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[marge]

It seems that many of us suffer with anxiety especially in the mornings. I’m just wondering how your anxiety manifests itself and what we are all worried about.

For me it’s either health; scan of the body to see which life threatening illness l’ve woken up with or the dread of receiving bad news about a family member.

It usually passes when l’m up and about and still functioning and both my children and grandchild are all ok (as l haven’t heard otherwise).

[Jillom]

I can totally relate to this-I’m the exact same-worry myself sick that a new symptom is a serious health issue or think I’m going to get bad news about my children and there health (even though they are both healthy).

[CLKD]

Cortisol used to wake me any time from 3.00 a.m., a sudden surge of fear.  I would get out of bed immediately, get dressed and go down to sit on the settee; for hours 

I've had panic attacks since aged 3.  These have continued in various forms and for many reasons.  I've had talking therapy and medication the latter with success.  Nothing in particular sets it off other than my body being hungry = naueasa.

When issues are niggling I simply don't get off to sleep 

[Dierdre]

Mines usually health anxiety, any minor symptom, ache or pain and it esculates in my head to something serious. I do cope with General Anxiety now a lot better.

[Nmb]

My anxiety all relates to work. I haven't enjoyed my stressful job for a long time but I'm terrified of losing the financial security of a career I've been in for nearly 20 years. Perimenopause symptoms are bad just now and make everything seem worse. Up until the last few years, I was so relaxed about life and never really anxious. Now it's a struggle to do anything and I'm desperate to get rid of his feeling.

[Mary G]

Nmb, I was like that for years and it started a long time before the menopause.  In a previous life, I worked in a large international law firm in London and they deliberately created a culture where everyone constantly felt like they could lose their job at any moment for the slightest misdemeanor.  People were heavily penalised for taking too much sick leave too but fortunately I rarely took more than 5 sick days each year.  Somebody was diagnosed with MS and was constantly hounded with telephone calls at home checking up on them before finally being signed off on the firm's permanent health insurance scheme.  It was outrageous.  Like everyone else I had a mortgage to pay and my partner earned less than me without the generous benefits package so I knew that if I lost my job, we would be in deep financial trouble.  I lived with this dreadful fear and anxiety for years and then I realised I had two choices, get out or go mad so I got out.  It was extremely difficult and took years of planning to finally pull it off but I know how it feels to have sleepless nights because you think you might have made a mistake that could lead to losing your job and the Sunday night dreads particularly in the winter months.  I suffer with seasonal affective disorder and hate long dark evenings which doesn't help.  Friends were supportive but my parents were completely unsympathetic and no support whatsoever in fact they used to ridicule me.  I needed to get away from them too!

Just before I got out 25 years ago, I started having panic attacks on the train to and from work and felt like I couldn't breath and worried that I might throw up not that I ever did!  Looking back I think this was the very beginnings of the peri menopause but it was also a result of too many years of being in a bad and deeply insecure environment. 

I hope knowing you are not alone with these feelings might help.  I hope you can find a way through.

[Kathleen]

Hello ladies.


My anxiety is always about my mental health as mood swings became a daily occurrence in post menopause. I hadn't had any such problems before and thought of myself as a reasonable and level headed person.

I have also experienced a whole range of physical symptoms which have come and gone but I never worried that I had a serious physical illness.

I am not on HRT and my remaining physical symptoms are manageable but my moods/emotions are still very changeable.I was recently diagnosed with iron deficiency and prescribed iron tablets for three months. I did a bit of research and apparently low iron can also cause mood swings so perhaps I will see can improvement as my iron levels rise,  I will certainly update the forum if that is the case.


Wishing you well ladies and take care.


K.

[Lesred]

Oh gosh mine is definitely health, it started when I was 41 when my mum died of colon cancer, I had lived in happy oblivion that there was no cancer in the family right up to that point, after that perimenopause started within a few years I was an anxious mess, panicking about every ache and pain. Horrible! I also hadn’t really clocked how ill you can make yourself by worrying constantly. Over time I’ve learnt to not jump immediately to the worst case scenario and forums like this and nomorepanic have helped hugely.

I’ve also had the endless worry about family too, glad I’m not alone.

Not surprised anxiety is such a problem in menopause really as so many weird symptoms get thrown at us it’s hard to remain calm sometimes.

[CLKD]

I was told from an early age the if I felt 2 ill to go 2 school I wouldn't be allowed to 'go out' that evening.  When I was anxious I was told that 'once U have said 'yes' 2 something, U will be letting people down if you cancel'  .

So there's a certain amount of old habits internally, anxiety = panic which means that I can't do what is planned.  Spontaneously is better, mostly.

And what if I am ill    .......... it would ruin everything!

[Nas]

I do have cancer and whilst not anxious about dying, I am terrified of leaving my young adult children, partner and parents. I should see a cancer psych psychiatrist really, but I’m
WAY too angry to even do anything about it.

Yeah, that’s what my anxiety revolves around.

[Nmb]

Nmb, I was like that for years and it started a long time before the menopause.  In a previous life, I worked in a large international law firm in London and they deliberately created a culture where everyone constantly felt like they could lose their job at any moment for the slightest misdemeanor.  People were heavily penalised for taking too much sick leave too but fortunately I rarely took more than 5 sick days each year.  Somebody was diagnosed with MS and was constantly hounded with telephone calls at home checking up on them before finally being signed off on the firm's permanent health insurance scheme.  It was outrageous.  Like everyone else I had a mortgage to pay and my partner earned less than me without the generous benefits package so I knew that if I lost my job, we would be in deep financial trouble.  I lived with this dreadful fear and anxiety for years and then I realised I had two choices, get out or go mad so I got out.  It was extremely difficult and took years of planning to finally pull it off but I know how it feels to have sleepless nights because you think you might have made a mistake that could lead to losing your job and the Sunday night dreads particularly in the winter months.  I suffer with seasonal affective disorder and hate long dark evenings which doesn't help.  Friends were supportive but my parents were completely unsympathetic and no support whatsoever in fact they used to ridicule me.  I needed to get away from them too!

Just before I got out 25 years ago, I started having panic attacks on the train to and from work and felt like I couldn't breath and worried that I might throw up not that I ever did!  Looking back I think this was the very beginnings of the peri menopause but it was also a result of too many years of being in a bad and deeply insecure environment. 

I hope knowing you are not alone with these feelings might help.  I hope you can find a way through.

It certainly does help to know of others who have experienced similar issues feelings. It also helps to know that others are able to take the leap and escape. Rational me would tell anyone else exactly what to do but it's not so different when you're trying to do it yourself.

Thanks for sharing ❤️

[Nmb]

Nmb, I was like that for years and it started a long time before the menopause.  In a previous life, I worked in a large international law firm in London and they deliberately created a culture where everyone constantly felt like they could lose their job at any moment for the slightest misdemeanor.  People were heavily penalised for taking too much sick leave too but fortunately I rarely took more than 5 sick days each year.  Somebody was diagnosed with MS and was constantly hounded with telephone calls at home checking up on them before finally being signed off on the firm's permanent health insurance scheme.  It was outrageous.  Like everyone else I had a mortgage to pay and my partner earned less than me without the generous benefits package so I knew that if I lost my job, we would be in deep financial trouble.  I lived with this dreadful fear and anxiety for years and then I realised I had two choices, get out or go mad so I got out.  It was extremely difficult and took years of planning to finally pull it off but I know how it feels to have sleepless nights because you think you might have made a mistake that could lead to losing your job and the Sunday night dreads particularly in the winter months.  I suffer with seasonal affective disorder and hate long dark evenings which doesn't help.  Friends were supportive but my parents were completely unsympathetic and no support whatsoever in fact they used to ridicule me.  I needed to get away from them too!

Just before I got out 25 years ago, I started having panic attacks on the train to and from work and felt like I couldn't breath and worried that I might throw up not that I ever did!  Looking back I think this was the very beginnings of the peri menopause but it was also a result of too many years of being in a bad and deeply insecure environment. 

I hope knowing you are not alone with these feelings might help.  I hope you can find a way through.

It certainly does help to know of others who have experienced similar issues feelings. It also helps to know that others are able to take the leap and escape. Rational me would tell anyone else exactly what to do but it's not so different when you're trying to do it yourself.

Thanks for sharing ❤️

[Fuzzwhizzer]

These days the whole lot. It sometimes feels like we are all characters in an Agatha Christie drama waiting to be picked off one by one. Either by illness, accident or whatever. The world news closes in like a crushing room getting smaller and smaller, whilst the ongoing aches and pains get ever bigger and bigger in our heads making the thoughts flit about like darting birds of cruelty and viciousness. And life all around us keeps ticking the hours ticketty blooming tock. Small crumbs of relief are to be grasped like life rafts in this whole maelstrom of uncertainty and confusion.

[Rabbit1977]

I am anxious about anything to do with my health because I have a unhealthy fear of dying. Take the events of today....

My doctors' surgery phones to say the doctor would like a telephone appointment next week to discuss my recent blood test results (blood test was this Monday gone). I said to the receptionist that I was actually about to pop into them to get a print our of my results and her response was that they would not give out any results until the doctor had had a chance to talk to me about them. Let's forget for the moment that this is my body and my results which they are denying me access to. So, naturally, being overly anxious about dying, I am now in a spiral as to what could possibly be wrong.

Add into the mix that the blood test on Monday only happened because I requested from my doctor some higher strength iron tablets through the online system three weeks ago because out of the blue the colorectal surgeon that did my colonoscopy announced to me before he stuck the colonoscope into the abyss that I was anaemic, and the hospital said they couldn't prescribe any but that needed to go back to my doctor. This was a complete shock to me as I have had 5 blood tests over the past two years and not one doctor has ever flagged that I was anaemic (again! My ferritin level shrunk to 8 back in 2016). You don't just become anaemic overnight! The doctor's response to my request was that I would have to have another blood test done before they prescribed any iron pills (despite them having ordered the original blood test & FIT mid-August that left me on the path to the colonoscopy and capsule endoscopy), and this blood test was presumably what the colorectal surgeon was referring to when he said I was anaemic. I have since had a letter from the hospital to explain they were looking for the cause of 'persistent normacytic anaemia'. I ended up taking 14mg iron tablets from Boots in the meantime as I don't want to end up where I was back in 2016 when I ended up extremely ill.

So now I am left panicking tonight, as the doctors won't give me a print out of my results and there is no appointment to speak to a doctor before next Tuesday. My cholesterol has also been an issue in the past couple of years but has seen a steady drop so I'm pretty sure this is not the problem (also, because yesterday I got a text message from the surgery off the back of Monday's blood test that said 'you would benefit from lowering your cholesterol'). So now, I'm so anxious I don't feel I can eat anything.

[CLKD]

Why do any patients think that they are entitled to see any results until these have been discussed?  I would no more think to access mine than fly to the moon, because in the main, blood test results in particular are difficult to analyse.

GPs can charge a patient if they access results at times other than when discussing them. 

Did the Colorectal Surgeon suggest to your GP that you should be prescribed higher strength tablets, that would be my first concern. That something was told to me 'over the bed' but not acted upon, i.e. not being told that he/she would write to the GP about the findings.  This mayB something to bring up at  your appt..  Often in the heat of the moment patients won't think to ask, it's the brain whirring that makes a person worry.

Fear of dying is normal 4 many.  I fear being left in pain ........ regardless of what hospice workers suggest people are not always treated symptomatically but 'U can't have any more for 4 hours'-type suggestions. Instead of being treated as is ......... some people fear being interned ........ this not unusual.

Fear/phobias can take over completely, mine was day and night when I would dream about it ......... I avoided situations where 'it' might happen in front of me 

If the results showed anything untoward you wouldn't be waiting until Tuesday, some1 would have been on the 'phone to you with advice. As for taking OTC extra iron ..... will U B telling your GP at your appt.?  As for lowering your cholesterol, DH and I were prescribed statins to be certain that we remain well.  MayB make a list of queries to take to the appt.? And let us know how you get on.