They say...

[Andy_20]

Hi everyone, well this is my first topic on this forum so i'm new here! The subject I want to bring up that is a bit confusing to me is that people say anxiety isn't harmful but I am not too sure that is true.

I have had anxiety for around 6 years, when I first started to get it it was when I was 13-14 while I was at high school and got bullied. The anxiety only came on when I was at school and I often skipped school back then so I didn't get anxiety in general and when I wasn't at school I felt relieved and happy.

When I finished school at the age of 15 I felt better and for a year or so I was feeling quite good and wasn't feeling any symptoms of anxiety. The last few years though from the ages of 18-20 I have had fairly bad anxiety and the past 6 months have been very bad. I usually stay in the house all day and just go on the internet or do something to take my mind off the bad feelings of anxiety and depression. Now I have noticed the past 6 months to a year the symptoms I get from being this way are awful. I get muscle twitching all the time and it gets to the point that it is really irratating and worrying, I also get muscle aches in my back and neck which makes me feel even worse. I have noticed aswell that the past few months my vision has started to become more blurry than it used to be. I have always had good vision and could see long distances well but now my vision is blurry in long distances and I feel weird.

Surely anxiety is harmful if I am getting all these problems from it? It has seemed to have deteorated my eyesite and gave me muscle pains and tiredness.

Very upsetting :cry:

[northstar]

hi andy, sorry to see you having so tough a time at the moment, anxiety really is horrible :(

i totally understand what you say about bullying, i went through a horrible time at school too and held onto the fear and upset for a long long time. i really only dealt with it last year through therapy, almost 10 years after i experienced it. eventually with my therapist i came to the conclusion that even though i did go through such a painful time i was now determined not to be held back by those people any longer! so i've put it behind me and try not to allow myself to be a victim to those nasty girls any more, it's easier said than done though - but once i realising that i was still holding myself back because of events that happened 10 years ago was really a revelation for me and i decided there and then that it would happen no longer :)

so anyway, what i mean to say is therapy can be a great way of dealing with these kind of traumatic experiences, it's also great for looking into anxiety, you might like to give it a try? talk to your doctor about it maybe?

the muscle twitching and aches you describe are quite common symptoms of anxiety. my own feeling on them is that the aches are a result of being so stressed out from the anxiety. so to relieve the aches you might look into stress management, or even simply do things like take hot baths with some drops of a relaxing oil like lavender or think about going for some acupuncture? i have read that muscle twitches can be a symptom of low blood sugar problems called hypoglycemia - this can be a major cause of anxiety but funnily many of us don't know about it. if you like you can read a bit more about it here, it's quite easy to get a handle on it through the right kind of diet and lifestyle changes: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087

about your vision, well the best person to check that out is your doctor or perhaps it's something as simple as needing glasses?

i hope you find this a bit helpful, let me know how you're doing :)

[elgrande]

Whilst my anxiety does lead to muscle tension particularly around the back of my neck and head, I would also point out that sitting in front of a computer for extended periods can also have this affect. From the information you have given I think some of the problems you are experiencing are party to do with your lifestyle at the moment. My eyesight has gotten much worse since I started working all day in front of a computer. The eyes are not designed to spend hours looking at something the same short distance away and this puts a strain on them. I've gone from perfect vision to wearing glasses in the space of 5 years and I'm convinced its from prolonged computer use. Being indoors all day is giving you a lot of time to dwell and think about things and perhaps your mind has mistaken some of these problems as anxiety related. I've never had agrophobia myself and would imagine its a total nightmare to live with. Anyway I just wanted to point out that perhaps these symptoms are not all anxiety related. Good luck.

[Andy_20]

hi andy, sorry to see you having so tough a time at the moment, anxiety really is horrible :(

i totally understand what you say about bullying, i went through a horrible time at school too and held onto the fear and upset for a long long time. i really only dealt with it last year through therapy, almost 10 years after i experienced it. eventually with my therapist i came to the conclusion that even though i did go through such a painful time i was now determined not to be held back by those people any longer! so i've put it behind me and try not to allow myself to be a victim to those nasty girls any more, it's easier said than done though - but once i realising that i was still holding myself back because of events that happened 10 years ago was really a revelation for me and i decided there and then that it would happen no longer :)

so anyway, what i mean to say is therapy can be a great way of dealing with these kind of traumatic experiences, it's also great for looking into anxiety, you might like to give it a try? talk to your doctor about it maybe?

the muscle twitching and aches you describe are quite common symptoms of anxiety. my own feeling on them is that the aches are a result of being so stressed out from the anxiety. so to relieve the aches you might look into stress management, or even simply do things like take hot baths with some drops of a relaxing oil like lavender or think about going for some acupuncture? i have read that muscle twitches can be a symptom of low blood sugar problems called hypoglycemia - this can be a major cause of anxiety but funnily many of us don't know about it. if you like you can read a bit more about it here, it's quite easy to get a handle on it through the right kind of diet and lifestyle changes:

about your vision, well the best person to check that out is your doctor or perhaps it's something as simple as needing glasses?

i hope you find this a bit helpful, let me know how you're doing :)

Thanks for that reply :) Yes bullying has been a big factor in my anxiety and depression I think. I certainly don't think I would have this anxiety if I hadn't of got bullied and had problems at school. I'm glad you managed to get help for it and feel better :) I hope I can do that too in the future, soon hopefully! I currently see a therapist at the moment but it's not CBT as such, I just see him and tell him my problems and anxiety's and he suggests things that would maybe help me etc...

I agree on the stress being the factor behind the muscle twitches and aches. At the moment for exmaple i'm feeling pretty chilled out because I pushed myself to work out earlier and now I feel ok. I find that after I work out I tend to feel better but it's a real struggle for me to start doing my weights and running as I often feel tired so I have to literally force myself to start doing them and not give in. I'd say 80% of the time though I feel run down and tired. The muscle twitches could be down to low blood sugar, I have never actually thought of that so that could be the case!

I would be surprised if I needed glasses as even 6 months ago my eyesite was good, it wasn't blurry like it has been for the past few months, I'm starting to think maybe it is down to being on the computer all day every day as Elgrande said! I am defanitly going to be making some lifestyle changes and start reading or going out for walks rather than being stuck inside mulling over things and staring at the computer screen for hours on end.

Thanks again for your reply, it has helped me a lot :)

[Andy_20]

Whilst my anxiety does lead to muscle tension particularly around the back of my neck and head, I would also point out that sitting in front of a computer for extended periods can also have this affect. From the information you have given I think some of the problems you are experiencing are party to do with your lifestyle at the moment. My eyesight has gotten much worse since I started working all day in front of a computer. The eyes are not designed to spend hours looking at something the same short distance away and this puts a strain on them. I've gone from perfect vision to wearing glasses in the space of 5 years and I'm convinced its from prolonged computer use. Being indoors all day is giving you a lot of time to dwell and think about things and perhaps your mind has mistaken some of these problems as anxiety related. I've never had agrophobia myself and would imagine its a total nightmare to live with. Anyway I just wanted to point out that perhaps these symptoms are not all anxiety related. Good luck.

Hi, thanks for the reply :D Yes I agree with what you said, I think it is down to my lifestyle. Sitting down at a computer all day, not going out much and sleeping a lot has no doubt had some impact on things. What you say is quite interesting, maybe the computer usage has led to a loss of good eyesite. Sometimes i'm not sure what I have, could be a bit of agrophobia, anxiety, depression etc... There is times though when I don't feel too bad and I don't feel anxious or agrophobic, more often than not though I feel those things.