Here's the article about anxiety. I will post the one about social anxiety in a separate thread so people don't get confused. I don't know if I like the title but I can't come up with anything more creative (Titles are really hard for me). It doesn't have to be edited any time soon. I just had an anxiety/panic attack yesterday and so it was fresh on my mind. This s the first personal article I have written and I am not all that good about talking about myself. So, if something isn't conveyed right feel free to say something and hopefully I'll be able to fix it.
My personal experience with anxiety
I have dealt with anxiety for a number of years and I have been prescribed two different medications to deal with it. My anxiety ranges from panic attacks to a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. The common denominator for all my anxiety is excessive worry. It starts with a small thought and then progresses from there. I start making up worst case scenarios for that one thought that I have had and then it gets harder to concentrate on anything other than the negative thoughts. Eventually I am left with a feeling of complete dread. If the worrying doesn’t stop it can manifest into panic attacks in which I can’t breathe and I feel sick to my stomach.
The thing about anxiety, at least for me, is that it gets so bad and so unbearable that sometimes I feel like it would be better if I were dead. These thoughts only increase my anxiety because then I start thinking about how bad my mental health is and I start worrying about if I will ever be able to maintain employment. The thoughts end up repeating themselves over and over again.
The panic attacks that result make it hard to even see straight. Sometimes I have to take a step back and breath and other times all I can do is wait it out. For me, my anxiety is pretty severe and I deal with it pretty much every day of the week and it can last a few hours or the entire day. The panic attacks make me feel like my heart is going to pop out of its chest and sometimes I get so panic stricken that I throw up. I probably have a panic attack at least once a week and it’s usually more than that. I had a panic attack yesterday and was extremely uncomfortable. My heart was beating really fast, my mind was racing with nothing but worst case scenarios, I had a feeling of complete dread and I was sick to my stomach. When I get these panic attacks it feels as though my whole entire life is going to fall apart.
There are things that are supposed to help with anxiety but so far I haven’t found a whole lot other than medication and the medication doesn’t always work all that well. Reading is a tool that helps as long as I am not having a full blown panic attack. By the time the panic attack comes on it’s too late and I am unable to concentrate on the story. However, if I start reading when the thoughts are only bubbling up it usually calms me down. I believe the reason that reading helps is because I have to concentrate on the story and I don’t have time to think about my worries.