Anxiety

[Fira2313]

I've been suspecting that I may have an anxiety issue, but I don't really know of its worth investigating.

I've just been feeling really anxious in situations all the time

And I thought through it there's no good reason why.

I've just been feeling shaky, a little sick, and I've been trying to avoid talking to people because I don't want to have to deal with the stress of what they might say, or think of me and what I'm saying, or I'll somehow embarrass myself.

Please help, is you have anxiety please let me know if this is it and if I need to look into it or talk to someone, or if this is just nothing

Thank you!

[AngelAmy1111]

Hi Fira, Sounds like social anxiety to me. That happens when you are in social situations, afraid of what people think. My friend has that as well. I would think you can get help for that with a good therapist. I don't think you would need a RX for that unless it's absolutely keeping you from enjoying your life. (There are prescriptions you can take short term if necessary like Ativan, that is the one that worked for me. It is similar to Valium and Xanax. But it will be hard to stop taking it after a year of daily use. It really helps if you are having full blown panic attacks though and want to stop them on the spot.)

I have had anxiety on and off since I was in college. It recently came back really badly when I broke up with my husband of 25 years. Being aware of the triggers are key. Here I was at 42 with a daughter, a house, dog and a stressful job. It was too much, and I was overwhelmed. I do have to say, that some of us need a prescription, whether long term or short term. And when you find the right one, it really helps to get you back to a stable place so we can function in life and take care of ourselves, our children, and go to work, and enjoy life again.

I wanted to mention a number of other supplements and things I do to stay in balance that have been really working well the past year. With the help of my naturopathic doctor, she has me on:

B12 1000mg /day

L-Theanine

Niacin (Niacinamide is better) 100-400mg a day, reduces anxiety

(All B vitamins are good for the nervous system).

5HTP 100-200mg a day

Lavela (natural Lavender oil pills. $35 for 2 month supply. works pretty well to calm the system!)

Then at night I take

600 mg Inositol

500 mg GABA (boosts serotonin in brain)

I do yoga weekly. Meditation on Sundays for an hour at a local yoga studio.

I journal every night, write out my fears, then I ask "what do I really want?" I know I don't want the fear and worry about stuff I can't control. So then I write what I want to create in my life. And keep going into my "New Story" and start the sentences with 'I AM..." I am feeling more positive everyday. Good things are coming. I release the past and move into the new. I am surrounded by good friends. I love...." If you can make a list of 15 things you love that starts to switch the brain as well.

Alternate nostril breathing (look up on google) is great. And smelling lavender essential oil. I carry one with me in the car and by my bedside.

What you think about before you go to sleep stays with you for the next 8 hours! So i choose Youtube videos on "meeting your spirit guide" or hypnosis for positive thinking,

or Ekhart Tolle is really good, author of A New Earth, he explains the ego/unhappy self and how to find happiness and peace from the fearful thoughts we all have. Just search his name on Youtube, "Eckhart Tolle and Anxiety" there are a few good videos on that.

And I try to walk outside about 20 mins after work. Or when I can. I have a dog so that's a good thing- then I have to walk.

I also have a therapist- get a good one- someone you really like and can trust (and can afford!) I talk to her weekly and we don't sit and talk about the negative things, or the past (I did that 15 years ago with another therapist for a couple years digging up the childhood stuff). So my new therapist is more like a life coach, and helps to make the connections between the thoughts we think and how to re-train the brain so it doesn't keep taking those neuro-pathways down the track to fear and worry. Not easy to rewire a brain that has been over thinking for years! You can look up EMDR. I am doing 'Havening" which is another form of rewiring the brain.

Good luck! Hope this helps other people too!

Amy

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[Fira2313 in reply to AngelAmy1111]

Thank you so so much!! I'll try some I'd these things and hope they help, if they don't I'll need to talk to my mom, witch I'm kind of dreading... mostly because I d ok by talk about personal things with her, she seems to busy and I'm bad at conversations.

[BonnieSue]

I have GAD--generalized anxiety disorder---which means plenty of anxiety for no particular reason! I take anti-anxiety medicine so I function very well. But I know how awful it feels without the medicine.

You do sound anxious about talking to people even though you aren't sure why. It sounds kind of vague. Like my anxiety disease. Generalized. No specific reason. It's supposed to be due to no "off" switch for anxiety so that all anxiety in me is cummulative and when I got to a certain place in my life that it accumulated into too much anxiety to bear, at about age 31 years, I simply started shaking and got a little too cold and couldn't eat and couldn't sleep and couldn't go to work and just couldn't do anything useful without getting on anti-anxiety meds for a few days at least. One of my sons has the same problem and it happened at almost the same age for him, too.

Possibly this has happened to you, but I don't really know. You aren't as anxious as I was so it could be some other form of anxiety.

[Fira2313 in reply to BonnieSue]

Thank you for the advise.

But it made me start think because no one in my family has any kind of anxiety, is it possible for it to not be genetic?

[BonnieSue in reply to Fira2313]

Yes, it's possible for you to have anxiety and for it not to be genetic. Only some of anxiety problems are genetic. And how much was known about anxiety problems in your grandparent's time? Nothing really. And were good records kept then or even in your parents' time? Not always by any means because people with anxiety often presented with potential heart problems or symptoms of other fears and problems and that's what they were examined for. They would be seen for their racing heart and pains mimicking heart attacks and get a clean bill of health and no diagnosis of anxiety when they left. This is happening even today time and time again. You might see it right here in this community. Anxiety has only been recognized as it's own problem relatively recently. Patients continue to look for medical diagnoses other than simply anxiety, just as you are. And a small number will be right but the majority will have strictly anxiety as their diagnosis.

If my mom hadn't told me about my dad having difficulty flying, I wouldn't have known he had anxiety because I've never witnessed it and he never told me himself. I suggested that he ask his doctor for anti-anxiety meds just for the flights in order to fly and he tried that but it was done through my mom and he's still never talked to me about it. It's amazing how little we may know about a close relative. For all I know, my siblings who also see him a lot don't know about his fear of flying. So I wonder what you don't know about your parents or grandparents. Who's afraid of spiders? Who's afraid of heights? Oh, I found out my dad' s afraid of heights by putting on a roof with him. But I had to be up on the roof working with him to learn that. And I know some of my siblings won't know that. Amazing what we don't know!

[Fira2313 in reply to BonnieSue]

That is rather interesting. And thank you for the answer to my question I was rather curious because I thought it had to be genetic.