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

All discussions

Miss-K Do I Resign?
  • replies: 6

Hi and thank you to whoever might be reading this. I have come to recognise (with the help of my GP and family) that my previous condition of anxiety and depression is no longer under control. I was just prescribed medication for severe sustained pan... View more

Hi and thank you to whoever might be reading this. I have come to recognise (with the help of my GP and family) that my previous condition of anxiety and depression is no longer under control. I was just prescribed medication for severe sustained panic attacks and after one week I feel the edge is off and the noise has quietened. My docs have plans in place but this is something that will be with me for life (I previously saw it as a temporary blip) so it will be an ongoing journey. I need time off, therapy and re-evaluation. I am in a marketing role and have been high performing and career driven for a long time but I can’t keep up and my productivity and skills are significantly impacted. The remainder of the year is going to be very intense work with deadlines and expectations I don’t think I can meet. Do I resign? financial and potential career impacts aside, does anyone have a similar story they can share as to how they got the treatment they needed? Thank you.

miranda95 Physical symptoms of anxiety
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Hi I have had some strange health problems with my throat since December last year. I have seen my GP, THREE different ENT specialists and a respiratory specialist. I have had lung function tests, 'camera down nose' and CT scans of neck, sinuses and ... View more

Hi I have had some strange health problems with my throat since December last year. I have seen my GP, THREE different ENT specialists and a respiratory specialist. I have had lung function tests, 'camera down nose' and CT scans of neck, sinuses and chest. My GP has concluded that my symptoms are simply anxiety/psychosomatic, so he has put me on medication but I haven't noticed anything. I'm still convinced there is something physically wrong which is why I'm resorting to this forum to see if anyone else has had similar problems? My parents are getting desperate for me as I am uncomfortable/distressed 24/7. The best way to describe my symptoms are - throat feels swollen - a lump in your throat - a band is around your neck - something is blocking your throat and making it hard to breathe - throat muscles are locked - pressure in the throat - throat closing - short of breath - blockage The difficulty breathing is so uncomfortable I wonder how I can live like this The fact that I wake up like this and go to bed like this and the feeling doesn't go away leads me to believe it cannot be anxiety. I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which can cause random symptoms.

Ash___ Night Panic Attack
  • replies: 5

I’ve woken from my sleep with the feeling that I was having a panic attack. The feeling has lasted over an hour... Initially, my chest had butterflies, sweaty palms, nauseous and jelly legs. The butterfly feeling in my chest faded once I was able to ... View more

I’ve woken from my sleep with the feeling that I was having a panic attack. The feeling has lasted over an hour... Initially, my chest had butterflies, sweaty palms, nauseous and jelly legs. The butterfly feeling in my chest faded once I was able to calm myself down, but I’ve experienced a number of waves of panic, resulting in a full panic attack. I still have the butterfly feeling in my chest... Im wondering if anyone has ever experienced this? This is my first ever night time attack and I haven’t had a daytime one in over a year. Being a completely new and unexpected feeling, it’s really not helping the feeling of panic... Note, I haven’t had anything significantly stressful occur recently but I do suffer from (self diagnosed) day to day anxiety.

Kable72 Long period of anxiety symptoms
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Hi everyone. First post here. Sorry for the formatting I’m on mobile. Im really struggling at the moment, I’ve had some sort of trigger related to my health and since then for about 8 or 9 days straight I’ve had a huge amount of nausea, pretty much l... View more

Hi everyone. First post here. Sorry for the formatting I’m on mobile. Im really struggling at the moment, I’ve had some sort of trigger related to my health and since then for about 8 or 9 days straight I’ve had a huge amount of nausea, pretty much lost my appetite and I’m feeling really tired and I have an elevated heart rate. All of this pretty much non stop constantly. If actually dropped about 5 kg in that time already and I wasn’t very big to begin with. Im terrified. My fiancé thinks it’s likely anxiety and doesn’t seem overly concerned but in the back of my mind I don’t want to brush it off as something so mundane. I went to the doctor and she didn’t seem overly concerned and ran a thyroid test which nothing came back for and I have a session with a psychologist at the end of he month but it’s a long time away if I’m to feel like this for that entire time. Ive never felt this vulnerable before and I hate it hate it hate it. I cried in front of my fiancé last night. God she’s amazing. She wants me to go on medication and a week ago I would have told her to jump off the house for suggesting it but if it gives me reprieve from this hell then I will do whatever it takes. I feel like im drowning. Its non stop never ending and oppressive. Has anyone else had symptoms last for so long before?

aside health anxiety disorder
  • replies: 7

hi, I have health anxiety disorder off and on. I convinced myself I had multiple sclerosis then when I had a baby I convinced myself she had autism and had post natal depression with obsessive compulsive disorder, now I am obsessed by the item I migh... View more

hi, I have health anxiety disorder off and on. I convinced myself I had multiple sclerosis then when I had a baby I convinced myself she had autism and had post natal depression with obsessive compulsive disorder, now I am obsessed by the item I might go into early menopause, and have some symptoms but Dr says way too early to tell.... It's like I have heard too many bad stories or know too many things about bad things happening to others. I am convinced sooner or later something awful will happen to me and I won't cope . I have seen a Counselor when I had post natal depression... She told me about mindfulness... I never really managed it but got over the depression with drugs and seeing my daughter develop normally.the ms thing I had tests and Dr said I was OK. Had two mri 's wasting time and money... I am often anxious and obsessive of my health...Dr Google is bad for me! I become obsessed and try and come to terms with life with diseases I don't even have... I have experienced the grief of these things and so much fear!!! I know so much about autism and Ms! I guess I am posting to see if there are others who feel the same way or who understand tthis fear and anxiety and where it comes from and what maybe helps them... SIMILAR THREADS Health anxiety Health anxiety fears Health anxiety is taking over

Keira2 Work not going well
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Hello, I am new here, it is some difficulties at work that brings me here. I've been working there for 4 years. Going back to 2015/16/17, I had a role where at least half my time was assisting another colleague in her role, and actually I was put int... View more

Hello, I am new here, it is some difficulties at work that brings me here. I've been working there for 4 years. Going back to 2015/16/17, I had a role where at least half my time was assisting another colleague in her role, and actually I was put into that particular role because the workload was too much for my colleague to handle on her own. In 2017 she resigned, and I moved into her position, but I didn't get an assistant like she had. I quickly began to struggle and began doing minimum 12 hour days, still unfortunately not managing the work load. The long hours have been very tough on my physical and mental health, but the worst thing has been the treatment from some of my colleagues that comes along with not being able to keep up with my workload. Seeing them treat each other really nicely, but then speak to me rudely and clearly dislike me hurts. Recently someone has been brought in and part of her roll is to help me out, but I keep getting annoyed at her as I feel she doesn't help enough and she takes a lot of time off. It is maybe okay for me to feel this way internally, but I know it's not okay to show her that I feel that way, but unfortunately I do show her that I feel that way (I go very quiet and with my body langauge it is clear the way I am feeling) and I have ruined our working relationship. I know I am doing the wrong thing, and I always immediately regret it and am sorry. And so now the work environment for me is that I feel hated by my colleagues who think I'm incompetent (maybe they are right), and I have made the girl supposed to be helping me hate me. I think it cannot be long before I get fired with things going this way. I get really scared about this, and then in turn not being able to get another job, and not being able to keep a roof over my head. This may sound like a ridiculous fear, but the situation is more complicated than that, my life is really turning out as a disaster and everywhere I go people seem to hate me and make it clear they think I am stupid (even my own family told me I was too stupid to get a degree and a job out of it while I was in the middle of a degree), which maybe I am, but I can't do anything about it. Sorry, just wanting to vent, and it has helped as I can think of worse things that could happen.

jayv90 health anxiety attack for ms and negative thoughts
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hi all, I've recently just had my first real anxiety attack. im 28 years old male. i haven't really had much going on in 12 months, all i do is work and come home and watch netflix. I've been very anti social. so a week ago i found out a friend of a ... View more

hi all, I've recently just had my first real anxiety attack. im 28 years old male. i haven't really had much going on in 12 months, all i do is work and come home and watch netflix. I've been very anti social. so a week ago i found out a friend of a friend was diagnosed with ms. i immediately started feeling terrible for this person and started researching ms. after googling for however long i started to believe i had the symptoms, small pins and needles in hands/ shooting stabbing pains in hand. i started to get very un easy, pacing up and down, until the point where i just wanted to get home. the next day i went to the doctors and told him what happened, he check all my nerves, my eyes, blood pressure and told me that I've stressed myself out that much I've given myself these symptoms. i was okay for a few days but i still couldn't get it off my mind, and in doing so the small pins and needles/ shooting stabbing pain in my hand and came back. i went back to the doctors and he re checked me,took a blood test, he suggested maybe going to speak to someone so i guess this is me doing that now as I'm still uneasy. a few days later my blood test came back and no surprise at all I'm a healthy 28 year old male. i told the doctor about my pains and he said its because I've worked myself up that much. he said go see friends, maybe join a gym, set little goals to look forward to. i guess the problem I'm having is that because I've researched it so much i know ms doesn't come up in a blood test, so I'm struggling to accept I'm healthy. I'm trying to say to myself its all in my head. but I'm anxious because i do have physical symptoms and I'm struggling to believe that my head can do this to me because as i said, this has never happened to me. a few days ago i joined the gym and i went on a date to help clear my mind, but i can't escape the thoughts. last night i had a friends birthday and this is where i really become un easy. so i spoke to my friend that knows the person recently diagonised with ms, and he told me that he had an attack 10 years ago, where he woke up and couldn't move. then i remembered a situation that happened to me once, i had a nightmare and i woke up but i couldn't move, but then it felt like i woke up again. i googled it and i found it straight away to be sleep paralysis, so i never thought of it again until last night. that played on my head all night, to the point where i was that anxious i wanted to leave but i made myself stay

AnotherOne12 Off Balance / Dizziness / Bright Lights Jelly Legs
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Hello, hoping to get some other stories to help me work out what is happening. I recently started taking an AD for anxiety and started on the lowest dose. After a few weeks I went up a dose and all of a sudden had dizziness when looking a certain way... View more

Hello, hoping to get some other stories to help me work out what is happening. I recently started taking an AD for anxiety and started on the lowest dose. After a few weeks I went up a dose and all of a sudden had dizziness when looking a certain way, an off balance self swaying feeling and for some reason I cant walk into a shopping mall or grocery store or under bright lights otherwise my legs go all jelly and I feel it seems to trigger an anxious adrenalin rush. Anyone else had or have these feelings? Its really weird and a bit freaking out. I told my doc and he didnt know whether it was a side effect of the meds or my anxiety. Any help please...

liamf22 Random episodes of extreme social anxiety and brain fog when I am normally a social stress-free person (depersonalization?)
  • replies: 2

I'll occasionally (once every month or 2) have a period that can last from a few hours to a week where I experience extreme social social anxiety. I feel like I don't remember my identity or who I am, it feels like my brain is extremely foggy and my ... View more

I'll occasionally (once every month or 2) have a period that can last from a few hours to a week where I experience extreme social social anxiety. I feel like I don't remember my identity or who I am, it feels like my brain is extremely foggy and my thoughts are racing super fast. I can't focus on anything and my short term memory feels like it is barely working. I become very depressed as I feel like i'm stuck in my head alone and I don't remember how to socialize or to be me. I just can't stop thinking that im a failure I am and I feel socially inept. When talking to even close friends it feels like I have to pretend to be who I was. I begin to stop answering my phone and cut off all my friends because socializing just causes me to feel extremely tired and depressed. I then have to make up excuses for why I didn't answer my phone because it wouldn't make any sense to them if I told them the truth as I am normally a fairly energetic person who enjoys socializing and doing things with my friends. After these episodes finish and I start feeling like myself again, I completely disregard the episode as an issue and think it's stupid that I ever felt that way. I slowly build up confidence again and start thinking well of myself and enjoying life. Just before the episodes start I'm always feeling more confident than I usually do and life is looking up then I just start feeling it again for no reason. The reason I finally decided to do anything about it is because of a very bad episode I had today. I had my first shift of my first job (I'm 16) and I started to feel this way a few hours before it. I was feeling extremely anxious about it and knew that an episode was beginning but I forced myself to go. When I got there I was feeling extreme social anxiety and I just couldn't focus on anything they were teaching me, I was being super awkward, I forgot everything they said straight away and it felt like my brain wasn't working, I had trouble introducing myself to people and there was nothing I could do about all this. I felt like a complete idiot and just didn't want to exist in that moment. I have no idea what causes it but when I read about depersonilization, the way it was described seemed similar to what I was experiencing. It has been an hour since I got home from the job and I am fairly sure the episode is over but I knew if I didn't do anything now then the cycle would just repeat.

IWantToFeelBetter I’m struggling
  • replies: 4

Hey it’s my first time writing in these forums. So I’ve been dealing with intrusive thoughts for months now and they’ve honestly turned me in to the worst state of person possible. I’m so scared of myself and I feel like I’m turning into a psychopath... View more

Hey it’s my first time writing in these forums. So I’ve been dealing with intrusive thoughts for months now and they’ve honestly turned me in to the worst state of person possible. I’m so scared of myself and I feel like I’m turning into a psychopath or going crazy and it’s not good. I’m crying all the time and my head always hurting, I look around and everyone else is always so happy I just feel like I’m faking all my emotions. I don’t understand how to deal with this, does anyone else feel like this? Has anyone beaten feeling like this? I