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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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Sareus Should I stick with dating when it makes my already severe anxiety worse
  • replies: 4

My therapist has suggested that I take myself out of my comfort zone because I’ve made great progress towards feeling better and one of the main things she suggested was dating. I have tried numerous dates now and I’ve never made it past the first da... View more

My therapist has suggested that I take myself out of my comfort zone because I’ve made great progress towards feeling better and one of the main things she suggested was dating. I have tried numerous dates now and I’ve never made it past the first date as I keep letting my anxiety get the better of me by fulfilling its prophecies. This wouldn’t be as much of a problem if the side effects of my anxiety weren’t so bad. I end up frustrated at myself, it makes me feel depressed, And most importantly it increases the appearance of my panic attacks and hallucinations. Should I continue trying to find a partner despite the stress it causes me? how do I explain to someone that I suffer from these things? Is there anywhere I can go to learn about dating with severe anxiety?

maccaz health anxiety out of control
  • replies: 7

Hi, Hoping anyone here can provide some input. Basically ever since I was very young I was on edge/anxious, particularly about health type things. Throughout my teenage years this was particularly bad, but coming into my early 20s life kind of got in... View more

Hi, Hoping anyone here can provide some input. Basically ever since I was very young I was on edge/anxious, particularly about health type things. Throughout my teenage years this was particularly bad, but coming into my early 20s life kind of got in the way and I forgot about it. Fast forward to May this year, a lot of life changes, had my first child born, moved into a very high pressure job with a fair amount of travel, etc. I started experiencing weird symptoms like difficulty urinating (which went away), diarrhea (comes and goes), ocasionally weird sensations in my hands or feet like i am uncoordinated or something. decided to nip all this in the bud and went to the doctor, they put it all down to anxiety after blood tests etc came back all good (liver a bit elevated from drinking for a week on holiday prior). I wasn't confident in that diagnosis so went to another doctor and essentially bullied him into testing me for "everything", so was all the cancer markers, all that kind of stuff. All positive and liver much better. This process has really opened pandoras box and I am experiencing new symptoms constantly every day. Constantly in an out of body type state, can't focus on anything, can't concentrate, crap memory, and a consuming worry/anxiety about it all. I'm currently overseas for work and am at a point where I'm planning to walk into a hospital and insist they test me for MS/other stuff like that just because I feel it surely can't be anxiety. I get panicky, have trouble swallowing, can't get a deep breath, my hands and feet feel weird, sore back, twitching muscles all over the place (so you can see how i came up with the MS theory, but that is probably self diagnosis #50 i've given myself in the past 6 weeks) . I also can't sleep for more than a couple of hours and wake up in a panic. Just wondering if anyone has experienced similar physical type symptoms and how they cope with it? I'll continue progressing the proper medical approach to rule out anything physical in the meantime

Fearce I have a compulsive liar disorder I think...
  • replies: 4

I am a Year 11 student, and I think I am constantly lying without even realising that i am lying. I have created huge lies throughout my years and I thought from lying, I could gain attention and sympathy. I was right, however, it only made things wo... View more

I am a Year 11 student, and I think I am constantly lying without even realising that i am lying. I have created huge lies throughout my years and I thought from lying, I could gain attention and sympathy. I was right, however, it only made things worse, mentally and physically. I am trying my best to keep this thread clean from lies and I am going to be honest for once in my life. I have used lies to avoid situations a lot. Sometimes people catch on and realise I'm lying. I have never come out to talk about this because I thought that I did not have a compulsive lying disorder. I have done my research and came to a conclusion that I am a compulsive liar. Last year, I had a friend who I was very close with. He started to change... It was like he was a totally different person. I created lies to make him give me sympathy and guilt from him becoming a different person. I told him that I got raped. I told him I attempted suicide 2 times. I told him I got a girl pregnant and she killed herself. I think you get the idea. He caught onto me pretty quickly and bullied me for it. Even till today. I once told a story of when i managed to run away from a gang of guys holding handguns. Everyone laughed straight away and called me out on it. I stood there crying inside and in disbelief of what came out of my mouth. This is when things became really bad. I actually believed I attempted suicide twice. Things are really stressful and messed up because i only have 1 main friend in my life and even now he is starting to drift away from me. I am scared of becoming alone and I need help.

Garnet New to this
  • replies: 1

How does one parent after experiencing trauma? I am English and overwhelming.

How does one parent after experiencing trauma? I am English and overwhelming.

Andy999 Anxiety taking over
  • replies: 2

Heey so I’m wondering if anyone has felt similar and possibly has any advice for me on how to deal with anxiety attacks. ive just started seeing a psychologist for my anxiety, I had a massive panic attack last Monday night (the night before my first ... View more

Heey so I’m wondering if anyone has felt similar and possibly has any advice for me on how to deal with anxiety attacks. ive just started seeing a psychologist for my anxiety, I had a massive panic attack last Monday night (the night before my first session) I could feel it building up for hours, talking to people wasn’t helping I didnt know how to calm it down, I even had a football game to play and I pushed myself to go but couldn’t say a word to anyone and felt like just running of the pitch but I didn’t even know where I wanted to go, on the way home it climaxed, I started getting tingles through my body I was convinced “this is it, I’ve hit the point of no return I’m never gonna get better” it was so scary I came home and completely broke down in front of my family. just yesterday so a week later something kind of similar happened, I’ve actually been improving a bit since last week, learning to accept these fears and worries and challenging them and all that and find it can really work but it’s very hard, yesterday I was feeling the best I had in ages, but then suddenly that arvo it all came crashing down, I started feeling abit off, just abit restless and I noticed it, I didn’t really know how to respond to this, I couldn’t immerse myself into tv or even talking about it with someone didn’t help, I started thinking “oh shit am I gong back to square 1 here” I kept telling myself I wasn’t but the feeling grew more and more intense, everything around was just to much it felt like I was just about to Freak out again, after hours it started to subside a little, I did some meditation when I got home which helped abit to. i was pretty shaken up to experience those feelings again, they continued with me quite abit today also, it’s really terrible it stops you from doing anything really, you kind of just sit there in this paralysed state of fear and makes it almost impossible to socialise, work, and live a normal life. but yeh any advice would be awesome, thanks

uptownfunk Going in circles in life
  • replies: 1

Just want to ask how have others determined to get beyond going in circles in life? Cheers.

Just want to ask how have others determined to get beyond going in circles in life? Cheers.

lifewonder constant panic attacks for the last couple months
  • replies: 1

Hello everyone, I have come across this forum, and I thought I would share what I have been going through. I will give a brief history about myself so it makes a little more sense. In my late teens, I lost one of my parents and that had a devastating... View more

Hello everyone, I have come across this forum, and I thought I would share what I have been going through. I will give a brief history about myself so it makes a little more sense. In my late teens, I lost one of my parents and that had a devastating effect on me. I was depressed for many years and it took a long time to find myself. My counselor diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder, likely because I kept having very intrusive thoughts about a particular thing and was always worried. For years I thought they would never go away, so I just learned to cope with the thoughts and eventually they subsided. In the last year, I saw an actual psychiatrist who confirmed I have GAD, and recommended placing me on medications. There was a point in time I took medications, but I eventually stopped them because I was feeling much better, and I realized that the coping mechanisms I was taught by my counselors was more then enough for me... however, also because in my line of work, any anti anxiety or depression medication is an absolute big NO... even when I was on the meds, I had to keep it a secret for fear of not being able to pursue my line of work, which would then only throw me into a bigger depression and anxiety In the last few months, I wasn't feeling great, as I was upset that nothing had been panning out in terms of a job, and I was literally broke. I was about to give up on my dream job, until I caught an absolutely amazing break and everything went into a complete 180. I had finally gotten the job I always wanted, it pays well, I have paid off my debts and everything else in my life if fairly good. Yet, I have had the absolute worst panic attacks of my life. I have gone to the hospital several times, thinking I was either having a heart attack, or my lungs were collapsing or something of the likes, yet all my results show I have cleanest bill of health... so what gives? This makes absolutely no sense to me.everyday I wake up I feel agitated, and then throughout the day I have at least one panic attack, characterized by shortness of breath, brain fog, dizziness and sometimes hand numbness... I can't even hang out in crowded or loud places because the panic seems to onset and get really bad, and I can't even focus on conversations with my friends. This is absolutely tearing me apart, and for the life of me I can't understand why it's happening. I have no intrusive thoughts, and I am relatively stress free, other then normal life stress

Samyol Anxiety, Depression and Future prospects.
  • replies: 6

Hi, I've dealt with anxiety for the whole of my life. Ever since being young I've always suffered from Generalised Anxiety Disorder and have had frequent panic attacks. Most of my panic attacks are a result of anxiety making me feel sick, which in tu... View more

Hi, I've dealt with anxiety for the whole of my life. Ever since being young I've always suffered from Generalised Anxiety Disorder and have had frequent panic attacks. Most of my panic attacks are a result of anxiety making me feel sick, which in turn makes me freak out that I'm going to be sick and then results in making me feel even more sick and I begin panicking and then it's just an endless cycle. I'm 18 years old and have not consulted a psychologist yet however I had seen a psychologist a few years ago as I had trouble attending school as a result of anxiety. I worked at a job for about a year before eventually having to leave as a result of illness/injury, when I returned after my injury I could no longer handle the workload as a result of anxiety and would call in sick to every shift eventually resulting in being let go. I no longer feel capable of working a job as even leaving the house tends to be extremely stressful as I get very sick from anxiety, this includes being glued to a toilet and cold sweats, shakes and such. I'm also currently dealing with un-diagnosed, on-going GI problems that I've posted previously before to get some insight and reassurance. My main question is, would it be possible at all for me to seek disability benefits? Generally I feel as though I'm incapable of working, but at the same time I doubt that my mental illness is serious enough to receive any benefits. I seriously dread the thought of working purely because of my anxiety as it severely impacts my quality of life. I have serious doubts in my capabilities to perform at a job and this in turn makes me even more anxious and I feel as though I will only ever let down my employers. I'm just looking for advice in general, I appreciate any and all replies. Thank you very much

ed_b Situation induced or inner anxiety?
  • replies: 3

I believe I have (and have always had) an anxiety disorder which makes rational thinking impossible. Fear grips me most of every day. My fear is that my business will go bust, which it looks like it will soon. I've thought it would go bust for over 3... View more

I believe I have (and have always had) an anxiety disorder which makes rational thinking impossible. Fear grips me most of every day. My fear is that my business will go bust, which it looks like it will soon. I've thought it would go bust for over 30 years and it hasn't happened yet. This time is different. I'm in trouble. My worst fear is likely coming true and I'm paralysed with terror. After 30 years of tiresome work, at 56 I could be ruined. Could be. If a sale goes through I could be ok. It's the could I can't live with. Every minute of every day is spent assessing the evidence for and against my fear. The evidence for throws me into a panic attack. I think I have an anxiety disorder, but who wouldn't? Not sure why I'm writing this. I just feel afraid.

ShazzaM80 Palpitations ruling my life.
  • replies: 3

I have been an anxious person from as far back as I can remember. Started when I was 3 when I witnessed my grandmother pass away from lung cancer, then the sudden death of my father when I was 5 years old. Fast forward, I had a baby at 15 whom had he... View more

I have been an anxious person from as far back as I can remember. Started when I was 3 when I witnessed my grandmother pass away from lung cancer, then the sudden death of my father when I was 5 years old. Fast forward, I had a baby at 15 whom had heart defects and she had 2 surgeries by the time she was 18 months old. I then had 3 other children who were heart healthy and then my 5th child had a hole in his heart. My 6th Child had a serious heart defect that required surgery soon after birth and again at 6 months of age. 7th child heart healthy. When I was 20 and pregnant with my 2nd child I began having palpitations which I was told was normal in pregnancy, however they continued after the birth of my son. Over the last 18 years O have had about 5 holster monitors and echos and echos and the cardiologist assures me I have benign palpitations or Pvcs. This year they have increased to be everyday and it's frightening me. My step father has had 2 heart attacks this year and my partner is in prison. I feel so alone and scared all the time so the doctor put me on medication. Since starting this I felt like I had my life back until 4 weeks into it the palpitations came back with a vengeance. Doc assures me it's not the medication but I'm stressed that it is the medication causing the increase. I guess I'm just after some advice or reassurance from people in similar circumstances.