Anxiety Is Ruining My Life

[darkzilla]

I am in dire need of assistance, of guidance, of anything that will cure me of this horrible anxiety I am feeling on a daily basis. It all started about a month ago when I started to feel short of breath at my one uni class and persisted throughout it until class was done and I had to leave for my job. Upon arrival, not even 20 minutes later I started feeling nausea and weakness in my legs. Then the attack happened and I was rushed to the emergency room. I had a blood test, ECG, and chest X-ray and everything apparently came out normal to my astonishment.

I'm living in hell on an almost daily basis. I'm short of breath, tight chest, chest pains, frequent yawning and taking deep breaths, lack of appetite, constipation, cold, terrified, feel unhealthy, worried... The list goes on... I'm a male turning 19 in July as well.

I am begging for any help from anyone. I want to be normal again. I don't want to live like this forever. I feel like I'm slowly deteriorating. I'm dying.

[Deleted]

Consult your doctor. They know what to do and how to get rid of it.

[Stormdash]

Severe anxiety can be helped considerably a number of ways. I deal with considerable anxiety as well, but not with the physical severity you do, and as you can tell -- it can be dangerous untreated. There is help for you. Honestly, start with a a visit to your doctor. If you are dealing with anxiety that severe, they will want to refer you to a specialist. There are medications for anxiety, and talk therapy. And remember... it's *good news* that you didn't have some major medical disaster at the root of that attack! At least in the short run, you can cling on to the results of a clean ECG and chest x-ray as things not to be anxious about, even if it feels like everything else is. But go to a doctor.

[darkzilla]

I've consulted my doctor and she told me it's anxiety and made me get an appointment with a psychologist, which didn't particularly help me.

[Blueobelisk]

Tell your psychologist to prescribe you drugs. Sounds like a case of agoraphobia to me.

[Deleted]

1 visit to a psyc does not cut it. Whatever your problem may be.

[Azutael]

I've consulted my doctor and she told me it's anxiety and made me get an appointment with a psychologist, which didn't particularly help me.

How did that not help you ? A psychologist is someone that can help you understand the underlying cause/causes. And hopefully help you get rid of it. Or at the very least help you deal with how to cope with it.

[rogueMatthias]

You can take drugs to alleviate it, but I'd suggest something more like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. This is what your psychologist will probably be doing. You can actually do it online, in the UK you can get the NHS to refer you to fearfighter.com which I've heard positive feedback about, I dont know what equivalents there are in other coutnries. There's no real overnight fix though, and it will take time and work.

[Deleted]

How did that not help you ? A psychologist is someone that can help you understand the underlying cause/causes. And hopefully help you get rid of it. Or at the very least help you deal with how to cope with it.

Can't be done in all cases. Sometimes you just need to use medicine to control it.

[cherb]

Talk to a medical professional. People here can give you some guidance/helpful tips, but ultimately the one who will be able to help the most will be a doctor.

There are medications that can help, but fixing anxiety also requires some lifestyle changes to go along with it. Otherwise you end up dependent on your anxiety meds and replace one problem with another.

[Chireru93]

everyone's already suggested doctors, psychologists, and all that, so I'll suggest something different you can do on your own absolutely free that will help.

meditation

it might sound weird, I know some people don't believe such things can help with anything, but while I don't have anxiety I do have Tourettes (which means my nerves are basically ^$#@ed up) and I constantly tic, mostly vocal grunts or small physical movements, but they're so constant that being in public is quite embarrassing. Meditation helps me a little with it, if only to calm myself down somewhat. The better you can focus, the better the meditation will help as well. It might not help as much as a narcotic or w/e else, but if you feel like the anxiety is ruining your life then what can it hurt?

[Lolvanish]

Severe anxiety can be helped considerably a number of ways. I deal with considerable anxiety as well, but not with the physical severity you do, and as you can tell -- it can be dangerous untreated. There is help for you. Honestly, start with a a visit to your doctor. If you are dealing with anxiety that severe, they will want to refer you to a specialist. There are medications for anxiety, and talk therapy. And remember... it's *good news* that you didn't have some major medical disaster at the root of that attack! At least in the short run, you can cling on to the results of a clean ECG and chest x-ray as things not to be anxious about, even if it feels like everything else is. But go to a doctor.

I also suffer from a lot of the things you described and am turning 19 in july. I can't begin to describe how much that bolded statement^ helped. I ended up going to the hospital for a anxiety/panic attack and had all kinds of tests done and they all came back normal. That is something i always use to help calm me down whenever i'm not feeling great again. I'll know that it's just me mentally freaking out a little instead of something actually being wrong.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it i guess, any medication makes me freak the fuck out so i can't take any of that for anxiety. I had to learn how to calm myself down. I go out every day and get some fresh air. I was told eating healthier helped but i wasn't sure, and then i went on a diet ( not a big weight loss diet or anything, cut out some heavy carbs and calories, some extra healthier foods throughout the day) and it really helped. I also generally try to advise people to stay away from anxiety medicine as it can cause addiction, and complete dependency upon it.

That's something that's tricky about anxiety. I didn't know if the diet would help or not because it sounded a little bit silly, but as long as you believe something will help and try to have a generally good look on things you'll never know what helps. My friend who also has some anxiety problems will just get on the computer for a while and he'll calm down. He says it helps him forget that anything is even going on.

[Azutael]

Can't be done in all cases. Sometimes you just need to use medicine to control it.

Medication should always be last resort though, but yes obviously you are correct.

[pucGG]

I could be stress or chronological depression. Doctors sometimes take a while to figure it out, so maybe ask if it's possible that that's what it is.

[Gamdwelf]

Well Darkzilla how is the rest of your life, if the psychiatrist couldn't help does that mean besides the anxiety attacks the rest of your life is perfect correct?

[Melodi]

Go to your doctor, it sounds like you're having panic attacks. You need to go to a psychiatrist and probably go into therapy and if it's bad enough they may want to put you on medication. Also, you are NOT going to have an instantaneous "cure" for this. It will take time and will be a long process to get at the root of whatever your issues are which are triggering the attacks. Medication is only a short term fix and only bandaids things until you figure out the real underlying issue. They will also probably go over some coping mechanisms to help you keep calm or calm yourself before you actually have a full blown panic attack.

[Deleted]

Threads made with the intention of seeking medical advice are typically not allowed on the forums as bad or joke advice could be dangerous if it is taken seriously. As several posters have already suggested the best thing to do would be to see a medical professional. Consult your GP and they should be able to put you in contact with colleagues specialising in mental health.