Hi guys

[Amani]

Hi there, I thought I'd introduce myself properly as I feel like I'll be getting a lot of use out of this forum. I'm 24 from England and have had anxiety in different forms and in varying degrees since a very young age. I would love to talk to people with similar experiences and look forward to being a part of this forum.

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Amani and welcome to NMP :welcome:

Why not take a look at our articles on our home page, they contain a wealth of information and are a great starting place for your time on the forum.

I hope you find the as site helpful and informative as I have and that you get the help and support you need here and hope that you meet a few friends along the way :yesyes:

[Purplelavender]

Welcome

[uru]

Welcome!

What are you anxious about?

[ben johnson]

hay if you even need a personal chat about your promlems then im here for you. you just have to pm me, or you could try out the chat room, welcome

[Amani]

Hey, thank you for the welcome everyone. I actually wrote about what's going on with me in another thread so I'll paste what I write here as a couple of people asked :)

I have had anxiety in many forms and varying severity since a very young age, Most recently my anxiety caught up with my me and 2 years ago I developed a Dysfunctional Breathing Disorder/Chronic Hyperventilation (due to long term anxious breathing) which is chronic and takes months/years of physiotherapy to cure. For the past year it had been very under control (the physio was working) to the point where I could get on with my day to day life without noticing it much or it impacting my life.

But recently I had a recent break up which left me very depressed and anxious and I stopped doing my breathing exercises (which I need to do 3 times a day) and my Dysfunctional Breathing came back with a vengeance. And the symptoms feel so severe, even more than I remember, and are often impossible to ignore. Feeling of suffocation that can last hours, tightening of airways, unable to talk for periods due to breathlessness, choking feelings are examples. Other than breathing issues I have other physical symptoms manifesting from anxiety such as difficultly swallowing food, extreme light-headedness etc. I have been to the hospital and been examined and tested so know that there is nothing wrong me on a rational level (sort of). But the feelings of suffocation/my airways restricting etc are just so hard to ignore and not panic about when they come about. But I know panic and anxiety will make things worse and hinder me getting back to normal again, so I just NEED to tame my anxiety over my symptoms. I also freak out if I experience sensations I'm not used to - they also often feel really extreme and I imagine the worse. For example I get weird brain sensations when falling asleep sometimes and one night I woke up with this intense constricting feeling in my eye and woke up in a panic as I was convinced I was having an aneurysm.

I was given a short course of Valium for my breathing which helped my breathing about 85% and all my other symptoms completely went away which was reassuring. But now I'm tapering down on the Valium and can feel myself getting worse again and more anxious and don't know what to do next. I know my physical symptoms will only get worse the more anxious I get so it's a viscous cycle I need to get out if. I'm seeing a new therapist who seems helpful but I know I will have to wait for results from that and am worried about the mean time, especially with coming off the Valium. I also live by myself which is more scary when I get the symptoms (I was with family when I was really bad over the holidays but have just gotten back home by myself 2 days ago).

[ben johnson]

that's alright then.

I know what it feels like to have a megar break up I had one not that long ago.

well all you need to remember we are always here to talk to