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Anxiety

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Chris_B Forums etiquette: give support to receive support
  • replies: 0

Hi everyone, particularly any new members who may be reading. From time to time, we get contacted by members who are unhappy that they haven’t received a lot of replies to their posts. Our community champions work very hard to make sure that all newb... View more

Hi everyone, particularly any new members who may be reading. From time to time, we get contacted by members who are unhappy that they haven’t received a lot of replies to their posts. Our community champions work very hard to make sure that all newbies are welcomed when they first post, and we understand that it’s a big step to post for the first time on a forum like this, especially if you aren’t feeling great. It’s important to remember, though, that these forums are a community of real people, just like you, not a one-on-one support environment like going to see your psychologist. To get the best out of being here, one of the best tips we can offer is give support to receive support. Being a good community member means: participating in different threads (not just your own), replying to people who have taken the time to reply to you (even if it’s just to say thank you), and... posting words of emotional support and encouragement when you see others who are hurting and reaching out. You don’t have to feel obliged to solve the problems of others: that’s not what we’re here for. But you can offer empathy and what you’ve learned from your own life experiences, even if it’s just a line or two, eg. “I don't know what to say, but I want to give you my support and tell you I care about what is happening to you and hope life will get better soon.” Try to develop an interest in the journeys of others here on the forums. You may be surprised at how good being an active, caring member here can make you feel. For those of you who have had good experiences giving support here on the forums, please post in this thread here and let us know how it has helped you on your journey.

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Mussopossum OCD, General anxiety, health anxiety and panic attacks - it is exhausting
  • replies: 2

After a year and a half of battling OCD (checking things constantly in fear of a catastrophe) general anxiety (just anxious and over worry) health anxiety (severe reactions to everything and convinced im dying) and nocturnal panic attacks, I need hel... View more

After a year and a half of battling OCD (checking things constantly in fear of a catastrophe) general anxiety (just anxious and over worry) health anxiety (severe reactions to everything and convinced im dying) and nocturnal panic attacks, I need help. I am a single home owner, I have no help, I am low income in a regional area. You cant see a doctor to get a referral without paying for it. When you see the doctor and get the referral, you cant see a psychologist without paying for it. We all know that sessions dont just fix you in one or two visits, it takes time. I have no cash to to get the help i desperately need, have been to local MP's who dont want to help make changes in regional areas for those who have no financial support or family support. I have tried online courses such as This way up and in the past seen several counsellors and psychiatrists. Having nocturnal panic attacks night after night only feeds the anxiety and it is now affecting my work. It is so frustrating when you want to get help, need to get help but you dont have the money to get help. Life has become so frustrating and overwhelming with all the forms anxiety I have, I live in fear all the time. Has anyone else been similar situation financially and any suggestions how to be able to get assistance when you are a single home owner on low income?

Cecece CONSTANT Panic Attacks everyday!! Nothing seems to work
  • replies: 4

Hi I have always had anxiety and it has always come in different forms throughout my life but lately I feel like I’m suffocating everyday all day and I don’t know how to stop it!! I’ve tried meditating, breathing exercises and more and whilst that st... View more

Hi I have always had anxiety and it has always come in different forms throughout my life but lately I feel like I’m suffocating everyday all day and I don’t know how to stop it!! I’ve tried meditating, breathing exercises and more and whilst that stuff does work in the moment, I just go back to suffocating almost immediately after. I lead a very busy life so it’s majorly inconvenient for this to keep happening and there is only so much time I can put aside for breathing exercises/meditation each day before it becomes an issue I have been prescribed medication by my doctor but I really do want to avoid using that daily, I don’t think that’s a healthy habit to get into at all so really want to see if anyone else has ever had this problem and how they helped themselves long term?

Gg22 Feeling so defeated.. another panic attack
  • replies: 4

Hi everyone I am feeling so defeated and anxious today I have been suffering with crippling anxiety for about 2 months now. After numerous ER visits and Dr visits I have been told my symptoms are caused from anxiety. I mainly get a feeling like I'm g... View more

Hi everyone I am feeling so defeated and anxious today I have been suffering with crippling anxiety for about 2 months now. After numerous ER visits and Dr visits I have been told my symptoms are caused from anxiety. I mainly get a feeling like I'm going to die all the time and leave my baby son behind. Whenever I get any weird body sensations I assume I'm dying and panic. It is so exhausting. I find it hard to believe anxiety can cause physical symptoms and not convinced I don't have a medical issue. I randomly get adrenaline rushes which lead to sweating , diarrhoea, uncontrollable shaking and weakness of my limbs. This scares me and leads me to believe i am sick. The past two weeks I have started meditation, colouring to ease my mind and had my first psychologist session on Friday. I have been good for 3 days and I had a weird feeling Last night and had a panic attack for no reason!!! I am feeling so upset I slept so terrible as I was scared. Every time I'm trying to sleep I feel like I can't breathe and gasp for air. I guess I was hoping I wouldn't have anymore once I tried to help myself so I feel like I have been set back. I am just so sick of feeling like this and don't know what to do. I don't really know where I'm going with this. Just needed to get it out

Gg22 Pounding heart .. Anxiety symptoms?
  • replies: 6

Hi everyone I've recently been diagnosed with anxiety and suffer with health anxiety. I have started seeing a psychologist and my GP has done lots of tests to rule out a medical condition based on various symptoms I've experienced. I was feeling pret... View more

Hi everyone I've recently been diagnosed with anxiety and suffer with health anxiety. I have started seeing a psychologist and my GP has done lots of tests to rule out a medical condition based on various symptoms I've experienced. I was feeling pretty good but the past week a couple times i have been relaxing in bed and suddenly my heart starts beating fast (120bpm) and is very strong and I can see it pounding in my chest. This really scares me. Afterwards I get the shakes.. can anyone tell me if this is a common anxiety symptom? Can it occur even if you aren't feeling anxious or thinking about anything in particular? This has caused my health anxiety to go into overdrive and I think I've got a heart problem. I'm going back to my GP in a couple weeks to discuss the heart symptoms but just looking for some reassurance in the meantime.. thanks

Slippers Why does it hurt so much when family members talk down to me?
  • replies: 5

I live in the family home along with my 90-year-old mother. I work full time and have been working for the same company for almost 30 years. I have no children or independents, my father died when I was 5 years old. I am in my late 40’s and do not ha... View more

I live in the family home along with my 90-year-old mother. I work full time and have been working for the same company for almost 30 years. I have no children or independents, my father died when I was 5 years old. I am in my late 40’s and do not have a house or a mortgage to call my own. Over the last couple of weeks, Mum has been to see a geriatrician doctor to see how Mums general health is. She will probably need a pace maker cause of a weak heart, but she is in okay health although she does forget things. I have three sisters and they do worry about me, sometimes they can come over too strong, like they are shouting at me or talk down to me. During the week my sister rang me and told me the results of Mum’s test with the geriatrician, I was not upset with the result, though I did have a sleepless night thinking about the future. It was suggested that I should see the bank on how much money they would lend me for a home deposit. I have almost no debt except $3000.00 owing on hearing aids I had to buy a year ago. I have bought my own car. I have been saving madly; I have a little over 11k in saving right now. I agree it is not a lot but it is better than nothing. I have contacted Aussie Homes Loans and I have contacted a financial advisor on the best course of action. I did not value money as a young adult and now I am paying for it so to speak. I have not heard from either Aussie home loans or the financial advisor, so my anguish is sharply increasing. Why does it hurt when my sisters talk to me in a serious tone of voice, I feel as I have been emotional damaged in the past and I had a deep wounds that have not healed. I know that I should’ve had more money behind me by now, but family shouted at me is going to stress me more than help and encourage me. I wonder whether they would still care for me once Mum has passed. I had to share this; they say that a problem shared is a problem halved. I guess I am looking for advice on how I should go forward. If I were to tell me friends, this their attitude would be to take a spoonful of concrete and harden up

bill12345 Drug anxiety
  • replies: 2

Hi i had my first two alcoholic drinks last night, two krusiers, at my girlfriends birthday party. It was my first time drinking and i knew i wasn’t having anymore than two. lots of people were at the party and suddenly i started smelling this string... View more

Hi i had my first two alcoholic drinks last night, two krusiers, at my girlfriends birthday party. It was my first time drinking and i knew i wasn’t having anymore than two. lots of people were at the party and suddenly i started smelling this string strange smell and i realised some people near me had lit cannabis and started smoking it. I have been diagnosed with mild OCD and anxiety and i would never ever do drugs but because we were in a small space, i could smell the strong smell for say 15 minutes. I am so worried now that i could be effected from it or could die from being exposed to it, i would never ever take drugs and now that i’ve accidbetly been exposed to it i am very scared i could die

mike9 Anger management for preteen
  • replies: 2

Hi, what is the best approach to anger issues for preteens (that has anxiety)? I would appreciate suggestions from other parents that have managed to come up with strategies that work. It is like a switch, can be happy but it does not take much to tr... View more

Hi, what is the best approach to anger issues for preteens (that has anxiety)? I would appreciate suggestions from other parents that have managed to come up with strategies that work. It is like a switch, can be happy but it does not take much to trigger the anger...

cactusjump Stressed to the point where I'm panicking
  • replies: 8

Heyo. Don't really post on these things, but hope you're good whoever is reading this! Over the past month, I've found that my anxiety, the voice in my head, and the worry about insignificant things are getting much worse. I've written a list of the ... View more

Heyo. Don't really post on these things, but hope you're good whoever is reading this! Over the past month, I've found that my anxiety, the voice in my head, and the worry about insignificant things are getting much worse. I've written a list of the things that I've been struggling with: My boyfriend broke up with me suddenly earlier this week - just to top everything off... I often find that my heart will race inside my chest as if I'm running a marathon, as soon as something small happens. Last week at work it got so bad to the point where I had to go to the change rooms as I was struggling to breathe. I worry about the smallest of things, down to the font on an email I send to my boss, and I often spend 15 minutes proofreading an email to either a colleague or someone I get along with. Last week, I sent a message to a friend asking for someone, and they didn't see it for 30 minutes. But I spent the next 30 minutes genuinely stressed out of my mind that I'd asked something too much of them. I spend so much time at home drafting my response to *if* something happens - which it almost never does. But I have this need to do this so that I'm ok if it does. For example, I'll worry that I'll get in trouble for something at work, and the night before I'll need to prepare how I'll argue/discuss this with my boss. I always second-guess myself. All the time. I get scared that I'm a burden on people and feel the need to get out of everyone's way both physically and practically, but in person I seem like a confident and out-going person. I am petrified of conflict and confrontation, even though it's my job to in a people-facing role. I've had times when I'm trying to have a serious discussion with a customer, an important person or the police and I can barely get the words out of my mouth or say the completely wrong thing. I often panic about things that happened in the past, yesterday, last week, last month or years ago. I worry that I made a wrong decision, and it's always on my mind. I know the first thing that probably comes to your mind whoever read this is that they're stressed over their job they should find a new job. But, I love the people I work with, and I often find that working avoids my anxiety at home or elsewhere. I think that my "worrying nature" and anxiety is more of a problem than my boyfriend breaking up with me, I know I can get over the latter but the first I am genuinely struggling with. Thanks for reading!

idkwhatsthehapps constant anxiety after panic attack
  • replies: 7

Hi everyone, I'm new here and decided to join and make a thread about what I am experiencing atm. A week ago I had a panic attack (only a second one, my first one happened last year). I have no idea what brought it on, and since then I've been having... View more

Hi everyone, I'm new here and decided to join and make a thread about what I am experiencing atm. A week ago I had a panic attack (only a second one, my first one happened last year). I have no idea what brought it on, and since then I've been having constant anxiety attacks, with mainly physical symptoms such as trouble breathing, lots of yawning, unable to sleep, chest and back pain, tingling hands and feet, light-headedness. I've also been refraining from exercise as I'm already struggling to breathe. Also, been trying not to move much as my legs feel weak. I've been dealing with anxiety most of my life, I know that what I am experiencing is anxiety I just have no idea why in my head everything is fine. Yet I am experiencing the worst anxiety I've ever experienced. I guess I joined to ask if anyone else has had constant anxiety attacks after panic attacks? how long did they last? how do you deal with it when you have no idea what is causing them? also, I have never seen anyone for my anxiety, has it helped? is it awkward? what happens in a session? Thank you for taking the time to read

Lauriem Searching for anxious feelings
  • replies: 3

Hi Everyone, I have lived with anxiety for years now, recently I have weaned off medication and started CBT with a therapist. I’m feeling about 50% better however I have these weird nagging thoughts which are like a feeling that I should be anxious. ... View more

Hi Everyone, I have lived with anxiety for years now, recently I have weaned off medication and started CBT with a therapist. I’m feeling about 50% better however I have these weird nagging thoughts which are like a feeling that I should be anxious. For example something will happen that would have triggered me in the past, I won’t react and then 5-10 minutes later I reflect and start to feel strange and like I should be feeling negative feelings which then in turn makes me feel negative again. Is this normal? Does anyone else have experience with a similar thing? Any tips on how to cope with this would be great too. Thank you!