Recovered Chronic Anxiety Sufferer
Posted , 71 users are following.
Hi everyone.
I'm new to this, but wanted to share my story/experience/knowledge with you all and help in any way I can.
I know from my experience with anxiety that success stories are somewhat hard to come by. The reason for this, I believe is twofold. Firstly, once people 'recover' from this ilness, they carry on with their lives as normal, often without much of a thought as to how they were before. Also, I believe that for people who have a sucess story to tell, the thought of going on forums such as this to share their experience can be quite a daunting one. Oftentimes, people want to leave that chapter of their life behind, and not be reminded of it. I know this because I have been guilty of both of these reasons. This is worth bareing in mind; my point being that a lack of success stories isn't because they are rare, but because of the reasons detailed above.
It's hard to say specifically when I 'recovered' from experiencing chronic anxiety. If I were to give a rough idea, I would say that I have been 'anxiety free' for around 2 years. Previous to that, I had experienced chronic, debilitating anxiety for roughly a 2 year period. I, like everyone else, considered myself the worst case - beyond help. I experienced all manner of symptoms; you name it, I experienced it. I was diagnosed with Panic Disorder and GAD. I saw a therapist, attended group sessions with other sufferers, but to no avail. I frequented forums such as this one and read post after post, all the while feeling more anxious and more dispondent (probably due the lack of success stories.)
I will mention now that I am in no position to advise on medication issues. As bad as I thought I was, I refused to go down the route of medication. This is not to say that medication is a bad approach, but it was one that I chose not to take, and thus feel insufficiently experienced to advise on this specific topic.
I will keep this first post brief. I would like to think I have been where you have been, and came out the other side. Recovery is not a linear path whatsoever, one of the reasons why I cannot name a specific point on my journey where I was rid of anxiety and its symptoms.
My 'recovery' was down to multiple factors. Predominantly, educating myself tirelessly on every nuance of this illness. I have a degree in Microbiology and Biochemistry, so understanding how things worked at a biological level really helped me. I combined this knowledge with a new (read: fairly basic) understanding of Psychology, plus several self-rationalized 'a-ha!' moments to gradually alter my mindset over time.
I am not a special case. There is not a rare combination of factors that meant I could achieve recovery and you cannot. I am here to attempt to answer questions you may have (not medication related, apologies) and hopefully help you along your own journey. I work a 9-5 job, and have several hobbies, so I will attempt to respond to anyone between these times, but I may not be able to answer all questions.
If you do not want to ask a question, then please take this post as a tiny bit of inspiration to push you along your journey to recovery. You CAN and WILL be rid of your anxiety disorder, that I can promise you.
To your success,
Matt
19 likes, 112 replies
ganesh04921 anxiousless
Posted
I am suffering from an social anxiety disorder it all started 8-9 months ago when I was suffering from a cervical problem for the first few weeks I was also suffering from depression, I use to avoid going out and sit at home and jus think about what's wrong at that time I dint knew it was a social anxiety problem at that time it was less and keeping this problem and hidding it made it more worse but still I kept faith and moved ahead that the other day would be good it would be great.I can not contact an eye while talking I get nervous with cousins whom I was so much closed to now i can't communicate with them properly I miss the old me. When I talk to them they get conscious I first thought it was them who are not able to communicate with me but later on I found out it was me as this happed with most of people i communicate with I have still kept this within me and have talked about this with anyone else I have lost my emotions thinking what people would be thinking? about me they don't know the problem with me they think I'm avoiding them but the problem is different at the other side which they are unaware of.
Ps. I haven't wrote so much before. I hope it ll be fine one day.please do reply thanks
julio42427 anxiousless
Posted
cassielee43 julio42427
Posted
Hi julio42427,
I know your post was a week ago, but how are you feeling now? Has it gotten better? Did you start taking meds? How do you cope?
If you need someone to talk to, I'm listening.
Cassie
julio42427 cassielee43
Posted
cassielee43 julio42427
Posted
Hey @julio42427,
It's nice to hear from you again.
I'm sorry to hear that you haven't been doing too well lately. How have you dealing with your anxiety/panic lately? Personally, as far as meds go, I was also unsure of whether I should take something like Lexapro. I have made the decision to not go on meds just to see how I can function and cope with my anxiety by myself. And so far I've been doing a lot better in the last couple of months. I really feel like time is key, at least for me. I do still have bad days though and when they it, it can be very draining, even unbearable. Sometimes I have depressed states, too. But I'm trying to keep my head up.
Hope to hear from you. I'm keeping you in my thoughts.
selene92254 cassielee43
Posted
Hello Casie are you still feeling better? I battled anxity before and it was crippling. I took medication for a year and it helped but gave me a lot of side effects. I finally got off it 6 weeks ago and was doing fine until recently I had a health scare and my uncle passed away due to cancer and that triggered extreme health anxiety. It is so hard to stop thinking about the same thing all day. I get nervousness every morning when I wake up and I need to go to work. I wish I could just stay home and sleep all day. It's so hard to function.
cassielee43 selene92254
Posted
Hi there,
I'm apologize I'm only just now getting back to you. I've been busy in school and it's kept me occupied.
I'm sorry to hear that your uncle has passed. I can understand that coping with loss is a HUGE stressor and can really aggravate anxiety. I, too, feel like I'll be doing a lot better and then something always seems to knock me back down. I try not to let myself think it has stunted my progress in my journey to recovery.
I've been doing much better than I had when it first started. It's been several months at this point. I didn't take meds, but found ways to cope and deal with my anxiety. I no longer wake up from anxiety or panic attacks. However, I can now recognize aggravating factors that can trigger my panic attacks like lack of sleep and ingesting caffeine (which are things that never would trigger an episode before I had anxiety problems). I'll be honest: there are some days where it seems to "come out of no where", which happened yesterday morning, actually. It really is hard to function when it hits. I used to think it was impossible. I used to get panic attacks everyday, but now I find myself not having them for at least 2 weeks at a time. During bad times, I'll still get them a few times week. I'm definitely still learning how to keep moving forward.
You mentioned that you "think the same thing all day." May I ask what you think about? How do you feel now? How do you cope?
Hope to hear from you soon.
rachael76296 anxiousless
Posted
Hey, my name is Rachael. And I have recently been suffering from severe panic/anxiety attacks. I was once a 4.0 student in college. I was studying communications with the hope of going to law school once my bachelors degree was obtained. It has all come to an end when I suffered from a severe panic attack on the way home from class one day. It became so bad that I hyperventilated out of control and passed out. I was able to call 911 before I passed out. Ever since that happened, I have suffered horribly to just even get through a day. I've been to several doctors who have done nothing but prescribe medication and tell me stuff that I already know. I'm afraid to even be left alone at times. I constantly am either having trouble breathing, sweating, or just feel like I'm slowly dying. I know it's all in my mind now. But, at the time I thought something was terribly wrong with me physically. After a ton of tests and everything that proved I was fine, I now just begin to think that I'm crazy or mentally ill. Reading y'all's stories have given me a sense of hope that I'm going to somehow make it.
annie1119 rachael76296
Posted
I learnt today how to do diaphram breathing. It has to be practised and practised until it becomes natural You breathe the air slowly into the stomach, hold it and very slowly breathe it out. Google it. It affects the parasympathetic nervous system which is attached to the heart and calms you down. It is quite miraculous.
You will get through.
ellebi rachael76296
Posted
Also try phychotherapy, cbt if you want to go down a non medication route
william55047 anxiousless
Posted
Hello everyone just a quick question if there is anyone who has fully recovered can answer this. My sever acute anxiety started 6 months ago and I have very slowly gotten better I feel as though I'm about 85-90 % better but I feel as if my progress has completely stopped and I'm stuck... I'm so much better then I was but I'm in a habit of constantly checking myself to see if it's completely gone and I still have mild symptoms like Tinnitus and tingling that remind me it's still there... ugh I feel so close but I can't break it completely /:
christophe65952 william55047
Posted
I would say keep going keep working and progressing anxiety feeds off over focusing you will get better but with everything it takes time that's what I'm learning
cassielee43 christophe65952
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Couldn't have said it better myslef!
christophe65952 anxiousless
Posted
cassielee43 christophe65952
Posted
Hey @2christophe65952,
I've definitely had trouble trusting reality, to the point where I thought people who I talked to closely about my anxiety were apparitions/non existent (as if I was talking to myself the whole time). I was always afraid I had was going drive myself into schizophrenia thinking about how insane I was making myself. Of course I know noe that that isn't really plausible, seeing that I don't hallucinate. I learned how to trust reality again. I started off by accepting that what I was experiencing is the same life I've always been living, but just perceiving it in a different way with my anxiety.
I hope you're doing better. Keeping you in my thoughts.
Cassie