Seeking anyone who can help my anxieties and discomforts

[Brian Windham]

Hello,
I've just signed up, and figured I shared with the world the problems I have. If you relate, or know a way to help any of these problems, PLEASE to not hesitate to respond.

Most of my fears revolve around this idea: I'm comfortable with what I'm used to, and horrified of something new.

Fears:
1. Fear of food allergy regarding something I've never tried, or a developed allergy to something I haven't had in a long time.
2. Fear of Flashing Lights and problems that can occur from looking into them.
3. Fear of Elevators (And now escalators) due to a fear of Motion Sickness (Of which I never had).
4. Fear of going up (Not down) certain types of staircases. These include: Spiral, Large, tall steps and short, narrow steps, Open-backed, outdoor, one railing, spiral, foldable/retreactable, hardwood, and any staircase that is in a condition that may make it harder to easily navigate (Ex. Wet stairs, Stairs with broken steps, etc.) Also, fear of stopping (Going up) on staircases.
5. Fear of migrain headaches & dehydration.

Strong Discomforts:
1. Discomfort from going out
2. Discomfort from being away from immediate family in a place I never usually go to.
3. (A Bit Obsure) Discomfort from high celings, or being too far away from the celing (E.x. Sitting, or lying on the floor looking up in a high roofed place.)
4. Discomfort of large dark environments (Ex. Movie Theater)
5. Discomfort from being out when my phone is dead.
6. Discomfort from certain new experiences (Examples: Wacthing a 3d movie, Driving in a state or town I'm unfarmiliar with).
7. Discomfort from being enclosed against my will.
8. Discomfort from falling while sitting or standing on any high or angled loction (Examples: A mezzanine or catwalk)

And the biggest of all: Fear of developing a strong fear or discomfort by trying something different.
Example: I've been on planes all my life, and never had a problem. The last flight I went on was 2 years ago, and I fear going on another because of the feling of being trapped.
Example: I've been on boats all my life, Now I have a fear of motion sickness & don't want to go on one.

Thank you!

[PanicCured]

So you are smart enough to realize that these are fears. Therefore, what you are asking is not how to cure your food allergy or statistics on elevator safety or if movie theaters are safe, but you want to know how you can overcome these fears. The problem isn't with elevators, or dark places or flashing lights or with anything you mentioned, but simply your fears. You are in some type os situation now where you are overly sensitive to these fears and seem unable to control them. So how do we overcome FEAR? We overcome fear by using our WILL. By way of your will, you can penetrate through the fears until eventually you no longer fear them. You do not overcome fear of elevators by avoiding them but by taking them. Do not plan your life around your anxiety but do your best to act as if you do not have anxiety. Create new habits and new thinking patterns that will eventually lead to overcoming your fears. Read my 3 sticky threads at the top.

[alankay]

Seems like your anxiety very much centers on motion, location, space and the precarious nature of given spots/situations. It could be you are very sensitive to this type of stimuli like a person with social anxiety is with speeches, etc.
Have you ever been able to find in your past anything specific that might explain this? I just wondered.
Are you sensitive to sunlight? Winds? Spinning or dizziness? Just crosses my mind as the much stimuli enter through the eyes and/or ears and wonder if you are over sensitive to that? Just find this all interesting in a way. Kind of a twist on agoraphobia to a certain extent. Not sure about the food allergy fears except all that enters the body goes through the mouth/digestive tract.
What things have you tried thus far to reduce lower your anxiety? Alankay

[msduty2013]

I can relate to several of these. For example I have convinced myself I cant eat strawberries or seafood even though I have no known allergy.

[SakuraFett]

I myself have a problem with the large environment fear especially at the beach. I can no longer lay on my back on the sand and look at the sky because the big open sky just scares me and I start to feel like I'm moving or as impossible as it is I'm a little afraid of just falling off the world and into space.
I'm also terrified of taking medication because I'm afraid I will be the 0.01% that has an allergic reaction to it.
I once cut the side of my finger off on a meat slicer and had to go to the hospital and they wanted to give me a tetanus shot and I wasn't going to do it until my mom made me, she practically had to hold me down to get the shot and I'm not afraid of needles just the medicine.
To this day I only take medicines that I have taken before and have never had a reaction to such as aleve and when I get a really bad cold I will take robotussin when I absolutely have to.

[Brian Windham]

Since it was requested, I'm going to share why I have any anxieties in the first place. Years ago, I watched my Mom have a very violent seizure and be carted away to the hospital. At first, it didn't bother me. But when she came out of the hospital, she told me what she felt before she got it. The symptoms she told me were mostly extreme versions of symptoms everyone gets. That's what made me nervous. For so long, I kept feeling these symptoms (they included simple things like headaches, lightheadedness, etc.), and also didn't realize that panic could bring on these symptoms and some of it's own either. I was so convinced that there was now a ticking clock to when my turn was, especially when I would be having a panic attack (Again, I didn't even know that was panic.)

I'm far better than I was back then, especially because I've been rationalizing. Most of the fears/discomforts listed above are links to
why it happened to my mom in the first place. For example: Flashing lights (even though I think it's a one in 10,000 chance.) Also, being dizzy (something she had badly when it happened).

Thankfully, I've abolished many fears I once had. Things such as dehydration (wouldn't go anywhere without water), going out, and many other things.

Most of what's listed above is more of an annoyance to me now then fear. For example: food. I don't get horrified thinking about them, I just say,'No, not today.' When they're in front of me. Elevators too.

Not mentioned above, I fear vertigo very badly: hence why I hate being dizzy. I get it often from being hungry, using a high-speed elevator, being on a cruise ship, and being in a room with flashing lights. Each time, nothing comes out of it, but it always ruins my day.

Vertigo is pribably not the biggest problem compared to this: I know nothing bad happens during my daily routine, therefore I hate trying something different, and my anxiety spikes.

[jessed03]

Brian think of anxiety like a cold. When you have the flu or a virus or something, you may list your symptoms like this:

x - Sore Throat
x - Headache
x - Weakness
x - Temperature

etc etc etc...

Now you could go about dealing with each of those symptoms differently. Some Gatorade for the weakness. A cold compress for the temperature. Some warm lemon drink for the sore throat, and doing all this is probably gonna make you feel better. But it won't cure the cold...

You can spend ages going around trying to fix and understand each symptom, but you know what, I kinda think it's a complete waste of time. I really do. I had a lot of these, some different ones too. I sought to understand them, and why I felt them, my beliefs about them, what even could have caused them - but it made no real difference. I really believe, even if you overcame all of these using immense reasoning and logic, something new would come right along. Like the cold. You may take your temperature away, but the cold still has to come out some way.

You know how many fears off of my list I tackled and eliminated? Maybe ONE. As you lower your BASE level of anxiety, these will drop away. Don't fret over the symptoms of the illness, focus ON the illness. What is the common denominator in each one of these fears. The 'What if?' probably. What do ALL of these have in common. Keep digging.

You can waste your time tackling each one of these, until new ones eventually come along, or you can work on eliminating that virus thats making you sick. This virus is in the mind however, the symptoms come from there too.

Set about learning every anxiety trick you can. Learn WHY it is called anxiety.

Treat your fears as 'X'. Like algebra. Anything can come take the place of X, of this fear, until you've worked out the problem.

These don't matter nearly as much as you think they do. They probably will however bother you for now, for a while. They did to me.

But if you get yourself right, get your education on the condition right, theres a good chance most will drop away, and perhaps you can work on the one or two stubborn ones left over.

[Jay1985]

Great post Jesse