I’m a manager at a retail store. Our general manager is on FMLA for at least another month. We’re down to 3 managers right now. A store of our volume should have 8. It’s literally becoming hell. I can’t work open to close by myself or work 6 days a week. I mentally can’t do it but I don’t know what else to do. The job market is shit and there are pretty much no jobs that pay what I make without have crazy requirements.

Feeling very hopeless as far as work goes. I’m trying to not let it bring me down when I’m at home but it’s really hard not to think about. Also, I get calls and texts on my days of most of the time anyway.

i will start this by saying i do have a therapist i just don’t see her for another week.. i had a really bad panic attack three nights ago.. i deal with dissociation and another part i dont think i can say on here.. i felt like i wasn’t in my body and my heart rate for up to 124 and i couldn’t calm down for at least three hours.. i still feel on edge like im waiting for it to happen again and idk how to make it stop so i can get back to my baseline.. i will say nausea makes it worse and i’ve been dealing with that too since it happened.. any advice on how to not be so on edge.. i do grounding techniques and have the fidget toy called the ouchie but it doesn’t seem to help much.. have you ever experienced this and how long did it personally take you to get back to baseline(im aware everyone is different)

I’m really overwhelmed and trying to make sense of this. I probably sound like I am spiralling in this post and I apologise. I just hope what I’m about to write is coherent, at least.

Does anxiety and trauma just surface one day and then hit you at a certain age? For example, I’m in my early 30s and my anxiety is at peak state. It is causing recurring disassociation, paranoia, amplified grief, self-doubt and panic.

This last week has felt like a regression into myself and the child that lives inside of me. The very sensitive, very hurt, very neglected child inside of me. It’s like I’m reliving all the things that caused trauma and what led me to being stuck in survival mode 24/7. It has all translated into physical sickness and chronic pain.

What I’ve realised is that I never felt safe. I never felt acknowledged. I had to shrink myself down, alter myself or control the things around me in order to feel safe and heard. I had to become someone I am not and hold myself together to ensure others were comfortable. I started noticing a pattern after a while.

Another thing I noticed is that I go into deep problem solving mode, where I feel like I have to fix everything instantly. Otherwise I’m doomed to live like this forever; in this obscure existential dread.

This is all way too much for me to process and it feels like I’m losing sanity. I feel like I’m facing trauma head on in a way I could have never possibly imagined. It keeps pushing me into an overwhelmed state.

Lastly, I want to touch on how lonely it feels to go through this and to try and understand it all by yourself. It feels like everyone else has it together and has life figured out except me. It makes you feel like the only one who is truly lost.

If you got this far, thanks for reading and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

Recently my therapist advised that I should have hobbies and things to make me focus on something else, not to make anxiety go away but to prevent it from coming back.
But I feel like it will not work. In my mind, if I stress over a hypothetical situation, I am in control because I’m prepared. So i can NEVER ever put my mind and thoughts on something else when I’m having an anxious episode. If I stop worrying I’m putting my guard down. Sometimes my reason comes back and I can feel myself ease a little, but as soon as I do, the anxiety comes back as in « it is going to happen why are you even resting? ».
I’m not even able to think about my future, about things and people I love as much as I want to because there is always, always, something in the back of my Mind.

Hi everyone,

I'm 26M ( single and living with parents) and I'm wondering if anyone else experiences something similar.

I had some dental problems last year. Before that, I never really paid much attention to my teeth apart from normal brushing and dental checkups.

But after those problems, I started checking my teeth almost every day to see if anything had changed. If I notice even a very small difference, I immediately become worried and start searching Google/Reddit to find out what it could be.

Sometimes the difference is probably something very minor, but my mind immediately starts thinking about the worst possibilities. I can feel very anxious and sometimes even get stomach discomfort until the feeling eventually goes away.

This has also started happening with other parts of my body. I sometimes feel like I need to check my face, skin, hands, legs, teeth, etc. to make sure nothing new has appeared.

So I have a few questions:

Do most people actually check their body regularly like this, looking for new changes? Or am I paying much more attention to my body than most people?

I'm 26, but whenever I need to see a doctor, I usually want my father to come with me. I feel scared about going to the doctor alone. Is this unusual at my age?

I currently work from home, and I'm comfortable being close to my family. However, I'm worried about changing jobs because many opportunities would require me to move far away from home. One of my thoughts is, "What if something happens to my health while I'm far away and I need my parents?" Or “If I stay here, my parents can protect me. If I move 900 km away, I am unprotected."

Since I’m getting multiple issues at this young age, I’m getting thoughts like stay single for rest of the life since I can’t take care of myself, so how can i take care of my life partner?

I don't know if this is health anxiety, general anxiety, or something else.

The strange thing is that before my dental problems, I wasn't like this. Now even a small physical change can trigger a lot of fear.

I'd really like to hear from people who have experienced something similar.

Do you constantly check your body?
Did a real health problem trigger your health anxiety?
Do you also seek reassurance or Google symptoms when you notice something?
Were you able to overcome or reduce this?
Did therapy or CBT help?
How did you become comfortable going to doctors or dealing with health concerns on your own?

I’m not really looking for medical opinions. I’m more hoping to hear from people who understand the anxiety cycle and how they worked through it.

Thank you for reading.

Me 16f and my boyfriend 17m were allowed our first sleepover tonight. My step mom walked in on my 6on top of him and cuddling him. We weren't doing anything lewd, but when I turned to look at the door, my boob was peeking out due to the shift. Now my parents think I was having sex, even though I wasn't. My family is very Christian, and I've honestly tried so hard to build this trust, and now I'm scared it's going to be lost on something that I didn't mean to happen.

I'm extremely nervous that they won't let me see my boyfriend ever again. He's been helping me pass school, cope with panic disorder, and helped when I needed to report someone to CPS. he's a sweet heart, and I'm so scared to lose him. I've been having episodes of anxiety attacks, and I'm so goddamn scared. Please help me. My parents have no reason to believe I wasn't have sex, even though I wasn't. What the hell do I do?

These past 5 days have seen a sudden dramatic uptick in my anxiety.

I am having trouble falling/staying asleep, im anxious soon after waking up, I even had a panic attack in my sleep for the first time ever.

Im crying on and off at work and the slightest thing sets me off.

I am hyperaware of everything and its awful its like my brain is stuck in panic mode for some reason and its unbearable. There's a ball of fire in my chest.

Please if anhone has any advice I would be so immensely grateful

hello. i apologize if this is long and a tad convoluted, and i’m sorry about formatting i’m on mobile.

so, for preface i am 23F. i am in my second year of college, working part time retail at a job i love with people i adore. ever since i was a child ive had OCD. that was the first one to show up. literally my earliest memories are of OCD induced panic attacks. anywho, as i got older i developed serious depression and a panic/anxiety/ocd/ptsd/adhd diagnosis. quite the list i know. slipping ahead a bit, when i was 17 covid happened and i was switched to online school, of course. this is when the non stop anxiety started. i woke up in a panic attack and fell asleep in a panic attack. this was also what i believe to have been caused by the 30mg of lexapro i was taking. (i am now on 5mg and have been okay for around a year with minimal panic attacks.) important to note i am severely emetephobic. (fear of throwing up) my anxiety/ panic symptom is mainly nausea so you can see how this was an issue. but from ages 17-21 i could barely get out of bed and i couldn’t do anything. i was a corpse.

anyways i crawled my way out of the hole. i went back to school, lost 60lbs, got a job i enjoy, and now have a lovely boyfriend who i plan on spending my life with. he is a blessing.

so now to the current timeline. on august 26th i had crippling bladder pain, went to urgent care, said it was probably a bladder infection, and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. when i went to the pharmacy the next day to pick it up i got the flu shot as well. i wasn’t in pain at all anymore and tend to have a bad reaction to antibiotics so i didn’t take them.

on the 31st i noticed my lymph nodes were swollen. probably from the flu shot, whatever. then i started having these crippling headaches, but i was set to get my period and i get headaches during, just never this bad.

on the evening of september 21st i was so freezing i slept with multiple items of clothing layered on top of each other. my entire body ached and i took a covid test but it was negative.

on thursday the 3rd i just so happened to have a general practitioner appointment where i brought up all these concerns. she was pretty sure its just the flu shot and an odd reaction. i also brought up that my heart rate can get to 150 in the shower (long time this has been happening) and this worried her. we did an ekg and i have an irregular heartbeat. i am scheduled to see a cardiologist. but all of my symptoms line up with POTS. i’m not at all self diagnosing btw.

anyways since then the headaches have pursued even though my period is now over. now i’m having lung / chest pain whenever i take a deep breath. today i have been having a panic attack all day. it feels exactly how it felt all those years ago. i haven’t been able to go to work. i couldn’t do anything today. i am so scared. it was identical to how it was before. i cannot express to you how scared i am. i cannot lose the life i’ve started to build for myself. i was doing so well. i was going on vacation with minimal anxiety. four years ago i thought that would never be possible. i’m convinced i am back to how i used to be. and that my life is over. i don’t know what im expecting by posting on here. just to be clear to the mods im not asking for a diagnosis or anything weird like that. just feedback. if you read this far thank you so much.

Somebody pls dm me and send some assurance... Having anxiety right now and it feels bad as i am alone at the moment

Someone sent me an anonymous message a few hours ago bashing me (rightfully so) for re-sharing an offensive character design someone else had made. i immediately deleted the post i shared it on but now i can't stop spiraling about it..

i keep thinking everyone saw it an hates me now, even though the post was only up for 30 mins at most. or that the anonymous person is going to tell everyone in that online community and theyre all going to hate me. i keep agonizing over whether i should apologize for it or not because i feel like if i admit to sharing art that was in hindsight VERY clearly offensive (i dont want to defend myself or anything but i didn't look too closely at it and just liked the art style, i should've been more mindful of what i chose to share) that Then everyone's going to hate me. all roads lead to social ostracization, apparently. i don't know, i just can't stop thinking about it, and i kinda let it ruin my whole day.

i know i need to learn how to deal with rightful criticism, but i can't seem to get past the defensive part of myself. does anyone have any advice on how to handle this anxiety better so i can actually think before i decide whether or not to respond?

Hii everyone.. I have been feeling constant anxiety recently. I have had 2 full blown anxiety attacks in the last 7 days.

Each day starts with a constant heavy feeling. I don't feel like going to work also..

Little bit about me:

1. I am a person with locomotor disability.. a result after an operative procedure. It has been 4 years, I am still struggling with my new identity and new lifestyle changes..

2. Recently married.. 1.5 years.. the leg and the anxiety do take a toll.. my husband is super supportive but it does get to him sometimes

3. I work in a extremely stressful job. I was recently transferred to the new role and it has been HELL for my anxiety.

Please advise me how to tackle with this anxiety so that I don't ruin my marriage and my life.

for context here i’m 21 years old, female, i don’t smoke, i don’t drink, my diet isn’t the best but i’m working on it.

but just had a panic attack triggered by a sleep start, after i lay back down to try and keep calm i noticed my left arm was a little bit numb. i still have some feeling in it it’s just sort of faint, very hard to explain. when i initially woke up from the sleep start i thought my face might have been drooping even though it wasn’t, but this numb arm feeling after a panic attack is extremely new to me. could i have had a mini stroke? i can raise both arms etc. has this happened to anyone else? sorry if this makes no sense im absolutely exhausted

Hi,

Whenever i get into street fight situation or when i go on stage to speak, I literally cannot say anything. Absolutely no words as i stutter a lot my heart raises and im frozen.
Funny part is, i know i look like a fool if i dont speak up in such situations so i try to speak but i just physically cant

What is this condition called and how do I resolve it?

it doesn't matter how good or bad my life is, im always terrified of something or someone, recently it's nuclear war, but when i was a child it was natural disasters, when i was a pre-teen it was space, now its war.

im terrified every minute of every day, everytime a plane passes overhead, a bang in the distance, any loud noise happens; i jump, my heart lurches, i spiral into not being able to sleep, relax, function.

i need ways to cope because I've heard "there's nothing you can do so don't worry about it" a million times and not once has it helped, it doesn't help im a constant target by mainstream media either.

I'm running out of options, i need advice please.

hey! i'm a college student going through some pretty tough anxiety right now with time-managing courses and planning for the future. in the mornings, i'm usually pretty okay and am able to get some studying/work done.

after 3pm though, i start to get some terrible anxiety and i just want to burrow away in my covers. i'm not exactly sure what's causing this cycle -- i know i'm anxious about getting work done, though i find it interesting that i'm usually fine in the morning. it sucks though, since i have little drive to hang out with my friends or get some lingering studies done that i could get done if i wasn't anxious.

is anyone going through something similar? i also just started taking zoloft for my anxiety and scheduled some meetings with a counselor, so i'm hoping it helps me feel better. i just want everything to be okay.

It started two nights ago, when I was trying to go to bed when I suddenly had a bout of restlessness. I have had some shoulder pain for close to a month (Am going to see a physical therapist about that soon), but its never bothered my sleep like this before. I've had a history of anxiety attacks keeping me up at night and triggering debilitating episodes in me before so I started to think that was what was happening and I had a spike of anxiety. I managed to sleep but I woke up the next morning exhausted, I assume it's "anxiety hangover". It's hard to tell what the trigger was since I've been doing pretty okay as of late. a bit of stress now and then but doing okay.

Well these last two nights, trying to go to sleep has been a bit of a struggle. I keep hyper-focusing on every small sensation (saliva in throat when I lay on my back, small discomforts when Iay on my side, thinking I'm not laying down with my back straight, how cold my feet get), I've been feeling upset in my stomach and have loose bowel movement (which often happens with anxiety bouts), and I never feel as well rested when I wake up after sleeping (I can't be sure if I even slept or not sometimes.)

I'm trying hard not to think about it because my symptoms aren't as bad yet, but my brain just can't relax and I feel a little worse every time I wake up. I'm scared I could end up having daily anxiety attacks again that can lead to depression and intrusive existential thoughts, which has happened before and makes the end of the year a real struggle (often this time of year as of the last few years). What can I do? Should I just go to my psych and get my usual anti-anxiety meds or can I work through this on my own?