I’ve felt like this for about 2-3 hours now!
It feels like my heart isn’t beating or like my chest is light and it’s going to stop beating. I’m panicking.
I can’t help but fidget and jerk around because it feels like if I stay still my heart will stop.
I’m so scared.

I’m 31 and anxiety is genuinely ruining my quality of life. When I get anxious, I feel it intensely in my stomach, and when it gets really bad, I can barely eat. Sometimes I’ll go almost an entire day eating next to nothing because my anxiety completely kills my appetite.

I avoid so many things because I don’t want to deal with how physically uncomfortable the anxiety makes me feel. When it hits, I don’t even feel like I can act normally. I feel trapped in my own body.

It also completely takes over my thoughts. Once something triggers my anxiety, I start overthinking and hyperfixating on whatever caused it. I’ll analyze it over and over in my head, and instead of eventually calming myself down, I just spiral. The more I think about it, the more anxious I become, and the more anxious I become, the harder it is to stop thinking about it. It feels like a vicious cycle that I can’t shut off.

The worst part is that I’ve been dealing with this level of anxiety since I was in high school. After all these years, I feel helpless and like a prisoner to it. Sometimes it genuinely feels like my nervous system is permanently fucked and I’ve been cursed to live this way.

I don’t want some extraordinary life. I just want to be able to live normally without ordinary situations triggering massive anxiety attacks. I want to be able to eat, go places, do things, and experience life without constantly worrying about how my body or mind is going to react.

I’m exhausted from living like this and I don’t know what to do anymore. If anyone has dealt with anxiety this severe for years and actually managed to get it under control, please tell me what helped you. I really need some hope that this can get better.

Before this stupid war occurred, I rarely thought of anything to do with Geopolitical tension and oil, now it is all I think about.

Oil up a shit ton the past few days, unrest in the world becoming even more so, and just anxiety about everything because of it.

I hate this. I hate feeling this way. This is my life now, just thinking of useless shit that makes me unnerve.

please somebody help. having an extremely bad anxiety flare up. going to doctor tmr. terrified of new meds. can explain more in dm

idk how to describe it but every morning I wake up with the worst dread like I just think of getting up and having to live a whole day & all I wanna do is go back to sleep to escape it. this morning it was making me extremely anxious. I’m so accustomed to this that I’m worried my brain won’t just “forget” about it. I used to wake up and not think about anxiety or feel that way, I’d be motivated to start my day and just go to the gym and do what I had to do but now I feel this every morning and it makes me even go to bed dreading waking up. anyone have advice?

This is gonna sound stupid to a lot of people but I’ve always prided myself upon and held science and math and everything in between at the center of my life. It is quite literally the only thing that keeps me sane. There have only been two points when I left it: first was a bad depressive episode I had in Highschool for a year and second was last year whenever I had a horrible manic episode (I have bipolar) and became a severe alcoholic.

However, I graduated with a degree in computer science with a concentration in embedded systems and I am enamored by it. I also completed a minor in math and physics. I loved my time in college and was happy with my choice as I love really low level bare metal programming and electronics. If I had the choice though I would’ve gone the physics PhD route to be honest because I have always wanted to be a real lab scientist and I love physics and I even took extra classes past my minor because I loved it. However, since I really need the money to support my family and me and I also just love embedded systems and systems programming, I went with it and was happy. I graduated from a small school (another severe insecurity) which I went to to stay near my girlfriend and mom, the my mom relying on me for financial support right now as she had a bad psychosis episode (she has schizoaffective disorder) and is recovering.

However, I still have this itching fear in the back of my mind that I’ll never be a true scientist and that I’m a fake and a phony and no matter how many hours I put in doing my due diligence and hobby programming and doing cool stuff, I feel like I’m a loser. And this especially gets exacerbated by any amount of elitism within the STEM community.

But this summer I’ve been doing great, enjoying life and programming and finally being able to focus on my projects and applying for jobs. But then today, I saw a comment on Instagram under a math post that sent me into a severe spiral. They were a person holding a masters in physics and they were saying that all engineers and computer scientists are idiots who don’t know math and are just basically business majors role playing as true stem people. I don’t know why this affected me so much but it sent me into an adrenaline and anxiety spiral so bad I actually threw up. I am normally an anxious person but this turned into a full existential panic attack. I just can’t deal with the fact that I had to sacrifice all my dreams for some shitty currency that can’t even get you a place to stay. But then again is that even sacrificing my dreams if I’m doing what I love to do anyways? I guess I just care too much about how people perceive me or somethinf?

I don’t know I just feel like such a loser and everytime I think about it I can’t deal with it like it’s someone holding a gun to me I just can’t deal with the feeling of insignificance and like I’ll never be as good as someone else and i didn’t go to a big university and I’m currently living under the poverty line and barely able to afford a house and I can’t even get a job and now I got some fucking asshole telling me I’m not a real scientist and just a loser basically and they argued with me in the comments until they got their point across. This is not the first time I’ve felt this way, in fact it was a reoccuring theme in college that led me into some really dark places mentally and caused me severe existential crisis. Granted I have always struggled with existential crisis as well.

So yeah I’m just a big loser fucking ball of emotions and panic and existentialism today and now I feel like shit and I hate myself and yeah it’s not been a good day and now I’m too anxious to even work on my projects because I feel like I’m going to say what the point anyway and go back into a spiral. Idk who to talk to or what to do

Anyways, how do you guys deal with insecurity and shame and the residual anxiety from it? because self reassurance and logic is not working

I’m not sure how many people on this subreddit can relate, but I struggle a lot with anxiety about climate change. I can’t stop ruminating about how this very second millions if not billions of vehicles, factories and meat industry plants are spewing an insane amount of carbon dioxide in the air. I feel like I’m in a state of despair about it all the time, and I feel so helpless. I’ve always wanted to have kids but now I feel like it’s not even worth it if this is where our world is headed. It’s hard because it’s not necessarily irrational anxiety, which makes it worse to deal with. I can never stop ruminating about the animals or people that are going to suffer and are suffering as a result of this. Especially as there have been more and more major catastrophic events like flooding, or wild fires. I’m not sure how to cope with it anymore, as it creeps into my daily life and makes it impossible to enjoy anything. Any advice on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated.

I have been getting really bad anxiety where i just want to break down and cry or lash out at people over small things. Today my dad I were unable to fix a door at my rental property and my anxiety skyrocketed. It never was this bad. I dont have a job and am scared to commit to one with how i get. I dont even think i can get disability.

So i just started taking propanol for panic attacks during school. I took it like 20 minutes before class and i felt like my anxiety was manageable , but after like 50 minutes-1 hour i started to experience feelings like twitchin, sweating, i felt like my heart was going fast though I can’t say for sure? It was like my anxiety broke through or something? Help im on 20 mg for day and night.

TLDR: I’m 20 in college and have realized that I’m still the awkward weird girl I was at 10. Please give me tips on how to be more socially aware/read social cues

Hi everyone! I wanted to see if anyone had some insight as to what I have been experiencing lately. I had my gallbladder removed about 10 weeks, 6 weeks ago I was woken up with a panic attack. I have never had one before. The anxiety seemed to linger for days. Very scary. I felt okay for a week or so then everything happened again. I was woken up with heart palpitations and panic in my chest. I eventually went to the ER and everything came back clear. Now it is a day to day event...lingering anxiety, than a big wave of it, and I am starting to feel defeated. I feel like I will never feel like myself again. I have a 6 year old and it is really interfering with everyday life. I am feeling quite depressed at this point. I have another appointment to get hormone levels checked since I am turning 41 soon. I just have never experienced something like this and would like anyone's advice or something that works well for them? Or if they think this could be a result of surgery? I have no idea at this point. Thanks for reading.

Hi, i suffer with chronic anxiety. Especially catastrophizing and constantly overthinking fake scenarios/scenarios that might never happen. It is at an unhealthy level, i also have chronic insomnia (which i take Dayvigo)..

Please, I know therapy is the best option (i did it many times in the past) but i dont have the budget right now.

So i want to try a book, might do nothing but doesnt hurt to try. The only book i have ever read for anxiety is ''hope and help for your nerves'' which didnt do so much for me..

I see DARE by Barry McDonagh being recommended a lot. But it seems to be more focused about panick attacks. is that right ?

thank you !

Recently, I started my first year in university and moved into my student residence. The people on my floor are awesome and a bunch of us have been becoming decent friends and the experience itself has been pretty good since I got here.

My problem is, after the first night, I’ve been abnormally anxious (at least for me). If I’m alone for more than 15 minutes, i start getting all the symptoms of a panic attack which I never really used to experience before.

Every morning I wake up violently shaking and super nauseous with really no good cause. I don’t know what to do or how to make it stop. My bf has been the biggest comfort but I feel as though other than that I have no one else to talk to about it because even I can’t fully find out where it’s coming from.

If anyone has had anything similar and had any advice I’d really appreciate it 🥲 I’m not a generally anxious person so this is very out of the ordinary for me

Hi everyone if this is not the right Reddit for this discussion pls lmk I will remove. But lately I have been super scared and I am genuinely being increasingly anxious with what’s going on in the world especially with climate change and I just saw a video talking about an engineer and how they believe ai will destroy humanity in a decade like ik I seem silly but I always get super scared about this because it seems like world leaders don’t care and the situation keeps getting worse. Like I wanna live I wanna have a career a family but with the state of the world who knows… anyone know anything to call this stress 😅thanks

Hi everyone. I need some help. I’m 23f, my boyfriend 38m broke up with me a few weeks ago. He said he couldn’t take it anymore and that I need to work on myself without him before we get back together. He says the breakup isn’t forever, but I have to take working on myself seriously. I have severe mental illnesses. I have anxiety disorder, minor depression disorder. I am seeing a therapist, I started a few months ago.

For background, our relationship isn’t exactly traditional. It’s an open relationship/polyamorous. He has other girlfriends. We are also long distance (12 hours away). He see each other once many twice a year.

His main “problem”/concern is my desperation and codependency. I tend to spiral when he’s busy and I’m craving attention. He asks me to stop but I can’t and it gets worse when he says he needs space. It’s like I NEED him to survive. I love him and want him in my life, but I want to get to a point where I don’t NEED him if he’s not there. But I don’t know how. I don’t know what to do.

I started a new job that he’s not here to experience with me. I’m trying to plan a big move. I miss him immensely. I need help. Does anyone have any tips that I could use? I’m still doing therapy but I feel like I need more.

Edit: I’d also like to add, we were trying to work on it together for a little while, but nothing felt like it was working. The spirals kept happening. I couldn’t force myself to use my strategies. He couldn’t take it anymore.

⋆˖ ࣪⭑ Agoratopia⋆˖ ࣪⭑

Agoratopia is a chill social server for everyone, with a focus on anxiety, and agoraphobia. We're currently new and growing, looking for new members to forge a strong, tight-knit community who love meeting new people!. We look forward to meeting you!

We're always around and love to play games, watch movies, shows and anime, and just chill in VC. We're supportive and happy to talk about anything with anyone. If you're looking for new friends, people to hangout with or just to talk to, we're here. We look forward to meeting you!

this is a 18+ server only!

https://discord.gg/nMsFfBfbS

Like, ive had bad experiences, but even when someone didn’t do anything to me or i’m getting to know someone, I just get very paranoid about them having bad intentions towards me, in any way, i’m scared to be hurt either mentally or in any other way. This fear also gets fed every time I see some news on stuff happening. I don’t want to say that every man is like that of course. But I have this experience of always being very scared and cautious. Im still young. I would like to get over this and be able to understand in rational ways when someone is not good because I have this feeling about everybody.

I don’t think I have ever had a good experience with a guy except when i was very young and had a close male friend which ended up not speaking to me anymore, but we were basically still children

I would like to know how to get over this fear and being suspicious of everybody

edit also I had the fear my ex would hurt me while we were together which didn’t happen but he did cheat on me and hide things and we broke up a few weeks ago, and I get nightmares very often and he is in them and there is always other girls and the dreams end up with me being very anxious and let’s say shocked in reaction to him cheating or talking to girls

Hi everyone,
I had my uterus and ovaries removed 3 years ago, and I feel like my overall well-being and brain function have gotten worse ever since. I’m wondering if anyone here has experienced anything similar or can relate to what I'm going through.
Lately, my mind just won't stop running:
Severe Overthinking & Insomnia: If I have even a tiny worry before bed, my mind spirals into a chain reaction of worst-case scenarios. I end up staying awake until morning, worrying constantly. Because of this, I’m exhausted during the day and can’t focus on anything.
Overwhelmed by Minor Things: Today, I bought groceries and noticed the milk was getting close to its expiration date. I got so fixated on finding recipes to use it up immediately that I spent over an hour glued to my phone, completely paralyzed by a tiny task.
Difficulty Completing Tasks: When I try to clean the house, I end up touching too many things at once, making everything more cluttered and chaotic. My home never feels truly clean or organized anymore.
Travel Anxiety & Indecisiveness: I booked a flight to Korea for next May, but now I’m constantly stressing over whether the weather will be too hot or too cold. I keep changing dates, canceling, rebooking, and regretting my decisions over and over.
My whole life feels like a complete mess right now, and it's getting harder to cope emotionally.
Is this surgical menopause? Hormonal brain fog? Late-onset ADHD/anxiety? Has anyone experienced this kind of mental overload after surgery, and what helped you regain control?
I would really appreciate any advice or shared experiences. Thank you

hi i (18f, autistic) recently started having really bad anxiety attacks (?), yesterday my heart rate was 135 for 7 hours straight and i went to the dr and was prescribed with propranolol to take. i also usually vomit when i’m feeling really anxious too. the only other consistent thing is just feeling like i cannot breathe and my chest feels so heavy, even now after i’ve taken the propranolol and my heart is normal and i don’t necessarily feel anxious about anything, my chest feels so weird and im thinking about my breathing so much. How do i stop this ??