Another anxious girl.

[Green Owl]

Hi all.

I have suffered with anxiety for 14 years, pretty much persistently. I have also suffered with on / off depression.

I remember where it all began, I had a severe panic attack at the age of 14. I had no idea what was happening to me, as many of you will probably relate.
Unfortunately my first certainly wasn't my last, and since that moment I spent years living in fear of having panic attacks, which led me to all sorts of other symptoms of anxiety.

I am proud to say I have my panic attacks fully under control these days. But still suffer immensely with other symptoms of living with anxiety.

Currently, I live with the following...

Regular palpitations
Tight chest
Shortness of breath
Brain fog
Headaches
Severe fatigue
Neck / shoulder tension
Irrational and bizarre thoughts (only way I can explain it)
Dizziness
Depression

I don't feel I ever received the right support at that young age of 14 (or ever since) and often wonder if I had would I be any different? I have learnt to live with my anxiety, but I find it extremely hard to accept. I constantly ask myself WHY? Why me? I have always tried to battle against anxiety, I feel I have waded through treacle to get myself where I am today.

I hope to break down a lot of the questions I have and use this forum to connect with others with anxiety (not something I have done before) to hopefully find some answers or just a little peace of mind, I am also interested in being able to support others by contributing to the forum where I can.

Sorry for the long post!

Green Owl x

[venusbluejeans]

Hiya Green Owl 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:

[helloworld]

Hiya.... Hope you find the site useful. Everything started for me with panic attacks too.... Followed by a horrible downwards spiral into extreme anxiety.... Quite a bit better now but always living in fear of a relapse! Happy to chat anytime!

Mark

[PinkFloyd]

Welcome to the site!

I can definitely empathise with you. My anxiety started with 2 horrendous panic attacks in a row which ended up with me in an ambulance both times. I think the main reason why my anxiety is so bad now is because I never came to.terms with what had happened and tried to ignore itt, and now my brain is finally forcing me to address the issue.
As for the ongoing physical symptoms I get pretty much the same as you apart from the palpitations. I hope you find this place therapeutic in some way and I'm always happy to chat :)

[Green Owl]

Thank you

Yes I can certainly relate to trying to ignore it!

I still don't accept I have anxiety, I live with it but I don't understand why its happening and I think I spent a long time ignoring it thinking it would go away!

I am trying new things now (finally after 14 years!) I am looking into mindfulness and experimenting a bit with complementary therapy...and joined this site! I have to say that so far I have found mindfulness techniques really helpful and I have only really delved into it a little bit so far.

[suny123]

hi green owl im in the same boat as you and it feels like im the only one in my city with severe anxiety/panic attacks but coming on the site i can see so many in my position really hope we can all get better and soooooon