How Can I Stop Worrying?

[TheCavySlave]

I have a generalised anxiety disorder, which was diagnosed four years ago but I have had it for about 30 years. I also suffer with confidence issues in the fact that I am not good enough and everything that I do is not good enough because everyone is better/nicer than me.

As a result of having anxiety issues for so long, I have heart palpitations and digestive issues which play up every so often, but I manage them without anyone knowing. My BP is at the upper level of normal, so I have to be careful.

I am not on medication. I tried it and I had all of the side effects so bad that it made me ill. I manage the anxiety on sheer will power and lots of deep breaths. And it is hard. I have only a few good friends due to not trusting people (I dumped most of my friends about 16 years ago due to them being very back stabbing and nasty people).

Anxiety is a very common issue for many people

Thank you for being so honest. I struggle a lot, my room shares a wall with the piggy room and I'm actually having trouble relaxing in case something bad happens. Any techniques to deal with this? With Duncan having problems recently it's actually been like hell for me. I spend most of my time feeling scared senseless something awful will happen. I think it's actually putting me off my food. My stomach's all knotted and I get relief from breathing deeply, I actually hold my breath a bit sometimes.
And don't put yourself down, okay? You're a fabulous piggy mum and a fabulous forum member

 

[Flamestriker]

This may seem strange but I 'switch off' bad thoughts about what might happen otherwise I would go crazy and I wouldn't want to leave the house. I try and look at things logically and seek to control the 'may be' 'what ifs' and 'if this happens'. In other words, I try to control the spiralling waves of fear. I consciously stop making mountains out of molehills and I tend to deal with the issues that I can by putting things in place or preparing for them beforehand and therefore taking back the control.

Duncan might have had problems recently but you dealt with them and he is better because of it, TheCavySlave. There is little point worrying about it because you cannot control when a piggy gets poorly. You can only try to prevent it and act when you notice something out of the ordinary. Worrying won't change anything, but having a first aid kit for piggies and get numbers for local vets including ones for out of hours might alleviate some of the worrybecause you are taking some of the control back by preparing.

Also remember that hind sight is not always a good thing. And feeling guilty can never change the past. We can only do the best we can do at that particular moment in time with whatever we have available.