slartybart
11-12-2015, 04:40 AM
Hi guys,
I'm new on the forums. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those long time watchers of the site or regular contributors or anything like that. (I'm not sure what advise I could give to people at the moment anyway). I've literally come on here today and registered to get some advice and help from people who may or may not have similar problems to me. Sorry if that sounds rude or terse but I would just like to hear from some people who are like me. Reading articles online and talking to people who don't have these problems doesn't really feel too helpful to me at the moment so maybe hearing from some like-minded people could help me out.
I've had an anxiety issue for some years now but it's only recently that it's become an issues that really interferes with my life. I've been seeing a doctor about it for around 6 months (with a gap somewhere in there where I thought it had gotten better) and I'm trying to make progress but I'm not sure I'm getting anywhere.
My anxiety issues are almost exclusive to do with leaving the house. Not in an agoraphobic way, I'm not scared of going out or being out of the house. I'm worried that in leaving the house that there is a possibility of something going wrong while I'm not there.
These are primarily..
leaving the oven on and causing a fire
leaving the taps on and causing a flood
leaving our pet rats' cage open and them getting out and dying (somehow)
plugs sparking and causing a fire
leaving the front door open
leaving and locking the front door trapping my girlfriend inside
and more recently I have had to check that my girlfriend is ok and breathing before I leave (she has nothing wrong with her and is usually asleep when I leave due to conflicting work schedules).
Whilst I don't believe that these things are even remotely likely, I still worry that some freak event could take place and the worst case scenario could happen.
I always have to check things multiple times (not a fixed number of times) and any small thing could throw me off and make me start the checking ritual all over again. I'm never fully satisfied and often come back to the house to check things again and I am usually worrying a lot on my walk to the train station. Once on the train the anxiety subsides a little and as I go throughout the day the anxiety becomes less and less until finally I am home.
This constant checking causes me to leave late for work pretty much every day (which obviously results in being late for work) and as a result spending extra money on travel to get to work quicker (which I shouldn't really do). I'm sure that my girlfriend, whilst very understanding, is frustrated that I'm late for work and definitely not the happiest at occasionally being woken up with me wondering around the house constantly in the morning. =p
I'm not taking any medication for this and would ideally like to keep it that way.
I think my biggest problem is with uncertainty and while I know that uncertainty is something everyone lives with and is an inevitable part of life, I'm having a hard time coping with it and I'm not really sure what to do.
I realise I've not really asked a question here but if you've read this far then thank you and if you have anything to say that you think might help me I would really appreciate you time and comments.
Thanks.
....slartybart....(I guess ;))
I'm new on the forums. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those long time watchers of the site or regular contributors or anything like that. (I'm not sure what advise I could give to people at the moment anyway). I've literally come on here today and registered to get some advice and help from people who may or may not have similar problems to me. Sorry if that sounds rude or terse but I would just like to hear from some people who are like me. Reading articles online and talking to people who don't have these problems doesn't really feel too helpful to me at the moment so maybe hearing from some like-minded people could help me out.
I've had an anxiety issue for some years now but it's only recently that it's become an issues that really interferes with my life. I've been seeing a doctor about it for around 6 months (with a gap somewhere in there where I thought it had gotten better) and I'm trying to make progress but I'm not sure I'm getting anywhere.
My anxiety issues are almost exclusive to do with leaving the house. Not in an agoraphobic way, I'm not scared of going out or being out of the house. I'm worried that in leaving the house that there is a possibility of something going wrong while I'm not there.
These are primarily..
leaving the oven on and causing a fire
leaving the taps on and causing a flood
leaving our pet rats' cage open and them getting out and dying (somehow)
plugs sparking and causing a fire
leaving the front door open
leaving and locking the front door trapping my girlfriend inside
and more recently I have had to check that my girlfriend is ok and breathing before I leave (she has nothing wrong with her and is usually asleep when I leave due to conflicting work schedules).
Whilst I don't believe that these things are even remotely likely, I still worry that some freak event could take place and the worst case scenario could happen.
I always have to check things multiple times (not a fixed number of times) and any small thing could throw me off and make me start the checking ritual all over again. I'm never fully satisfied and often come back to the house to check things again and I am usually worrying a lot on my walk to the train station. Once on the train the anxiety subsides a little and as I go throughout the day the anxiety becomes less and less until finally I am home.
This constant checking causes me to leave late for work pretty much every day (which obviously results in being late for work) and as a result spending extra money on travel to get to work quicker (which I shouldn't really do). I'm sure that my girlfriend, whilst very understanding, is frustrated that I'm late for work and definitely not the happiest at occasionally being woken up with me wondering around the house constantly in the morning. =p
I'm not taking any medication for this and would ideally like to keep it that way.
I think my biggest problem is with uncertainty and while I know that uncertainty is something everyone lives with and is an inevitable part of life, I'm having a hard time coping with it and I'm not really sure what to do.
I realise I've not really asked a question here but if you've read this far then thank you and if you have anything to say that you think might help me I would really appreciate you time and comments.
Thanks.
....slartybart....(I guess ;))