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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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Lady_Valkyrie Dealing With Chest Tightness and Feeling Like You're Short of Breath?
  • replies: 8

Hi, First-time poster here looking for some advice. In the past couple days I've started experiencing a lot of chest tightness, which makes me hyper-aware of my breathing. I put this down to anxiety as I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression ... View more

Hi, First-time poster here looking for some advice. In the past couple days I've started experiencing a lot of chest tightness, which makes me hyper-aware of my breathing. I put this down to anxiety as I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression for around ten years now. I also recently decided to defer my studying at uni to get a job. However, the chest tightness has just been there constantly, I wake up with it. When I'm distracted, I don't notice it as much but when I'm showering or trying to go to sleep, doing stuff that occupies my brain less, I become super aware of the tightness and start breathing really fast. It's just awful and makes me feel like I'm going to die when it peaks. I've tried the 4-7-8 breathing technique but I think distraction ultimately serves me better than just focusing on my breathing as then I'm hyper-aware of it again. Last night, it got really bad so I decided to go to my GP. I got an ECG/spirometry done and that ruled out any cardiac/respiratory issues, confirming my issue is likely just anxiety. I understand that the decision to defer studying and leave uni may have tripped me off but I honestly don't feel anxious when I have these attacks/chest tightness. I don't think I've ever had chest tightness like this before in my life. My GP recommended exercise and distraction as methods of trying to control this but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this before? Chest tightness without feeling like you're anxious? If so, how did you go about managing this feeling/not being hyper-aware of your breathing and did the chest tightness go away?

Sylar Struggling with a break up
  • replies: 2

I had my girl friend randomly break up with me over text two months ago. No real explanation why. Everything was peachy. No real problems. Not really sure what happened. She never replied back to me after she semi said she wanted to break up. I didn’... View more

I had my girl friend randomly break up with me over text two months ago. No real explanation why. Everything was peachy. No real problems. Not really sure what happened. She never replied back to me after she semi said she wanted to break up. I didn’t know how to handle it so I wished her well and tried to be supportive of this random decision that came out of no where. It tore me apart and I deleted my fb because I didn’t want the questions about why we broke up since I didn’t know why. She deleted all the pics of us off Instagram and I was gutted. Felt like one day she was completely in love with me and then the next it was like I never existed. I didn’t know how to process that at all. I didn’t cry I just kept busy and tried to move on. But my nightmares and bad dreams which have been happening for 4 years really persisted. So I reached out to her 4 days ago as politely as I could and tried to ask for an explanation. She left me on read and never replied. I eventually had a break down over It. I’ve been pretty anxious ever since the break up and have been stressing about my insta and and snap chat. Today I erased all the pictures of us from my insta and unfollowed her and her friend. I have been flooded with overwhelming worry. I just don’t want the drama. I know my thoughts are irrational and my stress is off the charts. Mostly cause I know they will pick up on the fact that I’ve unfollowed. I feel like the best friends been monitoring my account for sometime. It’s makes me so anxious to feel like I’m being watched. It’s why I deleted them but I just can’t bare the thought of being harassed or questioned about it. I mean I worked myself up that much that I deleted my account. I no longer have fb or insta and I can’t help but feel like I’m completely isolating myself because I’m worried about the drama. I’m worried about the nightmares that will follow. My anxiety feels worse than ever. I can’t stop overthinking everything and I just wanna be able to relax or calm down but that just doesn’t happen for me. I’d love to see my GP about it but honestly I feel like she would just dismiss me. She’s a great doctor but she has dismissed me a few times about things and I don’t really want to go there to be told to try some breathing techniques or that it’s not a big enough problem. How on earth do I get a doctor to help me when going there would make me that anxious I would down play my symptoms so the rejection for help just wouldn’t feel as bad.

giraffe1234 hocd
  • replies: 6

I am a 17 year old male and for my whole life I have alway been completely straight. I havent had many sexual realtions with the opposite gender but when i did i always enjoyed it and i always fantasised about it and even having some romantic relatio... View more

I am a 17 year old male and for my whole life I have alway been completely straight. I havent had many sexual realtions with the opposite gender but when i did i always enjoyed it and i always fantasised about it and even having some romantic relationships. Being gay never passed through my mind i used to be so anti-gay (Not that i hate or dislike gays, my sister is gay i have no problem with them, just that anything gay would instantly turn me off). However recently while watching porn i came across a video that wasn't gay but definitely more about the male then female. and after this video is where it started. My mind was flooded with intrusive thoughts. i would constantly think am i gay asnd you are gay. My mind would always have thoughts about being with other men and it made me so anxious that I wouldnt be able to function. whenever these thoughts occurred, which is about 90% of the day, i had to sit in my room freaking out and researching what was wrong with me and attempting to tell my mind that i was still attracted to woman. It caused me enough pain that for basically every night i get these thoughts, id just break down and cry. I researched it a lot and it sounds like im suffering from HOCD. Recently i feel like the thoughts have won and that i am gay. for some reason the thoughts of being with a man and some sexual relations (still some parts of gay sex that i cant stand) with a man feels like the right thing and it makes me just feel like i am actually gay even though deep down i still feel like im not. is it possible ive turned gay from this?? sorry for a long post my mind is just on edge right now Side note: From the start of 2017 till now i have suffered from social anxiety and depression and i am currently seeing a psychologist for it.

Razzle_dazzle feelings lost and anxious 24/7
  • replies: 2

Hi guys, I am feeling quite anxious most of my days. I feel like 2019 has been the worst year yet! end of last year i graduated university, had loads of motivation and felt great. Until 1 year ago i was diagnosed with cancer and had to start treatmen... View more

Hi guys, I am feeling quite anxious most of my days. I feel like 2019 has been the worst year yet! end of last year i graduated university, had loads of motivation and felt great. Until 1 year ago i was diagnosed with cancer and had to start treatment immediately, it shattered my dreams. End of March of this year, i literally felt like i wanted to die. I finished chemo, had no hair, had gain 17kg from treatment and no job prospects. 2 months later, i found a job which i thought i would of loved an enjoyed, however the pressure of the job is extreme. I have about 100 clients with unrealistic expectations, i should be doing 7.5 hours a day except some/most days i am doing 11-12 hours days, it bites into my social and private life- my anxiety has gone to a different level and i find myself crying at work. I spoke with my team leader about 6 weeks ago and told her how i was feeling, she agreed the work given to me was extreme and wanted to reduce my workload by 10%. The workload did decrease, however its now increasing ever so slowly. Recently, my work wants to give me a massive corporate client (which i should be proud of) except this client is extremely demanding. My team leader and the coordinator of the company set out the expectations, which to be honest scared the living day lights out of me, their expectations are extremely high and unattainable. this corporate client has gone through 4 different work colleagues due to their demands. My portfolio currently is extremely demanding, i push myself every single day, so much to ensure everyone happy (which understandably no one is ever going to be happy) and i am crashing! I cry nearly every second day, i wake up extremely early to feel anxious about the day- a feeling i can't shake and my weekends are spent worrying about the week ahead. I want to hand in my resignation, however i am feeling extremely anxious and feeling like i will let everyone at work down. I feel completely lost for knowing i want to leave and feeling i am letting everyone down.

PeterBa Pains in arms, hands and fingers
  • replies: 5

Hi there, I am on a bit of a health journey. Since about 3 months I have been experiencing horrible pains in my fingers, hands and underarms. Pains come and go, sometimes my right index finger burns for a few seconds, sometimes the top of my hand bur... View more

Hi there, I am on a bit of a health journey. Since about 3 months I have been experiencing horrible pains in my fingers, hands and underarms. Pains come and go, sometimes my right index finger burns for a few seconds, sometimes the top of my hand burns for a few hours, sometimes my underarms / wrist starts burning during the day. There is no specific movement or activity that can make this worse or better. I have a confirmed case of bilateral (both arms) cubital tunnel, where the ulnar nerve is swollen and runs into it's opening in the elbow (the funnybone), but that doesn't explain all the fingers and both hands. Symptoms of cubital tunnel and the other pains started at the same time and so did my anxiety about the issue! Every doctor or specialist I went to came up with other possibilities that took weeks to rule out. I have been sent off for 3 bloodtests for rheumatoid arthritis for instance or idiopathic peripheral neurapthy, I had a nerve conduction study, MRI's of the neck, the wrists and the hands, bloodtests for vitamin deficiencies, diabetes, etc... Now I am sitting at home to "rest" for a month. Doctors also put me on tablets which made me sick (and anxious) for weeks and sick (and anxious) again for weeks to get off them... This has all led to me getting panic attacks and my anxiety which was mild before this all happened 3 months ago has gone through the roof. Nothing other than the cubital tunnel has been found, leading to nerve pain without a cause or …. anxiety? Is it possible the random pains / burning in the fingers and hands is a symptom caused by (health) anxiety and I simply have cubital tunnel syndrome (a relatively easy condition)? There is such a thing as burning skin syndrome, but does that match what I am going through?

A little step forward Counselling Is s not working for me
  • replies: 2

I have lived with anxiety my entire adult life. mostly social and plain old general worry about everything. my wife finally convinced me to go see a Counsellor. And it is just not working for me. The 1st day she tried talking about meds which is some... View more

I have lived with anxiety my entire adult life. mostly social and plain old general worry about everything. my wife finally convinced me to go see a Counsellor. And it is just not working for me. The 1st day she tried talking about meds which is something I am very much against taking. And then on the 2nd time she started talking to me about phone addiction when I was Trying to bring up the subject of my child hood which is really where all of my anxiety is routed due to a few crappy life experiences I may go into another time. is this what all counselling is like or did I just get a dud. Either way it’s a very expensive exercise and is not helping me one bit. sorry for the rant and horrendous grammar and spelling. I just feel lost and don’t know what to do next I’m at a point now where I want to take ownership of my anxiety and get better. I have been controlled by this long enough. Regards. sam.

Shadow18 I can't work. Please help me.
  • replies: 7

I have a chronic case of social anxiety (doctors own words) that prevents me from doing anything outside the house, including work. I absolutely hate people talking to me, because it means I have to talk back. I moved to Australia when I was 13 which... View more

I have a chronic case of social anxiety (doctors own words) that prevents me from doing anything outside the house, including work. I absolutely hate people talking to me, because it means I have to talk back. I moved to Australia when I was 13 which is when all this started. I felt so lonely for years and locked myself away from everyone, including my parents. My anxiety got so bad in 2015, I was sent back to the UK to be with my family again and while I was there, I met my soon to be husband online but he was in Australia and I was in the UK. I was so torn between him and family. I decided to stay in the UK to save up to come back to him. Now there was a problem, I needed a job. It took me months to get a job but I didn't get it through applying like everyone else does. I literally waited months for a family member to offer me a job because I was absolutely petrified of applying for any and having to go through the interviews and recruitment process. 2.5 years later and I'm back in Australia with my fiance but theres a problem. We're living off 1 pay check week to week. His pay check. Because I don't have a job. I've been back since 2017 and I still don't have a job. I'm so, so scared to leave the house to find a job. And it cuts to the bone when people call me lazy because they don't understand my situation. I can't do this anymore. I feel like I'm ruining my partners life because we have no money to do anything. As soon as he gets paid, he sends every last cent to me to pay all the bills and anyone we owe money to. I feel like this anxiety is slowly killing me. The situation we are in is all my fault. He used to go out with friends and on holidays and now all he does is drive from home to work, then from work to home everyday. He even took on extra shifts to support us. He's working 7am to 5pm, 6 days a week with overtime to try to support us. We're going to lose everything if I can't sort this awful social anxiety out. I've seen all kinds of doctors and none of them have been able to help me. I'm at my wicks end and starting to think everyone will be better off without my burden around. I just don't know how to overcome this horrible anxiety. I'd give anything to gain the strength and confidence to apply for jobs and actually go to the interviews and talk to people. I really, really need so much help. I feel like I'm carrying the world on my shoulders and all I want to do is drop everything because I can't handle it anymore. Please help me.

Jmarks86 Just how bad can anxiety get?
  • replies: 3

Hi well this is a first post for me. So I guess life doesn’t always go the way we wanted, and sometimes we stress and get depressed. But after majority of my adult years have been plagued with some form depression which was crap but nothing I feel I ... View more

Hi well this is a first post for me. So I guess life doesn’t always go the way we wanted, and sometimes we stress and get depressed. But after majority of my adult years have been plagued with some form depression which was crap but nothing I feel I needed help with. But as of late my mind has pretty much gone into overdrive with negative thoughts It’s literally turned a once fairly confident young adult into a person who overthinks everything and makes every situation out to be the worst cause scenario. Along with this I’ve found my physical health suffering as well I’ve always got problems swallowing, my chest is tight and I’m never sleeping anywhere near the amount of hours I should be, because my thoughts just run rampart into the night. Like I was just wondering how bad can it get, cause atm i can’t catch a break it’s there all the time every time I try to relax and have some me time. I have been to a doctor a few times over the past year and been put on anti anxiety/anti depressants I guess not to sure what medications were prescribed , but I’m not to sure they ever worked really that well after trialling them. So how do people deal with this level of anxiety??

Samsonsam I'm not sure any more.
  • replies: 1

I will keep this short. Start of the year I was incredibly stressed had panic attacks daily digestion issues and felt extremely anxious. I lost 13kg in 3 months. I had a colonoscopy done and endoscopy both came back normal. More recently I started to... View more

I will keep this short. Start of the year I was incredibly stressed had panic attacks daily digestion issues and felt extremely anxious. I lost 13kg in 3 months. I had a colonoscopy done and endoscopy both came back normal. More recently I started to get really back reflux that the back of my throat has been inflamed, I've had upper right back pain, hip pain, chest pain, shoulder pain. I dont mean pain that you usually get from anxiety I mean actual joint pain when I move them and use them. I'm only 25 years old. I still have digestion issues and I feel like my body is slowly wasting away. My doctor says all my symptoms are due to the anxiety I've had multiple blood tests for thyroid vitamins etc.. and chest x ray all came back normal. I'm still losing weight and have never felt so horrible. I'm taking medication for the reflux and the anxiety but I still feel like something is wrong here why I'm losing so much weight muscles so sore. I also have panic attacks and chest pain if I exercise or drink even the smallest amount of caffiene such as green tea. I have a healthy diet right now I dont drink alcohol and yet I still feel horrible. My doctor tells me it's all anxiety but I really dont know. I guess the anxiety could have thrown my entire immune system out of whack but seems weird all my muscles are getting weaker to the point i have joint pain.

Iti Tight chest & throat , heart rate not elevated.
  • replies: 5

Hello, this is my first time on this forum. I am experiencing anxiety that comes in waves and them also a tight chest and throat that makes breathibg difficult. This also comes in waves. Does anyone experience a tight chest with a usual heart rate?

Hello, this is my first time on this forum. I am experiencing anxiety that comes in waves and them also a tight chest and throat that makes breathibg difficult. This also comes in waves. Does anyone experience a tight chest with a usual heart rate?