Hello--I am new to this sub. Over the holidays I had some sort of panic attack episode which I believe is related to my job. My therapist urged me to take advantage of the leave benefits they offer, especially considering I have been working ~12 hour days, with work bleeding into the weekends and any vacation I was able to take. It's been like this for almost 2 years now, I've been at my company for 5 years total and it wasn't like this before. I assumed that it would get better but 3 months turned to 6, and 6 months turned into a year, and here we are with two years down. 

I am one week into a 4 week leave and I cannot calm down. Even when I force myself to do nothing, it feels wrong. When I sleep I wake up with a racing heart, checking my phone to see if anyone had messaged me or if anyone has need of me. I actually fell asleep on my couch today while folding laundry, maybe for 30 minutes, and I woke up with a panic. This feels totally irritational to me. If this was happening to a friend of mine I'd know what to do and what to tell them--go easy on yourself. But I simply can't control this feeling of being scared and anxious and feeling like there is something I am supposed to be doing. Or worse, wasting the time I have on this leave.

Has anyone ever taken a mental health leave and if so, did you feel the same way? Does this feeling recede?