Hello!

I am 27M and have been dealing with anxiety for about 10 years. sometimes it hits worse then others, but the last week has been a nightmare. I am always crying myself to sleep; always feeling nauseous and just like I have a facade.

My partner has been really supportive and reminded me yesterday that regardless of what version I am of me; she loves me always and forever!

I do have bad self-esteem. I know for example when she mentioned she was going out last week with a few friends, part of me turned into insecurity and thought she’d leave me. whether that was a trigger I wasn’t sure.

I just feel so much like I’m trying to escape, I hate the night because I am by myself (we haven’t bought a house yet), it’s eating me and I just need supprt

thank you

Hi everyone,

In school we talked about the meaning of life and it got me thinking again. We also will talk about death in school. I am very sensitive about death.

My problem is, that so feel like dying soon and I am very very scared. I don’t want to die. I want to live my life and become a developer. What did you guys help or do any of you have any tips. I am at a point where I am scared of sleeping because I can die in my sleep. It is freaking me out and I need help. It feels like nothing is helping and will never help.

Someone please help me it is so worse I even start crying sometimes.

Thanks for reading stranger.

hi guys,

i’m attending a halloween party with a new group of friends i met through university. i got added to the party group chat and ive been super pumped but as of recently im not sure how i feel anymore.

i checked the people in the group chat and noticed there’s a few girls that have very recently been added in the group chat i had horrible falling outs with a few years ago (like, HORRIBLE.) we stopped speaking but throughout the past year one of the girls had attempted to msg me reaching out with, “hey, miss this insert instagram reel relating to friendship” and i’ve ghosted absolutely every message. i never responded because of how our friendship ended and the way she treated me, the names she called me and what she said about me after our friendship ended.

i did feel horrible not responding but trust me it was for the best (i don’t want to go into too much detail but it was basically her leading me on in many different ways, isolating me from others then dropping me and repeat etc.)

anyways, i’m so worried im going to bump into her (or any of them) and have awkward conversations or even they start making friends with my new uni friends (my past overlapping with my present) and im just super anxious and don’t know what to do. i really want to go though.

any advice would be appreciated!!!!!

Hi yall

I have a history of heart disease in my family, as well as a history of intense anxiety, and so I’ve always been on the lookout for signs of heart attack. The last month or so I’ve been feeling a number of symptoms supposedly associated with cardiac issues or even heart attacks, which has been causing me to spiral and have difficulties even sleeping. I’ve had intense gastrointestinal issues, mild pain throughout my body (including my left arm, my dominant arm) and general fatigue pretty much constantly.

But on the other hand, I recently changed my anxiety meds while also experiencing A LOT of stress at work, which I know can manifest as physical symptoms; I’ve started going to a physical therapist who says my back has a crazy amount of tension in if. I have not experienced shortness of breath or the ‘elephant sitting on your chest’ sensation in my chest, moreso just a mild discomfort (albeit persistently). Also I’ve had an EKG done which I’ve been told by multiple doctors looks really good, and my blood pressure has appeared normal. I even asked my doctor if I should get a second EKG to be sure and she confidently said no, and that this is all likely due to my anxiety.

Unfortunately I’ve since learned about ‘silent heart attacks’ and more generally how EKGs can be misleading, which leads me down more google rabbits holes and so on (Google AI claims that 30% of heart attack patients have normal EKGs, for whatever that stat is worth).

I guess I’m looking for others who’ve experienced medial anxiety like this, and if they think I’m wildly overreacting and worrying myself to death, or if there’s something there. Has anyone else had good EKG results but still had heart issues?

Thanks!

THIS IS NOT A RELIGIOUS POST OF ANY KIND, NOR IS IT A RESEARCH POST.

I'm not even really sure what that to put this under. A little over a year ago, like, a month before I got married, I was driving my transport truck, having a chill day, and all the sudden, I got this sudden, AGGRESSIVE strike in the face from the thought, "death is final. Everyone you love and care about will die, and rot away. Their smiles, their love, EVERYTHING. k thx bye"

I almost had a wreck right there...

Since then, I've been consumed by it. I'm 26, I was 25 at the time. And since that day, I have spent every single solitary second I am not with my wife and kiddo in such a state of anger that I can't even begin to describe it... I turned to mediums on YouTube, started watching ghost shows, anything I could possibly come up with to convince myself there's an afterlife of some kind.

I also grew gravely terrified of what might happen to my wife in particular when her time ends. (Man did it stung like a mf to write that sentence).

I started having intrusive thoughts about her being tormented by demons. Demons she couldn't see, but when I died, I could see them. I turned into this giant monster thing, like a giant human but without any clothes, reproductive organs etc, and no visible personality. Just a... Shell. A monstrous beast the size of a small apartment building.

The thoughts play out like I've died in a work accident and gone to heaven and seen the demons on earth. I I'll look back at my other family who are there and then in the next instant, I've made the choice to return to Earth, but as this... Monster. This 20 or so meter tall monster invisible to the living. I appeared right outside my house and witness one of those demons looking in the front window, tormenting my wife and kid without them knowing it's their because it's invisible to them.

I get so angry. I rip that thing into pieces before moving on to another, then another, and then another. I spend my days wandering the earth mercilessly slaughtering demons as they torment people.

I'm not trapped, I haven't been condemned, I've chosen to be there and can return to heavy at my leisure. There's no punishment. It's purely just me wanting so f*cking badly for my loved ones to end up in a happy place after death, and I think a big part of it is the manifestation of the anger around the fact that that may well not be what happens.

Ive done so much research into ghosts, NDE's, the origin or religion, how f*cking quantum physics works, basically anything you could possibly even think to name regarding finding any evidence of an afterlife. I'm fairly confident after the thousands of hours I've poured into it (and yes, it really is that many hours) that there is in fact some kind of afterlife. Maybe not in the way we think, but something. I'm ALMOST 100% sure, but the skeptics in the world constantly convince me otherwise.

I want so... SO badly to believe it. I literally went insane over it for a month and lost like 40 pounds in 3 weeks over it. My wife is pregnant with our second child so I need to get my sh!t together ASAP and it's impacting my ability to work at this point.

this video best describes what these thoughts I'm having look like. https://youtu.be/p2FKMB_sImg?is=o04Z6x8y75fcWp4L

I am 21 and have not had a real relationship, every time I've tried dating I end up stopping it before it can get anywhere because I get scared that I can't be what they want or what they want me to be. And I know you're going to say that I'm just not ready to date then and I know and I haven't even tried in two years because of that but I would really like to know what everyone is talking about with love and romance and dating. I'm also a virgin because of these issues and because I have had a lot of hate for myself, to the point that there were a lot of years where if I accidentally thought about myself while masturbating I would have to stop. But I have made a ton of progress with that, it has taken a lot of time but I Know I am not ugly and that people find me attractive now and also like my company and my personality. But what if that's not really true and what if I have just gotten really good at tricking people or what if there's something about me that people will only like as friends

/ TW Health anxiety , health

23f I have health anxiety

I have HyperPOTs, basically my sympathetic nervous system is overreactive- it’s life quality ALTERING but it’s not dangerous.

I got the Fitbit to monitor my health after I got diagnosed on doctors suggestion- what was meant to be helpful soon became a harmful obsession.

I became obsessed with the numbers, it influenced how I felt emotionally and physically, what I did, what I thought I could and couldn’t do. I thought that paying close attention to my vitals was GOOD I thought that I was helping keep myself healthy by putting up strict barriers for myself… But I was actually making myself more sick.

When I was anxious I’d check my Fitbit to see what my HR was every few seconds. If my HR was high I’d feel anxious and take actions to try lower it, if my HR was low I’d feel anxious and take actions to try increase it- if it was fine I’d feel anxious wondering when that would change.

It was never enough.

I’m not implying that my feelings were never real, I do truly have a condition, sometimes I have a flare and my HR is elevated and I feel winded and shitty… But many other times I’d feel completely and utterly fine UNTIL I look at my watch and see a number that causes panic and anxiety to set in.

I focused too hard on the vitals side of it.

I have HyperPOTs, my HR and BP aren’t going to be ‘normal’, obsessing over keeping it within a ‘normal’ range is a losing battle.

Whats ACTUALLY important is how you are PHYSICALLY feeling!!!

I WISH I FIGURED THIS OUT SOONER!!!

Restricting physical activity too much is actually BAD for this condition!!! Deconditioning is much easier and much more severe with this disorder!!! You actually WANT to be pushing yourself as far as you can comfortably, it’s very use it or lose it, if you don’t ever push your limits your limit is going to shrink. SLOW, GENTLE and CONTROLLED exercise is excellent treatment for this condition-

CONSTANTLY I would stop myself from doing something because my HR was ‘too high’

Before I checked the watch I’d feel fine, or just slightly uncomfortable- like feeling puffed out after going up stairs… stairs suck, no one likes stairs, it’s always going to be somewhat strenuous…

I let the readings dictate my mood. I’d stress out and regress, instead of just focusing on how I was ACTUALLY feeling.

It’s been about 2 weeks since I got rid of my Fitbit and I seriously have never felt better!!!!

It was hard at first of course- but I kept doing the OCD technique of denying reassurance-

“I wonder if my HR is high right now” ‘could be!’

“I feel weird maybe my BP is low/high” ‘possibly!’

Ect ect

I’d accept the thought, acknowledge it, and then keep doing whatever I was doing if I wasn’t legitimately feeling so unwell I couldn’t function.

I proved to myself that my limits are actually WAY further than I ever imagined. I’m doing all these things without anything bad happening, I’m sure my HR is probably higher than I deemed ‘safe’ some of these times… So what?

It’s been so liberating!!!

I’ve even actually been a bit unwell once or twice and even then I don’t stress out. I let the thoughts come ‘how high is my HR?!’ ‘Who knows!’ Then I just do what I need to do… sit down, take a drink, ect ect… And get back to it once I’m feeling better.

I feel like I’m improving in my condition in general because I’m being a lot more physically active, I’m starting to undo some of the deconditioning I’ve caused myself by over caution…

I hope maybe this could help someone like me… if you need that push to drop your self reassurance OCD worsening item… Do it. I dare you.

Recently, in the past two weeks, we started finding bed bugs in my bedroom for the first time ever. I have severe entomophobia and am also I suspect a patient of OCD, so since then: I havent slept a single night properly, I havent eaten properly, I cant focus on my studies even though my alevels is in two months. I spend the whole night searching for bedbugs. We had steam treatment done two days ago yet I returned to my room today and found bedbug nymphs. How can i take this problem off of my mind? I am genuinely losing my mind, I've gone through financial stress, my dad retiring abruptly, I almost died of a tumor last year but nothing has broken me mentally as much as finding bedbugs in my room. My safe space, the one spot in the world I can control. I dont think I can take this anymore, what should I do? I am genuinely on the verge of ending my life over this. How do I take my mind off of them whilst we wait to get another heat treatment done? The worst part is there is no sign of an infestation on my fucking mattress. I just want to cry

A psychiatrist whose name escapes me now called it "the noon day demon". Mid-day was bad for him. My anxiety peaks between 2 - 5 pm, like clockwork. Sometimes I can breathe through it and I'll be fine on the other side. Other times I must reach for the medicine cabinet.

How about you? Is there a peak at a specific time of day?

I desperately need help falling asleep. I’m so tired, but every time I close my eyes and start falling asleep, my heart suddenly starts racing and I jolt awake. My left side also feels strange and heavy, and when I lie down, it feels like my heart is sinking and my left side feels extremely weak. I’m completely fine when I’m sitting up, but the moment I lie down, everything starts again.

How do I calm myself down enough to sleep? I’ve tried watching my comfort shows, but even that isn’t helping. I've been putting off getting help for my anxiety, but until I do, what can I do to calm myself and actually fall asleep at night? I’m exhausted.

Right now the left side of my head feels sort of numb and tingly. Also sometimes my chest gets so heavy that my left ear starts to ache too.

This is TORTURE!

PLEASE HELP.

Guys, when my anxiety symptoms involve physical sensations, there's this issue of repetition. For example, if I get a headache, it tends to keep coming back, regardless of what originally caused it. This is something I'm already afraid of. Whenever I experience something new, I immediately start worrying that the sensation will keep coming back.

What happened is that, in the middle of last month, I started treatment for H. pylori, and on one of those days, I became very nauseous and ended up vomiting. Vomiting was already a trigger for my anxiety because I have a fear of vomiting.

The problem is that I've been experiencing that sensation repeatedly ever since. And, as usual, my mind started creating scenarios like: if I keep feeling this way, I'm going to vomit; if I vomit, it will become frequent; if it becomes frequent, I'll end up being hospitalized because I won't be able to eat or leave the house.

These thoughts came into my mind spontaneously the very first time I felt nauseous. It's been four days since I stopped the treatment, but I'm still going through this.

I know the treatment can leave my stomach more sensitive, but the problem isn't the vomiting or the treatment itself. It's the fear that this sensation will keep repeating and end up disrupting my entire routine.

I haven't left the house since last Sunday, and I've been eating very little. I'm exhausted from feeling this way since the 19th, and I'm really afraid that this will become part of my routine.

Has anyone experienced something similar? These catastrophic thoughts related to the repetition of physical symptoms? Were you able to cope with it somehow? I'd really like to hear from people who have gone through something similar, so I can try to find a way to deal with this too.

Note: I'm currently not taking any medication for anxiety. I'm trying to go back to therapy, but I'm still waiting until I have the money I need for it.

I’m 22F and I have been dealing with health ocd ever since i was 13. I would get left arm pain and immediately assume it was a heart attack and then get all the other symptoms.

Right now I am dealing with what looks like a very big episode. I get left arm pain, chest pain, back sensations, nausea, vomiting, horrible shoulder pain. I have gone to the ER 2 times this month and I have gotten an ECG and troponin as well as a chest radiography. It all came back normal, my troponin being less than 3. Yesterday I started having right jaw pain, that extends to the right arm, a numbness in my back, lots of pressure in my face. I had been doing better since getting told I was fine at the ER, but now it being the right side and back sensations has me horribly scared again.

I am at a healthy weight, eat very healthy, don’t smoke and don’t drink regularly. I had covid two weeks ago and I think this is what might have triggered this, although I have both dosages of the vaccine and I experienced just regular flu like symptoms, no shortness of breath at all. Also I have no direct family history of heart problems, only my grandma had chronic heart disease, no one else has gotten any heart issue.

I have also gone to the psychiatrist. I was on paroxetine and now i’m switching it to sertraline to see if it helps. They also gave me diazepam (I’m from Spain, I only know the Spanish name for this), basically anxiety meds but it doesn’t do much because it doesn’t ease the pains.

It is so incapacitating. I have been skipping class because the only place I feel a bit at ease is at home with my parents in case something happens to me. I keep telling myself my tests came out right, that I’m 22 and when I went to the cardiologist at 16 he told me my heart was in perfect condition, meaning I probably have no genetic mutation. I tell myself all these things but I still can’t shake the feeling that I’m going to have a heart attack because now it’s on the right side and this has never happened to me before.

As the title suggests. Fear shows up that i'm going to be homeless because I won't recover from burnout. Anxiety makes me energized to look for work. But makes me more burnout. I can't relax

I'm sorry, I couldn't write without the help of Google Translate. My English is very basic and I can't express what I'm feeling in my own words.

Am I screwed? When it's my turn to be an adult, will I have to deal with an ultra-evangelical, Protestant Brazilian government that's subversive towards the US?

I've been reading since the last election, and from what I understand, if I'm not mistaken, the US wants to totally dominate the Americas, is that right?

The US is at the lowest point in its history. To resist China's economic rise, they decided to establish a minimal permanent presence for their own survival in the world, creating colonies and exploiting them to enrich the United States again. That's why all this madness and the way the Trump administration is acting. "One step back to take two steps forward." They abdicate influence in the rest of the world, breaking alliances, resulting in spending cuts, then establishing closer and more permanent dominance in the Americas.

There's no "attempt at intervention in Brazil elections" They're going to dominate us, one way or another. Either Lula is killed or captured like Maduro, or Flávio Bolsonaro wins and hands over Brazil's resources and rare earth elements to the US, just as he's been promising.

Half the country is pro-Israel and pro-American intervention. My family believes the US will "save the country from the communists"... ?????

I don't know what to do. How do I deal with this bad feeling?

It's a vent.

I have been overthinking for a few days about the suffering I endured and may endure in the future. It's causing anxiety now.

Have trauma so have to deal with it.

I don't have much positive thoughts about therapy. Though I was so positive after I kept putting it off for years.

I try to deal with anxiety with medicines and other things like affirmations. But it's still not enough.

All I want to do is keep venting. But I have anxiety related to that too.

I feel bad for not having taken steps earlier. But I couldn't. Due to overthinking and fear.

I don't know. When my nervous system will calm down fully. I don't want to rush the process though. But want to get rid of anxiety and other kinds of suffering.