Hi everyone

As the thread says, 'introduce yourselves', so here goes!

I'm currently on my 2nd bout of anxiety, and the worst!

My first anxiety experience was around 6 years ago. I experimented with Cannabis and had the worlds worst trip: Hallucinations, no knowledge of what I was doing or saying, shouting at the top of my voice... it was awful. For about 1 year after this I suffered with an 'out of body' feeling whenever I had a drink or was in a confined space. With 6 months of counseling and a change in relationship I managed to get through this.

And now, the dreaded anxiety returns!

Around 6 months ago I went out drinking 2 days in a row, which didn't seem out of the ordinary. The night after this I was overwhelmed with this 'out of body feeling', along with a heavy and skipping heartbeat. I managed to get myself to sleep by convincing myself that it was just a bad hangover. But the next night it was worse; the unreality feelings completely took over, making me feel as if I was losing my mind. I would take long strides around the kitchen trying to think of anything else.

Since then, the episodes haven't been as severe, but have been pretty much constant. My heartbeat is very heavy, and I have the constant feeling of not being alive, and very spaced out. I have trouble getting to sleep as I worry about getting into bed and having a panic attack, and there are times when I talk to people and the thought of being out of my body comes into my head, which makes me feel like I'm speaking but my brain doesn't know what I'm saying.

It's all very frustrating! But I've dedicated my Sunday to researching into this, and it's relieving to know that there are other people going through the same thing and that my symptoms are perfectly normal (I have no brain tumor, yay!).

I can't decide whether I should go to the doctors to get some help? I've been trying my hardest to avoid it, but I can't seem to work this out myself.

Thanks guys,

Carla