Constantly anxious

[Lilac98]

I’ve been living with pretty severe anxiety and panic disorder and have depression. I take no medication and can’t see a therapist so my mental health has been declining rapidly and I have constant constant anxiety and and a fear of death due to being a hypochondriac. For the past three years since starting college I haven’t been sleeping much at all. And if I do have a “good amount” of sleep it’s always 1 or 2:30 am to 7 or 6:30 am . Lately I’ve been having this weird tingly sensation on my face and it freaks me out so so much and freaking out does make it worse!!! And I feel like I can’t breathe on bad days and other days I sorta forget and I’ve gone to three opinions all telling me I’m healthy and it’s psychological and I NEED to see a psychiatrist for medication because it’s gotten so bad but I can’t go due to no health insurance. Um basically I’m still scared the weird tingling isn’t anxiety and sleep deprivation and I just wanted reassurance and advice to cope with this.

[Hidden]

Hello Lilac98

I started reading your post wondering why you could not get medication etc and then as I read I realised as you spoke about Insurance you must be somewhere in the USA ?

I am in the UK and we have the NHS and even though I have spent some of this morning getting on at them as I am looking for Counselling reading your post has given me a sharp reminder that we may have to wait but we can get medical care for free which makes us lucky

We have lot's of members on here from your region which I hope when they see your post they will give you advice what you can do regarding having no insurance and needing help

Tingling in your face can be when you have spent a lot of time maybe on the Computer as well as when we are anxious as we have nerves all over the body and when they get tense can cause these sensations and breathing feeling strange is another anxiety symptom , I would normally say let your Doctor check you out and reassure you but of course this seems like something you need this Insurance for , is there a walk in centre any free medical care in collage where they could just check you over to give you peace of mind ?

If you go on You tube you will find lots of breathing exercises , meditation etc for anxiety , there are so many to choose from and if you practice them this may help

I hope knowing you are not alone and have somewhere to come and talk will help a little to

Take Care x

[Lilac98 in reply to Hidden]

Ah yes honestly the US sucks for insurance I’ve tried to check out “free clinics” but every single one of them turned me down haha I’m just holding on for when I graduate and get a job that provides me health insurance! But yeah like I feel like I’m just paranoid and it has to be screentime, lack of sleep, and lack of food/water along with being constantly in a panicked state

But I will look into YouTube breathing exercises! Thank you!

[Hidden in reply to Lilac98]

Try and eat and sleep the best you can it won't help going without food

I hope others will come along and have some suggestions for you x

[Hidden]

Hi and welcome Lilac 😊

Sorry to hear of your struggles..

It nice to have a place to come along and chat about it for sure ..hope it helps you..😊

With all good wishes

🌺🌺🌺

[Lilac98 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you (´༎ຶོρ༎ຶོ`)💕

[Hidden in reply to Lilac98]

🌸🌸🌸 😊 xx

[YolyD]

Hi.

I understand your concern. I would be concerned as well.

I can give you a toll-free number that has been of great help for me and others. They can help find help and resources close to you. 855-382-5433

Prayers!!

[Miniwheats]

Hi Lilac98. So sorry you are feeling this way. Tingling feelings on your face or scalp are scary I know. I had them too and thought I had MS ( I don't, it was just anxiety). Have you tried CBT yet? There's no reason you can't try it on your own if you have the discipline to follow through with it. A therapist or pyschologist is great to have along the way for support but honestly a trusted friend can be a sounding board as well to help you gain a fresh perspective, if you need it. Us anxious people fall into thinking traps and once we're stuck in them it's very difficult to get out because chronic anxiety actually changes the neural firing patterns in our brains to the point that fearful ideas we once would have judged as absurd, now seem perfectly rational to us. CBT is a methodology of identifying the thoughts around an event that trigger your anxiety, identifying your behaviors during the stressful event, matching your thoughts to one or more thinking traps from a list, and then challenging those thoughts with a set of questions that forces you to think in a more realistic and balanced way. It's so simple, beautiful, and effective. It's a way to train the CEO of your brain to take back control from the emotional-driven, fear-loving part of your brain. Please look into free resources like the website "Anxiety BC" and e-books from your public library such as "Overcoming Anxiety" and "The Fear Cure". It may be that medication will ultimately be the answer for you but CBT will definitely help you until such time. Another thing you must learn to do is breathe properly, especially when anxiety strikes and always remember in that moment to first breathe OUT until you empty your lungs, THEN begin proper breathing. You can't take in more air if your lungs are hyperinflated - this happens as a result of anxiety because we are breathing shallow and rapidly. You can learn to slow down your breathing by doing YouTube meditations such as Ryan Taylor's "Breathe" daily so that it becomes engrained in you, otherwise the thought to fix your breathing may not occur to you when you're anxious and you need it most. I hope this information helps you😊

[Lilac98 in reply to Miniwheats]

Thank you so much ;<;!!!! This is really hopeful

[JEG325]

Dial 211 on your phone. This connects you to the United Way and a vast range of services that are available. They may be able to find you some kind of free government mental health service close by. I did it several times and got good advice. Hope everything goes well for you.

[Lilac98 in reply to JEG325]

Thank you!!

[cattywamp]

Hey lilac!

Im sorry you are feeling this way I also have the same sensations, and for me, its always been anxiety and from panic attacks! Since you dont have health insurance, what about acupuncture? You can find some good deals online, and I swear by it!

Feel better <3

[Lilac98 in reply to cattywamp]

Thank you 🙏🏻 and yeah ugh I wish no one had to experience this ! I hope you’re doing well too!

[Icanbeathis2016]

I'm very similar to you. But I don't take medication because I am trying to do this without meds. I dont have insurance either so for me, I'm stuck with going to emergency rooms or low cost clinics when I'm having my rough moments. I too have bad health anxiety. I constantly fear that everything I feel that doesn't feel right is something terrible and something bad is going to happen soon. Sometimes it gets better though. I do have days that I function well and have minimum anxiety but that's about 6 days out of a 31 day month. I also have become sleep deprived over the last 3 years of dealing with anxiety. Only sometimes I may fall asleep and get about 4 to 5 hours of sleep. At first when I didn't know what was going on with me and I began to have insomnia, I had a hard time going to sleep and staying asleep. It was awful. Now, after going through this a few years, I have a little bit of luck as far as falling to sleep but I still have an issue staying asleep. I wake up and it's so hard to go back to sleep because my mind is racing 100 miles a minutes on intrusive thoughts and anticipating and worrying what if. And like you that lingering fear of death. Some days are okay where I dont think about it so much but definitely majority of the time I do.

[Lilac98 in reply to Icanbeathis2016]

I’m so sorry you have to deal with this too but it’s comforting knowing that I’m not alone since so many times I feel like that when it comes to deal with this kind of stuff. I hope you keep getting better! Thank you for much for responding!!!