Anxiety Overload

I have been so stressed out lately, and that’s had my anxiety working overtime.  I don’t think I’m quite at a point where I need an extended stay in one of those anxiety drug treatment centers, but my anxiety is definitely in high gear.  Stress is one of my major triggers, and even though I’ve been trying my best to keep myself as stress free as possible it’s not working.  There are a ton of things going on in our family right now that are totally stressing me out.  Another major trigger of mine is thunderstorms.  I have this phobia that I’ve been trying to control for years, but sometimes it gets the best of me.  With all the nasty weather we’ve had going on lately I have been having major anxiety attacks. 

I hate it because not only do I hate the way I feel when I’m having an attack, but now I have a little girl watching my every move.  I don’t want my daughter to see me when I’m in that state of mind, and I definitely don’t want to pass my fears and anxiety on to her.  I fully believe a majority of my thunderstorm phobia is due to my Mom having the same phobia.  I grew up seeing her go into full panic mode whenever a storm rolled through, and I feel it was a “learned phobia”.  I hate anxiety medications, but I think it may be time to make another trip to the doctor to see what can be done to further help me learn to control my attacks.  Right now I feel helpless, and I just don’t know what to do anymore.