Yes. I talk to my mom for an hour when I have an anxiety attack. It’s usually after my night pill for one or two hours.

Yes. I have never sought a formal diagnosis but I’m pretty sure my anxiety is clinically significant. As far as I can remember it started when I was about 8 years old. I used to lie awake worrying I had forgotten to do a homework assignment or something.

I am currently going through a rough patch with it, I am nearly paralyzed by job-related anxiety on a daily basis. I also get anxious with regards to my health and politics. I have had a lot of sleepless nights this year.

I see a counselor. I take medication, an SSRI. I recently doubled my dose of my medication. That was about a week ago. I’m not seeing a change yet but I’m a little hopeful that it will help. Going on the medication in the first place was hugely helpful. I didn’t even realize how bad my anxiety was until it was a little lessened by meds and I was like “Ah, this is how normal people feel.”

My mom is supportive. She is kind of similar to me. My dad, he won’t come out and say it, but I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s just a personality flaw. He makes jokes and encourages me to “chill out.” So I don’t talk to him about it. My boyfriend is supportive but I don’t feel he really understands what I’m feeling. I don’t have as much of a support system as I would like, and I’m not making as much progress as I would like.

Yes, anxiety and PTSD after mom’s death, surviving a past abusive relationship, and armed robbery in my home. I talk to my partner and my brother about it and keep some close friends and we call each other just to vent sometimes. I used to talk to my mom until she passed away.

Yes, I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I take one medication for it daily, and I have another one I take as needed. I also meditate daily, which is superb. I have found that meditation does not have to follow any formal schooling to be very beneficial. I am conscious of my diet. I get regular sleep, and I cannot stress enough how helpful good sleep is. I also see a therapist every other week. It’s all important for my mental health.

@Mariah It might be valuable to talk to a professional and find out if there is a treatable disorder there. There are some very good ways of treating anxiety with medication and without. It works for me.

crying babies make me want to kill.

@ragingloli That is inflammatory and perpetuates stigma against individuals with mental illness.

@Hawaii_Jake Benefit of the doubt, I think he may have been stating that he has misophonia or something similar, rather than calling people with anxiety ‘crying babies.’ I took a double take too.

I will send you a PM to follow up on your suggestion. I am definitely interested in getting better, but wasn’t sure there was much else I could do.

@Mariah I can’t speak for the others, but after following you for these years I can tell you that nothing would bum me out like the thought that a fkn job might do you in. I don’t want to believe or accept it.

Yeah it bums me the hell out too. I feel like I should be better than this. Which then just makes me feel worse about feeling the way I feel.

@Mariah “I feel like I should be better than this” is stigma. We all have it. It’s part of our culture. We devalue mental health as simply a matter of mental toughness. Our culture teaches all of us that mental health is not real health. Our culture tells us that it’s all in our heads and a better way of thinking will cure it. It is very dangerous and can lead to very bad outcomes.

I’m sorry for saying that. You are very right. What I was trying to convey is that I feel I have been through much more stressful situations than my current one in the past, so it feels weird that this one is bothering me so much. But anxiety is anything but logical.

Yeah that’s the thing. We watched you better a debilitating illness, navigate school, successfully negotiate and neutralize the roommate minefield, breeze through the razor wire of employment like nobody’s business, and now you tell us that a work situation threatens to undo you?

All of those things felt temporary. I think I can handle pretty much any amount of bullshit as long as I know it has an expiration date. Now I feel I am stuck in the life I have chosen and I am not coping with it well. I don’t know, man. This thread isn’t about me.

Mariah, ALL work is temporary. Someone somewhere is looking for YOU. Many of them don’t know it, but they will catch on quickly if they have the luck to acquire you.

No. Just under specific circumstances. Like a $2000 bill I was not expecting. :(

Yeah that’s a blues situation! No bout adoubt it.

Yes. It used to be more generalized, but that let up years ago thank goodness.

Now, it happens sometimes when I have to deal with health issues, and when I have to make decisions I really don’t want to deal with.

I deal with it by doing my best to compartmentalize, only thinking about it when I have to, and focusing on other when I can, and when it’s really extreme I do take a Xanax if I can get it. That’s very rare. I’ve probably taken 30 Xanax in the last 20 years.

Also, I had started T3 for my thyroid, and since I took it back out again I am much much more relaxed again. I wish I had done it sooner.

I have in the past and pretty awful. Sometime in my 30s it lifted and has not returned. My wife is dealing with it now.

I have obsessive compulsive disorder, social anxiety, and I’m on the autism spectrum. I’m pretty sure all my symptoms overlap within each diagnosis. Cognitive behavioral therapy has helped tremendously

Yes. I’ve been diagnosed with panic attacks since I was about ten or eleven, but I’ve never sought formal treatment.

Current events have left me in an almost perpetual state of anxiety, to the point where I’m nearly considering doing enough “adulting” to call a doctor and ask them to make it go away.

Medicating with alcohol (as I have been) is probably not the best solution.