Generalised Anxiety Disorder

[jules059]

Hi, I have suffered in the past with GAD but with the right treatment/therapy, I managed to keep it under control. I persistantly worried, more obssesively about my health, it went from one disease to another, costantly for years, believing I had every disease I thought of, I even got symptoms of them, which then exacerbated my beliefs even further, gradually I got better, however, I lost my dad 11 months ago, I hadn’t seen him for 15 years but then he died 8 months later, it affected me more than I ever imagined, I thought I was over the worst of feeling the loss of my dad, but slowly I have gone down hill, I study at uni full time which means presenting numerous essays, especially for psychology. I did an essay on stroke and Parkinson’s disease, since then I have become extremely anxious and upon reading and writing about the symptoms, I have had a tremor which feels like it travels through my whole body, but when I look to see if I can see the tremor it’s not visual. I am becoming persistently preoccupied with negative thoughts now, and its having an impact on my work at uni. My fear is what if I do have something like PD and that they are true symptoms of a neurological disease and not anxiety?  

[Jaquta]

I'm sorry about the loss of your father.  Even if he wasn't an active participant in your life it is still a loss.

If you do develop the disease then you will learn to cope with it.  Humans are very resilient that way.

If you felt you needed too, you could discuss your symptoms with your family doctor.

It seems as though you yourself have identified your father's death as a catalyst.  Discussing your thoughts and feelings with a therapist could be helpful.

Can you connect your present experiences to those in your past?  Acknowledging that you had symptoms in the past and were able to manage them could help allay your current fears.

It is normal to regress during times of stress.  These are great opportunities to work through unresolved issues and to reinforce strategies that do work.

I would strongly advise following up with a therapist.

Take care.

J

[Roger Gould, M.D.]

It is not unusual for anxiety to return while grieving, especially if it is a complicated grief like yours probably is, given the long period without your father....you should go to the student counseling program and ask for someone to talk to about your feeligs, that is the best thing to do for yourself.