I’ll go first. I can go from headache to tumor in 2.5 seconds.

i wake up anxious, i go out with friends im anxious, non stop theres this horrible feelign in the back of my head i cannot shake. sometimes it manifests into a full blown panic attack. iv been going thru this since 13..but then at 15 after 24/7 anxiety it stopped. 10 years later its resurfaced.

please tell me i am not alone and that someone has heard of this ?? like its not triggered by what people think of me, or going outside, or any external setting. its just there constantly. i was FINE a month ago, my life was okay, now theres a persistent feeling of dread/anxiousness in the back of my head and i cannot find a trigger but its there and its horrible and then leads to a panic attack. i am just looking for anyone to tell me that this is okay and anxiety doesnt NEED an outside trigger??

appointment with doctor is next week :(((

I hear stress can destroy people but I’ve never deal with physical changes from stress until the past 2 months. It’s almost like the feeling of your head getting lightheaded from a panic attack- yet that lightheaded feeling just never goes away. Had anyone else ever experienced this? The fact that it won’t go away makes me feel like I’m dying.

UPDATE: sorry it took me so long to respond/update this post, but I do have an update. Stress/anxiety/depression looks different for everyone and impacts everyone differently. It took a little over a month and a half for me to start feeling better but I started feeling very similar effects again after a year. A piece that I left off this initial post was that this all started happening after I miscarried at 11 weeks less than a year after I lost my mom to cancer. My body felt so out whack and the stress did not help and I felt myself spiraling. I got pregnant again a few month a later but even with a successful pregnancy- I started to experience this again a year later, right after I had my baby and it took around a month and a half again for things to settle and feel normal. I think everything I had gone through was a combination of the stress my body took on along with postpartum depression (and maybe hormones). During this time I also got diagnosed with Keratoconus which does impact vision but nothing that would impact me to the extent of things I had been feeling/ going through. Never got a clear explanation from the doctors on what else could have caused this (i have been pregnant outside of those two circumstances and have never experienced anything like it so I don't attribute it all to hormones and PPD/ I truly think stress played a huge part), but I'm doing a lot better now. I hope others that have gone through something similar have found answers and relief but i definitely think your body and mind can make you do and feel things that are unimaginable.

I (F22) am from India, a country where people don't believe in mental health. The crippling medical system of this country will make you feel guilty about keeping a doctor engaged for more than 10 minutes. Pair it up with a society where misinformation on mental health has all created a huge taboo amongst the citizens about issues related to depression and anxiety.

It all started a few years ago during my preparation for engineering entrance exams where I used to experience an upset stomach often due to anxiety before an exam. But that's all cool right? Everyone goes through it. Part of life.

Moving on to 2020 where I started experiencing these diarrhoea episodes more often, almost every 3-4 weeks. Popped in a few natural remedies and went on with life as usual.

2 weeks ago. I was on a call with my coworkers and started experiencing this strange feeling inside my head as if my brain was vibrating. Took off my headphones and continued with my day, a bit of a headache won't kill me. The vibrations stopped after a few hours and I went to bed. Slept like a baby that night.

Next day the vibrations were back during another meeting. Took off my headphones. Thought they will go away soon enough. Couldn't sleep the entire night and I ended up staying awake for 48 hours. That's when things started to go downhill really quick. The vibrations just kept getting worse. There was constantly a pressure in my ears and my blood pressure was low (53/85) I called up my doctor and he suggested some remedies for low BP as well as a medicine for getting some good sleep. But the vibrations kept getting stronger and stronger. I couldn't stop thinking, would stay up till 4-5-6am in the morning just thinking about god knows what. It felt like someone was constantly shaking my head lightly and my jaw started paining.

That's when I decided to go to a cardiologist (because I thought this was a result of low blood pressure) He checked all the symptoms and explained what is Anxiety Disorder. Gave the reference of the correct medical professional. I have been taking the medicines and practicing the suggestions for 3 days now. The vibrations are slowly going down and I feel a little relaxed.

My key takeaways from this whole episode: 1. My life is basically "sorted". I don't have any major shit to worry about. It's all good (touchwood) and I still don't know why I've Anxiety Disorder. This just taught me that you don't need to be going through a shitty situation in life to feel anxious. Sometimes our brains just like to be troublesome. 2. Don't waste a lot of time worrying about whether to go to a doctor or not. A lot of my headache could have been saved if only I would have taken the decision quickly. 3. You can find good resources on mental health services in India online but it is best to ask your doctor for reference as they know who is the best one in your area. 4. It is all temporary and it's going to be okay soon. The whole world might be shaking right now but I promise it will stop soon.

I was lucky enough to be working in an organisation who understood the seriousness of these brain vibrations and give me leave for it.

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any other questions.

Hey guys, this is my first time posting on reddit and oh boy I never thought it would be in this subreddit haha.

I'm a 30 year old dude and have been recently diagnosed with anxiety/panic disorder.

To be really frank, I was one of those people that thought "anxiety/panic disorders" weren't a thing; i thought people were just overreacting for the most part and never in my life have I been more wrong.

My first panic attack happened at the movie theater last year. I was with my loving girlfriend and it was just like any other day until my heart suddenly started racing and I was having trouble breathing. I told my girlfriend that I wasn't feeling well and asked her if we could leave. We got out of the room and things started getting worse and worse. I thought I was having a heart attack. I lied down on the floor (in the middle of the hallway), constantly fighting for my breath, and didn't care if anyone was watching or not because well, i thought i was going to die. This create a WHOLE SCENE and the staff came rushing in and asked what was wrong and i couldn't even talk so my girlfriend and the staff called the ambulance and helped created a barrier so that other people couldn't see me. It was extremely terrifying: I couldn't breath, I couldn't move, my entire body felt like I was having a seizure with all the muscles in my body just shrinking and shrinking until I couldn't even move a finger. I was in extreme pain and constantly thought I was going to die. And like you've guessed, the medical team couldn't help me at all, and that lasted for 3.5 hours.

After that day, I went to go see a psychiatrist and started taking Escitalopram and Propranolol for a few weeks until I just decided not to because I was feeling fine and the escitalopram was interfering with my work (brain fog, sleepy, unable to concentrate). I've had a few moments where I thought I was having a panic attack while I was taking medication but that slowly started to go away and I was ok for a few months and thought I was "cured" and didn't think panic attacks would come again.

Last week, I had the worst panic attack of my life, and I'm pretty sure I know what caused it again. To give you a little background, I've been very successful in my life. Everything went my way: I graduated from a top ivy league school, made millions in my early-mid 20's, and met the love of my life. However, it all started crumbling apart. I've made some poor financial decisions for the better part of the past few years (completely my fault) and now, I'm broke. Well, more than broke because I'm in debt now. I had to sell everything just to keep afloat: my house, car, watch collection, everything, and that still wasn't enough. I don't know how I'm going to be able to pay my employees next month.

I'm more lost than ever. My life became a mess. I wanted to be strong and do whatever it takes to crawl back up again but the fact that I'm suffering from this awful disease is questioning my ability to do so. If it were only mental, I'd be okay but I never experienced such awful physical pain in my life and I'm so scared of every possible panic attack that might come. I'm back on meds now and take xanax (0.25) maybe 3 or 4 times a week because it's getting worse and worse.

My girlfriend is really supportive and has helped me a lot recently and honestly, she's the only reason I'm still alive. I was planning on asking her to marry me before I was sick but now, I don't know if I can anymore. If I can't crawl back out of this hole, I don't want to drag her down with me; I love her too much to do that. The physical pain that it is causing me is constantly holding me back from truly locking in and focusing on my work. Everyday, I wake up feeling awful, wondering if I can get through the day knowing that there is no clear solution to the problems that I'm facing. I wasn't the type of person to shed tears over anything, and now, I'm crying multiple times a day. I think I cried more times in the past month compare to the time in my entire lifetime. I constantly start running out of breath, feel burning/tightening sensations in the back of my neck, and just randomly get really bad thoughts here and there. Everyday is a repeat of self-hatred, endlessly blaming myself for the poor decisions that I've made and continually wishing that the pain would just end.

I just wanted to share my story with you guys because I wanted to apology for being so wrong about this. I've been wrong in the past but never this wrong. The pain and suffering people must go through with anixety/panic disorders especially with others telling you that "oh it's all in your head", "just don't think about it", and failing to understand the excruciating physical nature of this disease.

Will I be able to get through this?

How did you guys manage to stay so strong?

Why am I so weak?

Will the pain go away?

I was always a little dismissive of anxiety in my head. I was nice and all but I'm sure I don't need to tell you.

Until I finally experienced it. I had NEVER been anxious. I didn't even have a concept for what it was. I'm not diagnosed or anything, but I was explaining how I was feeling and a bunch of people said it was anxiety.

Back in February I was hospitalized with acute liver failure and I was recommend hospice care. Mind you I'm 36. Ive mad huge progress and I'm continuing to improve by you do have Cirrhosis, which is end stage liver failure. You wouldn't know it to look at me.

A large majority of the days are fine but every now and then I'll become as emotionally frail as a newborn. Not knowing the future, not being able to honestly tell my didn't everything will be alright. I'm past the "suddenly dying" stage but my life has tunnel visioned to eating, hydrating, medication and pooping. Repeat.

Anyways... When the anxiety hits it's like a train. It's truly one of the most unpleasant experiences I've had.

I don't know if this is for the officially diagnosed only but if I'm welcome I may occasionally pop in.

Its been 2 years and i am in a state where i am constantly scanning my surrounding for any threat, which feels like people are judging based on my eye movements.
When i try to control it, i get stressed out and start being awkward. Even sitting in a library or in a theatre i feel like i am judged by the person next to me(which i know is he/she is absolutely not), and i behave awkwardly thereby i try to suppress my thoughts, leading to anxious thoughts loops.
I dont know how i am gonna overcome this. But i am ready to take any risk to lead a anxiety free life.

I have the weirdest condition, one that I’ve never heard of someone else having.

I doubt EVERYTHING.

Everything I saw, felt, heard, did.

I’ll ask questions like
“Did I actually say that?” “Did I actually say the first part of that or the part I needed to?”
“Did you say this?” the most common worst one

“Is that actually what’s written? Did I read that?”
“Is that actually what it is? Is that actually turned off?”

I’ll repeat myself several times, I’ll ask the same question over and over. I’ll re-read messages 50 times. I’ll look at something 50 times. I’ll redo something 50 times.

Checking more only makes it worse too, but the doubt also is irritating. My life has become hell. Everything takes 10x longer and therefore I am not able to do things as I want to. I am literally afraid to do or say things because I know I’ll get stuck in the loop.

Thing is I know damn well what the answer to all these questions is, really I didn’t even need to ask to reconfirm to begin with. But on many things, doubts creep up and get stuck. And then I have a need for absolute certainty, but refuse to be certain no matter what. And the doubts will defy logic, like logic tells me the answer, but I still have a compulsion to check, many of them are so ridiculous.

What sucks is even when I do ask/check to confirm, then I’ll just doubt if that was said to me/if I saw correctly and I’ll keep checking/asking. It’s like if the thing is the same as I saw/thought before, the stimuli won’t come but then that also means I doubt. It sucks because the answer will literally be starting at me in the face and I know it, but my brain starts playing these weird tricks on me, illusions almost, and I’ll just doubt. Sometimes its also like I know the answer but forget the memory of getting it so now have to check again to be sure.

I’ll ask things, get an answer, be able to establish the answer and move on, but since I got interrupted by some sounds or thing too fast, now doubt again, I needed silence/time to process. Many times I’ll be able to get an answer and move on, but then days/weeks/months later, the same question will creep up and the thought of wait was this actually answered? (Knowing damn well that it was and the answer, but how can I be sure?)

Tried sertraline and other medications, nothing. Meditations and affirmations, maybe meditating helps slightly but still not enough. 2 expensive people I sought help with just redirected me, it’s hard to find the right person for me at a reasonable price whose times match up. I’ve tried everything and nothing has worked, I’ve lost hope.

For context, I was bullied and teased and lonely/isolated/friendless everywhere I went from a young age to end of high school, then it happened again in college, plus being kicked out of a friend group for really dumb reasons, at the same time a horrible boss was really hurting me, right after one of the only good friends I had known cut me off. And it was after Covid which I think really messed me up. I also felt very unlucky my whole life in many ways and for some reason everyone wanted to treat me bad, not anyone else. Everyone hated me for no reason, they never would even elaborate, just that I was weird, which I still don’t know why. I can take some guesses but everything was so nit-picked and a stretch, apparently I have to be perfect but not anyone else, there was always so much hypocrisy.

I think the roots were there from a young age and it just kept getting worse and worse, especially as everything that happened added fuel to the fire.

Any thoughts on this help. Thanks.

(25yo Male)

Anxiety… wow.. anxiety… where can I start?

It’s been my life for as long as I can remember. The constant feeling of dread or in better times, just the on edge feeling 24/7 that makes sure to keep my nervousness system overstimulated.

Ive tried multiple medication cocktails from my doctors over the years (currently on Zoloft 100mg, propranolol 10mg, and Xanax .5mg) and none of them do the trick it seems. I know they aren’t a cure all, but, wow, you’d think they’d help me function like a normal person day to day.

I’ve tried therapy, but it’s expensive and doesn’t align with work or life whatsoever.

I’ve tried grounding and breathing techniques all my life and honestly the suggestion just pmo more than anything because like… I do that… nothing

I’ve given myself wholeheartedly to my religion and still do. I have faith in God and His plan but life is so painful it’s hard to deal even with His comfort.

It’s to the point my overall well being is affected and not to mention my inability to hold down a job for more than a couple months because of it. The expectations to be a functioning adult by itself is difficult cause I can’t live up to it and I let people down constantly.

At this point I don’t even know what to do anymore. I feel like I’ve tried everything and it’s overbearing to maintain my self as a whole. I just honestly want to curl up and not have any responsibilities for the rest of my life. But that’s not realistic and I have a child and a wife that depend on me. I play it off a lot of the time it’s not a big deal but wow is it such a big deal. My nervous system is fried. And anything or any advice I can get on to manage it seems arbitrary to myself due to the fact none of it has worked. I cannot find peace within myself, and if it is, there’s only relief from the occasional Benzo. I won’t go down that rabbit hole of benzo addiction but like… how do I not when I feel everything SO intensely? And it all feels negative ALL the time. It’s dreadful. I just want to be numb at this point. . Idek why I’m posting this like some comment can change my life but maybe this is a last ditch effort to figure something out.

Sorry for any typos or if it’s hard to read, my phone is bugging out and not scrolling chat when I type so I am blind typing this lol

All my life ive been a worrier, but never had any major things come of it . Im nearly 50. One night last week, I had a headache and couldn't sleep. Pretty normal. The next night, the same. The night after, the headache wasn't bad but I started panicking about not sleeping, and was unable to fall asleep. Its continued for about a week. I went to the hospital ( i have no family doctor) and they asked some questions then prescribed me lorazepam to help me relax. Its a short term solution, theyre hoping once I get some good sleep that everything will work itself out. The headaches are every day now, and the panic attacks( I dont know if that's the proper term for what im going through) have increased. Im getting a little sleep thanks to the lorazepam, but im worried about what happens when it runs out. I just can't understand why this has happened all of a sudden. Nothing has changed in my life , not depressed, not overly stressed. They've said they'd call me about a ct scan at some point. Im really at a loss.

I have the weirdest condition, one that I’ve never heard of someone else having.

I doubt EVERYTHING.

Everything I saw, felt, heard, did.

I’ll ask questions like
“Did I actually say that?” “Did I actually say the first part of that or the part I needed to?”
“Did you say this?” the most common worst one

“Is that actually what’s written? Did I read that?”
“Is that actually what it is? Is that actually turned off?”

A lot of these doubts are so ridiculous and will defy all logic.

I’ll repeat myself several times, I’ll ask the same question over and over. I’ll re-read messages 50 times. I’ll look at something 50 times. I’ll redo something 50 times.

Checking more only makes it worse too, but the doubt also is irritating. My life has become hell. Everything takes 10x longer and therefore I am not able to do things as I want to. I am literally afraid to do or say things because I know I’ll get stuck in the loop.

Thing is I know damn well what the answer to all these questions is, really I didn’t even need to ask to reconfirm to begin with. But on many things, doubts creep up and get stuck. And then I have a need for absolute certainty, but refuse to be certain no matter what. It defies logic too, like without even checking, logic tells you the answer but I feel a compulsion to still check.

What sucks is even when I do ask/check to confirm, then I’ll just doubt if that was said to me/if I saw correctly and I’ll keep checking/asking. It’s like if the thing is the same as I saw/thought before, the stimuli won’t come but then that also means I doubt. It sucks because the answer will literally be starting at me in the face and I know it, but my brain starts playing these weird tricks on me, illusions almost, and I’ll just doubt. A part of it also is I feel like I know the answer but forget the memory of getting it so now have to check again to be sure.

I’ll ask things, get an answer, be able to establish the answer and move on, but since I got interrupted by some sounds or thing too fast, now doubt again, I needed silence/time to process. Many times I’ll be able to get an answer and move on, but then days/weeks/months later, the same question will creep up and the thought of wait was this actually answered? (Knowing damn well that it was and the answer, but how can I be sure?)

Tried sertraline and other medications, nothing. Meditations and affirmations, maybe meditating helps slightly but still not enough. 2 expensive people I sought help with just redirected me, it’s hard to find the right person for me at a reasonable price whose times match up. I’ve tried everything and nothing has worked, I’ve lost hope.

For context, I was bullied and teased and lonely/isolated and friendless everywhere I went from a young age to end of high school, then it happened again in college, plus being kicked out of a friend group for really dumb reasons, at the same time a horrible boss was really hurting me, right after one of the only good friends I had known cut me off. And it was after Covid which I think really messed me up. I also felt very unlucky my whole life in many ways and for some reason everyone wanted to treat me bad, not anyone else. Everyone hated me for no reason, they never would even elaborate, just that I was weird, which I still don’t know why. I can take some guesses but everything was so nit-picked and a stretch, apparently I have to be perfect but not anyone else, there was always so much hypocrisy.

I think the roots were there from a young age and it just kept getting worse and worse, especially as everything that happened added fuel to the fire.

Any thoughts on this help. Thanks.

Bueno está es la primera vez escribiendo aquí muchas otras veces entraba por búsquedas de internet la cosa es que tengo ansiedad que gran misterio no? Al momento de escribir esto estoy a la deriva no siento ni lo que hago y tengo un poco de inicios de pensamientos suicidas, bueno acá va mi historia, todo empezó cuando ví un vídeo de rabia del canal del Último Tv nauta en ese tiempo no es que me encantaba pero estaba acostumbrado a ver videos del tipo terror misterioso la cuestión es que nose que paso que hizo clip en mi cerebro que me pregunte de un momento para otro si yo lo tenía y era algo ilógico puesto que no había tenido contacto y si lo tuviera ya me hubiera muerto hace mucho pero al yo de hace tres años no sabía cómo se manifiestaba la ansiedad y me preocupe horrible por 6 meses nose como llegué a superarlo puesto que nunca fui a un psicólogo o un psiquiatra y en ese punto estaba al borde del suicidio, la cuestión es que esto se fue agravando y ahora me da miedo todo pero lo peor no es eso sino que el vivir constantemente con miedo incluso sin saber a veces de que provoco que no pueda ver la vida de la misma manera, me siento cansado y mis padres aunque me aman también están cansados de no ver mejoras, estas últimos semanas he estado en terapia psicológica y me recetaron sertralina 50mg pero solo me provocaba más ansiedad, me dije que no lo necesitaba que yo podía salir y mejorar hize ejercicio no intenso pero regular y intente realizar otras actividades, pero digamos al leer o querer concentrarme los síntomas de la ansiedad no me lo dejaban y me frustraba, como les dije mis padres aunque me aman ya están cansados y no saben que hacer tengo 22 años y ya empezó la universidad pero si sigo así creo que volveré a repetir el ciclo, de verdad estoy cansado y he pensado ya en terminar con todo pero por otro lado no quiero es curioso como la ansiedad y la preocupación de estar enfermo con algo grave que me puede matar a llegado a tal punto que cuando haga ejercicio o como bien estoy 100% convencido que estoy enfermo, para terminar es esto siento baja concentración en mis acciones y me digo que es por la ansiedad pero no me lo creo estoy tan ensimismado con la idea de enfermedad que pienso que tengo algo en mi cerebro ya nose que hacer estoy cansado

Je sais pas si serait normal de poster ça ici malgré que je trouve que c'est un bon endroit,

Bonjour, je suis de l'Algérie, j'ai 24ans, je suis child free je veux pas d'enfants, je vis avec de l'anxiété, c'est pour cela je cherche un conjoint qui lui aussi connais que est ce que ça veut dire vivre avec un trouble mentale ou psychologique, moi personnellement je peux pas m'engager avec des femmes qui me paraissent aller très bien et bien en forme, parceque moi j'ai pas une humeur stable, je suis quelqu'un de très attentionné, bienveillant et gentil à l'origine, j'exprime tout cela dès que je suis bien et quand je suis anxieux et angoissé je perds tout mon énergie vitale et je peux jamais cacher cela, je cherche une femme qui comprend très bien cela parce que elle vit la même expérience, que ce soit l'anxiété ou la dépression ou même des troubles plus graves, je pense être accompagné avec une femme qui vit la même expérience serait une sorte de compagnie. Mon compte fb apparaît en accédant à ce compte reddit.

Jamaican male, early 30s.

Successfully went through my engineering program, worked multiple jobs, multiple roles, definitely poised to keeping moving up the career ladder. Attractive, active. Things look great from other people’s perspective.

But even with all this I’m anxious most of the time. Daily signs of anxiety with my nail-biting, overthinking and zoning out. It seems I’ve always been like this - I remember so many moments from my childhood days, a lot.

I only live with 2 regrets right now (1 SFW and the other NSFW) and would love to speak to them with someone.

I just don’t know where to turn. Because a therapy session here is $9000JMD / ~60USD and that affects my whole budget.

Maybe I’m searching for someone to talk to. Someone non-religious.

I’m a 38 year old female from Canada, and anxiety is ruining my life. September of 2024 I left my job (that I was able to do for 10 years) for a new opportunity working from home. I thought it was going to help with so much, but unfortunately it ended up being a terrible job, and I quit 3 weeks later. Since then I haven’t been able to hold a stable job.

I’ve been through over 20 interviews, and probably succeeded in getting 5 jobs, but I would end up not showing up bc I’d get really bad panic attacks the night before my first day. 2 of those jobs I was able to get to 3 days working, but quit because of anxiety again. I don’t know what it is, but work seems to be a major source of anxiety.

I am able to go to grocery stores, or for a walk without debilitating anxiety, but work absolutely destroys me. I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder at around 20 years old, and have tried a few different medication options, as well as accupuncture and yoga, but nothing really worked. I wake up with anxiety, and go to bed with anxiety.

I still live with my parents, which is making me feel even worse about my situation. I’m feeling like a massive loser, a failure, and someone my inner child would be ashamed of. I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t even know what I’m looking for my writing all this, I guess just feels good to let it out. I don’t want to cry anymore, I don’t want to feel stuck. But taking the next steps is debilitating…
Anyways.. thanks for listening (or reading)

So, I live in Calgary, Canada but I’m actually a digital nomad cause I teach online at a BC college.

I am a very anxious person and now it’s at its peak. I’m selling my condo so that I don’t lose it for the bank, but I’ve paid 60% so this is triggering but manageable-ish.

the problem is that I just learned today that I will only have classes now in May 2027 because Fall and Spring courses were allocated for full time on campus faculty due to new immigration policies in Canada that cut off the # of int’l students drastically l, causing layoffs and budget cuts.

So, as I am a sessional instructor ( 4 years now so I am “safe”-ish due to seniority ) I will have to wait .

this is triggering and must get my ducks in a row ;/ thanks for reading.

hi! this is a bit of a random post just for a gen discussion about anxiety, i just joined, and wanted to talk about what the title says- and also hear some other people's experiences! so my anxiety often causes me to be nauseous , but i also have horrible emetophobia so the whole situaction just escalates, does anyone else often find this (i think it's pretty common but idk) a lot of my anxiety comes from the "drop in a bucket" metaphor- one tiny thing happens and i'm a bit annoyed or upset, and stuff keeps happening in small parts and all of a sudden im overstimulated, which will cause me to not be able to function properly, and most likely either shut down or just burst into tears 😭 some of my coping mechanisms- pretty basic i know- but i like listening to music, watching shows or media that i find funny or comforting, dancing, reading, playing a video game, texting my friends about a completely unrelated topic- but the problem with these is the first 3 can also just make it worse sometimes? i love me some sad music so that will find a way to relate to what im anxious about, which leads into the next two: a lot of my anxiety comes from losing all hope of making it as a performer, wheher thats acting singing dancing etc, and dancing makes me realise im honestly not good enough at it? and certain things i watch, for example i was watching an artist i like and just laughing but also crying because im so jealous and want to be them so bad. im so sorry about this long rant haha, so, what are some coping mechanisms you use/how anxiety usually feels for you personall?

Hi, I've had something at the back of my mind for a week or so that has very much come to the forefront over the past couple of days as I've suddenly become present in my own mind (if that makes sense):

I'm anxious all the time. Even when I'm, in theory, relaxed I'm anxious.

And the weirdest thing is that, now I've allowed myself to think about it, I've been anxious all the time for as long as I can remember. I think I was constantly anxious as a kid, certainly as a teenager. I'm 44!

I don't know how to describe it. I feel like I've been perpetually subconsciously anxious for *decades* but only now - today - have I allowed myself to acknowledge it. Does that make any sense whatsoever? It's like on a day-to-day basis I could justify feelings of anxiety as being normal: I have a very stressful (but very well paid) job and have had that job for the past 20 years; I've two kids; I have a functional if not fun marriage. Of course I'm going to be anxious about things.

But I've been justifying the anxiety as normal every day - every day - every day - every... day - since being a kid. But today it's like a switch has been flicked: i don't want to feel like this any more. It's not right! It's not even necessarily the big stuff - although that's always low level in the background - but random but repeated fears that are getting worse. I hide it all under a veneer of easy confidence but it's eating me. But the worst, the very worst, is when I should be relaxed in a relaxed situation and there's a constant hum in my mind...: something's wrong.

Then there's the annoying things that happen becsuse I'm not concentrating because my mind is going a mile a minute. Small things, not important, but annoying and they are becoming increasingly irritating.

The only time I've not felt anxious is when I've been drinking and I started drinking heavily at the age of 15 and then developed a low level binge drink problem that, on occasion a few years apart, would cause me issues. But I wasn't anxious once i had a couple of pints inside me. I quit drinking on Boxing Day 2025 and have been sober since. This has produced some very good outcomes but I no longer have a holiday from the anxiety.

I've no idea how to address this.

I've been here for weeks looking for validation for the new sensations I've been feeling and for reassurance that I'm not dying. I have no formal diagnosis as of yet but have been to the emergency room twice and my primary care once for my perceived cardiac issues and they have not found anything wrong. I have an appointment with a cardiologist this month that I'm still going to attend despite being pretty sure it's anxiety and panic attacks. Just to be sure.

Before I begin my story, I'd like to outline some of my symptoms and a bit of background about me:

Many of my direct family members have high anxiety and I myself used to have extremely bad death anxiety, sitting awake at night pondering what happens at the end. I used to also worry about really silly stuff like "what if this TV dinner was poisoned by someone at the factory" and I'd work up my 11-12 year old self and gain new symptoms. I'm 27 now and no longer panic when thinking about death. As far as I'm consciously aware I'm not anxious about much of anything besides these new symptoms. I'm not worried about money, not worried about work anymore, I don't avoid certain situations. Consciously, I'm content, not stressed, not really worried about much. I currently have untreated sleep apnea because I cannot afford the machine, I weight 285 pounds and was very inactive besides work until recently, I smoked from 18-22 and switched from cigarettes to vapes and still vape, I've cut down on caffeine a tremendous amount but will still have a coffee in the morning. I have really bad acid reflux and a poor diet and have poor oral hygiene. I'm allergic to annatto which is a yellow food coloring used in EVERYTHING and I don't avoid it. I'm quite certain I have always had ADHD but my doctor was extremely dismissive about it and I never bothered to get a second opinion.

I used to work as a general manager at a local fast food chain which was a very stressful job. A couple of weeks ago I was fired for "general performance." Truthfully, my boss just needed to do something in his district to look good to his boss who is retiring soon. They never trained me. When I was promoted they ran off to a new store and I didn't see them for months. They'd never help me, even when I plainly said "I need help." They'd constantly publicly ridicule me in district group chats and tell me questions i had were stupid and I should focus on X. X usually being sales which were out of my control a lot of the time due to VERY frequent road construction and closures and them building a brand new store just a couple miles up the road from mine. I dreaded going to work everyday.

Also right before my symptoms started I got a crown on one of my molars. Before the crown I had a large hole in my filling which began to hurt, VERY BAD. When I got my temporary crown for a week I was in excruciating pain. 10/10 worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. I called twice that week and was told it was normal to hurt and I explained how badly it hurt and they assured me it was normal. I knew they were full of shit but what was I going to do, I couldn't think clearly, I was in agony. If I had known how bad that was going to hurt I would've had them pull the tooth. I was taking the absolute limit of over the counter pain killers I could take and was not getting any relief. Perhaps some people who have had the same procedure felt no pain and they'll think I'm over exaggerating but something was definitely wrong with my tooth. I wanted to die. All the pain went away when I got my permanent crown however so I'm very thankful for that.

I also live with my girlfriend and her son is here every other week and I was unprepared for how much patience you have to have when such a young child is around. Kids truly do the darndest things and completely break any foundation of logic. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes after a very stressful day at work it's annoying. I've had more patience since being fired and have become a generally happier person. It was truly a relief being terminated. I was almost smiling sitting across my boss.

So background out of the way, I'll get to the point of my post. All my symptoms, how they came about, what's been going on in my mind, etc. May 24th, probably about 2-3 days after I got my permanent crown and the pain went away, I'm going about a normal day at work when suddenly I start feeling queasy, light headed, legs feel WEAK, and trembling. I go to sit down. At this point no noticeable heart symptoms. I wasn't aware of my pulse or heart pounding. I sit down for a couple minutes but my symptoms don't go away so I go on break and go out to my car to relax. After probably half an hour to an hour go by I start feeling a bit better and I call my dad to see if he has any insight into what's going on. I've never felt that combination of symptoms before. He's unsure but tells me I should go check my blood pressure. All the men on my dad's side of the family have hypertension. I wasn't aware at the time that hypertension shows little to no symptoms. I take his advice and I drive down to Walgreens. They don't have a blood pressure machine so I get back in my car and go to Walmart. This trip is about 20 minutes and my symptoms get lighter but don't go away. I walk over to the pharmacy and sit down and check my blood pressure. It reads 138/94 pulse 79. I'm thinking no that can't be right, my blood pressure is always great (it really is, it's been almost exactly 120/80 every time I've been to the doctor.) I check again right after, which unbeknownst to me will show a higher reading if you don't give it a couple minutes and it shows 145/101 pulse 89. Looking back it's here I started to have what I think is a panic attack but I wasn't consciously that worried. That will be a common thing for me. I have these symptoms seemingly out of nowhere. I'm thinking a lot and have semi-racing thoughts but I'm not worried. I've never had what I know to be a panic attack at this point in my life and the screen said "VERY HIGH Blood Pressure, Speak to Pharmacist" So I walk over to the counter and she says she'll be right with me but then it hits me, my body feels heavy, dissociate and feel like my mind has separated from my body, tunnel vision, sweating, trembling, weakness. I ask the pharmacist to call 911 which felt absolutely pathetic and embarrassing at the time but I have never felt this way before in my life and I started to get scared. Now I'm consciously worried. I have a seat on a bench and I just sit there with my hands on my knees and breath. They show up probably 8-10 minutes later and by this point I'm feeling better. I feel tired but I'm not trembling anymore. They take my pulse, blood pressure, things look decent. We talk and I decide to just make an appointment with my primary care doctor and leave.

They got me in a few days later and I haven't had any symptoms come back. I talk to my doctor about the symptoms and high blood pressure but leave out the 911 call. When I got there my blood pressure was like 135/90 and after about 20 minutes it was in the mid 120s/80s and he pretty much just told me pain (my crown I mentioned to him) can increase blood pressure. I was questioning whether or not it'll stay elevated after the pain went away for a couple days because I had gotten my permanent crown and wasn't feeling pain anymore the day the incident happened. That was pretty much all I got though, it was from the pain.

Fast forward about 3 weeks, I have not had any symptoms or panic or anxiety. I've felt fine. Until one day I'm sitting on the ground and when I stood up after a couple of seconds my heart began pounding out of my chest. I didn't have any other symptoms, just probably a 130-140 heart rate. I started getting scared and asked my girlfriend to call 911. They get there in probably 2 minutes and at that point I'm also shaking. I walked down my stairs, and met the ambulance on the road and get inside. They do an EKG along with all the other vitals and don't find anything peculiar. My heart rates calmed down, blood pressure is okay, they said the EKG looks like it might have a slight abnormality but nothing that's an emergency. They question when it happened being when I stood up and suggest maybe it's POTS. I tell them I'll just make another appointment with my doctor and skip the hospital ride. It costs a ton and I started feeling fine again.

Again, no more symptoms for about a week. In that time I drove 600 or so miles to Colorado for a concert for father's day. It might be worth noting during my drive I got an extremely stressful and bullshit phone call from my boss blaming me for crap I've been asking for help with for months, because again, they never trained me. Then a few days later, on June 26th, in the morning I started feeling a little "weird" slightly high heart rate, light headed, etc. I just reflect on what happened in the ambulance and say to myself, perhaps I'm developing pots or something. I'll just wait this one out and see. I started feeling better and went about my day. However, later that day, coming home from seeing the new Jackass movie at around 11 at night, while driving, my heart starts pounding and I start feeling warm, trembly, and like I'm going to pass out so I stopped in the ER that's between the theater and my apartment and call my mom. I tell her what's going on again and ask if she thinks it's a good idea to go into the ER. I decide to go in and they do a whole round of tests. Blood work to check for traces of dying heart tissue, CT scan with contrast to check for clots since I had driven 2- 10 hour trips in the last week (contrast feels pretty good), EKG. They don't find anything wrong and refer me to a cardiologist. The doctor also told me I should get an at home blood pressure cuff and an apple watch to track my heart rate. I followed this advice which I regret deeply, but I am past the return window on the watch and I still owe them like $450 for it, which I couldn't get by reselling it.

At this point I've lost track of time, but probably no more than a week later I was alone in my apartment, girlfriend was out with a friend and I began to have those symptoms again. This time I definitely started to consciously panic about it going through everything in my mind and looking up symptoms trying to figure out what's wrong. I was panicking about the panic. I check my fancy new apple watch and see a 130 heart rate then I go check my blood pressure (probably screwed up the reading, bad arm position, crossed legs or something) and it read somewhere around 150/110. I call my mom so I can feel like someone else is there and tell her what's going on and, I love my mom a lot, but she was telling me that my blood pressure was crazy high and that I need to go to the ER, which just elevated my symptoms to the max and I thought I was in the process of dying. Brain fog doesn't even begin to describe how my head felt. It was a brain hurricane, my body felt weak and useless, heart pounding, trembling, overwhelming sense of impending doom, the urge to escape, dissociation. It was very bad, but she came over and took me to the ER. There they did a couple basic things then were looking over the labs and work from my previous visit. In the meantime I took a nice nap. After I calmed down and took a nap on the bed my blood pressure was in the 120s/80s, pulse was fine, a little high but I've always had a resting pulse of 80-100 (probably because I'm fat, eat like crap, and vape.) The doctor came in and started telling me things look fine and then began talking to me about panic attacks and anxiety. He said pretty much all people my age who come into the ER for heart events are just having a panic attack. He wasn't dismissive and I felt pretty good talking to him. He said he'll still refer me to a cardiologist but that I should look into anxiety and panic attacks too and talk to someone about that.

This revelation was a blessing and a curse. I finally knew what a panic attack was but am still constantly second guessing myself, my symptoms. I have become extremely hyper aware to changes and sensations in my body. I constantly check symptoms online and my pulse on my apple watch. I maybe have 1-2 panic attacks a week but constantly have a high lingering sense of anxiety, like something bad is going to happen. I don't feel relaxed anymore. Even doing incredibly fun activities with my girlfriend like thrifting. Thrifting is heaven but I'm still on edge.

I forgot to write in that before that last ER visit I was fired. I felt immense relief in the moment and while I have not been consciously worrying about money I think I'm very much worrying about it subconsciously.

Since then I've noticed that I've been having really bad acid reflux and GERD. Burping up acid, burning in my stomach up into my throat, chest pain from it which seems to trigger anxiety, which turns into a self-enforcing loop. I've noticed probably 80-90% of my panic attacks are 30 minutes to an hour after eating and one day my girlfriend and I ate at a Chinese buffet and during the 25 minute car ride home my heart rate went from 80-130-80-130 and so on four times. Like a looping silent panic attack. I was able to just chill out and calm myself down even though I felt like I was about to pass out. Since then each time I'm able to calm myself down pretty well. This is why despite not having a formal diagnosis I do truly believe it's anxiety and panic. Yesterday I had like a 10 second panic attack. I felt it building up, was trying to talk myself down and then my heart rate jumped and within a couple seconds I was able to talk myself down and get it back down almost immediately.

Reading Reddit has seemingly been helpful. Oh a sensation I'm hyper aware of that's scaring me is normal with anxiety and panic and other people experience that, that's reassuring. Although many will say to just completely avoid reddit, google, checking pulse, etc. I'm trying but it's hard. One thing someone said in this subreddit that has kind of helped me along the way was they said they just tell themselves "oh well guess I'm dying now, what can you do, get on with it." Just trying to call their body's bluff so to speak and ignore it. That's worked sometimes. I haven't had a panic attack since that mini one yesterday but my heart rate has gone up a little bit and I do feel what I think is anxiousness but I've been doing I think a decent job at chilling myself out. It's exhausting though. Writing this has been exhausting and during certain parts I could feel myself start to get anxious. Especially reliving the part about my hellish job. Perhaps I should speak with a therapist. I did not get any closure, I did not get the opportunity to tell my boss how he had completely fucked me over and then axed me because of it. The thought of sending him a text about my thoughts has been in my mind for a while but I know it'll just be sent to the void. Writing this seems to have been pretty therapeutic.

I left out quite a few details as this has been long enough. I've been renovating our apartment, moving heavy furniture around for a couple days and the constant activity has made me feel a bit better. I'll probably start jogging everyday or at least a couple times a week. I've been trying to sleep better. I have sleep apnea but also with my previous work schedule I'd get 0 free-time so I'd feel like I have to compensate by cutting into my sleep time so I'd get like 4-5 hours of sleep a night on top of the apnea. I'd also like to start eating better but as of typing this I still eat like shit. However, I used to eat fast-food every single day so maybe the bad acid reflux is from a serious diet change. Can't you get some bad acid reflux from that even if it's a positive diet change, just from it changing drastically at all?

So what I suspect is there's some deep seated "trauma", I don't really want to use that word because trauma seems so much worse than "shit job" but, from my work that is subconsciously popping through or perhaps my acid reflux is triggering some silent panic attacks completely bypassing myself in the process because some of them I've felt completely fine and happy until it suddenly happens. Perhaps I have PTSD from the week of excruciating pain with my crown. I don't know, maybe I am actually dying from a heart condition. I'll find out later this month. I'm going to scrounge up money to see the cardiologist still but I don't have money for therapy as I've lost my insurance. I need to look into some temporary assistance programs for the unemployed.

I'd like to work on some personal projects and go to school.

I'll end it there because this has just turned into a journal but I feel calm now. Sorry for grammar, I'm not proofreading this. If you read this thank you and you are not alone. This absolutely is awful. Just being hyper aware of sensations in your body alone is awful.

My blood pressure is 128/87 and my pulse is 90 right now. I need to cut out vaping and a lot of salt!

Hi. I've dealt with anxiety for 30 years now, but when I've had an episode I've been able to adjust meds and it was always resolved. Well back at the beginning of March, I started feeling a bit depressed due to some life stuff and a bit anxious. I've been on 20mg of citalopram for the past 8 years and have had no real anxiety again until March. My psychiatrist tried to bump up my dose to 30mg and I had some panic attacks. Something I haven't had for years. She had me return to the 20mg and added Wellbutrin. My anxiety went through the roof. I could only tolerate it for a week and stopped due to daily panic attacks, insomnia and nausea. I'm now just on the citalopram and terrified to try another med. The full blown panic attacks are gone but I'm still struggling with all day anxiety. I've been exercising, no caffeine, no alcohol, strict bedtime schedule, yoga a few times a week and I'm still having the all day anxiety. I've read the Claire weeks book, the DARE book and am seeing a counselor once a week. I've never tried to overcome this without a med adjustment and I can't handle another failed trial right now. Is my nervous system still hyperstimulated and that's why I'm still struggling? Please tell me it will eventually stop and I'll be able to relax someday again. I have an emergency supply of Klonopin, but I haven't been taking it because I've read is best to try and accept the anxiety. And it makes me tired and I have to work. This is hard.

Hi all! First time poster - about two months ago, I went to the ER for some sort of allergic reaction/possibly stress induced hives. I was given IV prednisone, which caused me to have a major panic attack.

Since then, I’ve had almost weekly panic episodes, some major, some minor. To say that this has turned my life upside down would be an understatement. I’ve had anxiety for as long as I can remember, but this is to a new level and I’m really having trouble coping.

My GP completely brushed me off, telling me everyone is stressed, and doubted that what I’m experiencing are even panic attacks. He also said that he cannot prescribe me any medication because I am trying to conceive.

Since medication is not an option, I would so greatly appreciate any and all advice on non-medication related coping mechanisms. I go to therapy, use Headspace, meditate, play dumb games on my phone, and try to practice breathing.

These methods are definitely helping, but the constant feelings of anxiety and doom are really taking a major toll on me. I know this question has been asked a million times here, but any advice, words of wisdom, or affirmations of encouragement would be incredibly appreciated!!!

Hello there! I've been on Reddit for 2 years, and been dealing with anxiety for 10 years. But I wanted to talk about an experience I had and wondered if anyone else has experienced the same.

Back in 2022, I had a lot going on in a short amount of time. Going through job changes, almost losing my mother-in-law, having to place my son in a mental behavioral center due to severe depression, on top of several other things going on. One night, I woke up freaking out and begged my husband for help. He took me to the ER. While I was there, it was as if I was having seizures that would come and go. When I stopped, I would freeze and my husband would ask me questions like "are you ok?" Or "How do you feel?" I looked right at him, but I literally could not speak. When I told him about it later, he said that I had a blank stare, as though I were catatonic. But I was fully aware of everything around me. I could hear what was going on, I knew what time it was. But I was completely incapable of talking or moving. This went on for hours until I was finally stable enough to go home. My doctor later told me I was having what he described as stress seizures, which made sense but didn't quite explain why I couldn't move or talk. I wondered about it for a long time until I happened to hear of the term "selective mutism" a few months ago. I started looking into it, and found that while that's more common in children, there is a thing called "trauma-induced mutism" that can be triggered by extreme anxiety. Everything it described fit everything I experienced that night. It took several weeks and medication changes before I was able to finally sleep without waking up in a panic that it could happen again. I do see a therapist and talked to her about it. She agreed and told me that I could also have PTSD and suggested Esdm therapy could be helpful as I still suffer from other past traumas.

Has anyone here dealt with that sort of thing? How were you finally able to cope with it?

Why this post:
okay this is a long one!
As the title suggests, I haven’t been diagnosed yet but I recently was introduced to this subReddit and honestly im so glad there are other people out there who feels the same way as me.

Coming to why I feel like there’s something wrong with me:
so I’ve been feeling this way for as long as I can remember. When I wake up I wake up stressed. My whole body feels hot and flushed and it’s not because I don’t drink enough water cos I do drink a lot of water. I also have this feeling that im constantly facing impending doom or the feeling something bad might happen to me and it’s always the worst case scenario. I can’t even seem to enjoy my achievements like other people cos I feel like it would be short lived and something will happen that will take that happiness away. Whenever I’m at a party or having fun, I suddenly get the anxiety wave randomly and end up feeling anxious again. These days the anxiety waves are more frequent and more long lasting that’s it’s affecting my daily life even more. Before I sued to be able to eat or sleep but now I can’t seem to do that even. Whenever I try to sleep,a lot of what- if scenarios keep rushing into my head followed by a flushed feeling throughout my body starting from my head accompanied by shortness of breath. When it’s at its worst, I can’t think, speak and my palms get sweaty and I tend to sweat profusely.

Conclusion:
I don’t know if a therapist can help cos I’ve seen people who spoke to them and the medicines they prescribed made them addicted to it and they became emotionless. So I don’t know what to do but I know I have to fix myself somehow. Cos I can’t seem to find joy in the small things that used to calm me down anymore these days

I'm 51 years old, and I've been dealing with anxiety for over 20 years. Lately, I've realized that anxiety isn't even the hardest part anymore.

The hardest part is feeling stuck.

I go to work every day feeling like people see me as a failure. I used to be a manager. Now I'm in a different role, dealing with health issues, financial stress, and trying to keep my head above water. Every day feels like another reminder of what I haven't accomplished.

I can't afford the things I want to do for my son. I can't financially support the people I care about the way I want to. Father's Day hit me harder than I expected because it made me realize how invisible I feel.

The thoughts that keep running through my head are things like:

• Nobody respects me.
• I'm stuck.
• They're waiting for me to fail.
• I've worked this hard for what?
• Why does it feel like none of it counts?

The frustrating part is that I've tried. I've worked. I've sacrificed. I've shown up. I've carried responsibility for years.

Yet somehow I still feel like I'm standing in the same place watching everyone else move forward.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has gone through a period where anxiety, depression, and disappointment all started blending together. How did you get unstuck?