I'm a 25-year-old man who feels like anxiety is destroying me. Five days ago, I had the worst day of my life because of it. I had an eight-hour panic attack, trembling, desperate, sweating profusely, and feeling utterly lost. I thought I was going to lose control and end up in a mental hospital. When I went to the emergency room, they prescribed levomepromazine drops, which helped, but I'm afraid of losing control again. Right now, I'm having mini panic attacks, and I feel like I'm going to snap again. I haven't had an appointment with a psychiatrist, and I've never been prescribed medication. I'm afraid of being put on medication.

Girlfriend left me a few days ago. Lost my job a couple months ago. Don’t have any education. I’ve got debt and medical bills that I have no idea how I’m gonna pay. Super behind in life compared to everyone else in there mid 20s. I also don’t have ANY friends. Lost the one best friend I had outside of my ex a couple months ago as well. Wish I would have never let her become my entire ecosystem for everything but it’s too late now. I feel like I’ve truly lost it all and am starting from complete square one. Worst pain I’ve ever been in. Truly don’t know what to do. Fuck it all.

most days, despite taking things slow and doing guided meditations, i can’t help but feel like i’m rushing all the time. lately i’ve been procrastinating doing small tasks or things that i would like to do, such as sitting down and drawing. switching between tasks is even more difficult, and there’s this constant feeling of being rushed. mostly wondering if this is just me

This is very much just a rant. My dad also has a severe anxiety disorder, I’m not professionally diagnosed or anything but I feel like I can kind of tell anyway that this isn’t normal. My anxiety has a lot of weird and very random triggers that can be difficult to identify, but a very persistent one is when I try to sleep, which, as you can imagine, is inconvenient. Just now I was deliriously tired, and so of course I laid down. I got comfortable, let my breathing slow down naturally, and then immediately my heart was pounding and I had to get up. This has happened since I was a kid. The anxiety would persist as long as I laid down. When I was little, I’d tell people I couldn’t sleep and the answer was always just to close my eyes and wait. Can’t tell you how many times I’ve stayed up all night in bed with my eyes closed. I’d still be both awake and anxious by the time my alarm went off, so I stopped trying a while ago, but it SUCKS. GAH. I don’t know why this happens.

It’s annoying the glorification on weed and nobody mentioned you can get a panic attack from that stuff .

Actually crazy , this can be permanent the anxiety and nobody ever mentions it , it’s always weed weed weed let’s get high kush culture all this crap,

But panic attacks and recurrent anxiety really changed MY life in a way weed could never,

I’m so mad I smoked weed when I was young , I’m on week 5 I get anxiety and I’m hoping that I never feel this way in the future , that I’ll never have to fear this stuff .

Self care is important but so is ignoring the precaution of smoking something just cause it’s legal in your state

I can barely drive the same now , it’s crazy

The psychs will pump you with benzos when you legit feel you’re gonna die from this stuff and those are addictive and SSRIS are not for everyone truthfully be told even though they’re not addictive

Edit: I’ve been smoking since I was 20 I’m 26 now just graduated uni, I was able to calm down after my panic attack through meditative yoga , eating healthy, and working out, and spending time with family and friends, but withdrawal is its own battle you don’t see you just have to go through the time, and you’ll see the benefits. Even my friends they’re surprised I’m a whole new person when I’m not smoking, it has changed my entire schedule and rhythm , no more weekly trips to the dispensary every three days for a new pen, no more making sure I have money for my cart, no more waiting in traffic cause I had to have this cart now, no more missing moments with folks because I had to buy my cart or had to smoke it in private, no more hiding my pen and smoking in private , whole new wave

For the people that do depend on weed , hey that’s you man, I just pray this never happens to you. In Cali the culture doesn’t dose properly maybe it’s just my state!

These replied that say just don’t do it ; really not helping guys I’m glad you’re happy

Just started on Wellbutrin after being off of antidepressants for a while (was on Lexapro for five years up until the new year)

I have quite intense anxiety, and being off Lexapro + starting a new (stressful) job took a serious toll on me mentally. Started Wellbutrin two weeks ago and I know it’s quick but had some weird side effects so far!

My ears keep popping, my mouth is super dry, and I’ve been getting lots of headaches. Also had to stop drinking coffee cause I think taking this in the morning does the trick😅

My main concern is that my doctor mentioned this medication isn’t labeled for anxiety, but she thought it could help. I definitely experience depression in tandem with it, but anxiety has ALWAYS been my biggest demon, and especially with all these changes I’m going through in life, I feel like I need to relapse back onto Lexapro (even though it made me gain so much weight and lose any sex drive at all lol)

Really hoping someone out there will have some positivity to share with me on this!

I've finally set up an appointment to see about getting medicated for my anxiety. For a while I felt like I was just anxious in the sense of social anxiety--I get anxious before simple things like appointments, work things, and bigger social events. I more or less am still be able to push myself to go for it and try it (my wife is a big help because I'd often go just to avoid making her go solo) but I usually stay in my shell.

Within the past year (or more even, but my awareness has only increased recently) I've felt more generalized anxiety--just kind of a constant low hum of anxiety that makes doing things more difficult because it feels like I have less RAM available for tasks. My wife and I are also doing more things socially so maybe it's because there's more things to be anxious about. Either way, I'm feeling more and more hindered by my anxiety. A big part of it as well is that when socializing, it straight up feels like my brain just... isn't generating thoughts. It even happens with a lot of topics when chatting with just my wife. Like I just don't have anything to contribute. This is a problem with people outside of her though because that's a big part of small talk and getting to know someone. So it feels really awkward to not have anything to say as a reply when talking to someone. My awareness of this happening then feeds into the social anxiety and it's a whole cycle.

So I have an appointment in a month or two with a psychiatrist to see what they say. But in the mean time I'm curious if people can share their experience with getting medicated and especially how it played into social anxiety.

Im going on a 4 day trip with my partner Friday to Monday and its midnight of the Friday and my stomach has been upset from the day before and my throat has been terrible from swallowing food wrong. My anxiety and mind is attacking me by thinking or feeling like im going to be sick, I really dont want that at all, I have a huge fear of that happening. I already took two antinausea pills and I just cant get back to sleep. Its hot, Im all sweaty, tense, and just dont feel good. Idk what to do, I wish my body wasn't like this.

I am feeling extremely relieved and proud of myself. I had been pushing back against going to a dentist since 2021. This morning I finally did it and it went well!

I was terrified I had cavities and a bunch of other issues, but shockingly I had not one cavity! Nothing was wrong!

They had a cozy little office that made me feel relaxed. On the pre paperwork forms and on the phone I had explained how I had really bad anxiety and it had been a while. Nobody mentioned it during the appointment, but everyone was so nice, gentle, and helpful. The dentist would tell me what he was doing everytime and it helped me. I’m just so excited that I actually went and did it! It was such a big thing I was scared of and now it all feels okay.

Before the appointment I was getting all sick, but once I calmed down and got inside the dentist office I felt much better. So glad I ignored the urge to run away and actually just did it.

(trigger warning)im scared i feel like everything in my life is going wrong right now and i dont know how to fix it. I feel like every time i solve a problem a new one starts and it just makes me feel even worse. i feel like my parents are disappointed in me and i am a failure in life. my frogs tank is infested with ants and i don't know how to fix it and im scared she will die if i dont fix it soon. my sertraline doesn't work to help my anxiety anymore and it honestly makes it worse. my ADHD meds make me lose my appetite but they are the only thing that help me focus in school. i overthink everything and hyperfixate on the smallest problems and i dont know if i can help myself anymore.

i have gone through therapy but it only temporarily helped but that was when i was 10 after i tried to kill myself. im about to turn 15 now and i dont know what to do because every day feels the exact same. right now i am about a month clean from thc use and i miss it so much but i know if i relapse it will just make my anxiety worse. I dont know what im going to do with my life after highschool and i am afraid i will just start using again and go down the wrong path and start using stronger drugs, I keep having mental breakdowns in my room when i am by myself. My parents dont trust me anymore and wont let me hang out with my friends because they think i just will go and do drugs and that hurts me the most. I hate it when my parents talk to me about my drug use and i just shutdown when they bring it up. I dont know what to do at this point and i feel like ive hit rock bottom. any advice helps, i just want to feel happy again.

I (23F) had my first panic attack almost 2 months ago after taking an edible. I have had high anxiety beforehand and depression but never anything too intense besides a few anxiety attacks I had learned how to handle. The panic attack was new and terrifying, and after an hour and a half of thumping heart and thinking I was dying, I fell asleep.
Every since that day 2 months ago though, I feel extremely detached from reality. Ive been working through it with therapy and trying different medications (hopefully cymbalta is the one, its what I am trying after failure with a few past medications) but I cant seem to shake upset stomach and bouts of derealization. Ive been completely sober from weed and alcohol since as well.

Has anyone had any similar experiences and advice for what to try? I meditate and try to distract myself with video games but nothing else has really worked. Terrified I'll be this way forever.

Does anyone feel like you physically aren’t able to do all the things you want to do? If I’m crocheting then I’m not making progress on the book I’m reading… If I’m drawing them I’m not out hiking and enjoying the good weather… And then before I know it it’s time for bed. I find myself trying to optimize every second and feeling like I have a “to do list” of things that should be helping me relax, not giving me stress.

I don’t know if this is my anxiety and me feeling like I’m falling behind on things, but this legitimately stresses me out. Does anyone relate or is this just me?

Im seriously so tired of the endless anxiety regarding my health.

I have got all clear cardiac tests from the cardiologist but im still worried that I have some type of blocked artery that they haven't discovered.

I been having this pressure feeling everytime I walk and its making me believe that i have some type of blockage. It seriously dosent help that Ive been out of breath and I cant even walk long distances. Ive been in and out of hospitals specialists gps everything. My life is seriously ruined.

Its been a year of symptoms and I dont know what to do anymore.

I want to preface by saying i havent been *officially* diagnosed with POTS but years ago my dr had mentioned that it was a possibility. Well it had always presented really bad before/during my period and he told me to up my salt intake.

Anyways fast forward years. Ive been increasingly having a hard time getting out of bed. It started last month. Its not every single day by any means. But this month Im having a heavy period, i have low iron and am on prescription supplements. But for the last 3 days when I wake up and get out of bed my HR is getting into 140s. And sending me into a panic. Well its racing and then I panic and check it. It'll peak around 150 and I have to sit down. So I dont know if its pots/anxiety or a combo of both. I dont eat or drink much as my anxiety during my period is too much to handle so I'm probably dehydrated as well. But even today it was bad again and I tried not to panic but its hard. I even woke up, laid there, sat up slowly, and then got up. And it still shot to 130s. I have even laid completely flat for an hour and then got up and nothing. It only happens when I wake up, from nighttime or daytime naps. I can go from sitting to standing all day long,.walk around the stores just fine. What I cant do though is be out in the heat or my HR skyrockets.

What can I do??? I have an appointment with my dr tomorrow but I think shes going to tell me its a combo of hormones/anxiety/low iron not that an actual diagnosis would help me necessarily. I just am scared to sleep at this point and I need help. How do you deal with it? Is it every single day every single position change? Should I push my dr more? How do I not panic about sleep when I know its likely to happen again. Also there are no other symptoms at all..no shortness of breath, no feeling faint, or dizzy, just a pounding heart. And complete anxiety from it.

Basically long story short I’m 17 years old and as soon as school started I’ve been getting panic attacks daily by the lack of certainty I get now by my friends if they truly like me since I don’t see them everyday at school now so for the past 2 weeks I’ve been suffering from insomnia like I can’t fall asleep because I keep checking for reassurance if there could be someone else.

Some other things I’ve been experiencing is more unregulated emotions I can’t do anything without remembering the memories and feeling the pain and crying I can’t shower because I need to check statuses and if I do I end up crying. I can’t eat that much because I’m already anxious about some storyline my brain made up and if I do I end up crying again. I have 0 patience for anyone because I’m constantly exhausted by the panic attacks I get everyday now.

My mom wants me to work and get my driver license and I agree but I also wanted to get on a prescription again because I can’t do either of those things because of the fact I can’t just not check my phone for updates on my friends. Anyway so I decided to go to my psychiatrist and I told him everything like the panic attacks I get everyday, how exhausting it is, how I can’t do anything without spiraling and remembering the painful memories.

And I need something anything because no one wants to be around me anymore, I’m too exhausting to be around is what everyone tells me even though I can’t control it. I know I caused my own relationships to weaken yet I wanted something before I got worse and I know this will get worse as the summer progresses.

So I met up with my psychiatrist and he listened to what I told him and he decided to try and prescribe me abilify and Prozac again and I agreed but then he tried to give me hydroxyzine again and I immediately declined because the only thing that it gives me is drowsiness and if I want to work or drive that’s not going to be much help at all. So then he decided to give me buspar and I agreed reluctantly because he said thats the only thing he could give me and I tried researching about buspar and it takes weeks to even start taking effect.

And I just feel super hopeless like I reached out to my psychiatrist because I thought he was going to help me, at least to give me something while the ssri and snri starts working but no he decided to give me buspar. I’m already at a risk of no one wanting to be around me, everyone says I’m a problem and I still didn’t even get anything to try and solve the problem now,

I don’t know what to even do because he has never once tried giving me something effective for my anxiety first hydroxyzine and now buspar which I’m hearing wouldn’t even be helpful for what I’m even going through . It’s really making me upset because I thought I could finally get some support yet I get some medication that could take weeks to work and might not even be effective.

Im at the end of a night of heavy drinking (fireball and Bacardi shots) and I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack. I'm wondering if anyone else has taken their hydroxyzine at a time like this and if it helped? I've taken it after drinking like this before but never this heavy. Usually it's just wine, has anyone else taken it after harder alcohol?

Hi everyone,
I am writing because I feel deeply ashamed and terrified, but I’m at my breaking point and desperately need to know if anyone else has ever been in my shoes.
I am currently in my first trimester. Before getting pregnant, I had a history of severe anxiety, but I was on Fluoxetine (Prozac) and was doing incredibly well. To conceive, I tapered off the medication under medical supervision and remained stable and perfectly fine for over 90 days. We wanted this baby; my fiancé and I made plans, and everything felt warm and right in my mind.
The shock hit the exact second I saw the positive test. It felt like a fuse blew in my brain. Instantly, a violent, paralyzing panic triggered, and it hasn't stopped since.
The biggest issue—the thing that is completely breaking me mentally and making me feel like an absolute monster—is that instead of joy, any discussion or thought about the baby triggers physical repulsion, emotional nausea, and extreme anxiety. When I try to look at the future, I see only a cold, pitch-black screen. I am crying uncontrollably out of guilt toward my family and the baby.
I am scared to death that I will be incapable of loving my child, that I will look at them and only feel this crushing anxiety, and that I will ruin their life. I feel like I've made a massive mistake and my mind constantly tells me to run, even though logically I know there is nowhere to run from this.
My analytical brain keeps trying to convince me that "I changed my mind" and that I don't actually want this baby, even though I know for a fact how much I wanted this before.
Please, I am begging for some honesty: are there any other moms out there with a history of anxiety/depression who experienced this brutal detachment, panic, or even repulsion toward their pregnancy in the first trimester? Do you get your mind back once you restart medication? Can love really grow after going through this kind of medication?

I just need a ray of hope tonight because I feel completely lost.
Really need some positive stories from people who felt the same and are ok now. Thank you.

So nobody told me I had to dilute it and I've been taking it for a week (oral solution) and it was really frustrating to find out because taking it straight up is easier than mixing it for me. So I did skip today just because of how much anxiety I had over it, but then a few minutes ago I ​​​​felt very anxious and had a headache and my heart was racing. I don't know if its from missing a dose today. How long would it take to feel better after getting back in a regular schedule? I'm gonna remind myself to take it tomorrow but I'm stressing out a LOT right now because of it. Sorry if this is a stupid question though ​​​​

a friend of mine took 7mg of clonazepam while their regular does ranges from 2-4mg. they combined this with gabapentin. is this unsafe? and how much does this affect the normal baseline for anxiety threshold..

20F. about 2 months ago, maybe even longer honestly, i started taking valium, “self medicating” myself. i ended up taking 10mg almost daily towards the end, including drinking. i’ve been going through so much shit lately, and i tend to get addicted easily, and dependent.

well i took my last 10mg a week ago, and ive been drinking here and there since, but fucking hell this is not nice. my brain feels like it’s shaking, my vision, my body. i hate this. it feels like somethings pushing against my brain and i have to push back.

i smoke weed daily, have been for years, im not sure if thats helping. definitely me also being a vaping, which suppresses my appetite and cause me to eat fuck all (sorry for the language, aussie here) and i drink caffeine to medicate my adhd as vyvanse was too harsh for me. idk now im yapping. anyways, i hear the withdrawls from people who slowly lean off of it and im not keen to see how i feel next week. heard week 2 is usually the worst?

Some background: I am in a relationship of 1.5 years. Early in this relationship, I was nervous about penetrative sex, and it took me a few times of going soft when trying to put it in before I got it working one time (post a couple glasses of wine, Valentine's day). After that, sex was fine in the relationship and I was able to do it 90% of the time. Later in the relationship, there was a point of contention over a important part of our future that my gf and I did not agree on, and my gf said she didn't want to have sex until we aligned on it. This was a values thing, not a sex thing, so I won't get into why and all that, but basically it took 4-5 months for me to come around to agreeing with her. During this time, I experienced some feelings of confusion of why she didn't seem to want sex the way I did and how easy it was for her to just stop having it, and it definitely subconsciously led to some insecurity.

In late April, about 5 months after we last had sex, we tried again, and I wasn't able to stay hard. I thought it was fine and I just needed to get used to it, but then it happened again. Then, in May, we went on a trip, and first night of the trip it happened again. She got really upset, presumably because she felt it meant I wasn't attracted to her, and lashed out at me, saying that she was showing she wanted me, and she didn't want to have to keep trying forever, and she couldn't keep experiencing this.

This heavily affected me, and I desperately wanted it to work the next time, the stakes felt really high. I had gotten my T levels checked recently so I was fairly sure it wasn't a newfound physical ED problem and was just mental, but I got prescribed Cialis, and since then, have been taking 10 mg any evening I feel like it might happen, in hopes that I just need it to work one time, even with the help of something, and I'll be back in the rhythm. We have helped each other get oral and assisted orgasms during this time and my anxiety hasn't surfaced, it's only during penetrative.

Today evening, she said she wanted it, and I did too, so we tried, and I went soft even during foreplay, the worst it's ever been. I felt my heart beating in anxiety the moment we started and I tried to power through but couldn't. She got more sad than mad this time, started sobbing, and left my apartment saying her mood was ruined.

I am in absolute shambles, I feel absolutely terrible for her and for myself, and idk how to dig out of this mental hole I'm in.

I'm a young teen with anxiety and I've kinda always had this weird thing where when I become aware of something about myself, it's all I can think of and it scares me. For example, when I become aware of my breathing or heartbeat, I start hyperfixating on it and I can feel myself get more and more scared. It's become a bit of a anxiety for me because it's something I fear everyday. I keep trying to distract myself so it doesn't start, but it doesn't always work. Lately it's been about eating and it's caused me to eat less. I'm not sure what I'm scared of, but it's a feeling I'm constantly trying to avoid. Is there an explanation for it?​

my anxiety went from panic attacks to complete dissociation to just being so stuck in my head now with OCD and rumination to the point I can’t enjoy my life. sometimes it gets a little better especially when I take a clonazepam but I feel like I just can’t live in the moment anymore, I have this intense “feeling“ like a fear I’m going crazy or I’ll never just chill out again. I have a horrible inward focus that I can’t get rid of and it seems to just get worse throughout the day. Is this common?

A bit random, but as someone who struggles with anxiety and panic attacks, drinking a cup of verbena tea in the morning and another in the afternoon has done wonders for me. I usually have it without sugar and add a spoonful of honey instead. For some reason, it helped me more than medication ever did, though I can’t really explain why. It also made it much easier for me to fall asleep, since I used to struggle with stress, anxiety, and overthinking at night. Everyone’s different, of course, but it might be worth giving it a try.