How many people here have anxiety?

Sorry, where did you move from??

I moved to Ontario from Virginia, back in April of 2010. Met my boyfriend online (go figure right, haha) and it sort of fell into place.

I have a hard time even going across to the store for groceries. I don't know why, it's hard to explain and my boyfriend and roommates have asked me about it, which just makes me feel completely ridiculous. I've dealt with this since I was very little (it started out when I was a toddler, and I had a horrible fear of men). My mom has anxiety and depression very bad, so it's not a huge surprise that I deal with it as well. I also believe that we played off one another for a long time. It got better once my mom finally stuck me into counseling, but to be fair all they did was put me on adderall (they said I had ADHD, which I don't disbelieve but don't entirely believe, either) and anxiety medication, and eventually SSRI's for depression, all of which I stopped taking before moving to Canada. Still deal with depression but the anxiety has become the forefront now.

For the record, I'm not offended by anything you've said or asked.

I've actually wondered as well, because it does seem to be an extremely large chunk of people here compared to those I interact with in other ways.

I have definite anxiety that impacts my life, but I don't consider it a disorder or something that needs medication. It is the result of my life until now, and is who I am. The biggest issue for me at this point is that I can't go into the break room at work, at all, unless I walk in with someone. You can't see who is in there or where people are or anything until you are in the room because of where the door is. I don't eat lunches at work generally, and I've skipped work sponsored lunches before when the group I work with has gone in ahead of me, and I can't walk in with them. Could medication change it? Maybe, but I don't want it changing me, if that makes any sense. There are other things, but that is the one that actually impacts me life on a regular basis.

I know others who have had similar issues and have chosen medication as a way to deal with it. I don't judge anyone who chooses to do so; I just don't feel it is right for me.

I have been diagnosed with OCD, which is a type of anxiety disorder.

It very much effects my daily life. I'm a "checker," and it can get especially bad at work. I am medicated for it now, but got so bad for a while that it was brought up by my supervisor.

For the record, I can't say that I've seen a huge difference in how the medication affects me outside of the anxiety. The only thing negative thing about it is that when I forget to take it I get what I guess would be withdrawal symptoms? Although that does help me make sure I take it.

Before the meds I used to have times when I would drive too close to someone standing by the side of the road and if I hit a bump I would be terrified that the bump I went over was actually the person, and if I didn't go back and check I would picture some poor person bleeding in the street all night. At work I would be afraid to make any kind of mistake and would check repeatedly to make sure that I had done everything right, because I wold be afraid of someone being injured or dying because of my mistake. I would check gates, crates, cages, and locks repeatedly. I would be certain that if I misplaced my debit card for a couple of hours that someone had stolen it and was taking all our money. Oh, and I unplugged everything in the house DH would let me get away with unplugging when we left. It has taken quite the effort for me to to be OK with running a space heater for the birds.

I still have bad days, especially if I don't sleep enough, but not like I used to.

I'm not diagnosed with this, but I do have a strong belief that I have dermatillomania. It's disgusting and embarrassing and I'll never talk about this ever again; it is the desire to pick at your skin all the time, basically. I will do this for HOURS, and I never know why. I've done it since I was very little, and I used to even try to do it on OTHER PEOPLE (can you imagine the horror my parents felt?!). I hone in on my lips, mainly, but elsewhere as well, usually not stopping until it's completely raw or bleeding, or both.

Ugh I hate it, I hate it so much. But I love it. It makes no sense. I do notice I am very anxious when I do it, but I don't know if it's because I'm doing it, or why I'm doing it.

My sister pulls her eyelashes out. Trichotillomania I believe! She literally has no top eyelashes and wears false lashes if she goes out anywhere.

She says the same. She hates it, but she has to do it.

She's lucky really it's just her eyelashes and not her head hair... that would be pretty obvious.

We make a joke of it..... She doesn't worry too much about it (that I am aware of). It's just her weird quirk.

I had a friend with that disorder. Her parents would spend thousands on her to get weaves to try and hide it, and eventually wigs when there was no hair left to weave into.

I've pulled strands of hair out before that wouldn't sit properly, and that hurt. I don't do it compulsively, but I know how bad it can get. I've also accidentally yanked an eyelash out while trying to rid myself of mascara clumps, and oh my GOSH that hurts so much worse than the hair on your head. That's a new kind of pain for me haha.

This is an interesting thread. I've enjoyed hearing of different peoples' experiences.

I think I have a bit of social anxiety, but nothing detrimental and nothing that would be diagnosed or bad enough that I'd need anything for it. It affects my life a bit, but could be a lot worse. I'm shy, and I never know what to say to people since my life is pretty uneventful, and as a result I often come across as ridiculously awkward. Especially when I first meet somebody, don't know them well, or haven't seen somebody in a really long time. I'm just no good at having a real conversation about most things, and I get myself all worked up and worried about what to say to somebody/worried that I might stumble over words and embarrass myself, etc. And then I leave wondering if the person thinks I'm a complete idiot. I worry way too much about what people think, which is part of why I suck at conversation (does the person really care about what I have to say?). I don't think what I experience is all that uncommon though. And I've never had an anxiety or panic attack. What I experience is just an irrational 'fear' of talking to somebody I don't know and not sounding like a fool. I'm just embarassingly socially awkward sometimes, and with it comes with a bit of anxiety/stress.

Since working in a little retail store though, and being the only person working here, I've had no choice but to talk to customers. And I feel like I am getting better at it. Still shy, but not painfully so. Sometimes I'm still awkward, but hopefully not as bad as I used to be. I feel like I've improved.

I can't even begin to imagine how horrible it would feel to have a severe, diagnosed anxiety disorder of any kind.

Does anyone else get anxious when sharing knowledge, specifically?

I don't know why, but when I tell someone about dogs or cats, and diet or anything about what I know, I get incredibly anxious when I'm saying it, especially in person. It makes me so uncomfortable, the idea of telling someone, or seeming to tell someone how to do something. I have no idea how to do it and not come off as sounding too curt.

Anybody? Just me? Mrow

OCD and AS here.

I'm mildly obsessive compulsive, but that generally doesn't interfere with daily life. Ive been diagnosed as being on the spectrum, either HFA or AS

I have a lot of anxiety, but I can function in society just fine without medications, service dogs or anything else. So IMO I don't have a disorder, even if my doctors want to say I do.

I see a therapist bi-monthly to monthly, and have done so consistently for the past 6 years or so, taking a break for a year in there somewhere. He agrees that I don't have a disorder. Working through my problems and skeletons bit by bit through writing, homework and coping methods have significantly decreased my attacks and overall anxiety. Now, I still often get attacks just before bed, but can get them under control much more swiftly than before.

It's really interesting to hear other peoples stories.
I am not diagnosed with anything other then "chronic-hyperventilation" which I think is a symptom of a anxiety/mental illness,they told me to "try and relax...be less stressed" that's the only help I've got.I probably should go back but I don't even know where to start with what goes on in my head.
It affects me everyday,the norm being I can't breathe,my chest in uncomfortable, then it could also lead to anxiety about stupid things,being weird and crazy,feeling awkward,working myself up,the worst way my day can go is a panic attack,also some sort of hysterical break down which ends with me going to bed exhausted from tears.I can't explain my symptoms,they don't even make sense to me/I can't word it,sometimes weird things like feeling like i haven't spoken that day,or thoughts in my head that I can't get out of my head.I can NOT talk about my feelings.its not an option,I'd rather die.I used to self harm.These kind of things are hard to explain to people who haven't experience it,there are somethings I can't "relax" about,or just "don't think about it".
Maybe I have schizophrenia?My sister(half sister) seems to have some of the same symptoms too.We talk about it.My BF lets me talk and doesn't tel me I'm crazy.Their the only people I "talk" too,and even that is limited.
I need to speak to someone about it soon I guess,before I have a mental breakdown at 30.

Having Coco helps me a lot,having to walk and being physically tired at the end of the day is important.Having her around to stroke relaxes me.

Mental Illness in general suck,people make way for someone in a wheelchair,everyone is aware of cancer,no one understands mental illness.

I don't have a diagnosed anxiety disorder.

I've had a couple of panic attacks in my life and one anxiety attack which happened over the weekend.

I have a lot of things that stress my body which could cause anxiety, like Fran mentioned in her post on page 4 (I think), and if I read it right.

Not being able to have children, spiders, clowns, drowning, and standing on the edge of a very high up place sends me into serious stress mode. BUT I am not afraid of heights, just standing on edges in height up places, which is ironic in a sense to me lol

ETA: But none go into my day to day living. Just if I am in that situation then I go into "OH SH!T" mode.

If anyone's curious, humans have a natural anxiety that happens when they reach the edge of a height. There is something known as 'the call of the void' when you stand on the edge of something up high, like a cliff or building. There's a tiny voice in your head telling you to jump, even though you know you would die. Just the urge to jump, but not doing, can cause a lot of anxiety, especially if you're not aware of the phenomenon you're experiencing!
I know a lot of people that have anxiety about this scenario, and when I tell them about the call of the void, they often light up and something seems to click, like they'd never realized it before.

I'm diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. I do not take medication for it because at the time I refused to. Looking back I wonder if that was the right decision or not but who knows. I also tend to pick at my skin a lot (dermatillomania) and I'm sure you guys remember the whole fiasco with me pulling my eyebrows out when I was in GA... I still do that to some degree only it's progressed to me searching for and pulling random hairs as well as I pull hair from my head if I'm feeling anxious. I don't notice when I'm doing it and Josh has to stop me if he notices. I deal with this every day and it's embarrassing if I don't have makeup on my face to try and cover up the scabs, sores, and missing hair on my face.

My anxiety triggers are things like driving, rushing somewhere, stores/malls, large crowds, cities, worrying about confrontations etc. I also get panic attacks with smaller things. This morning I was walking Cricket and I couldn't get the poop bag open to pick up her poop. I started hyperventilating and sweating real bad. Something that small shouldn't be a big deal, but I have a tendency to create it into something bigger in my mind.

I also really really do not handle confrontation well at all. For example, the thread I started a while back ago about Bamm going through a downslide. That was a difficult thread for me to start and I got panicky and shut down a bit when people started giving me advice because it overwhelmed me and triggered my panic button. People meant well obviously, but being that I'm constantly struggling with my anxiety I got high on the defensive and almost left the forum because of it. I'm so glad I didn't.

I hate dealing with this all the time. It makes living a normal life hard at times because as much as I try to avoid my anxiety triggers, sometimes you can't avoid situations that make you go.AHHHHHHH!!!!!

I "play" with my hair when really stressed, when I was a teen it would get bad enough I would have bald patches, but now my hair is very thick and though I know I pull it out it's never noticeable...

I often am not even aware I am doing it, my husband will point it out to me and my Mom says she kept my hair short when I was a kid because the "habit" of playing with it drove her nuts...

I never really thought of it as connected to anything other than a bad habit, but it likely compares more to a nail chewer or that kind of thing?

I have had anxiety/panic attacks to the point that they (doctors) wanted to put me on medication for it for a while. I tried it and hated the feeling I got from the meds so I stopped them (not recommended to stop them on my own).

It's been a process to get 'better' and I still have times where I panic about things. Many times it's things that are years in the past and I obviously cannot control at all. I have a real tendency to blame myself for things regardless of if it is or is not my fault and then I panic when I do something 'wrong'.

It's something I work on. But as I get more active in my life and focused on being healthy both physically and socially, I notice the bad times are much less frequent. I function very well most the time in real life and I doubt anyone other than close friends/family know about it. My sister also has severe anxiety and panic attacks as did my mom. My sister is on medicine (I forget what now) for it and it helps her. I didn't feel like it helped me. But yeah, my sister and I are both diagnosed with anxiety 'disorders'.

Exactly what you said.

I also see a therapist and she's been very helpful just helping.

It is odd you said your panic attacks are worst right before bed. If I have a panic attack (it's rare these days) it is also almost always at night or right before I try to go to sleep. Is that something common?

We've discussed it in my therapy sessions, and my doc says it's one of the most common times, since it's often the quietest time of the day when you're alone with your thoughts.