How did your anxiety begin

[Whir35]

I know this is a personal question but if you don't mind sharing I wouldn't mind knowing how peoples anxiety started. Do you think you were born with it? Or was there some catastrophic event in your life which triggered it? Or did it creep up on you slowly? Was it nature or nuture?

For me, I am in my early 30s and I have always been a bit of a nervous type of person but nothing serious, I could deal with it and lived a normal and happy life. About 7 months ago, I had a 2 week holiday from work and there were various social events including a stag do, music concert, wedding etc. I don't have an alcohol problem but there was a lot of drinking involved at these events, and also late nights, not eating properly and by the end of it I was quite exhausted. When I got back to work, I felt a little strange, just a headache and a bit dizzy, nothing serious, just put it down to being run down but then on the Wednesday I had what I now know to be a panic attack on my lunch break. It was absolutely terrifying. This was followed by a period of extremely debilitating anxiety which lasted for about 9 - 10 days. Since then for the past 6 months I have been trying to recover from an anxiety disorder but I am now coming to realise that I have a fear of fear, a panic about panic. How irrational is it that my biggest fear is fear itself? I panic about panic. In essence, I am scared of myself. There is nothing outside me to be scared of, no threat, I live a comfortable life in a safe place. Yet some nights I lie in my warm bed trembling in utter dread and terror as if a hungry lion was sleeping in the same bed with me.

[raggamuffin]

A panic attack robs you of a sense of safety within yourself. This can be a very difficult event to overcome and can push people into an anxiety disorder so to speak. I've talked to a great many people who've had similar experiences - worries and people who weren't adept at handling or releasing stress and a panic attack tipped them over the edge.

I've had anxiety and depression over 10 years but after an hour long panic attack 5 years ago I was hit with 24/7 symptoms. But i've been learning more about anxiety and myself and slowly overcoming the anxiety that I originally thought was going to be with me for my entire life. Truth be told, anxiety isn't in control of us, we are in control of it. If you do not feed it with the fears and worries it needs to exist then it will fade away.

Ed

[Bean0]

Due to my heart, likely SVT which only seems to be triggered by strenous exercise (not every time either). It's basically changed the way I think about life and had me worried sick for weeks, I'm still not over the anxiety, don't know if I ever will be totally.

[gypsylee]

I know this is a personal question but if you don't mind sharing I wouldn't mind knowing how peoples anxiety started. Do you think you were born with it? Or was there some catastrophic event in your life which triggered it? Or did it creep up on you slowly? Was it nature or nuture?

For me, I am in my early 30s and I have always been a bit of a nervous type of person but nothing serious, I could deal with it and lived a normal and happy life. About 7 months ago, I had a 2 week holiday from work and there were various social events including a stag do, music concert, wedding etc. I don't have an alcohol problem but there was a lot of drinking involved at these events, and also late nights, not eating properly and by the end of it I was quite exhausted. When I got back to work, I felt a little strange, just a headache and a bit dizzy, nothing serious, just put it down to being run down but then on the Wednesday I had what I now know to be a panic attack on my lunch break. It was absolutely terrifying. This was followed by a period of extremely debilitating anxiety which lasted for about 9 - 10 days. Since then for the past 6 months I have been trying to recover from an anxiety disorder but I am now coming to realise that I have a fear of fear, a panic about panic. How irrational is it that my biggest fear is fear itself? I panic about panic. In essence, I am scared of myself. There is nothing outside me to be scared of, no threat, I live a comfortable life in a safe place. Yet some nights I lie in my warm bed trembling in utter dread and terror as if a hungry lion was sleeping in the same bed with me.

Nature and nurture. You just have to spend a day with my mother to know that lol. I remember having anxiety when I was about 6yo and I'd be unable to sleep if I was away from home. Then at about 10yo I remember having insomnia even at home. It came to a head when I was in my late teens but I'm pretty sure I was born with it.

I know exactly what you mean about "fearing fear". I'm in my early 40s now and I think I'm finally dealing with it but I was like that for a very long time. We are our own worst enemy. At the same time, I like to think of anxiety as a nervous system disorder, as in a nervous system that is too sensitive. So there is a physical and mental component and you can work on both. If I had've understood more about the physical side I would've been so much better off..

Anyway all the best,
Gypsy x

[alex42]

I know this is a personal question but if you don't mind sharing I wouldn't mind knowing how peoples anxiety started. Do you think you were born with it? Or was there some catastrophic event in your life which triggered it? Or did it creep up on you slowly? Was it nature or nuture?

For me, I am in my early 30s and I have always been a bit of a nervous type of person but nothing serious, I could deal with it and lived a normal and happy life. About 7 months ago, I had a 2 week holiday from work and there were various social events including a stag do, music concert, wedding etc. I don't have an alcohol problem but there was a lot of drinking involved at these events, and also late nights, not eating properly and by the end of it I was quite exhausted. When I got back to work, I felt a little strange, just a headache and a bit dizzy, nothing serious, just put it down to being run down but then on the Wednesday I had what I now know to be a panic attack on my lunch break. It was absolutely terrifying. This was followed by a period of extremely debilitating anxiety which lasted for about 9 - 10 days. Since then for the past 6 months I have been trying to recover from an anxiety disorder but I am now coming to realise that I have a fear of fear, a panic about panic. How irrational is it that my biggest fear is fear itself? I panic about panic. In essence, I am scared of myself. There is nothing outside me to be scared of, no threat, I live a comfortable life in a safe place. Yet some nights I lie in my warm bed trembling in utter dread and terror as if a hungry lion was sleeping in the same bed with me.

I believe I've had it from probably the age of 5... BUT, the first MAJOR panic attack I had was when I was 17. Driving a car. It was a nightmare. I am 42 now. Been dealing with these on and off for quite a while. I understand the "fear of fear"... It sounds ridiculous... But I know what you speak of.
Anxiety / panic is a symptom of something else. Something deeper. It's finding out "what" that is that can be the difficult part.
Alex

[BrookeLynnnn]

I know this is a personal question but if you don't mind sharing I wouldn't mind knowing how peoples anxiety started. Do you think you were born with it? Or was there some catastrophic event in your life which triggered it? Or did it creep up on you slowly? Was it nature or nuture?

For me, I am in my early 30s and I have always been a bit of a nervous type of person but nothing serious, I could deal with it and lived a normal and happy life. About 7 months ago, I had a 2 week holiday from work and there were various social events including a stag do, music concert, wedding etc. I don't have an alcohol problem but there was a lot of drinking involved at these events, and also late nights, not eating properly and by the end of it I was quite exhausted. When I got back to work, I felt a little strange, just a headache and a bit dizzy, nothing serious, just put it down to being run down but then on the Wednesday I had what I now know to be a panic attack on my lunch break. It was absolutely terrifying. This was followed by a period of extremely debilitating anxiety which lasted for about 9 - 10 days. Since then for the past 6 months I have been trying to recover from an anxiety disorder but I am now coming to realise that I have a fear of fear, a panic about panic. How irrational is it that my biggest fear is fear itself? I panic about panic. In essence, I am scared of myself. There is nothing outside me to be scared of, no threat, I live a comfortable life in a safe place. Yet some nights I lie in my warm bed trembling in utter dread and terror as if a hungry lion was sleeping in the same bed with me.

I completely understand this!! The thing I fear is the feeling of a panic attack! Like you, I fear the fear..

I didn't know what anxiety or panic attacks were until someone in my life had talked about them. & In that moment, I just KNEW that what I was experiencing was panic.. & now that I recognize it, being 21 years old, I can remember a specific day when I was about 12-13 & I felt panic for the first time..

So what I'm saying is, I believe we always have it. Just depends on life events on whether it flares up into full panic attacks or just random anxiety. That's how it is for me anyways. I had some really tough things go in my life.. Later after those things, I developed GAD & agoraphobia..