Please help , Scared :(

[feliciaxann]

Okay , I've had anxiety issues since I was a child. I'm diagnosed with GAD. I was never ever this bad. I'm 18 years old, and since about 6 months ago my anxiety has been at its worst. I've had ER visits , Dr visits , etc. and everything checks out fine , but I always seem to get new symptoms and am tired of running back and forth to the doctor. I know I need to accept it's anxiety , but as soon as I get over one symptom another comes. Anyway , what I'm experiencing is dizzyness. I get so dizzy all the time, I feel disoriented , like things are moving , the floor , walls , etc. I feel like I'm standing on a boat. The back of my head starts feeling weird and I get so scared I have to put my hand on the back of my neck. I'm just so scared about this. The hardest part is , I have things to do, places to go, etc. In a few I have to run to the grocery store and I'm so worried about it! I just want to know, is this normal. I'm afraid I have something wrong with my brain. I feel like I'm not balanced sometimes. Im just so scared so your feedback would help me so much! Please help!

[feliciaxann]

Anyone ? :)

[alankay]

Yep.....old anxiety. It's tricking you into following the symptoms(there are many) at the end of the day, at the bottom of it all, in the final analyses.....................................it turns out to be ......ready.................anxiety. Fear. Fear of what will happen(anticipatory anxiety), fear of what may happen, of what might happen. It's all BS and anxiety's little trick. Anxiety is a liar "suggesting" all the all so negitive/scary scenrios.
One word of advise from veteran. Don't buy into it. Over time you will learn first hand that none of the crap you fear will happen ever does. And in doing so so defuse anxiety by learning about the liar it is. Then you will slowly start to get better.
Anyway, it's not your heart or your brain or your stomach or your bones....it's ...............anxiety. You will learn more about it all and get better. Alankay.

[feliciaxann]

Thank you alankay! It's just so scary. Everyone says I need to just get out and do something and I feel so dizzy, disoriented and weird I just can't. Sometimes my body even feels like it's not there, It's scary for sure.

[alankay]

Yes. Disassociation/derealization. From all the adrenaline and high oxygen. Yep part of....being anxious. I know. Scary?? Hell yeah. Damn scary.
Let me suggest this to you. Anxious folks are sometimes vulnerable to suggestion. You will realize and accept what you are feeling is from the human condition of common anxiety...nothing more.....nothing less. You are just anxious......scared......nothing more. You will come to understand and accept that, learn all about it and slowly get better. Alankay

[hopeNfaith88]

Hey i felt like this too. Made me so agoraphobic i stopped leaving the house. Got to the point where i was so dizzy/feeling disconnected from reality that i was scared to even move. To get up and pee or take a shower was terrifying and took all my effort. I felt pathetic. Im 20 and like u i got things to do im in college full time and work at a grocery store but fluorescent lights in stores made me feel weird too so it was hard for me to even shop let alone work for 8 hours in a store. It was at its worst and the scariest when it first started because i thought something was very wrong and kind of came out of nowhere (but when i sat down and thought about it, it developed over time ive always been anxious but it manifested itself to crazy extremes). I never had problems driving or being productive but then it jus consumed me and i lost my independence. Thought it was something bad. But nope its simply anxiety, not a heart attack or stroke. Or you going crazy. For a longtime i thought i was going nuts due the the racing thoughts i started to have. If youve ever smoked weed before, thats how i can describe it. The disorientation, racing thoughts and pounding heart that you get while stoned minus all good sensations (like munchies, laughing your ass off) is what i felt.

I know going out and doing things seems impossible. Trust me i didnt want to do it at first either but you just have to. The longer you sit around thinkin about leaving the house, the harder itll be. The more youll work yourself up and get anxious. It will be uncomfortable the first few times but you have to step outside your comfort zone to overcome this. I know what u feel - a complete lack lf confidence in yourself, like you cant do anything anymore and everything seems impossible. You cant imagine yourself successfully doing even the simplest tasks anymore. You feel like you are going to faint or something while out and about. To me the sun made everything look strange, like too bright and unfamiliar. so i especially hated going outside during the daytime.

After talking to people on here like brittany09 (who helped me so much) i started doing little things to help myself. Walking down the street, swimming in my backyard, having someone drive me out to eat at a restaurant, one trip errands. Now i can go out during the day and im back to driving myself. Im not 100% yet, im at 85% when at my worst i was at a 2%. My anxiety started about 3 months ago. It didnt start improving until i started pushing myself. When u sit at home all day you start focusing on bodily sensations too much and thinking too much. That would make anyone bored to the point of insanity lol so try to get out daily. This isnt permanent. It feels like it is, but i promise you WILL see normal happy days again. Just stay strong. PM me if needed! Because ive been there, ive cried 10 times a day from depression from these dissociated feelings and i felt scared. So helpless because no one understood what i was feeling. So Id love to help others suffering.

[BxBowler]

You're certainly not alone. I'm still in the fight with anxiety as well. After having a pretty bad anxiety attack on the train back in February (I live in NYC), I started to develop some agoraphobia. I started having anxiety on the buses and trains and began avoiding them as much as possible. I still had to go to work and I still needed to maintain my social life somewhat, so I fought through it. That has helped because, as we all know, giving in and avoiding situations that cause anxiety only makes it worse. It's a bit better these days, but I still have my bad moments. Even today on the ride home, i felt relatively well, but then I noticed my right arm starting to shake while i was holding on to the pole. That instantly started a barrage of negative thoughts which led to me getting dizzy, developing a tension headache (of course me having a stroke came to mind), and just overall being very uncomfortable. I too had to put my hand on the back of my head for some relief. I ended up having to step off of the train to regain my composure a bit, but I got on the next one and I'm taking it easy now at home. The main thing is to get some professional help. Find out what's causing your anxiety and battle it head on. In my case, I found out recently that I had sleep apnea, which is a big factor in the cause of my anxiety. Now that I have corrected the sleep apnea with the use of a CPAP machine I'm starting to feel the improvement. Alcohol has been another factor for me. I cut down from binge drinking to just a few drinks at a time, and now I'm vowing to quit completely. It seems like even a little alcohol is very bad for my anxiety. I'll be meeting soon with a Psychiatrist to determine any other possible factors. It's not easy, the process sucks, and you’re going to experience some real pain along the way. However, you have to show your mettle and keep pushing forward. That's the only way you'll finally defeat this problem. I hope the responses tonight help reassure you a bit and help you feel a little bit better. I can say that even responding to your post is helping me, so I thank you for your contribution.