never asked for help before

[Neverforget]

I think I may be suffering anxiety. 12 months ago my son committed a minor offence through sending a 'sext'. Police visited our house as a result. At the same time i was dealing with a very stressful work environment and had ongoing issues with recurring shingles. While my sons offence was dealt with as a warning and I felt like I dealt with the situation at the time, 12 months later I can not get the experience out of my head. I relive it daily. I feel like the whole situation has ruined our relationship as I just can not let it go. How long is normal for overcoming a stressful event?While the offence was minor compared to other people's experiences, it was not something I was prepared for. I have done a lot of soul searching the last year and want to find strategies to ensure the past becomes the past.

[Bluereader]

Hi Neverforget,

There is no timeline for overcoming a stressful event, you just take it at your own pace. Look at the things you enjoy doing or the people in your life who take your mind away from what happened and focus on those things. Or pour out what you're thinking into a journal so that it isn't constantly on your mind. I find that talking to a psychologist helps me get things off my chest and allows me to gain insight into a whole new of way of thinking about certain issues and how to deal with them. I hope this helps.

[geoff]

Hello Neverforget, thanks for your comment and welcome.

My sincere thoughts are with you for the reoccurrence of shingles, it's also happened to me and not only are they sore but debilitating and after the second time my doctor prescribed me with nerve blocking medication which helped so much.

There is a vaccine available, so please ask your doctor.

I understand that struggling with this can cloud your thoughts, simply because the shingles has returned, which can then bring back ruminations and worry whether or not it maybe happening in another way.

There is certainly no pleasure in doing this because what we don't know can't hurt you and it won't be able to make yourself unhappy and shingles are caused by worry.

When you see your doctor the first thing they'll ask you when you have this virus is whether you've had chickenpox and look at your symptoms and then what stress are trying to cope with, that's what my doctor asked me.

You can't compare what you are going through as far less than what others are, simply because everybody is different.

Take care.

Geoff.