Jamie1990
02-09-12, 10:03
Hello all :) It's been a good few years since i was using these forums but unfortunately my anxiety has resurfaced and i feel like i need some help again.
I'll try and explain my story as short as possible.
I'm 22. male. I come from Glasgow, Scotland. Growing up i was your typical shy boy but nothing unusual from the rest of the shy kids. At school i was pretty enthusiastic and could talk comfortably with my teachers and class mates. At high school level, my shyness/anxiety was basically non existent. I was really socially outgoing and confident and could talk for Scotland.....
But at the end of my high school years i started taking drugs. Ecstacy and mostly smoking cannabis. The ecastacy taking didn't last very long but i began smoking more and more cannabis and just giving up on my school work. My social circle began to get smaller as my friends left school and went out into jobs and higher education. My cannabis smoking increased. Then by about the age of 17,18, i didn't have one friend. I bascially became a hermit and never went out and just stayed at home weeks on end. After a year or so of living like this, i began to feel more and more anxious. I won't lie in the fact that the cannabis is completely behind it all. By about 19 i just woke up one day and stopped the cannabis use. I have never went near it since. So, the cannabis use stopped completely, but my anxieties only kept growing. I worried about EVERYTHING! My lack of social life, my appearance, the way i walked, meeting old friends and even family members, answering the phone, getting on a bus... everything that involved me being seen, spoken to etc... i just dreaded it.
I did manage to find a job though, working in retail as a night shift worker. Eventhough i managed to go, the anxiety and dread never stopped. I was working and suffering at the same time.
I did try to seek help once when i was about 20. I went to see my GP and wrote down all of my symptoms and she just photocopied it and gave me a leaflet to call a mental health team in my area to arrange to see someone. I put it off simply because i couldn't bring myself to make a phone call.
Since then, my anxiety has been manageable. I got myself into a routine of working, coming home and sleeping and limiting my social contact. That's what i felt comfortable living like but i know it's not right.
After a few years of working in a dead end job, i wanted to better myself. So i applied to go to college to do a course and was accepted. I have only been at college for one week and now already having thoughts of leaving. But i just can't ! I would be letting so many people down including myself.
As part of my course i've been told i need to give a personal presentation to my class in November and it hasn't left my mind since. I just keep feeling the dread and anxiety. But i do feel a lot more confident than i did a few years ago, so i've decided now it's time to address my problem.
So i have joined these forums again to ask for advice on what i should do. Should i go and see my GP again? I feel like i need medication to take these feelings away.
My main symptoms include - Increased heart rate, dizziness, butterflies in stomach, nausea, shaking, headache.....
Feeling all this anxiety and thinking about it has eventually led to me becoming depressed. I just feel like i am in a vicious cycle that i can't get out of and i am in my last chance at giving my education a go and i really don't want my anxiety to get the better of me.
What should i do? Is there any medication that can totally stop these symptoms?
Thanks for anyone who replies
I'll try and explain my story as short as possible.
I'm 22. male. I come from Glasgow, Scotland. Growing up i was your typical shy boy but nothing unusual from the rest of the shy kids. At school i was pretty enthusiastic and could talk comfortably with my teachers and class mates. At high school level, my shyness/anxiety was basically non existent. I was really socially outgoing and confident and could talk for Scotland.....
But at the end of my high school years i started taking drugs. Ecstacy and mostly smoking cannabis. The ecastacy taking didn't last very long but i began smoking more and more cannabis and just giving up on my school work. My social circle began to get smaller as my friends left school and went out into jobs and higher education. My cannabis smoking increased. Then by about the age of 17,18, i didn't have one friend. I bascially became a hermit and never went out and just stayed at home weeks on end. After a year or so of living like this, i began to feel more and more anxious. I won't lie in the fact that the cannabis is completely behind it all. By about 19 i just woke up one day and stopped the cannabis use. I have never went near it since. So, the cannabis use stopped completely, but my anxieties only kept growing. I worried about EVERYTHING! My lack of social life, my appearance, the way i walked, meeting old friends and even family members, answering the phone, getting on a bus... everything that involved me being seen, spoken to etc... i just dreaded it.
I did manage to find a job though, working in retail as a night shift worker. Eventhough i managed to go, the anxiety and dread never stopped. I was working and suffering at the same time.
I did try to seek help once when i was about 20. I went to see my GP and wrote down all of my symptoms and she just photocopied it and gave me a leaflet to call a mental health team in my area to arrange to see someone. I put it off simply because i couldn't bring myself to make a phone call.
Since then, my anxiety has been manageable. I got myself into a routine of working, coming home and sleeping and limiting my social contact. That's what i felt comfortable living like but i know it's not right.
After a few years of working in a dead end job, i wanted to better myself. So i applied to go to college to do a course and was accepted. I have only been at college for one week and now already having thoughts of leaving. But i just can't ! I would be letting so many people down including myself.
As part of my course i've been told i need to give a personal presentation to my class in November and it hasn't left my mind since. I just keep feeling the dread and anxiety. But i do feel a lot more confident than i did a few years ago, so i've decided now it's time to address my problem.
So i have joined these forums again to ask for advice on what i should do. Should i go and see my GP again? I feel like i need medication to take these feelings away.
My main symptoms include - Increased heart rate, dizziness, butterflies in stomach, nausea, shaking, headache.....
Feeling all this anxiety and thinking about it has eventually led to me becoming depressed. I just feel like i am in a vicious cycle that i can't get out of and i am in my last chance at giving my education a go and i really don't want my anxiety to get the better of me.
What should i do? Is there any medication that can totally stop these symptoms?
Thanks for anyone who replies