Anxiety & fears

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fern hill
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Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:12 am
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by fern hill on Thu Oct 18, 2012 1:05 am

Anxiety & fears

I've been having problems with anxiety since childhood. I'm 21. I only realised it was something a doctor could help with about a year and a half ago but I still haven't done anything about it. I've read the symptoms/diagnostic criteria for anxiety disorders online and nothing seems to fit with my problems.

From about the age of eight I started to develop extreme anxiety or phobias about quite trivial things (I'm too embarrassed to say exactly what but it was objects which it was possible to avoid so it didn't necessarily affect my everyday life) where even thinking about the things would make me panic and I would have nightmares about them. The worst one lasted for years. I knew there was something wrong with me but I was too embarrassed to tell anyone and even thinking about the problem could make me panic. Those childhood fears have faded away now but similar things happen to me where something which could be trivial or actually important make me so anxious and panicky that I avoid them for as long as possible which often has bad consequences. Some examples: I'm a student and I've been so anxious and worried about doing a piece of work that I wouldn't even look at it and have to work myself up to do it over days or weeks. I get scared that if I look at it I'll have a panic attack. I've also been too scared to check deadlines in case they are earlier than I thought. I'm still too scared to check my marks from last year in case I panic. The fear of having to eventually check whether I'd passed the year last year ruined my summer. I'm scared to check my university email in case there's something that could make me panic in there. Those are things that aren't trivial, they affect important things, but there have also been times where I've been in a state of panic over something trivial for a day at a time - completely unable to sleep or eat, heart beating fast, feeling sick. It's the worst thing I've ever felt but fortunately it is fairly rare that it lasts a day like that. At one point that was happening about once every six months but I don't think it's happened now for a year but I am worried about it happening again.

I also have some social fears. I was scared to make phone calls for years although that has gradually got better over the space of about three years because I've had no choice but to make certain phone calls. I still won't make appointments by phone if it's possible to physically go to the place instead. I live in a shared house and I sometimes get scared of going into a room that people are already in - for example I'm currently doing my washing late at night so that there is unlikely to be anyone in the kitchen where the washing machine is when I need to go in there.

For background information my mum has said she's on medication for anxiety, my dad has implied that he's had anxiety before and my sister has had anorexia, so it could be that things like this run in my family.

My dad said that if I was going to come back to university this year I should see a doctor even though he only knew about part of what I've written here, however I still feel like it's too silly or embarrassing or trivial to see someone about. I've planned to do it several times and never gone through with it. My university has a mental health service and I'm wondering whether they could help and whether I'd even be able to explain the problem properly to them. I've never told anyone all of this before. I would be really grateful for any advice.

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Dr Johanna Herrod
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Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 10:21 am
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by Dr Johanna Herrod on Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:14 am

Re: Anxiety & fears

Dear Fern,

Your description of symptoms does suggest an Anxiety Disorder with Panic. The “breed” of Anxiety Disorder will be established by a full assessment by a Psychiatrist. This is so common and TREATABLE. I agree with your father that you see your University GP. The Gold Standard treatment is Talking Therapy (usually Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) and Medication. University GP’s have good access to University Counselling Services and established links with Psychiatry which will enable you to start getting better. I would advise you discuss your difficulties with your Course Tutor. This will enable the University to support your academic studies should you need it.
A good source of information about Anxiety Disorders, Psychotherapy and Medication is on the Royal College of Psychiatrists web site.

Kind regards Dr Johanna Herrod

fern hill
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:12 am
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by fern hill on Thu Oct 18, 2012 6:20 pm

Re: Anxiety & fears

Thank you. I will go to the university mental health people next week. It really helps to hear that it's common when I spent about 10 years thinking I must be the only one!

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