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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. Remember, this is anonymous and the Beyond Blue team are here to help if you need it This section is for people who are experiencing anxiety 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 your 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 worthwhile 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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aegidius Approaching dementia has made me hypervigilant and anxious
  • replies: 5

I don't actually have a dementia diagnosis. I can sit in a doctor's office and ace the MMSE, because I'm not distracted and never had trouble with exams. But I'm forgetting things more and more as the years wear on. I've become convinced - perhaps wr... View more

I don't actually have a dementia diagnosis. I can sit in a doctor's office and ace the MMSE, because I'm not distracted and never had trouble with exams. But I'm forgetting things more and more as the years wear on. I've become convinced - perhaps wrongly - that dementia is in my future. I'm 67, and my father suffered from it (but not the quick-onset familial kind, afaik). It has made me very worried about forgetting things, which makes things worse I know, and I'm checking and rechecking everything. I feel greatly ashamed when I (for example) turn up at the shops having forgotten my wallet. Eventually I fear I'll mess up something with real consequences. I can go along for a few days when everything works fine, and then something happens to remind me that it is all a house of cards. I've had to give up creative pursuits of various kinds in order to reduce the distractions and just do what has to be done in the present. I know there's no answer to this, and no answer to the big question of how will the future play out. Just had to get it off my chest.

Petal_17 New to here. Feeling overwhelmed
  • replies: 7

Hello everyone, I am struggling today with my mental health. I have anxiety disorder, depression and OCD. Thoughts of low self-care and worth as I cannot shift ruminating thoughts over a mistake I made last weekend in a social situation. I have been ... View more

Hello everyone, I am struggling today with my mental health. I have anxiety disorder, depression and OCD. Thoughts of low self-care and worth as I cannot shift ruminating thoughts over a mistake I made last weekend in a social situation. I have been seeing a guy and we've been spending bit of time together, just going out for dinner on weekends as both work during the week. Well last Saturday night he asked to kiss me which was OK, but things got a bit heated and he touched me. I was ok with it at the time, not ideal. I went home and slept. The next morning I woke in complete panic as if I had done something wrong, and I just didn't feel my normal self. As the day went on I started crying. I felt a failure, I can't even message him or feel a connection with him any more. I feel like I have ruined a perfect situation by giving in and letting him touch me. I feel so unclean. I feel depressed. I don't want to see any friends. I can't look at my family in the eye. I recognise my thoughts are over the top but I cannot shift from feeling intense doubt, fear, failure. I've been in similar situation about 2 years ago with a different guy, and took me ages to get over. Feeling quite unwell. Not sure if others get similar problems. Think it's my OCD rearing it's ugly head.

Eoeon Overly protective of others?
  • replies: 1

Hi, I’m 17 years old and in my last year of high school. I’m diagnosed with adhd and am suspected high functioning autistic. I’ve had verbal diagnosis of anxiety and PTSD. when I was younger I had no friends, I was a strange kid so I kind of understa... View more

Hi, I’m 17 years old and in my last year of high school. I’m diagnosed with adhd and am suspected high functioning autistic. I’ve had verbal diagnosis of anxiety and PTSD. when I was younger I had no friends, I was a strange kid so I kind of understand (I used to think I was a horse lmao) id say I didn’t have any more than one close friend until high school, where I saw lots of groups of friends come and go.. I’d say about 9-10 groups of girls Over time I started to become extremely protective of my friends, getting anxious whenever any of them took risks or seemed to be in a bad situation i recently got together with a great guy, but some of our mindsets don’t match. He’s fine with taking risks, and thinks that consequences are important for learning and making better decisions in the future. I however, do my best to avoid conveniences at all cost. i tend to get very worried about him, I hear something small goes wrong like he doesn’t have any University plans, or he bet some money, and I get extremely anxious, I feel nauseous and dizzy, and I tend to hide i Would NEVER stop him from doing what he enjoys and I swear I am not controlling. His decisions are up to him and as long as he’s being smart and logical I love him either way. He’s a smart man and in general I don’t worry about him. but I can’t stop it. Even if I know I shouldn’t be worried the symptoms take over me. He told me he doesn’t like that I worry all the time, and that I shouldn’t let his actions affect me. It kind of hurt my feelings and it made my anxiety worse. i Know I have nothing to worry about and I want to stop being like this. I am medicated for anxiety but even with the medication I will sometimes crack at times that I can’t control, breathing is hard for a long time after too what can I do to stop this? I don’t want anyone to feel at fault for my own disorders. Because it’s not them I should be worrying about, but myself.

Nervybella Waking up super early and super anxious
  • replies: 5

Hi all sorry if this is already a thread but I couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. background: I started a new job about four weeks ago. It’s a bit overwhelming and I’m quite anxious as is. then for the past two, maybe three weeks I have been... View more

Hi all sorry if this is already a thread but I couldn’t quite find what I was looking for. background: I started a new job about four weeks ago. It’s a bit overwhelming and I’m quite anxious as is. then for the past two, maybe three weeks I have been waking up at around 4am every single morning with a racing heart, sweats, tight anxious stomach. It’s exhausting. I then find it hard to go back to sleep and I find it puts me in a bad mood to start the day im also finding now that I dread going to bed because I know this is how I’m going to wake up has Anyone else experienced this? What did you do to help it? I currently take herbal sleeping tablets but falling asleep isn’t my problem -Bella

Tigerlillys Panic attacks and extreme nausea
  • replies: 1

Hi there, I am wondering if I’m not the only one that experiences extreme nausea when having a panic attack? It gets to the point where I will vomit but still feel sick. My anxiety is also trigged by feeling sick and I have a fear of throwing up so i... View more

Hi there, I am wondering if I’m not the only one that experiences extreme nausea when having a panic attack? It gets to the point where I will vomit but still feel sick. My anxiety is also trigged by feeling sick and I have a fear of throwing up so it a horrible time and my attacks last for hours. I also can’t keep medication down to help the attack. I also shaking uncontrollably and non stop throughout the attack. Does anyone have any advice or tips of how I can manage this? Thanks! ps. Sorry I just need to get it out and tell someone but don’t want to bother people

Yanish42 Anxiety - I am new here and seeking support
  • replies: 4

Hi all, I just need support to keep pushing through. I have anxiety and difficulties sleeping. It tough, I am on medication for my mental health and taking sleeping tablets but I can get only 5 hours of sleep or so. Does anyone have suggestions for a... View more

Hi all, I just need support to keep pushing through. I have anxiety and difficulties sleeping. It tough, I am on medication for my mental health and taking sleeping tablets but I can get only 5 hours of sleep or so. Does anyone have suggestions for a coping strategy?

Catherine3 Have you overcome your upbringing ‘to be seen and not heard?
  • replies: 2

Hi there, Can anyone share some tips to overcome ‘To be seen and not heard’ upbringing? This has led me to be lack confidence to know my view and voice my view and in turn withdraw and be anxious.

Hi there, Can anyone share some tips to overcome ‘To be seen and not heard’ upbringing? This has led me to be lack confidence to know my view and voice my view and in turn withdraw and be anxious.

SquireHarbour Fear of everyone laughing at me
  • replies: 2

Hello, this is probably all irrelevant in the end, but here goes. I slept through the Euro 2020 finals. Woke up to find out that Italy won against England. Cue feeling like I shouldn't even bother liking a team anymore. The anxiety and stress levels ... View more

Hello, this is probably all irrelevant in the end, but here goes. I slept through the Euro 2020 finals. Woke up to find out that Italy won against England. Cue feeling like I shouldn't even bother liking a team anymore. The anxiety and stress levels shot straight through the roof. Spent the last three hours crying in anxious fear. Psych says I have social anxiety disorder combined with my major depressive disorder, autism spectrum and mood swings. These days, I can't shake the mere idea that everything that I support or like, people are laughing at me. Mocking me. Judging me as a person. This Euro final thing is exactly that. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I somehow feel like every Italian supporter is laughing at me for daring to support England. Mocking me for even considering that the English team could break 55 years of pain. Like I should be ashamed of even daring to hope, or dream, or even thinking that they could win... This fear is why I don't reveal what music I like. What movies I watch, what TV shows I like. What sport teams I barrack for. I am so scared of revealing what I have, or what I do. Or even where I go or what I even think on certain topics. I am terrified of just revealing anything personal in general. Because, somehow, I just fear that people, somewhere, will laugh at me/judge me/mock me for revealing anything about myself, all day, everyday. Forever. I don't know what to do anymore. I don't feel like I can even care about things or say what I like anymore. Because I just fear is that the world will laugh in my face if I ever reveal what I like or care about anymore. It's feels like inevitability.

Nervybella Anxiety and WFH
  • replies: 3

Hi all so I’ve started a new job about three weeks ago. It’s a step up for me and an overwhelming/big kind of job is that makes sense. I’ve been feeling very anxious since starting - no appetite, constant self doubt and waking up with a racing heart ... View more

Hi all so I’ve started a new job about three weeks ago. It’s a step up for me and an overwhelming/big kind of job is that makes sense. I’ve been feeling very anxious since starting - no appetite, constant self doubt and waking up with a racing heart at 4am every morning. then throw on top of that the sudden Melbourne lockdown and now I am working from home with no support from colleagues. How do people cope with working from home? I feel like I’m not good enough and it’s so hard to switch off and keep work and home seperate when it’s all happening in the same rooms… my previous job was in healthcare so I was going into work for all lockdowns so I am just new to working from home. I’d love to hear some others that have felt like this before

unigirl1994 Panic attacks every night - fear of death
  • replies: 15

I few years ago a massive fear of death popped up into my head. It came in waves sometimes bad and sometimes I didn't think about it at all. I saw a psychologist and it really helped. Last year I watched one of my grandfathers pass away in a nursing ... View more

I few years ago a massive fear of death popped up into my head. It came in waves sometimes bad and sometimes I didn't think about it at all. I saw a psychologist and it really helped. Last year I watched one of my grandfathers pass away in a nursing home and it was really helpful for my fear as he chose to go and was ready. This past few weeks my fear has come back full force. I'm having panic attacks every night before I fall asleep and most days at random times. Last night my mum was telling me a story about how a 90-something year old man had committed suicide as he was tired and chose his own time (she is a policewoman) - she started crying while telling me and it set me off into a panic, I had to pretend to go to the bathroom so I could quietly freak out in there alone. I have spoken to her about me fear before and she encouraged me to speak to my psychologist. I have since contacted my psychologist but her books are closed for a few months. I'm tired of being scared every day and I don't want to waste my life living in fear but everything I read about this phobia sets me off in a panic. I need help and I don't know what to do, because I know its inevitable but I need to come to terms with it.

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