Posted by spriggy on September 15, 2005, at 22:10:37
In reply to Re: How bad is your anxiety when you have it? » lynn970, posted by wildcard on September 15, 2005, at 21:21:29
Mine comes in different forms; physical anxiety ( panic attacks, concern about breathing, hyperventilating, heart racing, etc..) and then for me, the worst part is the mental anxiety..
The mental anxiety seems to bring about racing thoughts, this general feeling of being "off", the fear of going crazy, fear of death, fear of a loved one's death, fear of airplanes, fear of being in the middle of Wal Mart and having a panic attack, fear of having an asthma attack and no inhalor close by, etc..
Then this chronic, nothing-I-can-do about it anxiety leads to become obsessed with the anxiety- which usually leads to depression, feeling of failure and worthlessness, hopelessness, etc..
And then I typically google every symptom I have and come to the conclusion that I am likely either a serious hypochondriac or I have all sorts of strange diseases that are attributing to my mental breakdown.
Then I go to the doctor and find out I really do have a few weird diseases, which only makes me obsess even more- spending more time researching and finding out every horrible symptom it can cause, etc..
I can sometimes be like this and "pretend" to be normal to the average Joe. But sometimes, I just can't pretend anymore and have a total and complete break down ( usually in private, of course).
It's pretty awful. You aren't alone.
poster:spriggy
thread:555389
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050909/msgs/555478.html