World mental health day

[Kevin160]

I recently saw that yesterday happened to be the world mental health day

I never really expected a day like that to be important to me ,my mental health was decent , it wasnt the best due to alot of problems in my life however, its been a little less than a year where my mental health deteriorated after an appointment for a doctor appointment who told me that my stress can really harm me , as a 17 year old at the time not knowing about the effect of mental health on the body, and the importance of a good blood pressure and suddenly all the fears started, over the next few months i would get extreme panic attacks thinking the case scenarios about my health , i couldnt stop it and i didnt have any support until i came across this forum , it was a life saver , i was able to learn so many techniques to manage my panic attacks and heakth, i realized that my brain will always come up wih the worst case scenario , i started realizing that i can calm myself , keep my blood pressure low by so many relaxation techniques ,

Later panic attacks started for every little thing, social events which i never minded before, trips, hangouts , even sleeping and eating ..it was hell because i started feeling crazy and that i will never lead a nirmal life again , i started getting very bad physical symptoms and was convinced everyday when i went to bed i might die from the panic attacks

I was taught about claire weekes acceptance method and overtime i started to calm down when i let the anxiety flow without overthinking it , i also kept telling myself regardless what happens i did my best i didnt sit still, i tried to get better, so making peace with it helped me calm and accept whatever is to come , i was still panicking about my future and exams and everything else , my graduation and stuff like that , results for my exams and doing well was a priority , home life wasnt helping, my moms health was on and off , she had cancer and it wasnt easy , my parents divorce and family fights were really holding me back mentally

I would love to talk about all the stuff that helped me but all in all i just appreciate all the support, i still get bad anxiety attacks but they are managable because they are not frequent and they are not as severe as before, i feel normal again and im less scared to drive around, go to social events , most if the physical symptoms subsided, and im opening to more friends and family members , i feel like im not quite there yet but im in a safe place , sometimes things take a turn with me but i love the fact that i have the ability now to ask myself , “lets be realistic, will this actually happen or am i exaggerating” then taking deep breaths and just using all the experience from this past year to know i will be ok eventually

A doing all the things that calm me down like writing about it , distracting myself, talking to someone, PMR, breathing techniques etc..

It is possible , i was in rock bottom everyday was a struggle to get out of bed, the moment i would remove my blanket like a little kid i would get this instant heart palpitations that bother me to this day but not quite as often , my health anxiety also gotten a bit better , the key is knowing that everyday makes you stronger, FACING YOUR FEARS IS KEY

when my health anxiety spiraled, i just let go of the control i had like measuring blood pressure, googling symptoms and just letting go to show myself i will be ok ,it made me realize how silly i was at the time

YOU WILL BE OK regardless it is depression , anxiety or whatever, you may not feel it now but you will reach a point eventually where you will be ok , i wish i knew that before that my fears will change, and out thoughts change that we will no longer be as scared and we will overcome things and everything will be fine but i just didnt believe it too

Stay strong guys you got this

The thing about annxiety sufferers is that we never see a way out when we panic or get an anxiety attack, we are blinded by fear , its is extremely hard to overcome fears and give up control over them but it really helps to overcome fears because this will add to our confidence and each and every win will make us stronger mentally

[Dheeya]

This post really meant a lot to me! thank you very much.I really needed this.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!!

[Dheeya]

Did you try taking medication??if u dd,did it actually help??

[Kevin160 in reply to Dheeya]

i actually never took medication , which is something i was reluctant about

I had gotten constant panic attacks and anxiety with severe physical symptoms from late december until february , then it started going on and off until i started getting better around may, thats when i started learning all the things i did , i started exercising more too , in addition to all the things i mentioned

[Kevin160 in reply to Dheeya]

In my case the thing that helped the most was facing my fears , it was extremely difficult to not measure my bp , or imagine it skyrocketing after a panic attack and worrying about a heart attack or a stroke , it was anything i can do to break the cycle of (anxiety about fear—>actual panic)

Once i started overcoming things i was afraid off, i started feeling stronger mentally, started doing things scary to me and forcing myself to do it

1) like doctors appointments and blood tests and stuff like that

2)social events

3) public speaking

4)talking to strangers

5)driving more

Simple yet effective for someone with anxiety because every win will add to your confidence ,and it started helping me , everything that scares me makes me realize that there is a SOLUTION , the thing about anxiety and panic is that we cant find a solution or a way out so its up to u to keep calm and find it

You have alot of solutions and to me i felt silly that now there are alot of things to do to help myself which i couldnt see as useful before