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Anxiety

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia. Share your own story and learn about other member’s experiences with anxiety.

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BeyondBlue Hi! Check out this post if you're not sure how to start
  • replies: 0

Hi there and welcome to the Anxiety section of the Forums First of all, thank you so much for joining us here. We think it’s amazing that you’ve taken this step to getting support and learning from this Community. You are very welcome here and we are... View more

Hi there and welcome to the Anxiety section of the Forums First of all, thank you so much for joining us here. We think it’s amazing that you’ve taken this step to getting support and learning from this Community. You are very welcome here and we are really interested in what you might want to add to these conversations. We get it, having anxiety makes it hard to share in a public place. Remeber, this is anonymous and the Beyond Blue team are here to help if you need it This section is for people who are experiencing anixiety in some form in their lives. This might be in social settings, at work, or just in the day to day. You don’t need a diagnosis to post here. If it feels like the right spot for you post, go right ahead! We know that feeling anxious can make it hard to reach out so we want you to know that getting this far is amazing and a great start. A few tips for getting the most out of this section: Get involved when you can! Posting and replying is the heartbeat of this community and you DO have something worthile to share (when you’re ready ) Every experience is different. There is no competition here. We know how challenging anxiety can be and how it comes in all shapes and sizes. What you are experiencing will be respected and supported here. Trust yourself! You are the expert in your experience. This community works because people like you share what has worked for you. Thank you for getting involved and taking a look. We can’t wait to hear from you! Beyond Blue

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Gemmm9 New member with anxiety struggling at corporate job
  • replies: 10

Hi everyone, I’m new here. I have battled with anxiety for what feels like the most of my life. I am 25 years old. I’ve been feeling VERY down lately and I think I may be experiencing depression. Out of the 7 days of the week, I would say I’m miserab... View more

Hi everyone, I’m new here. I have battled with anxiety for what feels like the most of my life. I am 25 years old. I’ve been feeling VERY down lately and I think I may be experiencing depression. Out of the 7 days of the week, I would say I’m miserable 6 days. I regularly exercise and eat a very healthy diet. I have a good support network of friends and family. My issue comes down to my own brain. I can’t switch off and worry about everything and anything. I had a really bad experience when I was 17 years old and my parents took me to see a psychologist. The psychologist immediately put me on medication. I was on anxiety medication for two years but I felt spaced out constantly and not myself at all. I was so airy fairy... My family and friends noticed that I was a completely different person. I was numb. i decided to get off the medication on my own and stop taking it ( would not recommend, I had terrible withdrawals and ended up in hospital) from then I always struggled with my anxiety. currently- I am in a corporate government job that is a highly stressful . I am struggling to communicate with colleagues. I feel I can’t make eye contact with anyone and whenever I need to present to a group, I am crippled with anxiety for days and cannot sleep properly. I am finding that I now struggle to remember words and I struggle to put sentences together. I wake up at least 8 times per night. I have lost all my confidence and I constantly worry people are thinking how dumb I am ( I understand this is irrational but that’s how I feel). I cry nearly every day after work. I have panic attacks on a weekly basis. I’m at the point where I have decided I need to quit my job and do something that is less stressful. some questions I’m hoping you all can help out with... 1) is there anyone on here who has left a corporate job due to anxiety and how did you feel in a less demanding job? Did you then find something else to ‘worry’ about or did it help you find peace? 2) has anyone had good experience with anxiety medication and would it be worthwhile me trying it again.. are all anxiety medication the same? Or could I find my ‘fit’? 3) any other thoughts/ comments would be appreciated Gemmm

Humpty Anxiety
  • replies: 8

I work in retail have done for 40 years but all of a sudden im finding when im at work i get bad anxiety and i freak out then i have to go home and now im too scared to go back to work

I work in retail have done for 40 years but all of a sudden im finding when im at work i get bad anxiety and i freak out then i have to go home and now im too scared to go back to work

Humpty Anxiety
  • replies: 5

Please give me any tips on how to control anxiety i actually call it the dragon

Please give me any tips on how to control anxiety i actually call it the dragon

Frustrated mumma Throat anxiety
  • replies: 5

Hi guys When I get anxious or am starting to have a panic attack I start thinking im either going to swallow my tongue or choke or my throat is going to close up. I honestly have no idea why I have these intrusive thoughts and I have no trauma etc to... View more

Hi guys When I get anxious or am starting to have a panic attack I start thinking im either going to swallow my tongue or choke or my throat is going to close up. I honestly have no idea why I have these intrusive thoughts and I have no trauma etc towards that area. Any advice on how to not let it affect me in my throat, tongue etc? I'm so over it

Janeie Work relations
  • replies: 4

I’ve been feeling really crap lately.For weeks. Work has been really stressful and crazy. I’ve been almost a breaking point. Constant anxiety.I like my boss, we get on well. But she is a micromanager and a procrastinator.Recently she overheard me tal... View more

I’ve been feeling really crap lately.For weeks. Work has been really stressful and crazy. I’ve been almost a breaking point. Constant anxiety.I like my boss, we get on well. But she is a micromanager and a procrastinator.Recently she overheard me talking about her to her boss. I’m so ashamed and embarrassed. The work environment is toxic. Everyone talks about everyone.I hate myself for behaving that way. My self esteem is so low. My stress so high,it is almost as though I was feeling so bad I set out to create a reason.I just want to curl in a ball and hide forever.

cacti Can't socialize for my own good
  • replies: 6

Greetings guys!I have been experiencing social difficulties for as long as my family and I can remember, which has been worsening by the year since adolescence. I've never had a net improvement even when I am motivated to try. I'm 16 and likely going... View more

Greetings guys!I have been experiencing social difficulties for as long as my family and I can remember, which has been worsening by the year since adolescence. I've never had a net improvement even when I am motivated to try. I'm 16 and likely going to attend university away from home in one year or so but I still can't hold the most basic conversation with peers and strangers. I struggle to buy groceries and order food in a restaurant despite planning what to say before hand -- the words either turn into gibberish or just disappear from my head completely because of how preoccupied I am by the fear of not expressing everything right. I have no close friends, because as others say and I quote, I look difficult to approach. But I make sure I'm as polite as possible all the time and can't figure out what is unpleasant about me. Because of this I am always the least informed in school. It worries me that I might not be able to live very well on my own since I can't interact with the outside world and will have no one to lend me help when needed. I'm so lost on this.

Doris1 My Anxiety Story
  • replies: 1

Hi to anyone who actually reads this, So I think I'm writing this not to actually get help or advice (although i would still love it) i think I'm just kinda writing to get it all off my chest. With my anxiety, I go through what I like to call "episod... View more

Hi to anyone who actually reads this, So I think I'm writing this not to actually get help or advice (although i would still love it) i think I'm just kinda writing to get it all off my chest. With my anxiety, I go through what I like to call "episodes". These so-called episodes started in my first year at high school- year 7. The first couple of episodes started with me really intensely worrying about one certain thing. I remember the first episode was me worrying about Suicide, like really worrying myself sick. I would cry every night to my mum and dad scared of this certain thing, worried i might do it or something. Which is silly anxiety, is what I call it. But eventually, as i kept on living and thinking of other things and just doing life again, I'd forget about it and then look back and think " Yep that was a silly thing to think about". And then I would have another episode, this time i worried about being a lesbian. Silly i know that now, because there would be nothing wrong if i was a lesbian, in fact i think i might be attracted to women and of course that doesn't worry me at all now. I had a couple more silly anxiety episodes after that, about two every year i guess, but they would only last up to a month max. Some that i remember where ending my life, being a lesbian, having cancer (that was a reoccurring one), identity crisis... i just never felt like myself during the silly anxiety episodes. I always remember every single time i was in an episode it would always end up with me crying my eyes sore on my bedroom floor and sobbing to myself, "Why cant i just feel normal" every. single. time. But they where never debilitating worries, it never stopped me from going to school or having fun with friends or worrying about anything else other than that specific thing. THEN, i don't think i will ever forget this episode, it is something like i have never experienced, they only way I can describe it is this- You are in a test and you getting that flighty panicky feeling when you forget the answers and you searching trying to find it but you start to panic your head gets light and you feel the walls start closing in. This feeling is how i felt everyday for just over 3 months, there was never any break. I felt like i didn't sleep the entire time. It was the scariest time of my life, scared that i was gonna be in this panic mode for the rest of my life. (continues to next post)

razzledazzle It feels like my last shot.
  • replies: 6

For the majority of the 19 years on this planet I've struggled with mental illness, I couldn't tell you what life altering moment happened to me that caused any of it to happen because I'm still trying to figure that out myself. The last 2 years have... View more

For the majority of the 19 years on this planet I've struggled with mental illness, I couldn't tell you what life altering moment happened to me that caused any of it to happen because I'm still trying to figure that out myself. The last 2 years have been the worst mentally and physically for me, but when I say out loud what seems to be the centre of my problem -university and separation anxiety- it sounds so small and insignificant. It started in 2021, fresh out of high school and I was planning on taking a gap year, but my parents were very against the idea. Very long story short I went ended up going to a university in a different state, that I had never been to, living by myself, knowing that 5 years prior I was too scared to even sleep in my own bedroom without my parents. 5 days at the new state, after I had faced a lot of complications, I moved my luggage into my new studio and thats when something triggered. I had what I didn't realise at the time was a panic attack of some sort. I was so scared, all I wanted to was go back to my parents. Nothing could calm me down I had no one near and nowhere to go. There wasn't a moment in that studio where I didn't feel fear. Waking up to the same panic and anxiety and knowing that it would follow me for the rest of the day was unbearable. I couldn't eat, move myself, I was constantly crying, the back of my head would start to heat up and tingle almost like constant goosebumps and that when I could tell that it was going to get worse. That lasted for 4 days before I could drop everything and book a flight home because border restrictions were lifted and I wasn't trapped anymore. I didn't care that uni had already started, or how expensive the tickets were, or that my parents weren't exactly sure why I was coming back. I didn't/couldn't even tell my parents why, until a year later when I thought I should enrol into a uni a bit closer, in the same state but still a flights away, and do it online for a year, but that same feeling, came trashing back and caused me to drop out of it. My parents don't understand, they are very religious and mental health is quite taboo, they don't like the idea of me getting therapy and like to down play and complain about my situation to relatives.So now I am enrolled in yet another uni for midyear intake but this time its at home, and I can drive there. Its no way near as prestigious as the other two, and it starts in a few days and I'm so scared I'll mess it up.

DeeTwo Starting Over
  • replies: 3

Hi... I am feeling overwhelmed. A bit of back story, I am in my mid 50s, no children, second marriage, resulted in verbal, emotional and financial abuse. I left abruptly one night, when he laid into his 18yr old son.. I put all my finances into a joi... View more

Hi... I am feeling overwhelmed. A bit of back story, I am in my mid 50s, no children, second marriage, resulted in verbal, emotional and financial abuse. I left abruptly one night, when he laid into his 18yr old son.. I put all my finances into a joint named property that to be for our retirement (which I've just sold.. yeah).I've been living at my sister's & brother-in-law home for 7 months. I have minimal furniture remaining as he hid/took etc most of my things. All this at the same time I left my job, and started my own business.So, starting again... I have a few friends who have moved to the Gold Coast, plus some family there. Contemplating moving there also, but feeling overwhelmed at doing this step solo.I can't keep living where I am (I am soon to out stay my welcome).Any advice and guidance would be appreciated ☺️

Twinny Morning fear
  • replies: 10

Hello just wanted to reach out to someone who may be experiencing morning anxiety … so hard to get going alone every day feel so stuck and at my age I should have it all together but I don’t … with so much going on in the world plus the worst floods ... View more

Hello just wanted to reach out to someone who may be experiencing morning anxiety … so hard to get going alone every day feel so stuck and at my age I should have it all together but I don’t … with so much going on in the world plus the worst floods I am in a struggle for the fourth time to keep going .. does anyone else feel like this ?