BE NOT AFRAID -- Catholics Living With Anxiety Disorders

Natashapa: I do the Hail Mary thing too. Ever started thinking even she doesn't like you and suddenly quit praying and not know how to begin again? I guess the answer is "just do it" but wanted to know if that ever happened to anyone else.

MaryRK: Lexapro and clonazepam. Great combo but have to take breaks from it due to cost. Its not great for weight either. What's the new one you're going to try?

@MaryRachelK - I too am on medication, a very low dose of Prozac (10mg) and Xanax 1mg prn. Other SSRIs/SNRIs have not worked for me. Not sure if the Prozac does either, frankly. It's why I rely in the Rosary and Hail Marys.

I'm curious if any of you are on medications? I had been on Paxil successfully for 10 years with one problem, I cannot lose weight. So successfully that I had forgotten that I even had Panic Disorder and only thought I had GAD. My doctor is attempting to switch me from Paxil to something new that is not supposed to have weight gain or other well known side effects. I have constant panic attacks. I hate my job (the trigger) and I start crying, screaming and trembling thinking that I will die there alone, unnoticed and unwanted.

I'm getting older my chances of meeting a man are limited. My 80 year old mother lives with me and she was hospitalized right when I was more or less forced to take this job after 2+ years of unemployment. I knew deep down I shouldn't have taken it and God more or less hit me on the head with a hammer with all the doubts I was having and my mom being hospitalized the Friday before I was going to stop. I still had 5 months on my last unemployment extension. They aren't even up yet.

So now I feel bipolar with all the mood swings and panic attacks. This does not make job hunting easy when having to tweak cover letter makes you shake, in panic. The only reason I do not think I'm bipolar is because I do not think they have hourly mood swings, if they do God help them because this is terrible!

The irony is that I took this job because even with the pay cut, it has good health insurance, I can't go to a therapist because this job is so restrictive in it's time off policies that I need what little time I have to take my mom to her doctors appointments. She has not gotten back to 100% yet since her hospital stay, so she can't go alone like she used to. I don't know how I'm going to interview but I will. I have to be stubborn about this. I don't think it's illegal or against unemployment law to look for another job.

Well that is enough about me. I came here to get ideas as to how to deal with these awful panic attacks as screaming "help me Lord, I need to be able to function or I will never get out of this quagmire!" does not seem to be helping. I DO want to lose weight which is what got me in this mess to begin with but I can't do it right now with these panic attacks and this obsession (vs. want or desire) to find a new job.

@natashapa I like your idea with the Hail Marys. I was saying the rosary a lot before I got this job when I realized I hit my last extension but now I feel like I have to use all my time to get out of that job. Like I said, it's become obsessive which I think is part of this general spectrum. I really do like the Hail Mary idea because it's soothing at least I had found the Rosary soothing in the past when it was just GAD.

I have lived with anxiety problems all my life. It is very difficult. One of my coping mechanisms is reciting Hail Marys, a decade, or an entire Rosary to calm down. Still, I am not very social because of my anxiety. This type of group is a true Godsend.

Welcome Classicist! I think I feel very much the same way you do. Maybe not so much rejected as scrutinized..yikes! And of course I always think no one could possibly think anything but I am a loser after such scrutiny. Trying to get over that, but its hard!

3Doctors...will be praying for continued quiet for you. And strength when the quiet fades!

Hello, everyone.

Classicist, I think I know the kind of anxious thoughts you describe. I guess it's an exaggerated fear of rejection, and maybe feeling social awkwardness. Fear of the uncertainty about whether you made a blunder or not. Wanting to ask, but then if you didn't make a blunder, the asking would be even more awkward!

We must just put our trust in the Lord that we will do the best we can. Also, our true friends - and we - should be able to forgive and work through things. That's how we grow. I know, it's messy and uncomfortable and awkward. I hate that about life sometimes! Seriously though, it is what it is, and we will grow in our ability to cope with it through prayer and practice in different situations and with different people.

So . . . be not afraid!

littlenothing, thanks for the caring and prayers. There will be some more prayers needed at a later date, as the matter is not completely resolved, but for now all is quiet.

Hello!

I suffer from a sort of horrible anxiety wherein I doubt the love and friendship of others. Even though they might have told me that I am their brother and friend, I always imagine I have said or done something to hurt them and destroy our relationship. A single day can pass after seeing my friend, and I already begin to doubt his trust and friendship... this makes me depressed, and perpetuates the anxiety.

Let us all pray for one another in the greatest and in the smallest things. Allow the angel to say to each of us: "Fear not, for I bring you glad tidings of great joy"!

I'm seeing this a bit later than you needed it, 3Doctors, but I still still keep you in my prayers! I hope your situation was well resolved.

If anyone would be inclined to pray for me as I face a situation today. I am being the support person for a friend who also suffers from anxiety and faces a difficult situation, and it is going to be triggering for both of us, I would sure appreciate any prayers. Thanks and God bless.

Can I join? I know, its not a private group. Please just humor me