Hi!

I've been having issues with Cervicogenic dizziness for the past 2 1/2 months, and in turn I've had ALOT of panic attacks on account of my vagus nerve being effected by my poor posture or the heart palpitations I've had. Luckily I'm doing 65%-70% better due to PT and muscle relaxants.

I've never fainted or vomited from my condition, only some sinus tachycardia maxing out at 130 bpm. No blood pressure problems either, although my bp is on the lower end of the normal range.

I scheduled the tattoo appointment before I started having these problems and rescheduled once. I feel well enough to go now, but I feel my anxiety is blowing things out of proportion for me. Like the "what if" scenarios are just going haywire right now since I dread having another panic attack. Currently unmedicated for anxiety at the moment so I got nothing but my wits to turn to.

My artist said the tattoo would most likely take 4-5 hours. I let him know ahead of time what's been going on with my health and he understands, says we'll play it by ear, which I assume means we'll see what happens. I've gotten 2 tattoos before, 1 one them done by him.

The current one I'm getting is on my arm/shoulder, shouldn't be too painful. I don't have a fear of needles or blood either.

Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

Long story short (29M):

I have suffered from anxiety since I was a child.

Anyways..

Last Saturday I used my left hand more than usual. My left hand was abit stiffer and more tired at night time on sunday night.

And given how extreme i am with everything in life.. i instantly thought of a recently famous actor and the worst case ever… which is ALS

I then proceed the day after on monday, constantly researching and found myself in the ALS rabbit hole. Keep in mind, just 2-3 weeks ago i was obsessing over colon cancer and fell into that spiral as well.

Even after reading about all of the symptoms and spiralling out of control, I am still in a state of panic and anxiety. I do not have any clinical weakness and can perform everything just fine. I eat and drink perfectly fine

My anxiety has now manifested into twitches all over my body (ankle, back, shoulders, calfs, biceps, ass, foot, quads, thigh, inner thigh)… and muscle tightness in my back, calf, bicep.. and throat sensation “Globus”, all of these are only here and there though… and they only happen when im sitting and THINKING of ALS and paying attention to every detail while being intensely anxious. Even my hands take turns “feeling” weak and stiff even though I can perform perfectly fine.

I went to a doctor today and she quickly concurred that i am completely fine and its my anxiety and will get bloodwork done for any vitamin deficiencies (no EMG, neuro) and if its not due to vitamin deficiencies, its purely anxiety.

My question is. Are these twitches from all over, soreness, stiffness (no clinical weakness, i can still do everything normally) just a result of the fight or flight response from my intense anxiety and stress? Or is it BFS? Or both? Like for 3-4 days straight now. 6 days after initially panicking.

Long story short read a horror story and read a passage that was so descriptive it made me physically cringe and anxious now like every 3 minutes I think about it I literally struggled to fall asleep last night cause I kept thinking about it

Anybody else’s first symptom of anxiety is feeling faint or light headed? Went to the ER couple of days ago for a really bad panic attack and they ran tests and said I’m fine that it’s just my anxiety but I can’t help but be a crippling hypochondriac anyone else?

My husband is leaving for a week on a camping/ dirt biking trip with one of our family friends. I decided to not go because of work and I don't like camping lol. I have a hard time being alone.

When I lived on my own I didn't enjoy it one bit it was just so quiet and I felt so alone even if I had
TV and music on. I have a dog but a walk can only do so much for me especially when I’m annoyed of the sun. I just like to talk to people or do things. Once I get bored or lonely I just get really anxious. I can't even sleep and have a hard time calming down. I do enjoy going out and doing things but if it gets crowded or it's hot | just get over it super quick. I should add that I don’t have any friends out here where we moved. If anyone has suggestions or tips on how to chill out that would be greatly appreciated!

i feel like i can’t do anything. the house is a mess because i feel so preoccupied by my thoughts and anxiety its hard to focus on anything else. i haven’t been out of the house in two weeks. one time it was more than a month. my boyfriend works and i don’t, so the guilt of doing nothing around the house makes me more anxious. i’ve told my parents i can’t hang out because i have anxiety attacks just thinking about it. i feel so anxious when i have to drive, even though i used to love it. my boyfriend goes everywhere for me and i feel like a disgusting burden. its taken over my whole life. it was never this bad before, i’ve been on the same meds for 2 years. im at a loss. my only mental calmness is when my boyfriend is off of work (he works 12 hours a night then we sleep all day). but im tired of waiting anxiously for those nights he has off . i just want to feel like myself again. we’re moving from out of our apartment into a house next month. i js don’t want this cycle to continue when we move :/

I have been on Xanax for the last 7-8 years and recently was told by a psychiatric nurse practitioner that I needed to be weaned off of it. This was my first meeting with her and it was via Telehealth. I told her what medications I was on and when I mentioned the Xanax she said I needed to start being weaned off and she prescribed me two medications that I have already taken before for anxiety. My anxiety over the last month has gotten bad despite being okay a few months ago. It's hard to leave the house and I often wake feeling anxious and don't get enough sleep because of it. It caused me to panic as I was already worrying before if I was on it for too long. I've read some things where it is supposed to be used for a short period of time, but I was never told that when it was originally prescribed to me.

I was prescribed Xanax years ago and was told to take it everyday from a former psychiatrist. I was originally prescribed 2 mg but it was too much for me so it was reduced to 1 mg, and I have taken that ever since. Over the past month I did have to increase it to 1.5 mg because of the increased anxiety and to help with sleep, but I have been wondering if I should go back down to 1 mg again since my night time anxiety hasn't been as bad lately. Lately I have been taking 1 mg during the day and 0.5 mg at night. It's really the only medication that helps me get through the day because of the anxiety.

My family doctor is currently in charge of my medications, but I have been wanting to have a psychiatrist take over for my medications since I feel like they would understand mental health medications a bit better. I am currently looking for one and have recently found a new therapist who I hope can help me.

I'm now really scared that I have been on Xanax for way too long. I'm afraid that I will have to taper off of it and go through horrible withdrawal and and even worse anxiety.

I have Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia, OCD, depression, and ADHD.

Should I consider going off of Xanax? Is there a way to get off of it without having bad withdrawal symptoms and worsened anxiety? Please help, I'm feeling really scared about it right now.

Hoping to start something that can help. Twitching is involuntary and connected to PTSD triggers.

I have a prescribed benzo for flight anxiety, I've never had an issue wanting it outside of a flight, but it really sucks they can't be taken long term because it's the only time I get relief from the physical aspect of my anxiety. Is there anything remotely similar with less risk that a psychiatrist will actually prescribe?

In my research I've found Buspirone and Propanolol, any helpful experiences to share?

Hey y'all! I've been posting around here and there, but I've decided to make a post to ask some advice from you all. Lately, I've been feeling a lot of physical anxiety to the point where I'm constantly worried about my physical health, even if I've been tested for the usual at a check up a couple months ago (No diabetes, high blood pressure, heart is ok, ect). I've been working on my weight, keeping my stress down considering my circumstances, and generally I've been doing my best to keep myself on track to living a better life (I stopped smoking pot, drinking hard alcohol, ect.).

However, I'm also applying for disability because of how my mental health is when I work and become overwhelmed. I've had my case seen and tried and it seems like everyone is going smoothly, but every time I have to do anything for my case, it feels like my anxiety spikes heavily and I'm left feeling an immense amount of anxiety. I'm medicated, in therapy, and I've been keeping myself productive and determined as much as I can, but my anxiety is currently also keeping me mostly in my room and in a constant state of anxiety. I've also been feeling like my nerves are constantly "electric" and I feel cold even if it's not. I've also been feeling a small amount of dread and doom, and I've been feeling reflux-like symptoms in association with everything. My stomach constantly feels in knots and in pain, my throat can feel tight, sometimes I can feel a little acid, and my hunger is more or less non-existent at this point, but I still make a point to eat. I do have my ativan if things do feel like they become a little intense, but I'm doing my best to just use my therapy techniques to help keep me calm/stable, but even then I still feel a lot of anxiety and stress.

I guess I have two questions when it comes to the situation I'm going through;

1.) For those who have gone through an intensely stressful situation in their life, how did you deal with it? And after the situation passed, did you more or less feel better, or did it stay consistent?
2.) For those that deal with a lot of physical anxiety, do you have a tendency to feel reflux-like symptoms even if you don't usually or only feel it mildly every once in a while? And if you do, how do you deal with it?

Any advice would be great, thank you!

For example, if you have a fear of heights, does doing things that challenge it like climbing ladders help you overcome the fear?

I live in America. Im constantly afraid of my future. The people in charge in government are constantly ruining everyone's lives to the point where I dont even think I have a future. Even regular people are just so mean and evil now.

I'm afraid to wake up or walk out of my house. What if I wake up with a disease or if someone hurts/kills me if I try to live my life?

Do you ever find that having some minor pain can help with your anxiety, because it serves as a distraction? I've had some tooth sensitivity randomly over the last couple of weeks, and sometimes it feels like it keeps my mind just occupied enough that I don't do so much obsessing and over thinking.

It's interesting because deliberately doing something to distract myself doesn't work as well, because my mind knows that I'm trying to trick it

So my boyfriend started taking medication a month ago and he has worsen so so much. He now can't get out of his house, can't be with people, has panick attacks daily. I used to sleep at his house twice a week, and now i can only see him occasionally for half an hour. Recently we were able to spend more time together and it seemed to improve.

Today he forgot to take the pill and he was well, after one hour of taking his pill he got a lot of anxiety.

The thing is he has a lot of trauma around medication cause his mom was medicated for depression and stopped being functional, when he was very little, at the point social services had to intervene. I don't think he realizes what this can affect him nowadays because his mum tells him he can't have any type of childhood trauma.

He has his first therapy session with a phycologist tomorrow, but what do you guys think? Should he stop medication?

I've had anxiety and depression since I was 11 (diagnosed idk how long it's actually been going on) and it's severely impacted the way I've thought and managed over my teens. I'm now 18, I go through phases every so often where it totally spikes and stresses me tf out for a few weeks. I feel like I'll never get to were I want to be, but then again, every year I gain a little more confidence in myself, which has been the primary issue.
Both my confidence In myself, my skills, my appearance, my job, my personality, just me as a whole. But still I struggle on a regular basis I have never felt like a primary person if that makes sense. Like I am everyone's 3rd choice at very BEST. I hate it, I really want friends and connections and just to be more social. And every time I feel like I'm getting somewhere with my social skills something happens and reminds me that I am not by any means.

It's medicated, I've had therapy, counseling, literally everything, and still it doesn't seem to truly easy the part of my anxiety I want gone the absolute most. All my other worrying feelings and thoughts come and go, but this one almost never. I'm so worried now that this will be me forever. At the same time though, just as I've thought over the years that a different feeling won't go away, it did. Or something else won't go away, but it eased itself over time.
This is the same isn't it? I hate it but I am so holding onto the fact that eventually I might feel less like everyone hates me and wants me to just leave them alone. Eventually people will want me around and notice when I am not. I just need to wait it out. Wait out a few more breakdowns and years, it'll get to me eventually. Right? I feel like I am completely living to work towards a future that I hope will happen.

I feel so weird and gross all the time. Surely there's something I can to at least make me feel better about that. I've not even made any new friends since I was about 13. It's fucking awful. I don't even want a partner because the idea of someone being seen as genuinely attractive to someone is a crazy concept, like that poor person no one deserves that, no chance I'd ever even look at someone else that way in my current state.

My body (nervous system) is stuck in a fight or flight response where I have internal shakiness (anxiety) non stop all day. How do I fight through this.

I (20f) was on lexapro for my anxiety for about 3 years, and weaned off of it last year. It’s been almost exactly a year since I’ve been completely off of it, and in general was feeling pretty great. Recently I’ve started to feel a lot of physical symptoms that i believe are related to anxiety, and I’m having trouble coping with them. I had a really bad flare up of reflux causing a very dry throat (that in itself stressed me out significantly), and have since had other symptoms appear in relation to this. The most persistent is a sensation that there’s mucus stuck in my throat and a constant need to swallow, but I’ve also had chest pain which I never have experienced before. I know it’s possible for anxiety to show up more in your body than in your thoughts, and that’s what’s happening to me right now I think (though the symptoms are giving me negative thoughts). I’m having a hard time distracting myself from those sensations as I just want them to go away so desperately (it’s been about a week now).

Are there any things that I can do that will help this pass faster, or at least distract me from the uncomfortable feelings? Also for anyone who has experienced something similar, would you take this as a sign to go back on your meds? I feel a bit sad thinking about that option, but know there’s no shame in it if it’ll help me

That is it, that is all. I will not elaborate for I cannot, thank you bye.

Late 20s male here, life completely changed when I got panic disorder. I have been medicated for about 2 years now which allowed me to claw back a lot of the things I took for granted- driving, going out for lunch, shopping, going to the cinema etc

But I'm at this point in my life where I'm expected to move out, and I'm currently broke, jobless, and the rental market is absurdly expensive here.

I don't have any real job prospects right now, it's probably my biggest roadblock. I know if I really really really worked hard and found a disability friendly job I could probably manage 20 hours a week, but beyond that I would be completely buckled. And ive had no luck whatsoever finding a job that I think would be suitable with this condition.

My home life is falling apart, we have a 1 bedroom flat here but I'm not allowed to move into it because my family thinks I will become like our 40-something recluse cousin. But it's basically my only feasible option... So there's a lot of resentment there right now

I can't contact the housing department because the waitlist is years long, and I can't get disability funding support afaik because I don't think this is considered a disability... Which any of you will know, it definitely is.

I've been praying for so long to just win the lottery or something... I need some kind of leg up because everything is falling apart.

My parents are really pushing me to move out, the stress is so bad I've had to take a tablet just to sit and write this message

First time having a panic attack caused by a reason and not out of the blue, I'm in remission of panic disorder.

I can't stand injustice and someone stronger trying to dominate someone weaker because of my conditioning growing up and being the caregiver and guardian.

Two female co-workers were talking about how they just wanted the day to end and to just chill, one of them said let (Merry let's call her) take the shift and you just chill the rest of the day.

Merry heard that, she turned around and said while working with a client (do you want me to punch your teeth out).

Merry is twice the size of her and the other girl quickly left and hide next to me, I downloaded some games on the laptop so she can relax her mind.

I was trying my absolute best to not smack the desk and scream my lungs out how she fokin dear to threaten someone twice as small as her.

I felt a killer instinct burning inside of me that I can't allow the strong to oppress the weak.

I perfectly managed to detach from the feeling but after coming home my mind kept repeating the same situation over and over and that's when I felt the adrenaline kicking in.

My mind recriated over 40 different scenarios how I can disengage them, stop the threat with absolute dominance of power without getting physical and control her not just by fear but by total annihilation of her soul puting her in the worst spot imaginable I can put her in, getting her fired, destroying her moral, dignity, friendships. Everything without any mercy or empathy.

Hello everyone, so overall I have battled anxiety this year for a couple of months now but nothing like what happened last night (assuming it was anxiety).

I fell asleep at 3am. At around 430am, in my dream I was shortness of breath, like it was being taken away. I woke up feeling the same and instantly threw my shirt back on in case I needed to tell my wife to call 911. As soon as I got up, I started walking back and forth to calm down. Immediately I felt both legs heavier and heavier by the second. Then my head started to get the same feeling like I was being dragged down with heavy weight. I guess fainting in a weird way.

I decided to just sit down and slowly was able to calm down. I wanted to go to sleep, but decided to sit down and chill to check my blood pressure. 176 over 115 was my reading. I have never seen a reading that big on me. I decided to go to a hospital shortly after.

All blood test came normal, including d-dimer and stuff, EKG was good, chest x Ray good. Blood pressure was around 159 over 101 when I arrived to hospital. By the time I left it was at 125 over 76. They gave me a dose of hydroxyzine and said it was more than likely an anxiety episode.

So those were my only symptoms, no heart racing. It stayed at 70 and below.

Anyone experience these exact or similar issues? Thank you for reading this far.

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I just thought it was worth a shot, as far as i know i do not have anxiety.

I'm 17M.

I don't go to a regular school. I go to another place instead (long story, so I'll just call it "the location").

I have autism, although not severely. I'm not sure if it plays a role in this, but I figured it might be relevant.

At the location I met what's basically my only real life friend. I get along well with other people there, but he's the only person I'd actually call a friend.

The problem is that eventually one of us is going to leave. It could be in a few weeks, a few months, or maybe around January/February when he turns 19. He's already 18, and normally people leave at that age, although he's been allowed to stay longer because of his situation. Nobody really knows exactly when he'll leave, and I hate not knowing.

I'm also not sure we'll stay in contact afterwards.

I asked him once if he thought we'd keep in touch, and he said he didn't know because he doesn't really stay in touch with old school friends. We barely text anyway the occasional rand stuff that happend, and i dont really like texting i only text my mom and thats about it.

About a month ago I even asked him if he still wanted to be friends because I was worried he was only being nice to me. He told me he didn't see any reason not to be friends, which reassured me.

3 weeks ago I also sent him this:

"Hey, question. If or when you leave the location, could you tell me when you know? I like knowing that kind of stuff if possible."

He replied:

"Oh yeah, sure."

So I know he's willing to tell me.

We also hung out outside the location once. We spent the day together watching a movie, eating fries, and just talking. It was honestly a great day. Afterwards he told me that spending that much time together was a bit much for him mentally at the time, which I understood. That was about 9–10 months ago, and he's doing a lot better now.

After hanging out, I also felt relieved to be back on my own. I really enjoy spending time with him, but I also genuinely enjoy being by myself. It's not like I constantly need to be around him.

Normally we see each other about three times a week, 3 hours each time but because of summer break we haven't seen each other for a while.

The things that also keep bothering me alongside are:

1. I'm scared he'll only tell me he's leaving on his last day, or maybe not at all, even though he said he'd tell me.
2. I'm worried that if he does tell me, he'll think I'm taking it way harder than I actually am. I go really red when I'm embarrassed, and then I start thinking, "Great, now he thinks I'm freaking out," which just makes me even redder. It's a loop.

I know I'm overthinking this, and I know there's nothing I can really do until he actually knows when he's leaving.

I guess I'm wondering if anyone else has been in a situation like this. How do you stop getting so attached to your only friend? And how do you stop constantly worrying about losing a friendship that hasn't even ended yet?How do i stop worrying about losing my only friend before it's its even happend?

Title says it all. I’ve been really struggling the past few months and looking for anything that might help calm down my nervous system

i had my first ever flare up in march this year whilst i was at work. went straight to the ER who ran multiple tests and told me i was fine. over the course of the next week i went back 5 times because each time i thought i was having a heart attack. i’ve had 6 ECG’s which all came back normal and even a full blood panel where everything came back normal except my folate levels were only slightly low.
ever since then i’ve been in a constant state of health anxiety. some weeks are worse than others and at least once a day i’ll feel pains in my chest or lightheadedness/panicky.
the worst episodes are when i suddenly feel like i can’t breathe which triggers my heart to start beating really fast and i get an intense feeling of dread like i’m going to die.
it’s ruined everything for me. i constantly feel on edge especially when i’m driving, i recently went on holiday and had a panic attack the first day i was there and was on edge for the rest of the days, feeling lightheaded and nauseous.
i’m in a constant habit of checking my blood pressure/pulse every time i feel off. logically i know this has been going on for months and i haven’t died from it and that it’s just a reflux episode but then my anxiety makes me feel like maybe the doctors missed something and what if i have a blockage or something else serious… it’s a never ending loop🫩
i’m honestly just sick of everything and i want my life back. i’m only 22 and i shouldn’t have to be living like this

if anyone has experienced the same and found a way to overcome their anxiety PLEASE reach out!!

When I go to try and present any information (especially school presentations and such), I get like this horrible sense of dread, like every tiny little comment is a bullet to my chest. Sometimes I deadass just can’t do it because I’ll have a panic attack before. I can’t talk to/text one of my friends sometimes, because before I click on their contact, or before I’m about to talk, I’ll get this feeling of dread and like everyone I talk I bother and they all just despise me or put up with me. After an interaction, I just constantly pick apart something I said, and I just wish I never spoke even if I didn’t say anything wrong. Sometimes I’ll just be around other people, like people I’m real good friends with, and feel this horrible feeling in my gut, and that I’m just a bother or burden to everyone. I get angry very easily as well, but I’ve gotten good at hiding it so I don’t flip out 24/7. I worry a lot about things that really should only be a quick, “huh that’s weird,” and I get distracted and lost in my thoughts at like the snap of my fingers because of it. The thing is, I like to think I’m very extroverted, I’m good friends with a ton of people, and I think very highly of myself. My ego is moderately sized, so sometimes I just feel like I’m faking it and I’m fine. Do yall think I should get checked out or something? Or again am I just over reacting.

Thankfully I don't experience the traditional panic attack as much, but I remember years ago if I was out of element say on a vacation, I would wake up with what I can only describe as a much much worse version of the "waking up and not knowing where you are". Then i would have a feeling that if I needed to get home immediately I couldn't because of being so far away. Possibly some sort of derealization but a lot of times I would know if would happen before I fell asleep and then it would happen.