Hello,
I’m new here. Hoping to connect with others battling anxiety. It’s a scary feeling involving the mind and body. It can be hard to describe but when it’s active, can be debilitating. Wanting to be in control is wishful thinking because we can’t control everything. Just wanting to feel confident instead of fearful, waiting for the next bad thing to happen.
Oceanwaves120 welcome to the group! I have found this group to be very helpful and supportive. Please feel free to share what you are comfortable with and you should hear from many good people here. Welcome. 
We are glad you are here.
Anxiety is hard to deal with as it seems to hit you hard when you least expect it ! There's no cure all I'm afraid as it affects different people in different ways I find talking about it with someone you trust as the fear of been judged by others ! I mean glad to see you reaching out to get help i hope you get better soon !
Thank you, it helps to hear others experience with it.
Symptoms may differ from one anxiety sufferer to the next but the root cause is the same. When you strip everything back, you will find the main driver of anxiety is fear, or fearing the feelings of fear [intense dislike of anxiety] that keeps that anxiety fire burning.
This is good news because it means the cure is the same too and that is to face those fears and accept all the scary thoughts and feelings that come with it. You cannot get rid of anxiety unless you are prepared to feel it all willingly, invite it in, and do absolutely nothing about it.
I put all my physical and mental symptoms in my anxiety basket and accepted the lot with zero resistance because it is our resistance to that severe discomfort that the cure seems so elusive.
It is far from elusive, especially if there is no underlying issue [medical or otherwise] creating more anxiety, other than the constant struggle with those scary thoughts and feelings and the most common reason.
Recovery is difficult but entirely possible when sufferers realise it is their resistance [avoid, suppress, deliberately distract] to the symptoms are the reason they continue to feel anxious all the time.
Hope this helps.
I see the value in what you are saying and agree. The tendency is to run from these feelings but it’s not something you can out run.
Hello and welcome! Anxiety is very tough. It can even be terrifying. I think that most members here would agree that the first line of treatment is some combination of therapy and medication. If you are not doing either, you are missing out on the most potent treatements available to relieve suffering--not that they're easy, they are absolutely not--but the are "the only games in town." Then there is a third option, also very useful, and that is the strategies and techniques that you can learn that will diminish and in some cases stop your anxiety. Members here are familiar with those strategies and can be a big help. Examples: "Pursed lip" breathing during ventilation to stop an anxiety attack; mindfullness; grounding exercises. vagus nerve stimulation as in diaphragmatic breathing. Come back here anytime with more specific questions and any more details about your situation and, I for one, will be happy to help. Helping is my therapy!
Thanks so much. I tried Zoloft but it seemed to make it worse. I did go to therapy and felt it was helpful. I should try that again. I like the breathing techniques. Exercising helps. I work a lot also and have a fairly demanding job, I take it to heart which isn’t good. Trying to leave work at work can be hard. Not enough self care probably.
Well, you have a solution: initiate therapy again. This will help to clarify what disturbs you and give you some insights that should help you to orient yourself. I guess that would be the ideal! Regarding your complaint that when you tried Zoloft, you seemed to feel worse, here is a possible explanation. Moods, anxiety and depresson, are labile and fluctuate. IF you were not yet on a maintenance dosage for Zoloft, and you felt worse then the explanation would be a. mood fluctuaton, b. not having achieved a maximally efficacious maintenance dosage. So the first thing to establish with your psychiatrist it to learn the maintenance dosage range for Zoloft. Maintenance dosages differ per individual even given the same medication. For example, I take setraline. The dosage range is 100 - 200 mg/day. It appears that, for me, my maintenance dosage is 75 mg/day. That is still being evaluated as I speak . . .
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with medication!!!
You are most welcome.
I find my anxiety is worse in the evening when I’m alone, there’s nothing to distract me from it.
I’ve been to therapy which helped, not doing that now. I tried sertraline, seemed to make it worse.
Night anxiety is the worst! You can’t sleep you don’t have anyone to help distract you because it’s late and if you have something to do in the morning you’re worried about it
You are correct. Sleep is hard when your mind is racing! I’ve not come across anything that helps for sleep.
there’s this trick that helps me it might help you! So you think of an emotionless word like dirt then you take the first letter of the word (D) and you think of 5 words that start with the letter D (dog doll doodle dot dig) then you move onto the next letter (I) do the same thing 5 words and you keep doing it til you fall asleep it works for me sometimes!
Thank you! I will try that !
no problem!
I think I’m almost always anxious on some level. But every now and then, maybe after exercising, the anxiety is gone and those few minutes of feeling in control and content is so incredible. I can’t believe people are fortunate enough to feel that at ease all the time.
I get it, it’s like how can some people seem so unfazed by things. I’m actually kind of jealous of that. Seems like I’m in a panic over most things. Yes, exercise does help!
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