Hi all!

[n2s15]

Hi everyone,

My name is Si, I'm 22 and currently studying at university.

I though I'd register here as I'm after some advice on what to do about my anxiety.

I have a serious anxiety problem, I've had it for years, since I was in school I believe (so like 7 or 8 years now!!) but never understood what it was. Specifically I suffer from some form of social anxiety or social phobia, I can't seem to act myself around others, speaking in front of other people seems to trigger panic attacks, which are hard to cope with, even when talking to best mates I feel it! there are very few people that I don't feel anxious around, perhaps my mother and sisters as I was raised with them, but thats about it. I feel it is now at a point where it is holding me back and interfering with my progress in life (well to be honest, it probably has been for ages now, but I was feeling too low to act upon it).

I've tried self-help books, counselling and so forth, I feel like I understand it better now, the whole chain of events, but that dosen't make the panic attacks go away, infact they are as bad as ever, not been able to think clearly, or get my words out, doubting in my own abilities, I really am getting to the point where I'm not sure if I can cope with it much more, and am strongly considering visiting my GP for some sort of medication to try and help with the panic... is this worth trying? I feel like if I could just stop that panic feeling I get I could cope with social situations so much better, build closer relationships with people, and be more successful.

It might be worth telling you just a little about my background, moved around a fair bit when we were young, single parent household, pretty neglected as a child, always wanted to go out all the time but our neighbourhood was the wrong side of town and full of elderly, spent most evenings on my own in my room. Got bullied a bit in school. Lost my grandparents and uncle, my closest family members a few years back. Got insecure for a while and heavily into weight training, even took steroids, and got a really good modelling job from my physique and used to get comments about how good i looked everywhere I went, but that all ended and kind of been there done that now, i'm just back to living like joe average again, discovered booze instead! Also got a 1 year old kid, but me and the mother don't get along and recently split up a 2nd time which was pretty devestating as I wanted things to work out so I could be a full-time dad to the kid.

Basically I need to overcome this, and soon, i feel like its costing me my life! I did suffer from depression, and sometimes I still feel lethargic and totally demotivated. But that is gradually getting better. I am just fed up of dwelling on things and obviously fed up of these panic attacts, if i could just change my outlook so i'm feeling more positive, motivated and more calm and relaxed around others, so I can just start being myself and not worrying about every little thing I do I'd certainly be on the right lines to a happier life.

Sorry it is such a long post, any help and advice would be really appriciated!

Thanks.

[sylvan]

Hi Si,

Nice to meet you! I'm new here too

Sorry to hear about your anxiety. Your problems sound very similar to my own in fact. I can't really advise what you should do as I'm no medical expert, but if you feel you could benefit from a visit to your GP, then it might be worth a go. I've been on a couple of medications in the past and only Seroxat actually helped me, but to be honest the side effects were pretty devastating for me so I had to be weaned off it. Basically it altered my personality to the point where I lost interest in everything and spent all day laying around without even getting dressed or cleaning the house. I gained tons of weight and I was constantly tired. But I did feel less anxious lol. I also tried Citalopram which did help a little but not much and again I gained weight on it, but the side effects were'nt quite so severe. After that didn't work on me though, my GP told me to go home and avoid social situations, so he wasn't really much use lol. Don't be put off though as I know there are good GP's out there and the medications can work very well in some people.

Good luck with it and I hope things get much better for you soon.

Jayne

[Winnie57]

Hi Si,
Welcome

[Mental Elf]

Hello SI welcome to sauk