Welcome to the Anxiety Forum - A Home for Those with Anxiety, Fear, or Panic Attacks.
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  1. #1
    Junior Member
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    New to Forum - Any Similar Symptoms Thread

    Hi guys, I'm new to this site and this is my first time posting (19yo/male). I've recently been struggling with a lot of fears and worries brought on by a difficult home situation around 2 years ago. I have a lot of symptoms common to OCD. I have sought the advice of a therapist, and have made some significant progress.

    However, there are are a few things worrying me, and I would like to know if any of you have experienced anything similar.

    1) Around 5 month ago I was eating lunch with my family and we sat next to a lady who was talking to herself. She was clearly in distress and believed she had been stood-up: the person was sadly non-existent. Since then, I have been relentlessly obsessing over the following scenario: all of my family and friends are made up, and I am actually schizophrenic and talking to myself. Whenever I see people looking at me it gets worse. Of course, I know it is wrong. I rarely experience it when I am at home or in private with friends/family and not in public. I know it is illogical, and I have reasoned it through to termination: either everything is real or nothing is. But this does not stop the obsession with whether or not people are looking at me and thinking I'm insane. Could this be to do with low self-esteem (which I certainly have)?

    2) Over the past week I have been obsessively worrying over schizophrenia. I do not and have never exhibited any symptoms of it (delusions, disorganised speech/thoughts, hallucinations & am I totally aware of the difference between fantasy/reality etc.), but I cannot stop worrying over it. e.g "what if I DO start hearing voices". Have any of you experienced this sort of worry - if so, how do you deal with it/overcome it.

    3) I used to obsess over ideas of infinity etc and other unanswerable questions e.g. "Is life a dream"; "am I living alone in the world" etc.

    4) I also have a tendency towards hypochondria, esp. surrounding cancer.

    Have any of you ever experienced any similar symptoms? Do you have any suggestions/methods for dealing with them?

  2. #2
    Junior Member
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    Sep 2016
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    That's good your seeing a therapist. Are you on any sort of meds? These kind of illogical thoughts are really typical for people with anxiety disorder and OCD. When I was a kid I was convinced someone was coming into my bed at night and giving me drugs. Obviously they weren't. The amount of thoughts that you have are impressive and I would assume you're an intelegent guy. Just have to find a way to calm those thoughts. I've been doing a lot more meditation lately which helps keep you in the moment and limit the "What if's".

  3. #3
    Junior Member
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    No, I'm not on any medication, as it hasn't interfered with my personal or social life to an extent that would require it. I am by nature a worrier, and my worries become worse as my stress levels go up.

  4. #4
    Junior Member
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    Sep 2016
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    Oh yeah stress will totally intensify the worries and neurosis. When I was your age I saw a therapist for a while but I couldn't really be honest about things I was feeling because I was embarrassed about it. I wish that I could have been a little more open about what I was feeling then. I just turned 32 and am now going over some things I wasn't strong enough to talk about when I was your age.

  5. #5
    Senior Member
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    Oct 2013
    Location
    Melbourne, Australia
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    Hey and welcome here

    I can very much relate to all of these, particularly the whole philosophical thing and the fear of insanity. Interestingly, I had those fears more when I was first diagnosed with "Major Depression", which happened to be at 19yo. I'm 43 now and it's still a fear (going insane) but it's not nearly as intense as it was back then. It was terrifying and it didn't help that the first psychiatrist I saw put me on a cocktail of meds, including old-school anti-psychotics, which turned me into a complete and utter zombie. I can clearly remember thinking "this is it.. I'm going to be put in a mental institution" and back then even less was understood about anxiety disorders/depression. I went back to him saying I felt worse and he just told me to increase the dose!

    So I spent about 6 months in this horrible state until my mum finally said enough is enough and found a new psychiatrist. He took me off everything (apart from the Xanax) and started again. I went through more hellish trial and error with anti-depressants and finally Fluoxetine (Prozac) worked and it worked really well. But like most people find, it made my anxiety go through the roof initially and took about 3 weeks to kick in.

    Anyway, looking back I can't believe I was put on all those meds for what was always just anxiety/panic/depression. If I could talk to that shrink now I would tell him he's an irresponsible ****. My advice to you and anyone else new to anxiety is to learn about the nervous system and the "flight or fight" mechanism. Claire Weekes is someone I wish I had have been told about 20 years ago and I'm currently reading a book called "The Happiness Trap" about something called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

    I still get completely overwhelmed by anxiety (it got me last night in fact) and it's a really tricky thing that can be totally debilitating. But understanding it is extremely helpful.

    All the best,
    Gypsy x
    "You're the worst thing that ever happened to me." --Marla Singer

  6. #6
    Senior Member
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    Apr 2016
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    Maryland (MD)
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    I was at my internal medicine physician this morning and I said to hime some days I wish I was invisible, so
    I could avoid certain sitations. He then asked me if I would work if I was invisible and I said yes as the
    purpose of my invisibility would be to avoid certain situations. Then we both laughed as I said my comment was
    really idiotic and impossible to achieve. I too have cancer fears, but my worries usually focus on the big 3 as I
    call them; cancer, heart disease and stroke, not necessarily in that order.

 

 

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