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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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Guest5643 Apology
  • replies: 10

Hi i just wanted to apologise if i've ever offended anyone with a post or reply. Lynne

Hi i just wanted to apologise if i've ever offended anyone with a post or reply. Lynne

Lockarni_Philips Unwanted intrusive thoughts :(
  • replies: 10

Hi all, I’ve been struggling with unwanted intrusive thoughts for the past 3 months and I feel hopeless. I am a straight male, always have been. I’ve been struggling with homosexual thoughts which seem to have come out of nowhere and are disturbing a... View more

Hi all, I’ve been struggling with unwanted intrusive thoughts for the past 3 months and I feel hopeless. I am a straight male, always have been. I’ve been struggling with homosexual thoughts which seem to have come out of nowhere and are disturbing and very stressing. Every time I get these thoughts (quite constant) I start getting anxious and it leads me to start stressing that what I’m thinking may be true, it may be what I want or it may be what I am. My thoughts and feelings feel so real and it stresses me because my thoughts are NOT what I am. Since these thoughts started developing I have felt lost, unhappy, depressed and stressed. I have been dating my girlfriend for 10 months now and it feels like I’m losing all my love, affection and attraction to her which stresses me all the more my mind is always constantly having these disturbing thoughts and I don’t understand why I’m not having as many thoughts about her anymore. It’s stressing me so much. I have also been finding it hard to be turned on sexually by her which I always used to go crazy about. I miss having normal lovely thoughts about her. It stresses me because the thoughts are constant and I don’t know when they are going to end. It confuses me because I am straight, and I’ve never had any thoughts about guys. I am not attracted to males. I am seeing a councillor on Friday and I hope he’ll be able to give me advice. I have cried and cried and I’m just so stressed :(, I’d appreciate any help or advice anyone has to have.

WritersBlock Never-ending cycle
  • replies: 4

I have started a new job. My anxiety has skyrocketed. Not least because I have been here before. The last 3 years have been hell for me and my family. Started a number of jobs and for whatever reason I have given the job up. External factors have pla... View more

I have started a new job. My anxiety has skyrocketed. Not least because I have been here before. The last 3 years have been hell for me and my family. Started a number of jobs and for whatever reason I have given the job up. External factors have played a part, bullying for example. Anxiety has always lingered. I am now on medication. I am seeing a psychologist. This cycle seems to never end. It's draining my wife who is supportive. I am trying my best but feels the waves are pushing me deeper and deeper

dextersmom Applying for new jobs - how do you overcome burned bridges from anxiety?
  • replies: 1

I’ve come to a point where I realize I cannot go back to the job I’m in. It is incredibly emotionally demanding, requires me to be ‘on’ all the time, and leaves little space for my anxiety-induced forgetfulness and introvertedness. I’ve been taking e... View more

I’ve come to a point where I realize I cannot go back to the job I’m in. It is incredibly emotionally demanding, requires me to be ‘on’ all the time, and leaves little space for my anxiety-induced forgetfulness and introvertedness. I’ve been taking endless amounts of time off work because of my anxiety, so I feel like it will be really hard to get a reference for any jobs I apply for in future. On top of that, my last job was really similar - I had an incredibly unsympathetic boss and was essentially pushed out of the company because I asked for extra help to combat my ptsd and anxiety. How have other people gone about applying and getting jobs when their past goes against them? How do I tell my boss that I can’t handle working there anymore? How have other people cope financially in between jobs - I know centerlink is a thousand hoops and long waiting times and I really don’t want to be unemployed.

Veronica_g ANXIETY/PANIC ATTACKS ( please help me)
  • replies: 2

Hi my names Veronica. Over the past two weeks I’ve been having anxiety/panic attacks every single night. It keeps me awake and sometimes I have no idea what triggers it. Ive seen a gp whose recommendation was to get on medication. I haven’t thought a... View more

Hi my names Veronica. Over the past two weeks I’ve been having anxiety/panic attacks every single night. It keeps me awake and sometimes I have no idea what triggers it. Ive seen a gp whose recommendation was to get on medication. I haven’t thought about getting on it yet as I’d rather try other remedies or something. Now these anxiety attacks are mainly about me worrying to much about being sick. Last night I had a swollen tonsil but got told by the after hours gp that everything’s completely fine. I’ve been in and out of hospital with problems which concluded with the same thing saying I’m completely fine. More recently I’ve been having this cough and chest pain that feels like it’s in my lungs. I’m really concerned and all I do is worry about the worst thing possible even though I got a blood test for cancer and it was fine. I really need help because this is all really new to me and I’m scared and annoyed that I’m constantly feeling like this. Anything will really help and I’d like to know if similar things have been happening to you as well ?.

Cat_21 Help for my daughter
  • replies: 1

Please help, my daughter has been dealing with intrusive thoughts for the past 3 weeks, she’s seen a psychologist but is really not coping well. She managed to get to school last week, only because she ‘bargained’ with the thoughts but now she can’t ... View more

Please help, my daughter has been dealing with intrusive thoughts for the past 3 weeks, she’s seen a psychologist but is really not coping well. She managed to get to school last week, only because she ‘bargained’ with the thoughts but now she can’t go to school, is an absolute mess, crying, inconsolable, is telling me the thoughts are real now and this is her life, she needs them to stop - I don’t know what to do.

44Max44 How to ease imagined symptoms? (Health anxiety)
  • replies: 5

So a bit of backstory is a few months ago I had my first run-in with health anxiety, I pretty much tricked myself into thinking I had this or that and visited the GP like 10 times in a month for various random things... What I've noticed is that when... View more

So a bit of backstory is a few months ago I had my first run-in with health anxiety, I pretty much tricked myself into thinking I had this or that and visited the GP like 10 times in a month for various random things... What I've noticed is that when I'm occupied or busy doing something else (have my mind focusing on something else), I have no symptoms whatsoever, but the second I 'check' myself to see if I'm feeling those symptoms still, they magically re-appear. This is exactly what I was doing a few months ago too and it was miserable. I believe this type of thinking is called 'self-destructive' thinking, basically me assuming the worst when I feel any sort of sensation I don't recognize. My rational thinking says I'm completely fine and it's just placebo, but there's always that thought in the back of my head saying 'what if it isn't?'. This time around it's nowhere as severe as the first time I had it, but I'm worried that if it continues I might spiral again and that's the last thing I want as the last time I had it was the most miserable I've been in a very long time. So my question is, what are some good techniques to stop yourself from thinking that way and tricking yourself into feeling these symptoms? Any and all tips and help is very appreciated. Thank you guys

RedWolfe Anxiety controlling my sleep
  • replies: 7

Hi everyone, I have severe anxiety and I have also been diagnosed with depression. I get anxiety a lot during the day but now, I’m also getting them when I’m sleeping and I’ll wake up while I’m having an anxiety attack. It makes me so scared to go to... View more

Hi everyone, I have severe anxiety and I have also been diagnosed with depression. I get anxiety a lot during the day but now, I’m also getting them when I’m sleeping and I’ll wake up while I’m having an anxiety attack. It makes me so scared to go to sleep. I mean I am really, properly scared. I’ve seen my GP but there’s not much more she can do. Just wondering if there might be any advice? Thanks.

assj the physical effects of intense anxiety
  • replies: 4

Hi there, I'm currently feeling quite awful. I've had shortness of breath since yesterday. I'm wondering if shortness of breath or maybe low blood pressure is a sign of experiencing an intensely anxious period? My grandpa passed away last week. I had... View more

Hi there, I'm currently feeling quite awful. I've had shortness of breath since yesterday. I'm wondering if shortness of breath or maybe low blood pressure is a sign of experiencing an intensely anxious period? My grandpa passed away last week. I had to fly to my hometown and back, and I'm a nervous flyer. I had panic attacks on both flights. I had my period while I was in my hometown and it was a particularly bad one. I was in a lot of pain. On top of that I am grieving. I feel very fatigued. When I got home yesterday I smoked a small bit of marijuana, i thought it would help me calm down. Since then I've had shortness of breath while holding conversations. It feels like I need to take a deeper breath and I can't laugh too hard without feeling lightheaded. As of yesterday I officially quit smoking it because I don't think it helps me I only have it once or twice a year anyway. I can't tell if this breathing thing is an anxiety issue after such an emotional week or from smoking I'm healthy other than having anxiety and OCD. Any thoughts? I've never reached out on a forum before O:

Flower_Girl Feeling very anxious
  • replies: 2

Hi there, Bit of a background story.... I was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer 5yrs ago and I was extremely lucky that it was found early and I had an operation to take it out and I it was contained so I didn’t need chemo... I never knew what anxiety was ... View more

Hi there, Bit of a background story.... I was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer 5yrs ago and I was extremely lucky that it was found early and I had an operation to take it out and I it was contained so I didn’t need chemo... I never knew what anxiety was until I went through that. So every time something doesn’t feel right with my health I can’t help but worry and it causes horrible anxiety but it only lasts until I’m “back to normal” and the anxiety ends. Well almost 3 weeks ago I felt anxiety like I never have. I live a busy life with 2 young boys and work in the evenings from home. I don’t rest or relax much but at the start of August we had a family get away planned... the Thursday leading up to it I took myself to the physio and all was good but Sunday I woke up with a dead arm feeling and that was the start of the anxiety... Monday I woke up a little dizzy so took yaself to the chiro then Tuesday I started feeling nauseous... I couldn’t stop the anxiety taking over... I feel like all my symptoms have passed except for when I think about eating it still seems to make me feel anxious and when I do eat sometimes even though I’m only eating a small amount I feel full and that it’s sitting in the top of my tummy... so this keeps making me anxious 🤦🏼‍ My question is has anyone else’s tummy felt like this? Has it taken time to get ya tummy and eating back to normal after feeling anxious for a long period of time? .. I think I keep questioning myself before I eat if I’m going to feel sick and maybe that’s why it’s feeling like it does? TIA