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Anxiety

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Chris_B Forums etiquette: give support to receive support
  • replies: 0

Hi everyone, particularly any new members who may be reading. From time to time, we get contacted by members who are unhappy that they haven’t received a lot of replies to their posts. Our community champions work very hard to make sure that all newb... View more

Hi everyone, particularly any new members who may be reading. From time to time, we get contacted by members who are unhappy that they haven’t received a lot of replies to their posts. Our community champions work very hard to make sure that all newbies are welcomed when they first post, and we understand that it’s a big step to post for the first time on a forum like this, especially if you aren’t feeling great. It’s important to remember, though, that these forums are a community of real people, just like you, not a one-on-one support environment like going to see your psychologist. To get the best out of being here, one of the best tips we can offer is give support to receive support. Being a good community member means: participating in different threads (not just your own), replying to people who have taken the time to reply to you (even if it’s just to say thank you), and... posting words of emotional support and encouragement when you see others who are hurting and reaching out. You don’t have to feel obliged to solve the problems of others: that’s not what we’re here for. But you can offer empathy and what you’ve learned from your own life experiences, even if it’s just a line or two, eg. “I don't know what to say, but I want to give you my support and tell you I care about what is happening to you and hope life will get better soon.” Try to develop an interest in the journeys of others here on the forums. You may be surprised at how good being an active, caring member here can make you feel. For those of you who have had good experiences giving support here on the forums, please post in this thread here and let us know how it has helped you on your journey.

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PBelle How do i explain?
  • replies: 33

Just wanting to ask if anyone has any suggestions on how to tell someone that the reason I acted a certain way was because of my illness without it sounding like an excuse or a cope out? Talking about on here is easy but, I don't how to explain it on... View more

Just wanting to ask if anyone has any suggestions on how to tell someone that the reason I acted a certain way was because of my illness without it sounding like an excuse or a cope out? Talking about on here is easy but, I don't how to explain it on the outside. Will they understand that it wasn't my fault, I couldn't control my actions? Or does using my anxiety and saying that I wasn't well an excuse for the behaviour? Should I not say anything or should I be honest about having anxiety issues?

54321 I don't like talking to new people
  • replies: 7

Hi I've always known I'm an introvert and have lived in this world by not putting myself too much out of my comfort zone. I don't like talking to new people and some would think I am rude when I perhaps don't acknowledge them. Recently I went on a co... View more

Hi I've always known I'm an introvert and have lived in this world by not putting myself too much out of my comfort zone. I don't like talking to new people and some would think I am rude when I perhaps don't acknowledge them. Recently I went on a course for work which has made me super aware of my introvert-ism and social awkwardness. I was a stressed out and had high uncontrollable anxiety on this course as I had to present, think on the spot and talk to new people. This following week I have been more aware of myself and today culminated in me being totally dissapointed in myself. I dropped my son off at school late, as his class was in a PE lesson his teacher was there alone, it was a perfect opportunity for me to ask how he was doing but I couldn't even do that for my son. I smiled told her why he was late and walked away. The thing is in my world where I surround myself with people I am comfortable with I can be quite talkative and even dare I say funny! I am wondering whether I do have social anxiety and if I do is it getting worse and I'm only just realising it. Should I get help and talk to someone. How do I get to the point where I feel ok to talk to necessary people. Thanks for any response, I have only just joined this forum today.

Cashman Dealing with anxiety
  • replies: 2

Hi everyone I have dealt with mild anxiety for a while now, its been manageable until a month or so ago. My Wife and I recently moved states for work purposes and its been the best move we ever made, never been happier! Earlier this year the job come... View more

Hi everyone I have dealt with mild anxiety for a while now, its been manageable until a month or so ago. My Wife and I recently moved states for work purposes and its been the best move we ever made, never been happier! Earlier this year the job come to an end and i decided to take some deserved time off. It didn't take long for the anxiety to creep back in and my self confidence is at an all time low. I get very anxious in social situations, to the point where i don't even want to leave the house and i always think the worst of all situations. Its gotten to the point where its having major effect on our relationship. My wife has been great support for me but i hate putting too much on her so i made the stupid decision of trying to deal with it in my own head. That outcome has gone as expected, she feels like i am pushing her away, I'm emotionally unavailable and not there for her (understandable) My head goes straight to the worse case scenario, "You are a terrible husband, she doesn't deserve this, she needs to find someone better" We have spoke about this and she reassures me that she will always be there to support me. My rational thoughts knows that my wife loves me and she will always be there to help. I then get the other side that says, "she won't put up with your crap, she is going to leave you and find someone to treat her better." I get stuck on the irrational thought loop (to the point where i feel sick and can't sleep) and I'm scared if i can't stop thinking that way i will eventually push her away. I find it very hard to make that first step of picking up the phone up to get help, i start sweating and get shortness of breath so i put it off to the next day and so on. I badly want to get back to being the positive and confident person she first married, i owe that to her and myself.

Concernedwife2018 Do i have anxiety - what can i do?
  • replies: 3

HI Everyone Initially when I joined these forums I did it for support surrounding my husband and his illness. But as time goes on I cant help but feel there is stuff going on in my own head that I need to sort out. This stuff, isn't new and has been ... View more

HI Everyone Initially when I joined these forums I did it for support surrounding my husband and his illness. But as time goes on I cant help but feel there is stuff going on in my own head that I need to sort out. This stuff, isn't new and has been going on a really long time, its just now I feel I have to do something. I am constantly worrying and when I think I have moved past it, I start again. For a really long time I have been worried about what people think of what I say, what they think of me and then when things happen I will overthink them to a point where I am at the worst case scenario without even meaning it. I go over a conversation i have had in my head to see if I said something wrong every time. As little as this may sound it is similar to our household budget, every single day I reassess it, add things, take things out, write lists etc etc.. it is relentless. I got to a point where I told myself that I would only look at the budget the day before pay day to work out what I needed to do, but I don't every single morning I do it again and until I do, I cant stop thinking about it. I know where every single cent goes even the $8 purchases my husband spends on drink, I think over everything. More recently while my husbands head hasn't been in the best spot, I have been riddled with worry, to a point where I couldn't eat, sleep, felt sick, didn't associate with anyone and imagined the worse case scenarios - those worse case scenarios are now the things I cannot get out of my head. Simple things like- we don't drink due to my husbands mental illness, what happens when our kids want to drink? my overthinking mind tells me it will end badly, but then I tell myself, it will be fine, we don't drink for a reason doesn't mean the kids should miss out? Chances are these things I am imagining will never happen and it a month or six we will be back to where we were and all my worry is for nothing - but how do I tell my brain this now? In saying this a lot of the things that may or may not happen are out of my control and I will pretty much just need to deal with them if and when they arise. I don't know what to do to get myself right especially considering while my husband is unwell I need to be here and strong for my kids and him. Thanks for listening.

Tvdforeverfan Struggling with OCD
  • replies: 17

Hi everyone I'm new here so I'm not sure how to use these forums properly but as you can tell from the title I struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder daily and I've tried to overcome it on my own which isn't working very well. I'll try my best t... View more

Hi everyone I'm new here so I'm not sure how to use these forums properly but as you can tell from the title I struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder daily and I've tried to overcome it on my own which isn't working very well. I'll try my best to keep this short and I'm so sorry if I sound weird or crazy. It started about 2 years ago when I started over thinking things which then turned into compulsive behaviours that I felt like I had no control over. I would check the stove over and over about 8-10 times because I had this thought in my head that if I didn't check it a certain amount of times then my house will burn down and I had the same thoughts about this with light switches and a few other things. It got better after a while and suddenly got a thousand times worse. In almost everything I do I need to tap things a certain amount of times and I replay scenes of a tv show if I look at fire or jewellery because I'll have a thought that something will happen to my family if I looked at those things before the scenes changes. It's weird I know and I can't understand why I'm like this and I never get a break from these thoughts. The worst part is recently I'm always thinking about blinking and how many times I should blind and I don't understand it. And it's the same with swallowing, if I think about it a lot Its like I forget how to swallow and I end up struggling to eat meals. I have googled this and it could be something called 'sensorimotor obsessions' but I'm not a doctor so I'm not 100% sure. Sorry for rambling on but these obsessions have been really irritating and time consuming and I would love some advice of any sort.

Username_9 Why do I have physical symptoms of anxiety when my mind is calm?
  • replies: 4

I've dealt with anxiety most of my life but thought I'd had it under control. It's taken a while to get into yoga and meditation but now I cant live without either so why am I still getting the physical symptoms of anxiety? My mind is calm, I have no... View more

I've dealt with anxiety most of my life but thought I'd had it under control. It's taken a while to get into yoga and meditation but now I cant live without either so why am I still getting the physical symptoms of anxiety? My mind is calm, I have no stress or no reason to be anxious yet my body has been going crazy for weeks now. I am shakey, sweaty, cant seem to breathe like a normal human, my heart is almost always racing. I have medciation which calms it down but I am on such a restricted dose so i cant often take it unless it's 100% unavoidable. As well as the yoga, I run daily which helps at the time but as soon as I stop moving to sleep or relax, the physical symptoms come back immediately. Has anyone else ever dealt with this?

jay1998b Am I anxious or does everyone feel like this?
  • replies: 6

Hi. I'm not sure if I have anxiety or if I'm just making a big deal about something everyone is going through. I get stressed very easily, over grades, work, family, and friends. I get stress headaches because everything is stressful, I make plans an... View more

Hi. I'm not sure if I have anxiety or if I'm just making a big deal about something everyone is going through. I get stressed very easily, over grades, work, family, and friends. I get stress headaches because everything is stressful, I make plans and immediately back out of them, I am doing barely anything but I don't know what I actually do because I don't seem to have time for the things I used to enjoy. Breathing exercises and all that stuff doesn't help because I don't hyperventilate, I just find it more and more difficult to function. I feel like I can't talk to anyone. I can't talk to my parents, because they are already really stressed. I can't talk to my friends, because they're already really stressed. I used to understand why I got stressed, but now it happens to me all the time over the slightest things.

it_started_with_kids Hypochondria vs Health Anxiety
  • replies: 1

Hi guys, I am new here and a bit nervous about writing because I think it's actually admitting there is something wrong. I have never really been much of a worrier, but after I had my first baby it started. I worry constantly about their health, and ... View more

Hi guys, I am new here and a bit nervous about writing because I think it's actually admitting there is something wrong. I have never really been much of a worrier, but after I had my first baby it started. I worry constantly about their health, and my health as then I won't be there to help them and see them grow up. I've had a horrible run over the last 2 months and am feeling rather overwhelmed about it all. It all started when we camping as i wanted to get my kids out into the wilderness and start to experience nature and my son was bitten by 2 x ticks. Now the fear I have developed about Lymes disease for him is killing me. It's possibly the worst condition to be worried about as it technically doesn't exist in Australia, even though I know of 3 people who have it, one being my aunty. It has no time frame, no particular symptoms, is lifelong and has particular no treatment. It's been 7 weeks since the bite and I still worry about every fever he has or rash he gets. Then I got a UTI that I can't budge with antibiotics (even after 3 rounds), and then the antibiotics started giving my the worst anxiety I have ever felt, like really bad and horrible thoughts coming out of nowhere, then I found a breast lump they needed to remove and then go back and get more out, and then I found some moles that needed removing as well and I have upper epigastric pain that won't go away, an endoscopy incidentally found coeliac as well but no cause for the pain. Awesome. It's the Lymes thats killing me the most because its my baby. Any tips on how to overcome these fears of mine. I am petrified there is something wrong with me and I wont be able to see my babies grow up. And even worse is I am petrified my son (who already has a heart condition) has Lymes and it will affect the rest of his life, he's only 4. Thanks for listening.

itsBoof Think I've developed an Eating Disorder & might need help.
  • replies: 3

A year ago, I weighed in at 128.2kg. I have always been big but never that big so I did something about it, I got married on the 28th April this year so with that goal in mind I dieted like crazy & began exercising. By my wedding day, I had lost 53kg... View more

A year ago, I weighed in at 128.2kg. I have always been big but never that big so I did something about it, I got married on the 28th April this year so with that goal in mind I dieted like crazy & began exercising. By my wedding day, I had lost 53kg and weighed 75kg. Sounds great right? Yes, I’m unbelievably proud of myself, every time I’ve tried dieting I would last 6 weeks & lose 10-15kg then fall off the wagon & pile it all back on. But aside from physically feeling fantastic & having more self-confidence than ever before (gone from size XXL to S) it has become incredibly mentally draining on me to stay strict on myself. Let me explain, I’ve always loved food, like really loved food. But now I feel like I can’t have a cheat meal or ingredient without feeling guilty or like I’ll pile it all back on. I weigh myself twice a day & stress about the number that awaits me. My current diet is, every day: -2 boiled eggs or muesli & fruit for breakfast -Tin of tuna or salmon & some vegetables for lunch -Either salmon/steak/chicken/lamb & vegetables for dinner -Snacks include a banana or some nuts I exercise at least 6 days a week by either walking/running/rowing/gym as well as do 120-150 push ups & sit ups every day. What I need is to feel like I can get back into some sense of normal. It is affecting my social relationships & social life. I just got back from my honeymoon where I stuck to the same diet as above & didn’t touch an alcoholic beverage (I lost 1.5kg in 3 weeks). I avoid going out with friends because generally that involves drinks and/or bad food. My family & friends are worried about me & think I look borderline sick skinny at times, though I look down and still somewhat see that huge guy. I feel like if I eat bread again or some ice cream I’ll balloon out again so I avoid it all together. My fear is that the routine I have has me maintaining this weight so if I slack, I’ll blow back out. The couple of times I have slipped I can’t help myself and end up pigging out because I can’t avoid turning 1-2 slices of pizza into 6-7. I’m stuck with the problem of ‘how do I convince myself to become ‘normal’ again. People continue to ask me when I am going to stop & how much longer, but I just can’t find the courage to try a healthy balance. I know I should be allowed a cheat meal here or there, I want to be able to go out with friends or to a restaurant & not have to look up the menu beforehand to see if it has something I’m allowed to eat.