[Laneba]

I've never felt this before. I'm going through a crisis and depression and I've never felt this anxious in my life. Like my heartbeat couldn't be faster and can't really breathe calmly. All the time I feel something in my throat and like a heaviness on my chest. Just in my heart it feels bad, physically bad, don't really know how to describe it, is not pain, it's just a bad sensation.

Because of all this, I end up doing nothing about my life and the things I should do as a minimally functioning human being. I sit here and avoid my life. Don't go out. Don't have much energy for anything else than being in front of this screen, laying on bed and going to the bathroom. I take a shower every three days. At least I brush my teeth and my hair and I eat occasionally. I just keep feeling this anxiety and every day gets worse, because every day I do nothing.

How can I deal with this?

Have you seen a doctor?

I very much didn't expect to get much help for my anxiety from my gp. I felt stupid and like my concerns would be just brushed aside as something that I was imagining. But I did get some help.

I know how it feels. It might be a physical reaction to something you think is happening, or (and this was my case) the symptoms were not something I could relate to any conscious though I was having...

I still don't have a connection, just waves after wave of anxiety occasionally...sometimes lasting days.

No fun.

If you post in the anxiety section of the forum, you will probably find more help...

Oh my gosh, I am sorry to hear whenever someone else suffers this.

My anxiety is connected to catastrophic thinking but some of the strategies and coping mechanisms I have in my 'toolbox' help anxiety regardless.

I have several very helpful worksheets from my CBT training. The one that is most helpful you may be able to find by googling "Decatastrophic Thinking Worksheet". Another thing I do is make a for/against list on paper. This is NOT a pros and cons list rather a list of 'to what advantage does thinking this way help me' vs 'to what disadvantage does thinking this way produce'.

I used to walk around with a worry stone. I have no need to do so any longer as I know the stone so well I merely have to imagine it.

When I am at home and anxious I will use 'weight therapy'. There is no need to get yourself a weighted blanket. Heavy bean bag on your shoulder does wonders. It give us the same sense of comfort you get from being hugged and is very calming. I made my own out of a long tube sock and big bag of lentils.

When I am out in public. You may have heard of the '5 senses' It is a way of practising mindfulness. Find 5 things to see and consider everything you see about them. What 5 things do you hear and pay attention to them. Is there anything you can smell. And what 5 things do you feel? The fifth is harder, it is taste but sometimes you are in a place or situation (ie at a coffee shop) where taste is relevant too.

Welcome aboard by the way

[winter4me]

I used to choose one thing to do (and I had a rule to go to work/school) even if it was just go to the corner store and buy some small thing...it "proves" you are still functioning, and usually there is a sense of accomplishment that helps a bit.
Medication, in the end, after years...did help me but I still need other coping skills (like a task to do, using things that calm me a bit---dancing, if it is good weather jumping into the river, lake, or ocean always helps me...camping too...it could be something totally different for you....) ((((((hug))))))) I am so sorry...now that I am much older, I feel badly for my young self....a piece of me was cut short by anxiety/dissociationetc...
But, well, the kids I never thought I would have are wonderful healthy adults and the grandson is a kick so it wasn't all bad...and I managed to work full time most of my life in spite of sometimes feeling like I was just a floating torso---the thing for me was needing to function, and realizing that others didn't see what I felt.
Sometimes it was misinterpreted as unfriendly (eg: I was threatened with expulsion from a dorm for not being sociable...I had one supporter...and I walked out on the meeting I was summoned to---by the end of the semester I was told I was "OK"....I didn't change but they came to see it had nothing to do with them...)
and life goes on....
Get as much help as you can and need---it wasn't available for me and then when it was I waited too long and did too little in many ways...