Anxiety

[girl_dee]

i'm not sure what i have but i feel like i battle the strong feeling of anxiety.

Like going into a store. Especially being in the back of the store.

i always feel like i am on the verge of a panic attack...

just weird.

[Apocalipstic]

Originally Posted by girl_dee

i'm not sure what i have but i feel like i battle the strong feeling of anxiety.

Like going into a store. Especially being in the back of the store.

i always feel like i am on the verge of a panic attack...

just weird.

Stores, expecially grocery stores trigger me too.

Maybe if you are in the back of the store, your subconscious knows you are away from an easy exit? Do you have any claustrophobia?

Sudden movements can get to me if I am triggered (I have PTSD, diagnosed first time in 1986). From the parking lot to inside the store, people move fast and in spurts. Sometimes they get in my personal space too. Often people scream at their children, or allow their children to use the buggies as skateboards or bumper cars. I often just have to grab the essentials and leave.

Another thing I have noticed, is that towards the back of a store the air seems stuffy and I get a slight headache.

Stores are often built like caves, and you can't see outside no matter how deep you are in.

In person, you seem task oriented like I am. I can see where figuratively jumping through hoop after hoop to get what you need, plus getting interrupted over and over might wear on you too.

I could go on....

I can see so many valid reasons to be anxious in stores. Lol.

[Nat]

My anxiety has gotten a lot better - it seemed to be at its worst about 3 years ago. I have meds for it now but try not to take them more than necessary.

I think it's helped that I quit drinking, stopped reading the dsm and my environment has become more supportive for the most part.

[girl_dee]

Being away from the exit is a concern....

Mistly i feel like the air is being sucked out of the building

Today i have to go to a bug building and deal with US Customs....

Of course i hardly slept a wink

[Apocalipstic]

I've been working on making sure my home and work environments stew not stressing me put. I've been very anxious this spring. Burning. But I'm taking steps to make it better.

I don't always take care of myself. With a lot of help and encouragement I'm trying to do that.

Glad you are doing Nat!

Dee, that sounds way stressful! I hope all goes smoothly.

[starryeyes]

I have always suffered from anxiety but haven't tried to medicate it yet. I always have the "feeling of impending doom" and have visuals of my house burning up with my dogs inside because I left something on, or other things in that genre. Ugh, I hate it.

I also have social anxiety, which is weird because I am a professional communicator and it doesn't affect me at work at all, in fact people know me as super friendly and social and I am always the get-together planner, event coordinator, speaker at events, etc. I feel most comfortable when I have a role or a duty to fulfill.

If I don't, and have to go into a new situation or around people I am not comfortable around, ugh it sucks. But I hold it all inside and I don't let it show, which might manifest it more, who knows.

I need a psychiatrist. Haha.

[Queenie]

I use to have awful social anxiety. It was so fucking painful! But over the years I grew out of it. I think what really helped was me moving to london and starting new in a new place with my then soon to be husband. Funny thing is, now I will talk to anyone. I just dont give a crap any longer.

I have anxiety when it comes to the bloody phone tho. Its not with talking to the person on the other end. It's dialing the number. It's like a mental block that makes me unable to punch the numbers into the fucking phone! It is starting to really bug the crap out of me!

[girl_dee]

Originally Posted by Apocalipstic

I've been working on making sure my home and work environments stew not stressing me put. I've been very anxious this spring. Burning. But I'm taking steps to make it better.

I don't always take care of myself. With a lot of help and encouragement I'm trying to do that.

Glad you are doing Nat!

Dee, that sounds way stressful! I hope all goes smoothly.

Apparently i was stressing by the look of all those typos,,

i did good and it was quick,,

[Medusa]

I think that identifying your stressors is probably the most helpful thing you can do (at least that has worked for me!). While I don't have terrible anxiety, I do get really stressed out when I feel like I'm losing daylight on projects or my never-ending to-do list.
Knowing this, I will do very simple things like prioritize things with these kinds of categories: things that MUST be done, things I'd like to get done, things that I probably think are important but that really aren't in the grand scheme of things, and things that I can do to help me accomplish the bigger items on my lists.

It's a simple strategy but it works for me.