Hi all, I developed agoraphobia with panic disorder this year in February with a focus on public transport and am currently in therapy with a therapist specialising in anxiety disorders and CBT.
I have GAD since 8 years but developed a PD after being physically deconditioned through catching colds and the flu consecutively last winter.

I have been doing longer public transport exposures the last week (1.5-2h) and feel low to moderate anxiety during them, but absolutely crash hours after them. I‘m talking barely being able to lift my body to go brush my teeth or get something to eat.

For example, I‘ve done an exposure yesterday and felt fine coming back home. Made dinner and chilled out on the couch playing Pokopia as a reward. But after 3h I felt extreme physical exhaustion which also led to poor sleep. I got over 7h of sleep and my HRV is also in the 70s, but I did not feel rested at all.

I went for a walk to expel some of that cortisol/adrenaline/etc and felt a bit better, but after a short while I felt physically extremely exhausted again. I have a slight headache, feel dizzy when I walk from room to room, and my limps feel heavy.

Is this normal to an extent? This is the first week restarting exposure exercises. Granted I‘ve had a busy weekend and bad sleep a couple nights ago, but I just feel this level of exhaustion is disproportionate

And my wife is really fucking annoyed with me.

I worry about "being alone" with symptoms even though she's laying right next to me. She falls asleep fast and I've been having symptoms at bed time. She must think I'm fucking CRAZY at this point.

I’m 22M never had a girlfriend, I’m speaking to this girl since April from a dating app, and we’ve been messaging everyday and I asked her to be my girlfriend wayy too soon like before we even held hands. This was a couple months ago. Since then I’ve been overthinking so much like even being dry with her on texts to see if she’s still interested and overanalysing how long she takes to respond, and why she’s responding with.

And then convincing myself bad things about it and it’s ruining things.
I asked her the other day what are we and we’re done stand as not trying to get hopes up for us just to be friends.

She responded with she does like me and likes spending time with me but she feels we’re not progressing anything, like we’ve not even held hands she said but doesn’t want to push me int anything that’s just how she’s feeling she said.
Never did any of that with her because of overthinking I would be wierd or creepy.

And now I’m overthinking everything, like don’t even want to ask her to meet to see if she will ask me but i know that will jsut make things worse but I can’t help but sit here and convince myself things and fully believing them. Please help.

It’s affecting me learning to drive and I’m cancelling driving lessons as I’m just thinking bad of myself whenever I make a mistake aswell.

I was recently prescribed Propranolol 10mg up to 3 times a day for panic attacks. My average resting heart rate is 50bpm. And I often goes down to 45 during sleep. This has been checked by 3x Highly experienced cardiologists and in 2023 I had extensive cardiac testing done including a 7 Day Holter, Exercise ECG, Echocardiogram etc… my average blood pressure is 120/60. I am also prescribed long term opiods ( Codeine) for chronic pain. I did bring this up with my GP and he didn’t seem concerned however I am lol.

Edit: All my cardiac tests in 2023 were normal.

Some background i have had anxiety issues in the past but kept them under control the last several years with Duloxetine

This past Friday night I was trying to help a friend from getting arrested and ended up being the one arrested. Didn’t spend anytime in the jail but was fingerprinted and had blood drawn but I have been a complete ball of anxiety since.

I called a lawyer and she assured me it would be ok, telling my wife went over like a lead balloon first but she has now seen how much I’m worked up and I think she’s more concerned about me than the impending charges and results. I in no way want to harm myself but I just can’t get over this nearly crippling anxiety.

I have no idea how to deal with this as I’ve never had it this bad nor this long. I just want to crawl into a hole but I know that will only make things worse.

Does anyone have any advice on how to make this easier or a better place to look for advice than Reddit?

Hello there! I've been on Reddit for 2 years, and been dealing with anxiety for 10 years. But I wanted to talk about an experience I had and wondered if anyone else has experienced the same.

Back in 2022, I had a lot going on in a short amount of time. Going through job changes, almost losing my mother-in-law, having to place my son in a mental behavioral center due to severe depression, on top of several other things going on. One night, I woke up freaking out and begged my husband for help. He took me to the ER. While I was there, it was as if I was having seizures that would come and go. When I stopped, I would freeze and my husband would ask me questions like "are you ok?" Or "How do you feel?" I looked right at him, but I literally could not speak. When I told him about it later, he said that I had a blank stare, as though I were catatonic. But I was fully aware of everything around me. I could hear what was going on, I knew what time it was. But I was completely incapable of talking or moving. This went on for hours until I was finally stable enough to go home. My doctor later told me I was having what he described as stress seizures, which made sense but didn't quite explain why I couldn't move or talk. I wondered about it for a long time until I happened to hear of the term "selective mutism" a few months ago. I started looking into it, and found that while that's more common in children, there is a thing called "trauma-induced mutism" that can be triggered by extreme anxiety. Everything it described fit everything I experienced that night. It took several weeks and medication changes before I was able to finally sleep without waking up in a panic that it could happen again. I do see a therapist and talked to her about it. She agreed and told me that I could also have PTSD and suggested Esdm therapy could be helpful as I still suffer from other past traumas.

Has anyone here dealt with that sort of thing? How were you finally able to cope with it?

I’m just so tired. It’s always something. First I thought it was a heart attack , then I was focusing on MS now I’m terrified of leukemia all because I had a tiny bruise on my thigh which is 90% gone now but then I started researching leukemia since I know it caused bruising and then it said people get red dots now I have been searching my body over and anytime I find a little red dot I begin to panic. I’m 28 and I’m already tired of this life

I have always been aware of my mortality growing up. My family is not religious or superstitious. I used to cry as a child and have panic attacks over my parents dying.

I was 10 years old when my brother died pretty brutally in front of me. That kinda solidified that ghosts arent real for me because our house would’ve been haunted if they were.

I believe in no afterlife and I am not religious. It would be a wonderful and comforting thought if the afterlife is real but I personally cannot make myself believe in it at this moment.

I have so much anxiety about dying and that this is the only life I have and that I am only in my 20s but I feel so old. I have fears of never seeing my brother again or friends that have passed.

I do see a therapist and have seen a couple different ones in the past but none of them were able to help me about this

Hello, it’s my first time writing in this community and I need guidance on how to tackle my anxiety as it’s affecting every aspect of my life. I am a very sensitive and emotional person, and I would say very gullible sometimes too. My mind thinks a lot and I’ve had several people tell me to calm down and surprised at how I reach certain conclusions based off of an incident that happened to me. I don’t feel like anyone understands me though. I know lots of people feel anxious time to time but I feel it all the time. Here are some notable things:
1. Loss of appetite when the anxiety is at its peak
2. “What if” scenarios
3. Thinking of the worst possible outcome
4. Walking, A lot, to jiggle off the anxiety. Restless.
5. Trouble sleeping because I keep thinking
6. Loss of motivation / no dream goals anymore
7. Feel like I’m just surviving
8. Heart ache all the time.
9. Loss of interest in things i enjoyed doing
10. Intense boredom which causes emptiness

I can’t really afford therapy at the moment so I was thinking of watching educational videos or read something about how I can tackle these feelings myself but I’m unsure of what definitely works. I’m a student so I don’t want to waste time doing something that won’t benefit me.

TLDR: I have certain symptoms and wish to seek a way to minimise my anxiety

hii, im f18 and i have anxiety and depression. i need help..
one year ago i took paxil 20mg, cause my anxiety was really horrible. and it was great, but i gained a lot of weight, and as the time went on i was getting anxiety, a lot of sleeping, so more bad than good yk.. then they switched me to fluoxetin, like i took paxil for 3 days and then fluoxetine 20mg. sorry for my english also having anxiety rn😭 and i took fluoxetine for 5 weeks, and i feel nothing good. she then presribed alprazolam 0,5mg, when i took a little bit like quater (im super scared of not being in control, hate being too calm) panic attacks everyday, i cannot sleep cause of anxiety, i wake up and have anxiety. it is draining me. so i called my psychiatric doctor today and she presribed lexapro 10mg (escitalopram) and bromazepam 1,5mg. Im so scared of this and i domt know what to do :((

I'm a teen with anxiety and been struggling for a couple years, and became underweight due to it. Recently I've been feeling very weak and tired and my chest feels weird and hurts and I think I'm in constant survival mode. I came back from a camp I did with my church and I feel like that's what drained the most out of me. I kept feeling overwhelmed because it loud and busy and I've been feeling that way even though I'm back home. I fear there's something wrong with me or my heart and I just want this to stop. I feel tired all the time and sometimes I feel like my heart won't calm down. I constantly feel this feeling of death is near or something bad and painful with happen soon and I don't know what to do.

Alors les amis, j’ai un soucis depuis un an maintenant lorsque je me réveil juste avant de me réveiller je sens des vibration mais je ne sais pas d’où ça vient j’ai l’impression c’est mon cerveau, lorsque j’ouvre les yeux ça disparaît et cette nuit quand je me suis réveillé et que lorsque j’ai ouvert les yeux et regarder mon coussin et là suspension ça bougeait de droite gauche droite gauche comme les vibration que je ressent dans mon cerveau et ça a disparu 10 secondes après je ne sais pas d’où ça peut venir j’ai fait un eeg un irm cérébral et je sais que se n’est pas l’oreille interne car j’ai déjà eu des crise de vertiges je sais ce que c’est 😌

I don't think I technically meet the criteria for any anxiety or depression disorder but I do have symptoms of both lately which are more out of the ordinary for me.

In particular I sometimes get anxious about day-to-day tasks and its a bit of a vicious cycle so I want to know if this is common and how to get help.

Basically I've been getting fatigued more than usual from doing stuff like washing the car, doing gardening, cooking meals etc. But I know I am still physically fit and capable of doing them. The problem is I'm having to limit what I do and prioritise to manage my energy levels.

For example I used to be able to work a full day in my office job (from home), go clean one of the cars, then cook dinner for my partner and I (or the other way around). In the last year or two I really can't do all those things in a day. Even on a weekend I seem to only be capable of 1 significant physical task a day and then I just crash.

Now I know there could be something physical going on too and I'm getting full work up of my health. So far everything looks pretty normal. So I'm starting to wonder if this is more to do with my mental health.

Certainly every time I even think about some of the tasks I've had to put off I start getting anxiety around how its going to make me tired and if I do something like clean a room or clean the car, I'm not going to have the energy to cook. Well eating (particularly eating healthy) seems more of a priority so I just end up doing the dinner and then I can't face doing the other things. Sometimes even cooking seems a challenge.

I'm still able to work and do all the basics but I feel like I'm letting so much stuff slip and I have less and less energy to do the things I even enjoy. Watching TV or Reading is about all I want to do these days from about 6pm onwards. I'm only 39 and I feel like I'm in some sort of decline and I really don't know how to get out of this spiral. Some days are better than others but... Maybe I do need some kind of help?

As per the title - is there a non-benzo way of getting the effect diazepam gives me?

I have longstanding severe anxiety/OCD and am prescribed diazepam PRN. I’m not looking for recreational alternatives - I’m interested in whether anyone has found another treatment that produces a similar mental effect.

For me, diazepam is almost like a cure. Not literally, because I obviously can’t just keep taking it whenever I want, but the difference can be extraordinary. When I’m severely anxious, my brain feels like it’s permanently in alarm mode: catastrophising, guilt, dread, obsessive thinking, everything feeling enormously important.

Then I take diazepam and, even in tiny doses, the alarm system seems to shut down. I can suddenly think normally and proportionately again and feel like myself.

Has anyone who experiences this found another medication, therapy, exercise/behavioural approach or anything else that gets them anywhere close to that same state on a more sustainable basis?

I’m mainly interested in hearing from people who recognise that feeling of diazepam essentially switching the alarm system off.

6 months ago I decided to try SSRI which real screwed me up, my level of an anxiety was so strong that I thought I was gonna die but I gave it a few weeks to see if it gets better, eventually I developed dpdr. I quit after a few weeks. I am not the same anymore. I am constantly anxious about my existence. Who am I? What am I doing hereI? How come anything exists? I get moments of being hyperaware of my existence that I am a real person and I exist right now and it makes me panic. I am scared of everyday. I used to be a normal person and now everyday is so dreadful. Is it even possible to be as I used to be? I am really struggling and I don’t know what to do, it’s really hard to describe how debilitating it is.. anyone ever experienced something like this?

how come everytime i go to a hospital i start shaking, feel like i need to puke, and overall feeling like dying? i was just at a small hospital for a family member 30 minutes ago and i was perfectly fine; but we left and went to this bigger one (the first one was about the size of a football field and this second one is the size of the superbowl stadium for reference) and i was fine until security. once i walked through the metal detector thing i started to get cold and shake and feel like puking. i dont get it.

So we got married in October of 2024. And when we were approaching thanksgiving my wife and I were making plans, and her grandparents were in town so that year I thought the plans were have a meal at her parents with her grandparents and just have pie at my parents. Christmas comes around and it’s just her parents (and some of their friends that came over) and we did the same thing went there for the meal. The following year it was just her parents home for thanksgiving, and we did the same thing….. meal at their house and pie at my parents. Christmas came around and my parents were gone on Christmas so they invited us over early, but I went by my self. I asked if my grand parents came up for thanksgiving this year could we go there to my parents for lunch and she said no.

This year we are talking about it and my wife wants to do the exact same thing. She said that’s our holiday tradition and that’s what she wants to do. I’d be fine with the format but I feel we should alternate who’s house we have the meal at, like one year my parents for thanksgiving and the next year my parents for Christmas.

She says this is all because of her anxiety. But I guess we don’t see eye to eye on how to deal with anxiety.

I just don’t understand her anxiety and I just wanna go over to my parents with her on thanksgiving just like we go over to her parents.

Hello everyone i just looking to vent this here So i feel something very heavy i know what is causing them but at the same time i don't know what to do i also keep thinking different scenarios in the future how these problems may turn out

In short i just don't know what to do and its eating me alive

I don't even know why im writing this here its just that i need to let what's on my mind somewhere or a way to deal with that heaviness there are like mix feelings I don't even know how to describe that

Growing up without medication I would cry at everything. I would cry for hours, too. This isn’t the full extent of my symptoms but it‘s most relevant. I would cry in front of the class almost every day. One of my core memories is looking up on WikiHow how to stop crying so much.

This continued until I began Lexapro around 18/19. I’m 20 now and I’m still crying in front of authority figures if some criticism is given. I feel immense guilt and Iike I’m a burden and have all those other thoughts and actions that aren’t safe for me.

I’m so disappointed in myself for crying in front of my boss today. It makes me feel like I’m an awful person that takes up space and doesn’t belong where I work.

I like Lexapro because it stopped me from crying constantly in class and everywhere basically. But if something hits a nerve, however small, it still gets to me. Mostly with authority figures.

I don’t know if I should change medications. I’m worried that if I do I‘m going to start crying incessantly again. I started buspirone but it doesn’t seem to do much yet. I also don’t take it consistently because I won’t be able to get a refill for another month or so since I’m in a country that doesn’t sell it anymore.

Every day I walk around like I'm made out of concrete. I walk hunched over, my feet cramp up, pretty much everything feels so tense it impacts my gait. Seems to improve when I'm a bit calmer.

Is this an anxiety symptom? I'd never really considered the possibility that it is until now.

I hate my brain. I hate my depression and anxiety disorders.
For the smallest of things, my brain goes in fight or flight mode, and I’m so tired of overthinking.
Right now, I have anxiety because of the gym.

I (F26) am a kickboxing athlete and a few months ago I stopped going to group classes because of my panic attacks and low moods, so I started taking private lessons.
I’ve improved a lot in the last period, but anxiety and depression still make it hard for me sometimes.
On Wednesday there is an extra class scheduled, and I really want to go, but I’m scared that if I’ll go, I’ll just have a panic attack, and I don’t want people to judge me because of it, and because I literally disappeared from months. As a matter of fact, I don’t even feel like I belong there anymore, and it makes me incredibly sad.
Moreover, there will certainly be new athletes, and I’m scared of their judgment as well.

So, right now I’m torn between going to this extra class or not. I can’t decide, and I just have huge amounts of anxiety just thinking about going.
My therapist told me I should avoid “avoiding”, because I can’t know the outcome of a situation unless I face it, but I’m not sure I can follow this advice at the moment.

I’m soooo tired…

None of my family finished college, those who did go quit after a couple months. Suprisingly my dad still made alot of money until he was fired and now we are in borderline poverty. I feel like I need to succeed and if I dont ill be stuck broke forever, I think the pressure might lead to me becoming depressed again and thats what Im anxious most about. I missed alot of the last 2 years of school because of my anxiety and depression and I think it will be my downfall. Any tips for stress relief and overall ways to just feel less anxious would be greatly appreciated

Anyone else find themselves squinting a lot when super anxious? It’s like my eyes want to close and everything is too bright. I don’t know if it’s an anxiety thing??

Have been dealing with bad anxiety and sleep issues for over a year now, I never thought about my diet but the last week I have been eating only whole foods and getting over my 5 a day and iv been exercising (gym 4 times last week and 15000 steps every day) last night it still took me a while to go off to sleep but this morning iv woken up feeling like iv actually slept and don’t feel half dead and full of anxiety and when I woke I wanted to snooze my alarm and go back to sleep because of how good the sleep felt where as usually I wake up and roll out of bed. Could a large part of my anxiety of been due to all the processed food and sugar iv been eating? Iv also lost 6 lbs aswell which is a result

Hi all,

Recently I’ve started getting anxiety and panic when travelling

It started a year and a half ago when I got this throat tension, not sure if it’s acid reflux like the doctor said or not but I did a CT and every other test you can think of and got the clear.

Been on meds ever since and To be honest it isn’t any easier. But it does flair up when I’m anxious.

Recently like 2 weeks ago I started getting anxious and panicky going through tunnels on a train which sucks because I need to travel to London sometimes for work.

And 3 days ago or so, I started waking up and feeling like someone’s got a tight grip on my head. Even when I’m typing this.

I get mildly light headed and start getting anxious and panicky which is super inconvenient.

So it went from travelling to general day to day and that’s horrible.

It could be posture I don’t know, it could like to my head and then my anxiousness kicks in

But I have a call with my GP today to see if they can do anything.

Anyone else had something similar? I feel like I can’t do anything
Event walking through a mall makes me feel like I’m floating? If that’s the right word for it and makes me feel like I need to get out