Stress and anxiety

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fyl2u said:
Well...

Just had a woman round from Capita, who do the home visit interviews for the DWP for Personal Independence Payments.

I've got to say, compared with the ESA Work Capability Assessment it was like chalk and cheese.

The PIP woman was calm, gently-spoken, waited to hear my answers in full before moving on, and seemed like she'd actually researched my conditions before arriving, whereas the ESA WCA interview (that I had to travel 20 miles to get to despite the fact I don't ever leave the house unaccompanied) seemed to be designed to trip you up and they didn't really seem to want to know my answers: they would start asking the next question before letting me finish answering the previous one and they didn't have a f***ing clue about any of my conditions and ended up declaring that I'm fit for work when clearly I'm not because I can't even leave the bastard house.

I'm still shaking after having to deal with being interviewed for 45 minutes but I feel so much better about it than I did about the ESA WCA.

Now I just have to wait 6 weeks to find out if they're going to award me any PIP money. Hopefully I won't be homeless by then.
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Good luck mate.
 


Idlewild Mackem said:
Cheers marra, apprecaite that. Did you go for the oils or capsules and what strength?
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I have always got blue as it was strongest but just looked and they have stronger ones now. I always got oil as it works out cheaper than capsules but be warned the oil tastes like shit!
 
Left For Dead said:
on and off 15 years. I believed my only success came as I was on this medication which acted as a catalyst. In fact SSRI only work short term and they alter your personality. You overcompensate daily, not listening to people, craving beer, terrible hangovers, increased anxiety, weird dreams, unpredictable libido, twitches in your face, all kinds of shit they dont' tell you about.
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I have only been on them 7 months. Doc reckons I should be on them til the new year but got a review soon so we’ll see. Not sure if they acting more as a crutch than owt else but I won’t know until coming off them.
 
Get to a gym, work the weight and the stress off you. Do something you enjoy and fill your mind with it. I have cut my time on the net and am better for it, more creative and prolific.
 
sketchy said:
I have always got blue as it was strongest but just looked and they have stronger ones now. I always got oil as it works out cheaper than capsules but be warned the oil tastes like shit!
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Does it work though? I'm mostly looking for it to help with my sleeping at the moment.
 
Small victories. Every day, one at a time, no matter how small. Lots of small victories, like climbing rungs on a ladder.

You will get there.
 
Idlewild Mackem said:
Does it work though? I'm mostly looking for it to help with my sleeping at the moment.
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It wont work as well as a sleeping tablet but its also not addictive like that as well. It helps with a lot of issues but I would describe it as taking the edge off rather than eliminating the symptoms.

Melatonin tablets might be worth looking at for sleeping that is what I use when I need something.
 
sketchy said:
I used it more for inflamation and pains. I use a CBD balm more now though for that. I did however notice a little change in relieving a bit of the low feelings I was having.
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A lot of my anxiety relates to me trying to cope with my IBS so as well as the mental side of things I was wondering if it might help that a bit too.
 
The Underdog said:
New to this thread despite monitoring it over time.

Long post alert. So here goes;

Was first (unawarely) introduced to anxiety the day after I finished university some four and a half years ago. I originally thought it was just an excessive hangover from the blow out end of year party. Few chest pains and twinges on top of the compulsory nausea and bad head of a hangover. I just thought: “bloody hell, must have over done it a bit yesterday.” I remember it so well as I struggled to watch the Froch-Groves Wembley bout that night with these twinges and pains. The next day I didn’t think much of it as I started to pack up and move out and back home for another summer of work at the same place for a fifth straight summer (no new surroundings or people or jobs or anything out of the ordinary with the job). A week or two back in the job and those twinges flared up again when doing a bit manual handling as though i was skipping a beat as well. Alarms bells then started ringing and the circus of trying to find out what was wrong began before my first panic attack - Portugal v USA a Sunday night game during the Brazil World Cup. Genuinely thought that was my time up and that this must be what a heart attack was. Few trips to the doctors ranged from nothing was wrong to an inflamed rib cage before another month or two down the line I was asked by one GP if I was familiar with anxiety. By the time I was diagnosed I was having frequent panic attacks daily and within six months I was a completely different person it had gotten ahold of me that much. All stemming from subconsciously asking myself when finishing university: “what next?”

Went to CBT and one-to-one counselling sessions over the next six months and they helped. I was never back to being how I was before I finished uni but I was a little better than when it all kicked up. I ended up in a factory for 18 months. By the end of which I was getting worse again just basically questioning what am I doing with my life? What do I want to do? I’ve got a degree that’s seemingly no use (I look back now and it is pretty useless to be fair) so what do I do? So I put in to do an MA which I finished just before Christmas last year busting my arse to get a distinction. Immensely proud of myself for doing so and achieving that grade knowing the work I put into it. During that time my anxiety was manageable. I’d get the odd flare up and panic attack but I was able to manage them a bit better with techniques I’d learned from CBT and I was regularly going for reiki sessions which seemed ridiculous initially but became bloody brilliant - complete contentness for an hour where I could literally feel the tension around my chest/ heart area alleviate.

So I graduated 10 months ago and I could look back at that point and think how far have I come since this all started. I never really gave myself enough credit for how far I’d come. From battling numerous panic attacks a day to barely having any and feeling proud of myself. I’d moved to Yarm and was getting back into exercise - going for little runs around the river banks and then just doing my own little CrossFit type workouts just in the spare room. Eating well and getting complements for “looking well.”

Fast forward 10 months to now and I’m back to square one almost having spent seven hours in A&E on Saturday after near enough fainting and blacking out from a panic attack. Leaving work and I had the heart out the chest, dizziness, light headedness, numbness and tingling down my left, gaunt look, white as a sheet. It was awful. The worst experience I’ve ever had. The 111 services seemed extremely worried about a stroke. I was taken to hospital and quickly given the welcome tests of bloods and blood pressure etc. Eventually got to see the doctor who was extensively checking everthing in search of stroke or TIA symptoms. Thankfully seemed happy i hadn’t suffered either and was pretty sure I was right in suggesting it was just a mega anxiety attack.

In the 10 months since graduating I’ve once again been able to get nothing jobwise and feel like every passing day I’m getting further away from getting something to do with my MA. I then think episodes like this, would I even be able to keep a job down? (I’m just in a part time role now as a leisure assistant and only got this about a month ago). I had to take my nana to the Freeman last week for a pancreatic consultation meeting which was just awful. And while at work on Saturday I found out that we need to move house again (fourth time in two and a bit years). We (myself and the doctor) think that message at work may have been the trigger after everything else I’ve just mentioned that just set everything off for what happened on Saturday. So I spent yesterday rest and recovering moving as far as from bed to the couch and today isn’t much different. I still feel drained and groggy and light headed but if my brain/ body has convinced itself I was having stroke like/ TIA/ heart attack like symptoms then I guess it may take a couple of days recovery to get back on my feet?

I guess I just feel now I’ve found myself back four years. After every bit of therapy, every relaxing session whether it be reiki or massage or spa days or whatever, after every bit of being proud of myself and complements for how well I’ve done and was looking - it’s all just gone back to square one. No job. Not sure what I’m doing with my life again. Stuff going on at home what with my nana and having to move. I’ve been off the exercise because my knee is knackered and I’m anxious about getting that sorted as I know the only solution is an op and I’ve heard, and got friends, who’ve had so many bad stories from knee ops. The diet has gone to pot a bit so I now sometimes feel guilty if I eat “bad” foods. Just find myself back on the minefield with every step being on a bomb at the minute.

This is the first time I’ve ever opened up and done something like this in this capacity - ie to strangers (aside from a counsellor of course) so hoping it gives me a little bit of a release. I’ve fallen off the ladder completely after four years. Need to get a foot back on.
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How you doing now fella?
 
fyl2u said:
Well...

Just had a woman round from Capita, who do the home visit interviews for the DWP for Personal Independence Payments.

I've got to say, compared with the ESA Work Capability Assessment it was like chalk and cheese.

The PIP woman was calm, gently-spoken, waited to hear my answers in full before moving on, and seemed like she'd actually researched my conditions before arriving, whereas the ESA WCA interview (that I had to travel 20 miles to get to despite the fact I don't ever leave the house unaccompanied) seemed to be designed to trip you up and they didn't really seem to want to know my answers: they would start asking the next question before letting me finish answering the previous one and they didn't have a f***ing clue about any of my conditions and ended up declaring that I'm fit for work when clearly I'm not because I can't even leave the bastard house.

I'm still shaking after having to deal with being interviewed for 45 minutes but I feel so much better about it than I did about the ESA WCA.

Now I just have to wait 6 weeks to find out if they're going to award me any PIP money. Hopefully I won't be homeless by then.
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Make notes now about what she asked and what your responses were , from my experience with Pip assessment it’s far from straightforward and you may have to appeal. Just jot things down while it’s fresh in your memory but I hope that it’s less of an ordeal for you
 
Nookie Bear said:
Make notes now about what she asked and what your responses were , from my experience with Pip assessment it’s far from straightforward and you may have to appeal. Just jot things down while it’s fresh in your memory but I hope that it’s less of an ordeal for you
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sound advice.

when dealing with any sort of authority/employers that you know might be 'ongoing' keep a written record of what was said, time, date, who was present etc. you will benefit in the long run.
 
sketchy said:
I used it more for inflamation and pains. I use a CBD balm more now though for that. I did however notice a little change in relieving a bit of the low feelings I was having.
Click to expand...
calmac said:
Query ...how does Certraline mix with alchohol?
If I'm on it long term I might have to go on the wagon!
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Thanks for that...I looked up online and just wondered if anybody had any experience of the effects of drink. The experts are always too cautious and take any excuse to warn you off the demon drink!
 
fyl2u said:
Well...

Just had a woman round from Capita, who do the home visit interviews for the DWP for Personal Independence Payments.

I've got to say, compared with the ESA Work Capability Assessment it was like chalk and cheese.

The PIP woman was calm, gently-spoken, waited to hear my answers in full before moving on, and seemed like she'd actually researched my conditions before arriving, whereas the ESA WCA interview (that I had to travel 20 miles to get to despite the fact I don't ever leave the house unaccompanied) seemed to be designed to trip you up and they didn't really seem to want to know my answers: they would start asking the next question before letting me finish answering the previous one and they didn't have a f***ing clue about any of my conditions and ended up declaring that I'm fit for work when clearly I'm not because I can't even leave the bastard house.

I'm still shaking after having to deal with being interviewed for 45 minutes but I feel so much better about it than I did about the ESA WCA.

Now I just have to wait 6 weeks to find out if they're going to award me any PIP money. Hopefully I won't be homeless by then.
Click to expand...
Horrendous those PIP assessors. Very dishonest. Had to appeal for two people due to lies, misinterpretation and lots of stuff missed out. Won both appeals and took matters further relating to one assessor.
 
Couple of years ago was on the net and stumbled accross something very simple. Stress = not have solutions to problems. I put a note on my desk at work..in code..and every time I felt it, identified the problem and tried to do something about it. Simple but effective
 
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