Abigail Spencer felt like she was being “eaten alive” by stress.

The 41-year-old actress celebrated her birthday on Thursday (04.06.22) and took to social media to explain to followers that she had endured the “hardest year” of her life.

Alongisde a series of photographs, she wrote on Instagram: “August 4th 2021, I moved into the hardest year of my life,” Spencer wrote. “It almost killed me, and if I hadn’t been in training for my mind, body and spirit for and surrounded myself with the most incredible community of friends and healers, I do not believe I would have survived it. I’m not going to get into the details of the events that brought about what I’m about to share, but I’ll tell you some of the emotional headlines of its effects.Stress almost took me out. I literally felt like my insides were being eaten by stress.”

The ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ star – who was previously married to Andrew Pruett and has 14-year-old son Roman with him – went on to add that she had been “arrested by anxiety” and would “vomit” as a result of her mental health issues.

She added: “I couldn’t get up off the floor some days. Fear and loss had gripped me. Anxiety would arrest me. In the fight of my life. I cried so hard on multiple occasions that it led me to vomiting. “I spent hours some days trembling while holding myself through the incessant distress. I didn’t leave the house for days. I couldn’t catch a breathe [sic]. Everything felt so hard. At one point I thought I was having a heart attack. I talked to a cardiologist and he said I wasn’t having a heart attack, that my heart was so broken and I needed to be held.”

However, Abigail concluded her lengthy post by reassuring fans that she eventually “threw [herself] into a healing community” and reminded her followers to “keep going” if they are struggling too.

She added: “I scheduled my grief and physical care like it was my effing job. Because it was And then…more light came in. And every day something or someone would come along to be a warm glow. I started to get my sense of humor back. I remembered that laughing was an option.

“If you are in utter despair. Keep going, you are not alone. It won’t be this way forever. I promise you. You are in the middle of your story. Stay open to magic.”