Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[BrightLight]

Me too and I am not sure I am that far down this journey - or maybe I am.  Today I am a nervous wreck because one little worry popped up and seems to have made everything really scary.  My period is 'funny' again which is either adding to things psychologically because I am sick of heavy periods and spotting or the fact that it was a horrid period means my hormones are more awray than 'normal'!!  Either way today is a day where nothing is helping with the neurosis and I guess that's ok.  Hugs to those that need them.

[Dulciana]

I've decided I'm going to try taking each day in "anxiety-chunks", i.e. morning, afternoon and evening.   I want to beat my tendency to get all steamed up about events, way ahead of when they happen.  Instead, I'd like to be able to avoid worrying about the whole day, or something away at the end of the day.  In other words, not allowing myself to feel anxious beyond the next few hours.  Don't know if I can do it, but I'm going to try.   I'd like to see how it makes me feel...........

[BrightLight]

This is a good strategy Dulciana, I might try it myself, breaking things down into short periods and staying in the here and now.  I have managed it a bit today but the fears come steam rollering in.  Sometimes I just say to myself 'it is ok not to worry or even care' let go a bit and it feels unfamiliar and the fear comes again but, I would like to get used to the slightly blase attitude, so I will fake it till I make it

[Dulciana]

Yes, let's go for it, BrightLight!
D.

[BrightLight]

Strike one for the new attitude. All weekend I whipped myself up into an anxious mess because one of my moles had changed colour a bit. Totally stressed to the point I couldn't even think what I was worried about! I also had one of my 'weird' spotting periods.

Booked to see GP and shifted attitude into whatever will be will be and if anything wrong I will just deal with it. Can't control it or change it. I was still anxious but relaxation was also present, a bit of a tug of war but better. My mole does not look worrisome to the GP so I can just observe it. Now...... I will have to try to do that with similar balanced attitude.

This anxiety management is tough going, but worth it.

[rantywoman]

Its so tough and exhausting BrightLight but I hope you manage to keep that balanced attitude. Do you find that some days you feel to have more energy than others  and a lot brighter in yourself and on those days the anxiety isn't as high?

[BrightLight]

Its so tough and exhausting BrightLight but I hope you manage to keep that balanced attitude. Do you find that some days you feel to have more energy than others  and a lot brighter in yourself and on those days the anxiety isn't as high?

Definately. Yes.  Last week I was feeling very carefree, energised and anxiety would be hard pressed to tip me into uncomfortableness.  I have a general sense of increased vulnerability, not just emotionally, just generally. I think the changes in my body have increased my sense of time passing or something like that.  I hope this will be a good thing in the end, but at times I am a little resistant to the transition into new ways of being, in body and just generally.  Taking greater care, is a good thing and I think I have taken my fully functioning, reliable body for granted in some ways.

[rantywoman]

When I was  younger I didn't fully appreciate  my good health and more carefree attitude and it's really only since hitting my fifties (I'm now almost 58) that I've started to look back and wonder where the time went.

Yes, this time in our lives now  is a huge transition and it's like being on an emotional rollercoaster. Some days are good, some not so good so it's a case of rolling with it and accepting it I suppose.

[CLKD]

Does your neurosis activate in your mind or physically?  I am OK as long as my gut stays out of the thought process  but if I become queasy then I lose it.

If I am particularly bothered by a health issue [other than anxiety-lead ones], I make a list of the pros and cons of 'what will be'.  I had cancer treatment and survived ;-).  If an ache/pain lasts long enough to remember about it I trot off to the Practice Nurse or GP but usually, they don't; i.e. a sharp pain in my thigh yesterday was bothersome as I couldn't remember why it might be bothersome, by mid-afternoon it had stopped nipping ……. unlikely to be anything serious then? 

[rantywoman]

My worries stem from actual physical manifestations.I remember reading somewhere that a hypochondriac is someone who worries when there is nothing to actually worry about and a HA sufferer worries about what is presenting itself. I'm the latter.

I give things time before running off to the doctors, in fact, these days I try to stay away as much as I can. I would imagine if you are a cancer survivor you take other things in your stride more stoically?

[CLKD]

I did initially  but as I aged, issues annoyed me again …….. I can rant for England 

For years I worried about my parents - Mum would ring and tell me that they never went anywhere; that no one ever called to see them; that ………. : until we went mid-week and the phone never stopped and people were at their door several times.  Dad confirmed quietly that it was like that daily  so I stopped worrying about how they were managing.  I also know more recently that Mum has a support network 

My biggest worry is whether an panic attack will happen which means we have to come home from what we are doing ….. when I step out the door I check myself from top to bottom to see if there's any anxiety 

[Nefersmum]

Thanks for your support.   A couple of weeks ago I was discussing with someone that I planned to spend some time de-cluttering the house.  They suggested doing it in 15 minute chunks then stopping and doing something else.  It's really helped and I have achieved most of what I planned.   I'm wondering if the same thing would work with anxiety.   Perhaps I could train myself to give it a good 'ole worry for fifteen minutes then put it aside and do something more useful. 

I do need to find some sensible way of dealing with this because it's quite debilitating.  I already have a nice little collection of other problems including arthritis and fibromyalgia which sap what energy I have so wasting it on pointless fretting really annoys me.   

Do pills and potions work?   I'm rather suspicious of anti depressants and that kind of thing.  I have had short courses of them in the past and I can't say I've noticed any effect whatsoever.   I have the constitution of an elephant unfortunately.  I need a strong dose of anything before I feel any effects.  It has always proved hard convincing any of the GPs or medics I've seen over the years that this is the case and I end up with tablets I stop taking because they do nothing at all. 

[CLKD]

Does the anxiety manifest itself in gut wrenching queasiness or is it lots of racing thoughts about stuff to do, people to see, places to go?

I find that lists help.  'to do', packing, people to visit then I can tick 'done'.  If it's out of my head onto the paper I can see more clearly.  However, when the gut gets involved then I'm completely floored.

[rantywoman]

I agree, lists help enormously. If I find myself lying in bed fretting or stressing in the wee small hours, (yes, racing thoughts CLKD) about even minor stuff I have to do the next day, I write things down on a notepad at the side of my bed. Even little things like what I musn't forget to ask the doctor etc etc.

Otherwise, I lie there thinking about it over and over again then in the morning I'm a shattered wreck.

I need lists these days because my memory is getting terrible

I never used to worry about trivial matters before menopause but now it drives me mad!

[CLKD]

If we worry it's not trivial!