Struggle with Anxiety Disorder and OCD

by Tasha

I have been through so much in the last six months. My son was diagnosed with Kawasakis disease, my other son was diagnosed with Aspergers, my husband lost his job and I am in college trying to keep it together. I had anxiety since I was little and it has never been this bad. I keep thinking I am dying. I am constantly shaky and nauseous. I also feel nauseating pressure in my head. I have had many tests done but the doctors say it is my anxiety disorder and OCD. I feel like I am going crazy. I try to ground my self everyday but I keep feeling like things are unreal. I went to my first counseling appointment yesterday and felt some relief. I want these attacks to go away over night. I too, got married young and my husband was in the Air Force. We moved overseas and I felt happy and scared. I really wish these feelings would go away and I could manage life better without being scared. What could I do? I am constantly spacy, tense and scared, shaky and have weird pressure in my head.
Thanks for listening.

Reply from Sound-Mind.org

Hello Tasha,

It definately sounds like you have your hands full and you have many reasons for the stress in your life. High amount of stress that is chronic is a definate trigger for anxiety and ocd. I think it's awesome that you have started counseling! Many people avoid counseling/therapy and suffer in silence when they don't have to.

Yeah, I have to say that the symptoms that come with anxiety and ocd are hard to deal with. It's hard for us to grasp that these symptoms are only stress and nothing more. The symptoms talk us into believing that we may possibly lose our minds. More important than ever, you need to convince yourself that this will never happen. As much as you scare yourself, you need to become your own best advocate and tell yourself the truth. What is the truth? The truth is all those things we know to be true about anxiety and ocd. This really is about you turning your obsessions from the scary, obsessive thoughts of going crazy to more realistic, positive, truthful thoughts. I know it's not easy but with persistance you can definately turn this around.

With all that's going on in your life and all the stress that surrounds you, it is important to take time for yourself. People who are constantly caring for others and feel the burden of the entire family need time to destress on a regular basis. So if you are not taking time for yourself EVERY week, then you definately must. Use this time to focus on pariticipating on a stress management activity of your choice. I know you may be saying... "how can anyone enjoy anything with these symptoms"...well, regardless of how you are feeling, I encourage you to take the time and practice anyways. It is only through practice that you will find that it gets easier.

Another great tool for helping you to relax each day is to practice the deep breathing technique. There is a video on this page that explains in detail why it helps and how to do it.

Whatever you do, don't give up and as much as you want this to be over and done with, just take it one day at a time. Don't wish your symptoms away, they will only persist. Instead, accept they are there and focus all your attention on taking care of yourself and doing the necessary work for recovery.

Hang in there!
~Susan