Hi guys, I am new here this is my first post and I just want to explain how I am feeling and how my anxiety is affecting me personally. I started university in England, Bristol around a week ago. I have made some friends but don't particularly feel that I have a close group of people that I can call to meet up in my spare time or whatever.

This is not my MAIN concern at the moment as I know it is still early days, and although I know there are lots of people who have found close friendship groups there will still be many people like me who may just need time to settle in and find friends with similar interests, hobbies etc.

My primary concern is giving speeches or presentations in class, which is a mandatory part of my degree. We get graded on it and I really don't want to mess it up. I'll use an example to explain exactly how I feel in these certain situations. Earlier today we had a introductory seminar where we basically just sat down and my lecturer explained the course...

Firstly she said she wanted us to all introduce ourselves. As SOON as she said this, my hands became sweaty, my heart beat increased rapidly and I became restless. Many thoughts were rushing through my head. What do I say? Is anyone looking at me and can notice I am extremely nervous? What would happen if I just ran away? I know it sounds silly, but I was praying for someone to be feeling the same way as me. Misery truly does love company. However, everyone else was laid back, they spoke clearly and genuinely had interesting things to say and at the same time made people laugh.

When it came to my turn I literally had to use all of my power to try and not think about the anxiety that had fully taken over my body. I had a nervous tone to my voice, the room fell silent (well at least in my head I thought so) and the lecturer seemed to give me a concerning look. On the other hand, I didn't stutter or say anything particularly awkward I just was straight to the point and tried to make eye-contact with my lecturer throughout.

I thought I did actually pretty well considering how I was feeling at the time. But then my lecturer said at the end of the seminar that we are to do a 15 minute presentation on a subject of our choice in front of the class towards the end of the term. This is pretty much my worst nightmare. I haven't stopped thinking and worrying about it since. I feel like this is going to bring about more anxiety in my life until I finally get it over with 8 weeks from now.

One time at college (high school in the UK) I had to do a presentation with my friend and I quite literally froze up and could not say anything. He had to do the whole of the rest of the presentation by himself whilst I stood there with people looking at me, feeling like a complete nervous wreck.

I was just wondering if anyone has had any similar situations and could possibly give me some advice. I've heard about these anti-anxiolytic pills called xanex and perhaps this could be a good option for me just to take before doing presentations to get me through them?

Sorry about the long-winded post, if you have made the time to read through the whole thing I truly appreciate it.