Not sure if considered SA but

[matcha]

I've dealt with feelings of anxiety for quite some time, but I'm not sure if it has developed into social anxiety recently?

My school requires group work, and for two and a half years I suppose I have been dealing well with mingling, except that I get the usual anxiety symptoms when I'm forced to do things like introduction, and talking to people I'm uncomfortable with. I've always had "safe" people I bounded myself to in class, but now at the last semester of school, my class roster has been rearranged and I'm forced into a room full of people which is unknown. On the first day of class I cried because I couldn't adapt to the changes, and my anxiety came back in full force when the teacher told me to introduce myself. My heart was beating really fast, and I was sweaty, and I found myself trembling as I spoke. It was horrible. The worst thing was that none of my "safe" people were around or in school at that time. And ever since that day I kept entertaining thoughts of not going to school, and the thought of going back just brought back my anxiety.

Has anyone ever experienced this before? Is this even considered SA?

If it helps recently I went to see a doctor for the first time. I told him about my racing heart, etc etc, and he told me to get checked for thyroid.

[gypsylee]

Yes it does sound like social anxiety. I have never been able to do this without getting really anxious. Social phobia is when you have an extreme fear of embarrassing yourself in front of people, so situations like this are "perfect" for that.

:)

Oh and yeah thyroid problems can cause anxiety symptoms (I have this as well) but I'm guessing it's not the main cause of your anxiety.

[matcha]

Yes it does sound like social anxiety. I have never been able to do this without getting really anxious. Social phobia is when you have an extreme fear of embarrassing yourself in front of people, so situations like this are "perfect" for that.

:)

Oh and yeah thyroid problems can cause anxiety symptoms (I have this as well) but I'm guessing it's not the main cause of your anxiety.


Thanks for replying gypsy! I do have recurrent worries in my head about embarrassing myself. But i was just wondering if it's different with going out? I mean when i'm out and about on my own for errands e.g in shopping centres i do fine, but when i'm thrust into a room full of people i'm meant to communicate with i just lose it.

[gypsylee]

Well it's probably just a milder form of social anxiety. When mine is bad I get panicky even leaving the house and seeing people in the supermarket or wherever. Other times I'm okay, but I've never really been comfortable around people I don't know. The strange thing is, I don't mind *huge* crowds like in the middle of the city or at concerts. So yeah I'd say yours is just a mild case :)

[matcha]

Well it's probably just a milder form of social anxiety. When mine is bad I get panicky even leaving the house and seeing people in the supermarket or wherever. Other times I'm okay, but I've never really been comfortable around people I don't know. The strange thing is, I don't mind *huge* crowds like in the middle of the city or at concerts. So yeah I'd say yours is just a mild case :)



That must be hard. How do you cope with yours then? I can't imagine being restricted from performing daily task since i live in a city and there's people everywhere :( i hope it gets better for you soon! I think maybe it doesn't affect you as much because there's too much people and you're not forced to be one of them?? Idk, reverse psychology or smth. The mind works strangely haha.

[gypsylee]

I've been like this my whole life and I'm 41 now so I just kind of accept it. When it's real bad I just force myself to go out. Even when it's not bad (like now) I wait til night time to go to the supermarket because even though I don't get panicky, I get irritated by crowds. It was harder when I was younger but there's less pressure to be sociable at my age :)