Anxiety issue

[BballJ]

Hi all,

I took abit of convincing myself to join the forums and write in here but just wanted some advice.

in the past two weeks, I have had anxiety spiralling out of control, I am unable to concentrate at work or at home, I continually think of the worst case scenario in anything, I wake up in the middle of the night having panic attacks (heart racing, in shaking, heavy breathing) I haven't slept more than 4 hours each night and during the day I am in a constant stressed state that by 2 pm I am tired as can be, I hate being alone, if I'm driving I feel the need to call someone just so I can get my mind off my anxiety and contanst worry feelings. I have lost my appetite, eating maybe one meal a day simply because I cannot eat. I have tried natural over the counter medicine to try and alleviate the anxiety and calm me down but they don't work.... Does this sound like GAD and should I see a doctor about medication?

thank you in advance for your replies.

Jay

[BballJ]

Thanks for your reply Cornstarch.

i would say i struggle to talk about my issues with people I am always in fear of burdening people, I am only just recently accpeting the fact I have GAD, my wife doesn't understand it all so she doesn't know how to deal with it, I was out earlier and it kicked in, went into overdrive because my mind was just racing with all the thoughts and feeling of being in danger, it's so weird, just wish I could shut my mind off!

[Cornstarch]

You don’t have to be a flusher to be able to decrease your anxiety or at least manage it. Do what is the right thing for your temperament, personality and world view. If you try to approach it in a way that doesn’t fit your own style you’ll probably face plant the ground somewhere or just end up even more frustrated. A really good friend of mine is a holder and that keeps her feeling safe. Her husband is the only person she tells everything to. Very very slowly she is opening up to me, not that I’ve ever expected that she had to but I have been really worried how shut down she is. It’s gotta be lonely in there.

She told me something really personal at a bar recently and I teared up not because of the content so much but because I knew how huge that was to let me into her world and I was really flattered that she trusted me with that. We never have to speak about it again and to cope she can only let little bits out otherwise she isn’t able to manage.

When you think of anxiety with some distance you know that it is completely irrational. The biological reaction
doesn’t fit the context. Or maybe it does! And chronic stress becomes such a frequent occurrence that it becomes your default mode and memories spark it.

I hate it. It makes you feel like a neurotic person. Good luck with it all. It’s horrible. I have experienced every
type of anxiety you could ever imagine so don’t think that I am breezing through it.

[Cornstarch]

One last thing. Anxiety can have roots in emotions that you would never ever ever expect to create anxiety until you travel back in therapy to the root cause. Truly bizarre in fact. At the risk of sounding like a complete and total wanker unexpressed love sky rockets my anxiety. It took me 15 years to figure that out.

What a stupid thing to say. What a mushy idiot. Not in my context.

Because I had a near death experience. There are simply no words to describe that until it happens to you. I do not have one friend in this world that has experienced it. I am all alone with that and I disappear on beaches when I have to re-live it. I came within a second of being gone. Done. See ya later. Your time on this planet is over. And when he decided , do I, or don’t I, my consciousness desperately tried to somehow connect with my family and push out all the love I had inside for them so they knew I loved them before he finished me off.

I found a scientist at Harvard that has moved tectonic plates for me emotionally/spiritually what ever you want to call it. I have one specific flashback that when-ever I have it I call on his insights to ground me, he’s work has impacted me that deeply. I had one of the worst flashbacks I’ve ever had about 10 days ago and all the way through it I thought of him and visualized his face. The only way I made it through was because of him.

So the wanker went home, burst into tears and emailed him to thank him. And guess what. He emailed me back and said I made his day!

Don’t be afraid to express your love. Don’t fixate on getting an outcome you’d like either because you may not. But just express your love anyway because anxiety can drop when you do. And scientists from
Harvard talk to randoms in Australia.

[BballJ]

That is one of the deepest things I have ever read, thank you firstly for sharing, I'm starting to write things down that happened to me as a child to try and find out if I can work out where this anxiety started from, it goes back a long way I feel and I think my mind and body has just said this is enough.

How did you find this scientist? It seems they gave you a new breath of life.

[Cornstarch]

Yeah looking back I think you may be right. They say that you don't find books, that books find you.

And I suppose what resonates with me doesn't necessarily resonate with anyone else.

It's pretty hard to forget an NDE at the hands of another. And it's humanly impossible to come back a child. You come back as a 95 year old man trapped in a 5 year olds body.

[blondguy]

Hey Jay

Apologies for the lengthy delay in getting back to you..I am glad that Cornstarch has given some great advice 🙂

Just on the medication for the GAD ...the anti anxiety meds can take a while to adjust to. The first day you had them you had the bad symptoms at work....?

The meds are not a total fix...they are there to take the edge off the anxiety which can take a while. The meds really give us a platform on which we can heal using all the coping mechanisms that you read about.

The meds for the GAD actually 'quieten' the part of the brain that is 'overstimulated'

Overthinking is very normal with GAD sufferers..but can be worked on with regular visits to a counselor/therapist.

Here for you Jay

Paul

[BballJ]

Thanks Paul.

I did get the bad symptoms at work but being on them for a few days now it feels the drowsiness has tapered off, which is good.

i guess we all want a quick fix and wish there was something that would just turn our brains off but I understand it is a process.

my biggest issue is the fact that I'm really bad in the morning, as soon as I wake up, all the negative thoughts rush to my brain and I go into panic mode, that's what I really want to stop.

[blondguy]

Hey Jay

Thanks for posting back 🙂

I hear you loud and clear with 'a quick fix' I wish too. The good news is that the anxiety symptoms do lessen over time which is a huge bonus..

I hope you can stick around the forums. If you anything you wish to ask about anxiety disorder you are welcome to post...

Anxiety is a cruel illness to have. I really do feel for you Jay.....I am having a think about posting a new thread about 'overthinking'.....I will keep you informed. The anxiety does fade and die (yes Im serious) but the mind can still overthink sometimes.

I hope your day is good to you Jay (be gentle to yourself)

My Best

Paul

[BballJ]

I think it's a great idea to create a thread about overthinking and I would love to see and hear other people's success stories with dealing with it.

thank you once again for your responses.

have a great day Paul.

[Wednesday]

Hi Jay,

I just thought I'd drop by your thread to add it to my thread list, I hope that's okay with you. It looks like you have some fabulous people here for you :-).

You mentioned on my thread that you wanted to back off on the meds does that include the anit anx meds too?

Hope your day has gone well. I know the feeling of taking things on the chin so as not to make anything worse or upset people, it's not easy. I consider my self very lucky that I don't have GAD it sounds like absolute hell and it is for P.

I gather you are working through some old stuff, is that with a counsellor?

Sorry if you have explained this all and I haven't read back far enough.

Be very kind to yourself.

Ava