Anxiety experiences and support

Being run over must have been a horrible experience for you, I'm not surprised it generated some anxiety and difficult feelings.

Your experiences at college also sound really difficult, and the drinking sounds worrying, but I'm glad to hear you've stopped now.

If you haven't already, I really recommend seeking a counsellor/therapist. Try seeing your GP and asking them to refer you on. You need someone (in real life) to talk to about your troubles and your nerves and support you.

You can get through this.
+rep.

Edit: Two pages! Score!

Thanks, that makes me feel slightly less of a weirdo.

Btw, your experience sounds pretty bad, but just a word of warning: alcohol helps, it helps me too, but it's not a long term solution merely a short term fix. Long term it creates a hell of a lot of problems, your health, your friends, your wallet, it's not worth relying on alcohol to get you through stuff because in the end it'll come back at you.

Oh I just noticed you said you've quit, that's great, good for you, I hope you've worked out more effective coping strategies.



Thanks for the reply. Believe me, 3 years totally alone, I know humans need social interaction, I was talking to myself constantly and I think I would have gone absolutely bat **** crazy without the internet for the small bit of interaction it provided. The thing is, I don't really see how any one can help me because I'm too scared to ask for the help. I don't see how any therapy could ever be effective as I'd have to talk to a therapist, ie an authority figure, ie my worst nightmare, in order to do it. And I've tried the antidepressant/beta blockers/benzo route without much success there either.

I have no idea where the breaking silence thing stems from, it's the actual opening my mouth getting the words out bit, they're all right there in my head I open my mouth...silence and massive massive feeling of awkwardness. I guess I can work on it, if only because poking my girlfriend pisses her off

Good Luck with everything

I thought I'd make a thread for support of people with anxiety/phobias and any other 'mental health'(hate that term) things like that, which aren't covered in the depression threads. Apologies if this has already been done, but I couldn't find it.

Please post your experiences and any advice for others - try to be encouraging rather than disheartening.

I'm not going anon because it feels like people should be open, but you won't be judged for going anon.

I'll try to read anyone who posts experiences on here unless there are too many - please quote me so I notice your post.

Here is my experience if you can be bothered to read it

I have generalized anxiety disorder. I don't really have social anxiety and love being around people in most situations (other than when i'm already anxious about something else). Therefore I like going out shopping, clubbing, travelling e.c.t. My anxiety is centered around situations where I feel trapped/not able to make my own choices like in exams, sitting in a resturant or formal family occasions . I hate it and get really really anxious.

I suffer from panic attacks with chest pains and when I am anxious I am not able to concentrate at all. My brain goes at 1 million miles an hour despite taking propranolol. I love learning and would say i'm fairly intelligent but always screw up my exams due to anxiety and end up looking stupid. Today I was supposed to be taking my exam in a small room with less than 5 people, but they put me in a large room with 30 despite knowing why it's difficult for me. This ended with me not answering most of the questions and spending most of my time trying not to throw up, hyperventilate and just wanting it to end.

sorry needed to vent that

I've got terrible social anxiety. I've never been able to speak to anyone, I even have difficulty talking with people I know really well. All my childhood I didn't volunteer an answer once in class, and I hated getting picked on to answer, I'd turn bright red, shake, stutter, and talk crap. I still do this and I just finished university. Seminars were absolute hell at university. I tried skipping them as much as possible. I was meant to get help for it after I got diagnosed with avoidant personality disorder but then for some reason...er...didn't. My social anxiety has also really affected my ability to interact with people on a making friends level, I just finished a 3 year degree course, I didn't make a single friend the entire time, it was so lonely but I just seem completely incapable of having successful social interactions with people. I keep trying, god only knows why, I'm a sucker for rejection I guess.

Btw does anyone else find breaking silence really hard? It's completely retarded but like if I'm sitting in silence with my girlfriend and I need to say something I find it impossibly hard to break the silence so I poke her until she says something first then I can talk. Anyone else find this?

I've got generalised anxiety disorder with hints of OCD; I've already written bits on other threads but when it's at it's very worst it's a living hell. Without medication I am basically terrified of everything - I struggle to leave my bedroom on the worst days. I have ridiculous thoughts, for example I can't take paracetomal as my mind goes "There is paracetomal on the packet from the last time you took some, there was paracetomal on the glass that mum put in the sink earlier, which I must have swallowed because I washed dishes in the same water earlier. These are only traces therefore I am safe but I must not take a tablet as I will overdoes and end up ill". I've seen myself curled up on the floor with period pain but refusing to take any medication to solve it.

I went to *one* lecture last semester as I'm so scared of them. I haven't been shopping in ages, I avoid the cinema and the theatre like the plague..

I don't even know what I'm scared of anymore - it's just this constant feeling of absolute terror, of waiting for the very worst thing to happen.

I've had a lot of therapy over the last 2-3 years, but medication so far has worked the best.

Thank you so much for making this thread (+rep), I felt out of place hanging around on the depression thread even though I have mild depression. Anxiety affects me in many ways. I have OCD, social anxiety problems, and general anxiety that manifests itself in many ways including being a hypochondriac. I wash my hands obsessively everyday and fear 'contamination', I haven't kept a single friend in school/college the 7 years I have been there, and I constantly think I have a brain tumour or something bad. I don't know what the next step is. If I go to a doctor will they refer me to a psychologist? I just want to see somebody who will help me, because these problems will probably get worse when I go to university.

I have this strange physical anxiety in which I don't feel anything mentally but I get the physical symptoms such as a tight chest, a stress headache and sometimes shivering...might be diabetes now that I think of it

But I keep getting these symptoms before a exam so it might just be stress and fear, and my family also seems to be genetically predisposed to anxiety. Luckily that's it and it doesn't really affect my life.

That's OK i felt similar about the depression thread, it just didn't feel quite right. I'm glad some people are using this thread now.

I feel for you, I can relate to the hypochondria, and I often have thoughts about a brain tumour or something. I think "brain tumours affect your personality and your emotions, that would explain my anxiety, and I get tired and headaches [probably officially caused by my weight] that would also be explained by that".

I would recommend seeing your doctor. They will probably suggest either medication to reduce the anxiety, or refer you to a counsellor/psychiatrist. As long as you make it clear that you want to see a therapist, they will make sure they refer you. You could also try seeking a private counsellor if waiting lists are long, although these can be quite expensive.

I hope that when you get to uni, you will find some people who like you for who you are, regardless of your anxiety. Good luck with everything.



(+rep... I'm trying to rep everyone who posts but I keep running out :P)

I had pretty bad anxiety for a year, after going to night out i'd come back and lay in bed replaying all the bad things that happened in that night and just wind myself up.
Its something i learned to fight, and eventually it went away. I found that just constantly telling yourself everybody does silly things and half of the stuff that i thought was embarrassing wasn't.
Talking about it is the biggest thing you can do, get whatever is in your head out and make sure you fully understand why it was causing you anxiety, its the only way you'll be able to fight it.

Don't take pills, or other sorts of prescribed medication because all that does it hide the anxiety and you become dependent on the pills. As i said talk to people about it, or start meditation or yoga i hear that helps.

Good luck to anybody that suffers for this horrible feeling though, i do understand how bad it feels and panic attacks are even worst.

I really want to try out prescribed drugs for my anxiety, but everytime I've been to teh GP, its just bee "they can make people kill themselves, I'd rather not prescribe it, try counselling"
But I tried to sort some out, but they enver got back to me (and ive finished school now)And if I go to like a youth advice centre or somehitng the waiting lists are sooooo long, i doubt i'll really be able to start before uni, and I just really need to sort this out!!!
How can I get them to prescribe me something, without it sounding bad/needy :/

That's great that you managed to overcome it

I agree about talking, keeping it inside is the worst. However, I think medication can be a real help for some people. If the anxiety is so bad they are unable to see a therapist or similar, it can be good as a temporary help to allow them to work on the underlying problems. Meditation and yoga also sound like great ideas

Thanks for posting

Thanks. I went to see a psychotherapist, who I suppose is a sort of counsellor, but not really a psychologist. I did do some cognitive behavioural therapy but I don't think I stuck with it for long enough. I don't really like the idea of medication like SSRIs but if they work, then I will try them.