So what are your triggers?

I occasionally have bouts of absolutely triggerless anxiety.

Main triggers...
- Going to sleep/dark rooms.
- Large lecture halls
- Walking through certain parts of campus during "rush hours" (aka the main times when classes start/end)
- Screaming
- Movies that feature women getting attacked
- Walking by a man/group of men on the sidewalk
- Pills and throat cultures (gagging)
- Being in the kitchen, around my pledge class, and sisterhood activities (I'm in a sorority).
- When people ask me about classes or homework for classes or anything related to academic progress or work.

I just wanted to pop in and say im reading em all and still really appreciate all the responses! Again my hope was to show how similar/different we all are at the same time and demonstrate that nobody here is "crazy" for having triggers. A quick note to those who have mentioned sexual assault or abuse as a trigger, I have no experience with that and I can't begin to try to understand how it has effected you. I don't like putting one trigger above another in level of seriousness because thy are all relative to the individual, but those are definitely their own league of anxiety triggers. I hope one day you can come to believe or rather realize the truth that the majority of people are just minding their own business and not threats, while a small percentage are awesome people who are great to have in your life, and a much smaller percentage are scumbags.

Anywho, I see a lot of responses saying crowds, which is common as we all know of anxious people. I am an exception as crowds dont really bother me if I am not ALREADY in an anxious state. But I will add one for me:

Thinking about medications: I am really tired of everything I feel physically and mentally being first attributed to medication effects. Example, yesterday I was exhausted after 9 hours of sleep, and all I could think of was how it was my meds making me tired and ruining my quality of sleep. 1 day of tiredness with no other problems prompted me to get to a point where I was worried that I needed to fully change my meds or get off of them lol. SUCH A POINTLESS WASTE OF ENERGY. More reason to be excited for January when I start the year long process of coming off my meds . Benzos first, super slow, then after a few months hopefully coming off antidepressants slowly. Good news is my psych is on board with coming off benzos which is rare from what I can tell about psychs lol. Antidepressants on the other hand may take some convincing as he really doesn't believe in any "alternative" treatments outside of CBT. Vitamins, positive thinking, spiritual (not religious) discovery are where im throwing my effort into, but he thinks they are at best placebos. But he works for me right? Haha.

I do not take benzos anymore and my p-doc supports me in that.

I hope nobody minds if I pitch in... Even though my answers are probably identical to those already mentioned.

- Crowds. Of any kind. Be it a party, a family gathering, a standup at my work, shopping in a department store or even events like movies or sports games. I once had a bad panic attack when I had to ride a rush-hour train in Tokyo.

- Speaking to women. Especially those I find attractive. When I'm attracted to someone my mind just completely shuts down and I have trouble forming coherent sentences. I'm so afraid that they'll recognize my attraction to them and hate me for it; they always have.

- Speaking with people in authority positions. It's difficult for me to talk to my boss; I freak out whenever I have eye contact with the CEO of the company I work for. Last week I was alone in an elevator with him and I nearly collapsed when he talked to me.

- Presentations. I seriously cannot present things in meetings of more than a few people anymore.

- Meeting new people. I can't stand introducing myself because I have this sense that I'm really not worth knowing, and I don't want to "taint" a person's life because they associate with me. I'm so worried about that first impression, and fear that they'll hate me from the get-go because I'm terrible at talking to people.

- Casual greetings. I hate it when people I hardly even know ask me "How's it going?" or the like. I get so nervous because part of me doesn't want to lie to them, but the other part of me knows I have to conform to the social norms and say "okay" or "fine" because it's expected.

- Shopping. Normally grocery shopping is okay, but things like xmas shopping or especially going to the music store for a CD cause me to panic. I'm worried about what other people around me will think when I pick out a certain item, like they'll judge me on the spot for what I buy.

- Nights in locations away from light pollution. I have this thing about insignificance, and nothing reminds me of it more than looking at a black sky full of stars. I'm one person among billions of people, all living on this rock orbiting a single star... so when I can see the thousands of other stars out there, it really brings things into perspective, in a bad way.

Surprises: I don't like any sort of surprise. It's really bad when ever some one shows up at my house with out telling me first, I hear the bell and think "who could that be?" and feel instant panic. I like being in control of things, it's comforting.

Undiagnosed illness: I get really anxious over different things, which lead to physical symptoms such as nausea and "brain fog" or light headedness. This leads to me worrying that there's some underlying problem (other than anxiety) that is undiagnosed and could potentially cause me more serious harm.

Shopping alone: I can't do things in public alone with out listening to my ipod. I have to shut off the rest of the world and just relax to my music, get my stuff and get the home. It's worse if I unexpectedly wind up alone in public. For example, I went shopping with my partner. We were waiting out side for our taxi home, then she realised she forgot some thing and went back inside while I was left standing out side alone. Automatically felt self concious, nauseated and light headed.

Being sick at work: Because I am plagued with feeling generally unwell in the stomach and head I find myself waking up in the morning for work and worrying that I won't feel well that day. Even though at the time I feel fine, I still worry, which results in me feeling unwell because of anxiety.

Feeling trapped: This ones been a struggle lately since moving to Northern Ireland from Australia. I feel so isolated from my family and feel trapped in the life choices I've made. Due to many reasons all I want is to be back home again, but feel obligated to stay because I made this choice. I feel I should ride it out. Which leaves me feeling absolutely trapped.

There's so many different things that trigger anxious feelings for me. These are just the main ones I tend to experience daily, rather than every other day.

omogosh reading everyone's triggers make me feel a little better because i know i can relate to some

Mine are:
not being in control of my surroundings.

thinking about people close to me passing away.. I get really nervous when I know I can't call that person to see if they are okay,especially at night.

when i feel relaxed, I freak out because I'm not in control anymore. if that makes sense.

I always get worried I'm going to develop some kind of mental illness like schizophrenia, or something along those lines. I worry about things that haven't happened yet, and may never actually happen. what if i lose my job and never find another one. I worry about things that can happen in the future. For example, I think "what if I buy a car, can't make car payments."

I hate feeling like I am trapped in a certain place. Like, if i go to a party and the person i go with is going to stay longer than I wish to, I feel trapped. I can't drive, which makes it worse. I feel like everything is closing in and i can't get out. but I actually LOVE being in elevators and closed spaces, so i'm not claustrophobic *lol*

I always have this feeling I'm going to have to go pee and won't be able to hold it, idk why though.

i live in a bad neighborhood so I always feel something bad is going to happen, but it makes my anxiety worse knowing it's completely rational.

I have that always needing to pee feeling to. I just know it's related to nerves not really having to pee.

Hi,
HELP
My trigger is being stuck on this bus. I have to write b/c I'm starting ti hyperventlate and,lose it. I just need to hang on.
U know that this thread isn't real time but I'm writing ad though I were just to get through this. So thanks for reading this.

Aaaaaaaahhhhh

THESE!!!

1. Cold and Flu...being sick. 2. Lack of sleep...that spacey feeling... 3. Smoke...had bad thoughts when I was sick and depressed...came from neighbors wood stoves... 4. Letting myself relive past episods of struggles with depression.

Bills
My husband's family
My mother
The face in the mirror

anxiety is an annoying *** *****, wish things were different.

WHOA I am so happy so many responses guys. Really awesome and comforting for me.

In related news I am not sure if I am about to be more anxious than ever, or if im just doing really well. Fatigue/nightly stomach pain sent me to the doctor who did bloodwork and said Gastritis with a possible ulcer. Blood work comes back and I am now 22, with an ulcer, slightly high cholesterol, and my new obsession, very elevated liver enzymes. Scheduled with a GI doc on the 31st. I also lost 13lbs in a month while eating fatty food without exercise. The Anemia causing fatigue is really the worst part by far.

So now im convinced that i have liver damage to due my good ole cymbalta, liver cancer, or have something wrong with my ability to absorb b12 just like I have a problem absorbing vitamin D. 2 of those 3 are of course bad news and 1 is just another ****** aspect of my body but nothing big. Guess which my mind thinks is worth thinking about the most? CANCER OF COURSE! DEAD BY NEW YEARS RIGHT!? Now the really weird part, no panic associated...

Obsessive? sure. Contributing every thing I feel to my new unproven Liver Cancer? OBVIOUSLY! But...im not too scared...Dont know why. Take just now for instance, in a hotel for the night. Go into the bathroom and it has really bright yellow lights. My eyes are bloodshot and look yellowish in the mirror. 2 options: im tired and the bright yellow lights are bright and yellow..or im jaundiced from liver failure and need emergency help. Well im not panicking and instead im going to watch Fight Club on my laptop and go to bed. Now its not that i believe the yellow lights are causing the yellow eyes, i just dont seem to care lol. Dunno, maybe my subconscious is taking the road of "worrying isnt a treatment for liver disease", which would be nice. Either that or the cancer is effecting my nervous system and as a byproduct reducing anxiety. Haha what a wild ride life is.

To get off obsessing over myself for a second, I still check this posting I made and am so glad so many have responded . Some of these are so similar to me and some are so different but we all can identify them. Keep em coming friends!

Oh just to name a few: any possibility of being rejected, my old high school, church, certain people, the last town I lived in (enterprise, ut), when people can see what I'm doing on a computer screen, poison, germs, aaaaaaaand anything involving injections.

My heart starts to race whenever the phone rings or I hear a scratchy voice (old woman?) yelling/screaming. Needles don't make me feel too hot. Also, alarms. Any general sound or movement that indicates distress.

I hate fire drills, but tornado drills are okay. Actually, they send a pleasant chill down my spine. No clue why, but it's nice.

1 trigger i forgot to mention... people looking at me in any shape or form