Working through anxiety disorder and minor depression.

[Guest6732]

I was diagnosed with Anxiety and minor depression about a month ago when I had to come back from the snow (training to be a professional snowboarder) because I was having a panic attack at least once a week and was not leading a healthy life style. Back home now and my "mask" for anxiety got taken off and I completely broke down and everything got worse, but it made me realise how deep I was in anxiety and avoiding it. I'm on medication now and working through all of my problems with my psych and gp, feel kinda bad that I let it get to the stage where I needed AD's and a sedative to even cope just living at home but I'm staying optimistic.

I'm reaching out today to ask if any of you know any good tips or tricks to get better. I'm doing meditation everyday and starting to get my sleep schedule and eating habits in order while also trying to feel my anxiety to get familiar with it. Because at the moment most things over stimulate me in the way of anxiety and its hard to even go out in public for a long time. If I had to put it in a way it would be that you are always feeling alert of everything and focus, hence the meditation and self reflection each day to get be able to not be affected by the anxiety as much and not let it take my focus.

2 things that bother me though is 1. with the depression, it can just make you feel like you aren't doing anything good at times with recovery and makes me more anxious and 2. I have really low self-confidence and I don't mind the AD's cause I know its a long term thing but the sedative is sticking around for a while and I keep doubting the doctors and myself on that decision even though I know its the right balance at the moment.

Thank you in advance for any responses.

[Guest6732]

Hi everyone,

Back again to give an update on how I'm going and in need of some insight. So since I last posted there has been major progress, I'm able to go out with friends, I got a job, I'm able to cope with life in general basically and have been cutting down on my sedatives cause its going so well with my mental state. But I've also hit a new point, So basically I have gotten a fear of my health and wellbeing and it shows up all the time with random symptoms like e.g leg cramp and such which I get scared from and get blank minded from a sudden rush of worry. As well as that I've also been finding it hard to aspire to anything in life, I don't think its quite depression cause i still enjoy stuff but I've lost my drive to do something grand or look towards the future. Its become a bit of a block. I want to get my life back to the point where I can enjoy it and feel different emotions for different situations, but this problem of my health fear and lack of drive is making it hard. I really just don't know how to get around it, cause its a hindrance.

I want to also say to everyone that I am managing really well now with my anxiety and that's almost cleared up to a normal state. So if anyone has any queries about my journey I'm happy to share how I went!

[Guest6732]

Another update on my story.

So its been a very busy and stressful month with family illness and family pets passing as well which brought on a bit of an anxiety attack. Apart from that though work and everything has been going along smoothly, I kept getting headaches and weird symptoms from something though throughout the day. so I went to the doctor and I was told I could be over sensitive to my anti-depressants so I was told I could half the dose cause I was recovering well and see how my body and mind goes. Needless to say i stopped having the headaches and symptoms which is fantastic but also made me more anxious as my anti depressants were on a lower dose, not to say I can't handle it or anything. It just feels similar to before when I was on a high alert of things subconsciously, should calm down soon though as my body and mind gets used to the lower dose!

[Croix]

Dear Campbell~

I'd like to apologize, it looks nobody has responded to you. It's a problem that does happen from time to time, it's no reflection on you, or what you are talking about, just the system.

It's hard when pets pass away and family is ill. It naturally takes one's thoughts to death, and this would have been particularity hard seeing your phobia of dying. Hopefully that has improved during this last 6 months.

Reading though from when you first came here it seems to me you are making a lot of progress. Depression and anxiety are horrible things that curtail one's life and even the mask you spoke of having is a poor thing. In my case it can actually made me feel more isolated - there is me on my side and the whole world on the other.

Now regular medical supervision, a job, and being able to use public transport and stay at friends makes the world is a better place.

Being able to halve your medication - and feeling beneficial effects with the headaches and other things is really excellent. The fact your have become more anxious is a nuisance, hopefully a temporary one as you say. ADs do tend to take a while to stabilize whenever the regime is changed.

Being on constant high alert does fade and you can help it do so. I'm sure you are already doing a lot, with exercise, attention to diet and sleep, plus trying to avoid stressful situations if you can. I even go to the extent of not watching the news as it keys me up and there is nothing on there I can do anything about.

Spending time each day doing something I enjoy and which takes my mind away from my life is most important for me. It gives me something to look forward to, a break from the current set of anxious thoughts , and even helps my feel better about myself. Do you do something similar?

If you look at:

Forums / Anxiety / SELF HELP TIPS FOR MANAGING ANXIETY

You will probably find useful things others have done. I find it very useful. You mentioned medication, while I'm not good at that by myself I use the free app Smiling Mind which works well.

Having people to help is at least as important as the doctors, do you still have your mum around to support you? It sounds as if she has made a big difference in the past.

I'll try to keep an eye out if you would like to post some more

Croix

Feeling directionless is I guess simply a sign you still have a way to go, and as your mind becomes less consumed with anxiety there is room for long term goals and enjoyment.

[white knight]

Hi Guest

I wont repeat aspects of Croux's post which is an excellent one.

Some self help really works with anxiety. This is clearly mentioned in the following thread.

Use google

Topic: anxiety how I eliminated it- beyondblue

Sorry you were missed.

Tony WK

[StudentMum]

Hi,

I’ve just joined this forum (I should be sleeping but I lie awake every night and I’m tired every day). I’m a mother with a child with special needs, I was injured in a car accident a while ago and left with no money and unable to work, and I’m doing a full-time course load at uni.

I can’t sleep at night, I cant wake up of a morning, I’m constantly missing classes and having to catch up at home. I’m so anxious about literally everything in my life and depressed that I’m struggling to leave the house and I’ve pushed away all of my friends. I feel like my life is over but I’m caring for a child I love more than anything and I’m stuck in such a rut. I don’t like talking to people about things. I feel like I’m drowning.

I’m not sure how this is helpful to you (sorry) but I’ve just stumbled upon this thread and I too am desperate for some advice and help. I have no time to implement anything my psych suggests- attending the appt’s actually creates more stress because it takes time away from my child and his therapy and it costs money to get there.

Move never felt more alone in my life. I hope people on here can help or at least listen. Im fighting an endless losing battle.

[Croix]

Dear StudentMum~

I don't think Guest6732 is going to mind if I talk to you for a moment. I guess the first thing to do is welcome you here, I'm sure you are going to find it a friendly place where others will try to help.

I'll mention that while you are welcome to stay in this thread your best chance of advice and to meet more people is in a thread of your own. If you get stuck making one just sing out.

Your life sounds very hard at the moment, looking after a youngster with special needs is pretty taxing at the best of times,now with an injury it's that much harder.

I'd like to ask a couple of things if you don't mind. Are you all by yourself or is there anyone to care and help you, a partner, family member or friend? It can make a huge difference if there is.

The other thing is you said you were doing uni full-time, and I'm wondering why. With your child to care for, plus your injury and depression and anxiety as well it seems to me at first glance to be more pressure than you need.

Ok that was me being nosy - no not really, the better I understand the better I can talk with you. Actually it does not sound as if your medical team is talking properly with you. As you are finding out there is absolutely no use in having unrealistic expectations about what you can do outside the therapy sessions.I hope your doctor bulk-bills.

If it was me I'd go see the doctor and explain a couple of things, firstly the situation you are in now, sleeplessness, exhaustion, anxiety, isolation and all the rest. If you think talking face to face might be too hard do what I've done and write it all down in point form first - then share the paper. Alternatively print out your post. My doctor fund that method very useful - so did I.

Then try to get a realistic regime, with checks built in to ensure you are able to do whatever is required.

The battle is not lost, you can improve. I was a complete mess and have now reached a pretty good life far from how I was.

Please come back and talk more, either in your own thread or here

Croix

[Guest6732]

Hi everyone!

Thanks for the replies, i appreciate it a lot! I wasn't entirely too fussed on nobody replying, it was more to record and document my own journey and see if i can look back on it and learn plus to help anyone who was going through a similar journey.

At the moment I'm trying to work through my smaller bouts of anxiety, subconscious reactions to situations that make me anxious when I know it doesn't have to be. So my go to response to that is to confront it and ask myself why. I couldn't do this in the past cause my head didn't have enough self confidence to value my opinion but know I can slowly chip away at that set motion but facing up to it with my own analysis. It is still very draining and hard but it should get there. Plus i think itll help me grow in numerous ways to do it like that for myself.

My home situation still hasn't changed much but i'm starting to realize how I can get around it and how I can be my own person, unfortunately my pet passing was harsh but most people would feel rough regardless of their mental state on that.

Now i'm not gonna lie, I'm horrible with looking after myself in healthy ways, the only thing i do regularly is exercise, diet and sleep are broken and could be better. I just don't have the drive for it as such, i'm not a hundred percent sure why though. If it ever gets too bad though I make sure I keep a bit of a better routine.

The pills have settled down a bit now, I feel more aware now, but not in a bad way. I can think and contemplate things with anxiety as a side without getting overwhelmed most of the time, I wouldn't say its necessarily better but I like having this freedom of my mind.

Now StudentMum, I'm sorry you are having such a rough time with everything. It seems like you have a lot of pressure on your shoulders, and as Croix said it could be you have taken on a few too many things at once. Having goals are great but having only when they are realistic and you can be able to see them in easy small steps to achieve, otherwise taking big leaps and bounds will leave you exhausted and restless (it was part of my reason for my anxiety at the start as well. The best advice I can offer you if you are having trouble communicating with people is to write down your days and thoughts and reflect on them, it really helped me out! otherwise someone more experienced might be able to answer your question 🙂

regards,

Campbell