Anxiety

Anxiety and/or hyperventilation syndrome?

replies: 16

Hi everyone, I am reaching out after reading many posts for the past 5 or so months. A quick recap on what has happened with me... I was booked for elective surgery and began feeling short of breath, like I constantly needed to take a full satisfacto... View more

Hi everyone, I am reaching out after reading many posts for the past 5 or so months. A quick recap on what has happened with me... I was booked for elective surgery and began feeling short of breath, like I constantly needed to take a full satisfactory upper chest breath. The problem was I didn't always achieve it which caused panic. I cancelled the surgery and thought it would go away on its own and hid it from family and friends until it escalated into full blown panic attacks. I chop and change from believing this is all anxiety to thinking it's just hyperventilation syndrome. I've tried so much; chiropractic, iron transfusion (was low), kinesiology, naturopathy, hypnotherapy, biofeedback, butyeko breathing course (which made me feel worse). It's been 5 months and I can't do it any longer. I finally got into a good psychiatrist who has recommended some meds. I have reluctantly began taking them, but was wondering if anyone has had any success in curing this "air hunger" feeling with medication? I read so much where people have had this for years with no relief from medication which scares me as I feel I'm on my last resort. At the moment the only semi relief I get is when I try to accept it, it seems a little easier and I am now sleeping and eating better with less panicky moments. However its like a constant tape running in my head thinking/obsessing over my breathing and there is always a slight suffocation feeling happening no matter where I am or what I am doing - except for when I'm asleep. I have never had anxiety before hence my almost 'fighting' the diagnosis. Thank you so much for your time.

Help- Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

replies: 3

Hi everyone, I’m new to this page but I have been through the hardest months of my life with un-relentless physical symptoms which I believe is linked to Anxiety. Please please please share your story with me if you’ve ever experienced anything simil... View more

Hi everyone, I’m new to this page but I have been through the hardest months of my life with un-relentless physical symptoms which I believe is linked to Anxiety. Please please please share your story with me if you’ve ever experienced anything similar. I work in a high stress job in finance and have been in a highly stressful environment for a number of years. In January 2021, I started getting a sore finger, and then the pain spread to the rest of my hands, and then my forearms and upper back. I got all of the tests under the sun- MRI of the brain and spine, ultra sounds, neurologist tests, nerve conduction studies, blood tests etc and everything was fine. I found out I was B12 deficient and the stress of the physical symptoms from this felt like I was making the symptoms worse. Ive had to stop work indefinitely due to the following symptoms that I now have: 1. Twitching in random parts of the body 2. tremor / shaky feeling all the time 3. weakness and fatigue 4. pain in my back and tension around my hips / hands 5. Fast heart rate / can feel my heart beat throughout my body I don’t think I realised how anxious I was until I stopped working and wake up feeling anxious and needing to have diarrhoea. I have always pushed myself to be successful but I’ve pushed to hard and now I feel like I’m having some kind of breakdown. I’m seeing a naturopath and psychologist who are helping with my breathing. I think this is really helping but just struggling to see a life without this pain!! Please help me as I’m motivated to get better and I have found it hard to think this might be linked to Anxiety and stress. thanks so much Jess

Concerned about my anxiety /depression

replies: 10

Hi all, First of all thanks for having this great forum. I was wondering where to talk about my current situation and thought to give this forum a try. Hopefully someone can help me. Just a bit of background, I'm 36 years old, happily married for 11 ... View more

Hi all, First of all thanks for having this great forum. I was wondering where to talk about my current situation and thought to give this forum a try. Hopefully someone can help me. Just a bit of background, I'm 36 years old, happily married for 11 years and have a good job in IT. I've always had anxiety specially sexual performance anxiety and social anxiety but I've never found it affecting my overall mood/life. Now for the past two weeks I've been feeling vey down and unhappy. I've been worried about my family overseas due to Pandamic and work is a bit hectic these days too which I think might be the reason which triggered all this. It started from feeling guilt that happened years ago even some bad memories from my childhood came back to annoy me. It hit me hard as I tend to dwell on negative thoughts but it just went down hill from there. I started to crying for no reason and just felt really upset. Then my thoughts started to get darker and for the first time in my life I started experiencing intrusive thoughts and nightmares about those thoughts . It really freaked me out to the point that I'm really scared of anything sharp like knives and my anxiety is through the roof now thinking why am i going through this. My mind is racing with thoughts and I'm exhausted. I would appreciate any help or advise that can calm my mind. I'm planning to see my GP soon.

Communicating anxiety to friends and family

replies: 2

Hi! Does anyone have any tips for communicating anxious feelings to a partner or friend? I find talking about these feelings very helpful but I often struggle to explain them in a way that's understandable to people who don't experience anxiety. View more

Hi! Does anyone have any tips for communicating anxious feelings to a partner or friend? I find talking about these feelings very helpful but I often struggle to explain them in a way that's understandable to people who don't experience anxiety.

New and anxious

replies: 9

Hi everyone im new to this forum. I'm sarah, I've suffered with anxiety for about 4 years but am currently severely anxious and depressed. On medication now for roughly 6 months I feel so alone as no one understands how or why I feel this way. I'm no... View more

Hi everyone im new to this forum. I'm sarah, I've suffered with anxiety for about 4 years but am currently severely anxious and depressed. On medication now for roughly 6 months I feel so alone as no one understands how or why I feel this way. I'm now at a point where I constantly feel sick and anxious and just want it to stop. I hope this forum helps me in some way.

Pushing through your anxiety

replies: 17

Hi everyone -- I'd really like to get some advice on how to push through when you feel like your anxiety is holding you back. For me personally, once I'm anxious I find it really hard to get through to the other side. My anxiety will be so strong and... View more

Hi everyone -- I'd really like to get some advice on how to push through when you feel like your anxiety is holding you back. For me personally, once I'm anxious I find it really hard to get through to the other side. My anxiety will be so strong and sit with me for so long that it will stop me from doing things that I really want to do such as going to work or seeing friends. I know that your anxiety shouldn't stop you from doing the things you love, so how do you cope with this? What helps you push past the anxiety so that you're able to do the things you love?

Children and anxiety

replies: 2

My son is 19 months& has had 2 open heart surgeries. I suppose you can guess where anxiety fits in. He spent 4 months in hospital and his father and I have struggled so much putting him in routine. He has months where he is great, the past 2 months n... View more

My son is 19 months& has had 2 open heart surgeries. I suppose you can guess where anxiety fits in. He spent 4 months in hospital and his father and I have struggled so much putting him in routine. He has months where he is great, the past 2 months not so great. I feel anxiety is kicking in again and it's so frustrating. I suggest putting him in bed with his dad where he feels safe. His dad doesn't want him to get used to it and needs him in bed. I have no idea what to do....

REFLECTING UPON MY LIFE...

replies: 2

Hi guys and girls. I want to get my message out loud because, although I am feeling a lot better with treatment for anxiety/depression (medication and CBT), I still feel I had to get some things out of my head. I realised that I am never going to mak... View more

Hi guys and girls. I want to get my message out loud because, although I am feeling a lot better with treatment for anxiety/depression (medication and CBT), I still feel I had to get some things out of my head. I realised that I am never going to make my family completely happy, mainly because I am not financially productive or socially respectable enough at age 40. That is, no investment property, no steady six figure salary, no partner, no family of my own...but a lot of criticism from my father's panic attacks just because HE CAN'T LASH OUT ON ANYONE ELSE!!! I realised that I am never going to be the perfect Italian Australian. In fact, right now, I hate a lot of the Italian Australian community for looking at me and my family with contempt. I am so angry with the stories of apparent success they have had in Australia, that I have to question on whether they succeeded in Australia because of a "fair go". I have to call at least most of their success stories bluff! There are lots of questions to ask when considering how anyone (Italian or not) would go in life, even in Australia. Did a migrant come into Australia poor or already rich? Did a migrant have professional qualifications/skills easily recognised in Australia? Did a migrant have family connections in Australia? Did a migrant commit anything illegal to make money in Australia? Did a migrant pretend to be somebody (s)he is not just to get by or get ahead? All of those questions make me think that in response to one Italian telling me to "prepare to be disappointed when being in Italy", I have to express my severe disappointment about how my life is going in Australia. One Italian Australian user on this forum became hostile by me expressing a similar post a long time ago, telling me to "stop being hung up" on being Italian. I would humbly invite her to go and live in an Australian slum, day and night. I lived in that style of neighbourhood for 35 years...and I DO NOT want to live in a neighbourhood like that again ever...even if it gets justified by Italy having a nuclear holocaust. There will be people getting angry with me and lashing out at me over this. But, you know what, part of my anxiety and depression stems from being so scared of what other people (especially what most Italian Australians) think of me or my family! I have a right to express my anger and disappointment and to call lies being told by people as just that...lies.

pre employment checks and benzos

replies: 4

Hi all I am in the final round of applying for a management role which involves a pre-employment medical. On this form it states it checks for certain medications, I take a sleeping medication primarily at night when needed to stop my mind racing and... View more

Hi all I am in the final round of applying for a management role which involves a pre-employment medical. On this form it states it checks for certain medications, I take a sleeping medication primarily at night when needed to stop my mind racing and waking at 5 am. I am worried about this now being disclosed to my employer and me being unfairly prejudiced. I don't want to make any issue out of it prior to the test but I don't know if this will mean they may not offer the role, or potentially held on file against me? Its an office role so I don't see how it is relevant? Has anyone been through similar? I will need to disclose this on the form and show proof it is prescribed however I am a bit lost of how to handle this

Wanting to speak to a guy that flirted with me when I was sixteen

replies: 4

Hey there, how are you all going? I hope you’ve all had a wonderfully productive but yet somewhat relaxing day, if possible. Tonight, I want to speak about missing an individual that flirted with me over text and messages when I was sixteen years of ... View more

Hey there, how are you all going? I hope you’ve all had a wonderfully productive but yet somewhat relaxing day, if possible. Tonight, I want to speak about missing an individual that flirted with me over text and messages when I was sixteen years of age. He was twenty four at the time. And although nothing sexual happened between us I miss that emotional connection and bond we seemed to share. I knew him personally from my volunteer work. Lately, due to the breakup between my partner and I, I have felt incredibly at ease but also very lonely. Just yearning to speak to someone who understands me etc. This individual and I use to speak ALL of the time. Flirt a lot too. He was in a relationship at the time so maybe that was actually very wrong and toxic of him. I should not of spoken to him and flirted in that way if he was in a romantic relationship but he use to say ‘I’m leaving her soon’ and ‘things were not working out between us.’ So I assumed, as a young love struck sixteen year old that he was literally going to leave his girlfriend because they were so ‘miserable’ It’S not even the fact that I want him back in my life. My ex boyfriend and him were incredibly similar. Both don’t know each other and are actually completely different in several ways. And because I cannot speak to my toxic ex I am craving the conversation and company of someone similar. This guy who use to speak to me and I had a falling out because everyone around us claimed he was ‘grooming’ me. Nothing physical ever happened but I suspected it was some form of ‘grooming’ I just miss the company of people who seemed genuinely quite similar to me. I don’t want either of them back in my life. And when I was speaking to this individual when I was sixteen I was struggling, really badly with my anxiety. Worse than now. I was in a very bad headspace back then. I recognise that these two individuals are toxic and if I contacted that guy whom I flirted with at sixteen again just to talk to, it would be like taking a hundred steps back. He has a lot of baggage and I am gaining more self respect now after recognising the toxicity of my precious relationship than to settle for half - ass company, mind my French haha. Just wanted to vent and let go. Feeling a little stuck and lonely, PF

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Anxiety and/or hyperventilation syndrome?

replies: 16

Help- Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

replies: 3

Concerned about my anxiety /depression

replies: 10