For a long time (about 4 years), I've been experiencing severe anxiety, which prevents me from sleeping to this day. It takes me 1–2 hours to fall asleep every night, sometimes up to 4 hours. And I barely sleep after that. I'm afraid of literally everything: a thief will definitely break into my house (I'm even afraid to be alone, and that's why I haven't been able to sleep for 4 hours today), and I could also be killed in the entryway (well, that's what I think).The elevator also seems dangerous to me. It's the same with everything, including the street.. I feel like I need professional help, so I'm asking for advice on how to prepare for it, what exactly should I share? Or perhaps you know some anxiety-relief techniques?

My partner sleeps in a tent which is set up on top of her bed so she can’t be touched or seen whilst she sleeps. She is afraid of bugs touching her and believes people will look through the window (yes the blinds are closed). She wont let me open the windows but insists the bedroom door stays open. We’ve talked about it and she laughs about it but on occasions where I’ve tried to discourage it she gets freaks out. I don’t know what to do and I don’t want to ask friends or family members because of how it sounds. Any advice or words of encouragement?

Not to long ago I was diagnosed with general anxiety after a few health flags caused me to go to the doctors. After a few test they reported everything as fine. However, I do have some physical symptoms that linger because of the anxiety such as lump in throat, chest pains, racing heart, air hunger, and a few others. I just wanted to get on here and ask what are some physical symptoms some of you guys face from day to day?

I have been having episodes like my throat feels so tight and my heart starts to race fast and I feel like I can’t swallow sometimes….anyone else experience this ?

im about to turn about 14 in a month or so and identify as trans ftm, im going through counseling through my really fancy small college prep school, which will probably help but i cant stop having anxiety attacks about everything after school started. i usually dont act like this and ive been super off after school started and i havent been able to sleep or stay away from my laptop or phone. it feels like all my friends are being weird and everybody around me is staying away because im transgender. my parents think im super off. any advice?

Hello everyone! I'm really struggling with life, and I would really appreciate some advice.

I want to start off by saying that I do have a psychologist who does their best to help me. I've had two sessions of acceptance and commitment therapy so far, but I haven't been diagnosed with anything.

The main thing I struggle with is a compulsion to write down everything I say or do. This might sound like a minor thing, but it can take up to two hours a day, depending on what I've done.

Because of this, I've started distancing myself from people and social situations, see it as a kind of self isolation. I try to avoid it as much as I can, as I already said, but soon I won't be able to avoid the situations anymore. College is starting again, and I'm entering my internship year, three internship days a week, with one school day every two weeks. On top of that, I need to keep up with in real life friends at least once a week too.

This is all a lot for me, and I'm terrified I'll succumb to the pressure of the social interactions, the work, the schoolwork, and the writing.

I'm also going on holiday with my mom at the end of this week, and since it's a busy trip, I'm worried I won't be able to write. And I also have to finish schoolwork in advance, because I'll be away for a while. (I want to specify that this trip was planned a long time ago, when I was in a better place mentally, and that cancelling it isn't an option.)

But underneath all of this is the fact that I really want to be liked by others, and I'm absolutely terrified of people disliking or judging me, and what that could lead to. I have a lot of irrational fears tied to that, which I won't list here. In addition, the writing also helps me understand who I am in a way, if that makes sense?

The writing helps relieve stress and gives me peace of mind, since I can read back on situations to see how they played out. But because of how long it takes, I really hate doing it, and it causes me to get very annoyed with myself too. On top of everything, the stress has wrecked my sleep schedule, and I barely have an appetite, which is causing weight loss.

For some reason I also feel like I need to apologize to whoever reads this, so I'm sorry for bothering you with this. Any advice or comments about your own experiences are welcome. I'd normally be terrified of posting something like this online for "everyone" to see, but I'm in quite a hole right now, and I don't know how to get out.

F21. Conversation with older people? So easy to talk to, they will yap about life for ages. Conversation with younger? Most of my interests growing up are still a thing to talk about now so not difficult to talk to either.

My age? I’m panicked. A mumbling mess. I want to RUN away. Making friends feels impossible right now. I get so much anxiety from it, I hateee it.

How do you get over that? I feel like there’s a such a disconnect with my peers (or whatever word to describe that group lol). Not attending college doesn’t help, even if I work. Most coworkers are years older than me.

So gotta admit FOMO is eating at me bit by bit. I can be comfortable alone. I have family by me. I just feel comfortable enough to want something outside of that for a change..?

I want to meet nice new people and have idk adventure somewhere lol.

About 30 minutes ago, I started to feel anxiety again. It’s been really bad the past couple of days. But I told myself to not look too much into it, and that I’m not in danger. And I actually got through without completely breaking down! That’s really good for me :)

I also haven’t taken my extra anxiety medicine yet either, which made this extra hard to handle.

Hello!

I’m a 19 year old male in college and this only started happening recently at the start of summer break a couple months ago. During the day around like 3pm I get randomly super super exhausted like I can fall asleep any second but I know if I fall asleep then I’ll wake up to early and mess up my sleep schedule so I always push for 9-12pm to fall asleep but by that time I’m randomly like not tired I think? My brain can’t stop thinking about stuff about death what it’s like and how I’m scared of it about my family members about random stuff as well i just can’t stop thinking and reach a sleepy state, even though i could Harv fallen asleep super fast earlier in the day. This also leads to me not getting much sleep because i have to wake up early for classes and also sometimes i wake up in the morning and the same racing thoughts happen again. I also take trazodone (half a pill) and it is still not helping, it’s very on and off it used to work very well for like 3 nights but now I barely feel anything.

Saw a post from a year ago and couldn't reply so figured id start my own.

I am dealing with this awful head sensation. Like a wave going through my head. Or a quick intense movement in my head. Sinking,Falling idk. It lasts seconds and then my heart races for seconds. I always fear im gonna faint. But its not that standing up too fast head rush feeling. I have vestibular issues and dysautonomia (POTs) but its not that type of dizziness head feeling either. It doesnt matter what im doing when it happens. Today I was sitting and laying down when it has happened. I was pretty calm too.

Has anyone else had or have this? Maybe you can help me explain it better to doctors? Its so scary. I had it for a while then it stopped and now its back.

I don’t know what to do anymore. I have a therapist and a psychiatrist. I’ve talked to them both about my anxiety and lack of motivation, but I’m afraid to mention suicidal thoughts. I don’t know anyone else who is in my situation. Many of my experiences growing up and the way that I think are very unique.

Most people either don’t understand or don’t care. My father is awful and mentally unstable, and my mother enables him and has been frustrated with my depression lately. I’ve talked to my aunt (the only person who truly listens,) but she can only do so much.

School just makes everything ten times worse because I have awful anxiety, and my medication does nothing to help it. I don’t understand anything, and I can’t breathe when I’m at school. Most people there find me annoying, and the people that do tolerate me don’t relate to me in any way. All my “friends” have easier lives than mine.

They can’t fathom what it’s like for your own father to treat you like a burden. They don’t think for themselves. All of them are like everyone else. They all have the same humor, slang, style, personality. I hate it. None of it makes sense. Everyone is the same, now. No one is like me. I hate TikTok, I hate Pinterest, I hate trends, I hate new music, I hate new language, I hate that dumb humor everyone has some form of, and I hate that ironic, cartoonish personality. None of them have had that experience, and none of them are emotionally equipped to empathize with me.

I just wish I had real friends that understood me and cared about the real me. I wish I had friends who looked at the world in the way I did, and behaved accordingly. I wish I had friends who were broken like me.

I’m not talented either; I never have been. My life is a waste. I only suffer. The only thing I’m good at is writing, and I have no time for that anymore because of school. Everything only gets worse for me. All there is left to do is die.

I’ve known of my anxiety disorder for 4 years now. However, only in recent years have I begun to realize that I have certain anxiety triggers that are very specific. One of them being women’s issues.

You’d think that I would stay away from discussion of women’s issues, and to an extent, I do. I even left r/twoxchromosomes because I was constantly triggered by some of the recurring topics being posted about there. However, I am still a feminist, so I try to support women when I can. This sometimes means talking about things I may not want to or watching or liking a social media post related to feminism that may trigger me. I do it even if it bothers me because I intend to put my morals before my own interests, and I feel guilty when I don’t.

Something I’ve noticed recently, though is that I sometimes trigger myself when I don’t need to. For example, if I see a post asking a biology question, I’ll check the comments when I know a comment may be about female anatomy, and I’ll even scroll down until I see one. I’ll purposely pick up books about women’s suffrage just because I’m curious, knowing how it’ll affect my mental state.

So do I like being triggered? Do I like the anxiety attacks I get when I feel triggered? Or am I just curious? Is this a form of self-harm? Please give guidance and advice.

As the title suggests, I'm currently dealing with nausea pretty much constantly as a result of anxiety.

It began like 3 years ago when I watched a horror movie and was exceedingly anxious the weeks following, with my main symptom being the nausea.

I am now well over the movie, but the symptom has stuck with me, and transformed into its own thing where thinking about going out especially to eat triggers intense nausea. Even when I don't even feel consciously anxious, I am still often nauseous. It can also come and go very quickly, where if I get immersed into an activity it pretty much disappears, and then as soon as I sort of lose attention for a second, even if I'm not nauseous, just checking can already trigger. It is pretty much my only physical symptom, although it can trigger some hot flushes in the event where it is very intense. I have still very rarely skipped an event as a result, and push through sometimes exceedingly unpleasant nausea, but it still comes back the same if not worse the next time around.

I was on Lexapro for 2 years and this helped immensely. I almost completely forgot about the anxiety and nausea completely, and even when I did get it, it was only during very anxiety inducing situations and would be very brief. I did activities that would have previously triggered my nausea and anxiety like going out and eating at a restaurant multiple times a week. I was on 10mg and then decided to start weening off it a few months ago. I went from 10 to 5 to 2.5mg over a few months, followed by 2.5 to 0.

The first 2 weeks of 2.5 to 0 were fine, just some dizziness which I experienced after every drop, but after about 3 weeks, the intense nausea and anxious thoughts came back. I have since got back on 2.5mg for a few days and it does not seem to be helping. Is the 2.5 no longer effective? should i go back to the original 10mg?

But my main question is, what is the key to long term recovery? I understand everyone has their things like peppermint or ginger or whatever that helps it in the moment, but I feel as though they might just become safety strategies. Even if the lexapro does help again, does this mean I will need it for life, since my brain doesn't seem to adapt even after repeated exposure.

Thank you!

i'm 18 and i haven't driven in like a year but i still renew my permit. my sister is 16 and shes getting her license soon already. i feel super behind. i want to be able to drive places so badly. i really want to volunteer at a national park but its 45 mins away and my parents can't drive me that far. i just feel so down about it a lot but i know it's probably not safe. i disassociate, my chest gets tight, etc. it's silly how i get so scared about driving i make it unsafe. i wish i could just be normal

Hi,

Recently i’ve been accepting that I have OCD. It’s gotten better, like a lot better, but then ofc something major happened to trigger it. I’m in a relationship and i love my partner so much. We don’t actually fight but we do both struggle with mental illness. Sometimes we can both be a lot for each other but rn especially my OCD is taking over everything. I want to get better but I’ve never been taught tools or ways to cope with it. I want to research and get help, i want to fix this to save our relationship and so I can process big problems on my own. Rn when a huge event happens i can’t seem to process it on my own. I go to therapy and my therapist helps me break it down then it’s fine until something big happens again. What can I do to help manage this? Does anyone have book recs, podcast, or content creator recommendations? I just want to make things better.

Just got diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia.

I don't know what to feel. As if all the abuse and trauma, no job no money no house, having ideation, and now this.

Since it appeared it wreaked havoc in the few things that still survived.

Please, is someone also going through all the trauma plus this disease?

Are there any tips to calm down my anxiety. I've been dealing with mild anxiety for the past couple days and I can't do anything to stop it. I feel terrible, I have no motivation and sometimes it goes away for like 20 minutes. My heart beats fast and I dont have the urge to eat and i feel so sluggish. It also sucks because I can't focus in class and its hard to remember stuff.

as a certified passenger, I’ve (26F) had my license for 4 years now and still have 16k miles on the car. I mainly take public transit or walk to get around places because parking in the city or in small plazas is a nightmare. or I ask for rides and offer gas money. I’m extremely afraid of driving alone because:

(1) it’s a brand new 2022 mid size suv bought from my absent dad, it’s so special to me and I’m afraid of damaging it.

(2) she has a dumpy in the back ✨🚗

(3) the 3-4 way intersection stops

(4) my nmother has ignored me my entire life.

my nmother is overly criticized, neglectful, and made me believe that I’m not worth the hassle to support in other life aspects. I am not a capable adult. everyone in my family keeps telling me that I NEED TO DRIVE. I AGREE. driving is a useful skill and very freeing. I yearn for that freedom. I drive completely fine and normal only when there’s someone sitting beside me, or I’m following someone’s car. I feel that way because I don’t trust myself and therefore they have a better judgement than me. unfortunately this limitation is affecting my current romantic relationship and job opportunities.

Anyways… what did you learn in therapy, and how are you overcoming driving anxiety? I want to be a better version of myself and not burden others. Does also decorating your car help too? thanks :)

Llevo aproximadamente 2 meses tomando Fluoxetina, mas sin embargo no tengo la menor idea de por que mi ansiedad se volvió el triple de grave de lo que era, llevo 5 años con ansiedad y hasta el momento pues solo podía sobrevivir con ella pero aun que disminuía nunca se fue. Actualmente estoy tomando fluoxetina pero mis ataques de ansiedad se han vuelto el triple de horribles, de verdad me siento encadenado a mi mente, como si hubiese vuelto al principio sin progreso.

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​Ciao a tutti. Scrivo qui perché sto attraversando un momento molto difficile e vorrei un confronto con chi magari ci è passato o ha qualche consiglio da darmi.

​Ho una deformitá cranica che mi crea un fortissimo disagio. La situazione è diventata difficile da gestire su due fronti:

​Con me stesso: Ogni volta che mi guardo allo specchio provo grande frustrazione e fatica ad accettare la mia immagine.

​Con gli altri: L'impatto sociale è pesante. Mi sento sempre sotto osservazione, provo ansia ad uscire e questo mi porta a isolarmi ed evitare occasioni sociali.

​Non voglio che questa condizione continui a limitare la mia vita.

​C'è qualcuno che vive o ha vissuto una situazione simile? Come siete riusciti a gestire l'ansia e il giudizio degli altri? Se avete fatto un percorso terapeutico o trovato strategie utili per ritrovare la serenità, mi farebbe davvero piacere leggerle.

​Grazie a chiunque dedicherà un minuto per rispondere.

At what point do I know if I need to go back to the dr for gi issues

I'm under a lot of stress and have been for a year I got diagnosed with a hiatus herna and acid reflux ealier this year and I've been having issue recently it seems to be worse

Things have gotten a title better sense it's gotten cooler but I'm suspecting my stomach is emptying slowly I'm always using cannabis to help with everything but recently I'm flaring bad

I'm getting nerve pain like little zapping pains under right breast right below ribdcsge

have had a few days I threw up fully I undigsted food I ate 12 hours prior I can't eat meals half the size I use ti be able to with it getting sick and I'm lost on what to do . I'm scared to go to the doctor I had a couple people yell at me and accuse me of faking and shit late last year when I was having my worst flare up this was before I got the hernia diagnosis so that just keeps replaying on my mind

I have a metting next week with the mental health worker in the GP office and I was thinking of saying something but idk it's weird cause idk if it really is my head or sksmthjng more but downplaying everything as anxiety just feels like gaslighting myself im so fucking lost on what to do

For refrence I live in England if that matters for anything

I’ve always had horrible anxiety that is most prominent in the evening/night and it keeps me awake. I am f18 and I recently got my first pet and he’s adorable I love him so much he needed to be moved out his home as he kept having kittens with the female and they were unhappy. I got him booked into be neutered next week and I’ve bought him sooo many treats/toys/catnip, he chose my room as his safe room so I let him have it I like sleeping in the lounge anyways, but today I noticed he was breathing fast/wating a lot and licking himself and someone in here said he may have fleas/worms so I have him the flea medication and he is so sleepy which my friend and google says is normal but it’s giving me such anxiety he’s having a reaction that I had a panic attack and called 999 bc I couldn’t breathe I just want to be a good mom to him. I want to keep him I love him and I would never want him in a shelter that’s horrible to I guess I need to get my act together but I am having globus sensation and chest pains now and breathing issues. It’s horrible and I also live alsone, the 999 people said they would call me back in 20 and I’m glad they didn’t bc they want me to come in as I’m dizzy/black out when I gf panic attacks but I can’t leave him.

Mi primer ataque de pánico fue lo que me causó mi ansiedad, tenía 11 años y me dio un ligero dolor de cabeza, días atrás un familiar había sufrido un ACV y mi ataque de pánico me hizo pensar que era uno y como sabes los ataques de pánico dan debilidad en las piernas, mareos, (en mi caso) migrañas y por ende aura visual, temblor en piernas. Lo peor de todo es que después de eso quedé tan estresado por tanto tiempo que tenía cefaleas tensionales diarias, fue un infierno. Honestamente no tengo idea de como superar este trauma y miedo, dejé de ir al gimnasio por miedo a sufrir uno. Al platicarselo al psiquiatra pues que puedo decir, solo me dijo “No lo pienses, no te va a pasar” Joder lo sé pero no sé por que se me dificulta tanto y vuelvo a caer en buscar por internet, por un tiempo creyeron que tenía un tic en la cara pero no, era yo verificando cada segundo que no me estuviese dando uno. De verdad quisiera poder superar esto pero no sé como evitarlo y olvidarme.

hello am very anxious person am also in the look out for things to go south i always think of worse case scenario am always stressed about something am always triggered by something am just in survival mode all the time right now am very anxious because someone does not like me at work am always plotting they might fire is that even normal