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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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BenD Anxiety around some friends but not others?
  • replies: 2

Hi all, Just wondering if anyone else gets more anxious around some friends but not others? I just spent the week away with a bunch of uni friends and it was honestly one of the most enjoyable trips I've had. I seem to get agree with them more than s... View more

Hi all, Just wondering if anyone else gets more anxious around some friends but not others? I just spent the week away with a bunch of uni friends and it was honestly one of the most enjoyable trips I've had. I seem to get agree with them more than some of the friends that I've grown up with (not to diminish the benefit that they have made to my life though). It kinda feels like some people I'm keeping up appearances and "acting", whilst around others I'm not afraid to be myself and say what I want. Thoughts?

just_let_go Intensifying anxiety and depression.
  • replies: 6

Hi all. I'm not entirely sure what I'm hoping to achieve here. But here goes. Here's is my story. I am convinced all my problems stem from my constant worrying about things that happened in the past, every day activities, fear of what my future holds... View more

Hi all. I'm not entirely sure what I'm hoping to achieve here. But here goes. Here's is my story. I am convinced all my problems stem from my constant worrying about things that happened in the past, every day activities, fear of what my future holds and other things I have no control over and a general lack of confidence in myself. I wish I had a way to just stop thinking. Turn my brain off for a few hours. Where to begin... I suppose with my first panic attack. Things had started to get weird. I've always shown signs of anxiety and depression, but it was at a manageable point. I was growing less and less happy, not enjoying thing I usually did. I first noticed it when I was at a concert seeing my favourite band, and literally felt nothing. now a week later I caught up with some friends, and one of them had the bright idea of sharing around some dope brownies. (I do not have a drug problem before you all start asking, I have smoked it before but extremely rarely.) So anyway I had one for the hell of it. I felt good at first... Then I noticed my heart racing uncontrollably. I thought It may have been from running around (we were kicking a soccer ball around) but after sitting down it did not show any signs of slowing. The I began to panic. I said to my friend I needed to get home. He took me home and I just started freaking out. All my muscles tightened, my mouth went dry, my heart was going mental. I was over taken by a sense of uncontrollable irrational fear and I thought I was dying. It lasted 2 hours. It was the worst thing I have ever experienced. That was about to months ago. Since then my anxiety has skyrocketed. I'm slowly learning to control it, but lately the depression side of things is escalating. It's to the point where I am conscious of my mental state 24/7. Every night I got to bed fearing another panic attack. I'm always worried that it's going to keep getting worse, and it's bad enough as it is. I've started exercising more, watching what I eat, engaging in calming exercises before bed and seeing a psychiatrist. I really hope things get better soon. I don't want to live out my days feeling like this. I'm not going to give up. i wont let this beat me. I found a site called anxietynomore that is fantastic and taught me a few things about controling and embracing my anxiety (That is seriously the key, you have to embrace it, train your brain to react calmly when it strikes). But depression is proving tougher. Thanks for reading.

Shell4444 My life has gone temporarily haywire
  • replies: 2

Hi all,many things have happened to me over the past couple of years - loss of job I loved which led to a job I hated, death of a friend whom I was the only executor, listed as next of kin and her general dogsbody then facing having a much delayed kn... View more

Hi all,many things have happened to me over the past couple of years - loss of job I loved which led to a job I hated, death of a friend whom I was the only executor, listed as next of kin and her general dogsbody then facing having a much delayed knee replacement. When i was about to return to work my back started to play up and now the ceo of the organisation has decided I am not capable of driving a work vehicle even though i have clearance from 3 doctors and she has never met me. I have sailed through everything except now the ceo's actions have been the icing on the cake and have eroded my confidence to such a state I have started with anxiety attacks and today had a panic attack waiting in the doctors rooms. I thought I was going to keel over and my heart was racing so hard he gave me an ecg. How does everyone else cope in these situations. I want to resign from work, I've gone from 40+ hours per week to 7.5 hours per week, I was cutting down hours and starting work back in a job I really enjoyed but not to 7.5 hours. I am feeling like they dont think I can carry out the job anymore and this I find devastating. My husband is very supportive and does not want me to resign because he does not want me home dwelling on what is going on. I have written a "diary" to get a lot of this stuff out of my head. My doctor has started me on medication and he at long last realises what I am going through and wants to see me later in the week to discuss anxiety medication. I am also seeing a psychologist. I would really like to know I am not going mad and that I will get past this, at the moment I would like to find a nice safe place and hide for a while.thankyou,Michelle

Kgf Help! I need to justify a big life decision taken in the middle of major anxiety.
  • replies: 4

We need to move house as our landlord is developing. We were rejected for one house and I went into a tailspin. I immediately dropped our distance criterion and started looking in other suburbs out of fear of being homeless. We have just signed the l... View more

We need to move house as our landlord is developing. We were rejected for one house and I went into a tailspin. I immediately dropped our distance criterion and started looking in other suburbs out of fear of being homeless. We have just signed the lease on a property that is 15 mins drive from our daughters school and further to my husbands work. My husband agreed to it I think just to stop me being anxious. Unfortunately I am now having constant panic attacks and crying in front of the children. It is a lovely house but so far away. We are not from sydney and know nothing of the area we are moving to. My husband is away all weekend and I have no other support. Yearly to six monthly moves and social anxiety keep me mostly at home. I am experiencing waves of fear that are uncontrollable. I need reassurance please.

viper57 panic attack
  • replies: 2

Hi last week my son and partner came to visit me for a few days I was fine until they went home on sunday did cry a lot though last night they were on skype soon after I had a big panic attack ended up at hospital today I feel so down and crying hope... View more

Hi last week my son and partner came to visit me for a few days I was fine until they went home on sunday did cry a lot though last night they were on skype soon after I had a big panic attack ended up at hospital today I feel so down and crying hope this isnt going yo happen all the time need some help

DJ_4x4 I dont know how to help my slef
  • replies: 8

All my life i have never asked for anyone's help but now i need to do something about my life. Please help me. All my life I have suffered form high levels of depression, stress and anxiety. At the age of 14 i was so down on life i needed to do somet... View more

All my life i have never asked for anyone's help but now i need to do something about my life. Please help me. All my life I have suffered form high levels of depression, stress and anxiety. At the age of 14 i was so down on life i needed to do something to change it. I felt like ending my life. Thank god i decided to stay that is something i will never do again as long as i live. But in deciding the stay i choose to live with myself and hide my feelings and problems away from the world to see. Now i am a 32 year old man living in a world that i made for myself. No one knows who i really am not family nor my closets friends.i have never asked of help from anyone in all my time nor have i said anything about my problems before today. My friends know me as the guy that will just disappear from time to time. When I have a large break down or anxiety attack the only thing i know to do is to leave the situation. But have never tolled them why. Sometimes i feel like a ghost just warking around observing the world go by. No one see me who I am or the world that i live in. I am so very quiet. So much so i can go for days without speaking a word. I suffer from large and small anxiety attacks on a regular bace.just typing this is so hard for me right now. I am now at a point once again in my life that I need to change. i don't really know what to do with myself i just know i can't go on livening like this. I know i need some kind of help but can't talk to anyone about it. I fear if i did i would be locked up in a mantel home or put on meds and lose what ever sanity i have left. Sometimes i think about just sell up all i have and moving into the wild away from people altogether . I am now 32 but i still feel like that 14 year old boy trying to decide what to do.

fifi :( major anxiety attack
  • replies: 4

so hard to breath cant work out if i want to cry or vomit or just sit under my desk and rock so over the ups and downs . I felt fine this morning but bam i find out my husband has his last day of work today and now i am in a mess . he is such a good ... View more

so hard to breath cant work out if i want to cry or vomit or just sit under my desk and rock so over the ups and downs . I felt fine this morning but bam i find out my husband has his last day of work today and now i am in a mess . he is such a good man and works his butt off but still cannot find any workobviously that causes all sorts of problems for us as his self esteem has been this year was supposed to be our year and it has turrned into the worst year of my/ our life just dont know what to do any more so sick of constantly having to fight so hard just to live surely it was never meant to be this hard not that i expect to breeze through without a problem in the world but a slightly easier road would be great to find if only for a little while . sorry if this post seems vauge and if it does not make sense am finding it hard to type through the flood of tears is appearing to be troublesome

krack01 Help! anxiety and relationships
  • replies: 1

Hi everyoneI have a tough situation with my partner for 5 years and I need some understanding.My partner suffers from anxiety, she has had this diagnosed and has been on medication before. She was told that she was a rare case where her anxiety level... View more

Hi everyoneI have a tough situation with my partner for 5 years and I need some understanding.My partner suffers from anxiety, she has had this diagnosed and has been on medication before. She was told that she was a rare case where her anxiety levels were off the charts but her depression levels were very low. She came off medication after a few months as she didn't like the way she felt and suspected she still wasn't happy with her life but couldn't truly feel that as it was being masked by medication.She is a long term marijuana smoker since her very early teens and now uses that as part of self medicating for anxiety. It's worth noting I don't smoke and her smoking has led to a few minor issues.Since having our child 2 years ago our relationship has been patchy, We have both made mistakes but not those uncommon to many relationships. I feel I have been very patient and forgiving with her, while I don't feel I've been afforded the same luxury.Recently her anxiety has snuck in to our relationship. Our bickering over small things has made her fearful of even the smallest argument. This I believe has led her to start to become anxious about me calling, messing and coming home. That in turn has made her anxious about whether our relationship is right for her and now we are in a vicious circle. She says she loves me but doesn't know if she is 'in love' with me.Continued

Marnz Is it possible I have social anxiety?
  • replies: 5

Hey guys, Im 21 and always been a very introverted and shy person. I've never been very good at socializing in large groups of people but in the last year it's gotten worse. I've been introduced to a lot of new people in the last year as I got a boyf... View more

Hey guys, Im 21 and always been a very introverted and shy person. I've never been very good at socializing in large groups of people but in the last year it's gotten worse. I've been introduced to a lot of new people in the last year as I got a boyfriend with a very large family that I'm not use too as I grew up with just mum and dad, and I knew that would be hard for me to adjust to anyway. But I find that whenever I am told of an event with them or an event with anyone who I havnt been friends with for along time I get filled with fear. I feel anxious and sick and I just want to avoid going at all. If I can't avoid going I get even more terrified and sit there the whole time with my mind racing about what they might be thinking of me. I like the people there, I just can't get any words out. It's making me really hate myself because I don't know what to do and I think they think I am rude and don't want to talk to them but that's not the case at all. I just physically feel so overwhelmed with fear I can't get any words out and I don't know what to do...

Jainist Chest pains and severe anxiety
  • replies: 6

Hi all, I'm 40, married and a mum of 2. To keep it simple, I have suffered panic attacks since I was 18. Spent most of my twenties with few episodes. Thirties, a few episodes of depression/anxiety and panic. I turned 40 this year and my anxiety has n... View more

Hi all, I'm 40, married and a mum of 2. To keep it simple, I have suffered panic attacks since I was 18. Spent most of my twenties with few episodes. Thirties, a few episodes of depression/anxiety and panic. I turned 40 this year and my anxiety has never been worse. I am currently experiencing chest pains. It feels like my chest muscles and upper back are torn and sore. My heart has been racing for days, sometimes out of control. I have been walking, breathing, stretching and also practicing The Linden Method. His "Panic Eliminator" audio is genius and has REALLY helped me. (This method reminds you that anxiety is actually a fear of fear and you mistake the heart racing/sweating/mind racing as the FEAR you're so afraid of) Has anyone else experienced these horrible chest pains? When combined with the usual lost feelings of doom that anxiety can bring it's truly horrible.