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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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Kindbutterfly I need to let it out
  • replies: 3

I’m 25 and I think for as long as I can remember I’ve always suffered from some form of anxiety. It peaked when I was around 13 and I always thought I was sick and I was going to die, I even remember getting my little brother to feel my heart beat to... View more

I’m 25 and I think for as long as I can remember I’ve always suffered from some form of anxiety. It peaked when I was around 13 and I always thought I was sick and I was going to die, I even remember getting my little brother to feel my heart beat to make sure it was still beating ok. I had my first child in March 2018 and since then I have become a train wreck. I am so scared something bad will happen to my child and I hardly leave the house. I visualise bad things happening to her and then can’t get it out of my head. My confidence is gone and I’m always so irritable and my mood is always baseline.. not quite dead but not living either even though I hold so much love in my heart for my child. I feel like I’m getting worse by the day. I constantly check to see if she’s breathing and I can’t even imagine anyone else but me or her dad taking care of her without me watching. I feel like my quality of life is gone. I don’t want to leave the safety of my home. I have no friends and I feel like I’m drowning. I can’t relax if she isn’t in my sight even when we are both in the house. I am starting to have regular panic attacks and feelings of complete doom. Like I can’t keep her safe. I don’t know what my life is anymore

Jmk22 Is health anxiety real?
  • replies: 8

Hi everyone, I'm just looking for some advice. Does anyone experience anxiety majorly about their health? I have been experiencing this and it feels like its getting out of control lately. I was diagnosed with generalised anxiety about 5 years ago. F... View more

Hi everyone, I'm just looking for some advice. Does anyone experience anxiety majorly about their health? I have been experiencing this and it feels like its getting out of control lately. I was diagnosed with generalised anxiety about 5 years ago. For the most part it has been under control but for the past 5-6 months I have been feeling it slowly starting to take over. I have been on medication in the past but I currently am not on anything. I just constantly feel like there is something wrong with me. I'm constantly do the whole dr google thing which I know I shouldn't. There was a point in time that it felt like I was living at the doctors I was going that often for so many different things. I swear he was getting annoyed with me. It started out with me worrying it was my appendix, then it went to something wrong with my brain ( I convinced myself I felt lightheaded all the time and couldn't focus) then I was worried about breast cancer, then my wisdom teeth became the problem and now it's my heart. I was sick with really bad food poisoning about 5 years ago just before my doctor determined I have anxiety. It caused me to have a high heart rate so I did have to go through the whole ECG and 24 hour monitor wearing. It came back ok and they couldn't see anything wrong. I did have to have another 24 hour monitor about a year ago and all that showed was my heart skipping a beat twice in that amount of time which my doctor said was nothing. I was ok about it all for awhile but now it's become a constant anxiety for me. I am constantly checking my heart rate, I am constantly thinking my heart is skipping beats, I'm constantly worried there is something seriously wrong with my heart. I have experience palpations in the past but my doctor has never been concerned about it. Am I crazy for feeling this way? Has anyone experienced anything like this before? I don't want to constantly be worried about my health especially my heart and going to the doctors all the time. It's even getting to the point that I'm that worried about something going wrong with my health I'm thinking of canceling an oversea trip my husband and I have with some friends in 3 months time. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I seriously cant keep going on like this.

Andy999 Restless anxiety and depression
  • replies: 8

Hey so I’ve been going through a bout of anxiety and some depression for the past few months, I am seeing a psychologist for it but Havnt been able to for a few weeks due to the holiday period. i get random outbursts of extreme restlessness, sometime... View more

Hey so I’ve been going through a bout of anxiety and some depression for the past few months, I am seeing a psychologist for it but Havnt been able to for a few weeks due to the holiday period. i get random outbursts of extreme restlessness, sometimes it feels like my mind won’t shut off and it feels like I’m about to lose control, the depression has now caused me to lose interest in so many things, it’s so hard for me to just be external and live life, I’m always thinking about my scenario. ive been doing meditation almost everyday and trying to keep busy socialising with friends and playing sport, anything to stop me thinking about my anxiety! To just get out of my head! ive tried this new activity where I accept these intrusive thoughts and moments of intense anxiety or random feelings of restlessness, sadness, Derealization rather than pushing them away, understanding why or even challenging them. it’s worked pretty well for me the past few days, they are still there but it’s a lot nicer when you don’t get so wound up in it all, i was having a pretty good day today kept busy, took some time to relax, I went down to the shop And as I was pulling in a sudden feeling of like a slight sadness and Like a detached feeling? Hard to describe but anyway nothing new, I rode this wave pretty good just told myself it’s okay to feel like this and kept on with my day, but when I got home the feeling stuck around and for some reason this time saying ‘it’s okay’ and accepting the feelings just wasn’t working it started to feel like I wasn’t in control anymore and I just became restless and sad and yeh I don’t even know how to describe it other then it didn’t feel like I was in control anymore, I tried to ground myself and do some meditation, the restlessness went away but I still didn’t feel right all night, I went to see some friends hoping I could snap out of it and feel some sense of calm but had no luck, when these things happen I get stuck obsessing trying to make sense of how I felt and why, it takes a hold of me and sends me a few steps backwards. Does anyone else here ever feel anything similar? Is that anxiety or something else? alot of the time I don’t think myself into these situations I just get thrown into them or these intrusive thoughts get thrown at me it’s like my sub conscious is the one that’s freaking out

Dagony Anxiety about eloping
  • replies: 16

Hello For a few years I've had fear that god will throw my worst fears at me if I did sex before marriage so I waited However me and my partner eloped last Friday,we had our parents blessing and did it cause we wanted to wait for my mother to be full... View more

Hello For a few years I've had fear that god will throw my worst fears at me if I did sex before marriage so I waited However me and my partner eloped last Friday,we had our parents blessing and did it cause we wanted to wait for my mother to be full health after battling a sickness before we did a big celebration. So we decided to elope for now with a magistor of the court However I have anxiety that it doesn't count as marriage to god and it's man made some how Thank you for reading

CrazyGecko89 Anxiety and frequent apologizes
  • replies: 10

Hi everyone. For about four to five months I've been helping a friend that got out of a relationship with a narcissist so understandably anxiety and depression are in play. While things have slowly improved I've noticed she's started apologizing far ... View more

Hi everyone. For about four to five months I've been helping a friend that got out of a relationship with a narcissist so understandably anxiety and depression are in play. While things have slowly improved I've noticed she's started apologizing far more than usual and over the smallest things even stuff that she's not involved in. I have mentioned this to her which was followed by more apologizes and brought on what looked like a mild anxiety attack so the conversation ended quickly. Sometimes I get the feeling the apologizes are something she used a lot during her past relationship but I think she's worried I'll either get fed up with her or I'll walk off. For now I have no idea as to what to do.

Annie11 Work problems
  • replies: 1

Hi New here.. I have anxiety/depression but have medication for it ive been quite proud of myself i can go on trains alone ive been to japan by myself and have been working for the past year without extreme anxiety but thats where my problem is, i di... View more

Hi New here.. I have anxiety/depression but have medication for it ive been quite proud of myself i can go on trains alone ive been to japan by myself and have been working for the past year without extreme anxiety but thats where my problem is, i did not have a job after tafe and it took me a long time to get this full time job. Before i was working on getting my own small business in art going to markets weekendly talking to people etc. I couldnt do it forever because i need to start thinking seriously about my life and how much money i should be making to live. But when i stopped to go to this full time job my anxiety and depression slowly started coming back, at first working was great and i felt proud of myself but the less time i had for art the more i was sad and upset about not doing something i loved and was my therapy. Recently im finding myself worse such as physically feeling ill, feeling fatigue and more emotional at work. I dont know what to do. I feel trapped.

blueeyes98 Could use some advice
  • replies: 2

For a quick backstory so it makes sense (long story short version): Im 21 and all my life i've experienced severe unbearable anxiety, I missed semesters of school at a time and failed most classes due to not attending class, and at certain times 'nor... View more

For a quick backstory so it makes sense (long story short version): Im 21 and all my life i've experienced severe unbearable anxiety, I missed semesters of school at a time and failed most classes due to not attending class, and at certain times 'normal' kind of tasks are hard due to my anxiety. I've seen many councillors and psychologists and it seems to come and go in waves over the years. I went on meds a few years ago (off them now as they made me feel numb and I slept too much) but I was still able to live a semi-normal life on them. I kept a job for over a year in 2017 but then had to unfortunately resign as i couldn't cope with the panic attacks at work. 2 years past and a few months ago I decided it was time to get back into things, as I hadn't experienced any major anxiety attacks since leaving the previous job. Ive been employed for 5 months (retail), only working 2 shifts a week to ease back into things and it was going extremely well but the past 2 months have been dreadful to the point where the physical side effects of the anxiety are making it dangerous, I panic in the car on the drive to work, its getting so bad its unsafe to drive, and when i'm there I struggle to stand up straight, its crippling. So I just then resigned from the job. So, if your'e still reading, I am in the process of getting more help but I was wondering if anyone had any ideas of jobs that are more independent, calm and supportive? something on my own terms or a somewhat lenient workplace? I'm such a hard worker, but my mental health really gets in the way. I'm an extremely independent person and hate having to owe people things, when i'm not working as you can imagine borrowing money, asking for help and favours adds extra anxieties and pressures. I want my life back and I'm so tired of this, I shouldn't be like this at my young age, so any advice on work would be so deeply appreciated.

helpmegetmyfeetbackontheg Eating disorder?
  • replies: 3

My story is long and I don’t have time to lay it all out but I’ve always had an issue with food.....today I was thinking about it deeper.....I’m wondering to myself if I’m over eating to feel something......that something is pain, because I seem to s... View more

My story is long and I don’t have time to lay it all out but I’ve always had an issue with food.....today I was thinking about it deeper.....I’m wondering to myself if I’m over eating to feel something......that something is pain, because I seem to stuff myself to the point of feeling physical pain in my stomach and then regret and yet nothing can stop me. I’m not sure why I feel this way, or what’s frustrating me so much. I’ve been yo yo dieting for the past 18 years (I’m in my late 40s now) but I feel as though I can’t get to the root of this issue I have. I can’t really afford to get into any counselling....so I’m trying to reach out and see if anyone here can give me any advice.

Monicas Breathing difficulties when anxious which is most of the time. What do I do?
  • replies: 2

Hi everyone. I am Monica. I have been suffering really bad anxiety the past 7months. It is taking over my daily life. I am at the point where I am giving up. The worst symptom I get for anxiety is difficulty breathing easily like I have to keep takin... View more

Hi everyone. I am Monica. I have been suffering really bad anxiety the past 7months. It is taking over my daily life. I am at the point where I am giving up. The worst symptom I get for anxiety is difficulty breathing easily like I have to keep taking deep breaths. And some breaths I can't catch properly. Makes me feel Like I am not getting enough air. Any info would be great. Will this ever go away or am I stuck with it for life? Thanks

AnotherOne12 Any guys have scrotum issues with Anxiety?
  • replies: 4

My testicles feel like they are constantly moving. I find they move more when I feel highly anxious and other times not so much. Im not sure if becoming fixated on the sensation has made me hypersensitive to it. Any advice or similar feelings?

My testicles feel like they are constantly moving. I find they move more when I feel highly anxious and other times not so much. Im not sure if becoming fixated on the sensation has made me hypersensitive to it. Any advice or similar feelings?