Feeling anxious
Why am i feeling anxious?
Sometimes people who have been through a traumatic event notice that they feel more worried about things than before they went to hospital. Feeling worried, anxious or panicky is a common and normal experience following severe illness and admission to hospital for critical care.
When you feel anxious, you might notice unpleasant changes in your body such as, breathing faster, a faster heartbeat, feeling sweaty, or churning stomach. The body sensations you feel when you are anxious can be very similar to sensations associated with a physical health problem, so it can be hard to tell the difference between anxiety and something being not quite right with your body, leading to more worry.
You may notice that you are thinking about the same upsetting things over and over, predicting the worst, or feeling certain that bad things will happen. This intensifies the unpleasant body sensations, and can lead people to try to make it stop by avoiding people, places or activities, or trying to push upsetting thoughts or memories out of their mind.
Anxiety related to illness or your hospital stay usually passes by itself once you begin to recover physically and can do more of the things that you need and want to do, especially if you have support from friends and family. When getting back to ‘normal life’ is taking longer than expected, anxiety and worry can sometimes also take longer to pass.
What can I do if I am feeling anxious?
It can help to imagine that you have a ‘pause button’, and take a moment to stop and notice what is happening in your body, what you are thinking, where you are and what is happening, and then take a few slow breaths.
If you are replaying upsetting memories, you can remind yourself of where you are, what day and time it is, and that you are no longer in in hospital, you are not in immediate danger and that you are recovering and are safe (if you are panicking because you are actually in immediate danger, do try to get help by calling friends or family, you GP or the Emergency Services on 999 if appropriate).
Sometimes ‘stepping out’ of the upsetting chain of thoughts can help you to refocus and settle the anxiety. You could try taking a few slow breaths and then focusing your attention on the outside world (rather than inside on your body or thoughts), and looking closely at and naming five things you can see, five things you can hear, and five things you can touch.
If you are worried about something, you might think about it a lot or try desperately not to think about it. When we spend a lot of time focusing on worries or trying to push worries out of our mind, it can often make things worse.
Instead of dwelling on worries whenever they pop in to your mind, it can be helpful to set aside a specific time to think about your concerns, then if you start to worry at any other time, make a note and come back to it during your allocated time. It’s usually best to allocate 15 to 30 minutes, at a time when you are not busy or distracted, and at least a couple of hours after waking up or before going to bed. During this time, try to think about the different parts of the problem, and what different things might help you to solve or manage the problem.
It can also help to doing something doing something that is physically or mentally distracting, like going for a walk or calling a friend. You might also want to try a relaxation exercise such as visualisation. For example, picture in your mind a place that makes you feel relaxed. It could be underwater in the ocean, on a tropical beach, on a snowy mountain or in a beautiful forest, perhaps somewhere you have been on holiday. Think about what can you see, hear and smell, and what you can feel on your body, like the sun on your skin or a cool breeze across your face. As you think about the details of this scene, take a few slow breaths and allow your body to soften and relax.
Useful websites
We recommend looking at the NHS every mind matters website
www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/mental-health-issues
We have also provided web links to the best infomation on managing axiety
If you have ongoing physical health issues it is important to follow medical advice and keep in touch with your GP or hospital team if you notice any changes. If there are things that you do not understand about your symptoms, diagnosis or treatment, it may help you to worry less if you wrote a list of questions to ask your GP or healthcare team.
Websites can offer helpful information, which can be reassuring. It is worth keeping in mind that some sources of information will be more reliable than others. Here are some relevant websites that we recommend:
https://www.nhs.uk/
https://icusteps.org/
https://healthtalk.org/
https://www.mind.org.uk/
Social media groups can also offer support, and it can be useful to connect with others who have been through a similar experience. However, sometimes these groups can increase worry if the focus is on ‘worst case’ experiences, rather than on support, coping and working towards recovery.
Use trusted websites and social media groups for information and support but take care to compare your health issues with this information.
This link has all the information: https://www.patients-association.org.uk/finding-trustworthy-information-online
If you find that looking at websites and social media groups takes up lots of your time, and doesn’t actually help you to feel reassured, maybe try to take a break from this.
If you feel you need help with this problem, see the separate article on getting help