Giving support for anxiety issues

Hi guys. Iv'e just stumbled across this forum and thought I might as well give some good tips for some of the things I have suffered with before.
A little back story:
I have dealt with Anxiety pretty much my whole life, I have always been fairly quiet and I like to stick to myself mainly, but have a small circle of friends. While I was at school, I started to feel over burdened with small things, I would stress about the slightest things, even if they weren't important, which made me stay home from school, which was a big deal, as I was well on my way to getting very very good grades. As it developed, I became more and more paranoid and anxious to go anywhere, I wouldn't even leave the house as I didn't want to run into people. It became very bad, I started having panic attacks frequently and I wasn't enjoying life, as I was becoming very depressed. This has been happening since I was around 12-13, and now I am 18. My parents and family are very supportive of me, which is probably one of the key reasons that iv'e been able to overcome my anxiety, however there are a lot of things that can help you out, as they have me. If this helps at least one person, it would make me feel great knowing that it has benefited someone out there.

When you're feeling anxious and feel those attacks coming along, your mind gets the best of you. I realised this a lot. The more I worried about things, the more my heart would race, and make me feel worse. Try to combat these problems by just accepting that they're there. I know this sounds strange, and I agree it was for me too. However, once I realised what I was told, it became a lot easier for me.
Don't let your problems overcome you, in return, allow yourself to realise what is making you feel this way, for example, you're feeling anxious or depressed about something that has happened, take a step back and think, yes (the problem) has happened, but the only way to overcome it, is to accept it, and move forward past it, instead of dwelling on it, as it only allows you to feel worse.

You also want to socialise more, when I was sitting in my room all the time, not speaking to anyone, it eventually led to me becoming a lot more paranoid about things around me. If you are in college, school or anything like this, go out and meet people, if you aren't confident enough for this, i'm sure there are plenty of community events around you, small gathering's in your area which you will easily be able to find with a google search or asking family. The more you allow yourself to socialise with people, the more you are able to overcome your problems with your confidence and you will be more confident in the future to speak and socialise with more people.

Find something you enjoy, or something you want to try out, and make a hobby of it. Try and find people around you who also enjoy the things that you do. I was a very angry child, which I am the complete opposite of now, and I started the gym with my brother, so when I had a bad day, I could go to the gym, which was a mainly weight gaining gym, where I could push myself to my limits, which not only soothed my anger, took my mind away from my problems and also give me something that I could enjoy and work towards gaining.

Anxiety and depression is increasingly becoming more common in young adults around the world, so never worry about being alone. There are a lot of helplines, and forums around which help people that are in the position that you are in, and will do the best to help you. If you spend your time with the mindset that things can only get worse, things will get worse for you, but if you instead try and make your lifestyle more positive, you will feel a lot more confident and better in yourself. I often thought I was alone, but I wasn't, there were so many people around me that were afraid to tell others, so don't let yourself be isolated, as anxiety is a very serious issue which people shouldn't ignore.

I know this was very long, but hopefully this can at least help one person out, and give some insight into what people with anxiety feel like daily. If you have anything to share about how you dealt with your anxiety and problems, please share below, so we can try and help as many people as possible.

If you have any problems at all, please don't hesitate to contact me, I will be more than happy to help with any problems, anxiety can't just be turned off by the flick of a button, but you can get help and be able to move in a more positive direction, if you allow yourself to get help!

 

See i'm struggling to find out if i have Anxiety or if it's actually Heart problems, I'm too worried to go doctors as i'd hate to get diagnosed with anything and be not able to work but last week i had a smoke outside after my breakfast like i usually do and then my left side of the chest felt really tight and funny, something I haven't felt before, So i started to panic and my heart started racing faster than it's ever beated before and i was going dizzy and a little faint! I honestly thought i was going to have a heart attack or something.

I eventually went upstairs because i didn't want my son or girlfriend to see what i was like at the time and opened a window, put my head out it and tried to relax myself and eventually it happened although it took a great deal of time. I mean I'm only 20 years old so i shouldn't have heart problems already surely, but this isn't the first time it's happened.

I got sentenced to prison earlier on in the year and ended up trying ' Spice '. I had the same issue when i was in there and literally felt like i was going to die in my cell but obviously i now know that's probably the effects of spice anyway but ever since I've had the problem of these heart issues ( or anxiety attacks ).


---

Obviously people will tell me i should go to the doctors but i honestly would rather not at the moment because it worries me if there is something wrong with my heart at such a young age, but if anyone has any advise or seems to think they know what this problem could be then it would be great to hear from you


Regards.

 

Hi, thanks for taking your time to write about your issues, I have dealt with the main points of what you have put here, so here is what I think about your situation, I hope this helps:
I have been to the doctors, many times as when you have an anxiety or panic attack, literally every person I have spoken to has said that they feel that they're having a heart attack. When you start having those feelings, in your heart, I'm guessing you get heart palpitations, the best thing for you to do is get your breathing back on track at regular paces. It's hard at first, especially when you first have your first one, but once you get used to having them, the best thing to do, is take deep breathes, I would breathe in through my mouth for 6 seconds, and exhale out my nose for 6 seconds. It always seemed to help me, even if it didn't go away straight away.

Whenever I have been to the doctors, I have just been told it's anxiety, and there is nothing much I can do about it, which is very annoying, but obviously they're the professionals so they can't do much about it. So they have told me about trying different methods, such as the breathing method I talked about above, and even recommended me to groups in which you can book in and talk to other people dealing with your problems, but these can take weeks and even months to get into, which I had already gotten over my main issues before I had even go to one.

I feel that when you have these anxiety or panic attacks, it's your mentality that really affects the problem. When you first start getting the feeling, you instantly start panicking and wondering, what in the world is happening to me, it's very very scary, I have felt like I was going to die a lot when it happened, but it's all about positively thinking that you aren't, that's the key to moving through the attack. Whilst your having these attacks, a lot of things are happening, you start breathing fast, your heart starts palpitating at a fast rate and you start to work up your panic, but the more you panic about the situation, the further you get into the attack. The best thing to do, and for the best outcome, is to mainly carry on, but remove the negative thoughts out of your head, and think about it as, 'It's just a panic attack, I am not going to die'. I know this sounds very silly, and when someone told me this I was like, that's not going to help, but it does, the quicker you realise what is going on is not a serious attack, and more that it will go as soon as you stop panicking, you realise that it is a lot more easier to get over. Don't get me wrong, you might read this and think it's not as easy as it seems, but next time you're having an attack, try and remember what I've said above, because it's helped me so many times.

Remember to always keep a positive mentality about what is going on, especially during or at the beginning of an attack, because the more you think, I'm going to get over this, the more your mentality quickly boosts, and you're able to take control of the situation.

P.S When you said about the spice, I wouldn't necessarily take that into account. Spice is horrible it WILL make you feel this way, I have tried it before, and have had a lot of it, and I can almost guarantee if anyone smokes this, eventually they will get the feeling you had, so make sure not to smoke it again, because it is very very bad for you. Also when you spoke about having a smoke, I'm guessing you're talking about weed, which I used to smoke ALOT, and I mean ALOT. I had a fairly good paying job, so I was able to basically buy as much weed as I could smoke, and then some, so I feel that's what affected me a lot, but don't necessarily take that into account completely as you can smoke a lot and still be fine, but it just affects overs differently. I would recommend if you're not going to at least stop smoking weed, smoke it in smaller quantities, a lot of people will tell you 'Oh weed is fine, it's not weed, it's something else' which is wrong and right. Weed can completely mellow you out, and not cause any of these issues, but for others, it can be a completely different affect, so don't take one persons advice as the only advice. I mean, now that my attacks etc have stopped, I have started again, I stopped smoking weed for around 7-8 months, which I now smoke again non of this has happened, but it may happen again, which I guess I am silly for doing. (I just wanted to put a bit extra into the weed bit, as I have heard so many stories about people who smoke weed getting anxiety issues, I'm not saying it's bad, but i'm not saying it's good either)

 

Okay mate thanks for that, At least i now know it isn't just me who gets it sometimes then so that's satisfying! Also no i was on about a normal cigerate, I actually quit weed about 3 months ago now purely because when i smoked it last i had the problem where my heart was going out of control and felt like i was going to die so i decided i cant touch it anymore as i didn't like the feeling at all mate!

 

Good stuff mate, best of luck to you. Try not to over think the situation and you should feel a lot better, it's mainly your mentality, and good about the weed mate, not that I can say anything considering I'm smoking it again, but hopefully it pans out well for you, it can really be a scary experience!
Any way man, if it gets any worse or if you have any problems at all, let me know and i'll be sure to help you out, you can contact me easily on here, or on skype and i'll be happy to help you without hesitation, it's always nice to have someone who has experienced it to help you out instead of someone that knows nothing on the matter!

Best of luck, and hopefully things go well. Hope you and your family are well

 

Yeah thanks a lot mate, Hopefully this will encourage others who might experience these problems who haven't spoken about it to anybody else before, good job

 

Appreciate it man, when I was going for it, I wish I had been more open about it, as this is probably the best thing you can do to over come your anxiety Thanks again

 

I was a habitual spice user for around 2 years. It severely fucked my life up. I have had permanent memory loss, tooth decay, panic attacks, heart probs, seizures etc. Been 3 years since i stopped and still have some residual effects after all this time....very rarely tho.

As for your heart problems, my advice is to be rational and cognizant. If it becomes a pattern (weekly attacks for a month or 2, etc), you might have serious problems. Only you can know if you should seek treatment. If so, the solution might be simple as changing your diet, moderate exercise, take a pill, etc.

Most likely its nothing, but dont use age as an excuse to not have a real problem. Best of wishes

 

I have the same problem I'm slowly trying to overcome it, sometimes I don't feel like going out becuase i feel like people are going to stare at me the wrong way, and I get scared when I try to talk to someone