How did you anxiety begin?

[Mandy26]

Hi, I was wondering how everyones anxiety occurred. Was it something that happened and you've never understood why? Or is it something you are aware of?

x

[Hidden]

Hi mine started 6 month ago i had a trapped nerve in my neck for a year which would come and go then after Christmas it was worse so i started thinking it could be something else so Google symptom and it came up with all sorts of diseases i got myself into such a state i was having at least ten panic attacks a day kept my worries to myself then eventually broke down to my partner he made me go to the doctors and he straight away said it was anxiety then it started thinking every ache and pain was something serious always at the doctors getting checked out sitting in constant fear i was dying .Im not as bad now but the anxiety is always with me have done a lot of research about health anxiety and i am doing cbt to help change the negative thinking

[Mandy26]

Hi Sharon,

Google search is such a downfall isn't it. I made myself worse by searching the internet for what was wrong with me too. It's good to hear that you're feeling better though.

Mine started around 2 months ago. I'm facing redundancy and I'm not the calmest of people to begin with. Work was becoming unenjoyable, we had a trip booked to Paris but I started worrying about money and everything seemed to come at once. I think I just tipped my body over the edge and all of a sudden I was experiencing a panic attack! My partner is the complete opposite of me and is so calm in every situation so I'm trying to learn from him.

I think health anxiety is a really hard thing to work through as you have to be so strong to convince yourself you're not dying or are seriously ill.

x

[Hidden]

Hi Mandy,Health anxiety is awful so far I have had 5 strokes numeorus heart attacks deep vein thrombosis cancer MS you name it I have had it.The positive thing I keep thinking about is Im not ill I go to bed and wake up each morningI have had aches and pains before its normal.Its hard to do but I dont want to live with this for years I was lucky had a great doctor who put me on the list for CBT the first time he saw me.Work stresses are awful I know I have gone through them.But as my dad says as one door closes another one opens so just think if Im made redundant hey ho I will find another job its not the end of the world love x

[Mandy26]

Hi Sharon, I really think that is the best thing to think. 'I'm still alive and breathing and I wake up every morning'. I thought i'd had numerous heart attacks, and kept thinking about cancer. It got to the point where I wouldn't let my partner go out in the car in case he crashed. My mam has suffered from anxiety for years and she said exactly the same. If I was having an attack she would say 'You're talking, you're breathing, you woke up this morning after your attack yesterday' and eventually it started to sink in.

I actually found a lot of my chest pains were heart burn and acid reflux.

You're right on the job front. I'm a lot calmer now and will just deal with it as it happens. I do try to look at the anxiety positively because it's making me look at things differently.

xx

[Hidden]

Hi my anxiety started the day after a football match when a player had a heart attack on the pitch.I have never felt the power of emotion so much as 36000 people chanted the players name.The next day, mothering sunday I had an attack in the car not knowing what it was I went to A and E twice.Nothing wrong.DOCS only to happy to give pills.I hate them and not taking them either.Talking helps alot and I am getting a course of pure hypnosis.My advice stay off google or any searchengine focus on yourself and be strong.I have two kids 6 and 2 they are so much more important than anxiety.Just stay strong and fight it all the way.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

well done you for sounding so strong and positive.I have a 14 year old son and I am strong when he is in the house as I dont want him to see me at my worst.

[Hidden]

hi sharonlou,its good to see you are strong but dont pretend all is ok if its not.At my very worst i cried in front of my daughter and she asked my wife why i was upset we told her the truth that daddy was a bit sad and that act in its self gave me strenghth,you have to be honest with yourself before the healing can start. take care. x

[Hidden]

Hi, i had depression 2 years ago and was off work 4 months,i took me ages for me to acknowledge what was wrong,i had PND after my 2 children but managed to overcome it! I am quite a stressy person and i try to be strong for everyone else,living in fear that if im not strong i wll let everyone down.

Anyway i got better last year,but for as long as i can remember i keep getting told ive got extremely high blood pressure,once my doctor finally referred me to a cardiologist,i took extremely ill with a severe kidney infection and was off work for over 2 weeks....i felt so ill i convinced my self i was dying and this one night i had a massive panic attack and ended up in a&e convinced i was having a heart attack(espesh with all the blood pressure problems). Ever since that night i have suffered being panicing,shaking etc etc,i was put on diazepam to calm me which helped no end,but then the doctor stopped them for something more long term!(Citalopram) since taking them i have suffered more and more,going to the docs every week,till today!....I finally held my head high and went into that doctors a quivering wreck,but he listened to me and acknowledged how bad i have been. Hes changing my tablets,given me Diazepam to take when i really need it,until the new ones kick in!....i dont want to be on medication but with how ive felt since i started with all this i will do anything to make it all go away!....ive had a full body MOT over the last 6 months and apart from having a problem with my kidney(ive been reassured its not serious-just small) there is nothing wrong with me!!! The kidney is prob whats causing the blood pressure problems-because its small and bloods not flowing properly,but everything is as it should be! I am trying always to think positive but recently ive found it difficult because of how bad ive felt.....but it was the tablets...NOT ME!

sorry for rambling on!take care all xxx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi I was the same on Citalopram and had to come off them they made me 10 times worse hated them.I also take diazapam when needed but have really found taking pyridoxine and omega 3 fish oils 100mg a real benefit to me also stopped the coffee and I am just drinking chamomile tea which calms you straight away

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I took citalopram before and they were great but they have not suited me this time! If id stuck with my gut instinct and come off them straight away id prob be back at work by now! The last doctor i saw talked me round into staying on them......and i thought he knew best,but ive just got worse and worse over tge last 3 weeks and am now not able to function at all....hopefully this will change now! ......thanks for your advise i will take it all into consideration xx

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

As soon as I stopped them I felt better xxx hope you do to

[Scooby1234]

Hiya Mandy,

Mine started 8 years ago when my mum passed away. I was going through a tough time at home and working really long hours in a stressful job. I went into auto pilot and started running the house (cooking, cleaning, looking after my younger sisters etc), working, I didnt really do the whole grieving process. As I say I was working long hours and was driving home one day, sitting in the middle lane of traffic at some traffic lights when I suddently noticed a change in my breathing and flashes in my eyesight, I felt like I was going to passout. I panicked and pulled out in front of traffic to park up on the side of the road because I was sat in the middle of the road. This made my heart race so fast and I remember not being able to even lift my head up. I rang my boyfriend and he came and got me, I couldnt even drive my car home I felt so bad. When I got in I just went to bed. The next morning I woke up feeling so drunk, I couldnt stand up straight, I was so dizzy etc. Few weeks later I blacked out whilst at home, to cut a long story short I ended up at the doctors convinced that I had something wrong with my head, brain tumour or something similiar, I was sent for various tests, mir scan etc - all came back clear and they said it was just my body shutting down because of the stress it had been under. Ever since then I have had this anxiety disorder, I have a fear that I will black out, I have a fear that something awful will happen to me. Because of this I dont go out on my own, I dont drive (again fear that I will have a panic attack and maybe black out) I have no independance. My thoughts have just spiralled out of control. I hope to learn how to manage my thoughts using CBT and hopefully gain some of my life back x

Nicki

[Hidden]

My GAD started in 2009, I've had panic attacks for as long as I remember, but this was off the scale, I felt physically so awful I was convinced I was dying, I kept going to A&E, then I plunged into a depression, because every time they did tests (and boy did I have tests), they coudn't find anything wrong, I felt so cheated, I wanted something to be badly wrong with me so I could justify feeling so horrid, but no, my anxiety just went on and on and on, and the depression was horrific. I was put on Citalopram but it made me feel really weird and I felt suicidal, then a doctor gave me mirtazapine and it was good cause it makes you sleepy and I hadn't slept for about a month. Ever since that date I have been struggling, although I've had really good periods too, recently (the last 2 months) I've been having a bad period, but I'm hoping to come out of it...I do so enjoy life without this awful thing hanging over me....I'm going to try to really get into meditation, I live close to the london buddhist centre and went for a meditation yesterday and it was really good...

[yaddy]

hi mandy

Mine started around Christmas last year I woke in my flat one night and I didnt know where I was what bed i was sleeping with my name or anything about myself, I crawled to my bathroom looked in the mirror and I didnt reconise the person looking back at me. then a day passed no one knew what i did but the day after I sent some text messages to my mum which didnt make any sense she rang me and I wasnt making any sense on the phone my parents came round I was curled up on my setee sobbing away to myself I dont know how long I had been sitting there my parents took me to hospital where I was diagnosed with complete short term amnesia brought on by stress and anxiety. there was alot of pressure with work and my personal life was in such a mess the doctor thinks because I was under so much pressure my mind shut down. Im much better than I was I had to re-learn the days of the week how to tell time but after a while parts of my life were coming back to me. But ever since I have suffered with my confidence my memory is nothing like what it used to be and social anxiety, getting anxious in rooms with lots of people in it, making decisions on the spot but my partner and family have been so supportive so I feel much better now but understand I may never get over it

[susie4uk2012]

I remember my first anxiety began when i went to thurnby lodge to visit my partner and my partner had to help me get back to the parents place and it lasted for 3 hrs at that day, but after that it didn't as it started to last an hour at least.

[gasman]

iv had mine around 20yrs mine started when i was around 17 i thought their was something wrong with me at the time i never told any one i thought i was not all their lol turns out i was suffering from pan attacks