Hi sarah jane,

First off, i am very sorry to hear about your problems. I wish i could magically heal you but the truth is its gonna take time. Now, i havent been in your place. What i have been suffering from for a while is severe anxiety. With it comes disturbing thoughts, depression, feeling detached, chronic fatigue and aches. Stress can cause major symptoms as louise said, such as fatigue, pain, anxiety, and other symptoms. Im always tired and get aches everywhere. My mind is constantly churning out new thoughts about rubbish. Its very surprising how close our thoughts correlate to how we feel. Ive learnt that just by changing my attitude, my mood shifts. If i think, “im going to be like this for the rest of my life”, which i did at one point, then chances are i probably will be if i keep thinking like that. But as soon as i thought “i feel terrible now, but i will accept that this is me until i get better”.
There is a man named paul david who helped me tremendously. He suffered from anxiety/depression for 10 years until he learned how to get rid of it. The key is acceptance. Realizing that all your thoughts an feelings and just that and NOT REAL. It takes time for that to sink in but its true. Its upto YOU to make your life enjoyable. Life doesnt care about how you feel. You gotta just let everything come at you while moving forward. Another thing that helps is to take some time out of your day and write down or just think about what IS good in your life and what you should be thankful for. If you have family and friends who love you, be thankful. Those are the people you live for and they live for you.

Now i know im not a doctor or therapist or anything, but im learning new things everyday just from experience. Now i havent experienced what you have to that extent to be honest but i believe that the advice i have taken should be taken by everyone. Be greatful, accept, dont take your thoughts/feelings too seriously, accept yourself for now. Also, dont try to put on a mask. Hiding this is trying to control. I was afraid to let everything in because i thought i would lose control over myself and that id fall into a hole. Well thats when everything turned around. Let it in but you have to change your mindset. You can do it i know you can. Im rambling because theres so much i can say but dont give up. Dont ever give up. In the end theres always something worth living for. If youre going through hell keep going. In the end youll be strong.

Kevin
Ps. Check out anxietynomore.co.uk (paul davids site) it will help i promise.