Anxiety
I'm sure everyone here suffers from anxiety - but has anyone had anxiety about their loved one take over their lives? I find myself almost always on the edge of panic - the last time it happened, it was just that I phoned home and nobody was there. My first thought was that someone had been hurt or that my parents were in the process of bailing *someone* out, or worse, that someone had made my parents take the fall for something happening.
I just hate feeling like this on a daily basis. I worry that legal troubles (not mine, my family member's) will be in the paper and affect me at my job. I worry about my siblings and the impact that it's having on them. I worry about my parents who live with the addicted family member. I have these weird rituals - like if I am playing cards, I'll tell myself that if the next card is red, then everything is fine. Or if the next car I see is a police car, then something bad is going on with the family. I know it sounds odd but I keep playing these little games with myself ALL of the time.
I have a doctor's appoitnment this Friday. I hate to say it but I am considering asking for something for anxiety. I go to the gym on a fairly regular basis, I have a dog so I'm out with him a lot, and I'm attending family counseling at the local detox/rehab centre. I'm not sure what I can try except a prescription. To make things worse, our family doctor is the one who prescribed the drug that -DIDN'T START- my family member's addiction, but certainly helped it. I have no idea what was going through the dr.'s mind - to prescribe a popular street drug to a teenager that has already admitted they have a problem with drugs, and dressed like a gangster. But that's another story...
Anyway, thoughts from anyone would be really appreciated. How do you deal with anxiety and panic attacks?