Fed up with my daily anxiety

I'm fed up with my anxiety, tonight me and my girlfriend decided to go to bingo, however I was worried after reading something on this forum about personality disorder which made me feel depressed and I was worrying I had it, so I got to the bingo hall, and when I was about to go in I could not go in as I was depressed and felt worried I felt like I was going to go mad or something If i went in, me and my girlfriend were upset about this and had a bit of an argument, some days I am fine when I go out and others I just feel like I want to be at home.

When I get anxious I feel like I am going to die or the depersonalization kicks in and I feel like I'm not myself, it seems to be messing up my life, for the last 6 months I've had trouble with my anxiety seems to affect me every day, I looked up the internet and found that it was generalized anxiety and lasts about 6 months, thats me been feeling like this since September 2006 and still no sign of improving, I've been to therapy but not had an appointment in about 1 month but it seemed to help a bit.

Can anybody offer any advice in reducing my anxiety, I've tried the breathing exercises but I dont think they help me much, when I am anxious I don't seem to be thinking straight...I convince myself something is wrong with me and find it hard to change these thoughts as I seem to get a new symptom of anxiety every week. :weep:

I've also been worrying about all the bad thoughts I seem to get, can't seem to control them either.

Most of us here are going through the exact same thing. I know i do... it's not nice, but the best thing is to not check up on the internet: you put in chest pains in google and you're auto-diagnosed with cancer. Big no-no!

Your girlfriend should understand what you go through and not argue about it... it adds to the stress and anxiety. Maybe you should talk to her a bit more about it?

Phil

The change round for me was diet and exercise.

I went on a strict diet and started swimming and work-out videos.

It stopped the panic attacks and gave me my life back.

Worth a go maybe?

Hi - sorry to hear you're having a tough time. I'm the same when it comes to going to a dancing class every week with my hubbie, sometimes I can face going in other times I can't.

It sounds as though you are aware of unhelpful thinking patterns you are experiencing. I found the suggestions on this site under cbt helpful, ie when you realise you are thinking negatively or fearfully stop yourself by saying 'stop,this is not helpful or healthy' etc and then try some of the suggested alternative thoughts. If you've had it for 6 months, have you thought about meds to give yourself a break?

I have been on citalopram for about a month and its really helped take the edge of things so I can begin to focus on thinking more positively and do normal things. Its the first time I've tried meds and I was a bit nervous about it at first, although I've had anxiety on and off for quite a while.

hope you begin to feel better soon by getting some more regular therpary, I'm starting my CBT on Friday and am looking foward to it.

I dont really exercise much and my diet is not that good, quite a lot of junk food and I'm not into fruits...and I am 18 and don't work at the moment. Would like to change my routine but find it hard to, my girlfriend is helpful but tonight was a bit of a one off. :)

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Originally Posted by rufus

If you've had it for 6 months, have you thought about meds to give yourself a break?

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I've had anxiety for about 2 years and been on propranolol and respiredal, found it helps but since September the anxiety came down really bad and now I suffer it every day.

Phil

Small changes can make a huge difference and if you want to get better then you do need to put the work in and make those small changes.

Re-read the "First steps" post as it will give you loads of info and advice to work on.

I am afraid that anxiety just doesn't go on its own without these changes.

Phil, I'd really like to second what Nicola said. Excercise is a huge help... and I've been lazy lately and not doing it as I should and have actually noticed an increase in my symptoms. Time for me to start working out again. It doesn't have to be hard, just start out with something fairly light and easy. Maybe walking fifteen minutes every day or trying yoga. If you're not into yoga, there's plenty of other stuff around and a gym in your area probably?

A change of diet can really help you a lot too. It's strange, but what we eat or drink can definitely effects our minds in many ways. For example, aspartame may have been one of the major things that brought about my issues with anxiety and even made it worse. I use to drink diet pepsi every day, it was pretty much the only thing I'd drink. I also chewed a lot of gum that I didn't even know had aspartame in it.

Found out later that aspartame can cause depression, mood-swings, anxiety... all sorts of real unpleasant stuff. So I gave it up completely and now make an effort to avoid it. That is, I now check the labels on the things I eat or drink - and I always check the ingredients. Educating yourself about this stuff may be a big help for you.

Also, eating organic food, or eating as healthy as you can, will definitely improve your overall mood and is very likely to help with the anxiety. I'd suggest lots of water too, the only thing I drink anymore is spring water - not suggesting that you should do that, just that water really helps. My Doc tells me people should drink 6-8 8 ounce glasses a day. But just having two or three is better than nothing if you feel you can't drink that much.

Alcohol can also effect anxiety and worsen it's symptoms. Great way to have a panic attack is to get real smashed one night then go to bed, wake up and wait for the hangover to kick in. Not pleasant. I think that alcohol in strict moderation is ok, but over-doing it can really cause problems.

That said - have you ever heard of EFT? It's a method of energy therapy, similar to accupuncture that involves tapping on different energy meridians of the body to help bring balance and stability - the EFT is for emotional freedom technique. It's been a big help to me. If you'd like I could give you a link where you could find out a lot about it. Just PM me if you want to know more.

Good luck and God bless you,

Dave

mate i have been suffering for two years now and found out quite abit so i will try my best to give u advice.
first of all u are going in far too deep in worrying about it try not to ask yourself all the whys because you will just dig a deeper hole for your worries.

I think the best way of helping you would be self-hypnosis.All you need to do is get a relaxing cd and for 30 minutes everyday just lie in a quiet area and listen to it.It is really refreshing.

And don't listen to everything that is said about anxiety because some of it is just in general not indicated to an individual.so when they say it will only be for 6month that is an average. so just think "i will get better but it takes time".

And finally don't try and fight your thoughts off just be ready for them and think i don't care what thoughts i have they are not important to me they just cause me worry.

Hope this is gud help to you or anyone else suffering.

Thanks for the replies. I've been exercising more for the last few days, taking walks and I've found it seems to help a bit also been trying more breathing exercises but I can't seem to get rid of the worrying thoughts which seem to always be on my mind.