Hi everyone.

Now I’m usually a happy go lucky kid of guy. I have a good group of friends, a wonderful fiancée and a supportive family but for as long as I can remember I have suffered at various times in my life awful anxiety and more recently catastrophisating.

If anything goes wrong I always fear the worst, whether that be past girlfriends or stuff at work.

At the moment I have noticed that over the last 12-18 months I have made a few mistakes at work. In my rational mind I know that there is an answer to every problem or another view point. The problems are not huge.

But then my irrational mind takes over, I question my judgement (a decade of experience) convinced that the errors I make will lead to me getting the sack, which will in turn destroy my future and the future plans I have with my partner.

Anxiety has always manifested itself in one particular form for me, I feel sick, get lots of saliva in my mouth and end up with a dry cough which in turn makes me heave and on occasion actually be sick. I remember this happening as a child and I still do it now when I become anxious.

It has got to a point now where it has to stop but I do not know what I should do, or more to the point I am terrified of doing certain things because of my notion that I think the worst outcome is the most likely.

To be fair I have always been a bit of a wuss and tried my hardest to avoid conflict and always hated being told off as a child.

I just want to feel normal in the morning and not feel sick. It all revolves around work as I spent the last week off feeling pretty stress free.

I just don’t know what the next step is… Has anyone got any pointers for me.

Thanks for reading.

John

Hello John and welcome to the site.
You seem pretty in charge of your conscious mind and where you want to be which is great.  You’re ahead of most of us in this world.
It seems that you’re afraid that something might come along to scupper your plans.  In a way that seems sensible to be cautious but when our fear and anxiety go beyond caution to the point of making us unwell, that’s indeed a problem.  The fact that you recognise all of this seems to me like you’re in the best position to deal with it successfully.
An EFT expert, Sally Canning, has written a podcast for the site about EFT and tapping for anxiety and fear.  I think and have heard that it’s a great treatment.  Here’s the link if you feel like trying it.  It’s just on the site.  I haven’t publicised it yet but thought it may help you right now. 

/podcasts/02 Tapping for Stress and Anxiety.mp3
In the meantime, have you listened to any of our podcasts on the site for fear anxiety?  Here’s the link to the podcasts:

/index.php/media/podcasts

Best wishes,
Helen

Hi

I’ve want to share my experience about anxiety and depression. I suffer for a long time.But when i take Amoryn at Brain Research Supplement http://brainresearchsupplements.com/amoryn-by-bioneurix-corporation/ .My confident in my self is totally back. I feel I’m a new man now.

I’ve found myself just recently thinking the worst. My partner, Karl, went over to his best mate’s house to watch a film (or to oggle Daniel Radcliffe lol) and I immediately became convinced they were sleeping together and no amount of telling myself I was being an idiot could make me see sense. I felt so stupid.

Hi Michael,

I couldn’t help expecting the worst when I was very ill too. Its a very common symtom of depression.

It sounds like you might benefit from CBT - there are several good books which local library might have or allow you to order - my I suggest yoy have a look through the reviews on amazon. Please be aware, that for CBT to be effective you do have to do the “homework”, but it really can help if you give it a little time. Try it for a month and monitor your progress by taking a depression test once a week - there are several on the internet.

Wishing you all the best

Karma

Karma

Hi Karma,

I’ve been on a course of CBT in recent weeks with the Healthy Minds network in Stoke but I found that having CBT done over the phone does not help. What I really need is one to one counselling which I’m now on the waiting list for- with no idea how long I’ll be waiting. In the meantime, I’ve contacted the MIND office in Stoke and I have an assessment a week today!!

Mikey

Hi Mikey

That’s great news about Mind!

When I first “crashed” I went to a drop in session with my local branch of Mind and they really helped me understand what was happening to me - I wouldn’t go so far as to say they saved my life, but it really did help being able to talk to someone who understood.

I hope your visit proves to be as beneficial as mine was.

Karma

Hi Mikey, how did your Mind assessment go and how are you doing?  Thinking about you.  Helen

Hi Helen,
My assessment went okay yesterday. It helped that it was a good day for me yesterday. I should hopefully start getting counselling in the New Year (the waiting list is pretty extensive apparently). But knowing a time frame is such a comfort unlike with my CBT people who said I could be waiting months for face to face counselling which I think is pretty disgusting!!
Mikey.