daveyjay316
28-02-06, 01:57
Hello all, my name is Dave and I am 23 (24 this Sunday) and I am from Birmingham, UK. I have suffered with anxiety since around September 2001 (the 9/11 attacks did not prompt the anxiety, just to mention). I have elaborated many a time on similar site PanicSurvivor about the nature of my panic, where it came from, what symptoms i suffer from and how this affliction has negatively influenced my life thus far but obviously this is a new site so new site, new slate so to speak.
Buckle yourself in friends, you are in for a bumpy ride (I hope you have some time spare aswell as my story is one of epic proportions hehe).
From a very early age I was a worrier, you could easily slap the label of hypochondriac on me as I very frequently had intense worries regarding my health. I was obsessed with being ill and had a really intense fear expecially about being sick and throwing up. Just the thought of it made me sweat all over. I was so obsessed with the dread of being sick that I would always be able to remember the exact date, day and time when i was last sick. As the years went by i became less obsessed with this specific fear as growing up you tend to do what people do when they grow up and thats socialise and occasionally get drunk with friends and family. Of course over endulging like this usually only results in one thing and so you could say i got over my fear of being sick by being sick, if you get me. Actually it makes me smile now why i was ever worried about being sick as a specific problem because it isn't that big a deal really, it just makes the individual feel very woozy. As time has gone by maybe it was the symptoms associated with being sick which i was terrified of and not the actually act of vomiting itself e.g feeling lightheaded and dizzy and that the room is spinning. So setting aside that issue, I am just here describing to you all that as an individual i have always been somewhat of a worrier and hypochondriac, from my early years till now.
Between the ages of 10 and 18/19 i didn't really have any major worries about anything in particular and enjoyed school (well about as much as one can enjoy school) and later enjoyed working. Things were going well. I didn't really have any obsessive thoughts about anything in particular and certainly at this stage in my life i didn't have anything like anxiety. But i really wish i knew what was coming my way over the next few years.
When i was about 19 and a half i went away to Torresmolinos in Spain with my parents as we were going to stay for the week at our friends house over there. These friends moved out there when they had saved up the money to do so and before they did move, they lived literally round the corner from us. It was literally a stones throw away! Anyway we went to visit them in the first week of September (I believe it was between the 1st and 7th or 8th of September 2001). Everything was fine, the holiday was a great one and things were all okay until the Thursday of that week (September 6th 2001). We had all been out for a drink at a beach bar and were returning home to our friends' house when in a matter of a few seconds, my life changed....for the worse! I was walking ahead of the group of 5 of us and was feeling absolutely fine. It was a beautiful hot day and i just generally had a good vibe from the day. It was about between 6 and 6:30pm when were returning back to the house my parents' friends occupied and during the walk back we had to cut through some outdoor markets. I was ahead of the group like i said and i just casually turned around innocently to see one of my parents friends we were holidaying with holding her neck. I didnt know what was going on and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She was holding her neck and slowly lowering to the floor. She was passing out and soon after fell to the ground. Luckily she had her husband standing next to her so he was able to break her fall, aswell as a passer by, who thank the lord was a nurse. The family friend was on the ground and started fitting and so her husband put his
Buckle yourself in friends, you are in for a bumpy ride (I hope you have some time spare aswell as my story is one of epic proportions hehe).
From a very early age I was a worrier, you could easily slap the label of hypochondriac on me as I very frequently had intense worries regarding my health. I was obsessed with being ill and had a really intense fear expecially about being sick and throwing up. Just the thought of it made me sweat all over. I was so obsessed with the dread of being sick that I would always be able to remember the exact date, day and time when i was last sick. As the years went by i became less obsessed with this specific fear as growing up you tend to do what people do when they grow up and thats socialise and occasionally get drunk with friends and family. Of course over endulging like this usually only results in one thing and so you could say i got over my fear of being sick by being sick, if you get me. Actually it makes me smile now why i was ever worried about being sick as a specific problem because it isn't that big a deal really, it just makes the individual feel very woozy. As time has gone by maybe it was the symptoms associated with being sick which i was terrified of and not the actually act of vomiting itself e.g feeling lightheaded and dizzy and that the room is spinning. So setting aside that issue, I am just here describing to you all that as an individual i have always been somewhat of a worrier and hypochondriac, from my early years till now.
Between the ages of 10 and 18/19 i didn't really have any major worries about anything in particular and enjoyed school (well about as much as one can enjoy school) and later enjoyed working. Things were going well. I didn't really have any obsessive thoughts about anything in particular and certainly at this stage in my life i didn't have anything like anxiety. But i really wish i knew what was coming my way over the next few years.
When i was about 19 and a half i went away to Torresmolinos in Spain with my parents as we were going to stay for the week at our friends house over there. These friends moved out there when they had saved up the money to do so and before they did move, they lived literally round the corner from us. It was literally a stones throw away! Anyway we went to visit them in the first week of September (I believe it was between the 1st and 7th or 8th of September 2001). Everything was fine, the holiday was a great one and things were all okay until the Thursday of that week (September 6th 2001). We had all been out for a drink at a beach bar and were returning home to our friends' house when in a matter of a few seconds, my life changed....for the worse! I was walking ahead of the group of 5 of us and was feeling absolutely fine. It was a beautiful hot day and i just generally had a good vibe from the day. It was about between 6 and 6:30pm when were returning back to the house my parents' friends occupied and during the walk back we had to cut through some outdoor markets. I was ahead of the group like i said and i just casually turned around innocently to see one of my parents friends we were holidaying with holding her neck. I didnt know what was going on and everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She was holding her neck and slowly lowering to the floor. She was passing out and soon after fell to the ground. Luckily she had her husband standing next to her so he was able to break her fall, aswell as a passer by, who thank the lord was a nurse. The family friend was on the ground and started fitting and so her husband put his