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Mental Health How badly does your anxiety affect you?

Jabberwocky

Jabberwocky

Frumious Bandersnatch
Joined
Nov 3, 1999
Messages
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Looking-Glass Land
As of recent I've been so hesitant to do the things I'm meant to be doing ie get a job, get on with life etc. i'veen getting help from my psych over the years as well as anti depressants and nothing seems to work. I think it's the booze but when I stopped for a month it was the same story, too anxious to do the new thing I'm meant to be doing. At the moment life is like a bubble and it sucks:(

What about you guys?
 
well let's see i'm tapering from benzos

it's incredibly heroic to do just menial tasks
i resent taking care of myself in any capacity
i have been drinking more to make up for it and right now my fingers on my right hand are "asleep"
i don't leave the apartment unless i NEED to even though it's a shit hole we got drunk and even wrote on the walls with sidewalk chalk
i don't really want to move, ever
<snip>
 
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OP, I have lived with anxiety all my life. I pretty much came in that way as nothing bad happened in my young childhood to cause it--I just think it is the nature of some very/overly sensitive people to worry to the point of obsession. I do think there are things that you can do that help, like mindfulness practice, CBT, etc, but there is also acceptance of your nature that comes into play. The older I have gotten, the more I can see how useless most of my anxiety (probably all of it if I'm honest) is a complete waste of my energy and a diversion from the present. Obsessively projecting into the future has never once positively affected the present and slowly over the years that rational thought has influenced my impulsive leap into panic so that it has gotten easier to slow myself down and self-talk myself into a better place. I feel like I will always live with the mind-chatter but how I look at it has shifted with age and I am more capable of just letting it play out and exhaust itself internally without being overcome by it. It's like I've learned to wait it out and them go about my business. I hope that this gets easier for you--it's frustrating and unhealthy to live in constant stress.
 
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Currently my anxiety (which has come back/steadily increased over the past handful of months) is honestly pretty debilitating. I can't wake up any morning with out feeling short of breath and just extremely unsatisfied with life, stressing over anything and everything. I have really bad avoidance tendencies, and my anxiety only kicks it into full gear. I'm hoping I can get rid of my anxiety again over the next year once I get somewhat settled in life. We'll see what happens. I finally got a job today after forcing myself to get some shit done, and I feel a little better.
 
Cloudy, it's great that you got a job. Hope it is one where you can feel comfortable with the people you work with--that makes all the difference in the world. I find that even if the work is something I don't like that if I bond with the people there it doesn't much matter.

Have you ever explored mindfulness for your anxiety? It's been a life-saver for me.
 
Extremely.

My anxiety gets so bad at times that I start to hallucinate. I not only see things that aren't there, but I also hear people talking that aren't there.
 
I haven't been in a relationship in 2 1\2 years. Not because of social anxiety (which I don't have much of). But because my anxiety has took away my confidence in being a suitable mate for anybody. Anxiety has really affected my self-esteem. I've been working on a lot of self-improvement. I've been exercising, eating right, and taking vitamins and fish oil which I believe helps. I've also switched from whiskey to wine and lowered my alcohol intake. But I still have a long way to go in terms of making this thing manageable.

As time goes on I've learned to accept my anxiety instead of trying to battle it with drugs and alcohol. Drugs and drink give you a buzz. That's all they should be used for. Self-medicating for psychiatric issues is only going to mask the problem. As cliche as that sounds its very true. I don't know the extent of your drinking but read up on how alcohol effects anxiety levels. I could tell you all about it but reading the articles themselves is pretty...shall I say sobering?
 
weekend addiction said:
I haven't been in a relationship in 2 1\2 years. Not because of social anxiety (which I don't have much of). But because my anxiety has took away my confidence in being a suitable mate for anybody. Anxiety has really affected my self-esteem. I've been working on a lot of self-improvement. I've been exercising, eating right, and taking vitamins and fish oil which I believe helps. I've also switched from whiskey to wine and lowered my alcohol intake. But I still have a long way to go in terms of making this thing manageable.

As time goes on I've learned to accept my anxiety instead of trying to battle it with drugs and alcohol. Drugs and drink give you a buzz. That's all they should be used for. Self-medicating for psychiatric issues is only going to mask the problem. As cliche as that sounds its very true. I don't know the extent of your drinking but read up on how alcohol effects anxiety levels. I could tell you all about it but reading the articles themselves is pretty...shall I say sobering?
Click to expand...

Vitamin supplement sure don't hurt. However, just so you know, the only vitamin supplements that have ANY proof to actually make you healthier are...

St. John's Wort - (more effective than most conventional antidepressants for depression and anxiety)

Valarian Root - (This has been nicknamed "The natrual benzo." This has also been proven to be more effective than most conventional anxiolytics. However, Benzodiazepines are still considered to be vastly superior. With that being said, Valerian Root has proven to be more powerful than SSRI's, Tricyclics, and Antipsychotics for anxiety)

L-Tyrosine - (Proven to be affective for depression. Studies have shown it may also be used to treat ADHD, as L-Tyrosine causes an increase in attention and focus)

Vitamin D - (I believe I remember reading that it is the only vitamin supplement that's benefits outweigh the risks. It is also the only vitamin supplement to have hard evedence to be a promoter of good health and promote a good sense of well-being)

Omega-3 - (Omega 3 is a lipid (a lipid is a fat) that's considered a "good" cholesterol. Omega-3 has been proven to promote the regeneration of brain tissue)

Fish Oil - (Fish Oil contains big amounts of Omega-3, but also contains the possibly harmful Omega-6. Fish oil is definitely helpful, but taking pure Omega-3 supplements (these are called "EHG" supplements) has shown to actually be healthier. However it's still disputed whether or not this is the case.)

Those are the only ones I remember the descriptions for. The rest are...

Cinnamon Extract
Folic Acid
Cranberry Extract
Green Tea (Or Green Tea extract)
Probiotics for the digestive system (all other probiotics were shown to actually cause more damage than good)

I can cited sources if requested ;)
 
My anxiety causes me not to eat, shortness of breath, stuttering, etc. I've been diagnosed with PTSD and anorexia. Anxiety problems run in my family (mom's side) with two deaths from anorexia. I see a psychiatrist and a psychologist. I cannot take anti depressants since it causes reverse reactions. I take an anxiety medication as a last resort, I'm able to eat and function much better. I cannot recommend this to anybody but for me it works.
 
Mine prevents me from leaving the house the majority of the time unless it's absolutely necessary. I have to force myself to be social at times and spend hours working up to going out, even if it's just to a friends place.
 
I developed a weird symptom due to taking too much mdma last dec. My anxiety attacks whenever I feel the symptom. I'm learning to cope with it though but it is still pretty frustrating specially if you are at work.
 
It hits pretty hard at times. Ever since I graduated from university two months ago I have been having a hard time. Applying to jobs is difficult. I am very afraid of change, even though I know I need to get a job. I don't know what I am afraid of.
 
my anxiety is back, i cant really face reality most of the time now

my room is a wreck, theres heaps of forms i need to fill out but it makes me sick thinking about it

i take comfort in knowing i have the tools to get myself back into a more stable mindstate though

im pretty sick of feeling good for a few weeks then hating life the next few weeks and repeating that vague cycle over and over
 
Anxiety cripples my life. If life/existence were a beautiful juicy grape, anxiety makes my life a raisin which has been stepped on and squashed - it is dried out and mere shadow of the glorious juicy grape it once was. It cripples me socially, spiritually, and personally. I socially isolates me, drains the life from and destroys any form of personal connection with others. It causes me to become a tormented wanderer in life, always fearing. The anxiety moves through different areas of my life, though it is ever-present in a social anxiety sense. I will obsess over work, business ideas, religion - and in all cases panic and become extremely anxious and tormented by thoughts.

Anxiety is like slitting the throat of an animal and hanging it upside down - it drains the life blood from one's existence. At least mine does (if not medicated)

There is hope though, medication can and does help.
 
cbtodacb said:
Anxiety cripples my life. If life/existence were a beautiful juicy grape, anxiety makes my life a raisin which has been stepped on and squashed - it is dried out and mere shadow of the glorious juicy grape it once was. It cripples me socially, spiritually, and personally. I socially isolates me, drains the life from and destroys any form of personal connection with others. It causes me to become a tormented wanderer in life, always fearing. The anxiety moves through different areas of my life, though it is ever-present in a social anxiety sense. I will obsess over work, business ideas, religion - and in all cases panic and become extremely anxious and tormented by thoughts.
Click to expand...

^That is probably the best description I have seen of the extreme state of anxiety.

It robs you of the present, forcing you to live in a future that is always the worst possible future of the many that might actually be. It doesn't even matter if you are proven wrong by the actual future not being so bad as you imagined because you are already living n the next nightmare your mind is cooking up.
 
Its good to know that im not the only person stuck like this because if i didnt get on the internet id still feel like a psycho that needs to be commited. I used to wonder if i was just lazy but i knew that wasnt the case. I am just an incompetent, non functioning member of society. Sometimes i wonder if ive been misdiagnosed because anxiety and depression dont sound that bad, lots of people live with this, but being at the extreme end of the spectrum is just completely crippling. Blah...i know how u feel! I am a raisin too...raisins are depressing. I wish my anxiety/depression didnt get in the way of getting some kind of treatment but i cant stick with anything and fuck that up as well.
 
For me as I'm getting older it's affecting me, more and more. I've been a fucken vegetable this whole week. I wrote up a stack of things on the weekend of what I wanted to be doing and the tasks asigned were easy. However I've accomplished only 1 or 2 of them.
 
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