Can your anxiety cause your mind to start believing the anxious thoughts?

[Walela2]

Hello, I'm a new member here. I have a question about anxiety and relationships actually. I've been with my boyfriend for a year now. Everything was fantastic. We get along perfectly fine, we share the same passions in life, we are always 100% honest with one another and the communication is amazing. Everything was perfect. Now, I have suffered from obsessive thoughts/anxiety since around October of 2011. I had basically welled up so much anxiety in my mind that I caused my arm to become stiffened up to the point of being unable to use it. Then when I found out my arm was nothing more than.stress, the pain went away. Then it went downhill from there. Worried thoughts, panic attacks, nausea......it all happened. Anyways my point is, on November 10th of this year out of the blue, I had tjis horrible thought of not really being in love with my boyfriend. I have no idea where it came from and it just popped in there. It freaked me out so badly that I began to obsess over it. So I basically wound up becoming stressed over this thought for 7 days.....then it went away. Everything went back to being normal, no more weird thoughts over me not being in love with him......it was perfect. BUT, on December 10th of this year......the EXACT same day as last month.....the thought came back. And now it won't go away like last time and it's scaring.me :(. It's made me so upset thst now  whenever I see my boyfriend, all I can do is think about the horrible thoughts in the back of my head. I'm so angry at myself because I know deep down in my heart I love him so much. I love being with him, and anytime he texts or calls me I I jump up like an idiot lol. But my anxiety is making believe I don't care for him. I don't want to distance myself from him. I don't feel any better away from him, so why won't this go away. The fact that I care so much about him tells me I love him....but this anxiety is killing me. Also, is there any reason why this thought happened on the same exact dates 2 months in a row? And also I would like to add that I have severe hormonal swings around the times if anxiety. They happen always after my period so maybe that is tied into it. If anybody has any advice please let me know. I love him so much. I din't enjoy looking at him with a blank stare. It breaks my heart. I just want the oldf me back. Thank you guys <3

[mele48]

I'm so sorry you're going through this!  I agree with the other posters.  A check up with your doctor is never a bad call.  

In my experience, my anxiety did have a tendency to spike a little when I was PMSing, so yes that's a possibility.  

If you haven't talked to your doctor about all this, I would definitely go for a check up and discuss your symptoms with him/her.  The symptoms you've described can be attributed to anxiety.  A thorough check up can rule out any other medical contributions.  But he/she can also offer you some resources to help manage anxiety.  Many of us have tried different tools and resources; some do well with self-care and therapy.  Others do well with adding medication to that plan.  But I would definitely consider seeing a psychologist/counselor/therapist, even for a few sessions.  Mine has been a treasure: helped me ID my triggers, and gave me some good self-care techniques to help me manage my anxiety.

You sound very aware of what's going on - that's great!  And a huge step, so good for you!  When the anxiety is bad, focus on good, deep, belly breathing.  Focus on positive thoughts.  Distract yourself with positive activities.

Hang in there - this forum is a great resource, don't hesitate to ask questions!

[Walela2]

No I haven't been to the doctor for my anxiety or PMS. I know for a fact that anytime I have any kind of weird thought, my PMS intensifies it 10X. For example, after my period on the 22nd, for the couple weeks before my period again on the 24th of this month, I had bladder infection type symptoms, but I went to my doctor to be tested and the results were negative for a UTI. THEN bam! That's when the thoughts happened. To give another example again, I remember one month after my period, I couldn't use my jaw because I had awful jaw pain caused by my PMS. Anything that gets brought on by PMS goes away within 2 weeks roughly. It's almost like I receive a physical ailment along with my hormonal changes. Then on top of that, I had that horrible thought about my boyfriend out of my head. It's making me so numb towards him. BUT now that I'm thinking about it, the day before the thoughts started, we got into a fight over something silly so we weren't talking to each other for a couple days. So I wound up feeling lonely and upset over it. So blah, blah we made up. But I thought about it, and I think somehow I built up an emotional defense mechanism because not talking to him made me feel lonely and sad. I guess you could say I have a self sabotaging personality in the way that he is sogreat in every facet, but anytime I get sonething good going on, somewhere my brain has to wreck it lol.

[CRSeaside]

Hi. I think you have figured out a lot while writing your post. Yes, it sounds hormone related. Do you get PMS?
    Have you received treatment for the Anxiety?
    Perhaps a full check- up with your Doctor is a good idea. Have them test Thyroid ect.
     Group Therapy helps me. NAMI. Web site for more info.
     If at all possible, check yourself early in the attack. Letting it run free & ruminating is a bad idea. Look into your soul.          Pamela

[Paxiled]

Anything bad happen about that time at some point in your past?  Anniversary depression and anxiety are very common.  As for feelings, not everything is anxiety just because you're an anxious person, but it's very hard to tell sometimes which is anxiety and which is just the odd thinking of the average human.