Hi, new member

[flowergirl]

Hi everyone. I just joined today and wanted to introduce myself. Sorry for the long post. I have struggled with bouts of pretty severe anxiety for about the past 10-12 years, and have been diagnosed with GAD. My typical pattern is I get into a bad cycle, try to pull myself out of it for a couple of months, realize I can't do it, and end up on medication for a year or two. There is always a main focus of the anxiety - the first bad bout I had was about my mom, who was aging and drinking way too much. That was the first time I tried medication (Celexa). I was on it for a couple of years and then weaned off. The next bout was about my cats and their health (neither had anything significantly wrong at the time, just some of their first health issues that I couldn't really deal with). I got over that one with a year or so of Prozac. A couple of years later, I suffered with several months of severe hypochondria that started with a bladder infection and totally took over my life. After that, I went back on Prozac and stayed on it for about 3 years. It made me gain about 40 pounds, so six years ago I decided to wean off of it again. I have been doing really well since then, a little anxiety here and there but no serious bouts and nothing life-altering until a few months ago.

I was sitting on my couch the weekend before Christmas. I had finished all my shopping and was feeling accomplished and ready for the holiday. All of a sudden my mind started racing from topic to topic with everything that might be wrong - from my job to my current cat (different from the first two), to family issues, and more. It was like I could feel myself heading into a spiral but I couldn't stop myself from doing it. From there it came and went for a week or so with racing thoughts, and I finally settled on my cat as the main anxiety target. I had a few visits with the vet, and it turns out he has arthritis, IBD, and needed dental extractions. This occupied my anxiety for a couple of months, but just as things started to calm down with him, I started freaking out over issues related to my house. This is a new topic for me - obsessing over whether I will have a gas leak or carbon monoxide, a broken pipe I don't know about, a house fire, etc. Last week I had all of the HVAC replaced in my house because I worried all winter that my old furnace would die and I wouldn't have a way to heat the house. So I have this brand new, expensive system, but it's been making some odd noises and occasional weird smells, so I've spent all weekend worried that the installers didn't know what they were doing and now I'm in danger because of faulty equipment and I have a problem no one will be able to diagnose (googling hasn't helped my anxiety). I'm afraid to turn the system on, and especially afraid of it running when I'm not here. When I look at it from the outside, I know I'm completely overreacting, but I can't stop focusing on the remote possibility that I might be right.

I just made a phone appointment with my doctor for next week to talk about whether I should go back on medication. I was hoping I would be able to get through this one on my own. Although it's not as severe as some other bouts I've had, I don't see a way to pull myself out on my own.

 

[triceps]

Hi and welcome flowergirl. I've had GAD for over 50 years so I definitely can relate what you're going through. If you go back on medication, I just thought I'd share that of the many medications I've been on, Lexapro has helped me the longest and the best. Also, the new HVAC systems will shut down if there were any installation problems. I hope that knowledge can help your thinking. Again, welcome.

 

[RobbyH]

Sorry about your anxiety but I will echo what Triceps said - the systems are designed to turn off if there is a major fault. It is also VERY common to have odd noises and odd smells with a new unit so I wouldn't worry about that in the least.