Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
Hello, new to this forum, not new to anxiety. I'm a daily anxiety-sufferer with frequent attacks, and a self-diagnosed hypochondriac.
I feel like I have very atypical anxiety and was just wondering if anyone experiences or feels like I do.
My brain never stops. I think constantly about anything and everything. Negative intrusive thoughts are the scariest, and of course I obsess over why I'm having them, which makes it worse. I have a terrible irrational fear of going crazy (like having a mental break or developing schizophrenia or being committed etc). That feeling of 'impending doom' like 'today is the day I go crazy....have a panic attack that sends me to the hospital...have a mental break...etc.'
I feel like I started to handle and manage my hypochondriasis pretty well, so my brain took my medical/physical fears, and turned them into these new, scarier ones. I've even started to convince myself I'm hearing voices...even though I know it's my own internal monologue. My brain will fixate on scary things or situations and make me obsess over why I'm thinking about them until I have panic attacks.
I feel like 'normal' anxiety would be related to social or actual plausible things (plane crashing, hurricanes, etc), but instead I just have anxiety over having anxiety.
I could go on and on. Just curious to know anyone's experiences with or thoughts on this.
Thanks.
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I did the dumbest thing today. I charged my earbuds, unplugged the block and put the block in my little bag instead of the earbuds. I wasn't happy about that when I got to the gym. What a dummy!
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Ever since I stopped doing therapy because of insurance, I've been feeling that old tense and irritable sense of anxiety and stress. I hate that. I was making so many strides and changes during therapy, my therapist would acknowledge all of my progress and accomplishments, and I miss that reassurance. Today I thought about it, and I made those changes! She would always tell me that I chose to...
You're right, there's no such thing as normal anxiety. Or normal, in general. I just know when I hear someone say "oh this gives me so much anxiety," my immediate thought is "oh shut up you don't know what real anxiety is." lol
Do you think it's an irrational fear of your neighbor? Or have they given you reason to find them creepy?
Just kidding.
I keep wondering if I'm already a little crazy or if one of these days I'm just gonna lose my crap and go crackers. If I do I hope I make one heck of a scene.
no, I think it's quite rational since he had a habit of hanging out on his roof, just sitting there looking at my house. I even took pictures for proof. that's why it annoys me when ppl say "oh I'm sure he's not just sitting up there, hoping to catch a glimpse of you" well how do you know!!! that's why it seems very rational, based on his behavior. but sorry to make it about me again lol.
marylou - lol!!! well, what's left of it. ;)
and so true. the older I get, and the more the world (and the ppl in it) make me crazy, the more the "sane" or "normal" ppl start to seem like the "crazy" or "weird" ones. I really don't know how ppl can function, lol. they all just seem like robots. like if you don't wanna set your neighbors house on fire, then there must be something wrong with you. lol. yeah it gets exhausting trying to be "normal", and sometimes I think, yeah, why not just go crazy? and yeah, better make it a good one, lol. ;)
And yeah i guess going crazy isn't the worst that could happen. Like, I'd just go in a mental facility, scare my family and friends, lose my job, and dissociate to the point of insanity right!? Nothing scary about that
ugh, no that doesn't sound good. I understand tho about once you 'fix' one problem, then another one seems to pop up, or you just focus on that one instead. :/ hopefully someone else could be of more help. :)
My biology studies tell me there **is** such a thing as normal anxiety. It is connected to our survival instincts. Normal anxiety alerts us to danger and gives us an all natural hormone boost which heightens our fight or flight responses. Once the danger has passed, normal anxiety will then pass and our bodies will purge the hormone high to settle our nerves and get us back to normal. These days the process of purging those hormones and getting back to normal is being called, PTS or "Post Traumatic Stress."
The disorder sets in when the sense of danger continues for prolonged periods and our survival instincts continue sending out those hormone shots, whether there is a clear and present danger or not. The physical effect of those hormones is similar to meth up to and including the addiction factor.
I consider myself a recovering chaos junkie for this very reason. I was born into a domestic war zone and nourished with continual fear. The symptoms you describe here are *Normal-For-Me." By the time I reached psychotherapy, those hormone shots were my drug of choice. The hardest part of recovery was/is an on-going craving for my next shot of those all-natural hormones.
But that is me. . .
Gentle support while you sort what ^it^ is for you. Welcome aboard.
I've learned to keep a journal and write out my feelings and my thoughts. Remember they are just thoughts and trying to focus on something else when something pops in your mind is helpful. Stay in the present moment and those thoughts too shall pass. Talking with a therapist is a good idea. It's always good to talk to someone that will listen and help. Good luck my friend. Italianmomma4ever
Anxiety is natural and has a 'normal' range for everyone.
When the brain begins 'overdoing' thoughts, finding ways to slow it down takes 'doing' to physical tasks so the brain focuses on a specific task.
Writing it out is the best method in helping reducing the amount of words floating, and the more you write it out, the easier it is to pick the words that affect your ability to think clearly.
When a neighbor "watching" becomes overwhelming, which happened to me, I had to learn how to make it positive as it was making everyone uncomfortable. I started smiling and waving and being pleasant and over time, it settled down back into normal range. I still am keeping my distance with this neighbor, and I do not say anything, however, the situation is calm, which is the goal I had.
Use your brain since it is wanting to work through all those thoughts. Let your brain share the words in writing.
Best wishes as you find your better balance.
I feel if they're written that I will read them over and over and still obsess over them to the point where I'll have a full blown panic attack etc etc.
For instance, even typing this response out, thinking of "why do I have those thoughts, am I gonna go crazy, am I gonna hear voices, why is it all stuff I'd never do, why all scary stuff etc"...i have this lightheaded feeling and fire across my chest and I focus on my vision blurring etc etc.
Just wanted to further explain my anxiety. I hate it.
Your having those thoughts because your brain is putting them there. It's all just thoughts that aren't gonna happen. When you have anxiety your mind can run wild and do that to you. When your thinking and feeling this way, stop and pause and breath. Think positive. Remember there just thoughts. Nothing is gonna happen you have to keep telling yourself that. You got this. I hate having anxiety too. It sucks.
Im so glad I joined this forum btw. It's hard to talk about scary things to family or friends without being judged. And unfortunately my partner doesn't (or doesn't want to) understand, so we don't talk about it.