Help with anxiety, please!

[HelloPanda23]

Okay so, my story has been stated already, but I'd love to restate it. So about a month ago, I had my first red bull, and that ruined my day completely because I also had my first panic attack. After that occurred, I've always felt fear that a bad experience like that would occur again. As a result, I've constantly worried about me and how I'd be feeling from that day on. My issues started with me focusing on my breath, then changed to many other things. Since last week, it started in me feeling anxiety over ALS, but that feeling is practically over for me now, and I'm not scared over it at all. The only issue I have now is, anxiety. The last 3 days, I've had a panic attack daily and my eating habits have been terrible due to my fear of death. Now that I got over it today, I realized how badly anxiety is affecting my health and my daily habits. Now, my worry is on anxiety and whether it will damage me. I know anxiety won't kill me, but it has annoying symptoms on me. Fatigue, sad mood, loss of appetite, loss of interest, and etc. The fear of these symptoms changing me and how I think is scary. I think this is an issue because I think about my anxiety and how its affecting me a bit too much. Right now, my school's on break and so I don't have much to do, but when I play games with friends or go out with family, I feel better. I think the month of constant fear of living constantly with the thought of my breath, with the idea that I might get ALS (one of the worst anxiety I've ever had, constant worrying about how I'd die), and etc. has taken a toll on my brain activity. By retraining my brain, I feel like I can get better again, but I'd like to know if this has happend to anyone and how they came over it, or better managed it. I'd love to hear advice and support, and I think my only cure is to stop thinking the bad thoughts and distract myself with good ones.

[HelloPanda23]

Also I feel like an issue of mine is, anxiety over anxiety. I fear that anxiety will ruin my life, and even though bad days are there to support that terrible thought, I've also had some pretty good days. Our brains are honestly very annoying.

[Tesh710 in reply to HelloPanda23]

I suffer from the same anxiety over anxiety

[ErinMarionSkystar]

I understand where you're coming from. I too have suffered from panic attacks as well, and i know how awful and terrifying they can be. As a senior in high school who has had anxiety since about Freshman year, i also know how draining it can be to try to cope with school when you can hardly deal with life on a daily basis. For me, the turning point came when I went to my doctor and got referred to a counselor. I was able to get an anxiety medication (fluoxetine, aka Prozac) and learned some different CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) techniques. These both helped me immensely. i was able to go outside without having panic attacks every time i saw a bee or spider (those are two of my biggest phobias btw). I learned ways to keep my anxiety from getting out of control, and how to bring myself back down from that panic when it started. I know how hard it is to see anxiety change you. For me, one of the big changes that has happened with me is my love of camping. when i was younger i loved going up to the mountains and spending time outside around a campfire and exploring looking for bugs and critters. But my anxiety made that impossible for a time, and it was hard not being able to do something i loved so much. After therapy and meds, I've been able to do some of those things again. now, of course it isn't a cure-all, and i still struggle with my anxiety, but I've gotten back a lot of what i lost when anxiety started to take over my life, and i'm much more of myself again.

Hope this helped if you have any questions or whatever for me, feel free to message me

[b1b1b1]

Don't ever drink Red Bull or any other energy drink again. They contain a lot of caffeine and other things that your body doesn't need. This drink seems to have started your anxiety, possibly because the caffeine caused your heart to beat more rapidly. This then started a chain of anxiety. Energy drinks serve no useful purpose, except to make money for their manufacturers, and can do a lot of harm. I have a vague recollection that a few people have died after drinking them.

[HelloPanda23 in reply to b1b1b1]

That’s the reason my anxiety started, after drinking the redbull, I read if it could negatively affect my health. It could, and so that started to make me worried and scared. It ended up with me having a panic attack, and thus these days of constant worry. I find that consciously breathing helps out with the anxiety, may just be me though.

[HelloPanda23]

I think I found the answer to my sufferings. By fixating on anxiety, I make my situation much worse than it is. I just started focusing on my breath instead of anxiety, and it feels much more calm and better. I hope this is the case, because if it is, then maybe I can find a way to cure my anxiety through understanding this.

[HelloPanda23 in reply to HelloPanda23]

If not, then I rather deal with concious breathing than feeling fatigue, hunger, sadness, no desire to do anything, and etc. Once my mind considers something an issue, it fixates on it, and so that’s probably why I feel terrible when I fixate over anxiety.

[HelloPanda23]

Update 3:

What's helped me is distraction. The more I looked online about anxiety and thought about it, the worse it got. The more time I put into genuinely having fun and thinking about other things, the better I felt. It really sucks that this is how it works, but sadly it is. I advise anyone who is going through shit atm to give this a try. Also, I'm getting comfortable with anxiety. I just hate the weird depressive and sad feeling it sometimes gives me, because it makes me feel like nothing makes me happy, and it genuinely sucks. I know there are people who go through clinical depression, and so for them, it's nearly impossible to every find happiness, and that makes me appreciate my life much more. Anyone who feels terrible about their anxiety, please do yourselves a favor and search up anxiety on youtube and look at the comment section of the videos. You guys will start to see how many others go through this **** and might even end up feeling better, because you're not alone. When I see people going through harder stuff than me, I learn to understand that I should be more appreciative of what I have and relax.

[HelloPanda23]

Update 4: Absolute best day of my life all week. I feel normal again, no fear nothing. I can enjoy everything I used to, and I’m so excited and happy. Today is one of those so called good days, and I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Hopefully, my mindset is completely changing towards the positive now.

[XxWil_91 in reply to HelloPanda23]

Hey I've been in the exact same situation as you debilitating health anxiety and also the fear of ALS to heart conditions lol anxiety is not worth it..I've came a long way without any medications (my doctor doesn't believe in anxiety meds he feels we can train the mind) and the first goal is acceptance..u need to learn to not fear death it is a natural part of life..yes scary , but is it worth worrying about everyday? My best advice to you is LIVE..when u go about your normal activities you will see anxiety slowly start to diminish ..it's something to occupy your mind we tend to have so much time to think about worst case scenarios instead of thinking of best case scenarios..I'm not saying don't take meds to each is own but I personally don't need them..I may still get palpitations from time to time but I learn how to roll with it don't fight it..accept the anxiety and know that you are fine ..ps at one point in my life I was unable to leave my house for fear of heart attack..now I'm back to playing sports..it is possible

[HelloPanda23 in reply to XxWil_91]

I felt so good yesterday and maybe a bit better today. My worries have completely subsided, and I even went a good hour or two without having a single thought about my anxiety. When I remembered, I was like damn, I forgot about it and honestly, I’m starting to not care about it. I feel much more normal than I ever have. Only issue I still have is waking up in the mornings with nauseua and headaches, it goes away after a bit, but it’s a tenporary problem that I think I may have to go through for a bit. I also don’t have too much appetite or hunger like I used to because these 4 days, I’ve probably been living off constant health anxiety over ALS, and barely eating anything at all. My anxiety over ALS is practically gone, it sometimes tries to pull my anxiety out but it doesn’t work. I feel so much better and much more comfortable than I used to. Barely any fear at all and I just have the butterfly feeling of anxiety, and honestly, I can care less about that, as long it doesn’t ruin my life. I’m so happy my life is taking a turn for the better, and everything is getting better. Thanks for the advice!

[HelloPanda23 in reply to HelloPanda23]

Also, ya, I’m completely staying away from meds. I’ll never take them, they will make my situation worse by making me rely on them. Instead, I’m retraining my mind to be more positive by exposing myself slowly, to negative thoughts and showing no reaction to them. Have you ever tried guided meditation from youtube, btw? It changes our thought patterns, but I don’t want it to damage my brain by mistake, and so I’d like to know if you ever gave them a try?

[XxWil_91 in reply to HelloPanda23]

Great! Yea after strong anxiety and panic attacks it can linger for a few days just try to eat your favorite food my go to is pizza even when I'm not hungry you'll regain appetite..and no I have but I downloaded an app called head space it works great it starts off as short meditations and it builds up ..also use relaxing candles like lavender while you meditate ..works good for me

[HelloPanda23 in reply to XxWil_91]

Ya I heard great things about headspace, I might give it a go.

[Drewjohnson1]

Hey, you're not in this alone. That is what this community is all about. You have people by your side to help and who have been through the same things that you are going through. I struggle with social anxiety but it's a huge battle biblereasons.com/fear-and-a.... We have to learn how to defeat it and renew our mind. What has helped me is speaking life to myself. You are beautiful. You are confident. This really helps to remove the negativity that we face in our minds. Eventually this becomes a reality. S We have to train our minds and never allow overthinking to sit in our minds.