Like I don't understand this . I'm petrified of dying especially when I get panic attacks, then I feel like I have this black cloud over me with depression symptoms like then I think about dying and I'm like omg what if someday I really do snap and try and hurt myself or something like that . I feel so detached like I'm not myself anymore , I don't even remember the last time I felt myself . I have to remind myself sometimes I'm alive and not dreaming lol , I feel like this whole worrying about death and dying and loosing my mind and harming myself is like OCD but I don't know . My dr prescribed Zoloft and Ativan right now it's only been like theee days with the Zoloft and I did let him know these thoughts and how distressing they are and he seems to think nothing of it . Can this just be from the overload of anxiety and adrenaline ? I feel like I need reassurance or to put my mind at ease somehow , I'm like stuck in this anxious state , I just wanna snap out of this but I don't know how . I'm gonna start therapy soon too. People don't realize how much this stresses me out and causes me more distress. What do you think I could do for all this ? I'm petrified I'm gonna be like this and stuck in this doomed state forever .
Anxiety questions weird thoughts? - Anxiety Support
Anxiety questions weird thoughts?
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Zoloft will take that away. Wait 6 to 8 weeks. Zoloft took those weird thought away for me. My brain wouldn't shut up and kept going alone. Especially about existence. That's pretty much all Zoloft did for depersonalization/derealization for me. If you have Dp/dr all those symptoms you mentioned are all part of this.
Does the dp ever get better or the symptoms ease ? This sucks idk if it's the Zoloft making me wanna cry but so far I feel like it's increasing depression
Well I did recover from this hell 18 years ago... and now it's back and it's been 5 months ...... I hope it leaves soon.
I'm 22 and went through this where I OBSESSED over existence I'm currently on month 3/4 on Zoloft 100mg and it has for the most part went away and the doctor bumped me up to 150 mg to try to get my motivation and stuff back. Does it ever go fully away? The fox started me on antipsychotics for bipolar and that's when thoughts of suicide and constant weird questions and thoughts came in obsessing so bad I want to die and wondered why we were here where we came from. I still wonder but don't obsess.
I'm so sorry you're feeling like this. This was honestly how I felt when I first started Zoloft. I remember that there were days where I would just cry hysterically, thinking that the constant panic and fear were just going to be constants in my life now. It's gonna take a while to get better, and you might have to up the dosage before anything happens, but when it does you'll immediately feel the change, like I did.
Try to stick it out as best you can. Play some calming classical music or read a book or watch a movie you enjoy or a comedian who really makes you laugh. Is there anyone you can spend time with? Maybe a friend or a family member who understands and sympathizes with what you're going through?
Regardless, don't give up. You've taken a huge step forward to eventually beating this thing, now you just need to keep being as strong as you've been all this time. We'll be here if you need us.
I've been there too. Intrusive thoughts are a symtpom of OCD but they're common in all anxiety disorders and even in people without mental illness. You're always in control and you're not gonna "snap". I've crippled myself with fear in the past thinking I'm crazy and going to lose control but I've heard it so many times, people who are crazy never actually think they're crazy! Also the more you get scared of the thoughts and wish them away the more they're gonna come back just because they're so emotionally fueled. The detachment can either be from lviing in your own head so much or just as the bodys defense mechanism to extreme stress. It's really frustrating when doctors aren't that assuring, no one will understand it unless they've experienced it. Remember your thoughts are just thoughts and i hope the zoloft helps you!
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Thank you so much . It just is hard for me to relax and let go kinda . I can't convince myself
Hi Jmerrick22
I find the only way I can relax and escape is by putting headphones on and totally chilling out listening to my favourite tunes / totally floating to the music that kinda puts me in a trance - closing out the world. Yeah it takes loadsa time finding the right music but you'll know when you've got the perfect kind . I know it doesn't take life's problems away but refusing to let these problems ruin your life - is short of giving up ! Don't let it win the fight .
Take care coz we all care - I don't even know any of you but I actually feel I can confide in you all - to me that's a bonus in life because it's taken forever to find someone who understands me .
Thank you and you all . Elle
Music definitely helps me, I know it's different for everybody, but came up with a playlist to help me calm down when I'm stuck inside my own head it really does help. So does watching a happy movie or a movie that you absolutely love to just take your mind off things. Also keep an update on zoloft, I'm gong to start therapy soon and I may want to try some anxiety medication, but would like to hear about other people's experiences.
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LowkeyLoki thank you for writing this - it's comforting to know that we are not alone and we have someone like you who knows exactly how we independently feel - You Me Everyone are opening our bleeding hearts and letting our fears / emotions / feelings out to each other and having comfort from complete strangers who all share the pain - and hand on heart I can say to you all YOU ARE ALL THE GREATEST BUNCH OF FRIENDS I CAN TRUST- Thankyou all .
Take care dear friends . Elle
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This has to be one of the best replies I've ever seen, it made so much sense to me and made me feel a lot better after having an extremely anxiety ridden day.
Hi there lookbeyond12
Thankyou for such kind words xx I am so glad that like myself - find what I call my Escape-ism - by blocking out the world by listening to music / watching your favourite films. Good luck with your therapy - I do so hope it helps. Nice to meet you dear friend and take care. Elle
O.K., jmerrick22, you've suddenly developed this anxiety/depression thing and you don't know what's hit you. You just want to press a button and snap out of it and get on with your life. You're bewildered and because you don't understand what's happening it's even more frightening. You don't feel in control any more.
Well you're in luck, you've come to the right place, there are many veterans from the battle against anxiety here and we can reassure you, help you understand and point you in the direction of recovery. And none of it conflicts with what your doctor and therapist tell you.
Firstly, you're not going to die. That's definite. When you're experiencing anxiety disorder your nerves become over sensitised so every emotion, every feeling becomes magnified ten times. The natural instinct to stay alive and avoid early death that everybody has becomes exaggerated into the fear that death is imminent. So your fear of death is nothing more than your sensitised nerves playing tricks. Anxiety doesn't have the power to kill you, disable you or send you insane. So that's your first bit of reassurance.
Next you need to understand what's happened to you. For some reason only you can discern your nervous system has become over sensitive because you've been subjecting it to too much stress, strain and worry. Only you know the cause of this: maybe you hate your job, family misbehaving, illness of loved ones, money worries, feeling ashamed, relationship problems to name a few possibilities. If you can protect yourself from what's caused this by decisive action, putting yourself first for a change maybe to the point of ruthlessness, then you must neutralise whatever got you into this state.
What you call a feeling if detachment is what we call derealisation, the feeling of watching everything on tv and not being here. This is your brain attempting to protect you from the nightmare your life has become by detaching you from it. Once you begin to recover it will pass.
To answer your other question, how do I snap out of it? The medication you have been given takes a few weeks to kick in and will give you a much needed holiday. So take the meds but they're not going to provide a long term cure. I'm afraid that other than to relief that meds bring there is no 'snapping out' of it. After all, you took months getting yoursekf into this state so it's going to take time to recover. And recover you can, through applying self help methods that in time will restore your quiet time - without the need for meds.
What you have to do is to stop constantly throwing fuel on the fire by adding more fear onto your already sensitised nervous system. So you have to stop fighting the symptoms of anxiety (and the depression that comes out of anxiety) because fighting causes more strain and stress and your body has had enough of that, thank you. Instead you must frame your mind to Accept all the bad feelings for the time being, thats right ACCEPT them and to do so calmly and with the minimum of fear that you can. After all, you now know that anxiety is a toothless tiger, it roars and claws but it can't actually damage you, it can only make you feel bad. So why live in fear of these bad feelings that often imitate real physical illness but in reality are only blips and glitches in your iverloaded nervous system.
If you can learn to accept the bad feelings without fear then you give your over worked nerves a chance to recover. And once your nerves recover you will return to normal too. It's not going to happen overnight but with practice and persistence Acceptance will surely bring about your recovery and life will be sweet once more.
I seriously think this is all over my sexuality . Like I came out to most people and everyone took it good but idk why I'm still like this . It could be the extreme stress at work too and always getting more and more work piled on us . I obsessed over my sexuality for years .
Jeff1943 this has got to be the most fantastic description of Anxiety and how to try overcome the challenges that come with it - than I have ever read which totally hits the spot - thank you for writing this and even though it wasn't addressed for my reading I absolutely commend you for the wonderful way in which you put your point across - I suffer from depression and anxiety and can honestly say I actually felt good knowing that you knew exactly what sufferers felt and exactly what to say to combat the condition which sadly affects not only the person but also the loved ones who have to live with watching the devastating effects it causes .
Thank you so much . Elle
Thank you Elle, but I merely peddle the ideas of the peddler of ideas. I am an advocat of the Acceptance Method for recovering from anxiety disorder first set out by the late Doctor Claire Weekes some 50 years ago. (Forgive me if you've already read this before).
When she was a young woman studying to be a doctor she herself suffered from anxiety disorder - but she developed a method of curing herself of it through acceptance. Then she spent the rest of her long life helping patients to recover using her method - and she published a short book titled 'Self help foryour nerves' in the U.K. and 'Hope and help for your nerves' in the U.S. She wrote many subsequent books over the years but this first one says it all. She describes her four imperitives for recovery: Face - Accept - Float - Let time pass.
If you go to Amazon there are hundreds of reader reviews of Claire Weekes' book and 90% rate the book Very Good or Excellent. The book was written 50 years ago but has stood the test of time and has resulted in the recovery of untold thousands. It is a short book written in a way that tired minds can understand. People soon recognise themselves in its pages, they feel she knew them personally and is writing about them.
The book brings immediate reassurance and understanding and sets out a road plan for recovery that takes practice and persistance, above all persistance, but offers to all the opportunity to recover and regain the quiet mind once more.
Hopefully you have come to terms with your sexuality and times are much more tolerant so I would think that the cause of your anxiety is having too much work piled onto you. Today everybody is expected to do the work of two people so that the people running companies can maximise their profits though they do it at the expense of the health and well being of those they employ. I think it's the major single cause of so much anxiety disorder today.
So I can only repeat: if you can identify the cause of your anxiety then you must put yourself first and be ruthless and take decisive action to neutralise the threat to your mental health. This may involve finding a less stressful job or one where it's easier to handle the stress or stay where you are and look at your role and the work you do from a different perspective.
Totally understand that feeling. I feel it most of the day. What I can tell you to do is try and figure out your vice. For me when I panic and can't get out of it if it's day time I call someone and talk about them and before I know it it's gone. Night I try and play a game or read. I understand the fear of dying at night I over think every tiny motion in my body and think the worse.