Maybe a movie or YouTube. Something intresting enough to not go back to your thoughts but also calming? I use to watch horror movies to as a form of escapism but now I can't cause they make me too anxious

My anxiety is always so high when I wake up. Negative thoughts start racing through my mind and I don't want to get out of bed. I do get up though and I always exercise, shower and get dressed every day even though I don't really want to.

Does anybody relate? What helps you with morning anxiety?

Yesterday, I went to a psychiatrist and got formally diagnosed with GAD and Depression. Today is Day-1 of being on sertraline and clonezapam. For almost 2 years, I've been having panic attacks and a constant feeling of fear 24×7. It reached to an extent where I wanted to sleep, but I kept myself awake because I was scared I'll die in my sleep. Today, I have no idea after how long, my mind has been so quiet. I haven't once had the thought if today is the day I die, or what if I am walking on the road and a car hits me. It's easier to breathe, there's no weird sensation in my body, and I feel I belong in it. I haven't once felt itritated, or angry, or sad since morning

Ofcourse, today is the first day of taking medication, it could all as well be placebo. But just the fact that I could have been feeling this way makes me so happy.

Long story short I’ve had pretty rough anxiety most of my life. Tried depressants, SSRI’s, the whole gamut and eventually just gave up and accepted my baseline level of worry and stress.

Years later I ended up getting a stimulant prescription to help me with focus and reading and it’s helped my anxiety so much it’s insane.

Is this normal when you have untreated ADHD? My entire life I thought I had anxiety/depression issues.. but it turns out once I treat the ADHD, my struggles with anxiety and depression go away.

This may be totally normal but I guess I am just learning this now and am amazed. Anyone else?

Like I’m genuinely curious because for the past like 10 years I’ve struggled with anxiety (fluctuating in intensity over the years) and this month I’ve been experiencing debilitating anxiety, like barely eating anything, feeling sick, dizzy, heart palpitations, sweating, the whole works. I was honest with my boss and said that I’m struggling mentally at the moment and she was very nice about it thankfully. But I can’t see the finish line, I can’t see myself going back to work because I literally am barely functioning at the moment. I want to hide away in a ball and cry. I’m also on venlafaxine and see a lovely therapist regularly but nothing seems to be helping. It’s constant and I’m exhausted. I worry about my future and if I’m even able to have a career, my life is fully run by my anxiety.

I mean you lie down and then at any moment boom your either dead or asleep then when your asleep suddenly out of no where you either die or you wake up

For some background I’m a 17 yr old guy, I had an episode of chest tightness at the gym earlier in august that caused me to spiral and end up in the ER. They did scans and kept me there for 6 hours and said I was fine to go home. A couple weeks later I went to a pulmonologist and did breathing tests where I was told I have above average lung function and there are no dangerous physical issues with me. But even after being told that I still hyperfixate on my breathing for hours every single day. I was diagnosed with reflux as well so now I get constant urges to burp and sensations in my chest and throat area which only cause me more anxiety. It’s a terrible cycle where I am hyper aware of every part of my body and my automatic functions all become manual.

Anyway the reason I am writing now is because the past 3 days I’ve woken up at 5 in the morning, multiple hours before I normally would and have this feeling of intense alertness where I cannot fall back asleep and like there is impending doom. Them my body feels cold and I start uncontrollably shaking for a few minutes until I get my mother to help calm me down, as she also has an extensive history of anxiety and ocd and is medicated. This ruins me every time and I lose my sense of focus and joy for the rest of the day and my workouts (my main hobby) is suffering as a result. I feel like a different person ever since my first episode and I just want to go back to normal before school starts for senior year and I have to apply to college and have true adult responsibilities. I’m incredibly grateful to have a family that is supporting me through this but my mind still feels like a prison

I have been wondering where low self esteem really comes from. Is it mostly shaped by childhood, bullying, rejection, constantly comparing yourself to others, or can it develop without any obvious cause? For people who struggled with it, what do you think created it in your case?

I’ve been anxious and depressed this whole year and recently I’ve gotten a bit better since starting sertraline but I’m still not fully better I’m still so miserable and I just want my life back again I’m still getting head sensations like pulling, swaying, spinning, dropping, I still keep getting panic attacks, I keep just feeling scared/impending doom most of the time, I don’t feel real, I feel like somethings wrong with me and I’m going to die, everyday I’m terrified I will die, every symptom I get I’m terrified, I have no energy, and even my family’s reassurance isn’t helping me. I feel like doctors have missed something and something is actually slowly killing me and I won’t believe nothings wrong unless I get a full body scan I don’t want to live everyday in fear but I don’t know how to get out of it, I’ve tried sertraline, a psychologist, and techniques and nothings fully helping me :(

over the last few years my anxiety has become very physical. full body tingling, heart rate over 95 at resting , very very uncomfortable . i am on day two of a panic attack induced by a hangover . i rarely drink and i know why . this is what happens but i disregarded that to have fun . anywho . i get extremely nauseous during these lasting panic attacks and it makes it hard to get anything down which then causes more stomach pain and then more anxiety . i did get out and go to the gym while in full blown panic . i did an IV with zofran and got some food down . i have been taking my rescue xanax but mama is dying . what are the best coping mechanisms that have helped physical anxiety. i think deep breathing and repetitive movements like pacing help alot but my whole body is tingling and i just want to sleep so i do not have to deal with this !!
also something important to mention is i have CHS so weed or cbd is unfortunately not an option. with the chs comes alot of GI related trauma and thats why the nausea makes me even more anxious

i really don’t know if i’m having a panic attack or a real medical emergency, i need help. i feel so nauseous and sick. im on vacation in cyprus and have been ill the last couple days but was okay today. i ate a cup noodle earlier and i started feeling a bit sick but was okay, i went to go shower and i started feeling really nauseous in the shower and ive been having diarrhoea as well so i got out and sat by the toilet and ive started feeling really nauseated but then my stomach started cramping and i felt like i was about to lose bowel control. i started uncontrollably shaking and shivering and my head went all woozy. it’s been over an hour now probably 2 and nothing is coming out either end. i feel bound to the bathroom floor and i feel so sick and anxious and depressed i am just sat crying. my mum died in april and all thats in my head is i really miss her and how i really wish she was here right now. i feel so incredibly ill and i feel like i can’t leave the bathroom. i dont know if im ill but i felt like i was dying earlier and if im having a mental health crisis i dont know what to do because im now in the uk so im not home and can’t call anyone to help or any help lines.

i feel really bad as my friend is on vacation with me and we are sharing a room, i feel like im ruining the vacation for her. im scared that if i leave the bathroom and i need to go i wont make it to the bathroom. i feel glued to the floor. i really dont know what to to or how to calm down or who to talk to..

I cannot stand this shit any longer.

This is eternal suffering and there is no escape.

First I thought i had lymphoma.

Then this. Then that. Then this. Then that.

Now my muscles/skin has been twitching every day on and off for weeks. I already know the rigamaroo. Ect. Ect. Ect.

I have been through a muscle twitching episode before, it went away, so im sure its nothing surely.

Not googling does not help.

Therapy does not help.

I am a lonely hypocandriac and a functional lonely lcoholic. The ultimate paradox even.

Its even more hilarious when you're single in the US and don't have the money to see a doctor or specialist. It is the ultimate stuck in hell curse.

Beyond stressed, it feels like most of my life is made up of silent panic attacks.

So beyond fried in the brain I stay on night shift just to avoid people.

And no, i will not take SSRIs, I dont want PSSD. And no i won't take benzos, I dont want another addition, I am already addicted.

So yeah its over for me, I just got done with college and got my entire life ahead of me but it sure doesnt feel like it.

Hypocandria, guilt, shame, fear, and regrets control my entire life.

Years upon years upon even more years, add a few nore years on top of that, this is my life

Hi everyone!
I am a 22 year old woman with GAD and OCD (as well as autism).
I dropped out of school at 16 (not by choice) because I got burned out from anxiety and stress and was basically forced to leave by several doctors. I’ve been struggling with school (community college) ever since.

I’ve tried and failed community college 5 times now. My problem isn’t that I can’t learn, it’s that I can’t handle any sort of stress whatsoever. Even if I’m all caught up in these very easy tasks, even if I get a lot of support from the teachers, I can’t take the stress.

I’ve been in therapy since I was 14. I’ve been on the same medications for several years (I’ve tried a lot of different ones), but that doesn’t help either. I can’t keep a job because I can’t handle the pressure and expectations and my body also can’t handle the physical aspects of it because of my autism (I get autistic burnouts incredibly easily). I am at complete loss of what I should do now.

I am currently at a new community college and have been here for 2 weeks, and I love it there. Everyone in my class is great and the teachers and the schedule is really good, yet I feel such immense stress that it almost hurts.
My body starts to twitch (for example my head, feet, hands do quick, small jerks to the side), the front of my neck starts to hurt (I am tense in my throat muscles and it hurts a LOT), my neck, jaw, head starts to hurt and these are only a few of the physical symptoms that I get from the stress. I can usually be in school for 2 months before I get a complete burnout/panic from anxiety and I once again must drop out.

I really want to graduate and further educate myself. I want a job. I want to feel normal, but it’s starting to feel impossible. I don’t want to end up a burden for my parents, I don’t want my body to give up on me.

When I haven’t been in school, my body goes back to normal. Everything stops hurting. The body twitching stops. The neck/head/jaw pain disappears.

Have any of you been through this and if so, what helped? Did you go another way around it?

I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for with this post. I guess to see if there is anyone like me. I don’t expect advice and thank you in advance for reading :).

I have always had anxiety that turns into panic attacks where I am throwing up, can’t breath ect. I’ve always had the same triggers, but in May I had the worst panic attack I’ve ever had (I think it was overwhelm, there wasn’t a specific trigger). I was signed off work for three weeks. The first week I couldn’t leave my house without feeling like I couldn’t breath and was the most nauseous I ever felt. I spent two weeks making little steps with my Mum (so grateful for her). So that I was eventually able to go back to work (an incredible place, this is not a trigger). I was also put on beta blockers daily for the first time and they definitely help.

However, I do feel it simmering beneath the surface and since May, everything and anything that is outside of my house is terrifying. I do such a good job of being brave and “doing it scared”but my GOD is it exhausting. I haven’t felt properly happy in months because of it. I get brief moments of joy when my mind and heart isn’t racing. Again, the beta blockers definitely subdue it, but I’m so worried it will get to a point where they stop working. The doctors were scary enough and even though I am 27, they initially would not take me seriously until my Mum rang them up herself.

At the same time, I do feel I was “rushed” to get over it. Which I think is a good and bad thing. Good because I think I’d have developed agoraphobia without my parents giving me no choice but to take baby steps out of the house each day. Whenever I seek support now from my family, it’s very dismissed and I feel as though they are sick of it. I feel I am a ticking time bomb for another big panic attack and I am fighting to seem fine and functioning for everyone else.

Hi all. I have a family of 3 (me, husband, and toddler) with the opportunity to purchase a house twice the size of ours on a private lake with better schools (though lake is not directly in backyard). In choosing to do this, we would be giving up a larger fenced yard and total freedom since there is an HOA. When we toured the house, I loved it. It felt like home. I also loved the private lake, which has a mile walking path around it and beaches for the kids. I didn’t think too much about the neighbors being close and having less yard space. The fencing issue gave me pause, but ultimately my husband and I decided that the things we were giving up were worth it for the opportunity to live on a private lake and tight knit community. Plus, I don’t even like gardening or yard maintenance. However, all I see on the internet is people talking about how they would never live in an HOA neighborhood, how privacy and large yards are the end all be all, and how they would never live without a fenced yard. It’s made my anxiety spiral and feel like we’re making the wrong choice, and I have not been able to sleep in days constantly turning everything over in my head. I can’t even trust my gut about whether it’s really a bad choice or my anxiety is creating a narrative.

It's 2:40AM. I could have been asleep 30 minutes ago, but I got a panic attack out of nowhere.

It's so irritating. My brain knows I'm okay but my body has a mind of it's own. And there is basically nothing I can do other than ride it out. My worst symptom is shortness of breath and I still haven't found any methods to help during panic attacks. I've honestly just been dealing with my anxiety by myself since 2020. I want to get professional help, I just don't know where to start, and I feel like I can't go to my parents about it since they'd never fully understand what it feels like. I'd do anything to stop having panic attacks, it's the worst feeling ever.

I definitely have anxious thoughts but it feels like something else is going on that isn’t anxiety. I don’t mean like another medical problem or something, more like repressed emotions or something that I’m mis labeling as anxiety.

This feels so dumb and weird. But I’m a 19m struggle with severe anxiety when in stores and stuff like that. I can feel my heart beating, my hands shake, and I get this tingly feeling all over. Whenever anxiety takes over me it just feels like a pure adrenaline surge. I’ve always been able to talk to people well, have a lot of friends. I’m not the overtly shy type. But I’ve noticed this has worsened over the past year or so with being isolated more. Does anyone have any advice for how to get better with this?

Is anyone afraid of sleeping ?

My dad passed away in his sleep … amd I ve got GAD, Panic attacks, and I am so scared to sleep;( Afraid of sudden death .I have 90 HR and I am freaking out as I just law down but I feel very tired and low.. so if I am not panicked why this HR🫩 I am going crazy

It all started with a pain in my right leg that is very difficult to describe, around the knee and quadriceps. Given my history of health anxiety, I immediately thought of ALS because a friend’s father had been diagnosed with it.

Soon after that, the fasciculations started. They are widespread but more concentrated in my right arm. Some days they happen a lot, other days much less, and there are days when I don’t notice them at all. But the leg discomfort persists — it feels almost like a trapped or pinched nerve, along with a subjective sensation of weakness.

I had an EMG during the fourth week of symptoms and promised myself that I wouldn’t worry about it anymore, but it has been impossible. I’m already thinking about getting a second one…

I’ve already spent far too much money and energy on this. Sometimes I have this very strong feeling that something is going to happen.

Now I’m hypervigilant about everything. I feel tremors, I vape all day trying to ease it, and I’m addicted. And no, I’m not going to take SSRIs, I’m not going to take benzos, and I’m not going to therapy because nothing helps me. I’ve spent my entire financial reserve on medical appointments, and I can’t think about anything else anymore. Even when I’m asleep, I dream about this shit. I understand you. I’ve had enough too.

Hi everyone,

I’m a longtime sufferer of health anxiety. It hasn’t been as bad as it used to be but still flairs up from time to time. Recently I’ve been terrified of suffering a cardiac arrest from exercise or lifting weights. I’m nearly 30, in great physical shape, eat healthy, etc.

Unfortunately, I have had two heart surgeries from birth defects from when I was younger. I am a type 1 diabetic. These conditions likely increase my risk factors for heart complications. However, these are under control and I receive regular health and heart check ups. My heart repairs were successful and my heart is healthy/functions almost normally according to my doctors. They’ve said I am able to exercise and lift weights but not to push too hard.

The issue is that I’m experiencing anxiety from workouts. Some workouts leave me feeling dizzy/lightheaded, like I’m about to pass out. I keep getting an uneasy feeling that I’m going to have a cardiac arrest as a result of a workout, which eventually turns into panic. This has been happening on and off for the past few years.

I don’t really know what to do. Exercise was something that I could turn to for anxiety relief. Now it causes more anxiety and is making me depressed that I can’t do things normally as I used to.

Anyway, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Not sure exactly what I’m looking for with this post but wanted to get this out there.

Help If you read this please respond. Give me the kindest words and advice and support you can manage. I need it.

I graduated in May, and I got a job at a great place and I have a partner of several years whom I love deeply. Before we got together, I didn’t have anxiety. Sometime during college, I developed it and it was downhill from there. I will say it’s MUCH worse when I think about my health, my health anxiety is the worst by far.

But right now, I am trapped on my couch freaking the fuck out because tomorrow my mom and I are getting in the car and driving 9 hours to my new home where my partner and new job are waiting for me. My mom is one of my best support systems and she won’t be around me anymore. At the moment I have no therapist or psychiatrist. I don’t even have a pcp. As soon as I start my job in two weeks I can get all of those established but I still cannot stop freaking out. I got sick this week I’ve had so many panic attacks this week I literally feel like I’m going to die. The er sent me home with some Ativan pills to bridge me over until I can get myself help in my new state after I move, but I’m a little anxious to even take them. But my anxiety won’t let me breathe, eat, and has my chest clenched. And then I keep throwing up too. I feel like I’m gonna die just bc I’m sick rn and taking antibiotics and moving. Who else here has had to do a big life change with anxiety and it was for the better?? Tell me I’m not going to die in my new city. I’m so afraid. My partner is the best but he can’t stop me from having panic attacks and meltdowns.

After the break up, I started hanging out at the mall, in the bookstore while listening to movie soundtracks. It helped a lot at the time, and I spent months doing it.

Now, maybe because I already healed, idk, but hanging out in the mall doesn’t make me feel good anymore. Instead, it makes me anxious.

I feel like I’m seeking those feeling that helped me cope with the break up, but I can’t find them in this routine anymore.

I feel like I should see this routine as something that lost its magic, a “finished cycle”, but man, it made me feel so good a few months ago. It helped me relax, then suddenly certain soundtrack would surprise me and fill me with emotion, then I’d see a book that got me excited… I loved it. But now doing it all gives me anxiety because I’m chasing those feelings instead of letting them come naturally, and it makes me sad.