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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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Sage193 Anxiety is back,Emergency contraceptive pill & intrusive thoughts
  • replies: 9

Hi all! I’m new here and this is my first post I have suffered anxiety and depression since I was 14 (now 25) when I was younger I saw a psychologist who I owe so much to he taught me so much and I was able to enjoy my life with the techniques he tau... View more

Hi all! I’m new here and this is my first post I have suffered anxiety and depression since I was 14 (now 25) when I was younger I saw a psychologist who I owe so much to he taught me so much and I was able to enjoy my life with the techniques he taught me..up until now. Recently I had to take the emergency contraceptive pill and I was fine until 3 days after I took it and my anxiety was back and worse than ever. I have been having intrusive disturbing sexual thoughts that make me so sick that I throw up and have panic attacks. I know these thoughts aren’t me and I know I would never act upon these thoughts but still having them play on a loop in my mind is taking it’s toll. I have been meditating through the app Headspace and this past week taking Blackmores executive B stress I feel like these two together are helping. I was on a waiting list to see a psychologist but was removed last week because the dr I was going to see no longer works there. So I’m back to the gp on Tuesday for a new referral. Sorry for rambling my main question is to see if anyone else has had a similar experience with the emergency contraceptive pill? I truely believe it has bought back my anxiety and I would just like to hear your experiences. And the intrusive thoughts if anyone has experience with them.

sunflower32 My Story.
  • replies: 3

So basically, the first time I hurt myself was when I was 8 years old. That young I had eating problems, I would always overeat - or just binge eat. I still do that now, and I sometimes refuse to go out because I think I look fat. I always try to at ... View more

So basically, the first time I hurt myself was when I was 8 years old. That young I had eating problems, I would always overeat - or just binge eat. I still do that now, and I sometimes refuse to go out because I think I look fat. I always try to at least minimise my eating, but when it comes to it - I eat more. I've currently gone through a situation that has left me with anxiety and depression. Last year one of my best friends started ignoring me and talking behind my back. Now my closest friend i've known for 9 years has officially just ended it. I don't know what I did, were they embarrassed of me? Was I just annoying to them.. I never show anyone my depression side, but with my 9 year friendship - I did. She stuck with me through anxiety attacks and breakdowns. I stuck through hers as well. And now she leaves. I just feel like drowning, no body really does like me do they. i'm fat, annoying, ugly and embarrassing to be seen with. i get it.

Mez79 Scared & waiting
  • replies: 2

Hi. I don't know if I'm in the right place or if anyone can help. And where do I begin. I'm pretty scared at the moment. I've been to my GP because I've been feeling constant pressure in the backside. 1 test has resulted in a negative but physical ex... View more

Hi. I don't know if I'm in the right place or if anyone can help. And where do I begin. I'm pretty scared at the moment. I've been to my GP because I've been feeling constant pressure in the backside. 1 test has resulted in a negative but physical examination has lead to feeling a mass and therefore a colonoscopy is required. I guess my question is how do you go about the day in limbo. Its hard to ignore the sensation as it's present every day. In the meantime I'm waiting on the appointment with a specialist. I can't help thinking worst case scenario. What would you do while you're waiting on an outcome. Sorry for the rambling I'm guessing fear is taking over. I'm already in a negative environment as I live with my parents dad who is severely depressed mum has been his primary caretaker and I also worried that she can not do with added more stress from me. We are seriously a household of nervous Nancy's at the moment.

44Max44 Stomach/digestion health anxiety
  • replies: 27

Hi, So I know this isn't the place to get a proper medical diagnosis or anything like that, but I just wanted to share what has been happening with me lately in-case if maybe someone else has experienced similar issues in the past and can give me som... View more

Hi, So I know this isn't the place to get a proper medical diagnosis or anything like that, but I just wanted to share what has been happening with me lately in-case if maybe someone else has experienced similar issues in the past and can give me some insight because this issue has been bothering me quite a lot lately. (and just a fair warning this post talks about poop so if you don't like that kind of stuff click away now) So for a month or so now, I've been pretty anxious that something is wrong with my digestive system. I'm not sure what, but it doesn't seem right. My reasoning for thinking this is because my stool (#2) hasn't been the usual brown colour for 2 or so months now, but a yellowish or sometimes even greenish colour... I've gone to the doctors and mentioned this to them 3 times in the past, but every time they brush it off as being nothing but an 'excess of fat' in my diet and don't investigate it any further and act like it's nothing to worry about. I did, however, get an abdominal ultrasound not too long ago for unrelated issues which came up clean, and I've also gotten quite a few blood tests looking for stomach ulcers and other things like that. This really bothers me because I want them to investigate it further, but they don't seem to think it's necessary even though I've brought the same issue up with them on 3 different occasions. So pretty much what I want to know is, is it normal to have yellowish #2s for such a long time? I do admit that my diet probably is on the high side when it comes to fat due to getting takeout quite a lot, but I'm not sure if that's the issue or if it could possibly be something else... I do get dull pains every once and a while just under my ribs where I imagine my kidneys would be, but the pain is never severe and I suspect it's just digestion pains but it's worrisome none-the-less. I would google all my symptoms myself, but I've made it a rule that I don't google symptoms anymore because I always without a doubt focus on the worst-case-scenario that google shows me which just adds to my anxiety instead of helping it. If someone else could take the symptoms I mentioned and google them for me and come back here with some info, that would be appreciated. If there are any nurses/doctors on these forums, I would love to hear what your opinion is. Do you think I should go back to the doctors and be adamant about getting further tests, or could it just be excess fat causing the issues? Thank you.

Useless_loser I'm a waste of space
  • replies: 4

I have absolutely no friends and everyone I've tried to be friends with has been disappointed by me. I'm a useless back of garbage that not a single person on the planet could ever give a shit about

I have absolutely no friends and everyone I've tried to be friends with has been disappointed by me. I'm a useless back of garbage that not a single person on the planet could ever give a shit about

MiloGirl Anxiety-fear of sickness/dying-heartattack
  • replies: 10

Hi I’m milo and I’m new here. I was diagnosed at age 16 with ‘agitated depression’, I’ve suffered with anxiety and panic attacks since age 12. I have many ups and down and I always get through them. I’ve seen a theripist on and off for about a year a... View more

Hi I’m milo and I’m new here. I was diagnosed at age 16 with ‘agitated depression’, I’ve suffered with anxiety and panic attacks since age 12. I have many ups and down and I always get through them. I’ve seen a theripist on and off for about a year and have managed to work out most of my anxiety and panic comes from the death of my father when I was 8. He passed by heart-attack. We were away enjoying a holiday at the time. i recently had my 5th child and had a tubal ligation. I know my hormones are all over the place But I have huge anxiety over being sick or ill or something being wrong inside my body that the doctors haven’t picked up. Like what if they clipped something else inside me, what if I have an infection that the doctors haven’t found. I no longer feel the same as I did. I have a huge fear of my heart not coping and that I will have a heart attack and I have a fear of dying, leaving my children. My therapist tells me it’s my inner child who is still grieving from my fathers death, that I fear my children growing up with the pain I did without a parent. That it’s a stress that is ok and normal as a mother, to worry about her children’s furtute. I guess I’m just curious if I’m the only one fighting anxiety and the consent feeling of having a panic attack everywhere I go. I feel safer at home. And prefer not to go out or go anywhere out side of my comfort zone. I can’t leave my car to far away. I don’t like having to walk to far from it because what if I get sick and need to go home, I’d have to walk back to the car. When I’m shopping I need to always know where exits are, if I go somewhere unfamiliar I need to know the street name and number in case I need an ambo. I consently have a feeling like something will go wrong. My main one is having a heart attack. I get anxiety over the fear of having a panic attack. I hate having panic attacks and have been hospitalised a few times from them. Even at home if my jaw hurts on the left side, my panic begins. if my left arm gets sore, or my chest feels a bit tight, my mind starts thinking I’m about to have a heart attack and that starts the panic, the anxiety about having a panic attack. it’s exhausting. I worry about the affect this has on my children too. I get depressed then because I didn’t take the kids to do anything fun in the school holidays. It’s a cycle of self hate. Would love to connect with others who feel like this, suffer from this mental illness Thanks for reading.

cheynewalk managing the symptoms of anxiety
  • replies: 2

I developed quite severe anxiety approximately 18 months ago after a relationship breakup. I didn't know it at the time, it was only after reading the internet, doing online courses and some correspondence with mental health professionals that i real... View more

I developed quite severe anxiety approximately 18 months ago after a relationship breakup. I didn't know it at the time, it was only after reading the internet, doing online courses and some correspondence with mental health professionals that i realised i had general anxiety disorder and ocd ( harm). And in fact i have had it since i was very young. All those strange feelings and incidents which have informed my life in so many ways. I have never taken medication for my condition nor sought face to face treatment with a professional. I can say now that the severity of my symptoms has decreased by about 90%. I go days without anxiety now and when i do get it, i manage it so much better. I thought i would give other readers some tips on what has worked for me. 1. I completed online courses on general anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and mindfulness with thiswayup.org. A great resource for self help. CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) was extremely helpful in the early stages. 2. I make sure i do physical excercise for 60 mins each day. Really has helped in my recovery. 3. I do 20 to 30 mins mindfulness meditation everyday. Helps enormously in letting those thoughts and feelings go. 4. I do wim hof breathing exercises every day, about 15 mins. Helps you focus and build resiliance. 5. Recovery takes time. You will take 2 steps forward and 1 step backwards, but keep at it. Do your mental and physical excercises daily and you will see the benefits, slowly, but surely. Take courage. 6. I realise now i will always have anxiety, but that's ok. It's how i manage it that matters. Anxiety itself is not the problem, its "anxiety about anxiety" that causes the problem. Don't get caught up in its lies and deceptions. Once you recognise the symptoms (and mindfulness helps greatly with that), you can learn to just accept it and let it be. The anxiety soon lifts. 7. I found the book "first we make the beast beautiful" by sarah wilson a great insight. 8. Be kind. Be kind to yourself and to others. Best wishes to everybody on their journey.

I_got_this I'm where I always wanted to be so what's with the anxiety
  • replies: 3

Hi, I'm a 39 year old wife and mum of 3 I have suffered anxiety before but haven't had it for approx 3 years before it hit me again like a freight train. I was sexually abused as a child over quite a few years and never told anybody until i met my hu... View more

Hi, I'm a 39 year old wife and mum of 3 I have suffered anxiety before but haven't had it for approx 3 years before it hit me again like a freight train. I was sexually abused as a child over quite a few years and never told anybody until i met my husband. I seen a physcoligist 3 years ago and talking helped but this time it was much worse I was ready to end my life... thank god I seeked help. I am currently undergoing cognitive behavior therapy which is helping but I still get overwhelmed with anxiety everyday on and off from.about 5am and lasting throughout the day and easing by bedtime. I was once on anti-depressants to treat my anxiety but it left me with no sex drive or desire to do anything really, so I am trying to get through this drug free. I have only been doing the therapy for 3 weeks. Any advice on any of this would be helpful

Renee_ Dizziness- weakness Anxiety
  • replies: 8

Hi all, For the past year I have been suffering from a condition which has got the best of me.. 1 yr ago I had a manipulation massage which put me in ER for 3 days with symptoms starting of pins and needles , off balance and numb left side of my body... View more

Hi all, For the past year I have been suffering from a condition which has got the best of me.. 1 yr ago I had a manipulation massage which put me in ER for 3 days with symptoms starting of pins and needles , off balance and numb left side of my body. I was scared, how could a massage do this to you. I had an MRI of the brain to rule out MS and cat scan to rule out possible stroke..All came back clear everyday since November last year I am still dealing with these symptoms.. I have been to 6 different Dr”s 5 in which are saying I have anxiety. My symptoms have included pins and needles, off balance like I am on a boat, blurred vision, weakness in my legs (both) , twitches, spasms, tingling on left side of face, tingling in between my nose.. All these symptoms come and go but the off balance and blurred vision and weakness in my legs has remained with me.. Let me know please if anyone has had a similar experience and if their symptoms eventually disappear. cheers

Carpetenthusiast Overwhelmed with anxiety
  • replies: 2

I'm 28 years old, and I mainly first had anxiety as a teenager when I used to worry about neurological conditions like MS etc. For some condition worries I went to the doctor, some I didn't. A psychiatrist at the time told me I had health anxiety. Fa... View more

I'm 28 years old, and I mainly first had anxiety as a teenager when I used to worry about neurological conditions like MS etc. For some condition worries I went to the doctor, some I didn't. A psychiatrist at the time told me I had health anxiety. Fast forward to today, I had recently been avoiding a knee injury, and this lead me to thinking "What if I've been avoiding the MS worry, I never got an MRI...". So I spiralled into anxiety about MS, as I've always had shaky hands, twitches etc. I went to my GP and he didn't suspect anything but referred me to an MRI anyway. When the results came back, there was no sign of MS and the sort but it said "mild enlargement of ventricle, but in proportion to the subarachnoid space". My GP thought it could be damage from something. The ventricles enlarge with old age and dementia where the surrounding tissue atrophies and the ventricles expand. He said it's probably nothing major but referred me to a neurologist. The neurologist did some basic tests, measured my head circumference, looked at the MRI and report and said everything looks fine. He said my head circumference is above average so it's proportionate and the ventricle didn't look big to him anyway, he said the report has been "over-reported". He said "even if it's big it's almost certainly always been that way". So that seemed fine, but I remembered that a few years back I had a crazy party phase and did alot of ecstasy pills and went to raves and the like quite a bit. At the time my friend told me I was being forgetful of things like where I put my lighter etc, and he thought the ecstasy would be to blame. When I reduced it at the time, those symptoms went away, even though I did some pills every now and then until I grew out of it. I told my GP about the ecstasy, but not about the forgetfullness it seemed to cause at the time. He didn't think it would be related. I'm mainly worried because I didn't tell the neurologist about the ecstasy phase. I did tell both doctors though that I've been going to boxing training the past year or so. This is another side anxiety, in fact getting concussed the other day triggered these worries. I don't spar(practice box) that much though and don't usually go hard, but did get a few mild concussions. I've decided to stop it now. I am overhwhelmed with quite a bit of anxiety right now. Thankfully I made a psychologist's appointment next week for another reason earlier. But at the moment I feel crippled with anxiety I've been painfully googling, and did see that ecstasy can cause memory issues temporarily, the physical damage didn't include my case of enlargement, but had some other possbilities of physical damage, and I don't even know in what category of a user I would be classed into. I'm going back to uni soon, and I've felt I've been coming back to my original academic self that's been on pause for quite some time, and I'm in extreme fear that along the way I've damaged my only original talent, which was that I was book smart in school. My mum also sent the report to a specialist, and he said that's not a concern, although he only read the report and didn't see the MRI. The issue is I can't mention that ecstasy bit and had to come online to talk about it, and I went to forums for anxiety help in my teenage years when I had health anxiety. On other words, I was at the time "binging" ecstasy every week and sometimes more, so my usage was quite high. I apologise for the walls of text, I'm just feeling crippled and don't know how I'll even make it a week before the psychologist appointment, which I made due to some other unrelated anxieties and issues. Even having anxiety is giving my anxiety that it might be due to a brain issue.