Ask HN: Anxious About Email?

Hi, all -

This is kind of bizarre, but I hate responding to e-mails. If I can't respond to an e-mail immediately, I get this sort of anxiety that the person on the other end is angry at what will be a "late" response. That makes it even harder to work up the nerve to reply later on, and so begins a sort of vicious cycle. I woke up this morning with 17 e-mails in my inbox, and I honestly don't even have the energy to check and see what they are because I am that anxious that it's 1 e-mail that was sent yesterday and 16 angry followups asking where I am. Every so often, I'll work up the nerve to just plow through a large group of overdue e-mails, but that drains me emotionally for a couple of days, and just reinforces my negative thoughts about e-mail. This is irrational, but it's really getting to be a pain.

Does anyone else feel similarly or have any experience with something like this that they would be willing to share?