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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. 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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LachieC New job anxiety pls help
  • replies: 9

Hello Everyone hoping your well, i recently got a new job I start on Monday and my anxiety and depression are causing havoc, I was originally so excited but someway or another this anxiety is ruining it. plus I also found out I will be working every ... View more

Hello Everyone hoping your well, i recently got a new job I start on Monday and my anxiety and depression are causing havoc, I was originally so excited but someway or another this anxiety is ruining it. plus I also found out I will be working every Saturday and Sunday as part of this postion, does anyone else always work weekends, I’m worried I wont get to see my family thank you for your time any help would be highly appreciated

MelJan1990 I am worried and scared
  • replies: 6

I am a high school teacher. At midnight on a Friday night, a teenaged boy showed up on my camera down the side of my house. He tried to get in but I keep my doors locked. I called the police but he was gone by the time they arrived. The police said b... View more

I am a high school teacher. At midnight on a Friday night, a teenaged boy showed up on my camera down the side of my house. He tried to get in but I keep my doors locked. I called the police but he was gone by the time they arrived. The police said because he didn't break in there wasn't much they could do. I am worried this boy might be associated with the school I work at. It's hard to see clearly who he is though as he was wearing a covid mask. I am so scared he is going to come back again. I live by myself and I can't stop thinking what if he comes back again and breaks in next time? I am so scared and worried

Yen2 Do I have dermatillomania or just a bad habit?
  • replies: 6

Hi everyone. A bit of background: I have a history of anxiety and have been biting my nails and picking on my skin on my fingers ONLY for over 10 years. Please bear in mind I'm 19 years old this year. - I noticed I bite and pick due to stress and anx... View more

Hi everyone. A bit of background: I have a history of anxiety and have been biting my nails and picking on my skin on my fingers ONLY for over 10 years. Please bear in mind I'm 19 years old this year. - I noticed I bite and pick due to stress and anxiety. BUT I have also unconsciously bit and picked whenever I'm bored or my fingers are "imperfect". I keep my make sure my nails don't show any whites and try to make sure majority of the skin around my fingers are at the same layer. - My family thinks its a bad habit. I have been to a dermatologist where he said my skin was dry and easily flakes and that was why I pick my skin. The psychologist told my mom its connected to my anxiety. I believe both are partly true but don't tell the full story. - During high moments of stress and anxiety such as in exams or during a busy day at work, I will unconsciously torture my finger to the point of bleeding/infection. I will only notice after I feel the pain or taste the blood during a nail biting session. - I have had episodes of general improvement. I found out after years of observation that I have less symptoms during end of year holidays when I have the motivation to grow my nails long for a manicure and when I have little to no stress in my environment. I also have been able to see some whites during my time with braces. However, I still picked and bite when the pain wore off. I don't have much money to see a psychologist but if there is anyone with a similar experience please do give me some tips. Thank you!

Rollingstone101 Scared Of My Existence
  • replies: 1

I have autism and borderline personality disorder I was diagnosed with depression 5 years ago but came out of it about a year ago I have no life there is a world but I'm not in it everybody has somewhere to go and someone to talk to but I just feel n... View more

I have autism and borderline personality disorder I was diagnosed with depression 5 years ago but came out of it about a year ago I have no life there is a world but I'm not in it everybody has somewhere to go and someone to talk to but I just feel none of it I hate how get on with people I hate everything that makes me who I am I don't understand why I'm alive and have to feel like this I'm really useless does anybody else live like this?

Oddities 10 years later
  • replies: 27

I've never been very good at talking about my feeling but here goes. I'm a 31yr old guy, with a beautiful soon to be wife and my wonderful 19 month old son. I've had stable employment for over 10 years now and try to end each day ahead of the last. W... View more

I've never been very good at talking about my feeling but here goes. I'm a 31yr old guy, with a beautiful soon to be wife and my wonderful 19 month old son. I've had stable employment for over 10 years now and try to end each day ahead of the last. What alot of people don't see though, is my anxiety that makes me double check everything, it makes me doubt my ability and at times makes me feel like I'm going insane. I can only describe this as a feeling of my mind is stuck in an unrelenting, thick fog of madness. For 9 of these 10 years I've had a pretty good handle on things and have moved forward well, although the recent passing of my grandfather whome I was close with has turned everything upside down. let's go back, and I will keep it brief. I was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder 10 years ago and put on medication, I was also smoking a considerable quantity of cannabis and drinking. This lasted 12 months before I crashed in an almighty collision of reality and what I'd been avoiding. I was put on a second medication, to which I had a rare reaction where I didn't sleep for 5 days and the sickness was almost unbearable, this combined with my grand ideas to stop smoking cannabis and stop taking the first medication all at once, leads me to my visit to the local Mental Health Hospital. I had a sneaky pill before they got to me to drag me out there so by the time I was being examined I was ok, and managed to talk my way out of it. Two days later I had a visit to a Psychiatrist who spoke with me at length and decided that a third medication was the correct medication for me. I was underweight, couldn't eat for days at a time and wasn't sleeping. This medication after 4 weeks had that sorted. Cut back to today, and I've been having more bad days than good and have been struggling quite alot. I've scheduled regular appointments with a psychologist and am now feeling like its day 1 all over again. My partner is amazing and has truly been the anchor I've needed and without her I hate to think of where I could be now. I'm not sure what I'm looking for here, but any support from fellow sufferers might be the thing I need on a bad day to see that light at the end of the tunnel. When its bad, I feel like I'm losing my mind, like this is it and I'm about to say goodbye to my dwindling grip on reality. I don't want to feel like this anymore, I just want to be happy again

Leaf617 I’m scared I’ll never be back to myself
  • replies: 5

About two months ago I decided to come off my antidepressants. I had been on them for 9 years. My doctors advised me to drop to half my dose for a month and then stop. For the first week I felt great just like normal and then it all came crashing dow... View more

About two months ago I decided to come off my antidepressants. I had been on them for 9 years. My doctors advised me to drop to half my dose for a month and then stop. For the first week I felt great just like normal and then it all came crashing down. I started obsessing over my relationship with someone I’ve been with almost seven years and have always loved. I couldn’t stop criticising him in my head and was worried I didn’t love him anymore. He tried to help me get to four weeks off the drugs to see if the withdrawals would subside. They didn’t. I decided to get back on my medication at docotors advise lower initial does for 7-10 days and then up to my old dosage. It’s been almost four weeks and I feel desperate. I’m scared to get out of bed most mornings, haven’t been to work in two weeks, can barely manage to eat anything without forcing myself. I usually feel a bit better at night but the pressure is starting to get to my partner. Working split shifts and trying to care for the house. He doesn’t understand mental illness and I just feel so broken. I can’t remember what happiness feels like and I’m scared that I’ll never feel the way I did towards him, life, my job, myself. ive been thinking pretty seriously about suicide today but don’t want to hurt my family. I just need something to turn back time.

Rhirhi2 Anxiety symptoms
  • replies: 7

Hi, ive recently just started seeing a psychologist for my anxiety and also to deal with some struggles through childhood with my adoptive sister who was very violent. I’ve never really been effected by it as I’ve just brushed it aside and have amazi... View more

Hi, ive recently just started seeing a psychologist for my anxiety and also to deal with some struggles through childhood with my adoptive sister who was very violent. I’ve never really been effected by it as I’ve just brushed it aside and have amazing parents who helped me through, but since going to see this psychologist I have noticed werid things happening with my body. I’ve been having tingling sensations in my hands, arms legs and feet abs sometimes face. I have no pain just werid sensations that worry me. I have been googling my symptoms and everything pretty much says MS and this is has absolutely terrified me. I can’t get it off my mind, I’ve not eaten in a few days or when I do I have the smallest thing, I’ve hardly been drinking water, I just sit in a constant fear I have this disease and the worry is taking over me. Every morning I wake up feeling sick and have these constant feelings, the more I think about them the more I can feel then. My dr is sending me fir an MRI and I am praying it comes back ok abs these symptoms are just my anxiety playing up. has anyone ever had similar symptoms or felt the same way? thanks x

Here2Talk Acceptance
  • replies: 5

Acceptance.... It is at the core of a lot of psychological malaise, particularly anxiety. It is needed everywhere, yet there is no straightforward way of finding it. Our body and our mind are often caught up in a tangle, conspiring against the better... View more

Acceptance.... It is at the core of a lot of psychological malaise, particularly anxiety. It is needed everywhere, yet there is no straightforward way of finding it. Our body and our mind are often caught up in a tangle, conspiring against the better people we are trying to become. I don’t know exactly where I’m going with this, but if I may, I’ll illustrate with an example. This long weekend I’ve been doing a little bit of catching up on all the things I feel like I should be doing. Cooking my family brekky, Studying for uni, trying to fix things around the house, clean up the house, take the kids downtown to play at maccas, sitting with the kids in the trampoline because I realised I “haven’t been fully present enough in spending time with them this weekend, making my wife supper.... In the process of being busy doing stuff all weekend, I’ve done absolutely nothing for myself- exercise, meditate, even drink enough water or eat properly. It’s hard to even focus on why I’m disappointed on myself when I have done little bits of everything to make life better for myself and those around me; yet it doesn’t feel like enough. So 9:30 rolls around and I think: I really want to go to bed (I have to get up no later than 5:30 for work tomorrow). Yet I feel this pang of regret. I focus intently on myself as if I was observing myself and say “what if I could go to bed?”. I say to my wife “should I feel like a failure? Cause if you think I should then I will”. She says no..... I was just being funny (or trying anyway). But I had already decided it was alright. I had “accepted” that I deserve to go to bed, even though I wanted to get much more done... It was a truly good feeling. I imagined writing this post, full of pride.. But as I hopped into bed and opened the BB forums, I realised how transitory it all was, and how fragile acceptance is - and how deceptively (and swiftly) non-acceptance can creep back in. I was basically compelled to write this to be accepted... by myself. Not sure what you will get out of this post, but if anything does resonate with you I’d love to hear it! What things in your life our yourself so you find it hard to accept? How do you do it?

TM78 Night time and morning anxiety attacks
  • replies: 5

Hey there, So I'm suffering from anxiety. I have on and off for some time. I'm ok during the day. I work long hours as I own a cafe but it's as soon as I try and go off to bed my stomach feels sick, my heart races, sometimes I get nausea and vomit or... View more

Hey there, So I'm suffering from anxiety. I have on and off for some time. I'm ok during the day. I work long hours as I own a cafe but it's as soon as I try and go off to bed my stomach feels sick, my heart races, sometimes I get nausea and vomit or I just cry. It also happens if I receive a call from a hidden or private number. I have seen a doctor who just wanted to give me meds but I don't think I want to go that way just yet. It's the same when I wake up in the morning too. Has anyone experienced anything similar? If you did what did you do to help ease them I'm starting to lose hope and feel like a freak.

Bamb_i Feeling anxious over possibilities
  • replies: 3

Hi all, I’m new to this forum, so bear with me! I’ve recently been extremely anxious about heading to work, and worrying over possibilities or situations that have not/or may not even occur at work. I’ve never been an anxious person, but recent event... View more

Hi all, I’m new to this forum, so bear with me! I’ve recently been extremely anxious about heading to work, and worrying over possibilities or situations that have not/or may not even occur at work. I’ve never been an anxious person, but recent events at work where I have been blamed or been on the receiving end of someone else’s stresses have made me extremely reluctant and anxious to head to work. I can’t even “switch off” from thinking about work, and dread returning each morning in case something has occurred overnight and I am met with an angry boss in the morning. Most of the time, nothing happens but it doesn’t help my worrying, or being overly analytical of any possibility of disaster. Any tips on how to handle this?