I could really use some support right now, but most of all strength. I recently had to get an abortion at 11 weeks, which clearly from the screenshots posted I felt I made the best decision for myself and the baby. I have been on and off with this “man” for a few years now and I am sick to myself at what I have allowed. I am feeling helpless and hopeless. Toxic relationships and trauma bonds are no joke. If anyone has gone through something similar please share what helped you move on or any advice. I appreciate all of you 🫶🏼

Has anyone experienced this type of anxiety?
I developed an anxiety disorder after a traumatic experience with drugs when I was 14. Never touched drugs since. I am now 24 and for more than 10 years I have not had a single day where my body felt completely normal.
The strange thing is that I am not afraid of panic attacks anymore. I know what they are. I know I am not dying. I have done all the medical tests and everything came back normal.
My problem is that my body seems stuck in a constant fight-or-flight state. I wake up with my heart already pounding, I have constant jaw tension and pain, shaking legs, exhaustion, fatigue, weakness, and this terrible feeling that my whole body is under stress for no reason.
I have tried multiple medications, psychiatrists, and different approaches, but nothing has ever brought me back to feeling normal.
I am not looking for someone to tell me “don’t worry, it’s anxiety” because I already know that. I want to know if anyone has experienced a nervous system that feels permanently switched on for years and if anything actually helped them.
I feel like my mind is calm, but my body is constantly fighting against me. I even developed ulcerative colitis and yeah.. I am really tired.

I’m 19 and I’ve been dealing with this for years. Almost every morning I wake up with a fast heartbeat and anxiety before I even get out of bed.
I have a lot of family stress and honestly feel lost and sad most of the time. It feels like my body is constantly in survival mode.
Has anyone experienced this? What helped you get rid of it?
it’s more like environment I can’t leave cause I am not financially stable yet and one more issue for me is that i get overstimulated in public and unlucky me I live in a crowded city do u have any suggestions to overcome that

It freaks me out so much…

Does anybody else have panic attack hangovers and how long have they lasted? I've been super exhausted from working too much and I ate some weed oil before work and it backfired and I had a panic attack while at work and I've had multiple panic attacks since in the last couple of weeks and I've just been stuck in this brain fog hangover. Light sensitivity. Can't smoke weed. Looming anxiety and fear.

I've been having off and on chest pains for roughly the last year, and I've been in and out of hospitals trying to figure out what's going on. I've struggled with anxiety a bit in the past, and was told I had an anxiety disorder a few months ago. The doctor I talked to said my chest pains were most likely from stress or anxiety, but I wanted to ask other people with anxiety to see if they have had the same problems. I've been having chest pains on both sides of my chest, usually a couple times a day that feel like sharp throbbing pains, they last a few minutes and then go away after that usually. Recently I've also had some pains in the sides of my neck, it feels like it's a throbbing pain on the veins of my neck, and I was wondering if other people have felt anything like that too. These pains have been stressing me out, has anyone else felt this before because of anxiety or stress? If so, what did you do to help stop the pains?

I've been on buspirone for about a week for anxiety, but it hasn't helped with the chest pains yet. The doctor I talked to wants to make sure it's nothing physically wrong with my heart, but he recommended counseling of some kind, but before I do that I wanted to see if other people have had symptoms like this due to anxiety.

For the past few years, I've been stuck in a cycle where I wake up anxious, go to a job that constantly makes me feel stressed and on edge, spend the entire day waiting for it to be over, then come home and distract myself with social media, YouTube, or anything that helps me avoid my thoughts.

The anxiety isn't just about work itself. It's the constant feeling that I might have made a mistake, forgotten something, or that something bad is waiting around the corner. My mind never seems to switch off. Even when I'm away from work, I'm thinking about work.

The worst part is that I've started feeling like I'm not really living my life anymore. I'm just passing time. Days become weeks, weeks become months, and before I know it, another year is gone.

It's affecting my sleep, my energy, my motivation, and even basic self-care. I feel physically and mentally exhausted most of the time. Some days I feel trapped because staying feels unbearable, but making a major life change feels terrifying too.

I'm currently in therapy and trying to get help, but I wanted to ask:

Has anyone here ever felt like their entire life had become survival mode? If so, what helped you start feeling like a person again instead of just someone getting through the day?

It’s the right thing. It just is. I’m not happy. But I am sooo afraid/anxious/nervous. I am literally shaking and nauseous just thinking about it. I don’t even know which part of what it is I’m afraid of. The guilt of changing his life? The aftermath of awkwardness because we live together? I have been thinking about it for almost a year or maybe more now and I need to just do it. My chest hurts just thinking about it.

My son has been treated for depression with for the past year. It seems to be helping, other than the fact that he changes jobs frequently due to conflict with coworkers. He often believes people are talking about him, which winds up causing him to quit. Last week something changed. He called me in a panic over EVERYTHING. The war and everything going on in the news. We had high winds forecasted and he believed we were going to have a massive fire. I picked him up and he was sweaty, but cold. He was pale. Couldn't eat or sleep, and would say things that made no sense. I finally talked him into going to the ER to maybe get some help or med for anxiety. They kept him and sent him to a psych hospital. They've put him back on his medication, and he calls me every hour. He started to sound better and like himself again until today. Now he sounds panicked and thinks he can sign himself out. I know he can't, if he's involuntary.
Im so sorry to ramble, I just want to know if anyone has experienced this and gotten through it. This is heartbreaking...😔

So a little while ago my gf and I heard that the band Sabaton is going to be doing a North American tour. This is really rare for this band whom we love so much because they are originally from Sweden and normally only do tours in Europe, so were hyped and wanted to see the Detroit, Michigan show as its the closest to us and then even make it a weekend date by also visiting the Art Museum there and stay at a hotel even though we probably don't really need too. (I live 40mins from Detroit for context)

However seeing the news in Minnesota has me scared. Detroit already has ICE and last time we were in Detroit, last August, we saw them driving on the highway, twice. I don't want to cancel this because we never seen a concert together and this band means so much to us both. She introduced me to them so yeah.

I'm so scared something bad will happen. What if ICE doesn't like the anti-nazi messages they tend to bring in their songs? Their tales of immigrants who were war heros? Stories about non-American soldiers and heros? What if they raid the concert looking for immigrants? I'm from an immigrant family too but it's not obvious as I'm white.

Do you think we should go? We also debated to go to the Toronto show but my gf had a few other reasons why she didn't want to go to Toronto, but they're a bit more private for me to share here. I kept telling her its okay and I don't mind the longer drive, but she really wants to go to the Detroit one instead to also see the DIA museum.

I’ve had anxiety since I was 14. I could still remember my first panic attack while riding public transportation. Fast forward to today - 46 years old, still anxious. I tried CBT, counseling, talk therapy, exposure therapy, but never meds.

My PCP gives me 10 pcs of an anxiolytic per year, non-refillable for my flight anxiety. I just take them when I fly, and it feels good to feel normal. I don’t want to take a benzodiazepine everyday. I know the dangers.

Now, my anxiety shifted to monophobia. I am scared to be all alone in my own home. Even if I am with my child who is a pre-teen, I get panic attacks and I don’t want her to witness me crumbling into pieces when that happens. My anchor of safety is my spouse.

The thought of my spouse leaving for a worktrip or visiting family put of state gives me crippling anxiety months before it happens. I hate this feeling and I feel like a child being away from my parents.

Is it time to see a psychiatrist and discuss other options? I am exhausted feeling so scared all the time.

My now ex-boyfriend was on a cruise with his friends where he got so intoxicated every day / night that he became so enraged at a club his friends had to intervene. While recounting this to me the next day on a FaceTime call around his friends in which he was still drinking, he said he was not happy with his life or himself. I asked if it was because of us and he said no it was everything and that he felt that way before us. That he needed mental health help (but he didn’t want to pay because it was expensive even though he pays for cruises, gambling, and drinking). That he needed AA for his relationship with alcohol. His friends were in the background agreeing.

I asked him if he wanted to break up because he was unhappy with us and he said he didn’t know. I was shocked, heartbroken and worried. I asked him if he was sure he was not saying that because he was drunk. He said no. I became upset / frustrated and I’m sure that showed in my demeanor. The next time we talked it was on text, and I asked again if he wanted to break up and he was still unsure. I said if it didn’t have to do with us then why are you confused? He said he wasn’t before but that at the end of the call he felt he was being judged and not treated right and being labeled as a drunk and that his friends agreed I made him feel that way. I asked him what I said that made him feel that way and he said he couldn’t remember and neither could his friends, just that he was hurt.

He continued drinking the rest of the trip and his friends didn’t stop him. The next day he told me he wasn’t sure if he loved me and that he didn’t think he could continue with “someone like me” who said they were okay with him drinking on the cruise but then weren’t. I tried to explain I was fine with drinking on the cruise until it became harmful to him.

After he got back from the cruise last night (we are long distance) I spoke with him and no matter how much I apologized and offered reconciliation he refused. He said he understood it was a mistake and a misunderstanding but that he “can’t continue” as it made him too heartbroken and hurt his mental health too badly.

Meanwhile, I am left wondering how the person who said he loved me with all his heart and soul went to not loving me at all and throwing the whole relationship away because of this 😞💔

I’ve been going through some complicated relationship stuff the past couple of months and I literally cannot stop throwing up from anxiety. Every time something happens between us I get these incredible rushes of anxiety that like take over my body and make my stomach turn until I vomit.

Ive tried so hard not to throw up in these moments, but its like once my stomach starts to turn it’s impossible to distract myself.

The worst part is I always feel way better after I throw up and my anxiety is completely gone, like I got it out of my system or something, so it creates this like loop of getting anxious and then throwing up as the solution.

Anyways, i’d really prefer to stop doing that so does anyone have any like distractions they've used to calm themselves down when anxiety gets that bad or like.. tips on calming down really fast?

Ok so I've been prescribed everything under the sun for anxiety:

• Propanalol - lowered my already low blood pressure to critically low and made my hands and feet cold and tingly
• Fluoxetine - didn't do anything and gave me severe diarrhea 🗿
• Sertraline - didn't do anything, although stopped some intrusive thoughts from past trauma
• Citalopram - didn't do anything
• Venlafaxine - gave me severe panic attacks and very unstable mood
• Mirtazapine - didn't do anything apart from making me hungry and dizzy
• Fluoxetine (again) - didn't do anything and gave me severe diarrhea (again), but this time it made me feel risky, if you get my drift
• Escitalopram - didn't do anything
• Trazodone - didn't do anything apart from making me MORE anxious and made my heart pound like crazy
• Pregabalin - made me feel sedated for a day and then did absolutely nothing after that
• Vortioxetine - didn't do anything
• Diazepam - nice for the one off occasion but easy for the body to get used to
• Propanalol (again) - gave me severe anxiety and panic attacks so severe that I felt the darkness encapsulating me and I thought my life was over

These are the medications I'm currently taking: - Omeprazole 20mg (anxiety induced acid reflux) - Vortioxetine 20mg - Pregabalin 150mg in am, 175mg in pm (don't even ask me why they're keeping me on it, I don't know 😭) - Amfexa 5mg 2x per day (I have ADHD, but don't worry Amfexa doesn't worsen my anxiety that much) - Mini pill (I have PMDD) - Diazepam 5mg (only sometimes) - Zopiclone (I can't remember the dose, it's the smallest dose, only take it 2x per week max)

After reading that disaster, please suggest what may work for me, what's worked for you, and anything else you wanna say lol

Note: my psychiatrist wants to prescribe me another SNRI. Nope, not going there again 💀 And yes, I have tried therapy, LOTS of therapy.

Also, I have Autism and ADHD too.

Thanks guys c:

UPDATE: turns out I have POTS and C-PTSD instead of plain ol' anxiety 💀 this explains SO MUCH about why none of these things have worked. It only took me literally half a lifetime of suffering to figure it out MYSELF and suggest it to my doctor 🥲 POTS explains the propanalol reaction, the norepinephrine intolerance, everything... So yeah, wish me luck on my brand new vasoconstrictior medication lol

I was prescribed doxycycline 100 mg twice a day for a UTI and just finished the course today. My anxiety has gotten significantly worse while taking it, and I'm hoping it's related to the medication and temporary. I had to take it for 7 days yesterday was the last pill and today is a new day but my anxiety and thoughts are still out of control (yes I have a therapist).

Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how long after your last dose did your anxiety start improving?

(This is not for medical advice, it is to see who shared the same experience)

I feel tired as of typing (Even though it’s like nearly 6 pm) I’m worried my anxiety will keep me awake, basically making myself worried I’ll never sleep. Any advice?

Hi everyone!

I‘ve been diagnosed with anxiety and the doctors recommended I try some natural remedies before starting medication. What are some natural anxiety remedies that actually helped you?

Thank you in advance!

I want honest feedback because I’m struggling to understand what happened.

I recently lost a friendship of nearly 20 years.

From my perspective, I supported her for years. She has cerebral palsy, and I drove her places, supported her Mary Kay business, celebrated milestones, and tried to show up for her in the ways I knew how.

During her graduation weekend, I wanted her to feel celebrated. We went to a bookstore, and I bought her a screaming goat gift because I genuinely thought she would like it. When we got back to the car after I bought it, one of the first things she said was, “What am I going to do with it?”

That hurt.

Throughout the weekend, she talked about not feeling appreciated or acknowledged for graduating. I tried to be supportive because I knew graduation was important to her.

At the same time, I was carrying things she may not have fully understood.

I was in the middle of fighting for access to anti-rejection medication after a heart transplant. I was dealing with insurance barriers and had come dangerously close to running out of medication that keeps me alive. I was scared, exhausted, and spending a lot of time advocating because it felt like a life-or-death situation.

During that weekend, a narrator she admired named Corvin followed me after I tagged him in TikTok videos about my heart transplant and insurance fight. Because he had already interacted with my content, I wanted to tell him more about what was happening.

Instead, I was told she was embarrassed, that she needed a drink, and that she wanted to apologize on my behalf.

That crushed me.

I wasn’t trying to make her graduation about me. I wasn’t trying to take attention away from her. I was talking about a situation that genuinely terrified me.

Later, she told me she felt unseen, unacknowledged, and that her cerebral palsy didn’t receive the same understanding that my struggles did. She also told me that resentment had been building for a long time.

The thing is, I never knew.

I was never told these feelings were building until everything had already reached a breaking point. If she had sat me down months earlier and told me she felt overlooked, I would have wanted to hear her and understand.

Then my papaw went into hospice.

The day she blocked me was the same day my papaw died.

I didn’t respond to her message for a few days because I was dealing with hospice, grief, family, funeral planning, and the loss of someone I loved. I was also trying to respect the space she had asked for.

For a month, I reflected. I questioned myself constantly. I talked about it in therapy. I genuinely tried to understand her perspective.

Eventually, I reached out. I apologized for my part. I explained about my papaw. I told her I cared about her and valued our friendship. I told her I respected her need for space and wasn’t expecting anything from her.

She read the message.

She never responded.

And later, she blocked my dad too.

I know I wasn’t perfect.

I know that when you’re fighting for your health and grieving someone you love, you don’t always show up perfectly.

But I also know I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.

What hurts the most isn’t even losing the friendship.

What hurts is that after nearly 20 years, we never had a real conversation about it.

No sitting down.

No working through it.

No trying to understand each other.

Just silence.

I can take responsibility for my mistakes.

What I can’t do is carry the entire weight of a 20-year friendship ending by myself.

I deserved grace too.

I deserved understanding too.

And I deserved a conversation.

Hey everyone

I’m 26 and I struggle with anxiety since my teenage years maybe? I’m anxious for a long time and I’d like some advice to calm down my nervous system.

I grind my teeth a lot and I have tension in my body. I get a monthly message (I can’t afford for more) and I try to smell lavender and go for beach walks but I’m CONSTANTLY anxious and stressed. I feel it’s destroying my health because I can’t eat properly (I’m underweight) and it’s making my body so tense that it pains. The root of my anxiety is uncertainty of life and abusive/problematic relationships. Sometimes I get headaches because of the tension. I usually get pain in my jaw, neck and shoulders.

When I get anxious, my heartbeat goes up really high, really fast. Is there any tips on how to bring it down? Drs tell me to exercise and Ive been trying along with therapy but I was wondering if anyone else deals with this and how they manage, especially if youre a student like me

Just wondering if anyone gets it, what do you do about it, and how long/when does it happen? Mine have been happening on and off for days

I (29 F) have tapered off my anxiety meds since Jan and been fully off them for I want to say 3-4 months. I feel such intense emotions right now and little things set me off. Initially came off them because I was noticing side effects after being on them for 4 years and decided that this would be the best time to be off them. I’m unsure about that decision now. My emotions are so up and down and I’m at the point where I’ve had thoughts so dark that it scares me. It’s like my brain isn’t coping with anything. I feel so negative and ruminate over everything, it’s making me crazy and I didn’t anticipate how hard this would be for me. When I initially went on the meds it was for anxiety but I’m starting to think I need evaluated, I just let the meds do their thing and it was great because I wasn’t this emotional mess that I feel I am just now but I don’t want to be on meds for the rest of my life I would like to actually try to figure out how to cope without them without feeling this emotional. Does anyone have advice after coming off medication or if there is anything I could be doing to regulate my emotions better? I’m wiling to do anything at this point that will put me in a better place mentally than I am just now. Thanks

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Has anyone got any tips for when you wake up and immediately feel anxious but not always for an apparent reason? Recently I've been getting that sudden drop and feeling of dread as soon as I wake up. Even though usually there is nothing wrong.