what I percieve to be a problem , and it becomes an obsession.

If I become obsessive I will look at the problem in a million different ways , and play each outcome in my head over and over. When I reach this stage I am not fit to deal with anything.

This without doubt is a family issue as my father, and his mother before him, were both deeply anxious and this had a very negative effect on their lives.

I have had numerous sessions with a councelor, which went well and I learned a lot from it, but that was a few years ago.

I realise that this condition is part of me and always will be,but I know with the right methods I can learn to control it. I just havent ever found the right method.

I do take medication, but I know atleast at the dosage I am on it seems to have little effect when things get bad. I do not wish to up the dosage as I found the side effects prohibative.

I was wondering if anyone with similar anxiety issues that have had some success in managing this could share their experiences or offer some advice ?

Thanks

Gary

[CMF]

Hi Gary,

I can relate. I have tried to tech myself that I cannot control outcomes, if something is going to happen I can control how I respond/deal with it. I try to be mindful and live in the present i.e the things I get anxious about may happen in the future but they won happen today or tomorrow or next week, in fact they may not happen at all. I try to tell myself that I will deal with IT when it happens, if it happens at all. I tellyself that if IT happens I do have options and it is ot the end of he world.

a lot of my coping strategies are self talk. I'm not sure if this is of any help to you but I hope it is, I'm not feeling great today, sorry.

Look into vitamin B8 and try and get some from a health food store. it may be beneficial, especially if you are not wanting to increase your meds.

cmf

[Dwwmills]

Hi Gary.

You’ve described me and my situation up until a couple years ago exactly. I was diagnosed with Generalised Anxiety Disorder by my GP and put on a Mental Health Care Plan. The mental health care plan just gives you access to a psychologist for 10 visits per year at a subsidised rate. I described having this type of anxiety as just waiting for something to happen all the time or for something to go wrong. Like you do I always found something to fixate. I eventually realised it wasn’t the things that I was worried about it was just the anxiety focusing on different things. Unless I actually tackled the anxiety rather than all the individual problems my life kept going in this cycle.

I went on medication for about 18 months and concentrated on Cognitive-Based Therapy. Once I became skilled with CBT I was able to reduce and eventually stop the medication. I still have good days and bad days but I now have the skills to tackle the anxiety. I am 56 years old and have had anxiety as long as I can remember. I had seen a psychologist many times before and use CBT techniques which help me each time.

The 2 big turning points for me was recognising that the anxiety was a problem, not the individual events and taking charge of my own mental health. This meant that I learnt CBT techniques outside of my psychology sessions and committing to do whatever it took long term to get my anxiety under control. This didn’t mean that I was trying to do it on my own but by learning extra about CBT I got more out of my psychology appointments. CBT is basically about looking at your thinking patterns and replacing the unhelpful ones with more helpful patterns. It relies on repetition to change these thought patterns. The more you use it the more powerful it is. I also use CBT in conjunction with relaxation techniques, taking charge of my sleeping, eating and exercise. I started seeing positive changes very quickly and I realised that I could have some control over the anxiety that I had felt for years. This was very empowering and help keep me motivated to continue therapy. I haven’t seen my psychologist now for well over a year but I still use CBT daily.

Good luck

Dean

[Jessme]

Hi Gary,

yes I can relate also.

I have had OCD and anxiety since I was a child ( also from my dad and paternal grandmother). I believe relapses are sometimes brought on my life stressors or changes in meds. My mind also clings to negative ideas ( as I have learned is an evolutionary flaw in some genetic lines) due to the fight or flight theory. Hang in there though. Easier said than done I guess.