Video Transcription

Hot and cold flushes – get to know anxiety

One of the symptoms for me was hot and cold flushes. If I can explain where it all eventuated from, it was a Sunday afternoon. I had tickets to go to the AFL, and I sat down and started to feel hot and cold. I was freezing, then sweating, and I thought my tummy might have been playing up. I wasn’t too sure what was going on, but then my heart started racing. I just said to my husband, “I’m going to go downstairs.” I went down into the bathroom and started pacing up and down, up and down.

I was freezing, then I had the sweats on, and then I was crouching because I didn’t know what was going on. I ended up going to the A&E because I just couldn’t fight it myself. I didn’t go to work. I couldn’t go to work. I couldn’t eat; anything I ate didn’t stay in. I ended up losing about six kilos, and I was just a mess. Not being able to go to work got to the point where I realized I couldn’t do this on my own, and I needed to find out what was wrong with me.

I ended up going to my doctor and telling her what my symptoms were. I had a breakdown in her office, saying, “What’s going on? What’s wrong with me? I’m 28 years old, this has never happened. This has come out of the blue. I can’t control what I’m thinking at the moment. I’m so suicidal. It’s just… I need answers.” She told me I was suffering from anxiety, and I was like, “Anxiety? What are you talking about?” Anxiety is when you’ve got a bit of butterflies in your tummy and sweaty palms. What I was having was just completely out of control.

I ended up talking to a colleague at work, and she put me on to her life coach. She completely changed my life. She gave me life skills and helped me understand what anxiety was, where it came from, and how to control it. I’ve been anxiety-free for a good year. I’ve been off medication for a year, and the only thing I really want to say to you is: don’t give up on yourself. If you believe this is not who you are and you want to get better, it’s your motivation and dedication to yourself that’ll heal that.

The sooner you can find some sort of treatment, the faster and quicker you’ll heal.

Video by Youth Beyond Blue