On the verge of losing it?

[AnxiousAmy]

Does anyone's anxiety ever get so bad that you actually think the next step is losing your mind? I was in a bad way last night for no reason.. My anxiety was a 10.. I felt like I was just waiting to freak out/lose my mind/go crazy because I really don't know how it could get any worse. I made myself get a shower and stay preoccupied and it lessened and I felt better after a while.. But when it's bad, I can easily convince myself that the next step is going to be a psychcotic episode.. Anyone else?

[Hidden]

I used to tell myself that this is just the results of a tired body and mind.After many years I began to realise that you cannot go crazy because if you were really mad you would not be aware that you were in this state. It is impossible. Take comfort and try to live your life the best that you can, with anxiety for now. Eventually with practice it goes away.

A good book on this is Anxiety No More by Paul David. His Web site is very good as well. I used Paul's techniques and meditation to step back from what are only thoughts. Today, the anxious feelings hardly bother me.

Wish you every success.

David.

[Hidden]

Sorry the book was called At Last A Life.The website is called Anxiety No More.

[Hidden]

The more anxiety you have the more tired your brain gets.. and the more tired your brain gets the more "crazy" you feel. I've been sure I was going insane a few times. But no matter how exhausted your brain is, you can't develop a psychotic illness from anxiety. Instead of thinking of it as feeling crazy, I try to think of it as feeling half asleep.

[biomed_st]

6 months a ago i had really bad anxiety. I suffered horrible arm pains and leg pains. When I finally got to see a Rhuematologist there explanation was I am hypersensitive. And issues gabapentin. The tension type pains in my forearms never went away and I was formally diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I'm coming to terms with it and practice meditation via headspace. It's been a year and I've only just started to feel like my old self. Practice does take time. I was in a really horrible place at times. The crisis team was called out as I didn't want to live anymore. I had a really good job and things going for me and out of the blue it all flipped upside down. I'm slowly rebuilding my mental health. Even though I get horrible fibromyalgia pain.

Some People recover slowly others fast ly. We will get there in the end. But fighting it only makess things worse. You have to develop a relationship with it. Something I'm still working on with both anxiety and chronic pain.

[Jenlouh in reply to biomed_st]

I'm so glad I'm not alone, although I'm not glad you have these issues. My anxiety is 10 on the scale 70% of the time. I have fibromyalgia, inflammatory arthritis and a few other joint illnesses and my pain and mobility is horrendous. Because of this I am so very anxious that there is a tumour that they haven't diagnosed somewhere in my joints or brain.

I have been housebound for 6 months and on steroids for at least 4 months. I feel like I'm going mad and put this down to a combination of things including the prednisalone. To top it all my mum, who I'm very close to and visits me daily, has been diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. I'm positive and strong in front of her, but inside I feel like I'm about to have a breakdown. I'm scared of dying but also wish I would sleep and never wake up to take me away from all this.

Do you think I will ever get better?

[Hidden]

I have absolutely felt this way, many times. The mind is like a runaway train and once it goes off the tracks it finds endless possibilities that seem terrifying. I have laid in bed under blankets all day and night and have actually felt some peace in the thought of just being locked away in a hospital and letting it all go. Most people would not find comfort in that, so it's a good indication of how far my anxiety has gotten out of hand. Seems that once you lose the initial control of the anxiety or panic episode it just takes you where it wants. I am trying to learn to let it flow through me and stay more aloof rather than entertain the crazy fears my mind tries to feed me. Easier said than done, but it's a work in progress.

[Rockthekasba]

Yup, I feel like this when I get depersonalization