Anxiety Support Group

Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...

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ImpalaBlack 05/29/2014

I just ended up calling in sick to work...I feel guilty. I think I feel guilty partly because I do have a guilt complex (I feel guilty a lot). And partly because I said I had a stomach bug which isn't the whole truth...I don't feel good, but it's my anxieties. I just couldn't face work tomorrow. And you can't call in anxious. You can't say I feel anxious and depressed and just want to curl up in a ball and cry...you can't say your stomach is upset from worry...or you feel dizzy/light headed from panic.

I don't know whether I have done the wrong thing. I only work part time as it is so I feel awful when I have to call in sick (and my immune system is BAD so I do get sick a few times a year). But do you ever just have a day when your like I just can't face it tomorrow. I just need to not go. I feel bad now BUT I do feel relief too because I don't have to go and work for over 9 hrs...and pretend I feel happy and ok when I just don't, some days it's easier to pretend then others and tomorrow just wasn't going to be one of those days.

My job is fairly easily covered. Should I feel guilty...?

I feel like a terrible person all the time...If I do what I need/want then I feel guilty because I am letting other people down. And If I do something I'm not feeling up to or that makes me feel really panicked then I end up feeling anxious, depressed and resentful.

I feel like I'm always left feeling bad.

Lauriegirl 05/29/2014

You have to trust your instincts. If you're not up to working then you're not up for working. I'm sure if you called and talked to your boss they would be understanding. I do understand your guilty feeling though. Please do not let it torment you.

deleted_user 05/29/2014

I'm feeling the same right now.

deleted_user 05/29/2014

We have all felt that way - heck, I do too, because I'm taking up to 6 weeks off!

You need to take care of yourself; that's it. You should not feel guilty for putting yourself first.

I often think it would be easier if I had something physical like a broken leg, so that people could see the phases it takes to get well. My anxiety/ panic, I can't show people the cloud in my head, my blurry vision, the knot in my stomach, the buzz throughout my body, the dread hanging over my head....etc.

Try positive thinking/ self talk: I am taking time off because I need to look after myself. I am not feeling well and so I need to do this.

simonsayssit 05/29/2014

I can understand your feelings. When i was still working (now disabled from chronic illness other than anxiety!) i would always feel guilty. i've learned overtime though that it is critical to take of myself and know when i am able to do or not so something, like working, especially when other people are involved. Anxiety and depression are very real. What i've also learned is that i feel less guilty when i'm honest with myself and others. that doesn't mean i have to tell them (my boss for example) the entire truth, but at least not tell them something that is not true. The truth often was that i'm not feeling well and that i'm not able to work. something as simple as that. it helped me. this is just my experience.

Hope you've been able to get some of what you need on your day off. I used to wreck mine with guilt. take care.

Lauriegirl 05/29/2014

I just brought my doctor's note into work stating that I needed 3 days off right before my two week vacation. I completely avoided my main manager scared out of my mind that he'd fire me on the spot. I found one of my favorite managers and asked her quite a few times if I was fired because of needing the past days off. She teased me quite a bit before telling me to go enjoy my vacation and the sun. One day won't kill you. Relax and take care of yourself and eat soup or drink tea or ginger ale. They all help me. :)

ImpalaBlack 05/29/2014

Thanks everyone. I feel better with your reassurances.

sdwill 05/30/2014

I always feel the same way but you have to remember that sick days are a benefit of your job.......you work for those and you earn them.

hyperpgal 05/30/2014

here's my two cents--anxiety is an illness, but you are right--there aren't many work places that will accept someone calling in with anxiety--so however it is manifesting--you are ill. If you wake up and everything in your body and mind says--nope-not gonna happen, I think you have to honor that--not all the time--but when stress is building and building...you have to take a mental health day and get it back together or you will crash bigtime--jmho! so don't waste your mental health days with guilt--that won't help the situation--kind of like eating hot wings when you have the stomach flu......

LoveAlice 06/01/2014

I have called off because of anxiety before. I have also said it was my stomach. I wouldn't feel guilty, they probably do not care. If you needed to be off then you needed to be off. Plus, it's not like you didn't feel sick at all. Anxiety makes your body sick.

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