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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
  • replies: 0

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

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aMonsterCalls Can't believe I'm relapsing at 38 (eating disorder)
  • replies: 6

Who would have though that the internet would be right?! Everywhere I read about counting macros and using My Fitness Pal...said don't try this if you have a history of disordered eating! I thought I'd recovered pretty well from anorexia so I could i... View more

Who would have though that the internet would be right?! Everywhere I read about counting macros and using My Fitness Pal...said don't try this if you have a history of disordered eating! I thought I'd recovered pretty well from anorexia so I could ignore this advice! Turns out, a year into tracking all my food, I've turned around and realised I've walked right into a relapse. Are there any older people still dealing with eating disorder stuff? I'm seeing my GP this week to set up an ED treatment Plan. Feeling really isolated because no one around me gets this stuff.

Lindamay Anxiety in relationships
  • replies: 4

Hi, I have come to an intimate relationship late in life and I am struggling. I suffer from anxiety and my partner doesn’t seem to understand why I am needy and require a lot of reassurance in the relationship! We have been together for over a year b... View more

Hi, I have come to an intimate relationship late in life and I am struggling. I suffer from anxiety and my partner doesn’t seem to understand why I am needy and require a lot of reassurance in the relationship! We have been together for over a year but I get really anxious when I don’t hear from him for several hours. We do spend considerable time together eg most of the weekend and an evening or morning during the week. He is a strong personality and I have been on my own for most of my life. I try to keep busy but in the present times that is quite difficult, he is still working but I am retired. Any suggestions on how I can help him to understand my needs. I am seeing a counsellor but I am still struggling?

Izfish Social anxiety
  • replies: 22

I have always felt nervous and anxious in social situations but I always just thought it was shyness. Ever since I moved to high school (now in grade 12) my anxiety started getting a lot more serious and intense. A lot of my friends have started goin... View more

I have always felt nervous and anxious in social situations but I always just thought it was shyness. Ever since I moved to high school (now in grade 12) my anxiety started getting a lot more serious and intense. A lot of my friends have started going to parties and drinking and just being teenagers. But I am unable to do this. The first and last party I went to was one that my friend was holding, all my friends knew i was feeling extremely anxious about going and so I thought that once I got there they would help me get through the night. As soon as I arrived the one friend who i thought would definitely stay with me and make sure i was ok, was the first one i saw and she started critising what i was wearing, I just let this wash over me because I didn’t think it was anything to be caught up on. As we started walking to the tennis court (where the party was being held) i was talking to her trying to take my mind off the situation and she started telling me to shut up and that she didn’t want to hear what I was saying. Anyway at this point I was freaking out because

G12345 High anxiety and stress
  • replies: 8

Ive has suck high anxiety and stress it making physically sick I wanna feel better but I don’t understand how to rely on myself to handle breakdown can anyone help or give me advice

Ive has suck high anxiety and stress it making physically sick I wanna feel better but I don’t understand how to rely on myself to handle breakdown can anyone help or give me advice

Booklover17 Just need someone to talk to after having an argument with someone
  • replies: 8

Hi everyone, I just really need to talk to someone. I had an argument via text last night because my friend didn’t respond to my texts for 2 1/2 weeks. She is upset and angry because she thinks I assumed she was ignoring me (she apparently had a lot ... View more

Hi everyone, I just really need to talk to someone. I had an argument via text last night because my friend didn’t respond to my texts for 2 1/2 weeks. She is upset and angry because she thinks I assumed she was ignoring me (she apparently had a lot of issues going on I didn’t know about). I guess my anxious brain kicked in big time but I can’t help it - I did assume she didn’t want to talk to me. Anyway, today I an just feeling really emotional and sad. Every little thing is really getting to me. Thank you for reading.

Mattw New here. Need some people to share with
  • replies: 9

Heya guys decided to sign up here for some people to talk to. My brother was interested in listening to me for a while but is getting slowly annoyed when I keep saying the same stuff over and over again to him. I was fine for most my life but the las... View more

Heya guys decided to sign up here for some people to talk to. My brother was interested in listening to me for a while but is getting slowly annoyed when I keep saying the same stuff over and over again to him. I was fine for most my life but the last couple of years I have been getting these weird feelings. It started when I was watching a horror movie any kind of scary scene I could feel my head getting cold like real cold..bought it up at the doctor when I went for a checkup they didnt say anything about it...ok they must of just thought I was scared so I passed it off. Few months later and they said I had diabetes and was in danger of having a heart attack....thats when shit started to get serious. I noticed every single pain in my chest area and the worst I paid attention to it the worst it got. But if I managed to distract myself long enough the feeling goes away. Now though every single pain makes me think im gonna have a heart attack and I get that feeling of doom and terror if I let my feelings go for more than a few minutes. Just want some advice and see if anyone else have my kind of problem

Snowfall Anxiety has kicked up a notch
  • replies: 6

Hello all, I’m so pleased to have found this forum. I just need to be honest to people who understand. Even though lockdown has been okay for my family (for which I’m very grateful) my anxiety ramped up about two weeks ago, especially the physical sy... View more

Hello all, I’m so pleased to have found this forum. I just need to be honest to people who understand. Even though lockdown has been okay for my family (for which I’m very grateful) my anxiety ramped up about two weeks ago, especially the physical symptoms like chest pain and racing heart, breathlessness, lumpy throat, and insomnia. Night time is the worst. It’s been awful. I’m mostly fine to get through the day (or at least ignore it) with my kids and partner and working from home, but as soon as it’s almost bedtime, it kicks into major overdrive. The last two weeks I’ve barely slept, unable to stop panicking and overthinking that the physical symptoms are something more sinister - anything from Covid to cancer. I know I need to see a doctor but get so stressed that what if they actually find something? Even though logically I know it’s unlikely, I can’t stop that panic in my brain and haven’t been able to even make an appt. Then I panic that it’s getting worse because I can’t find the courage to go. It’s a vicious circle. I just read (and cried) through the whole thread about people’s symptoms. It was incredibly helpful to know experience the same things and has made me feel ... maybe not better but at least less panicked. I’m so sorry any of you have to feel this way. I’ve downloaded a meditation app to try tonight. I can’t go another night without sleep and I have to work tomorrow. Hopefully it helps. And my goal tomorrow is to at least book a phone consult with a doctor. Anyway, I just wanted to say all this to people who couldn’t see me ugly cry while I was doing it but who would understand. Thank you and I hope you are all okay in this trying time.

Maryjane1 OCD housecleaning husband
  • replies: 8

Hi, I’m struggling and hoping someone can offer opinions. I‘ve been married for 23 years and have two children to him. I love him but....he has ocd when iT comes to house cleaning. I noticed it when we first married, but put it down to pride in his h... View more

Hi, I’m struggling and hoping someone can offer opinions. I‘ve been married for 23 years and have two children to him. I love him but....he has ocd when iT comes to house cleaning. I noticed it when we first married, but put it down to pride in his house. After having children it became progressively worse. He cleanS before work in the morning, he comes home from work And cleans again. he Has dinner and cleans for another 1.5hs min. Weekends he cleans. He so t come for an icecream with the kids and I becasue ‘someone has to clean!’ THe house is scrubbed and disinfected from top to bottom Daily . We can’t use the kitchen once cleaned. We can’t sit inthe lounge room as he will notice the cushions have been moved. Throw blankets need to be folded neatly before bed. He remakes the bed after me as it’s not neat enough. If we drop something the house (even water) it needs to be vacuumed and floors washed again. He constantly tells me I’m lazy and I live like a slob. It’s made me anxious to the point I Now clean constantly on my days off and after work so I don’t get yelled at. I fret if I or the girls drop something or if an item isOut of place. My house is like a display home. He never has time for us. He always needs to clean because according to him, I don’t clean! I don’t feel this is normal. I’ve tried talking to him but it ends up in an argument as he believes his behaviour is normal and it’s because I don’t clean enough. my 17 year old daughter wants to move out as she can’t handle it anymore. My 14 year old is starting to show ocd tendencies. She s become anxious too. My children won’t have friends over because of it. I could list more but I hope you get the general idea...I’m tired, mentally exhausted and struggling to continue with his controlling behaviour... May I add, I tried talking to a few imof my family members and there repl was ‘you are so lucky he cleans, I wish I had that’. They’ve no idea how controlling it is. I’m starting to resent him. Cleaning is one this but ocd cleaning is another. He is the same with MY CAR. Watches and vaccines every week. The kids and I can’t drive my car to the beach or anywhere it may get dirty or scratched. He checks it for scratches constantly and tells us off if it’s dirty inside. Dirty means sand on our shoes that has ended on the floor mats or lolly wrapper Left in the door etc.

SapereAude Centrelink & Robodebt
  • replies: 2

Some excellent news for those issues with Robodebt Centrelink debts. These seem set to be refunded after Centrelink caved in under threat of a class action. This has caused many great anxiety, led to depression and in some tragic cases suicides. My t... View more

Some excellent news for those issues with Robodebt Centrelink debts. These seem set to be refunded after Centrelink caved in under threat of a class action. This has caused many great anxiety, led to depression and in some tragic cases suicides. My thoughts are with you all. Keep reaching out and supporting those affected.

Missberri Struggling after isolation
  • replies: 1

Hi, I'm having a really hard time getting myself out of being isolated after this whole pandemic. I feel like everyone is still to some degree social distancing and things aren't completely back to normal but I know things have improved and a lot of ... View more

Hi, I'm having a really hard time getting myself out of being isolated after this whole pandemic. I feel like everyone is still to some degree social distancing and things aren't completely back to normal but I know things have improved and a lot of people have in some ways in some ways gone back to being more social again. I'm really struggling to do the same though. I have always had bad social anxiety and I feel this whole situation made it worse. Before the pandemic I was really trying to be more social, I had a lot of things planned and I was trying to make more time for friends. I've never been completely awful at socialising and always have friends around me but I do struggle with being the first to reach out to people. For the majority of when the pandemic was at its worst I pretty much spoke to no one. I hardly messaged or called anyone and I didn't really hear from anyone else either. I don't even know why I did this as there were times I wanted to reach out to people and didn't. There was a guy who I met at the start of the pandemic who I was dating and I pretty much spoke to everyday, but we ended up breaking things off because it got difficult and we both werent really feeling like ourselves with everything going on. After that I just became completely lonely and haven't talked to many people other than my parents and people at work. Now I just feel like a complete mess. I feel like I've spent so much time alone these past few months I don't even know how to go back to normal. Some of my friends wanted to play games online with me today and I feel so much more anxious about it than I did before. I feel like I don't want to go out and see anyone or make plans with anyone even though we can now. I wanted to reach out to that guy I was seeing earlier to see how he's doing or to catch up but now I don't even feel motivated to do that. I just don't feel good right now and I don't see the point of seeing anyone or talking to anyone but I know at the same time I am not doing myself any good by staying so closed off from everyone. I feel like theres a lot of people out there who are probably being social and I feel so stupid for having hardly anyone around me to do the same, especially when it was really something I wanted to work on this year. I know that there's a lot worse things going on in the world right now and my situation is definitely not the worst. But I just wish I could break myself out of feeling like this but I don't know how.