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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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brightpanic ocd thoughts getting stuck in head
  • replies: 6

hi !!! I have OCD, anxiety, depressive tendencies, and I'm currently going through the process of inquiring about an Asperger's diagnosis (long story). recently my girlfriend broke up with me (she said that it was because she was struggling to handle... View more

hi !!! I have OCD, anxiety, depressive tendencies, and I'm currently going through the process of inquiring about an Asperger's diagnosis (long story). recently my girlfriend broke up with me (she said that it was because she was struggling to handle a relationship and mental health issues and school), but she said that it was a mistake and she still loves me. I miss her, a lot, and I know that I'm only 18 so realistically it probably isn't what my mum deems as actual love, but I feel as if I love her and I want to give this another chance. my mum, my dad and my best friend all think that the decision is a horribly bad one to make, and my parents are berating me for it and saying that I never listen to people's advice and that getting back together with her is setting myself up for failing my hsc (i want to achieve high marks and my parents have high expectations, and they dont want the past years efforts to end in a bad mark and a breakdown). my OCD has become a problem with this tho, because I'm needing constant reassurance lately that my best friend and my parents still love me, and that they don't hate me. its become an obsession for me, and anytime my best friend sighs or doesn't reply back to my text messages, the thought that she hates me and doesn't want to talk to me and finds me annoying just repeats over and over and over and over again in my head, and I feel as if i can't escape the thought and the anxiety that it induces. does anyone have any tips on how to deal with obsessions and obtrusive thoughts in regards to relationships?

LimeGreenTea Worries make me feel silly
  • replies: 2

Hi! Recently I've been dealing with some pretty severe anxiety, which has led me to begin worrying about some things. However the things I've worried about are, well... Odd. I don't want to go into specifics because (as said by the title) I feel real... View more

Hi! Recently I've been dealing with some pretty severe anxiety, which has led me to begin worrying about some things. However the things I've worried about are, well... Odd. I don't want to go into specifics because (as said by the title) I feel really silly whenever I have to explain them to someone (I try to avoid explaining unless it's someone like my psychiatrist). This combined with worrying about only a couple of things has led me to believe that maybe I don't even have something like generalized anxiety disorder, that maybe I'm impossible to treat as I don't actually have a problem. I suppose I wrote this as I've been feeling pretty hopeless recently and I wonder if there was anyone else who maybe has dealt with something similar.

Stephanie_zzz So much anxiety from my eating disorder but I can’t open up
  • replies: 1

Because I don’t want to disappoint my family’s expectations, I choose to shut up when I’m tired and sad. Sometimes mum say, who is not so tired in this society, how can you be emotionally weak? Don't be a person who spreads negative vibes. I am so sa... View more

Because I don’t want to disappoint my family’s expectations, I choose to shut up when I’m tired and sad. Sometimes mum say, who is not so tired in this society, how can you be emotionally weak? Don't be a person who spreads negative vibes. I am so sad everyday because every time I try to open up my thoughts, it seemed like spreading negative vibes, so I chose to shut up every time. Slowly, I become a numb person, and I no longer like to talk, because I can't say it anymore, All i feel is numbness. no one will listen to what I say anyway. If they listen, no one understands it anyway. Since I was little, I was educated: "Don't be emotionally weak. So, slowly, all of my emotions are suppressed, and the bad emotions became a symbol of weakness. When I suppress myself for too long, I will seem extremely strong on the outside. However, I feel like a shell, just like an egg shell, and can actually be easily destroyed with a tap. I am like a string that is tight all the time, every step of the way is cautious, and every step is startling. Because of this, My thinking also becomes slow, the efficiency of doing things would be low and there are no ways to concentrate. It is a mess in my head, as if I had lost the function of organizing language. Whenever I wanted to say something, There are only some fragmented things in my mind, which are messy and chaotic. Then I force myself to be full of tasks every day. As long as today’s task is not completed, I have a strong sense of guilt. It’s like I’ve wasted my time and I will become seriously anxious. But even I have so much anxiety, I don’t say it. so I began to repeat the above in a dead loop. I don’t want to move, I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to see people, I feel extremely tired, but I can’t stop, I feel just like a machine, turning and turning. I cry everyday.

E_Z Panic Disorder
  • replies: 4

Hello This is all undiagnosed and we are in the process going to neurologists and psychologists but my son has been having these attacks at high school much like anxiety attacks but they have been getting worse where he goes unconscious. Now he has h... View more

Hello This is all undiagnosed and we are in the process going to neurologists and psychologists but my son has been having these attacks at high school much like anxiety attacks but they have been getting worse where he goes unconscious. Now he has has two episodes of walking out of class with no recollection of doing it. Once he was followed and he was in the carpark saying he waiting for me to pick him up and today he walked 1km down the road and found himself outside school not knowing how he got there. I was thinkimg panic disorder but now this is different. Has anyone had any experience with this? EZ

C74 Agoraphobia - feeling absolutely helpless *TRIGGER WARNING- abuse*
  • replies: 4

I'm a girl in her first year of uni, and I'm struggling with agoraphobia. It mainly started at the end of last year, where I contracted an awful virus. As a result, I dealt with severe nausea for a month, my worst nightmare, as it confronted me with ... View more

I'm a girl in her first year of uni, and I'm struggling with agoraphobia. It mainly started at the end of last year, where I contracted an awful virus. As a result, I dealt with severe nausea for a month, my worst nightmare, as it confronted me with the possibility of facing one of my worst fears, a fear of throwing up. I also had difficulty swallowing (did not eat anything besides crackers + toast for a month), and heartburn. It absolutely ruined my life. I was hoping to get into medical school, but with the virus, I was unable to attend for a while or have the best mindset for studying and my grades went downhill significantly as a result. I was also doing with family troubles at the time, particularly with my father, who was abusing my mother. I won't go into too many details now due to the character limit, but long story short: for my mother's sake, I had to force myself to get back into the swing of life sooner than I was ready, and I believe I have a lot of trauma associated with this. Eventually, my virus healed and I was able to go around, but I realised that some things seem to have changed about me - I had difficulty eating around other people (I'd either have difficulty swallowing, or feel nauseous). I think the fact that I was so conscious about this made it much worse. Nonetheless, I was still able to go out and about. But ever since coronavirus + uni shutting down, this has gotten so much worse. Simply leaving the house gives me so much anxiety that I begin sweating, feeling nauseous, getting dizzy, shaking... you get the gist. And being aware of that makes me more anxious and I keep thinking about it - this worsens the symptoms. I don't know how I'll deal with uni opening back up and having to go back to face-to-face classes again. Just then, I decided perhaps the best thing to do would be to talk about it, so after 9 months, I decided to open up to my mum. Upon seeing how concerned she looked, I ran to my room before I could keep talking and started crying; out of guilt. I hate burdening her. I don't know what's happened to me, or why I'm like this. I want to talk to a doctor about it, but the doctor I'd been seeing for the past 14 years JUST retired (worst luck!) and the thought of seeing a new one makes me even more anxious. The reason I'm writing this post is because 1) I feel writing and expressing my feelings always makes me feel better, and 2) I am hoping someone will have some much-needed advice on how I can cope with this

Nifty1702 Anxiety feeling of paranoia
  • replies: 1

Ive always been somewhat introverted but things are getting worse. Ive owned my own businesses for about 15 years. I hate to go into liquidation about 12 months ago. Since then Ive have been fighting feelings of failure. This has been steadily become... View more

Ive always been somewhat introverted but things are getting worse. Ive owned my own businesses for about 15 years. I hate to go into liquidation about 12 months ago. Since then Ive have been fighting feelings of failure. This has been steadily become feeling like everyone is watching me waiting for me to screw up. Its has got to the point where I have not attended interviews for work. I am forcing myself to get out of the house and into the public but it is getting harder. I am lucky that I have a very supportive wife but I am feeling very guilty of not helping support the family. And now this fear preventing me going to interviews obviously means I dont get a job. I feel all this has me in a downward spiral. How do I get out of this.

Kaynne Health Anxiety NEED ADVICE
  • replies: 2

I am 2 years old. I have had OCD and anxiety my whole life, but never as bad as the past 2 years.. 2 years ago I started feeling really dizzy and weak and work constantly, so I decided to take leave and then never went back.. Ever since then, I feel ... View more

I am 2 years old. I have had OCD and anxiety my whole life, but never as bad as the past 2 years.. 2 years ago I started feeling really dizzy and weak and work constantly, so I decided to take leave and then never went back.. Ever since then, I feel dizzy literally everyday (unsteady, headspins), I feel weak and exhausted everyday, I get a tight stomach (like a fullness feeling) pretty much everyday, I have weird heart flutters, headaches, de-personalisation, blurry vision, get out of breathe so much, heart pounds at the slightest activities etc.. and frequent panic attacks. Im terrified that I am might have something wrong with my brain, like a tumour, or something wrong with my heart.. Ive had a few blood tests which were clear, had an ECG which was clear and also saw a neurologist which said I was fine and it was anxiety.. But all of those tests were early on in my symptoms and they have gotten worse in the past few months along with my panic attacks. Id love to get an MRI to have a piece of mind, but I cant leave the house because if my panic attacks let alone go for a scary test like that. Does anyone else get symptoms like this from anxiety????? Thank you in advance xx

Romani12321 Anxiety?
  • replies: 4

Hi, this is my first time posting to these forums so hopefully I don't ramble too much. I'm currently in year 12 and I suppose to an extent, it does not help that I'm under constant pressure in regards to SAC's (assessments), but recently I've been f... View more

Hi, this is my first time posting to these forums so hopefully I don't ramble too much. I'm currently in year 12 and I suppose to an extent, it does not help that I'm under constant pressure in regards to SAC's (assessments), but recently I've been feeling as if I'm 'going crazy'. It's hard to describe how I've been feeling other than just like everything has been out of control, and it's been at its worst this last week. Everything really started to spiral out of control during the COVID-19 isolation period which is when I first started experiencing panic attacks. These panic attacks were horrible at first, with the primary concern being a feeling of dissociation, or derealization to be more specific, whereby the world around me felts really hollow. It's something I cannot describe. I've always had problems with searching stuff up online to try and self diagnose, and I suppose it all started to spiral when it came to my mind that I may be developing schizophrenia. I know it's highly improbably, and to this day I don't believe I am going to become schizophrenic, but recently there's been times where I analyse each and every thought as to assess whether or not I am doing stuff that the internet says may indicate schizophrenia. Some of these symptoms include feeling like I'm seeing stuff in my peripheral vision, however I am sure that this is just my anxiety telling me that something is there, when it is not. Furthermore, I sometimes find myself smelling a smell such as smoke when there is no explanation, known as 'phantosmia', but I also believe this can be attributed to anxiety. Another concern is a feeling that has come back to me. When I was young, during a period of flu I would rarely experience this feeling where the scale and weight of objects would feel strange and off to me. It happened when I closed my eyes and I felt like I could see shapes changing size which distressed me. However, recently during panic attacks, and potentially at times where I'm extremely tired, I feel this feeling again. It's the feeling of losing control that gets to me and I cannot shake it, recently I have dreaded this feeling coming back to me. Anyways sorry for the long post, but I just want to know if anyone else has these experiences, and if i should be concerned. Thanks

gloria10 Keep feeling like I'm not good enough
  • replies: 7

Hi. It has been a while since my last post, a bit has been going on. My issue is, however, that lately, I've been noticing some more anxiety and that I've been feeling like I'm not good enough. I think some of it stems from work as I am on contract i... View more

Hi. It has been a while since my last post, a bit has been going on. My issue is, however, that lately, I've been noticing some more anxiety and that I've been feeling like I'm not good enough. I think some of it stems from work as I am on contract in a call centre and there are so many KPI's that I need to make and if I do make them I still get told I'm doing something else wrong. I am in the process of job hunting as I know I'm not there much longer, but I have noticed it has affected my anxiety a lot. I also think it has to do with an interest in a friend that I have known for some time. I've been out of the dating game a while and I've always found him attractive, but at the back of my head I keep getting 'not good enough'. It has also been adding to my anxiety. I have been considering dating again so I'm not sure if my anxiety could have been triggered as a result. I guess I'd like to know how you boost your self-confidence when you're feeling low? Thanks

Buffy_2002 New to beyond blue suffer anxiety from my health fears
  • replies: 1

I have suffered for many years with anxiety about my health anything that goes wrong I instantly go into panic mode and it's really overwhelming does anyone else do the same

I have suffered for many years with anxiety about my health anything that goes wrong I instantly go into panic mode and it's really overwhelming does anyone else do the same