View Full Version : is anxiety forever?
bmccartney
16-11-10, 00:02
i am new here and so far so good... i can see this will be helpfull for me. I have had anxiety for the past 4 months and not sure why. Maybe there is no answer to why. Seems to me i started to have severe hot flashes related to menapause and within a month anxiety to a degree i never knew exsisted. i am too stubborn to cave to this as really it enrages me . i refuse to miss work or anything else. I find it desperately embarrassing ( why is that i wonder). I have 5 daughters and not one of them is aware of this struggle. Not sure how long i can continue to "rise above it" as i feel like i am loosing. I was put on Paxil and it has done nothing to ease the anxiety. When i come on here and read about people sufferring anxiety and panic attacks for 10 or 20 friggin years ... i just cannot face that possibility. How can anyone with stand this for years? So nothing works to end it? Tell me it is not so!
Going home
16-11-10, 00:14
Hi there, I'm going to say that yes, anxiety is forever, and by that I mean that nobody escapes from anxiety, its part of life. What doesn't have to be forever is extreme anxiety, which is a result of how we react to the origional anxiety symptoms...hence the 'many years' thing you dread. Panic attacks are the absolute pits, and the first is always the worst, and usually the one that brings on the rest if you see what I mean. So its your reaction to them that is the key to how long you suffer.
Ive been getting panic attacks for many years, and yes I know you don't want to hear that, but I also know what brings them on. I'm claustrophobic so I don't like crowded trains, or being on motorways, or sittting in the middle of a row in the cinema, or being in a lift alone (if i'm gonna die in a lift that gets stuck i'm ok with someone else being in it with me) etc, etc. So...ive learned, like lots of others to find my own way of coping with my fears. I know that if I'm in a crowded train or on a motorway I will probably have a panic attack, but I also know that Ive learned to talk myself out of them and so most times I do. I might think i'm going to pass out or die when one first starts, but I also know that after all these years that just isn't going to happen so I accept them more now. I don't get them much at all these days, just very occasionally and thats ok, its part of life.
Nerves can become very sensitised in the beginning so that it doesn't take much to trigger a panic. Its all about learning not to react so much.
Anna xx
supersezza
16-11-10, 01:13
I would agree, anxiety is a part of life but it's learning to keep it in it's appropraite areas rather than it spreading etc.
but have hope though! anxiety can become just a 'normal' part of life! :shades:
looking4answers
16-11-10, 05:45
Well I have read the post here and I am 56 and from what I remember I have been anxious most of my life. Im not sure that anxiety just comes out of nowhere.You may have always been a little anxious and something traumatic set it off to be more noticable than it has your whole life. I have often wonder how this works..I know you don't want to hear people have had it all of their life but the good news is .. well over time you learn how to cope with it and adjust to things that trigger your anxiety and I have read...and not sure of how true it is..some people say they beat it forever.
But personally speaking there have been years that it has been controlled with me and seems to have left my life and then there are other years that it has made itself known in a really bad way.The just of it.. just keep going and try .. and it will subside . I have often wondered whether it might be chemical changes that bring anxiety on and then other times when the chemistry is correct then you aren't anxious. Since I have had years I didn't feel anxious at all and then years I was anxious all of the time.
But anyway good luck to you and wish you best of luck and try to relax and things will get better.. Michael
This is going to sound like an echo but as the others have said everyone experiences anxiety it’s just ours is out of control and hangs around longer.
Take mine for instance I don’t suffer continuous anxiety, for which I’m grateful, but when I have a genuine moment of lifted anxiety it spirals out of control and then sticks with me for weeks
i am new here and so far so good... i can see this will be helpfull for me. I have had anxiety for the past 4 months and not sure why. Maybe there is no answer to why. Seems to me i started to have severe hot flashes related to menapause and within a month anxiety to a degree i never knew exsisted. i am too stubborn to cave to this as really it enrages me . i refuse to miss work or anything else. I find it desperately embarrassing ( why is that i wonder). I have 5 daughters and not one of them is aware of this struggle. Not sure how long i can continue to "rise above it" as i feel like i am loosing. I was put on Paxil and it has done nothing to ease the anxiety. When i come on here and read about people sufferring anxiety and panic attacks for 10 or 20 friggin years ... i just cannot face that possibility. How can anyone with stand this for years? So nothing works to end it? Tell me it is not so!
Well,i think i've had my anxiety all my life.
I have suffered for the past 3 months. I am doing everything I can to get a handle on it, counselling, yoga, vitamins, positive thinking, given up smoking etc. I know it may lurk with me forever, but I am determined to understand it and it not control my life forever. I don't expect miracles but I know that I am in charge of me and I will do everything I can to handle it and live with it.
Not sure how long i can continue to "rise above it" as i feel like i am loosing. I was put on Paxil and it has done nothing to ease the anxiety.
Go back to your GP, there are other meds he can put you on to help you. I see my GP on a regular basis, to touch base, and make sure I am on the right medication for me. I am on 2.5mg Olanzapine a day (the lowest dose there is), its a non-addictive tranquiliser and it does help my anxiety.
I think my own experiences are similar to Groundhog's. I accepted a long time ago that I have an "anxious nature"; that's OK, I can deal with that. My problem is that I am, in effect, programmed to react badly when subjected to stress, particular if it's over matters that I can't control (or have little control of).
Therefore, although I have had anxiety as a life-long thing, it's not constantly present (thank God, I think I'd have jumped in the river by now), but I have spells of it. Over the last three years I've been subject to humungous amounts of stress, so this time I know it's all a result of overload. Unfortunately for me though, I don't just get non-specific anxiety, I can also get social anxiety and health anxiety, so it gets me one way or another (which is a bummer).
It's important that you understand - anxiety is not forever .... the only reason to continue having it is by not receiving the correct type of help. It is totally possible to let the anxiety go and move forward in a resourceful and positive state of mind.
Anxiety is a fear of the future, in some shape or form and shows that you are focussing on something not going the way you want it to go. For example, if you held a picture in your mind about the future being totally wonderful and going exactly as you plan it to, then you would have nothing to be anxious about.
So the question then becomes HOW you go about making that happen!
It will be about removing the negative & limiting belief structures you hold internally - that you filter your experience of the world around you through. You also filter your experience of life through the past memories etc - so if there are negative emotional attachments to past memories, these will also cast a shadow on your ability to see the future going as you want it to.
I suggest you look in to Time Line Therapy® and find a Master Practitioner who can assist you in letting go of the past negative emotions and limiting beliefs swiftly and comfortably. It will give you a very tangible experience and you will realise how different things can then be for you, moving forward.
The method was formalised by Tad James ..... his website is
www.timelinetherapy.net
I suggest you read the sections on Negative Emotions, Limiting Beliefs/Decisions and Anxiety - then find someone trained to assist you. It may be that The Time Line Therapy Association can refer you to someone in your area (Canada is it?)
All the best.
Nigel
Going home
16-11-10, 12:36
Nigel, what alot of us are saying here is that normal anxiety is forever as in being anxious about an exam or going to the dentist etc, this kind of anxiety is an everyday thing and its a healthy reaction to normal stresses in life and that never goes away for anybody. Its the extreme anxiety that doesn't have to be forever, and can be controlled with the right treatment. Perhaps that should have been explained a bit better.
Anna xx
bmccartney
16-11-10, 12:42
I do thank you all for responding to me. Very helpfull and gives me so much to think about it! I can see that if i honestly look back , i do have an " anxious nature" ... just thought a mother of 5 working fulltime would feel like her nerves were shot from time to time. lots to think about and explore. "sensitized" ...never heard that before. I do most gratefully thank you all .
PS Yes.. Canada ( Toronto ontario)
Ah OK - point taken ... and yes I agree, there are times when even the most positive person will become a little anxious. I think it's important to differentiate between what is appropriate levels of anxiety (or any negative type of emotion, such as Anger etc) in a given situation .... and what is not.
Even in those situations - when someone becomes a little anxious, I believe it is relevant to note the reason for that .... which is the focus of their thought processes - imagining the outcome NOT going as they wish it to. In that moment, ask yourself what it is you want 'instead' and focus on THAT. After a while, that process will in itself form a habit, to reduce the amount of time where you focus on the low level anxiety.
Take yourself out to a point in time 15 minutes after the successful completion of the event and turn around to look back on the event about which you thought you were anxious - and ask yourself .... NOW where is the anxiety!?
It can't be there!
Nig
I don't think that what we consider anxiety other people consider anxiety, for instance, when most people get on a roller coaster they experience anxiety, however they are not afraid of it and they feed off it and they go on to enjoy the experience.
I think your question should have been "is fear of anxiety forever?" and i think the answer to that is a resounding NO. You will always have anxiety, in fact that's a normal part us that we need to survive everyday, like run away from an oncoming car when crossing the street, or to swerve from a dangerous driver...etc.
The reason we have "increased anxiety" is not because we are "anxious" people, but because we increase our own anxiety levels through the use of fear, we scare ourselves and become more stressed, we live our lives on tip toes. Our anxiety is indeed normal, it's working isn't it, it's just we keep it at high levels all of the time, which just throws us in for a loop.
Do i think anxiety lasts forever, i certainly hope so, because without it we wouldn't survive through everyday tasks. However does our fear of it last forever? it most certainly doesn't if you take proper care of yourself and learn how to let go of trying to protect yourself every little moment.
Yes anxiety is forever just as any other fundamental emotions are. Anxiety is only a problem when we let it take us off track from the life we want to lead.
i know i must sound like a complete bore now :) but please check out the book in my signature, you won't regret it!
bmccartney
29-11-10, 18:48
thanks everone! food for thought for sure...going to get The mindfulness and acceptance workbook for anxiety today. Sounds like something that will help
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