How do you approach quitting when severe mental illness is in the mix?

Hey all, hope you’re doing well. I’m new here, and I could really use some advice and/or support with this.

I have some really debilitating mental illnesses that I struggle with - bipolar, GAD, and OCD. I guess you could say that it’s no shocker I’ve turned to self-medicating with this stuff. It surely helped early on, but now it’s eating away at me piece by piece. It’s everything, all consuming.

I can’t get proper help - and I know for a fact - until I stop this. I need to stop this.

My main issue is that whenever I’ve tried to quit, regardless of method or pace, it’s just absolutely TERRIFYING. All of my symptoms become seriously unbearable - the sheer dread, panic, and angst I feel is overwhelming. I don’t know if I’m just weak, but it’s so hard for me.

I’m just scared and sad, to be honest. I’ve wasted so many years of my life dealing with this. I can’t even imagine what it’s done in terms of worsening my pre-existing conditions.

All I want is to be free from it. If this means 3 days of hell, I have to do this.

If anyone here has some insight on this or is in a similar boat, I’d really love to hear your advice or story. Thank you so much.