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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. Remeber, this is anonymous and the Beyond Blue team are here to help if you need it This section is for people who are experiencing anixiety 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 you 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 worthile 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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Cookie Postnatal anxiety
  • replies: 1

Hi I think I have developed postnatal anxiety and am hoping someone can share their story about how they got through it and how long it lasted. My daughter is now 9 weeks old and my husband is a shift worker so is not always around to help. My proble... View more

Hi I think I have developed postnatal anxiety and am hoping someone can share their story about how they got through it and how long it lasted. My daughter is now 9 weeks old and my husband is a shift worker so is not always around to help. My problem is that I have a constant knot in my stomach and feel so scared of how we are going to get through each day. I feel that I just don't know what to do with her all day. She is very unsettled and can become quite hysterical when she cries and I don't seem able to calm her when she is like this. I just feel terribly anxious about it all to the point where it consumes my thoughts all day and night. I'd be grateful for any advice or just to hear how others have coped? Thank you.

ronO Double cancer Anxiety whammy
  • replies: 2

Hello all. After recovering from bowel cancer at 39 , I was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago and also needed a spinal operation. Ive turned into an anxious human being . I was a confidant man . Now at 52 , Im quite anxious all the time ... View more

Hello all. After recovering from bowel cancer at 39 , I was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago and also needed a spinal operation. Ive turned into an anxious human being . I was a confidant man . Now at 52 , Im quite anxious all the time and can only work part time. Id really appreciate some advice or similar experiences Ron

hope_29 anxiety is coming back and i feel worse
  • replies: 1

I posted a couple of days ago about how I've been feeling now that I have started a new job and find myself checking everyday for a reply it's like im desperate or something. I actually left my last job because it was horrible hours and stress. I gue... View more

I posted a couple of days ago about how I've been feeling now that I have started a new job and find myself checking everyday for a reply it's like im desperate or something. I actually left my last job because it was horrible hours and stress. I guess I'm worried that I'm going to feel miserable at my new job. I have this fear that Im not going to do well even though I've worked for this company before and they were happy to have me back. It's like I feel I will let them down some way. I think my self-confidence is at a bit of a low. The role is more responsibility this time but I need the money atm. I know it all prob sounds normal but Ive battled for the last few years a long journey in depression and anxiety and was seeing a counselor about it (this was for other reasons but work was something we did talk about towards my last few sessions). I don't think Im depressed anymore but anxiety has been a battle. I haven't seen her in a few months now but I don't know if thats stopping me booking with her again. I guess I feel I had to come here just to let out what it is I'm feeling when I wake up for work or on a sat night when I know I have to go to work on a sunday. I wake up with knots in my stomach, my heart flutters, my hands feel really shakey and my lip twitches a bit too. I'm paranoid this will show at work sometimes when I feel nervous. Is this because I'm thinking too much? I know its ok to feel nervous at a new job but sometimes I just over think everything and hype myself up way too much just for one day and it drives me crazy. Whats strange is that Im actually a very positive person (well so everyone says)... even at work Im known to smile a lot but I wish I actually felt what I project myself. Please if anyone could give me some advice that would be amazing!

Iskallos This is weird
  • replies: 1

So long story short I've had anxiety for a while with a lot of physical symptoms, a lot of them going away and sometimes coming back or new ones coming into the fray. Last night though when I was trying to sleep, I heard something like a bell ringing... View more

So long story short I've had anxiety for a while with a lot of physical symptoms, a lot of them going away and sometimes coming back or new ones coming into the fray. Last night though when I was trying to sleep, I heard something like a bell ringing, like a doorbell that's an actual bell. I ignored it but it happened again and after that it stopped but then, just as I had started to doze off I jumped up and gasped for air like someone had just splashed water over my face (not actual feeling like that, of course). This proceeded to happen a couple more times until I turned my light on and fell asleep. Has something like that ever happened to any of you? It kinda reminds me of the time I thought I was going to have a heart attack and my heart would flutter every time I was about to go to sleep. This time though it came out of nowhere and it's freaking me out a bit.

mandy6 speechless
  • replies: 22

I think I have social anxiety. I have authority issues (is this a real thing or just a Grey's Anatomy thing?) when someone is my senior I can't have a conversation with them, I know exactly what I'm going to say, but i always back down last minute be... View more

I think I have social anxiety. I have authority issues (is this a real thing or just a Grey's Anatomy thing?) when someone is my senior I can't have a conversation with them, I know exactly what I'm going to say, but i always back down last minute because I get really stressed. Also if someone says something that I know is wrong I can't correct them even if I know they would want to be corrected, because as I am about to open my mouth my whole body tenses up and I physically can't say anything. I have an irrational fear of looking stupid/ idiotic, I know that I am and that everyone already knows that I am so I wouldn't be revealing anything new at all. so does anyone have any tips on overcoming anxiety? Is there a way to learn how to talk to people, approach them? be able to ask others for help and help them when needed? thanks

missmilford so tired
  • replies: 2

I am so tired of feeling anxious all the time and I think depression is setting in. My work situation is awful but I live on my own with a mortgage and I feel very trapped. I am not doing my job properly, I don't really care but the turmoil we are in... View more

I am so tired of feeling anxious all the time and I think depression is setting in. My work situation is awful but I live on my own with a mortgage and I feel very trapped. I am not doing my job properly, I don't really care but the turmoil we are in now is not helping. My closest friends have moved interstate and I just feel so isolated and overwhelmed. I wish I knew how to move on and get out of this terribly difficult time, it seems endless. I need to move on and get out more but it takes a lot of energy that I don't have. it is such a vicious circle and everything seems so hard. thank you for listening, I think I just needed to put it out there how bad I am feeling. I know I am the one who has to make changes and no one else can do so. but wow it's hard to see how. thank you for listening

Cookie2012 Paranoia about dying
  • replies: 4

Hi Everybody,Is there anybody else out there who suffers from health anxiety? I have severe paranoia about dying and it is taking over my life, I just don't know what to do anymore. I have a husband and 4 beautiful children and have just found out I ... View more

Hi Everybody,Is there anybody else out there who suffers from health anxiety? I have severe paranoia about dying and it is taking over my life, I just don't know what to do anymore. I have a husband and 4 beautiful children and have just found out I am pregnant with our 5th. I love them all so much and I am petrified of dying and leaving them without a mum. It all started a year ago (looking back I have always had anxiety) when my husband and I flew overseas for the first time. I was absolutely petrified the plane was going to crash. The panic attacks started soon after we got back and its been downhill ever since. I have been to the hospital a few times and am always at the doctors with symptoms of some terminal illness. I have spent so much money on tests and there appears to be nothing wrong with me. I have been active and exercised nearly my whole life but for some unknown reason I have convinced myself I have a heart condition and I am convinced I am going to drop dead at any time. I am too afraid to exercise for fear of collapsing in the middle of the road and constantly feel like I cant breathe. I always have a funny feeling in my throat and my chest always feels tight. I go to bed every night thinking im not going to wake up in the morning. When I do wake up in the morning I have no desire to do anything. Im scared to be alone in case something happens to me. My whole day is consumed with thoughts of dying. This has all gotten bad again since I found out I am pregnant, I have a fear that this baby and pregnancy is going to kill me and I hate feeling like this. The morning sickness is feeding my anxiety and thoughts of dying even more. My doctor has given me benzodiazepine tablets to tide me over for a few weeks, I was given an antidepressant but that made me awfully sick and unable to function ending up in my last hospital visit. I am also studying full time at uni and im scared this is going to ruin me. Can anybody help me on what I can do, im scared of what the future holds for me and my family while I am like this.

Kitty_Kat Please Help Me
  • replies: 5

Hi, To start off, I would just like to say that I am a fairly young girl but I need help. There is a lot on my mind at the moment, so I have joined this online forum looking for help... Firstly, I have lots and lots of friends outside of school and I... View more

Hi, To start off, I would just like to say that I am a fairly young girl but I need help. There is a lot on my mind at the moment, so I have joined this online forum looking for help... Firstly, I have lots and lots of friends outside of school and I guess I would consider myself popular between those people, and they are the best people I could ask for. But when I step into school I find myself surrounded by these people who only really treat me badly. I have a few friends there, but the people they hang out with are just so horrible. If they treat me like I am nothing and take the only friends I have away from me, how am I to cope? Do I try and fight for them or do I let them push me around, because knowing me; I wouldn't have the courage to stand up for myself. I met this one girl, who was my best friend just like that! But I went on my class camp, and all of a sudden; there is this other girl with her. I understood that she is allowed to have more than one friend, but she happened to choose a girl that hates me. Every time I actually get the courage to approach them all she does is steal my friend away and doesn't let her be with me. This is like a stab in the heart for me because what we shared was something truly special and I miss what we had. Secondly, (this is more to do with anxiety) lately, every time something happens; big or small, but it hurts my feelings... I cry. But not just any crying, the type of crying when I have to leave the room, sit in the toilet getting scared because I cant stop. No matter what I do it doesn't stop and I am normally there for about 30-35 minutes waiting for it to stop. It has been happening for the past four weeks and it hasn't gotten any better or worse. I am seeing a counsellor about this but I would like some other advice for it because the more it happens, the more scared of it I get and I freak out every time it happens. Is this a form of anxiety? Because I don't really know what anxiety is and I want to have some kind of answer to why this crying thing is happening. Lastly, these days I have become very self conscious of the way I look, am and sound like. I am always thinking in my head, and I am not classified as a pretty girl at my school. I have freckles, a weird nose, a horrible height, a low voice and the only thing I like when I look in the mirror is either what I am wearing, my hair (long, curly, brunette) and my eyes (rich blue). I also try to make people laugh sometimes by being funny, which never works; and sometimes I seem to forget I am trying to fit in and I go a little crazy and be my self. Mum always says, just be yourself and everyone will like you. Well, when I do be myself people judge me, and I am the type who can't handle being judged in a bad way. I would really appreciate someone to reply because I need to serious help and I need answers to my problems, I am still only in year eight and I don't want to feel this way any longer. Love Kitty xxx

Mandakini Need to see doc for anxiety, OCD, hypochondria-ASAP! any suggestions?
  • replies: 2

Hi, I'm a 28yr old female . I am in desperate of some mental health as I seem to be going more downhill than up. I can't cope with my fears, phobias and anxieties anymore and it's affecting my everyday life. I have now turned to drinking a little thr... View more

Hi, I'm a 28yr old female . I am in desperate of some mental health as I seem to be going more downhill than up. I can't cope with my fears, phobias and anxieties anymore and it's affecting my everyday life. I have now turned to drinking a little through the day to get by which is very unhealthy since I am on medication. Obviously I don't feel that they are doing anything because I still cannot think clearly to live a "normal" life. Everyone in my life thinks it's just me being weak and not pushing through this hard enough, and maybe they are right? I just don't know anymore. I don't even know if I need mental health help or to just try and pull myself together- but like I said, I'm in so much confusion that just getting through the day is a triumph. So I need to talk to someone to sort this out for me because I can't do it alone. I'm a tourist in the area for at least 3 months and therefore have no insurance, but regardless, I have to get better. PLEASE PLEASE reply with some answers or encouraging words.

Anon71 Am i suffering from anxiety?
  • replies: 1

Hi, I had never considered that i was suffering from anxiety although i know that it runs in my family. I just felt i was awkward around people, but over the last 6 months it has got much worse. I started college this year and i did not really make a... View more

Hi, I had never considered that i was suffering from anxiety although i know that it runs in my family. I just felt i was awkward around people, but over the last 6 months it has got much worse. I started college this year and i did not really make any friends, and avoided talking to new people whenever possible. However i also feel like i have been losing my old friends and i fear situations where i will have to talk to people, whether i know them or not (although more so when not). I have found myself missing lots of college and not attempting to socialise with anybody and when I'm invited places I avoid going with various excuses. I hate being in groups of people and i always feel that nobody is interested in what i have to say or that they are judging me for what i do say- which is not much, as i can never find the words to take part in conversations. I used to be quite out going and friendly with lots of people but this has lessened over the years, reaching it's peak now. I am pretty sure i suffer from depression although i have not been diagnosed (but i see a therapist and she thinks that i am). It would be helpful if anyone could let me know if this sounds like social anxiety