Wow eddi, I am so gobsmacked to hear about what happened to you. I had a nervous breakdown a couple of years ago when my best friend passed away. Leading up to it, I was feeling unreal, walking around completely detached from reality, lethargic, moody, tense, anxious, couldn't sleep. Then one day I passed out as I was walking on the street. You need a huge break, no doubt about it. There's nothing else for it eddi, and if you try to push yourself the minute you're feeling remotely better, it will come back again. Please please keep us posted about how you're feeling. I would worry if we didn't hear from you for a while.

Thanks for all your concern and encouragement everyone. I had a meeting with my supervisor this morning and he was very sympathetic. He told me he went through the same thing a year ago! He's giving me some extra time for the assignment. I spent the weekend relaxing and doing practical stuff which was a nice break from the rigours of intellectual work. I'm going to take the next couple of weeks to let myself heal and get strong again. It's amazing how things creep up on you. I knew there was something wrong, but I just kept pushing on. I'm looking at what happened as a sort of blessing.

What has happened to you sounds similar to my own experiences. I was undertaking a masters degree with ambitions of moving onto a Phd.I was doing an absurd amount of work without giving myself any breaks. The reason for this was because I simply could not relax in the house I was living in. My housemates were disgustingly messy, utterly useless,one of them had an obsession with turning of the heating during middle of winter in Manchester and there were always disputes.
. On one occasion I had a random instruder in my room because they simply forgot to shut the front door and this was the night before an exam!!!!
The ramification of this was that I buried myself so much into my work it became an obsession and it lead to insomnia, a loss of appetite,constant vomiting due to nerves and high levels of depression. I was not just concerned about my work I had convinced myself that I could not depend on my housemates for anything.

Oh no poor you Eddie, I am glad to hear that your supervisor was so sympathetic. yes definately take time off and relax, you deserve it! you poor thing. i hope you feel better and refreshed soon!!

and then when you do get back to your assignment, but only after you have fully recovered! do it bit by bit. i know i have a tendency to get very overwelmed by the enormity of a task and either sit there panicking and stressing or running away from the problem. till people on this forum keep reminding me to just do it bit by bit

hope you feel better soon. that must have been a scary experience. nothing is more important than your health

continued......The problem was I new I needed a break but there was no escape from the house beause I lived far away back home and I could not live in the library.It was one the worst times of my life when it should have been enjoyable. The stress I felt for a masters degree should not have been that intense, afterall it was not a PhD. However due to an inability to escape from anxiety every word that I typed on the keypad for an essay seemed like lifing a rock and things took ages. I never suffered from a mental block before.
I think the worst thing is that I never did anything about it until it was too late.

Wishing you a good rest away from your desk.

given a choice between a nervous breakdown and a murderous rage, i'd prefer the nervous breakdown. Although if i did garrote my supervisor and got sent to prison, i'd arguably have more time to write up, and get better supervision.

Hi,

Just to say i also hope you recover soon. Have a really good rest and hope you are feeling better soon. all the best and take care