Iin: anxiety: lifetime sense of impending doom? can anyone else relate

my entire life has been one giant anxiety attack. it started when i was 3 and i didn't want to leave my home at all. i couldn't be in restaurants or cars too long, i would just cry and shake and want to run to the exit.

from ages 8-13 i didn't ever want to leave my town. i was comfortable at my small elementary school though with 7 of my closest friends.

at 14 years old my anxiety became detrimental. i had grown 7 inches tall one summer and i became very thin and awkward looking. i got picked on, beat up, laughed at, you name it all the time. i had major panic attacks weekly. i had a fear of vomiting, so i would have panic attacks from that too. any time i felt sick i had to go home. and i would skip school.

in high school my anxiety leveled out. i had a best friend along with a big group of friends. i went to parties. i never talked at such parties due to social anxiety. they never invited me back after the first year.

and then i met my girlfriend when i was 16. she then became my only friend throughout high school. i had no anxiety during this time. it was rare. i still date her to this day.

college came, and oh man, anxiety hit me like a train. i became depersonalized. i forgot who i was, i had a mental breakdown in my campus dorm. for the next 8 months i didnt know who my hands belonged to. my world felt like a movie, every thought i had was morbid. i was 100% convinced i was going to end up in a nuthouse or DIE. i had to have hour long talks with my mom just to function the next day. i would cry because i thought my life was actually over.

i am now a junior in college, and my thoughts now are extremely morbid. life scares me, i only see the bad. I only see death, sadness, being in a dream state, being drugged, endless work, evil people, dumb people. MY SENSE OF HAPPINESS HAS VANISHED.

2 years later and my anxiety, severe depression, depersonalization have vanished. i now live an emotionless, empty life. my dreams are crushed into pieces. i have no hope left for me at all.

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at the moment of typing this, i have this strong feeling that i am going to die in a car accident this year. and i am like already preparing for it. but not consciously, i'm doing it subconsciously. and i'm just afraid my girlfriend will die too. in my life, i appear happy. when im with my girlfriend, im the happiest man on earth. but it almost feels not real. like the past 5 years with her has just been a dream. when i am alone, i feel so upset. i am graduating college in 2 semesters and that scares me too. im not mentally equip ed for the real world. i just want to feel happy again like i used to. i had these strong feelings throughout k-12 that i would end up big, strong, healthy, happy. i mean i became what i wanted to, but i experience it so differently. its so grey. im rambling now. you probably haven't read this far.

CAN ANYONE RELATE? if so, how do you push through?

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Comments ( 4 )
  • TheOptimist

    Well... I usually use this site for entertainment but i understand you and I empathise. MANY people experience anxiety and don't realise till later in life.

    Some random thoughts (because is not a professional)

    1. Go and seek help... Perhaps you already have but it's a long process.
    2. I personally don't think we can "beat" anxiety - but we can control it.
    3. While there's a lot of bad shit happening in life there's also a world of good things. Try to position yourself around the good stuff (i.e. I stay away from drugs, too much alcohol, etc)
    4. Confide in someone you're very close to. If they know you're struggling they'll want to be supportive.
    5. Write shit down. When things feel like they're gaining on me I find writing my thoughts down helps.
    6. Most importantly, send naked photos of your girlfriend. That always helps!

    I'm kidding of course with the last one - but do y to see the lighter side of life. As you age and you gather new experiences you'll realise that there are some things you can control and some you can't. Try to do the best you can on the things you can control and enjoy the things you can't.

    I've probably been no help but I hope at least you realise you're not alone.

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  • BlackyHancock

    I strongly advise you to seek professional help for anxiety. There are people that can help you with that.

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  • kittyrebz88

    I have been where you are and felt what you have felt, so I can understand to some extent. There is a way to get out of this state, you need to take back control of your mind. Basically you are in a heightened and prolonged state of anxiety. How I got out of it was realising I wasn't the only one, and finding people who were going through the same thing, I found comfort in speaking with people that understood the feelings and that I wasn't alone with this struggle. The second thing that helped me was understanding why I was feeling like this and seeing things weird, specifically with the panic attacks that came with the anxiety. Basically, your brain thinks you are in danger and it is making your body react as it would if you actually in real danger, like if a lion was running towards you. It's the fight or flight mechanism, which you probably have heard of before. Your body is preparing you to either fight or flee, the only difference is, there isn't actually any danger or need for it to do this, which is alarming because you feel all the changes in your body. Your heart is beating fast because it is pumping blood to your limbs to help you run, your vision is sharper - which can make you think everything looks not quite right. Basically your brain is trying to protect itself when it doesn't need to, and is therefore making things feel a lot worse. The brain can be an ass hole, but it doesn't mean to be. For me, medication didn't solve anything, it just numbed everything else. The best thing that eventually got me out of it was seeing a psychologist and talking through it, also speaking with others that were going through the same or similar thing, understanding the biology and reason for it all (because finding that there is a reason for feeling like that and why it was happening helped get rid of that feeling of dread and impending doom). Finally, accepting that we will all die some day and accepting that there is nothing we can do about it, made me realise that worrying about death and waiting for it every day wasn't going to change anything, so there is no point in thinking about it and instead just appreciate every day that we are alive. You are fearing fear itself, that's what is happening to you and you can change that. Good luck!

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  • Ellenna

    So what happened to trigger anxiety when you were so young?

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