Anxiety, panic attacks how do I cope? Please help!

[lizzie g]

Well after splitting from my boyfriend on friday after two weeks of increasing anxiety that the relationship wasn't working for me, the anxiety doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Every relationship I have is ruined because I get anxiety about being in a relationship. I get anxious & suffer panic attacks & end it with that person to stop feeling so bad. Then once I've ended it I get anxious about being on my own & anxious that I'm never going to meet anyone I feel comforatable with.

Example of this anxiety: Monday i have my first meeting with a psychaitrist so my ex text me to see how things had gone. Well I was happy to here form him but when I started texting him back I began to feel the first waves of a panic attack. It didn't develop into a fall panic attack they don't anymore since I've been on the proxatine.

I've been anxious ever since. All I have to do is think about a guy I think is cute & the panic & anxiety start to increase! It's ridiculous!

The only way I'm going to be able to avoid feeling like this is to avoid getting into a relationship, which isn't how I want to live my life! Everything seems so hopeless & pointless at the moment. I feel so down. They've increased my proxatine from 20mg to 40mg from Tuesday but I'm begining to feel that nothing is going to help & that the drugs will just mask the worst of my feelings. Even the thought of the CBT I will be starting seems pointless. I can't see how doing anything is going to make this anxiety & panic go away apart from being lonely & single for the rest of my life.

I just want to sit here & cry at how my life has turned out. I'm only 26 & I really can't see things getting better for me. I just want to be happy in myself, hold down a relationship & have agood future. Why is that so much to ask?

It seems so unfair that I have to suffer with this useless illness & all it's problems.

I sometimes wish that I did have it in me to end it all. But I made a promise to my ex & to my friends that I wouldn't do anything silly. But feeling nothing seems so appealing to feeling the crap I'm feeling at the moment.

I've said before that I'm tired of being ill & of having to fight this depression & anxiety for possibly the rest of my life. I was positive at one stage but the anxiety is getting worse & worse & I really don't know what to do anymore.

 

[hope4abetterlife]

hi, i know exactly how you feel, i split up from my ex 3 mths ago, thats when my anxiety started. I've always suffered from depression but i've learnt to manage my feelings with that but then this anxiety thing has knocked me off my feet, no matter where i go for help no one seems to understand just how bad i feel inside, my stomach is constantly in knots and i feel on edge all the time. I've recently been admitted to hospital for a week because the doctors considered me a risk to myself, they locked me up for a week on a ward with people with serious mental health illnesses then sent me home with no help or support. I feel like the week in hospital was a total waste of time. I'm in a new relationship now but like you i'm forever ending it because i feel i can't cope with the anxiety i feel being in a relationship. Its breaking my heart because my new partner is fantastic and understanding and i really want it to work and marry the guy but the anxiety is destroying my life, its getting so much worse and the panic attacks are getting longer and longer and harder to control. Its good to know i'm not alone with my feelings although this is probably no help to you, i'm sorry x

 

[SimonB]

The first step

Hi Lizzie,

I'm new to this site but am not new to mental health problems myself. It seems that you have made the first step in getting help, you now need to keep on going to your appoinments, it gets better in time not straight away so remember that.

The NHS doesn't have a great deal to offer because of funding, but I have to say what I have experienced has been effective in my treatment so have some faith, though I am currently considering the private sector for some psychoanlysis etc

Simon