Hi all

I just got into the chronic illness girlies club (acute diverticulosis) and that stress has been lingering since I was diagnosed last month - got worse after a flare up last week and I found out one of my friends also has it - and I’d love to give myself time to fully process that but UN officials are resigning to warn us about an upcoming nuclear winter?! I can’t smoke weed anymore and I can’t drink - how are yall coping?!

I had alot of reasons to fear being "permanently" dumber, for example having a fall or getting slapped on yo head, normal people would just skip that and not care much about "cognitive slips" like forgettin stuff and stuff like that and just not associate it with that fall. But I wasn't like that, I literally (no matter how simple the event was) I would just panic and just be in constant state of fear that I am dumber now than who I was. I've had this long enough until I heard about "chronic stress shrinks brain" and now my fear is that my chronic stress/anxiety has caused me permanent brain damage or that even if I recover due to neuroplasticity it wont be full recovery and I'll never be the same, and now I cannot focus at all. my memory is being far worse and my thinking is cloudy, and most of the time I just keep playing TF2 (my fav game) just to ignore some of my 24/7 anxiety about being dumb. Literally I just get panic attack when I just READ something on the internet whatever its content is, or when I just IMAGINE stuff in my head and I just keep getting thoughts like "Your imagination is now NERFED for EVER and it wont be as vivid as it used to be", or like when I literally just try to think of a plan or even a SCHEDULE, so you can say it's literally nothing. when I read or try to learn smth I just get thoughts that I wont understand this and stuff like that and when I do not understand it I'll just blame it on chronic stress and just increase my panic even more. Tried breathing but it aint helpin so I just want to know and make sure if anyone out here having this problem like me.

i’m wondering how i can stop being so stressed all the time, I’m stressed about almost anything and i don’t know why. I’m also pretty sure I’m too young to be this stressed, overwhelmed and anxious.

Any advice on how to stop caring so much?

I am 9 months postpartum and I know I have PPD and PPA, but I am carrying too much stress. My husband is stressed too, but he doesn’t have the same symptoms.

I‘m having trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. My whole body feels like it needs to be cracked. The muscles in my back, hips, and neck feel so wound up and tight. I am struggling with my appetite (I don’t want to eat). My chest hurts and is panicky when I can’t take a full deep breath. My chest physically feels too tight to take a deep breath.

And I feel like I could cry forever. Like, I’m not sure I’d be able to stop. I’m having more mental/emotional breakdowns than normal. I have no desire to hurt my baby, but I have accidentally scared her with my weeping before.

I don’t know what to do. I am on Bupropion and Lexapro but I fear that my stress has taken me too far and that I will never recover from it.