This life is broken. My confidence shattered. The pain is searing and unrelenting. I am a stay at home dad of two young children. My wife is leaving us. Kids are to stay with me. Our apartment lease is ending. Only option is to get a job in 3 weeks or move to live with aging parents 5 hours away. Brutal. Sleepless. Hopeless. Heart and mind broken.
my (27F) partner (23NB) started seeing each other in February after meeting through my best friend, they work together and live in the same place. I visit frequently, before we were were together, to see my friend. Since we started seeing each other we have been able to so weekend visits every couple weeks, but im finding as things are getting more serious, i’m getting very anxious before our visits. They arrive today and I threw up last night just thinking … can i do this?
the last thing i want is to drag along this person that i’ve fallen in love with, but I’m worried the circumstances of the distance are taking too much of a toll on my mental health. Im finding myself looking ahead, if i commit one of us will eventually have to move, and i’m not ready to move or even think about moving and neither are they.
Has anyone experienced something like this before? The anxiety before visiting each other (more than nervous like panicking lol)? Context: i have severe anxiety already, i am in treatment and medicated well, stable. But im easily triggered by changes in my life. I just don’t know if I can do this. I have no doubt about our feelings for each other. So far literally everything has been beautiful and perfect, im amazed by them and am learning from them more and more what i want in a loving relationship. I just don’t know if I can make the distance work for me.
Any and all advice welcome PLEASE THEY GET HERE TODAY LOL
hey guys so I took mucinex rapid clear around 10 o’clock last night before I went to bed and this morning I decided to take mucinex cold and flu because it better fit my symptoms and now I’m getting anxious and scared that I might have done an overdose. (I have bad health anxiety)
Okay so I recently reconnected with someone I hurt a few months ago after completely shutting down emotionally and avoiding everything. At the time I genuinely convinced myself I didn’t even have feelings for her anymore, but after a lot of reflection (and therapy), I realized the feelings never actually disappeared. I just deactivated HARD once things started feeling emotionally real and vulnerable.
Now we’re talking again and honestly I want her so bad bro like I want closeness with her, I want affection, I want domesticity, I want all of it. And she knows how I feel too. We’ve had very honest conversations about it and she’s basically said she wants to take things slowly, find a nice path forward, and give me space/time to show consistency instead of rushing anything.
The issue is my nervous system reacts to closeness like it’s a life threatening event even though emotionally it’s what I want most. I’ll spend all day thinking about her, wanting to talk to her, wanting to see her, but then I’ll suddenly get overwhelmed and anxious and start overanalyzing everything. I wake up anxious sometimes, I get nauseous, I lose my appetite, and when I get REALLY overwhelmed I emotionally detach for a bit and my brain starts going “run” even though that’s not actually what I want.
And the confusing part is that the second I calm down or think about actually seeing her in person, hugging her, hearing her voice, etc., the feelings are immediately there again very strongly. Like immediate butterflies. So it’s not that I don’t care. If anything I care too much and my brain freaks out because of how vulnerable it makes me feel.
I’m in therapy now and actively trying not to repeat old patterns. I’m communicating instead of disappearing, trying not to react impulsively when anxious, and being honest that I need things to move slowly because I don’t trust myself to jump into something intense right away without getting overwhelmed again.
I guess I’m asking if anyone else with fearful avoidant tendencies has experienced this weird disconnect where emotionally you want closeness so badly but your nervous system keeps interpreting it as danger? And how do you actually regulate yourself enough to stay present instead of wanting to run the second things feel real?
so this might be kind of a long shot, but has anyone else every experienced this kind of anxiety before? i've been having the worst spells of anxiety in my entire life (especially health anxiety). i can barely get out of bed sometimes, i can barely sleep, i constantly have a lump in my throat feeling, i get so anxious my vision goes blurry, my limbs tingle, i feel like my life is ending. its so hard. i'm struggling. about 2 or 3 years ago i got diagnosed with the mthfr gene mutation, (i was going through basically this same thing, tho i barely remember. it was months until i was diagnosed, so the entire 5-6 months is basically a blur for me.) when i got diagnosed, i was also low on vitamin d (about 17 when i was supposed to be at a minimum of 30) and i cut out folic acid, got put on vraylar, and took vitamin d supplements. within what felt like days (maybe im wrong) i felt completely normal again, like a new person. unfortunately i was stupid, and like 5 months after eating like normal i started to eat bad again, and lost my meds due to insurance issues. i was completely fine for a long time, like 1-2 years. but recently i moved, and all of a sudden its hitting me again, hard. i stopped eating folic acid completely a month ago today. but i'm still feeling absolutely horrible. i just got bloodwork done, everything was perfect, im healthy. but cholesterol was a tad high, and my vitamin d was at 21, so lower than it should be. i just got put on a supplement, once a week for vitamin d. i started two days ago. i haven't gotten vraylar yet because it has to be approved by my new insurance, so it's taking a hot minute unfortunately. they gave me a different med for the meantime. it's helping i think, its only been a few days. but today was a bad day. it just scared me. i'm scared it won't fix this time, im doomed, and it's karma for me taking my health for granted and eating like shit again. i'm so scared all the time, i constantly feel like something's wrong with my body and i spiral and it's been a cycle. if anyone has EVER experienced anxiety like this, how long did it take to improve after cutting out folic acid? did you do anything else for it? am i expecting too much and i just need to let my body take its course? i'm sorry this is so long. i'm scared.
my passport renewal has been sitting on my desk for 9 days because every time i open the paperwork my brain suddenly decides doing laundry is more urgent.
Long story short, I've been suffering with pretty severe anxiety/agoraphobia for maybe 4 years, which massively worsened about 1.5 years ago. I can go maybe 2 or 3 streets away from my house on a good day. Every time I make any real progress through gradual exposure, I either have to wait in for a parcel or something, so I miss a day and then backslide, or I just wake up one day randomly back to square one without any warning.
I'm taking 150mg venlafaxine and 40mg propranolol daily, with occasionally an extra propranolol or two when needed though I've never really found taking it as and when does much for me. I've also just finished about 12 sessions of CBT over the phone and am now having to wait 3 months before I can reapply.
My doctors could not be less help. Honestly they cannot get me off the phone quick enough. They constantly withhold my medication without telling me why, only prescribe 7 or 14 days worth instead of 28 so I'm spending twice as much on prescriptions than I should be and I'm constantly extra anxious because of being scared I'll be left to go cold turkey because they keep fucking up. They also refuse to do home visits for me, for the mental health stuff or for other health issues. I'm like 90% sure I have an unrelated ear infection I've just been living with because they won't accept anyone who isn't elderly can be housebound.
What are your doctors doing to help you with anxiety/depression/agoraphobia symptoms? I keep asking mine what other options I have in terms of medications and they pretty much tell me there is nothing else for anxiety than propranolol but I'm sure that can't be the case. I've already moved doctors once because my last ones were useless too but at least they were just incompetent, these ones seem to just dislike me personally.
Have anyone had a client who was so talkative they wouldn't shut up. I went to this client house yesterday. And he talked so much and wouldn't shut up. I understand he was just wanting to get to know me. But as a introvert I'm not used to talking so much. Small talk Is fine but going on and on non stop for the whole shift was draining to me. And then when we finally got to watching TV. He paused it ten minutes later to ask me what was on my mind. And yes I was talking to him because I didn't want to be rude. But I don't talk a lot and I'm not used to going to clients house and the client is a talker. And those types of clients want to be constantly entertained in conversation without no break. When we picked his wife up from work she was a talker too like what. I can't handle this. I had a choice to stay the whole shift or leave since the wife was home and I choose to leave. Then the wife said if I ever wanted me time I could come to their house. I said to myself constantly entertaining y'all through nonstop conversation is not my idea of down time. So I won't be back over there. They need a client whose talkative like them. It wasn't for me. For the caregivers who are introvert or talkative caregivers how did y'all handle a nonstop talkative clients who expected you to talk non stop.
Every single day I feel like I have to climb Mount Everest. I had a bad episode of depression and anxiety that scared my parents to not me out of their sight. Now, when I have to go to work and be normal, I just feel it is very difficult to understand cues, politics in workspaces, and just people in general. I get extreme IBS around people and social scenarios. Shifted many workspaces and have to move again for opportunities. But, feel like a stunted person with no growth whatsoever. My anxiety does not let me live in peace. Everything is over exaggerated and loud. I feel it is easy for other people than me.
Hi ! I was first diagnosed with H.pylori in 2015 . I took two rounds of antibiotics to eradicate. Im suspecting that it returned in 2021 because of minor symptoms. I recently checked two months ago by stool test and tested positive. I’m taking quadruple therapy in the next two weeks. My questions are :
Did I take too long to treat the second time ? Is something sinister brewing wrong?
My main symptoms are burping ,bad breath , mild loss of appetite and constipation . I’m riddled with the thought of having something sinister;(
I’ve been on about 10+ combinations of meds for chronic ocd, anxiety, and depression. usually my treatment plan is changed and I’m put on a new medication if I get to a point of crisis + end up in the hospital/in some other kind of emergency psych consult, or if my ocd becomes so bad that I stop my meds compulsively and I have to restart from nothing.
I’ve noticed I’m just really depressed lately and struggling lots with ocd and I’m wondering if it’s best to catch it before it escalates to me either stopping my meds or needing emergency interventions. I’m currently on 20mg lexapro, 300mg Wellbutrin, seroquel for sleep, and Ativan as PRN.
I guess I’m having trouble identifying warning sides in the earlier stages of crisis. how do you know that you need to switch meds? what are the warning signs for you that what you’re taking is no longer working?
26M Been dealing with a lot the past couple of years, but I feel like I'm somewhat getting worse and somewhat getting better at the same time. It all started about 4 years back, had a good job, girlfriend, friendgroup, normal things. I was really stressed when my mom was down my back for my job and telling me to keep it, everyday was a new argument with her, my girlfriend ended up cheating, my job got increasingly more stressful on top of taking care of my dying grandfather on my off days.
Fast forward a bit; one night after about a 14 hour work day, I lay down and my chest started feeling really weird and I tried ignoring it because why not? I ended up standing up and BOOM, my heart just started to race faster and faster, I run to get my phone and a glass of water and call 911, it eventually calms down after a while and I told them not to send an ambulance, I thought it was over. Not really sure what it was exactly. So the next day rolls around and I go to work and go home only for it to happen to me twice again and again. I got to where I couldn't sleep and had to sit up because if I laid down it would cause it again. I end up not being able to go to work and called off and it kept happening.
I end up quitting my job and going to the doctors, get put on a EKG, do blood tests, the whole shabang. Nothing pops up that shouldn't be there. I go home feeling kinda safe but, really unsure. Then it seemed like even small little fast movements caused me to have these things where my heart would race. It got to where I couldn't eat because my heart would skyrocket. Called the ambulance numerous times, and went to the ER a bunch, and they found nothing.
Things started to chill out for a little bit but would still get bad "heart racing episodes" alongside some chest pain, went to the doctors and found nothing wrong with me and I started to think it was panic and anxiety. The only thing is that even the least amount of exercise or fast movement will make my chest feel tight and I end up feeling a bit faint. It's totally ruined my life. I just want to get better but nothing stops the thought and the fear. It's all I constantly think about. I just want to feel okay and normal and happy again and have some enjoyment doing anything. I don't even sleep good. I just live in constant fear that something bad will happen to me. Every little thing that I do or think about gives me anxiety and uncertainty. I can't really walk or stand all that much without feeling fain, sick, dizzy, etc..
Im 23 and one year out of college and i see no point in anything. I graduated with a shitty degree i figured out far too late i dont really care about. I have no idea what i want to do with my life and i dont have the resources to spend another few years and thousands of dollars for another bad degree ill end up not liking all over again. I had a minimum wage gas station job for a while and finally found what i thought would be something better but it turned out to be absolutely horrible and borderline unsafe so i quit after a month and now im back to being jobless and my hopes are at an all time low. The best i can hopr for is maybe making 15 an hour one day if im lucky which is still nothing.
My family is the only reason im not homeless but i think that will be enevitable in the future though once they pass away or, more likely, get tired of me and see me for the parasite i am. Im such a washout and every one of my friends and people i knew in high school are doing worlds better than me, I FAILED AT LIFE.
I know everyone says the dreaded s word isnt the answer but im barely holding it together now, idk how ill ever have a good life especially when the state of the world will only keep getting worse and worse each year. Things will keep getting more expensive, jobs will get even harder to find. Is it worth it to be alive when youre trapped in perpetual homelessness and constantly fighting to stay alive with no hope of things ever improving?
My partner will be on a family vacation for a week coming up (something I already feel immense amount of remorse not going on), and I’ll be left at home alone for a week. He’s my best friend, my source of comfort, my home - and we’ve never spent time apart like this before. The longest being overnight apart at most. I’m having a lot of trouble processing how I’m going to handle being alone - I tried to put a twist on it and say I’m going to get all this stuff done around the house for him to come back to, clean up the year, workout after work to pass the time, binge some shows, and by the time I know it it’ll be time to pick him up. But I’m still sad.
Hi everyone. First of all, I’m not looking for an online diagnosis and I know Reddit can’t replace a professional evaluation. I’m mostly looking to hear from people who may relate to what I experience.
For a long time I’ve struggled with a lot of anxiety, especially social and relationship-related anxiety. I tend to overanalyze everything: texts, tone of voice, changes in behavior, facial expressions, social dynamics, etc. I constantly question how other people perceive me and I often feel out of place or “different” from others.
At the same time, there are some things that make me wonder if it’s only anxiety. Multiple people throughout my life have told me that I seem like I could have “high-functioning autism” (I know that term isn’t really used clinically anymore, but that’s how they described it). Not as an insult, just as an observation about the way I act and process things.
Sometimes I feel like I experience social interactions in a very analytical and “thought-based” way instead of naturally, like I have to consciously think about things that seem automatic for other people. I’m also extremely emotionally sensitive, get overwhelmed easily, and often feel fundamentally different from others, even though I care deeply about relationships and other people’s emotions.
I don’t know whether this could all fall under generalized/social anxiety, being a very sensitive person, or whether it might be worth looking into ASD.
Has anyone here experienced something similar? How did you personally tell the difference between anxiety/social anxiety and possible autism?
Thank you in advance. 🤍
does anyone else have travel planning anxiety?
i'm planning a family trip for my parents and sister this summer, and i feel so anxious and nauseous researching tickets and hotels and transportation methods (my parents don't know english well and can't navigate the internet so they can't rly help)
it just feels like so much pressure and i'm thinking about all the what ifs and what can go wrong (what if i miss train? what if the bus never comes and leaves us stranded? what if the hotel doesn't actually receive our booking? what if the locals are rude? what if they don't enjoy the trip? what if everything's a waste of money?)
all these thoughts make me feel i should rather stay home
I have severe anxiety and agitation issues too. I can’t even go to the grocery store without having a meltdown. I usually take gummies (yk lol), 🍃but I’ve been eating a lot more. I’ve gained weight. My appetite returns normal when I stop taking them. But without them, I feel on edge.
I’ve also been on several medication and I don’t feel like medication is right for me at this time. Potentially in the future again, but I’m very sensitive to getting on and off.. so then I have more agitation and it’s just not pleasant.
But looking for something to help me calm during the day. I’m snapping at my partner a lot and it’s very discouraging.
Idk how to explain this properly tbh but I just cannot relax rn. My body feels weirdly restless and tense and my brain just won’t shut up for even 2 mins. Took my Clono thinking okay this’ll probably calm things down a bit but it doesn’t really feel like it’s helping and now I’m lowkey stressing about that too :/
The weirdest part is my breathing. Does anyone else suddenly become super aware of it? Like it starts feeling manual or something. Sounds dumb typing it out but it’s like now that I noticed it I can’t unnotice it. The more I think about it the weirder it feels and then my brain starts spiraling more.
It’s not even some huge dramatic panic attack thing, more like this uncomfortable anxious trapped feeling where I just can’t settle down or switch my brain off. Kinda scared, kinda frustrated and honestly just tired rn. Anyone else get this? What actually helps when anxiety gets like this?
The past year has been pretty difficult. I have developed something of a fear of choking. I never have been in a situation where I started choking or anything. One day I just noticed that I would regurgitate my food as I started swallowing it and then it progressed to the point where I will be chewing my food for an entire minute and think very hard about swallowing. I even have to position my tongue differently and essentially shoot the food down my through with enough saliva in order to swallow.
Does anyone know how to work on this type of anxiety?
Hello,
I am felling anxious tonight. I was doing so well!! I’m surprised by this level of anxiety. I cannot sleep, I keep waking up suddenly feeling like I’m gonna choke or puke. It’s awful. I’m chewing gum and trying to ground myself by using breathing techniques. I’m so tried, I can barely stay awake while typing.
To make things trickier I have stage three endometriosis. I’ve been so constipated, I haven’t gone properly in probably a month. So I feel so icky and sick from that.
It’s currently 1:15am here….i hope I can go to work tomorrow morning. Send me good vibes, plz 🙏🥰