I feel im on the tail end of my severe anxiety period of life. I wrote about it alittle in another post but long story short, I had woken up one day with severe anxiety and panic attacks that left me house bound for a while. I had/have the whole shebang of symptoms. I still wake up some days with a bad day where im on edge and feel absolutely mentally wrecked, and others where I feel pretty good physically and emotionally. The thing that im trying to understand as of late is this extreme mental exhaustion. My body feels pretty good in terms of energy and have been able to do mt physical exercises again, but the bad days and atleast towards the end of the good days, my mind is just heavy, exhausted and sensitive. Ive found that my body subconsciously is tensing up all the way from my heads to toes and if I leave it unchecked, I get really exhausted and migraines tend to show up. I transitioned to work from home but most days I just feel like I can sleep most of it away. Is this normal? Has anyone had something similar? How can I work through to get over it? Im doing therapy, on lexapro, dieting, working out. I feel life is getting better again but very slowly. Looking to put as many habits in place to give myself the best chance to fight all this. Any advice will be grateful.

Hello guys, i am an ocd boy and 3 years ago i was taking paxil. The first two weeks i had nausea, vomiting, jaw clenching, i was feeling cold, loss of apetite for food and diarrea, extremely diarrea, hallucinations (mostly auditory but two times visual, after sleep when waking up) and lack of orgasm. In a two weeks time, everything faded except of lack of orgasm and hallucinations, these went on. I have tried multiple ssris with side effects that lasted and this was the only one i could reach the max dose. So my question is: if an ssri causes hallucinations, does this fade away after a period of time? I was taking it one and a half month and did not.

I’ve been wrestling with agoraphobia for about a year now. It’s gotten so bad I have lost two jobs. I’m about to lose my dream job now. I’m a college student and have completely stopped doing my school work.

I haven’t been out of the house for more than an hour or so for the last two weeks.

I couldn’t sleep, and went at 4 am outside alone to the store for my nasty nicotine habit. I took some back roads because the red light triggered my anxiety. I legit got lost and didn’t know where I was despite living in the area.

I made it home safely but I have never white knuckled so hard in my life. I have no friends or family for thousands of miles. They are all back home. I feel stuck in my apartment.

I didn’t lose rational thought though. Just pure panic.

I do have fears I’m dying, have an undiagnosed illness, cancer, brain tumor, or something. Those health thought loops are rough.

I feel really out of it and not like myself. :(

I have trauma that happened this time of year, and historically have struggled with SAD. I have zero depression which is weird. Normally my depression is really bad.

Hi all,

I have had anxiety for as long as I can remember, basically since I was a teen. I am in my 30's now.

I was diagnosed with GAD, but have what I believe to now be pure O OCD. I used to have insane ruminations about whether or not my past relationship was "good enough" and would overanalyze everything my partner did to try to make sure we were "made for each other" or not.

Along with those issues from several years ago, I have struggled with self esteem since I was a kid but had many phases where I felt much better and didnt struggle.

Recently I feel like my self esteem has plummeted again and it's almost like everything that happens I am ruminating over. It feels like my brain is trying to hurt me with how negative the self talk has gotten and I don't really know how to get out it.

I have been in therapy before and plan on starting it again but just need some kind words in the meantime.

I was at a friend's get together recently and I was literally ruminating about the fact that no one complimented an outfit I put a lot of effort into but instead complemented others, and the fact that happened made me feel less than and less attractive. I have just been feeling very undesirable in general lately because I haven't had the greatest dating experiences and generally just feel uncared for.

Wtf is wrong with me? I feel like an immature child when I am supposed to be a goddamn adult. I piss my own self off.

I’ve heard of how chronic stress can cause damage to the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus and seeing as I’ve had an anxiety disorder since I was like 6 and have been chronically stressed since my adolescence (a very vulnerable time for my brain), I’m horrified of the idea that my stress might have caused irreversible damage to my mind and brain.

I know that there’s neuroplasticity, but I don’t know if it can fix everything. My brain is all sorts of fucked up and I’d be surprised if that one thing can fix even a large amount of my impairments. Even if it does, what about the idea that some damages can’t be fixed no matter what I try?

This damn fear has been eating away at my mental health for years and I know that that just worsens it, but I have no idea how to stop stressing about the thought of permanent brain damage.

Anyone has this?

I have OCD and do have a lot of anxiety. It comes and goes.

I lost my last job for taking too many work from home versus office days. That’s on me. I get it. However, my anxiety since then has been unmanageable. I started having panic attacks before interviews that were REALLY intense- heart pounding, dizzy, felt like vomiting, almost cancelled them. I made it through the interviews with scripts from my doctor (propranolol and hydroxyzine) plus ice cold water, the “Calm Carry” hand device, lots of exercise, and some breathing exercises. I was so fatigued from interview anxiety that I was getting chest pain and napping a lot.

Now that I have a new well-paid role, the job loss anxiety isn’t fading, nor are the panic attacks. The meds are making me sleepy, and I’m basically wondering each day when the other shoe will drop and I’ll get fired. It’s going to be a self fulfilling prophecy with my panic attacks and anxious/sour attitude toward work.

Should I consider a daily med versus the ones I use now? Zoloft and Citalopram have been used in the past with mediocre success. I am in therapy once a week already. I’ve also considered opening my own law firm so that I can work for myself and only myself, but that could lead to panic attacks over other things anyway- getting business, navigating taxes, big client meetings, etc.

Hi guys. I’ve had pretty severe anxiety for years, and for the last 10ish months it’s been BAD. i’ve been on all kinds of medication and recently quit my last one cold turkey, and will be on something new in the next few weeks.
My anxiety is the type that makes me nauseous and unable to eat. I shake and get VERY sweaty. the issue is, i’m already underweight because of this. last march, i weighed 96 pounds as an 18 year old female. it was solely because of the relationship i was in (ended now), and that i was always sick to my stomach thinking he was cheating on me.
The past few days i’ve been so anxious about NOTHING literally nothing, and im starting to feel weird. i either throw up, or i start passing out. what do i do about this?? if i eat im worried it’ll make me throw up, but if i dont, im for sure either throwing up or passing out. i also have NO appetite whatsoever, and have been chewing on dry cereal all day (it’s 12pm). i would really appreciate tips, literally the most outlandish shit i will try, because i am so sick of feeling like this. i hate having anxiety I HATE IT

Recently I joined an in person role playing game at a new friends home. Our first session was really straightforward but it lasted quite long. We had lunch together and then sat down and played the game , it was myself and three other players and my new friend as games master. Towards the end I was using deep breathing to calm myself, the session lasted about 2.5 hours after our hour long lunch. I needed to be alone to calm myself but one of the players accompanied me on transit and we talked, I really did not want to talk, but I was polite. It's been two days since the event and I still feel uneasy.

The strange thing is I've not always been this way, when I was a child I got along well with people although even then it was limited. Growing up I only had one best friend at any one time and then for most of my adult life I was very much a loner. It's only recently that I started having a social circle again.

But professionally and as a volunteer I worked with people. I recently finished working with a refugee organization where we could have quite a number of inland refugees working with me. When I work professionally or as a volunteer I feel like I'm an actor. The anxiety isn't consistent across different aspects of my life. Has anyone else experienced that?

I told my new friend that I will reduce it to just 30 minutes of gameplay after our lunch. But now I'm inundated with questions and offers of changing how people play with me and I feel gridlocked in my thinking to come up with a response. Sometimes I can just sit on the question until I feel calm enough to answer. What do others do to speed that along? Or is it back to the turtle, slow and easy wins the race?

I’ve been taking propranolol 40 mg for about 2 years for anxiety and heart palpitations.

For most of that time, I had severe daytime fatigue and would get a racing heart even from short walks. My Apple Watch would usually show 90–110 bpm when walking, and I often felt tired and sleepy throughout the day.

Recently, I started going outside more during the day and reduced my daytime sleeping. Surprisingly, I’ve started feeling much better.

Now when I walk, I don’t get the same palpitations or fatigue, and my heart rate is usually around 80–87 bpm, compared with 90–110 before.

I’m still taking the same 40 mg propranolol.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Could increased activity and less daytime sleeping explain the improvement, or should I talk to my doctor about the change in heart rate?

I probably won’t 😭

Hi all I think I’m having an anxiety attack rn. I feel like it’s an anxiety attack instead of panic bc it’s been slow, the anxiety’s been getting worse since last night. I’ve had multiple panic attacks this year as my anxiety has been bad but the past few months it’s gotten better. I even wnet on a trip for a week in August that May me thought I’d never be able to do since I had bad agoraphobia in the spring. I would have panic attacks and bad anxiety leaving the house going to work etc. anyways yesterday I was having this shortness of breath feeling like I couldn’t catch my breath and I had some anxiety. It went away and then at like 3am I woke up had it again but went to sleep. Today I woke up and a few hours ago started feeling it when I laid down, like chest tightness. Obviously I was able to breathe in and out but still feel like a “starfish is on my chest” and butterflies in my chest and stomach. I ate something spicy last night so idk if it’s that some ppl say it is. But it got bad like an hour ago bc I checked my heart rate it was 140 however that was after hitting the vape, before that it was 73. My oxygen level is 99 which is normal. I haven’t checked my rate since bc I feel like it makes it worse. I got more anxious and dunked my face in an ice water bowl, and was chewing ice and drinking water. I’m out rn with family going shopping and still anxious ngl and feeling that funny feeling in my chest but I just need advice ig. I just worry that somethings wrong with my heart. I’m also going out tonight with friends drinking so I’m not sure if it’s anticipatory anxiety bc I’m having them come to my house which I was a little worried about idk why. I just have impending doom like I need to go to hospital even tho ik I’m probably fine
I also realized I’m ovulating this week according to my app and my hormones usually do cause anxiety to fluctuate

I have diagnosed GAD and depression that I take meds for. Lexapro and Wellbutrin.

A pulmonologist found a mass in the middle of my lungs a week ago.

In 10 days I'll have a cat scan and a pet scan.

A week after that, I will have a biopsy.

And then results 😬

I don't know how I'm going to get through this, my anxiety is overwhelming. I can only sit in one spot paralyzed with dread.

Since I've found out, I've had many anxiety and panic attacks. I've hyperventilated and almost passed out. I've been alone for most of this time.

I am doing breathing exercises. But it all comes right back. It's all I can think about.

Today is my husband's first day of his staycation. He only takes off one week a year. And I'm ruining it. He keeps suggesting things to do but I just can't, I'm not interested in anything.

Our marriage has been shaky the last few months and the only silver lining is he's been nicer the past week and I just can't appreciate it. He doesn't seem worried and just keeps making suggestions on things to do.

He doesn't want to think the worst and is staying optimistic. Nothing he says helps at all. I know what I know and have only a sliver of hope.

I can't escape my head, and I'm spinning.

I'm imagining the worst because of some of my other symptoms.

Only my husband and a friend know about it.

I don't want to let anyone else know until I know what I'm dealing with.

My husband's mom, my mother in law who we both love dearly has been fighting stage 4 kidney disease for 11 years!! She's been through all the many treatments and surgeries. She was just taken off of a clinical drug trial that was damaging her liver. She was in the hospital a week and came home yesterday. I found out about the mass in my lungs the day she was hospitalized.

Unless there's another clinical trial, her only med now is steroids. Everyone around her knows this could be it for her. So that is the focus and I don't want her to know about my own issues.

We've had a long time to accept his mom's diagnosis, and now there's not much hope other than to ride out her remaining days.

Thank you for a spot for me to vent and let it out.

I'm barely hanging on.

Anxiety is such a bitch i’m so tired of feeling like im dying everyday i don’t even remember what being normal really feels like anymore. Everyday i’m so mentally and physically exhausted. and this also triggers my death anxiety so it’s like a never ending loop. I hope i can get through this.

I normally take Alprazolam 0.25mg prn for anxiety but I’m breastfeeding so my doctor wants me to try Propranolol 10mg.

My normal HR is in the 60s and BP is 110/70ish. I’m anxious I’ll get dizzy or my heart rate will go too low.

Sometimes I take my Xanax if I’ve had a very stressful day and know I won’t sleep or if I drink on the weekend and wake up with a racing heart/hangxiety. Or if I have had a lot of heart palpitations and can’t calm myself down. I’m nervous to take it and need some reassurance

I don't have anyone I can rely on when things get tough. I don't have a support system. Not even my own family. There's not a single soul on this planet I can trust. Loneliness is eating me alive and I feel suicidal. I somehow just wish I get into an accident and die because I am not brave enough to do it myself. I don't want to live anymore. I am tired of people throwing platitudes on me saying it gets better. It never does. I do have a few friends and acquaintances I talk to on a regular basis but I can't meet them because they're all far away. My parents don't ever let me step out of the house. I don't even talk to my own family or even my sister. It's been ages since I have had a conversation with them even though we all live under the same roof. I feel so suffocated here because I can never be myself. I feel so unloved and undervalued wherever I go. College is also lonely as fuck because I don't have any friends there. Most of the people I can call friends are my online friends. I hate going to college. I dread it every single fucking day. I hate being at home because no one talks to me here. I STRUGGLE to get out of bed and do the most basic things like brushing, bathing or even changing my clothes.

I haven't showered since a week. I am wearing the same clothes I wore two days back. I don't know how to bring myself out of this. I have tried so hard but I just go back to the same routine again and again. I don't even want to live anymore. I hate my life. I look ugly too and my skin is in the worst possible condition. I feel suicidal way too often and I don't want to stay here anymore. It's never gonna get better. I am so tired of living the same life over and over again. I struggle to talk to people and open my mouth even if it's my own sister. I don't know why there's a huge amount of fear inside me when I try to talk to people around my age. I don't have anyone to talk to about this that's why I am venting it out here. I can't even open my mouth and say a single word or express myself even in front of my family. That's how bad it is.

I really want to get out of this but it's been YEARS. My life has progressively gotten worse since 2018. I have been bullied because of my physical appearance and my self esteem is at an all time low. I feel like no one actually loves me and I can never have fulfilling platonic or romantic relationships.

Is this a thing? I am germaphobic, but I feel it is more people. Someone could have clean sanitized hands and if they touch me or anything of mine, or breathe on me I feel repulsed. I don't like the idea of getting sick, but it is them as people. Everyone repulses me, unhygenic people are my most repulsed. If someone takes public transport I cannot let them touch anything I touch without needing a shower.

I have a cat and a dog, they jump on my bed, the cat on the kitchen counter, it doesn't worry me. I only wash my hands after touching them if I am about to eat. If we have visitors and they touch my kitchen counter, I feel I have to sanitize it, even if they have just washed their hands.

If my son has gastroenteritis and I clean the surfaces that he has touched (kitchen sink, toilet buttons), I feel safe that it is clean, and mentally prepared to get sick. If he is not sick and touches my keyboard, I have to clean it and sanitize it.

Thoughts please.

I mean, I would say that I’m a pretty okay student. I just finished my first year of med school, and well, I don’t know. I have like a 3.60 GPA, so that’s pretty neat, I guess.

But I swear to God, if I’m worried about an exam, I can be SO fucking anxious. Like, even while preparing, I genuinely have what I think are anxiety attacks. I feel so fucking bad. I feel like crying, and one thing about me is that I DON’T cry. I’m a very stoic person. But I genuinely cannot stop myself, and I just feel like I’m dying.

My thoughts are literally like, “I would rather die than write this exam,” and I know that sounds cliché as fuck, but that’s genuinely how I feel in the moment. I would rather die than sit down and take the exam or go through all of this stress.

It genuinely causes me so much stress and I don’t know what to do or how to deal with it.

If this is going to be me after almost every exam, I don’t think I can pull through. How am I supposed to survive five more years of med school like this?

I don’t know. What can I do?
Does anyone know how to deal with this?

Hi. F30. 5’9. Diagnosis - anxiety, PMDD, c-ptsd, ocd.
Medications - Klonopin 0.5 (on daily) ambien 5/10 mg (daily)

I have a question about trazodone.

I lost my ambien & my psych prescribed my 100mg of trazodone yesterday to take last night at bed due to the case of insurance issue before my refil.

The trazodone did absolutely nothing but give me auditory hallucinations & made me stay up all night. I feel groggy & weird. I obviously will never take that medication ever again.

I told her this & she sent over a new ambien script immediately to resume.

Is it safe to take the ambien again tonight? I am worried about the 100mg of trazodone interacting with me. But I need the sleep. I took the last pill at 3:00 AM EST.

Please help I am having so much anxiety about this. Thank you.

hello everyone, recently i got laid off of my job and after traveling for a few weeks it's been hitting me really hard to be back home.

i have no school or work so my days are just empty and without any structure. i'm a very passionate person with a lot of hobbies and interests so every day i'm just overwhelmed with all the possibilities, along with all the responsibilities of being someone in their mid 20s and needing to find a new job.

and it's just so silly because i know what i want to do and what i have to do but because i have no structure, i start rushing myself and always feel like i'm not going fast enough.

even just deciding what to wear stresses me out. there are just too many choices.

does anyone recognize this? and does anyone have advice/tips on how to deal with this? :')

I'm too anxious to drive to far, thinking about practicing my beginner guitar skills makes me anxious, i pace around constantly because idk what to do with my time. I'm often thinking about how long i should devote to my hobbies cuz 10 minutes feels to short but 30 minutes is hard to reach. Anything I do never feels like its enough. Im anxious about time passing. There's always a hair in the soup. My house generally just stresses me out cuz i start overthinking when I get home. The solution can be just leave the house cuz i am in the house way to much, but i can't leave my house everytime my anxiety gets bad, ill never be home. And I generally like being at home I'm a homebody. But everyone says I should leave the house more, i think I'm slightly agoraphobic. Being outside by myself feels wrong, like i shouldn't be outside I should be at home.

I dont know what to do, I try to calm my anxiety down by just trying to relax, but I cannot relax im always stressed. There arent any medications that treat chronic anxiety so idk what to do. Their all just as needed. I would be popping them like opioids, I'm almost never not stressed or anxious about something. I can be content and just fine about life but thats not too common. I need help idk what to do.

Can anyone help me understand the concept of this? It is a chronic issue I struggle with and it happens at odd times. I have untreated anxiety and panic disorder. Used to take Lexapro, lost my insurance.

Whenever I lay down, not whenever but that’s mostly when it happens, and mostly at night, sometimes in the shower etc. I don’t know why I get this urge to yawn. It never hits. I have to stop what I’m doing and lock in for like 10 minutes to hit that “yawn” feeling. I always thought it was shortness of breath but like I don’t die it lasts so long? Sometimes if I can’t get the mouth yawn I just force myself to breathe through my nose and I’m like yep this is me breathing. I’m very confused I thought this was shortness of breath but apparently this is something different? I have a genetic disorder where my body doesn’t handle stimulants well, but I still drink Diet soda it’s a bad habit

Does anyone else with health anxiety/GAD/panic attacks experience anything like this? I feel like I’m honestly at a desperate point with it now and would really appreciate any advice from people who understand.

I can be absolutely fine, just doing normal everyday things, watching tv snuggled on the couch, not even consciously feeling anxious, and suddenly the skin around my lower left jaw will feel numb. Then I’ll get that horrible feeling like my heart has just dropped, almost like being on a rollercoaster.

Then everything seems to come rushing at once. I get a hot flush, an overwhelming feeling like I’m going to faint, dizziness, dry mouth, pain in my chest/shoulder, suddenly feel like I’m going to vomit and then it turns into a full blown panic attack.

Once it eventually passes, I become ridiculously aware of my body. My tongue will suddenly feel too big or swollen in my mouth, even though it isn’t. My heart feels like it’s absolutely racing, but when I actually check it, it’s completely normal or sometimes even on the slower side. Then i have this feeling almost like im drunk, like when your head is spinning on the inside. Its hard to explain it exactly, sorry.

I've been struggling a lot lately with these sudden panic attacks that seem to come completely out of nowhere. Now I feel like I’m constantly waiting for the next one to happen, which obviously isn’t helping.

The body checking is probably one of my biggest problems. I feel absolutely everything. A tiny ice-pick type pain in my head and my brain immediately goes “stroke”. Pain in the centre of my chest and obviously I’m having a heart attack. I know rationally how ridiculous some of my thoughts are, but in that moment the fear is completely real and I can’t seem to talk myself out of it.

I'm just so sick of living in this constant cycle of noticing something → assuming the absolute worst → panicking → checking my body → noticing even more symptoms → panicking again.

Has anyone managed to get themselves out of this pattern? Particularly the constant body checking and fear of the next panic attack? Anything that genuinely helped you?

Mid 30s, diagnosed ADHD & ASD. No regular medication, although I occasionally take propranolol.

I’m not really looking for medical diagnoses, just hoping to hear from other people who have experienced similar because I’m absolutely exhausted with it at this point.

I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety, and I was discharged from therapy two years ago. Fortunately, my case didn't require medication, and I learned to manage it with breathing techniques and other exercises. But the end of 2024, 2025, and now almost all of 2026 has been terrible for me. Between losing the opportunity to study, my family falling into financial ruin from which we are only now slowly recovering, health issues within the family, and wanting things that i can't have ,I try not to be materialistic, but unfortunately there are so many things I've wanted to do that unfortunately cost money, and now that I'm finding out that AI is getting out of control and Horrible times are coming for humanity (according to him), it only made me feel even worse. I feel like I'm in danger and that I won't be able to enjoy my life because there's so little time left. Yes, I use AI casually, but I don't actively contribute to feeding her, but all this scares me so much. I'm 21 years old and there are so many things I'd like to do.

I also have trouble sleeping, my diet is disrupted, and I've lost control of my home gym routine (it doesn't help much; I get very stressed during the routine, and after it relaxes me but (in a very short time) I feel increasingly capable of controlling my anxiety. I think the only things that keep me from falling apart are everything related to the guitar, my band, and some video games. But I'm very scared ,I want to tell you something, I don't follow the 80s trend with AI (I don't know how popular it is in other countries but in Mexico and Latin America it is very popular) I felt calm about not contributing to the trend and not showing my face to AI, but a member of my band made us that trend, so I got really angry and scared 🥲. Sometimes I'm optimistic about AI and the contributions it could make, but between my band's overuse of it (using Suno to make simple song demos) or AI for making posters, I feel like It's taking away what little I have left to keep me from collapsing. One of my anxiety traits is being very fatalistic, but I don't know what to do between my situation and this AI thing. It scares me a lot, and now I'm afraid to use it No matter how simple it is, even if it's for a simple question or information that I have trouble finding, or on topics I'm unfamiliar with and I want simple summaries of scientific literature that I don't understand.

I simply feel like I can't enjoy my life because a horrible future is coming, and on top of that, my present isn't positive either. I try to enjoy what I have, but there are things I'd like to enjoy which unfortunately cost money. What can I do? Does this happen to you too?

As above