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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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JulieS101 Sibling Issues
  • replies: 2

Hi all, My little sister has pretty bad mental health issues. She has a fear of leaving the house and will only leave for school. My parents have her seeing a Psychiatrist and she has started medication however she still won't leave the house. This h... View more

Hi all, My little sister has pretty bad mental health issues. She has a fear of leaving the house and will only leave for school. My parents have her seeing a Psychiatrist and she has started medication however she still won't leave the house. This has been impacting me as I worry about her and the stress this is causing my family. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar.

JulieS101 Anxiety/re-living childhood Trauma
  • replies: 6

Hey all, I am in my early 20s and I briefly went off anti-depressants I had been on since age 15. This has put me in a very bad state and I have started to go back on them (literally) today. I am not sure if this is why I am feeling this way but I se... View more

Hey all, I am in my early 20s and I briefly went off anti-depressants I had been on since age 15. This has put me in a very bad state and I have started to go back on them (literally) today. I am not sure if this is why I am feeling this way but I seem to be reliving a traumatic 6 months of my life. When I was 14 my dad decided he couldn't live with my family anymore and left abruptly. This left my mother devastated and was extremely stressful for an already anxious child like me. Through the 6 months, my parents communicated and I saw my dad however both of my parents were struggling and this took a toll on me as I am the eldest child and I saw it as my responsibility to care for their mental wellbeing. Both parents though generally supportive did have their moments that were genuinely upsetting for me to experience/witness. Eventually, they worked it out and got back together and since I have always worried that they would separate again however I went on medication and was able to handle this fear. Throughout my later adolescence, I almost blocked out a lot of the memories or if they came to me I would distract myself, now as I am turning 20 this year the memories are rapidly coming back to me and I am even remembering things that I had forgotten. I am feeling far more anxious and stressed than ever (since the separation) and I am consistently worried the same thing will happen again. I am writing this today as today my dad was snappy and sarcastic with my mum which has led me to feel extremely anxious all day and through the day memories of those 6 months have been flooding my brain. My parents have been fighting a little more than usual lately which does not help and I spiral whenever they fight. I am just curious if anyone has any advice on how to cope with this/knows what I am experiencing (I know it's anxiety in one way or another but I have never experienced such vivid and consistent flashbacks). I can't move out as I am a student and wouldn't be able to afford it and for the most part, I like my parent's company. However, this is taking a significant toll on my mental health. If anyone has any advice or could share their own experiences I would really appreciate it

Dk_alexander Health Anxiety
  • replies: 5

Hi Everyone, I am suffering horribly from Health Anxiety, ie Hypochondriac. I am 31 and successful in my career, but i cant even work right now my anxiety is so bad. i have a pattern of discovering a disease, then believing i have it and not just bel... View more

Hi Everyone, I am suffering horribly from Health Anxiety, ie Hypochondriac. I am 31 and successful in my career, but i cant even work right now my anxiety is so bad. i have a pattern of discovering a disease, then believing i have it and not just believing but actually feeling the symptoms for real. It is horrible and often seemingly endless. I am seeing a therapist undergoing CBT - i tried some medicine, but it caused intense insomina and i couldnt handle it anymore so i stopped it. I feel enourmous guilt over putting my family through my episodes. I have an amazing wife and young daughter with another child on the way. i have endless medical appointments, at some stages one every day of the week. I have also spent lots of money on these invesitgations and feel guilty of the waste. I am a logical and mature person, i know i suffer from Health Anxiety but cannot seem to stop it. I love my life and am so grateful for everything i have but i cannot believe how bad my health anxiety is and how it is dominating me. I am struggling to work at all, and that is putting my career at risk. I am concerned about been able to take care of my family and support them properly with this condition. On top of all that, i constantly fear the illnesses i believe i have. I am quite confident the origins of my illness came from a serious accident i have about 7 years ago, as well as aid work i did for many years with very sick and terminal children. I often feel guilty that so many poor people out there have real diagnoses they are trying to deal with while i am here suffering over ones that dont exist. I am wondering if anyone else out there suffers Health Anxiety and any strategies they have undertaken to help manage it. for anyone suffering any kind of anxiety out there, i wish the best for you and hope that you can find workable strategies. It is a horrible sickness and so hard to explain, even to yourself.

Academy How to read replies in anxiety discussion?
  • replies: 3

I posted in anxiety discussions and it says there is an unread reply. How do I read it?sandra

I posted in anxiety discussions and it says there is an unread reply. How do I read it?sandra

Caite Weaning off Medication
  • replies: 8

Hey guys, I have now been off my medication for about a month I was on this medication, my dr won’t listen to me about how I feel and I’ve recently connected with a herbalist who is saying what I’ve been saying from the start, I have serotonin syndro... View more

Hey guys, I have now been off my medication for about a month I was on this medication, my dr won’t listen to me about how I feel and I’ve recently connected with a herbalist who is saying what I’ve been saying from the start, I have serotonin syndrome and too much histamine in my body, just this afternoon a panic attack has come on and is making me feel a lot worse, I have vitamins coming from the herbalist to help reduce the chemical imbalance, I’m just struggling with just reminding myself I’ll be okay cause of the almost blacking out feeling and increased heart rate, my dr is trying to put me on other medication but I just don’t want to be medicated, has anyone else experienced this?

Johnny_ Muscle Tension Crying Relief
  • replies: 7

Hello everyone, Happy New Year!im hoping someone can help or share a similar story…I am lost on what to do. My story, I have been off work due to stress for over 6 months. I had a break down, had severe anxiety and muscle tension. I see a physio, psy... View more

Hello everyone, Happy New Year!im hoping someone can help or share a similar story…I am lost on what to do. My story, I have been off work due to stress for over 6 months. I had a break down, had severe anxiety and muscle tension. I see a physio, psychologist, acupuncture and masseuse apart. While my progress is going well…and my anxiety is reducing, I get bad tension in the traps/upper back and in my hamstrings. When I get deep tissue massages to relieve this, the next day I go through a period of very intense crying for 24/36hrs. When the crying stops, I do feel much better mentally, like my head is really clear and even the tension feels a little less too. initially, most of my body was like this and over time it has lessened. My question, has anyone been through anything like this before? Is there an end? I am determined to beat this.. just a hard day today. thankyou for reading.

imstruggling I feel so sad
  • replies: 2

I lost my job a week ago and I’m just so upset constantly. I feel like I can’t do anything right, I’m scared for the future. I’m scared if I will ever get a job, if anyone will ever want to employ me. I just signed a contract for a house and booked m... View more

I lost my job a week ago and I’m just so upset constantly. I feel like I can’t do anything right, I’m scared for the future. I’m scared if I will ever get a job, if anyone will ever want to employ me. I just signed a contract for a house and booked my wedding, I feel like I don’t have the right to be sad because everything is meant to be perfect for me. I feel so alone and have such a large lack of motivation. Every morning I feel an overwhelming sadness a constant reminder that I am a mistake. I have applied for every job possible, I’m worried that I won’t hear back from anyone. I don’t know what to do, I feel lost, sad, nervous , unwell. I feel like I will never be me again. I need help

HK3 The opposite of a relaxing shower
  • replies: 3

Hi, this is my first time posting here. I live with GAP, PTSD and Depression. A lot which developed from sexual assult, grooming and sexual harassment that finally ended over 6 years ago. I struggle a lot with sleep and have recently been trying to f... View more

Hi, this is my first time posting here. I live with GAP, PTSD and Depression. A lot which developed from sexual assult, grooming and sexual harassment that finally ended over 6 years ago. I struggle a lot with sleep and have recently been trying to form healthier sleep rituals to help set me up for sleep. My problem is when I get in the shower I start to overthink that someone is in my house and going to attack me if I close my eyes in there or turn around and I end up more stressed than before the shower and sometimes even end up having an anxiety attack. Does anyone have any tips for overcoming this feeling and how to calm down after an anxiety attack to be able to sleep? Please.

AnxiousBird123 Health Anxiety
  • replies: 3

Hi everyone,Hope everybody is doing better then I am right now. I'm wondering if anyone has the same anxiety as me. I have this new sensation in my hand, it's like a sharp shooting pain that runs down my hand. It comes and goes and only last a few mi... View more

Hi everyone,Hope everybody is doing better then I am right now. I'm wondering if anyone has the same anxiety as me. I have this new sensation in my hand, it's like a sharp shooting pain that runs down my hand. It comes and goes and only last a few minutes, I'm trying not to over think it but I keep thinking maybe something is wrong with me.

Andy999 Sleep anxiety !
  • replies: 19

Hey so i used to suffer a lot of sleep anxiety a few years back, this lasted quite some years, basically the more I’d try to push myself to sleep the harder it was. it was always worse when I knew I had to be up early (ofcourse) but at the time of my... View more

Hey so i used to suffer a lot of sleep anxiety a few years back, this lasted quite some years, basically the more I’d try to push myself to sleep the harder it was. it was always worse when I knew I had to be up early (ofcourse) but at the time of my life I didn’t have to be often. It’s suddenly all kind of come rushing back to me, last night I was lucky to get maybe 2-3 hours sleep before I was up for work at 5am, and tonight it’s happening again. it’s really bothering me now because I’m up at 5am 6 days a week for work. what used to work for me best was just kind of telling myself I’ll close my eyes and rest it’s better then nothing, and it would work eventually, but I’m just pretty stuck atm. Nothing seems to be helping much and leading into sleep time I’m just thinking about it which definitely doesn’t help. I may notice myself dozing off at times because I am tired ! But I’ll like catch myself and Continuously keep myself awake. I’ve been through all the helping mechanisms, breathing techniques, meditation, turning of technology and so on, not having a lot of luck I just seem to have been sucked back into the cycle and yeh I just don’t know what to do, I work a physical job and have quite a bit of responsibility so I’m really worried about this happening again. I have a pretty structured sleep schedule and usually in the past I’ll get into bed, put Netflix on and im out like a light and before I know it I’m up at 5am ready for another day but now that falling asleeps on my mind it’s not that simple, anyway I see what the problem is but I can’t really work out how the break out of the viscous cycle so if anyone has any recommendations that would be great, thankyou !