Yes you can overcome it. My mom was raped by her band teacher when she was just a teenager. She ended up with horrible anxiety, and a lot of issues.. Couldnt sit in class anymore, or even the car. She said it lasted for a few years, and eventually it just went away. Every once in awhile she says she still feels a little anxiety, but she chooses not to let it get to her.

That gives me some hope thank you. I am so sorry your mom was raped by someone she should have been able to trust.

No problem (: And even with me, i've had anxiety ever since i started high school and now im about to be a senior. I feel it going away, like maybe im finally at the point where its a healthy amount. It's just gonna take some time. Dont get discouraged

i fully believe you can over come anxiety :) you have to let go of the fear of it and be willing to work at it...you may never completely be with out anxiety but you can manage it to where you can live your life normaly and very functional...i for years suffered with anxiety and panic disorder and not to say i dont experience anxiety but i have a full time job, im driving which i couldnt before and i love living life,,, you can just work on and forget all of it when your feeling better you have to constantly work at it :) dont lose hope hun you'll find your way

I have been dealing with high anxiety for three months. I am afraid to say it but I am getting better. I kept pushing through my daily routines. I did meditation yoga increased my paxil. I started therapy. I realized a lot of it is my daughter going away to college next year and my aging parents relying on me more. But going through the rough days were horrible. It felt like it was never going to get better then about 3 weeks ago I had a normal day. I was amazed. That feeling of being in control was back. I have now had two days of feeling normal. I still think that I am going to crash but I haven't. Hang in there. It does get better

The best gift we give ourselves with anxiety is to face it head on. It's natural and the more we embrace the way it gives us hints (go on, laugh), the easier it is to manage those pesky spikes when we least expect them.

The fear of anxiety almost always disappears with a measure of events, kind of like a stairway, one step at a time. That can be overcome, and yes, you will recognize it when it shows up again to say hi, and have a method that works to reduce it.

Best wishes.

I think that in it's way, anxiety can be it's own coping mechanism. I suffered panic attacks for years when I was a teenager, but in my early 20s when I was in more control of my life and more comfortable in my skin, they stopped. I went about 9-10 years without a panic attack (accept once when pregnant but it was completely justified) until I had more stress than I could handle after a serious health issue. Without the anxiety though, I would never have talked about any of it and it would have just eaten at me slowly and made me bitter. My marriage would have just deteriorated and I would have isolated myself from everyone. Because of the fact that I couldn't handle how "on alert" the anxiety made me feel I sought help, I opened up, I realized the things and people that were important to me and how to remove those extra things that cause me more stress than I can live with.

I meant to add, I feel better, than I did a year ago, six months ago, and I feel that at some point when the things in my life don't feel so up in the air, I might be okay again. I'll be able to deal with stress without it inducing a panic attack. I'll be able to drive without crying, or visit my parents again (they live 3 hours away and between being in a car that long and the terrifying roads in their county I can't handle it. Plus, I get anxious about being away from home after being in the hospital so much. I'm working on it though.)

YOU WILL RECOVER, as hard has this seems you wont, you can. It starts with the odd good day, then week etc, in between you may drop back, but it will show you that the good days are there. Its your reaction to the bad days that determines how long it will last, if you can see it as just a nuisance that will go away, it takes the fear away. Its so hard when your in the middle of it all I know, but you must believe that recovery is there just waiting for you, Susie x

I guess i am scared that the rest of my life will be like this because i had a great two weeks the end of June and then bam i got sick after eating dinner and now i'm back to were i started. I just don't understand it i have a great life i just can't live it because of this damn anxiety ruling my life. I know i shouldn't let it but when you are dealing with these symptoms everyday you kind of lose hope.

I label my anxiety as "situational". I don't know if that's accurate, but that's my empowerment perception. That way, when it starts to take over my life, I take some of anxiety's power away and give it to myself to be able to control and/or get rid of it (the anxiety).

If i had your permission I started to say you that you must begin to stop saying and thinking that about your anxiety symptoms
to beat it you have to accept it first even to love it if you could...

I am getting ready to start Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and I am hoping it helps me. I am a lot like you in that I've tried talk therary and many, many anxiety meds. I also spent about a week in the mental ward of a hospital. It is hopeful to read here that people have gotten better.

DO NOT LOSE HOPE ,I HAD IT 20 YEARS IT COMES AND GOES BUT I WORK ON IT ,SOME TIME THINGS SET US BACK LIKE YOU GETTING SICK AND WE GET SCARED ALL OVER AGAIN, I READ CLARIE WEEKES BOOKS SHE SO GOOD EXPLAINING THE UPS AND DOWNS OF THIS ANXIETY,HANG IN THERE WERE ALL HERE WITH YOU, I GET UP SICK EVERY DAY IT WENT AWAY FOR AWHILE AND MY NIECE PASSED AWAY AND IT ALL CAME BACK. I LOST MY DAUGHTER 8 YEARS AGO AND I WAS VERY SICK FOR A LONG TIME, BUT WE CAN COME THOUGH THIS THERE IS HOPE, HUGS ,SHIRLEY

I don't know if you will ever be rid of it completely, but you certainly can get it under control to the point of living a normal life. I was on Paxil until I realized I was pregnant in July 2011. I was looking forward to getting back on the meds after delivery. Well, right now, my panic and anxiety are pretty much under control, and I have not taken the meds in over a year.

So there is hope.