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
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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

All discussions

Beautiful_Disaster_89 Tips to help work through anxiety attacks
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Hey everyone, bit of a back story for you to get an idea of my situation! I’ve suffered severe anxiety for 8 years it first because me apparent during a very toxic relationship! I became so anxious that suicide cane to mind! I came out of that state ... View more

Hey everyone, bit of a back story for you to get an idea of my situation! I’ve suffered severe anxiety for 8 years it first because me apparent during a very toxic relationship! I became so anxious that suicide cane to mind! I came out of that state with finding my own calmness for my anxiety! last week my anxiety became so bad that I convinced myself that everyone is out to get me this all occurred due to an argument with my partners family which might I add his brother and partner attacked me out of pure guilt deflection, as in they won’t blame themselves so they found the next best and it happened to be me! Since this has happened my anxiety is to the point where I cannot go to work, I have the anxiety feeling in my chest of tightness and heaviness, I cry all of the time, and I shake at times! cleaning and organising was my calming before but now even that’s not working! Would really love to hear some tips because getting a psychologist appointment soon is not happening!

HateTheSystem My Anxiety/Depression Follow Up - Help
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Hi guys, about few months ago I went to get a diagnosis. The doctor told me I have depression and anxiety that has been ongoing and gotten worse now. He also made me a Medicare plan thing to see a phych. When I had my first session with the psych. Sh... View more

Hi guys, about few months ago I went to get a diagnosis. The doctor told me I have depression and anxiety that has been ongoing and gotten worse now. He also made me a Medicare plan thing to see a phych. When I had my first session with the psych. She was really nice though I felt she downplayed my condition abit as I told her many days I am unable to keep up with daily appointments and do activities as I cannot get out of bed and always locked up in a room. Now during this hard COVID times my Centrelink job provider has been very rude and pushy even when I told them I cannot work. They told me to see a doctor. I am able to see the doctor but I don’t know how to start the conversation on what I need. Could someone please help me on what I should bring up and what to ask the doctor for? Thanks

Butterfly20 Cannot deal with anxiety...
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I am not sure if I should be posting here but here it goes. I have been having anxiety for the past 10+ years. Usually comes and goes. However for the past 2 months my anxiety and worry thoughts have escalated and I feel like i am out of control. I l... View more

I am not sure if I should be posting here but here it goes. I have been having anxiety for the past 10+ years. Usually comes and goes. However for the past 2 months my anxiety and worry thoughts have escalated and I feel like i am out of control. I lost my appetite so only eat because it is ‘necessary’, i keep waking up every night at 3/4am with panic attacks or anxiety/thoughts, i cant focus and feel like i am not completely present. I have been on unpaid maternity leave for past 10months and due to Covid i had to start looking for new job. I was lucky to have found a job which I am meant to start in couple of weeks time. I should be happy but instead I feel like a failure, feel not good enough, questioning my decisions, feel like im incompetent, etc. in addition to that, I worry about my baby and how he will be without me. Mum will look after him but he hasnt seen her that often due to Covid restrictions so is not relaxed with her, plus im not sure if she will feel anxious too. I was hoping to do only 3days but due to finances and the type of job i need to do 4 full days instead. This means i probably wont see my baby at all for whole 4 days! Im anxious that we will loose the bond and that he wont be happy or that i wont be happy. I feel like a terrible mother. Plus I worry about the new job and learning new things with my current mental state. Additionally, i will work in health field so i worry i will catch the virus and spread it to my family! I really dont know what to do, i feel like i am being dramatic and ungrateful especially at this time but I just cant help my anxiety. It is killing me inside.

Gos98 Has anyone felt this way before?
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I have suffered with anxiety on/off for most of my teenage/young adult life. I often to get the usual symptoms when my anxiety is heightened - trouble sleeping, nausea, feeling on edge etc. My partner & I had sex, after this happened, a rush of emoti... View more

I have suffered with anxiety on/off for most of my teenage/young adult life. I often to get the usual symptoms when my anxiety is heightened - trouble sleeping, nausea, feeling on edge etc. My partner & I had sex, after this happened, a rush of emotion hit me and I burst into tears and was convinced that I didn't love him anymore which was making me feel 10x worse because I really do! I went to sleep feeling shitty but woke up a few hours later feeling very suicidal - which has never happened before. My head felt heavy and I didn't feel like I was in control of myself. I managed to get through this and went back to sleep. When I woke up, the feeling had subsided to the normal feelings of my anxiety. As well as this, the feeling of not feeling any emotions to my partner will not go away. He is trying to comfort me but I feel nothing. It's making me feel worse & I'm scared the feeling won't go away. Is this a normal symptom of anxiety? Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated

Courtney_D Anxious and despondent about everything.
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Hello everyone, I’m currently 20 years old and haven’t had any paid employment (main source of my worries). I’m also a carer for both my grandparents and brother, as well as being a full-time student studying a double major in History and Anthropolog... View more

Hello everyone, I’m currently 20 years old and haven’t had any paid employment (main source of my worries). I’m also a carer for both my grandparents and brother, as well as being a full-time student studying a double major in History and Anthropology/Sociology. At the moment I’ve managed to commit myself to seven volunteer programs, two involving education for disadvantaged children, three museum/heritage programs and another two for cancer charities. Next year I’m going to study part-time while taking a Cert 3 in Health Administration to secure a temporary backup plan as a medical receptionist until I can (hopefully) secure a career in the museum sector. Despite my volunteer experience for the previous three years, I can’t find a job. I keep applying for many on Seek and Indeed, however, I either receive no response or told my family obligations are impractical for employment (quite understandable, I suppose). Anyhow, it just makes me feel completely inadequate that I can’t secure any form of employment and quite despondent when looking towards the future. I’m just so anxious about never getting a job and feeling as though I’m so hopeless at everything. Sincerely, Courtney D.

JeanD Anxiety from fear of my boss's boss - anyone else the same?
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Hi, My boss's boss called me out at work in front of a small forum of colleagues. And this has triggered anxiety in me and a real loss of self confidence in anything work related - regardless of whether it has something to do with him or not. But it ... View more

Hi, My boss's boss called me out at work in front of a small forum of colleagues. And this has triggered anxiety in me and a real loss of self confidence in anything work related - regardless of whether it has something to do with him or not. But it gets real bad whenever it has something directly to do with him - a meeting, an email etc. I can't properly sleep in the days leading up to knowing I have a meeting where he will be in it as well. And even worse the meeting he called me out in with the same forum of people happens on a semi regular basis. I keep telling myself I have to learn how to work under difficult bosses - not all are or will be the more "people people" kinda bosses, but finding it real hard to cope as the anxiety just rises so high at the thought of him. Wondering if anyone else has been in this position? What did you do?

SwansandSharksMan Anxiety about meals and dishes.
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Apologies for this post. It might seem like a small thing, but it causes me lots of other worries like too much food, not having something defrosted to cook, not having any good ideas for meals, eating too much, food going bad in the fridge, too much... View more

Apologies for this post. It might seem like a small thing, but it causes me lots of other worries like too much food, not having something defrosted to cook, not having any good ideas for meals, eating too much, food going bad in the fridge, too much leftovers, wasting food, too many dishes to wash, kitchen getting untidy, house getting untidy because of too much time spent in kitchen etc. etc. I was born in the 70s to a Scottish born mum and an 1st generation Australian father. I grew up in an anglo centric family. I married an Italian lady. We have 2 daughters. We do a few things different to what a lot of Anglo Australian families would have done. For example, lunch is the main meal of the day for us. This means during the week we have a big pasta dish as soon as the wife and daughters get home from school (wife is a teacher). This will be around 3:30-4:00. This is considered to be lunch. It might sound strange to you, but in Italy lunch is the main meal of the day. It is also the same in a lot of European countries. In Italy shops and businesses will close in the afternoon for everyone to go home for lunch and siesta. Then for some jobs you go back to work after siesta. Anyways after the lunch meal at 3:30-4:00 we will then have dinner at around 7:00. This is often meat and vegetables or meat and salad. It is a more low key meal than the lunch. It means more cooking, more dirty dishes and more tidying up because of two big meals we have prepared. It probably sounds strange to some people? Especially those who grew up in anglo centric homes where you have a hot dinner as a main meal? Thoughts?

Bluereader My anxiety got so bad that it developed into Irritable Bowel Syndrome- has this happened to anyone else?
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In 2017, the stress of my final year of secondary school twisted my anxiety into Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). My anxiety was originally stomach pains on varying levels, but IBS feels so much worse. Today, I still struggle with anxiety in combinati... View more

In 2017, the stress of my final year of secondary school twisted my anxiety into Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). My anxiety was originally stomach pains on varying levels, but IBS feels so much worse. Today, I still struggle with anxiety in combination with IBS and seeking various treatments such as the low FODMAP Diet. Has this happened to anyone else? How do you cope with having anxiety and something so uncontrollable as IBS?

Queenbee74 Help me understand. Anxiety related to a traumatic loss.
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This is my first post so Thankyou for reading. 11 years ago I lost my dad to a car accident, where his car ran into a tree after coming home from a nearby town. I live in a small town of roughly 3000ppl and if anyone knows living in a small town, whe... View more

This is my first post so Thankyou for reading. 11 years ago I lost my dad to a car accident, where his car ran into a tree after coming home from a nearby town. I live in a small town of roughly 3000ppl and if anyone knows living in a small town, when you hear those sirens tearing out of town you know something disastrous has happened. I remember this day as it happened yesterday. I heard those sirens tearing out of town, and knowing my dad was on the roads, my heart just sank and I had the most horrible gut feeling I’ve ever experienced. This has caused major anxiety issues and to this day, every time I hear sirens around town I always go into a silent panic. Now days when siren go off people all over Facebook etc, post ‘where are those sirens going’ ‘what’s happened around town’ etc and as I don’t always read them, but I want people to understand that anytime they hear them, sometimes there is a family that’s about to be given disastrous news. And that to some people there is an anxiety attack associated with the sound. I know that it’s a way for as towns to stay connected but I also want people to understand that there is also another side to just ‘keeping in the know’ Please help me I understand as I don’t know how to control my anxiety. As the anniversary of my dads passing is near id like to bring this up, but im in two minds as I also do understand that it’s a way the town stays connected but it’s also people just being insensitive and stickybeaks.

Neverforget never asked for help before
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I think I may be suffering anxiety. 12 months ago my son committed a minor offence through sending a 'sext'. Police visited our house as a result. At the same time i was dealing with a very stressful work environment and had ongoing issues with recur... View more

I think I may be suffering anxiety. 12 months ago my son committed a minor offence through sending a 'sext'. Police visited our house as a result. At the same time i was dealing with a very stressful work environment and had ongoing issues with recurring shingles. While my sons offence was dealt with as a warning and I felt like I dealt with the situation at the time, 12 months later I can not get the experience out of my head. I relive it daily. I feel like the whole situation has ruined our relationship as I just can not let it go. How long is normal for overcoming a stressful event?While the offence was minor compared to other people's experiences, it was not something I was prepared for. I have done a lot of soul searching the last year and want to find strategies to ensure the past becomes the past.