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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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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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CMF If you could describe your anxiety in one word, what would it be?
  • replies: 924

There is a thread under Depression just like this so I thought why not start an anxiety one? My word is: Attacking

There is a thread under Depression just like this so I thought why not start an anxiety one? My word is: Attacking

TLD1968 Break through with stress and anxiety
  • replies: 2

Hi,From my darkness came light. A positive posting !! I started going onto Beyond Blue due to losing my job and feeling very lost. I have suffered anxiety for most of my adult life. I am currently medicated and have over the years accumulated many va... View more

Hi,From my darkness came light. A positive posting !! I started going onto Beyond Blue due to losing my job and feeling very lost. I have suffered anxiety for most of my adult life. I am currently medicated and have over the years accumulated many valuable tools to deal with this exhausting condition. I not only lost my job , I was treated unfairly and become shattered and disillusioned by my life and humans. I lost all self worth and struggled with my existence. I started a journal and worked on keeping my head above water daily. I never gave up , I knew it would never stay the same and that change would come. I applied for countless jobs , had a few interviews. I went for an interview Monday , really enjoyed chatting to the employer, I showed my authentic self. I didn't hold out much hope. I was contacted by the employer yesterday as they wanted to contact my referees. Could I possibly hold out hope ? NO. My referees contacted me with positive vibes after speaking with the employer. Could I possibly hold out hope? NOThis morning the employer rang me to offer me the position. I accepted , I was in shock for many hours and found it hard to process. How much of my anxiety has actually taken over my life and sense of worth? People don't seem to understand what their actions and words can do to another person. Being kind seems to be such a hard action for some. I leave these people behind and will rebuild my self awareness. I have learnt so much during this time, its invaluable. Please never give up !!T

Belieber95 Anxiety
  • replies: 11

Hi was wondering if there are any techniques to help with anxiety I have used the 54321 and breathing exercises and the alphabet but my anxiety/panic attacks come back after a goodnight sleep

Hi was wondering if there are any techniques to help with anxiety I have used the 54321 and breathing exercises and the alphabet but my anxiety/panic attacks come back after a goodnight sleep

Buckley05 Health Anxiety
  • replies: 1

Hi there, I heard Beyond Blue advertised on the radio today and I decided to go to their website and that has led me to joining the online community. Does anyone out there have health anxiety? I have had it for as long as I can remember and to be hon... View more

Hi there, I heard Beyond Blue advertised on the radio today and I decided to go to their website and that has led me to joining the online community. Does anyone out there have health anxiety? I have had it for as long as I can remember and to be honest in it's early days I managed it very well and even now feel that my case is mild as I have learned to manage it as best as I can myself but I am always interested in other peoples ways of coping and maybe I might be able to help someone out there with how I have taught myself to manage this. To be honest, in my case I don't stress over every illness or disease that there is. My main anxiety is with cancer, mainly breast cancer. I have no explanation why, it's just something that I stress over. I don't go to the doctor every 5 minutes and have set myself strict rules on checking myself and doubting myself all the time. I have done my own research and sourced some good information over the internet on management techniques and how you can overcome negative thoughts which have helped me but regulary I keep second guessing myself, like for eg. I only check my breasts one a month and then once I've checked them I doubt myself and say "maybe I've missed something". I do refrain myself from checking them again because one thing I have learned is if you repeat this checking behaviour it helps in the short term but then you doubt yourself again and so the cycle starts over. I asked my doctor to send me off the an ultrasound to make sure nothing is wrong and he knows that I struggle with the "girls" lol. Anyway, I believe that with anxiety especially OCD related anxiety and I think health anxiety falls into that category as it's repetitive behaviour it's very important to follow the techniques to help you manage and hopefully cure the anxiety. Although I have told my husband how I get and he is understanding, I tend to keep this subject to myself and when it kicks in try and follow my manage system. Although I don't think I will ever be rid of it totally, of late I have decided that instead of fighting it and always wanting to make these thoughts totally go away and all the time I would fail at that. Lately for me it's about management with my feelings and if you can get a good balance of that things will be ok. I will say that one thing that has stuck in my mind with my findings about health anxiety, "If you can accept uncertainty, your worries will go away, as soon as you fight uncertainty your worries will stay". Everybody has uncertainty in their life its the way we handle it which can make a difference.

Scott_O Does Anxiety give you burps?
  • replies: 5

I have found the longer my anxiety has been in my life the more it's affected my gut, I have had blood tests, urine tests and ultra sounds and seen a specialist nothing has ever been found to be abnormal, just wondering if anyone else goes through th... View more

I have found the longer my anxiety has been in my life the more it's affected my gut, I have had blood tests, urine tests and ultra sounds and seen a specialist nothing has ever been found to be abnormal, just wondering if anyone else goes through this it's almost like anxiety has given me some form of IBS. Thank you for reading hope to hear from others.

shelly777 Wanting to talk to other people that I have found ways to deal with recovery
  • replies: 3

Hello I am new to the group. My name is Shelly. I have contacted beyond blue on a few occasions when I have been really struggling and they have suggested that I join the forms for support. I have suffered with medical anxiety and OCD symptoms since ... View more

Hello I am new to the group. My name is Shelly. I have contacted beyond blue on a few occasions when I have been really struggling and they have suggested that I join the forms for support. I have suffered with medical anxiety and OCD symptoms since childhood and the last 12 months has been a roller coaster. I experienced a traumatic incident that happened at work and it led to panic attacks and extremely high levels of anxiety. I am seeing a psychologist and a psychiatrist and I’ve just had my medication increased. I have seen some improvements, but seem to be still having quite a few periods of feeling not great. I have been off work on wet cover for quite some time and it just feels like this is a never ending battle. I would really like to hear from people that have found a way to get their life back on track after having, a long period of a struggle. Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read my message.

Elephant86 To face challengers and rise to the adversity and overcome
  • replies: 1

There are times in everyones life where they face adversity and difficulties and sometimes you feel sad and upset and question why is this hapening to me. Beleive me I have been there many times with my own disabilties. You must always have hope in y... View more

There are times in everyones life where they face adversity and difficulties and sometimes you feel sad and upset and question why is this hapening to me. Beleive me I have been there many times with my own disabilties. You must always have hope in your heart that things will always work out . Sometimes the path you walk will be difficult but remember your friends and your family are always there to look after you. Then there is the community around you that is there to support you for whatever you might need. At time I was scared to face my condition and what I was going through but I never walked that path alone I had my family my friends and the friendly doctors to guide so I was never alone. You must find the strength with in yourself to say I will stand up to my adversities and not let this defeat me. I am going to stand against the tide and face my difficulties and do it with the love and support of my family and friend. I have been in a situation where I personally faced my health issues so I have been there myself You have to find the inner strength to not give up and climb the mountain with your friends and family to guide you. You need to find that candle in the darkness to lead you to a safe happy place and always think positive powerful thoughts and figure out what things make me happy what brings you peace and calm what helps you to heal. You must not have fear you must try and have hope and love instead. Love is a very powerful thing it brings great power of hope and resilance.Light a candle and bring hope into the world and into your life. The power you need is in your heart and in your mind and you have the power to change and look forward to a more powerful positive future only you have the internal strength to change your life for the better. With the guidance from your family, friends and doctors you have your team to help guide and protect you through your difficulties. You must say to yourself I am powerful beyond measure.I am brillant and I can face my challengers and come out on the other side. You must remain positive and say what do I need to do to help myself get out of how Im feeling. I will tell you what I use to help myself. I use meditation, reading, cycling, cooking and gardening . You find what makes you happy and what brings you back to calm and peace. Everybody has there own thing that helps them recover. You have to find the activity that helps you out of your difficulties. The journey is long and sometime never easy but remember you never walk alone and you must never feel alone there are always people to help guide and protect you. Do you think froddo and harry potter did it alone they always had help on there journey they always had help like you have your family and friends and the doctors. You mustn't be scared because you. You must walk your journey and not be scared because you are powerful beyond measure. The main story in this is you are powerful you are strong and you must have hope with in yourself. The candle is the symbolism of that hope and the candle bring light and positivity into the world. Stand up to your challengers by creating hope and love through the power of the candle. I hope everyone share the love and joy with there families and share great hugs with your love ones

Xando33 6 weeks with mother in law
  • replies: 2

Okay I don't know how to start this just going to dive right in. I am posting in hopes to hear of similar stories and advice to help. I am about to depart to the USA from AU to stay with my mother in law for 6 weeks. Last time we met she lived with u... View more

Okay I don't know how to start this just going to dive right in. I am posting in hopes to hear of similar stories and advice to help. I am about to depart to the USA from AU to stay with my mother in law for 6 weeks. Last time we met she lived with us for 6weeks and the whole time was pure tension because she wanted to control and change our brand new house. She did not like that I had a day and stood up to her saying we like our house the way it is and my wife and I are decorating at our own pace. There was a lot of guilting going on between her and my wife because my wife had chosen to live in the other side of the world and that "was like a limb being torn off" for her mum. She would say her days are all dark and gloomy when she is away from her daughter to our faces nearly every second day. We know for a fact she is happy when she is back in USA because we call her every second week.I would stand up to her knowing she was only making her daughter (my wife) depressed by not communicating in a healthy way. And I would ask her to communicate it in a kinder way. She did not like me doing this and no matter how calm I was she would over react.The worst part is to come. After all 6weeks we were back in the USA with her for one week before we got to go have some time for ourselves. My wife was driving on the right for the first time in a year (her mum refused to drive) so we asked her to keep quiet there would be a lot of concentration involved and I was helping with directions in a foreign country. It eventually came to her talking and I politely said "yes that's great but let's just be quiet like agreed there is a lot going on right now" well she did not like that and kept on chattering saying she has already said it so what do I want her to do. Well between my wife chiming in making things louder, the little sleep after traveling for 36hours and being on the opposite side of the road helping my wife drive I lost it. I yelled. I screamed "SHUT UP!". I lost it, I was triggered. I was immediately apologetic and trying to explain.She was offended and didn't want to hear it. Which I though was reasonable, we can talk later. 5days went past and I tried talking on multiple occasions. My mother in law spent the whole time complaining to her friends how awful I was. It came to our final departure and I got her asside to give a huge soeach about how awful it was of me to over react that way and I never wanted to do it again. Unfortunately I made the mistake of exaggerating my point in a hope that she would say no I was not that bad. I said I was a monster for the way I acted and she said "yes you were" and I don't think I can ever forgive you. To this day I have asked a few times if things between us could be forgiven and she refuses to let this happen.It is clear I need to move on and forgive myself and not expect her forgiveness. But now I am about to go live with her for 6weeks and I don't know if I can handle it. Hotels are not an option because she lives in Boston (super expensive we can't afford it) and unless we live so far away we can't afford a hotel. I don't want to do that either because I don't want my wife missing out on valuable time.I feel trapped.Advice?Thank you

j.a.d Mental Health & New Workplace
  • replies: 1

Hi all, I'd love some advice. I've recently (in the past week) started a new job that is way outside my comfort zone. I really struggle with change and this often results in panic attacks, severe anxiety and OCD. Because the job is so outside my comf... View more

Hi all, I'd love some advice. I've recently (in the past week) started a new job that is way outside my comfort zone. I really struggle with change and this often results in panic attacks, severe anxiety and OCD. Because the job is so outside my comfort zone, I'm finding it extremely difficult and want to run away, but I know that's not the answer. I feel like I should bring up with my new employer that my mental health is slipping a bit, but I really don't know how they will react. It's often harder keeping it private, but also I'm afraid to bring it up. My question is really, should I let them know I'm struggling, and if so, how? Ps. They don't have a HR department, so I'd have to chat directly with the boss.

Maxwell Feeling very angry
  • replies: 2

I have just read that Jeff Kennett thinks that people like me who take medication to deal with chronic anxiety are taking 'the easy way out'. Really needed to hear your opinion Jeff. Who the hell do you think you are to make a judgement on me and the... View more

I have just read that Jeff Kennett thinks that people like me who take medication to deal with chronic anxiety are taking 'the easy way out'. Really needed to hear your opinion Jeff. Who the hell do you think you are to make a judgement on me and the thousands like me who rely on medication to live a relatively normal life? I thought Beyond Blue was interested in assisting people like me. Clearly not. You can take your feel good organisation and shove it.