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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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.

All discussions

Samsonsam Panic attacks + inflammation
  • replies: 1

I've been having panic attacks a couple times a week every week this year. I've recently started on medication for anxiety again however lately I've been getting bad joint pain and inflammation. My doctor told me this is due to the stress I was just ... View more

I've been having panic attacks a couple times a week every week this year. I've recently started on medication for anxiety again however lately I've been getting bad joint pain and inflammation. My doctor told me this is due to the stress I was just wondering if anyone else had this and was able to get rid of the joint pain once they got their stress under control?

Tricky92 I had an anxiety attack at work..
  • replies: 1

I had an anxiety attack at work.... I work in FIFO, I am the only female in my team so fitting in has been hard. ive always felt like I’ve never fitted in anywhere, and find it hard to maintain friendships and relationships from a very young age. I g... View more

I had an anxiety attack at work.... I work in FIFO, I am the only female in my team so fitting in has been hard. ive always felt like I’ve never fitted in anywhere, and find it hard to maintain friendships and relationships from a very young age. I grew up only knowing my parents, no family. im searching for what kind of anxiety I have so I can get some answers and understand why I am the way I am. one of the boys who is close to my age (27) he’s 38... I’ve always butted heads with, sometimes I do get a bit defensive because I fear failure. This person I feel takes this personally and starts to attack me. Yesterday I jumped on the fork lift and was my first time unloading the big centurion truck and had him being my spotter. (I work in warehousing) I was using the peddle like an automatic not realising that this particular fork had a semi clutch peddle, instead of explaining how to use the other peddle, he went on the defence and was saying that I don’t listen when all I was doing was laughing at the fact I was unco on the peddles. All he needed to do was explain that I was using the wrong one. But he started going off at me, all of a sudden I started crying and was trying to get him to talk to me professionally. But he lost the plot, walked off and told everyone else in the office and then got someone else to come spot me. My silly mind goes into you are not enough mode, and all I had running through my head repeatedly was you are pathetic and you will never succeed .. yay! Should not have continued, but un be known to me I was suppressing a bloody anxiety attack. Everytime I got off the fork it felt like I was numb, floating I guess. i built up the courage to ask this person for the paper work, and he literally just said I’m doing my own thing and walked away, and then I lost it, walked into the lunch room and just lost it. I couldn’t breath, my heart was racing and I was sobbing. I kept telling myself just to breath, mostly because if someone walked into the lunch room, that would have been embarrassing. I’ve only had an attack maybe twice in my life, my body hurt and I had after waves of my muscles spasms and shaking. Had to leave work. ive tried to search into what anxiety I have. I get really intrusive negative thoughts when negative things happen or I feel like I have failed, can fail or people don’t like me. I get inside attacks. I’m not that shy tho on the outside, I guess there’s one side of me I show to the world and one I don’t

Rem4 Panic attack?
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Hi All, I have recently started having difficulties at work when approaching people to talk with them or speaking in meetings. My heart races, my breath gets really shallow and stunted making it difficult to talk and I feel really anxious. It passes ... View more

Hi All, I have recently started having difficulties at work when approaching people to talk with them or speaking in meetings. My heart races, my breath gets really shallow and stunted making it difficult to talk and I feel really anxious. It passes but its making life difficult. Starting to avoid people and situations where I think it may occur. Any thoughts? Rem

Hazel05 Health anxiety and pelvic pain
  • replies: 4

Hi all Long story short, for the last few weeks I have been suffering from dull pains around the lower abdomen/pelvic region. It all started out as a dull pain on the left side, and over time (and countless trips to the doctor and self diagnosing mys... View more

Hi all Long story short, for the last few weeks I have been suffering from dull pains around the lower abdomen/pelvic region. It all started out as a dull pain on the left side, and over time (and countless trips to the doctor and self diagnosing myself on Dr Google)), the pain has moved so it feels like it’s around the lower abdomen/pelvic pain in general. I’ve been to the doctors countless times and done tests which have come back normal but the uncertainty is making my anxiety worse to the point that is all I am focusing on from when I wake up to when I go to bed! I went back to the doctors yesterday and asked her to do every test possible to rule out everything! My fear though is that even though everything will come back fine that will simply not be enough to calm me down...I’m already thinking of the “what if the doctor has missed something”.... just wanted to come on here to see if anyone else has even felt pelvic like pain and if it is associated with anxiety?

Miki22 Health anxiety taking over my life
  • replies: 2

Hi, Im new to forums so not too sure how this all works however I feel the need to express my feelings and see if anyone else is feeling the same. for the past few months I’ve developed general anxiety which I thought was just a common thing. However... View more

Hi, Im new to forums so not too sure how this all works however I feel the need to express my feelings and see if anyone else is feeling the same. for the past few months I’ve developed general anxiety which I thought was just a common thing. However, in the past month I seem to be constantly worrying about my health, constantly going into google and self diagnosing myself with diseases and cancer. I get anxiety when I wake up in the morning with heart palpitations, sweating, a sense of fear, and the fear of a panic attack coming on and losing control of reality. I went to the hospital last week - my ECG was fine, my blood test and blood pressure came back fine although I am still booking visits to the cardiologist to see if there is an underlying issue as well as seeing my GP to run chest x rays and other tests. I also get this sharp pain in my heart throughout the day recently- it feels as if someone is piercing my heart with a knife and I start to panic if I have blood clots or blocked blood vessels or if this is actually normal considering my heart results came back ok? Is the heart pain normal? Could I have an underlying medical problem such as blood clots? Any help please !!!!! It is taking over my life to the point where I’m scared to get into my car and go to work because I’m scared of a panic attack coming on or feeling the heart pulls.

Lharrywooll Health anxiety
  • replies: 3

Hey guys, just going through a really rough patch these last couple of months overthinking everything, especially my breathing as of late. Always thinking I’m struggling to breathe or there’s something in my throat blocking my airway. I do have asthm... View more

Hey guys, just going through a really rough patch these last couple of months overthinking everything, especially my breathing as of late. Always thinking I’m struggling to breathe or there’s something in my throat blocking my airway. I do have asthma however never really been an issue apart from when I was really young (I’m now 23) but about 6 months ago got put back on inhalers because of going to the doctors being really anxious and feeling like I couldn’t breathe. Has anyone else had issues like this? its not just breathing , it varies all the time. As soon as the breathing difficulty goes there will be another ache which I’ll think is cancer, or a tumour. Or blurred vision is another one that’s common for me, headaches, dizziness etc. Just wondering if anyone else has had similar issues? Feel like it’s good to speak to people with similar issues because it’s kind of a way of telling ourselves that we’re actually ok I guess...

Jessten What is meant by talking to your parts
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I've been seeing a therapist and she has asked me what my parts are telling me? I don't understand what she means as Every time something occurs she asks me what my parts are telling me but I don't know what she means as all I ever say is I can do th... View more

I've been seeing a therapist and she has asked me what my parts are telling me? I don't understand what she means as Every time something occurs she asks me what my parts are telling me but I don't know what she means as all I ever say is I can do this to get through whatever situation it Is I'm panicking about. I get asked what I would do in a similar situation if it was someone else who was having bad dream or panic attack and while I am able to reassure others I'm there for them and comfort them I feel like its not right to talk to myself.

Anadee Social Anxiety- has anyone tried anything natural that worked for them?
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I’ve always been a weirdo in social situations but I thought that was just me and shyness I’ve been this way for over 20 years so of course I just thought that it was normal until I watched a Netflix series ‘The Mind, Explained’ and I realised I actu... View more

I’ve always been a weirdo in social situations but I thought that was just me and shyness I’ve been this way for over 20 years so of course I just thought that it was normal until I watched a Netflix series ‘The Mind, Explained’ and I realised I actually have social anxiety. Mind blown! When I’m in a social situation I get really shaky, my heart races, I sweat, my stomach churns and I feel a coldness through my body all the time (I always have goose bumps). When people hug me I’m sure they feel me shaking. It’s so embarrassing! Plus I blush a lot!!🤦‍ I wear a good layer of makeup in hopes it will hide my blushing. I forget things all the time and constantly feel stupid about it and I constantly go blank in conversations. My memory is getting worse and I feel so tired all the time. I over think, over analyse everything which is so annoying and tiring and I can’t turn it off. I feel very selfish and guilty all the time because I’m always thinking of not embarrassing myself and getting away from people that I’m not there for the people that need to talk and that I could help and be a friend for. I feel I’m always letting people down! I started a new job early this year which I enjoy as a lot of the time I can work on my own but other times there is a lot of interactions and then there’s the meetings I hadn’t worked for 6 months before starting this job but as soon as I started the job I began having breathing issues and dizziness. I went to the doctor thinking I’m probably deficient in something but my blood test came back fine. He sent me for some test for my lungs but that came back fine also. I really thought I just had a little infection in my lungs but the doctors said that I didn’t. I was convinced he was wrong and that it was an infection until a friend of mine said she thinks I was having little panic attacks of some sort? I don’t know what it is but I’ve worked out if I stop and sit for abit, loosen my clothes around my chest and stomach so I can breath and get something sugary to drink I then slowly come out of it. I don’t believe I need to go on medication as I don’t think it’s severe enough for that. But I was thinking of something natural. I was wondering if anyone out there is similar to me and are on something natural that’s working for them? I’ve tried St. John’s wort but sadly that didn’t do anything. Alcohol definitely helps but yeah, I can’t be drinking all the time although I really wish I could ha Thanks in advance!

Wally87 Eating Disorder
  • replies: 7

Last year I developed a binge eating disorder as a flow on affect from my PTSD and a significant family event (that was a huge trigger). With treatment, I’m rarely binge eating anymore but have developed huge anxiety around food and the feeling of be... View more

Last year I developed a binge eating disorder as a flow on affect from my PTSD and a significant family event (that was a huge trigger). With treatment, I’m rarely binge eating anymore but have developed huge anxiety around food and the feeling of being judged every time I eat. As a result, I now only eat 1 meal a day. I know it’s very bad for my physical and psychological health and wellbeing but not sure how to feel enough self-worth to warrant nourishing my body. I’ve completed tailored nutrition courses so know what my body needs just not sure where to start.

Guest_8375 I cant stop worrying and it's killing me
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everyday before I go to school, I feel dread, because I have no friends there. every afternoon I wonder, "did they like me?was I annoying?" questions scurry around my head over and over again... I don't know what to do. it's killing me. taking over m... View more

everyday before I go to school, I feel dread, because I have no friends there. every afternoon I wonder, "did they like me?was I annoying?" questions scurry around my head over and over again... I don't know what to do. it's killing me. taking over my life. what now?