My Struggle with Anxiety

by Melissa Bisbop
(Australia)

About 3 months ago I started feeling very sick. It went on for about 2 weeks and I finally went to the doctors. They did some blood tests but couldn't figure out what was wrong. My mum finally decided to ask them to test for glandular fever as my older sister had gotten it and we wondered if it was the same thing. The results came back positive. By this point I was already getting worried about what was wrong with me. I have a very big fear of vomiting so everytime i felt sick my anxiety got out of control. For about 2 weeks I was putting up with feeling sick thinking once I got over the glandular fever my stomach aches would go away. It has now been 3 months and I'm getting worse. I've stopped going to work, i'm unable to go out without getting anxious, I have trouble sleeping and i'm barely eating. 4 weeks ago I started on Fluoxetine but there's been no change yet. I'm starting to worry that there's something wrong with me and that my body isn't working properly. It's really taking a toll on my day to day and I can't handle it for much longer. I've had a few good days but last night I woke up feeling like I was going to vomit multiple times and it's continued the whole day. It had made me very anxious and had completely messed up my mind. I don't know if this is all anxiety or if there's something else going on. I'm starting to get very sad and depressed about the way i've been feeling and have also had some very bad thoughts. Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions? I'm only 18 years old and really want my life back.