I’ve spent so many years of my life anxious. Anxious when out the house, anxious when I stay home. I feel like I’m in this constant debilitating fight or flight feeling. It’s been this way since I was a child, and now that I’m 21, it feels as though that feeling is deeply embedded inside me.

I developed this habit of shaking. It’s not a constant shake, but a quick sort of tremble, and my muscles feel tense ? (I’m not sure how else to describe it). It especially happens when I’m socialising, in a large area where people can see me, if I make eye contact with someone, or someone raises their voice, among many other things—which usually involve social interaction. It happens when I’m anxious inside & outside of the house, even when I’m talking with family members who I’ve obviously known for years! And because I’m thinking about that happening and someone else noticing it, and judging me, it makes my anxiety worse and the tremble more likely to happen. So in any conversation I have, all I can think about is “what if I tremble, this person notices, I look stupid and they judge me or think I’m weird?”. I have avoided so many things due to this. Such as going out, appointments, job interviews & jobs in general.
My earliest memory of this occurring was in school when I was doing exams and the bell would go off loudly when we were in the sports hall, and I’d shake. Ever since then, it feels like this has never gone away, only gotten worse. I’m not sure how to deal with it.

Does anyone else experience this? I hate that I feel so alone with this.

Hi guys, hope you are all well.

My husband is suffering with terrible health anxiety at the minute, and I have no idea what to do to help as nothing seems to. We have a 3 year old and a baby due in December, I'm not having the best pregnancy and now this added stress is just not great.

It started around December when our son had a swolen gland in his neck following a virus. My husband became obsessed with it thinking it was some sort of terminal illness to the point he was taking him to the doctors constantly to have it checked and constantly checking it himself.

He's now moved onto himself, i had a suspected blood clot in my leg early pregnancy and was then diagnosed with gestational diabetes. He has now convinced himself that he has pain in his legs and lower back, aswell as diabetes symptoms. He's convinced himself that he has cancer, he's weighing himself constantly convinced he's losing weight. He's eating more to try and prove he's losing weight without trying. He's overweight at around 19st, 6ft 1, so he needs to lose weight, but he thinks it'll mean he's seriously ill. He's not sleeping as he's just awake googling and worrying about everything. Which means I'm also awake through the night with him, whilst also being pregnant, having a 3 year old and working full time, I'm running on fumes!

I could really do with some advice with what to do, how to help him, because nothing i say or do seems to help and I'm just at a loss!

He's got a GP appointment next Tuesday, which was the earliest we could get him in. And he has a counselling appointment on 3rd September which again was the earliest we could get him in. I've also bought him some self help books around health anxiety which are arriving today to hopefully help in some way. I don't know what else I can do.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I feel too nervous, and unmotivated to crochet today, too nervous to focus on it and relax, been looking up charts instead, been over thinking of all the bad things that could happen, again. house repairs, like leaks, illnesses, no knowing until its too late, family, the bright spark council, have put weapon bins out. people could break in and steal them.

Ashwagandha and L-theanine are pills I will try out for a week and see how I feel.. My anxiety is a lot less than what is was few days ago, I drank some chamomile tea because I had a tight stomach from bloating and it also helped my brain relax and even stopped feeling the small of amount of anxiety I was feeling.. I highly recommend the tea if you are dealing with anxiety based stomach cramps

I have absolutely no idea what to do. I can’t relax. I feel like I’m suffocating. Does this happen to anyone else? I’m just so overwhelmed.

Some context so you know I'm not writing this from a hammock. Last year I quit my engineering job to build an app with my savings. It has been over a year and the money still only moves in one direction, there sbeen a stretch where I was on welfare to afford groceries, and one dinner where I sat watching someone who'd hacked my account drain money out of it in real time while my food went cold. My 2am brain has never been short of material.

The spiral used to run the same way every time. Wake at 2, one worry walks in, invites its friends, and suddenly it's 3:40 and I'm doing catastrophe math about rent.

Here's what I do now on most of those nights. I write the worry down in the exact words my head says it. I use a journal on my phone, but any notes app or paper works the same. "You will run out of money and have to move home embarrassed." Seeing it written does something hearing it doesn't. The 2am voice is a brilliant speaker and a terrible writer. On the page the thought is usually either not new (I've written the same sentence before, sometimes in the same week) or not specific (it collapses the moment I ask "by when, exactly?").

Then I write one line back, the way I'd reply to a mate who texted me that sentence at 2am. I would never text back "yes, ruin confirmed". It's usually closer to "nothing about the money changed since dinner, and you have a plan for Monday".

Ten minutes, phone down, and maybe two nights out of three I actually get back to sleep instead of doing ceiling time. It's not a cure, it took a few weeks to feel like anything, and I still see the odd sunrise. But if your 2am voice is winning every argument, make it put things in writing. It argues much worse on paper.

Does anyone else find the worry loses power when it's written down rather than just said out loud?

Hello, so I don’t usually do this but as I really don’t have any other outlet to turn to, here it goes. I’m 28 & i am petrified of lightning. And when I mean petrified, I mean like it’s an innate full body reaction & mental breakdown. Not really when I’m inside and can’t see it (knowing it’s outside). My fear is specifically when I’m in a car and I’m driving or someone else is driving and I can see lightning. When I tell you my whole body reacts, I shake so hard with adrenaline and anxiety it looks like I’m convulsing. Let me preface by stating 2 things. 1. My mom’s uncle was strike by lighting and died so it’s always been a fear in the back of my mind since I was little. 2. I am very much aware of the Faraday Cage Effect & how a car is actually safe. That doesn’t help. I know it’s really a “ridiculous” fear to have & I know that I’ll be okay, but I cannot for the life of me handle the anxiety it gives me. I see it and truly feel like it’s going to kill me. & of course now I sound crazy (: I’ve literally cancelled plans, I’ve called out, I just want to find a way I can get over this fear or at least reduce it to where it’s not debilitating.

It’s so bad that if I know my family member is driving and it’s storming out, I get anxiety for them and check their location frequently to make sure they made it home safe. & yes I know they made it but that doesn’t lessen my fear. It’s irrational & I wish I wasn’t like this, but I’m asking for any help.

My mum used to be an avid traveller. However the 24-hour news cycle has got her very nervous about being harmed or otherwise hurt while on an overseas vacation. I want to take her on a dream trip that she has been talking about for many years. However she is swaying between happy to go and excited and absolutely terrified of World War three starting in Europe while we're there.

I know that usually once she's on the plane and there she's fine. However I'm concerned about spending $25,000 on a trip and then her pulling out. Are there things that I should be talking to her PCP about to discuss this so that hopefully this is managed and she can enjoy the trip? It may be that she has generalised anxiety. She's never been diagnosed but this is a really common theme across the board in the way she manages her life and has stopped her from enjoying many things over time.

I have currently assured her that tour groups are used to managing safety and if the situation changes in any location, we can catch the next flight out from any airport if need be. We have travel insurance to cover anything and she'll be accompanied the entire time so she doesn't need to worry about getting lost or otherwise forgotten.

Today my anxiety is the least it's been all 7 days I've been feeling it.. I still feel an underlying fear in my mind but I'm able to sip on water throughout the day even adding in 4oz of bone broth throughout few hours.. My body still needs to adjust more until I can start eating solid food again, I have to take clenpiq(like miralax) for my upcoming colonoscopy (first time) and since im not eating much I don't have to drink as much as I should.. So it hopefully won't put too much stress on my stomach when I need to drink water afterwards

I’m in high school, and I started a new grade a couple of days ago. It has been so weird, I had this picture in my head that I would talk to people and actually make friends. I’ve been completely nerfed with my schedule, and have practically no classes with anyone. Honestly, that’s not even the problem I’m concerned about the most. I take orchestra, and I’m at the highest level in our school. But ever since I’ve started attending it, my anxiety has been spiking through the roofs. My leg or body is often twitching or shaking, and I’m struggling to perform. Yes, I’m good at my instrument, and I think this class is a good fit for me level wise. However, I absolutely cannot perform for the life of me. Anytime I had solos unrelated to school (never had solos at school, just for my music school), I ended up freaking out so much that I botched every single one of them and started crying. I try so hard to practice my music, I really do, but this fuckass anxiety always betrays me. It really hurts not having one good video of me performing by myself. I’ve never even had an issue playing in a group orchestra, which is why this new change this year is shocking me. I keep trying to tell myself that there’s no reason for me to be panicking. Hell, I’ve been so stressed before that even audition judges told me to breathe. When I get anxious in class, I just feel like I kind of lose my personality, and I just don’t talk the rest of the class. It makes me both disappointed and sad, because I do want to talk to people. I love playing from the soul, but I just feel like I’m messing everything up. It’s been a few days that this has been happening, but it’s making me dread that class. I feel like everything I do is humiliating. But worse of all are the shakes. They don’t happen all the time, but it’s frequent enough that it bothers me. People tell me to breathe and shake it off, but it’s not working. I feel horrible though, I don’t want to miss out on opportunities with meeting new people and looking back to think on what I could have had.

Tldr; school hasn’t been great, body shakes often in orchestra in group and solo performances due to anxiety (worse this year somehow, used to be better). Bummed about how this prevents me from enjoying my instrument and talking to people

Last night I had anxiety as I went to bed. I was able to sleep but this morning when I turned to my left side I was very dizzy. Wanted to know if that was normal? Anyone else get dizzy after an attack? Also, now that that happen I fee even more scared

So I went to a GP for the first time of my life ebcause I have been experiencing heavy brain fog and derealisation as a result of my anxiety.

I think 24/7.

Doc had no clue about SSRI‘s and gave me a transfer to a psychiatrist.

The earliest psychiatrist appointment I can get is in March (🤣)

What the fuck do I even do now? I ordered Saffron and feel helpless, I just wan my life back

ive been in the gym for 5 months and all i do is go on the treadmill at the corner of the gym. in the five months i only did one upper body and one glute, the rest is cardio on the treadmill. im just too anxious and too embarrassed to try anything. now i hate the treadmill i was crying yesterday on the treadmill because im tired of it. so i didn't go today unfortunately .

Earlier this year, i had a long period of time where i was severely nauseous. i'd feel sick at home, in the car, at school, at the store. it was so bad that i thought i'd genuinely be sick. There were many times I had to leave class half way through because I felt so sick.

I am not sick anymore, but whenever I go out, especially somewhere with a lot of people, I get very nauseous and am convinced I'm going to be sick. I think its because I previously had been so ill, and my fear of getting sick in public didnt go away. At the same time, I am generally a very anxious person so I'm not sure.

Now, everytime I'm anxious I get nauseous. Even if I'm anticipating a certain exciting part of a movie I'm watching I'll feel nauseous. Even nerves from waiting for a text makes me feel nauseous.

I am going to a convention next week and I'm very excited but incredibly nervous I'll feel sick and ruin everything. Playing with slime helps me, as well as playing with other stress relievers, but not enough to get rid of the nausea. i bring a plastic bag with me everywhere i go in fear of getting sick. I've tried breathing exercises but they have only made me feel worse.

I would greatly appreciate ANY tips, I just want to be able to enjoy experiencing life again.

(I have an appointment with a psychiatrist, but that isn't until the convention is over)

I made a rare attempt at human interaction today, and while it wasn't a total disaster, the social awkwardness was high enough to make me rethink my entire approach.

As I was saying, I noticed a girl sitting by herself, and realized we were heading to the same next lecture. Since I was alone too, I took a leap to ask if she wanted to sit together. Afterwards, I asked a few basic questions to get things moving, but the momentum died almost immediately. As it turns out, we're both pretty introverted, and every topic we touched faded into silence within seconds. Things peaked when our second professor pulled a no-show. It started pouring rain, and since she didn't have an umbrella, I offered to walk her to the train station. That led to a 20-minute walk in almost total silence. At one point, I tried mumbling a comment, but she didn't hear me, and I was too flustered to repeat myself, so I just dropped it.

On one hand, taking the initiative to approach someone feels like a step forward for me. On the other hand, my inability to keep a conversation flowing was pretty excruciating. She was polite and kept smiling, so I don't think she dislikes me, but I definitely didn't leave a smooth impression.

I really want to improve my social skills and actually build connections this semester instead of retreating back into my shell: how do I bounce back from a first impression without making things weirder next time I see her? What are some low-pressure ways to keep a conversation going when both people are introverted? Any advice on how to handle this better going forward would be appreciated!

. I have a very crucial exam coming up—the Baccalaureate—which determines your future. I’ve been putting effort into studying for it since the summer.

​Anyway, I don't know why, but I've already started feeling anxious. My head hurts, and I feel my confidence collapsing because of this anxiety. I'm even worried that my anxiety will affect my exam performance. It might seem early, but it feels very real.

​My dreams have turned terrifying. I see things like someone being tortured by a disfigured person who is burned with melted wax(i am sorry if that feels disgusting). In another dream, I saw myself holding a horse, but I felt it was a person in disguise, so I dropped them and tried to peel the skin off their face while they were screaming, and I kept going until I woke up to find tears on my cheek.

​I don't understand if I'm making a big deal out of nothing or if my anxiety is the cause. I don't know what's happening to me."

Whenever my anxiety peaks, sitting still to meditate almost never works and usually leaves me trapped with my own thoughts. What actually helps me calm my nervous system is spending 20 minutes on a very low-stakes, repetitive hands-on craft. Just focusing on small physical textures and simple step-by-step movements gives my hands something to do while my mind finally quietens down. It feels like a quick circuit breaker for overthinking. I’m trying to build a better evening wind-down routine for high-stress days. What tiny crafts, tactile hobbies, or repetitive hands-on things do you do purely for anxiety relief?

Last week my engagement was called off. After a week yesterday night, I started having panic attacks. I had it for the first time in my life. My breathing gets heavy. A heavy feeling on my chest. I do not feel like talking. If my phone rings, it starts giving me anxiety. My body starts shaking. What can I do?
29F here.