Anxiety

I have this little monster in my head called doubt

replies: 6

Hi all, I'm 23, new to this & feel a little silly resorting to a forum but hope that putting something down in words might help me feel a bit better. for the last few months it's like I have this little monster in my head called doubt, everything I d... View more

Hi all, I'm 23, new to this & feel a little silly resorting to a forum but hope that putting something down in words might help me feel a bit better. for the last few months it's like I have this little monster in my head called doubt, everything I do it's like this voice in my head questions if it's what I want to do, or if it's how I really feel, or makes me wonder how my life would be if I went a different path. i have been with my boyfriend for almost a year and a half, he's not perfect, and the last few months haven't been wonderful, but I love him. I know I do. I want babies with him & to grow old and have a life together, That being said I always find myself questioning if I love him enough, just that little voice in my head again, for a while it's like that thought was stuck on repeat and I just couldn't get rid of it..it's not as bad these days but it still happens & drives me crazy because he's what I want, we live together & I guess the affection from his end isn't wonderful, which in a way i guess makes me feel a little like I'm not good enough, or that there's something wrong with us..With this being said it leads to the next thing, a few months ago I was at the gym and randomly got a thought of what would it be like to be with a girl if my boyfriend and I broke up, now this sent me into absolute melt down, this thought got trapped in my brain stuck on repeat and literally left me feeling helpless and hopeless, I couldn't go to work one day because the anxiety of the fact that 'what if I'm a lesbian' was eating me up inside. Personally it's not for me, I can appreciate when there is an attractive female, but not because I want to be with them, I've always been attracted to men, always.. The thoughts aren't too bad anymore, but I still have days where they get trapped and I don't know how to deal with them or understand why they're there. I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has dealt with this, could it be because I'm not feeling satisfied in my sexual relationship with my boyfriend? I know I'm straight and this is why these thoughts are so distressing, I've looked up HOCD and think maybe it could be that? Also ROCD seems to fit me too.. It creeps up on me at the weirdest times, and it's always that little monster 'doubt' asking me what my life would be like if it was like 'this' or like 'that'. anyways that's it in short, hopefully someone can let me know I'm not tapped or crazy & that these things are somewhat normal & a part of life

Burnt out

replies: 2

Hi all, I’m new here and honestly didn’t think I’d have the courage to post online. A bit of a back story I’m a 30 yr old married, mother of four children under 8 years old. We’re a homeschooling family as the local public school didn’t work out for ... View more

Hi all, I’m new here and honestly didn’t think I’d have the courage to post online. A bit of a back story I’m a 30 yr old married, mother of four children under 8 years old. We’re a homeschooling family as the local public school didn’t work out for my eldest. ive suffered with anxiety for as long as I can remembered and it is burning me out more than ever now. The demands of being a stay at at home mum, feeling lonely but surrounded by tiny people is exhausting! I feel horrible for my children because my anxiety has caused me to be a grump and not at all a ‘fun’ mother. I desperately want to find a suitable school but it’s difficult because I obsess over how far away it is and how I’ll go driving there (driving is another issue). I always worry over my children’s health even with a basic flu/cold I assume they’ll be in the hospital on an oxygen mask or something. One tiny cough and I go into panic mode it’s awful. You’d like I’d be past that with having four children but it’s amplified. I have feelings of wanting to put the kids in school and daycare and find a job for myself to zone out but then I can’t think of a suitable career for my quirks and worry wart tendencies. A few months ago I got a referral for 10 free sessions with a phycologist. I haven’t had the courage to book and call them because once again making a basic phone call gives me anxiety. It feels like a living hell and constant merry go round I want a better life for my kids, husband and myself! Please any suggestions of where to even start would be greatly appreciated!

SSRIs and time to work

replies: 12

Hi There, I started on an SSRI 11 days ago and have not yet started feeling any better. I had to come off an SNRI. Anxiety is really bad and I’m awake from 4am. It’s really tough! How long should it be before I start to feel better? I need some hope ... View more

Hi There, I started on an SSRI 11 days ago and have not yet started feeling any better. I had to come off an SNRI. Anxiety is really bad and I’m awake from 4am. It’s really tough! How long should it be before I start to feel better? I need some hope that this is going to work. Anyone have any ideas of things that might help? Thanks. AnxietyGirl74

Working with anxiety

replies: 1

I have anxiety, and I’m working as a cashier at a cafe. I don’t really like talking to people because I get scared and these fears are amplified when there are rude customers and unreasonable customers. I try to be positive about my work but there ar... View more

I have anxiety, and I’m working as a cashier at a cafe. I don’t really like talking to people because I get scared and these fears are amplified when there are rude customers and unreasonable customers. I try to be positive about my work but there are times I make mistakes. These are the worst because if a customer is directly affected by my mistake, more often then not, the shout out me or complain and it’s not only embarrassing but even after the customer has left, I can’t stop thinking about that one mistake and I just can’t stop stressing. For example, about two weeks ago I made a mistake with an order and the customer told me off about it, calling me rude and obnoxious and I understand I’ve made a mistake and I’ve fixed myself so that this mistake doesn’t happen again but I’m still stressing about it and I don’t know what to do. I can’t sleep at night and dread going to work the next day. how am I supposed to deal with this stress and what can I do to make it better??

ANXIETY, it can be overcome

replies: 4

Imagine a cake recipe with 10 ingredients one of which, naturally, is flour. You get all the ingredients in the bowl and you realise you have ran out of flour. There is no substitute...you have to have flour for a cake! That is the situation often wi... View more

Imagine a cake recipe with 10 ingredients one of which, naturally, is flour. You get all the ingredients in the bowl and you realise you have ran out of flour. There is no substitute...you have to have flour for a cake! That is the situation often with anxiety. Miss one form of the formula and you fail in overcoming this crippling illness. That is my experience. So the ingredients are (not in order of importance)- Therapy by professional medical staff with your initial visit to your GP. Not happy ? get a second opinion. Subsequent medication. Exercises. I was skeptical. Not anymore. My favourite was - muscle tensioning exercises. Also finding a spot in a forest and playing youtube videos mainly pan flute by the prince of equador. That was my way of relaxing- yours might be different. Removing toxic people and situations from your life. Yeh, you have to be firm and do it. Find safe non anxious places. That involves no mobile phones of course. Calmness around you from spouse and friends is important. Limiting TV and computers activities. A change of location to a better more ideal weather place and relaxed country town is good. A hobby and exercise. Good sound sleep An appropriate profession eg not customer service or food. Family close by. There are likely many more. Please don't discount any of the above. In my case it took 25 years to get rid of anxiety completely. But serious improvements came after 3-4 years. I still do the muscle tensioning exercises today before sleeping while lying in bed. It really helps me sleep. I had a sleep study a long time ago and have sleep apnea so I wear a CPAP air pump. My sleep is much better. Better sleep is important. I have a number of threads associated with this topic. If you want to investigate your anxiety illness then read up. Use google. You only need to read the first post if you wish. Topic: anxiety, how I eliminated it- beyondblue Topic: what life's like a the end of the tunnel- beyondblue Topic: know your limits- beyondblue Topic: seeking the origins of anxiety- beyondblue Topic: meditation-words of wisdom-it helped me for 25 years- beyondblue Topci: the balance of your life- beyondblue Topic: MELTDOWN-back to basics- beyondblue Topic: planning a healthier mind- beyondblue Topic: controlling parents, the effect on their child- beyondblue Topic: cheap recovery idea, camping- beyondblue Topic: motivation, search and rescue it- beyondblue You can post in any of those threads or here. Comments welcome Tony WK

Are we really on the brink of WW3

replies: 84

Maybe I'm an odd ball. But the current state of the world has me quietly pooping my pants. I won't lie this all started with Donald Trump being elected president. But ever since my whole outlook on life has just turned into one anxious mess. No, I'm ... View more

Maybe I'm an odd ball. But the current state of the world has me quietly pooping my pants. I won't lie this all started with Donald Trump being elected president. But ever since my whole outlook on life has just turned into one anxious mess. No, I'm not putting the blame on Donald. I think possibly the media attention has just made me more aware of the going ons in the world. Russia/American relations, China/American relations, South China Sea, Russia/Nato, Syria, Ukraine, trade wars. Its all just kind of overwhelmed me and to a point where it is controlling my life. I realize no one can say with 100% certainty that war wont break out. But I know there are some extremely knowledgeable people on this forum, so just hearing your opinions might help.

Anxiety and eating

replies: 1

Panic attacks and anxiety for me = nausea, vomiting and not being able to eat. I've just recently got into a relationship with someone I really like. He lives an hour away. When he comes to my place, I'm really comfortable, I barely have anxiety and ... View more

Panic attacks and anxiety for me = nausea, vomiting and not being able to eat. I've just recently got into a relationship with someone I really like. He lives an hour away. When he comes to my place, I'm really comfortable, I barely have anxiety and I can eat. Because I'm not really used to going to his place yet, whenever I do, I feel quite anxious. I love being around him, I'm comfortable around him. I'm really just anxious about being anxious, and therefore not being able to eat and vomiting. I saw him tonight and couldn't eat a thing. He knows about my anxiety and the trouble I have with eating and he's supportive. I feel like if I can't do this yet, it's going to be so long before I'm ready to meet his family and friends. I just don't know how to get over this, because I talk myself into it. I am on medication and have started seeing a psychologist, but she is away until next week.

I have social phobia

replies: 8

Hello, i don’t know what I’m doing here. I’ve never spoken to anyone about my mental health. But I had a realisation today, I have social anxiety. If you keep reading, it’s probably obvious, but I always just thought I was very self concious. I had a... View more

Hello, i don’t know what I’m doing here. I’ve never spoken to anyone about my mental health. But I had a realisation today, I have social anxiety. If you keep reading, it’s probably obvious, but I always just thought I was very self concious. I had a hard day at work, my anxiety was off the wall. I couldn’t turn around at my desk, I didn’t want anyone to look at me. I got home and started looking up anxiety and started reading the symptoms of social phobia and I lost it. I had every symptom listed, everytime. I cried for two hours and now I’m here... How do you get help for anxiety when the steps you need to take make you anxious? My social anxiety has ruined my life. I’m 27 and don’t recall a time I didn’t feel this way. It criples my life. I can’t do the regular things people do. I can’t even have a god damn conversation. i can’t do anything alone, the thought of doing regular tasks give me anxiety. I’m not comfortable, anywhere besides my house and in my car (when it’s not moving). I sit at my desk at work with my head phones in and speak to no one. I don’t turn around, I don’t make eye contact. I eat alone in my car every day. Then I go home and sit on my couch and speak to no one and go no where. Ive lost all my friends, I push people away. I get mad at the people I love when they put me in regular situations because I fee anxious. i literally sit around and think about things people said to me 15 years ago when I was a teenager. I think about everything I’ve said that day. If someone is mean or rude to me I will think about it for weeks. It will keep me up at night. I just can’t do anything. I want to sit on my couch with my dog and shut off the world. Driving gives me a different kind of anxiety, I’m terrified. I had a panic attack once 2 hours from home and had to sit there for four hours until I could slowly build up the courage to get home. I had no choice but to drive or leave my car there and then I’d have to deal with the social anxiety of catching the train alone. I went to the doctor after the incident and he said it was an anxiety attack and to just ‘deal with it’. I don’t know what I am doing. I want to be better. I can’t talk to anyone. I could never do counseling. Please tell me how to do this? I don’t want to feel like this, I’ve wasted 27 years hiding in myself. Sorry for the super long lost. I appreciate you reading.

Health anxiety - Tips, ideas and coping strategies - Please share what works for you

replies: 7

Hi everyone, I've been seeing a lot of posts about health anxiety lately so I thought it might be worth (hopefully!) trying to create a masterpost where we can share all of our tips, ideas and coping strategies to how to get through our health anxiet... View more

Hi everyone, I've been seeing a lot of posts about health anxiety lately so I thought it might be worth (hopefully!) trying to create a masterpost where we can share all of our tips, ideas and coping strategies to how to get through our health anxiety. This can include anything from - nothing is physically wrong with me but I feel like it is - to - I have one condition that's okay but it feels like it's getting worse - to - my anxiety makes me feel like I'm having a heart attack (or something else) and I can't let go of it. Or anything in between! This is also a post for people who are unsure whether there is something else going on or they are confident in that it's all weird manifestations of anxiety. Anyways, here are my tips : - Write things down. Having that physical record of symptoms both get's it out of my head, helps me find patterns (i.e. is it worse when this happens) and helps the Doctor see the trends over time. - Try to not go Doctor shopping and not look at things on the internet. I think a good Doctor is one who is able to give you all the information 'I want to order x test because y' or 'I don't feel like x test is needed because of y'. I also know that if I were to bring in something from the Internet they aren't going to judge me and instead take me (and my worries seriously) and look at it all logically. - Try and find things that help you relax. I personally like colouring, walking the dog, reading and going on Pinterest. But I think it's about finding out what works for you personally. - Learn to breathe. Our anxiety systems are in flight or flight mode - so being able to really breathe deeply can already start to help. - Learn about anxiety. It blew my mind that anxiety in my head could be the reason that something in my stomach was haywire - so being able to make those connections can help. - Try to challenge our thoughts. A lot of this comes down to CBT (a type of therapy) which is about identifying some of those thoughts and beliefs that aren't always true. When our body screams 'ahhh it must be cancer' we must challenge it and ask why? Where is the evidence? How do we know this is true? One of my favourite metaphors with this is to pretend you are a lawyer in a courtroom. Anxiety screams it's head off but has no logic - a little bit like a 3 year old I hope this helps! Please feel free to add to it and share what's working for you. We're all in this together even when it can feel so isolating.

Defeat

replies: 2

My depression and anxiety was at it's worse last year and I feel like I am in an upswing at the moment.... The problem is, now when I do have my bad days (especially with my anxiety) I seem to notice them more. And it really effects work at times. I ... View more

My depression and anxiety was at it's worse last year and I feel like I am in an upswing at the moment.... The problem is, now when I do have my bad days (especially with my anxiety) I seem to notice them more. And it really effects work at times. I honestly just feel defeated.

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