Afternoon anxiety at work

[elgrande]

Hi all

My anxiety levels seem to be fine in the morning but begin to creep up around lunchtime. By the the middle of the afternoon I feel tense, agitated and have problems concentrating. My head has a vice like grip around it and both my neck and jaw feel stiff. Sometimes I can't sit for longer than 10 or 15 minutes before having to scamper off to the toilets for a couple of minutes on my own. Its very intense and only seems to affect me at work in the afternoon. I can relax ok at home and really the only other time I get such intense feeling is when I'm in a very crowded place such as a sporting event or a busy airport. Any advice?

Thanks

[elgrande]

I should add that meetings are a real killer for me. I sit there feeling trapped and just want to escape. I'm sure the people around me must notice which just adds to how I'm feeling. Maybe I need to new job!

[blkpitbull]

has this just recently showed itself????

I have the same problem.....sort of....crowds arent toooo bad, I can manage. But get me in a car driving or riding, and get into a gridlook type situation and i go nuts....I dont know why....Ive gotten out and walked away from the traffic just to get away. Im better and can control it better with easy breathing and closing my eyes and laying the seat back!!....

Somethings triggering your anxiety at work. something at work is the key......Do you get anxious going to work?? thinking about work??

[elgrande]

No I've always felt a bit anxious at work but its gradually become worse especially in the afternoons. I become very keyed up and restless. Its a struggle.

[CindyE]

Do you eat enough healthy food while at work? If not, blood sugar levels might drop and contribute to your anxiety. I used to get feeling weird at work around 4pm. Now I have a small, healthy snack around 2-3 pm. It seems to help.

[user38]

my guess would have been to see what you eat. If it happens after lunch, you may too much or too heavy which is not helping anxiety. Try eating more small portions throughout the day, just enough not to get overly hungry. Sometimes chewing gum can help release the tension of anxiety. I am also like the other writer, I get bad anxiety when stuck in a car, traffic or other situations with no out.
good luck

[elgrande]

Yeah I'm not great on planes for the same reason - no escape route! Anxiety came on pretty strong this afternoon but it probably didn't help that I got drunk on Saturday night. One weird thing that seems to be happening is that I'll catch sight of the end of my nose and for some reason I get this sudden feeling of consciousness almost like being super aware that I'm looking out through my own eyes. Its quite hard to describe but it usually creates a quick spike of adrenalin.

[tangent]

Oh, you could be me elgrande! Work anxiety came upon me a number of years ago. I've always had self-confidence issues but now they've kind of taken over my working life. Out of work I generally have no anxiety issues except I might run the other way if you asked me to take a flight somewhere!It's at work where it all happens. I've always felt proud that I enjoy the work I do and feel satisfied about putting in a good day's work. Now, though, I feel I'm useless and every one else can see that. Meetings are my achilles heel; I had one yesterday and it just set of my anxiety levels once again so much so that I don't want to go into work again. I can't accept myself for what I am; I take life and work too seriously and wish I could adopt the couldn't care less attitude and give myself a break but I can't. God, it's hard.

[elgrande]

Are you taking anything tangent? I'm not but I have a doctors appointment this afternoon to chat things through as I don't feel I can continue putting up with this on a daily basis at work.

[tangent]

No, I'm not. I used to be on Escitalopram but came off it about 10 months ago. I too can't put up with it any longer and have booked into see my doc and will ask him to put me back on the tablets to see if they will stabilise me.

[elgrande]

Just back from the docs and I've been prescribed propranolol (80mg) which is a beta blocker. Hopefully it helps.

[tangent]

Hi elgrande, just wondering how you are getting on with the meds? I decided to give the docs a miss and try and plod on under my own steam for a while longer. Man, though, it's hard and each day at work seems to be an exhausting bout of stress that leaves me worn out at the end of the day. I wish I had the financial where with all to earn less but I have a young family and couldn't really afford a drop in income; but what price my health though.

[elgrande]

yeah took it once and it made me feel a bit weird and gave me horrible dreams so binned them. Its back to the drawing board for now although I'm looking into the natural route. As for work, well I've just finished a weeks holiday so I'm back in tomorrow. Having some time away has been good but I'm already starting to think about how I'm going to feel going back in. I hate this crap.

[tangent]

Hope the return to work goes well for you. I too enjoy my holidays and I have a week due in 3 weeks. The only problem I have is the return itself when I always seem to suffer an adverse anxiety reaction to having been away! A kind of catch 22 situation. Anyway, I'm back to trying St John's wort to see if that helps with the other multitude of supplements I'm also taking. I've also started running again in the hope I can exercise any stress away, although here's another catch 22 situation I'm faced with, as the exercise makes me physically tired the following day and then my mood goes down too. God, what a basket case. I think too much that's part of my problem.

[tangent]

Sorry to go on, but I seem to be paranoid these days about being stupid, not being able to do my job anymore, getting stressed out about the slightest thing and becoming a hypochondriac. I don't seem to be able to differentiate sometimes between reality and what's in my head and there doesn't seem to be any end to it, other than to pack work in and I can't afford to do that. I'm stuck.

[elgrande]

So I was googling this very topic as a result of my current work anxiety state and came across my own post from Jan 2010! Exact same situation so I wonder if the time of year has something to do with it. Anyway I had to leave work early today as each minute felt like an hour. I couldn't sit at my desk for longer than a couple of minutes before I felt my head was going to burst with tension. I just sat there thinking I'm about to go mad any second. My palms were sweating and I kept getting spikes of adrenaline. Trouble with an open plan office is I don't feel there is anywhere to hide. I just feel exposed and vunerable. Anyway I said I had a migraine and left and within minutes of leaving the building it had eased. I'm generally fine in the morning but as the day wears on it builds and builds. I honestly don't now how I'm going to keep this up in the coming weeks.

[Sunny Days]

Hi! I just wanted to let you know your not alone. I am having the exact same problem. Most of my anxiety is at work. First thing when I wake up I start having the adrenaline. Today I had an anxiety attack about an hour after lunch. I haven't had an attack like that in a long time so it really got to me. I then realized I ate lunch meat with sodium nitrite in it...I'm pretty sure it gave me a reaction as I am very sensitive to chemicals. I always seem to get the anxiety at work and the second I leave it subsides. My boss is very difficult (a very negative person) and it is hard to be around. I share an office with my boss...I never get a break from her. I have been looking for a new job but I also feel nervous to leave because all of my co-workers know about my anxiety and some have helped me by talking me through the attacks when I used to get them really bad. Ugh...what do we do? We need the money to pay bills but it's not pleasant feeling that way!