Do you have anxiety???

This forum is for serious discussions of any kind.

Moderator: Hall of Speakers Moderators

User avatar
allicatlane
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 716
Joined: February 13th, 2010, 9:18:21 am
Gender: Non-binary
Location: USA

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by allicatlane »

I've got quite a bit on my plate as well, with GAP, social anxiety, ADD, and Avoidant Personality Disorder. In real life I'm a mess, I can barely speak above a whisper and can't hold a conversation face to face well or maintain eye contact without feelijng like I'm going to cry. I do not do well in crowds and had to move high schools to a much smaller and specialized school because of this. My ADD is a contributing factor to my anxiety as I'll get distracted when talking to someone and I'll become too embarrassed to ask them to repeat themselves. The anxiety itself is so bad I have memory gaps where everything is a total blank. My anxiety attacks last for long periods of time and with my avoidant personality disorder cause me to isolate myself frequently. The only period in my life I can remember without anxiety is my kindergarten years, after which I became a lot quieter.
I think a large part of where my anxiety originated is from my dad, who's controlling and manipulative. It's safe to say my fear of loud noises and uncomfortableness with men came from his constant yelling and need to intimidate me, and he's also a large contributor of stress with his homophobia. While I've seen a psychiatrist and go to see a therapist about every two weeks, I have not been placed on any medication, although my therapist recommended I should take something for my anxiety.
While I have extreme difficulty making friends, the two that have stayed with me I've known for most of my life and have similar issues, and I know they'll always be there for me.
As of recently one of my friends, who's a service dog trainer and has one of her own is teaching me how to handle a service dog, as it's proven to reduce my anxiety in public spaces.

(Sorry if it's a long read, I've never really been the type to put my feelings in words.)
Thank you for any gifts & clicks! :bounce:

ImageImageImageImageImage
User avatar
Laika
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 44
Joined: January 31st, 2015, 9:44:08 pm
Gender: Female

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by Laika »

I have had social anxiety ever since puberty and it gets progressively worse as the years pass. I can't even stand in line at the store without getting nervous.
Lost a job over a panic attack once and the owner of the place was very hostile about the situation. I was told later by a former coworker let the whole staff watch the video of me freaking out and told my stepmother (who was managing at the time) that he never wanted to see me in that facility again. I was so embarrassed, I cut all ties with anyone linked to those people and made sure they'd never see my face again.

I make it a strong point to people in my life about it now, giving them warnings and listing off things I can't do. It sucks to feel so weak. I've never gotten job promotions despite being constantly praised by management on my work. They don't think I can handle any responsibility simply because I get nervous and need to walk away every now and then. Panic attacks at work don't happen as often as you think and usually only get bad when I'm trapped and can't step away.

oh well.
User avatar
GrowlingCupcake
MagiStream Donor
Member of The Dark Brotherhood Member of Artificer's Association
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 5625
Joined: July 19th, 2009, 7:28:47 am
Gender: Female
Location: In a teacup.

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by GrowlingCupcake »

Have you ever seen someone for it? Therapy and medication often help so if you haven't tried that, it might help improve the quality of your life.

My social anxiety has gone down a great deal thanks to my medication. Finally found something that worked last summer and now I'm off academic probation since I was able to attend classes last semester <3 I am a lot more confident socially, willing to talk to people, including milder forms of public speaking (like in classes into a microphone), etc. It's done a world of good for me <3

Hasn't helped the OCD and depression but it's also helped the general anxiety, the disassociativeness and my panic attacks. Not as much as the social anxiety, but I'll take it. On the 12th, I get to find out if we can add another medication to it. If that helps too, gods this will be awesome. It's so nice to not be anxious and physically ill because of social situations. I'd love to also see what the world is like when less depressed, anxious (in general) and with my OCD better managed.

Still, if this is as good as it gets... it's still better than living life ruled by anxiety.
Working on getting back into things after a forced hiatus.
LTS: Shards at 50k each.
User avatar
Laika
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 44
Joined: January 31st, 2015, 9:44:08 pm
Gender: Female

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by Laika »

GrowlingCupcake wrote:
My social anxiety has gone down a great deal thanks to my medication. Finally found something that worked last summer and now I'm off academic probation since I was able to attend classes last semester <3 I am a lot more confident socially, willing to talk to people, including milder forms of public speaking (like in classes into a microphone), etc. It's done a world of good for me <3
Congrats! I've been off and on different meds but haven't found one yet with a side effect that I can deal with. My husband and I are in mid-divorce so he has taken me off his insurance, so sadly can't afford medicine right now. But, yes, do plan on questing for one that works!


Really glad you found one you like, though. Wouldn't wish anxiety on anyone. It's awful! D:
User avatar
GrowlingCupcake
MagiStream Donor
Member of The Dark Brotherhood Member of Artificer's Association
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 5625
Joined: July 19th, 2009, 7:28:47 am
Gender: Female
Location: In a teacup.

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by GrowlingCupcake »

Laika wrote: Congrats! I've been off and on different meds but haven't found one yet with a side effect that I can deal with. My husband and I are in mid-divorce so he has taken me off his insurance, so sadly can't afford medicine right now. But, yes, do plan on questing for one that works!


Really glad you found one you like, though. Wouldn't wish anxiety on anyone. It's awful! D:
Yeah, it's difficult to find one that works. Took me several years and maybe 15+ different ones before I found this one. This isn't even meant for anxiety/OCD/depression xD But it works for me so I'm happy with it <3

I'm a little wary of adding another one but it isn't an SSRI, tricyclic or antipsychotic so it should work... I can't take anything that messes up my serotonin levels and I can't take most/all antipsychotics. Bad, bad paranoia and anxiety for the one (on some of them, I had maybe... 20-30 panic attacks a day? 15 or so on 'good' days) and issues with diabetes and sleep for the other (sleeping 15+ hours a day is not conducive to life). But the one I am looking at is neither and doesn't affect serotonin. It's bupropion (Wellbutrin/Zyban).

If I am reading the mechanism of how it works correctly, it works like a long-lasting benzodiazepam in many ways just without the side effect of slowing down my brain, drowsiness, tolerance or abuse potential. I think that's why it's so effective for my anxiety.

I really hope you can afford them soon and can find one that works for you. The one I take is lamotrigine/lamictal. I don't know if you've ever tried it or if it would work for you but if you have similar issues to what I have on the more common meds, it might work? It's a mood stabiliser primarily used for depressive episodes in bipolar (as well as an anti epileptic xD).

Also, feel free to message me anytime <3 I know the difficulties of anxiety very, very well and am happy to talk or be a ear if you need one :)
Working on getting back into things after a forced hiatus.
LTS: Shards at 50k each.
User avatar
zorua9
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 44
Joined: November 18th, 2012, 5:02:06 am
Gender: Male
Location: Australia

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by zorua9 »

yes I do have anxiety and is blinking annoying, I want to go some where, say to a video game store or to school, then my brain is like "nope, we are panicking for a reason or no reason at all" it is just very stressful XD, and it doesn't help when some stuff (mother trying to "swim with the fishes") it is just very difficult for someone who just wants to complete school and do work, and I know people probably have it worse then me.... I just feel like.... idk, it the feeling is very hard to describe.

PS. XD I did have a "full on" panic/anxiety attack, and I called 000 and they told me that I was not having a heart attack (cause that is what it feels like, yea, not good) and instead I was having an anxiety attack, and after that I just hugged me dog and started to calm down.
Gasp, I is a crazy Australian.
Mah creatures Mah dragons Mah pokemon
User avatar
Toucannon
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 11
Joined: July 2nd, 2015, 9:51:03 pm
Gender: Kraken

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by Toucannon »

I don't cope really :v
Haven't had that many legit panic attacks in a while though
Panic attacks suck though
and it would probably help if there was someone around to calm me down but there never is
so distractions help sometimes I guess
video games mostly
if I start freaking out I try to distract myself with video games, or movies, and stuff like that.
Zinni
MagiStream Donor
Member of Society of the Trident
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 1107
Joined: May 22nd, 2015, 5:11:54 pm

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by Zinni »

When I was in high school, I had pretty bad anxiety. I would get worried and worked up over the smallest things and cry over them. I'm still really emotional and tend to cry over little stuff, but I attribute that to me being a girl. xD Even in elementary school, I would cry over everything. After I graduated and got my first job, I saw my anxiety going down more and and more. I started talking to people more, essentially since I started as a cashier and you know, you have to talk to the customers.

I would never talk to anyone in school, I stayed to myself and never attempted to socialize. I think I was just so worried about people judging me and thinking badly of me if I said the 'wrong thing.'

After I started working, I really started feeling a lot more comfortable around people, my anxiety was going away and I felt it easier to talk to strangers, even to just say 'Good Morning' or 'How are you?' Even if those 'strangers' were customers and I was required to greet them and such, it felt good to finally be able to talk to people without feeling like I was being judged or saying the wrong thing.

I still get anxiety over some things now, like going back to work after a weekend or vacation off, little things like that.

The last time I got really bad anxiety, was when I got a Jury Summons in the mail -again-. I don't think anyone who lives in the US is ever happy about getting one of those, though I do know of one person at work who actually likes to go. xD It was constantly on my mind, making me worry over it, even though I already went before and I knew what to expect. I luckily didn't have to go, since I didn't have any way of getting there and they excused me based on that. But yes, that was a pretty bad time... I worried like crazy over it. I even lost sleep over it, too.

I've really only suffered from social anxiety when in school. I have a friend who gets panic attacks and I used to work with a guy at my old job who did too. I've never experienced them myself, but I watched the guy at work go through one in the break room and really felt helpless. He even told me there wasn't anything I could do to help him, that he'd just have to wait it out.

I'm super grateful for my first job, which helped me overcome the social anxiety. I'm pretty sure I'd never get used to or comfortable talking to strangers without that experience.
User avatar
TimesRevolt
MagiStream Donor
Member of The Herbalist's Guild
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 1118
Joined: May 19th, 2012, 4:43:10 pm
Gender: Female
Location: United States
Contact:

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by TimesRevolt »

How do you cope??? Does it effect your livelihood??? Does it hold you back from doing anything???

Yes I have anxiety, well maybe to bad.:/ i find it hard to cope with, it is like it controls my life. It always comes back and taunts me about the world or anything i tend to get anxious or worried about it. Yes it affects my life pretty bad, can't seem to do something without having a random panic episode over something not so important or doesn't have ansers to it. Holds me back from talking to people, asssociating with people and much more.
I'm sadly quitting, but i enjoyed my stay while i played.
User avatar
FluffyRobi
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 32
Joined: May 16th, 2015, 10:22:02 pm
Gender: Male
Location: A bean burrito, probably
Contact:

Re: Do you have anxiety???

Post by FluffyRobi »

i have severe social and temporal anxiety (temporal refers to the passing of time). it was so bad that every way of usually coping didnt work. i actually had to learn how to even deal with my anxiety by INDUCING the feelings without having a panic or anxiety attack. i was also put on meds.
one of the majour things is to not FIGHT your anxiety. treat it like its an annoying little sibling that you have to have with you at all times. i gave mine a name and it really helped? so try that!!
the trick is not to CONTROL your anxiety, but live with it. its a disability, yknow? you wont be able to defeat it because its a part of you.
ImageImageImageImageImageImageImage
[ and im a creature of a culture that i create ]
Post Reply

Return to “Hall of Speakers”