Anxiety

Anxiety is the most common mental health condition in Australia. Share your own story and learn about other member’s experiences with anxiety.

FAQ

Find answers to some of the more frequently asked questions on the Forums.

Forums guidelines

Our guidelines keep the Forums a safe place for people to share and learn information.

Pinned discussions

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

All discussions

BBUser49 My first panic attack
  • replies: 4

Well they suck. I didn't know what was happening. I got hot flushes, trembling,my heart was racing & I was sweating.i couldn't even bring myself to eat dinner I felt that sick. I also felt I needed to vomit or run to the toilet. Afterwards I felt so ... View more

Well they suck. I didn't know what was happening. I got hot flushes, trembling,my heart was racing & I was sweating.i couldn't even bring myself to eat dinner I felt that sick. I also felt I needed to vomit or run to the toilet. Afterwards I felt so tired. I literally went straight to bed. This morning my whole body is aching Is this related!?

RoadToRecovery1001 Made a terrible mistake
  • replies: 7

For the past week, all I have been thinking about is how foolish I was to change jobs. I have recently started a new role working in a highly technical and complex field. I have zero experience in this area and am struggling to keep up with my collea... View more

For the past week, all I have been thinking about is how foolish I was to change jobs. I have recently started a new role working in a highly technical and complex field. I have zero experience in this area and am struggling to keep up with my colleagues and feel like I'm languishing behind. While I knew the role would be technical when I applied, I didn't realize the full extent of how technical it was going to be. Unfortunately for me, I'm not one of those people who have a natural knack for understanding technical concepts and problems. Needless to say, I'm not enjoying the work and am not coping well. Every night before work, I'll only average an hour or so of sleep because of stress and will start my day tired and exhausted. Making matters worse is the fact that I have been in this kind of situation before. I've changed a job previously only to resign a few months latter because I couldn't cope. You would think after an experience like that I would have learned my lesson and come to terms with my limitations. Unfortunately for me, it seems like I never learn At the time I resigned from my previous job, I did so because I didn't like the irregular hours and the repetitive nature of the work. Despite this, I performed well in the role and got along with my colleagues. With the benefit of hindsight, it was actually a great job and a perfect fit for someone like me with strong anxiety. With the way I'm feeling at the moment, I'm wanting to contact my former employer to see if I can get my old job back. Although I'm afraid to do this because I think my former manager is sick to death of me and may not be so friendly towards me anymore. I asked him to vouch for me twice for two separate roles and he seemed a bit annoyed the second time when I asked. Also at the time I left, I only gave 1 weeks notice and almost nobody knew I was resigning. I don't think too many people would react positively if I was to suddenly return. Not to mention it would also be quite embarrassing. The place was overstaffed when I resigned so I don't think they are actively looking for anybody new. Ultimately, this leaves me in a really terrible situation. Stay in a job that I'm not coping in at all and is giving me crippling anxiety everyday or contact an employer who probably doesn't want to hear from me anymore. If anybody out there has been in a similar situation or can offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

LesDave My journey the past 6 weeks. I'll update as changes occur
  • replies: 28

You might be interested in hearing how I get through the next few weeks. So I'm journaling it. Some background. I was really struggling with stressful job after job. I quit in October last year because it was all coming in on me. I spent the first 3 ... View more

You might be interested in hearing how I get through the next few weeks. So I'm journaling it. Some background. I was really struggling with stressful job after job. I quit in October last year because it was all coming in on me. I spent the first 3 months trying to heal. Then the anxiety returned as I realised I needed money and a job. Late February and March were awful. I was driven to tears many times. I started to really get better at self awareness and acceptance and commitment therapy. Out of the blue in late March, I got an offer from a job I was turned down for. So I took it. Well, it was out of the pot into the frying pan. It was so stressful and I made mistake after mistake. It took all my strength not to fall in to a heap. I ended up taking a day off to cope with the stress. Eventually it eased as the project I was on went into a lag period prior to turning on. Well it went live this week and it's a mess. I am really struggling again. I have taken today off. After yesterday (I realise it isn't showing great courage) I felt guilty, and felt really stressed. Trying to stay in the present moment at the moment is difficult. I had no sleep last night worrying about the damage I caused through my mistakes. Today I plan to try and walk for 3 hours to get rid of the stress hormones. I will try to get into the present moment. I plan to focus on eating better, getting into the present moment, and exercise. If I can get through the next 2 weeks without breaking down it will be a serious victory. I will keep you informed.

ZDE New poster - Anxiety..! it’s hell
  • replies: 1

Hi does anyone have any tips to cope with my anxiety at the moment. I’ve never been this bad. Experiencing new symptoms have been terrifying for me. It’s hard to believe anxiety can cause to much hell.. I feel like I’m trapped on a crazy spinning rid... View more

Hi does anyone have any tips to cope with my anxiety at the moment. I’ve never been this bad. Experiencing new symptoms have been terrifying for me. It’s hard to believe anxiety can cause to much hell.. I feel like I’m trapped on a crazy spinning ride that I can’t get off of.

xXIzzyXx Social Anxiety?
  • replies: 4

I’m only 11 years old, but I feel as if sometimes I do get strong symptoms of social anxiety. It’s not all the time, but certain things trigger it. Things such as being called up in front of class to do work I don’t fully understand, having to do a s... View more

I’m only 11 years old, but I feel as if sometimes I do get strong symptoms of social anxiety. It’s not all the time, but certain things trigger it. Things such as being called up in front of class to do work I don’t fully understand, having to do a speech, or talking to people I don’t really know. One of the things I’ve noticed (and a few of my friends) is that when I’m giving a speech and I’m nervous, I start swaying side to side and talking very fast. I don’t like talking to family about this as it makes me really uncomfortable, so I’ve kind of used this as one of my only options. If you could give me any insight on what to do, it would be really helpful. Thanks

T92 Health anxiety
  • replies: 5

Hi, how has everyone overcome health anxiety? I used to be fine and lived rather care free, but now I will constantly self diagnose, convince myself I have some sort of disease, and when I eventually go to the dr about it things will come back all cl... View more

Hi, how has everyone overcome health anxiety? I used to be fine and lived rather care free, but now I will constantly self diagnose, convince myself I have some sort of disease, and when I eventually go to the dr about it things will come back all clear and fine. Now my most recent is worrying that something will happen to me while at home and no one will know, my partner is fifo & I stay home with our 3yo. I have recently been thinking about going to a dr about it but I dont even know where to begin & struggling to even book an appointment to talk about it. It's only started about a year or so ago

makendebig88 New City Anxiety
  • replies: 1

i get this panic attacks out of nowhere like i didnt choose to have this anxiety god damn. i think it came baout/exacerbated because i moved away from home initally and found it had to make friends. this meant i would spend like a full day in my room... View more

i get this panic attacks out of nowhere like i didnt choose to have this anxiety god damn. i think it came baout/exacerbated because i moved away from home initally and found it had to make friends. this meant i would spend like a full day in my room with no simulation whihc is bad. this led to PTSD and even though now ive made a few friends and m spending more time outside my room, my brain is trying to process that trauma whihc will take a while. the good thing is that after exams, i have four weeks off so yeah i'll come back to hobart after exams. i found it that if i make myself at home, and expose my self to this fear of social situations, graduaally my confidence will increase and i wont be having as many panic attacks.

AnotherOne12 Any elses AD meds cause Light Sensitivity?
  • replies: 5

Been on AD meds for about 3 weeks now and about a week ago I developed a horrible feeling towards lights. I cant go under them or near them they make me feel nausious, weak legged and seem to increase anxiety? Anyone else had this? Did it pass? I rea... View more

Been on AD meds for about 3 weeks now and about a week ago I developed a horrible feeling towards lights. I cant go under them or near them they make me feel nausious, weak legged and seem to increase anxiety? Anyone else had this? Did it pass? I really want to stay on my meds but this photophobia side effect is a pain. Any input?

Hartnell Hello - My First Post
  • replies: 1

Hi All, Over past two years I have been suffering anxiety and recently things boiled over for me again. I went through some very turbulent times with my teenage son who had some very serious drug problems which led to several physical injuries which ... View more

Hi All, Over past two years I have been suffering anxiety and recently things boiled over for me again. I went through some very turbulent times with my teenage son who had some very serious drug problems which led to several physical injuries which still impact me now. I also have an auto immune disease which will require another bout of surgery soon which I am not looking forward to. Throughout this my wife has been great but I struggle express how I feel and what I am going through which is a cause of concern for her so she gets frustrated with me at times. We are both in the same boat but I feel inadequate when seeing how well she copes with what we are going through. Suppose I am the typical Aussie bloke who struggles to talk these things out. I have a great GP who now has me on medication to help me balance out and from tipping over again. The medication has helped my sleep as was only getting a several hours a night as just lying there over thinking everything. In the past I have done work EAP which I personally found wishy washy, it might have been the counsellor (or the Aussie bloke in me) but I don’t think it really helped. I then went to a psychologist who certainly helped but I found it very confronting. My GP now wants me to see a psychologist again but don’t want to go through that just yet so thought I would try here first. Typing this out has helped and glad that I joined.

Haveachat2u Full head
  • replies: 4

Hi well I have adhd and Aspergers. I live with constant anxiety, depression, ocd, social anxiety and a few other things. I have been told why don’t you just get a psychologist or whatever. Well I work 3 casual jobs and study university part time. I d... View more

Hi well I have adhd and Aspergers. I live with constant anxiety, depression, ocd, social anxiety and a few other things. I have been told why don’t you just get a psychologist or whatever. Well I work 3 casual jobs and study university part time. I don’t get time off to see a psychologist. I was in a domestic violence situation. I left in January with the shirt on my back and two car loads of stuff. He got everything else. I was too afraid to take anything. He still tried to come after me. He hacked my accounts and I was forced to leave Facebook and I lost all my friends. I had to go to court to get my name off the lease because the realestate refused to take me off the lease even though by law they had to. I had to defend myself and do the bulk of the work myself because my caseworker only had a cert 4 in community services and had no idea what she was doing. I have been going through hell. I have had to buy new everything, start out fresh with everything! I have just finished paying back the loan that I took out to pay his bond. He made me pay for just about everything. I’m getting back on my feet. I struggle with sitting still in the classroom at university and not saying a word. I’m overwhelmed with sensory from everyone’s emotions as I am an empath. I struggle with keeping quiet. I have racing repeating thoughts constantly. The only way to stop the pain from the racing repeating thoughts is to say them out loud. There’s like this massive pressure in my brain that forces me to speak. I’m constantly putting my foot in it. Im working like 60 to 70 hours this week plus doing university. I’m struggling to get everything done. I usually work about 40 hours per week but have cancelations at work so I was offered extra work by all employers instead this week. Before I knew it I was working these hours. I’m struggling to be honest. But the week is just about over thank god! The good news is that I’m surviving after leaving my ex. Going through such a emotional trauma. I have anxiety about losing my jobs or mentally just not coping and snapping. But I still have my jobs, while I have made mistakes because I have never really worked before I was forced on Centrelink when I was 16. It has been hard leaving the safety of Centrelink. But I’m surviving and I’m earning more money then I have ever had in my life. I worked 9 hours today and I’m about to go to bed so that I can work another 9 tomorrow. I’m so exhausted. I was just getting the words out of my head.