Anxiety

Status
Not open for further replies.

anksta

anksta

anksta

Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2005
Posts
2,722
Does anyone else here suffer from this?

I got told by my a GP a couple of years ago I suffer from chronic anxiety. At the time I was about to do my driving test or something, I can't remember exactly what but it was something you could expect to be anxious about.

Anyway I was losing my appetite and couldn't sleep and just being constantly on edge all the time. I managed to deal with it and stopped getting nervous about lots of things but recently I've become really aware of it again and a few times a day now I'll just get really anxious, feel really sick and it'll take 10 minutes or so for it to pass.

I've been thinking about seeing someone for it for a while now and then last night I went on a date and nearly almost ruined it because I just got too anxious. I'm not scared of this girl or anything it wasn't the first time I've seen her but we went to a restaurant that was way too posh and it just put me on edge.

For the most part you wouldn't be able to tell as I normally can cover it pretty well but lately it's just feeling like it's getting much more frequent even if it's not that long and I'd really like to deal with it.

I know it's all psychological and as soon as I get past it everything is fine again. When I was in China I went somewhere that would normally make a lot of people nervous (it was like some job itnerview thing where I was the guest of honour at this massive meal, I couldn't speak Mandarin and no one there could speak English much) but the situation was so strange that I was fine.

Anyway I used that for ages in my mind as like what's happening is nowhere near as ridiculous as that and I coped with that. That worked really well for ages but it was too long ago now and it's really not working for me.

Does anyone have any idea how to deal with something like that? I was thinking CBT but my flatmate said she goes and it isn't for that.
 
I suffer from anxiety and for me personally it's been a life-long journey.

It took me a while for me to get a diagnosis and as soon as I found out what I had, I started getting support and help to manage it.

Some people have mild forms of it, and can be managed easily using self help / CBT. If it's too difficult, medication and or therapy is the route. Sounds like seeing someone might help in your case?

Let me know if you have any questions.
 
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is for Anxiety, it can help you deal with the physical responses that increase anxiety, breathing exercises can be helpful for reducing the amount of oxygen in you body and therefore reducing the production of the hormones that cause anxiety.

In any case ignore what your flatmate tells you (and anyone on here, including me) about treatment and get yourself down to your GP, who can give you professional and medically appropiate advice and treatment.
 
Going China making dinner speeches :) Think you cope a smidge better than me.

I find myself making peace with it and think it will always be with me. Think it is part of my character now. It's like I'm always danger assessing in public places.

I don't really want drugs, the side effects can be quite concerning. My opinion of this might change in the future.

Two things I've learned.

Theres no simple solution and drink less caffiene as this can heighten the anxiety quite a bit.
 
It seems to be affecting your everyday functioning, to the point of becoming socially debilitating.

Save some cash, go for private therapy.

I'm very, sometimes painfully familiar with just how acutely anxiety can completely **** your life up if left to fester away.

Treat the cause of it, not the symptoms.

I'm by no means any kind of medical professional but if you want to message me via trust to discuss it in more depth and in private I can at least be a listening ear and offer some guidance and tips :)
 
Me too. Got some diazepam off the doctor a couple of days ago. It was the second time I've been recommended CBT, I ignored it the first time, I'm thinking of doing it now.

 
Don't look up cbt in the urban dictionary, use a proper one ;)
It certainly wouldn't help any anxiety.

Can come in phases with specific events, some people are just plain anxious. I often wonder is there an initial trigger for such a state of mind.

I get Sunday evening anxiety thinking about the week of work ahead, made worse if I've just had a holiday or similar.
 
Johnnytoxic said:
Going China making dinner speeches :) Think you cope a smidge better than me.

I find myself making peace with it and think it will always be with me. Think it is part of my character now. It's like I'm always danger assessing in public places.

I don't really want drugs, the side effects can be quite concerning. My opinion of this might change in the future.

Two things I've learned.

Theres no simple solution and drink less caffiene as this can heighten the anxiety quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I've only ever had one proper panic attack and that was the night before I went to China. Going on my own, didn't have anything packed, never really thought I'd go, couldn't speak the language. I just lost it and had to be given a zopiclone to calm down.

That doesn't really bother me though as I think it's a situation where most people would probably panic. Yeah it was horrible at the time but it's not like that is going to happen a lot.

I have been drinking more caffeine recently but I've started to cut down on it as of last week.

I think it's the feeling sick thing that's the worst, I reckon I've got that emitophobia as I can't stand the feeling. So as soon as I get a bit nervous I start to feel sick, I start to worry I'm gonna be sick and then it just spirals really quickly until I can convince myself I'm not going to throw up.

I carry chewing gum with me at all times now as I've convinced myself that I feel better with it but even that is starting to wear off now, or I worry that it'll wear off.
 
anksta said:
I've only ever had one proper panic attack and that was the night before I went to China. Going on my own, didn't have anything packed, never really thought I'd go, couldn't speak the language. I just lost it and had to be given a zopiclone to calm down.
Click to expand...

China is the one country in the world I would love to go to.

A couple of years ago I had the money for a whole trip round China, I had the time.... but was too anxious. So I stayed here. Very sad indeed. I don't know when I'm going to be able to go again.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
I don't suffer from anxiety, that I know of anyway, but I find lifes stresses and strains can be reduced after a long bike ride or a decent run.
Click to expand...

It's purely chemical. Exercise is great for emotional well-being - plus the fact that afterwards you're too tired to be anxious about anything!
 
Lysander said:
China is the one country in the world I would love to go to.

A couple of years ago I had the money for a whole trip round China, I had the time.... but was too anxious. So I stayed here. Very sad indeed. I don't know when I'm going to be able to go again.
Click to expand...

It was amazing. Doing that almost cured me of my anxiety because it gave me such perspective, literally anything I could do here I could deal with because it was nothing compared to moving to China on my own.

But that isn't really flying much any more. It was only 2 years ago but it's such a stark standout in my life that it was almost like a film or something and I've thought about it so much that all my associations with it have become distorted now I think.

Like the thought of that meal, originally it was a massive source of comfort, whereas now when I think of it it's like "let's think of my source of comfort" rather than the actual event.

I need another one, maybe a skydive or something.
 
Yes brought about by having undiagnosed Ulcerative Colitis which was worrying the hell out of me, once the UC was diagnosed and treated the Anxiety remained which I had 6 months of CBT which allowed me to understand what was happening which is the key to living with anxiety.

Both the UC and the anxiety I went to the GP and they were utterly useless over months, it was only as I had Bupa with work that I insisted on being referred and the UC was diagnosed and medication prescribed in two days and all I had to do was ring Bupa's 'Stress' line and they cleared batches of 12 visits to my local therapist.

This book helped

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mind-Over-M...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346582993&sr=1-1

Along side CBT from a therapist from

http://www.babcp.com/Default.aspx

In the end I have various levels of anxiety every day and it just now forms part of my life and by understanding it you'll live with it, don't think it's something that a magic pill will take away and don't listen to pub opinions see a qualified professional.

Good luck
 
Yep and half the time I cant even put my finger on what the cause is, it sends by BP rocketing and can keep me awake for days / weeks on end.

Currently going through the mill right now as I have a project hand in, in a weeks time but at least I know what the cause is. Vigorous cardio exercise is literally the only thing that I have found offers me any solution.
 
I have been getting anxiety issues quite bad recently. So much so they lead to a little bit of depression too. I have had two what I class as attacks, both I have put down to strong coffees like Starbucks or Costa. By attack I mean crazy bubble feelings in my body, heart that feels like its doing 600bpm when it is only doing about 55bpm. I got huge dizzy type weird head feelings and with the worst one my legs went to jelly totally. That one impacted me for a few days, tight feeling chest etc. I also find I clench my jaw a lot.

I've been to my docs, he says I have situational depression / anxiety. I wont go into what caused it as I don't need every man and his dog throwing in their two pence piece. So I have been given citalopram to build my serotonin levels up and Zopiclone to help me sleep. I try not to use the Zopiclone though as they are addictive apparently and they also make everything taste absolutely horrible the following day up until about midday.

Last several weeks I have been feeling exactly the same as you, on edge, a weird buzz in my chest, get crazy mood swings which is most unlike me as I'm generally a very laid back easy going type person. I sleep pretty bad and end up walking around the house at about 1am to 3am a few nights a week. I generally try to get to bed by 8pm though to counteract the lost hours of sleep.

In all anxiety sucks. I know its in my head which narks me off even more! I'll give my current symptoms a little more time to go away but if they don't I think its time to go see the doc again.

I know your pain very well and I suppose I too should consider some kind of therapy. Maybe I'll talk to my doc about this too next time I see him.

P.S. I do a fair bit of exercise. I cycle to work everyday (I dont hang about on a bike
) which is about 13 miles in total and I go to the gym to do resistance work and I've started to do Yoga now too (how unbendy am I?!....ouch)
 
I suffered from Anxiety/Panic attacks quite badly a few years ago. Brought on by stress generally. Was at it's worst when I had a manager at work who was basically a Nazi and made my life hell, put me on edge all the time.

I also used to play way too much World of Warcraft, which meant I didn't really interact with anyone for hours on end. This kind of behavior detaches you from life somewhat and on reflection, is not good for you.

In the end I was getting pretty common panic/anxiety attacks and the whole thing was leaving me a little depressed, and I got signed off from work for a little while, but I was determined to go back and make improvements.

I went to see a Homeopath, I was originally going to go to a GP but I did not want to wind up on Anti-Depressants. Whatever the Homeopath gave me seems to have helped fairly significantly. I know OCUK hates Homeopaths but I would say it's better to try them than going on Anti-Depressants.

I also quit playing World of Warcraft, filling that void was hard but I told myself anything had to be better than playing that game. These days I mix in some time on my PC with reading books, and I also try and make more of an effort to meet up with friends from time to time as well.

Overall I am much improved and it's rare for me to get a panic attack now. My job is much better as my old manager left and I changed roles, so I am much happier at work now. I can still get attacks but generally they are triggered by being in places that make me uncomfortable, such as nightclubs, or being in places I am not used to.

If I know what causes my problems I can do my best to avoid them, or at least take tentative steps to ensure I have a backup plan in case I need to bail.

Fresh air helps as well, exercise (which I am not so great at honestly), and I also found chewing gum helped me a lot, peppermint or spearmint. Don't know why just calms me down and stops me feeling sick. Generally always have some in my car.

I reckon people like me who get Anxiety attacks are thinkers as well, I am always over-analysing things, and I am more intelligent than the average person you meet. I bet everyone in this thread who's had anxiety can also say they don't see things simply. A lot of people who seem confident/outgoing probably just approach life in a different way and don't worry so much.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom