Hi,

I don't know what good this is going to do know, but I'm super worried (I struggle with anxiety at the best of times tbh, currently on medication for it).

Last night I spent the night pulling down a ceiling because it was sagging badly and I've got a plasterer in who was going to pull it down for me and put up new board and skim the walls. The area was quite large, an open plan living area 4x5 kitchen 3x3 and dining room 3x3 that got all knocked through. About 50m2 in total. The plasterer had done the kitchen area but got fed up trying to keep the fiberglass insulation up and really didn't want to do the rest and he was getting pushed for time and was worried about getting the job done. Short story I ended up pulling down the rest last night, binning the fiberglass, clearing it into the skip and sweeping up the majority of the dust.

Previous to this I had to build two small stud walls that extended into the ceiling, one area 40cm2 and another 40x60cm. I wasn't thinking when I did this and didn't wear a mask to protect myself and used a hammer to bash through and then pull a small section of the ceiling down.

The ceiling had artex on it, but a plasterer before, who did our hallway, thought it was unlikely to contain asbestos and the current plasterer hadn't mentioned any concerns about taking the ceiling down other than the insulation (which is nasty itself). After I pulled it down I took a look at it a bit closer and it looks white and crystalline, so now I reckon it did have asbestos in it. Queue freaking out and anxiety going into overdrive. I was wearing a p3 rated mask (Trend Stealth) which was snug and trimmed the beard right back so the mask fitted closer and a pretty *** overall which ripped anyway, one of those cheap £2.50 white jobs from Screwfix, my arms are itchy from the fiberglass so it obviously penetrated it pretty easily too.

I have kept some samples to send of for testing perhaps, but not sure what good that'll do me now.

I'm worried that I've made a massive mistake it taking it down now and have *** myself in the process, and am doomed to getting ill or cancer. Thankfully we're (the family) staying at the inlaws while the work is being done. But saying that, a different time, we had the hallway ceiling removed by a plasterer while on holiday, and went straight back in when we got home.

I don't really know what I'm looking for posting this. Perhaps a pat on the back saying "there, there you'll be alright", or perhaps anecdotes from others who have done the same and aren't worried or have managed to stop worrying about it.

I know I'm not the 1st to have done this and probably won't be the last, but try not to be too harsh in your replies. Don't think I can handle a scalding at the moment.