My Struggle with Anxiety

For as long as I can remember I have been dealing with anxiety, it really picked up right before I got pregnant with my daughter.  While pregnant I found myself getting very claustrophobic really easily and because of the sickness I hated going anywhere. After giving birth my anxiousness subsided a lot. It was really only noticable when I had to publicly speak, had an appointment and things like that.

When I got pregnant with my son, which was shortly after Chloe turned one, right away I was anxious all the time. It got worse throughout my pregnancy. I dreaded going to school, being in the car, going anywhere, I would say the biggest reasons would be the sickness again and not so nice people. After having my son I was fine for a short time, about 4 or 5 months I managed with only mild anxiety. After that it got worse then ever, I was so miserable. I didn’t leave the house, I didn’t talk to barely anyone, also I was mildly depressed on and off.

Close to the spring my doctor and I decided that medication was the next step. I found that the medication helped a lot. The only side effects that I had were being really drowsy and absolutely no appetite. Unfortunately, because of these side effects I lost a fair bit of weight. I stayed on the medication of three months at a low dose. After the three months I stopped taking them and I was fine for awhile.

At the beginning of the fall, I decided I wanted to be back on medication just a different one. In September I started a new brand, it didn’t take away my appetite but I felt numb, like totally feelingless. I took them for about a month and decided that the brand wasn’t for me. About a month or so after I stopped taking them I found out I am pregnant so I have decided that I won’t be taking any medication until I finish breastfeeding. I am coping a lot better this time around now that I have learned some ways to calm myself. This pregnancy has been about the same as my last two anxiety wise, worse than my first but not as bad as my second.

I have not shared a lot about my anxiety on my blog or with anyone really. I have never really had many friends and the ones I do have don’t seem to quite understand and neither does my family. It has been a hard journey so far, even when I was on medication it was still a daily struggle that isn’t going anywhere. Below I put together a little list of some of the things that I do to help reduce my anxiety.

Ways to Reduce Anxiety

• Go for a walk
• Listen to music
• Color in a coloring book
• Do some breathing exercises
• Write in a journal
• Talk to someone
• Have a warm bath
• Do crossword puzzles
• Remove caffeine
• Yoga
• Paint
• Drink tea
• Take a nap
• Create vision Board
• Exercise

In honor of #BellLetsTalk I decided to do this post, I have been wanting to share about my struggle with anxiety for a long time. I'm sure I could have gone into much more detail, I will another day though. I am glad that I have finally shared and thank you so much for reading. If you ever want to talk to someone know that whoever you are, I am always happy to listen.