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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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MargBrown Older adult daughter living with me
  • replies: 1

This is my first post and I would like some pointers as to how to deal with an older adult child who has been living with me this time for ~4 years. I would like her to find her own place but I am scared to approach the subject as she is quite a heav... View more

This is my first post and I would like some pointers as to how to deal with an older adult child who has been living with me this time for ~4 years. I would like her to find her own place but I am scared to approach the subject as she is quite a heavy drinker and can get nasty with her responses at times. The situation is exacerbating my own anxiety/depression status and I'd like to resolve the situation before it becomes irretrievable. I had previously lost contact with her for about 5 years due to her drug taking and involvement with undesirable relationships. I do not want to return to that no contact situation. Thanks for your help.

Landj Obessive thinking
  • replies: 7

Hi, lately I have had so many obsessive thoughts. I get fixated on a problem and I can’t distract myself. I have trouble sleeping and staying asleep. I have bipolar disorder and my anxiety is really bad. I’m wondering if my meds need a review. Any ad... View more

Hi, lately I have had so many obsessive thoughts. I get fixated on a problem and I can’t distract myself. I have trouble sleeping and staying asleep. I have bipolar disorder and my anxiety is really bad. I’m wondering if my meds need a review. Any advice on how to change my thinking?

SamHose Sever Sleep Anxiety
  • replies: 2

Hello everyone, I am undergoing a crisis of this weird extreme case of sleep anxiety to the point where I am petrified to fall asleep because the whole general idea of sleep scares me severely. This has only occurred recently and I have been so emoti... View more

Hello everyone, I am undergoing a crisis of this weird extreme case of sleep anxiety to the point where I am petrified to fall asleep because the whole general idea of sleep scares me severely. This has only occurred recently and I have been so emotionally worn out and depressed. I ended up having to stay up the whole night because I was to scared. Can I please get your guys’s Advice as I am lost in it all and have no solution to help me. I use Melatonin for my sleep which doesn’t work one bit. I also take medication for my depression and anxiety. If there are any tips or solutions for this please reply to this and let me know Kind Regards Sam.

99isthebest OCD about poison symptoms
  • replies: 6

Hi Guys, So I have spent the past night worrying extremely long (to the point of not getting to bed until 3pm) about Fuel inhalation. I was helping a friend fix his car and since we were changing an in tank fuel pump to state the obvious fumes from t... View more

Hi Guys, So I have spent the past night worrying extremely long (to the point of not getting to bed until 3pm) about Fuel inhalation. I was helping a friend fix his car and since we were changing an in tank fuel pump to state the obvious fumes from the fuel could be smelt. To be honest he did most of the work in the car and probably went home and slept like a baby. I on the other hand have been worried to the point of feeling symptoms. I just wanted to put this up and see who can relate and if you have any tips on how to get through this. I felt faint and like passing out then I also felt sick and drowsy. Surprise surprise all the symptoms that you could get if you inhale to much fuel fumes. But somehow I knew it wasn't because of the fuel it was because of my worrying and yet here i am its the next day and I still feel like I've been poisoned and am sitting here waiting for something to happen. I have a long history of worrying about poison. I'm sick as well at the moment which doesn't help and am going to see my Dr. I feel almost embarrassed to tell him the story but right now I'm doing the OCD thing and searching for reassurance I just want someone to tell me i'm not poisoned. Any help or input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Luna_Eclipse Stressed to the max
  • replies: 5

Hi all, it’s been really rough time for me. just a bit of background I have been diagnosed with anxiety, GAD, health anxiety with severe panic attacks. everything is starting to take a toll on me and my partner as he has to deal with me and look afte... View more

Hi all, it’s been really rough time for me. just a bit of background I have been diagnosed with anxiety, GAD, health anxiety with severe panic attacks. everything is starting to take a toll on me and my partner as he has to deal with me and look after me all the time as my family do nothing to help me at all. ( they only live 3min from us) I’m not sleeping as I get too worried and scared to sleep I go to the doctors every single day as I keep thinking something is wrong with me. I woke up this morning with all these horrible symptoms thinking I was dying and went to the drs, they checked my blood pressure temp heart rate etc etc and all was normal yet I still feel like I’ve got something really wrong with me as all the symptoms are scary to me. I don’t know what to do anymore as I have tried phscholgists and that didn’t help it seemed to stress me out more. Tried doing everything as natural as possible ie. don’t drink alcohol cut out caffeine and bad foods like sugar and processed stuff. Everyday is a struggle and I refuse to take anxiety meds. ( I have tried two diff meds but was worse on them) The symptoms is what gets me the most from cold mouth, tingling in different parts of my body the constant headaches, numbness burning scalp the list goes on and on. If anyone has any other suggestions besides mindfulness, meditation and exercise i would love to hear what works for you.

WithDraw Alcohol Withdrawal
  • replies: 8

Hi! I am currently going through very harsh alcohol withdrawal and the anxiety that I’m experiencing on top of my pre existing anxiety condition is brutal. Wondering if anyone can share their experience Cheers

Hi! I am currently going through very harsh alcohol withdrawal and the anxiety that I’m experiencing on top of my pre existing anxiety condition is brutal. Wondering if anyone can share their experience Cheers

M_e_k_s Please help
  • replies: 2

Hi guys, im currently experiencing a lot of anxiety and depression throughout these summer holidays. Most of it I believe stems from my OCD for things to be clean, and kthers disagreeing leading to arguments with my siblings and my mum and dad genera... View more

Hi guys, im currently experiencing a lot of anxiety and depression throughout these summer holidays. Most of it I believe stems from my OCD for things to be clean, and kthers disagreeing leading to arguments with my siblings and my mum and dad generally supporting them isolating me and making me feel like everything is against me. But a majority of if is really due to the fact that I have expressed many times to my mum how I am not doing to well mentally, which I thought I was really strong for doing and actually quite proud. The problem is that my mum really doesn’t acknowledge my mental issues. She doesn’t believe that I have depression or mild to severe anxiety, despite it running heavily in her family and affecting her greatly through depression and bipolar disorder. My mental state is causing me to withdrawal partially and become quite ‘rude’ or demanding (to clean and organise) which my mum tends to bring up when I’m upset and tell her about my issues. I feel like she doesn’t want to believe me and doesn’t care or love me. For example, when saying goodnight to be 2 brothers, she says ‘goodnight darling’ without saying anything to me and she always responds to me in a flat tone. As someone with anxiety this really gets to me and I notice it more than I should. I should mention she is not a bad mother, but only fails to acknowledge my deteriorating mental state and get me help. Do you know why? Is it because she herself is suffering ? I personally always try to cheer her up when she is sad, ensure she has her medication, just so she may potentially do the same for me, but I’m just left dissapointed. Thanks for reading.

anewhope Making Sense of OCD - Extreme Cleanliness and fear of Cigerette smoke / being around it
  • replies: 2

Good evening all, I was hoping to take the first steps in trying to battle self diagnosed OCD. I say this because I haven't spoken to anyone and every habit I have points to it. You could say my habits can be broken down into 4-5 fundamental fears/ha... View more

Good evening all, I was hoping to take the first steps in trying to battle self diagnosed OCD. I say this because I haven't spoken to anyone and every habit I have points to it. You could say my habits can be broken down into 4-5 fundamental fears/habits Fears (top to bottom): Cigerette Smoke Being Dirty (and unable to clean) stepping in something and bringing it into the house Bringing anything into the house I'm extremely process driven and with OCD I tend to not forget anything too easily, so if I think I have contaminated something by bringing it into the house its impossible for me to forget about it. An example of my fears and how it effects me day to day: I built a computer piece by piece so that I can play games on it. Someone came to buy something off us and had a lit cigerette while I was meeting him outside our house. I left the door open by mistake and the fear of smoke contaminating the house actually made me sell the pc (that was ajacent to the front door). I couldn't even touch it consciously or let it touch anything else. I treated it like someone would treat something that was radioactive. I used cloth toweling as I removed all the components to list and didn't let them touch the carpet or any other boxes (I was sure of it). I then started the project again to build another computer system, which mean't 5-6 second hand items to build (and 1 new one which was the computer case). The second I went to put something in my car after picking it up, someone had a lit cigerette and walked past my car while the door was open (and I was loading things onto the rear seat that I had just bought). I was really angry and frustrated, I had drove 40 minutes to try and fix an 'issue' by replacing the computer for it to just be in the same situation. This was in a suburban street too. I've never smoked before and I honestly have big fears that the items are embedded with something I will never remove (nicotine) I am also a perfectionist and take extremely good care of my items, in particular my computer. I wash my hands thoroughly throughout the day, I sit next to someone at my work place who smokes and occasionally he likes to shake my hand when I leave for the day (which makes it even more frustrating and stressful).

Zinu Anxiety while travelling
  • replies: 1

Hello everyone, I know this is a strange problem to share but I hope that people can share their opinion on how you guys were able to cope with this issue. I am an Asian male in my mid-20s and currently planning my trip to Europe with the family. Aft... View more

Hello everyone, I know this is a strange problem to share but I hope that people can share their opinion on how you guys were able to cope with this issue. I am an Asian male in my mid-20s and currently planning my trip to Europe with the family. After reading advice on the internet about people getting mugged, scammed and pick pocketed at these places, I have become so stressed out and anxious about my upcoming trip that I am feeling like I will not be able to enjoy this trip as I may feel too paranoid and guarded. Being an Asian, I also feel like we will be more vulnerable to these types of crimes. I am travelling with my parents who are inexperienced travelers and they will have to rely on me to guide them through the trip. I had past travelling experience to a lot of places but I have never encountered these type of risks before. I do have anxiety and have the tendency to exaggerate things and this issue is currently taking a toll on me. I hope that everyone can share their opinion in regards to this matters. Thank you

Huwa Unexplained illness, fatigue and headaches...but the tests say everything is normal
  • replies: 3

Hi, I am sorry if someone has already posted this same question. Over the past 6-8 months, I can feel something is wrong with me, but frustrating thing is I can't figure out what. I get stressed and anxious about small things, that are simple situati... View more

Hi, I am sorry if someone has already posted this same question. Over the past 6-8 months, I can feel something is wrong with me, but frustrating thing is I can't figure out what. I get stressed and anxious about small things, that are simple situations. I have been falling sick very very frequently (average of once per 2 weeks) and in the last 4 months have been on antibiotics thrice. I have had my blood tests to check for low immunity or some deficiency, but blood reports show everything is normal. I feel tired most of the times when at work, even though I have got good 7-8 hours of sleep, but was usually fine over weekends. But over the last 3 days, I am feeling tired even in the mornings and on weekend. I am still sleeping well in terms of time, 7-8 hours, but I wake up groggy and tired. Last 3 days I am having several headache too. I don't think I am depressed, because I there are a lot of times and moments I am happy. Less of those when I am unwell or feeling super tired. I also have NO suicidal thoughts. It is getting very frustrating and that is now becoming a vicious cycle. Frustration leads feeling more tired and headache which leads to more frustration. Has anyone gone through the same? Can anyone help me with what is wrong with me? Any direction is appreciated. Thanks