Do I have an anxiety problem?

I don't know why, but sometimes I have panicky thoughts centred around a strong desire to change. Everything should be okay, but I cannot help but feel as though something is wrong, and that I need to make drastic alterations to my life. I don't necessarily know what needs to happen, but I start to get upset, and pretty soon my whole day is ruined. This hasn't been happening lately, and for that I'm thankful.

Now something worse is happening, and I'm afraid that it signifies the degradation of my mind. I am starting to get anxious in public to the point where I must gag/throw up. Sometimes it happens at school, and sometimes it happens when I'm around large crowds of people (at the mall or Walmart for example). It starts as an awful, horrible feeling in my chest, and it continues to rise until I feel nauseous. It makes me feel terrible, and honestly, I'm starting to feel upset just writing about it.

Do you think that this is anxiety? If this is anxiety, how do you deal with it? I want to learn how to cope with this problem, so that it doesn't shut down my life when it happens.

I think this is a panic attack (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_attack). That's different from anxiety disorder.

Read about it in the article above for starting to deal with it. Breathing exercises will help you, so will meditation, and cutting coffee and caffeinated drinks like Coke from your diet.

Note: it doesn't signifies the degradation of your mind, it's more related to your breathing and your thinking patterns than to any thing really broken in your brain. And it's perfectly treatable.

i've experienced both of what you've talked about in this thread

the first part... anxiety to make changes, i get that a lot- with me it's like... my life is going past me really quick, i don't know how long i'll live for, so soon i need to make the most of things- start making changes... or i'm going to get to the end of my life having accomplished nothing. that scares me all the time.

the other part... yep- that sounds like a pannic attack to me too!

i've some pretty embarrasing experiences with those (which i won't go in to on this thread) but yeah... it's not nice!

good luck

I'm going probably end up cutting back on caffeinated drinks. Thank you for the reassurance, by the way. I was worried that my mental health was getting worse, rather than better.

I'm always in the process of making changes, or at least that's how my life has been for the last year. I would suggest that you turn those negative thoughts into some motivation to change. That is, if there are things that you truly do feel that you need to change about yourself.

hmmm, not myself as such, but life

but not sure what... hmm

as i say all the time, i've absolutely no desire to do anything- but alss feel guilty for not.

so..