How to get back on track when life's stresses are pushing you to the edge

[Elizabeth CP]

Over the last year I have been learning what I need to do to stay as healthy as possible. Medicine is not appropriate due to side effects which I can't tolerate. I see a psychologist & a psychiatrist regularly to help. Over the last couple of months stress has built up due to my daughter moving OS & I needed to help her . This included rearranging my whole house to fit her things in to store. I have almost finished but now need to catch up on everything else put on hold. In some ways I've been very effective & coped well under the circumstances. But there has been a toll. I have done what is essential but left everything else. This includes most of the things which I have learnt keeps me healthy. While my brain can accept that I should be exercising daily sticking to a healthy diet rather than eating junk & helping my husband with things he needs to do to stay healthy. If he deteriorates I will have more pressure. Unfortunately my brain doesn't have enough power to motivate me. My sleep has been very poor feeling tired but struggling to get to sleep & waking up very early. I can function while everything is working but as soon as there is the slightest hurdle I don't. I either leave things because I can't cope or I react badly. The other day I was trying to pack to go to a friend for a couple of days to have a break. I struggled even though it should have been easy. A few minor things went wrong. I became extremely angry & it took every bit of willpower to stop myself slamming the back of the car on my husband's head. He hadn't done anything wrong. This was so out of character for me. It took hours to calm down and I felt so guilty stupid &out of control. My husband avoided saying anything for ages & then asked what he could do in the future to help me. I appreciated that but felt even more guilty. What can I do to help me get back on track so I'm not so on edge. There are other signs of increasing anxiety. For example my teeth &jaw is sore from clenching it all the time. Sorry I am so negative but I want to get back to normal before I do something really bad which can't be undone.

[Guest_1055]

Oh Elizabeth you sound so overwhelmed and perhaps so very tired. You poor thing.

When we are so tired it just feels like everything seems too much or something like that. Emotions can be a mess as well as thinking clearly. This is what it is like for me anyway.

I know you have been eating very healthy for most of the year and part of last year. So well done to you! My guess is if you are eating junk, then this may account for the angry/ emotional upheaval. Especially if you body was running on healthy food for a while. It is like a shock to your system. When I eat junk my emotions are very unstable. Calmness of the soul seems to leave.

I believe you should just do one thing and concentrate on that. So you don't get overwhelmed. I am guessing the food issue. Like just focus on eating as many veggies and fruits for one whole day. You will receive a whole bunch of nutrients and lots of fibre to fill you up. But I am quite sure you already are aware of that. I have done this on lots of occasions. I will juice up veggies and fruits or make smoothies. Plus eat whole veggies.

Just focus on one day at a time.

You will get there.

Hugs big time.

Shell xx

[Sophie_M]

Hi everyone, this thread is covering similar territory to this one here, so we're going to close it - please continue this discussion there.

When seeking support on the forums, we really encourage members to use one thread rather than starting new ones all the time.  It's really difficult for the community to keep up with your story if you have a lot of threads going at once, and you may find yourself having to repeat information if your story is spread across the forum - sometimes our members will be repeating themselves as well if it's an issue you've had previously.  

Help us to support you by keeping to one thread, even if you're returning here after a period of time.  There's a lot of value in seeing how someone's story evolves over time, and when facing a new crisis it's helpful to scroll back and see how you've coped previously.