Monthly Archives: July 2012

Great News!

Mental Health 3 Comments

Following on from my anxiety episodes about going on holiday, DH tried to find some talking therapy to help improve the situation. I’m glad to say that I have an appointment with Anxiety UK tomorrow and with DH at Mind on Wednesday. I even received a letter from the NHS confirming that I was still on their waiting list and would be seen ‘in the near future’, whatever that means. They still gave me a choice of removing myself from the list!!!

Thank goodness I’ve got some support at last to help me learn some strategies to make holidays and other anticipated events more manageable. 🙂

Decisions, decisions……………

Mental Health 2 Comments

Following on from last nights post here, I felt rather shaky and indecisive and decided to ask DH for help…..after tears and shouting (on my part, may I hasten to add), he made ‘phone calls and enquiries and helped me to come up with a workable decision. This is part of the email he sent me later (he’s on the ground floor in the study, I’m on the second floor in DD’s old room) which goes to show what a splendid carer he is and how well he can make situations that I struggle with more logical.

“So it is now time to stop the agony of indecision and return the letter  with the box to stay on waiting list ticked. I personally just think NHS  management trying it on as usual, in the hope some people will contact MIND, be  offered help and then ask for non required referral from them, and lose their  NHS treatment right for that referral. From what Dr S said when she  referred you about trying “pot luck”, I don’t think she would be impressed by  you being discharged back to her care when she had hoped the hospital would  treat you. In any case you have a right to treatment, even if you are made to  wait, and the condition with regard to holidays is getting gradually worse over  last couple of years, after slowly getting much better when you came out of  hospital, until after Cotswold holiday.”

So, I’ve ticked the ‘stay on the waiting list’ box and filled in all the forms for Anxiety UK and feel much calmer about the whole thing. I was going to contact them anyway, because they were very helpful when DD suffered from social phobia a few years ago, so now it will be a relief to try and get my head round my ‘holiday phobia’……that looks amusing now I’ve written it down, but unfortunately it is very real and very disabling.
I am just sooooo thankful for DH, MIND, ANXIETY UK and all the friends who have written messages to me on facebook….I hate to think where I’d be without you all 🙂 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Pennine Care?

Mental Health 2 Comments

I received a letter today from the above informing me that I am still on the waiting list for CBT therapy….thank goodness for that, as it was back in February when my GP referred me! I wrote a post about it here.
I can now choose to access an assessment appointment with a therapist from a charity…..MIND will be the one in this area…..or I can remain on the Pennine Care list….or I can forget about the whole thing and discharge myself! WHAT! After waiting sooooo long! Not on your life….I’ve waited long enough and now this anxiety about going on holiday is beginning to affect my normal life and that of DH…..we were supposed to be away a month but came back after 2 weeks, as I had some bad panic attacks. Maybe they can help me with it. I’m still taking my medication and will start my Extend fitness class and gym sessions again next week, so hopefully I shall be able to feel better for the next holidays…..Norfolk in September and London in October.
If you have suffered from this holiday anxiety or anything similar, then please get in touch with me about how you managed it and what made you feel less dreadful 🙂