how does one feel anxiety?

i may start setraline... it's helped you? i've got to do something.....  actually, even tho i'm on ritalin, the thought of another med is very anxiety-provoking for me..... 

actually, made the 'mistake' of reading the side effects of setraline........ i won't even mention them...   now i'm totally unclear.

glad it helped you. here's to your future self........

For me, anxiety is amplified seemingly infinitely and unbearably

I take setraline and this has reduced the intensity 

I still feel the following: 

I become aware of sensory input in an exaggerated way 

I notice jaw tension

I strangely interpret my shallower  breathing as an apparent inability to breathe ‘properly’

Self- critical and unaccepting of my self or unreality 

ALWAYS grateful when I feel the fear and do it anyway 

like a gift to my future self 

Destressing, post-stress, causes me migraines. 

I hear the critical inner voice, those in my past who became emotionally attached to me. It's hard to switch off that voice. 

Anxiety for me is non stop thoughts and images running through my head over and over and over.

It's feeling constantly on edge, tearful, nervous, sometimes physically sick, shaking, heart pounding, not able to settleon anything for very long, continuously restless. It's not going out doing anything that isn't comfortable.  For me that means I do my horses, come home, sleep and/or try to read, and then go to work. 

It's awful. Wish there was a cure

ty! i don't want to take meds..they're a last resort. i find meds pretty terrifying. we'll see. i've always figured, if i i, for example, got cancer or something --- wow, would i possibly be able to take those toxins?? i doubt it. so, i'd be a goner. those are just so terrifying..utterly. also - life's not worth it.

i hope it all works out for you also...

I think your being very brave and strong wanting to take meds. Well done. It's a big step to take and I wish you all the best with this. I've read about meds and I think the results are promising so hopefully they will work well for you. I think your doing all the right things to make life less anxious and more comfortable for yourself but I guess you shouldn't be avoiding all these things just to get through the day, at least with meds your be able to go for a walk without being anxious.

Hope it all works out for you 

i'll probably be trying meds --- my anxiety has been slowly more and more debilitating, and it just covers everything like a film of dust that just obscures everything. i am kind of not aware of it, even tho it just suffocates me (unless depression and sensitivities also play roles, more or less). actually, i'm very anxious just thinking about meds, but i no i need something, at this point.

i use avoidance, like you do. i also do walking, whatever exercise i can, healthy eating,  --- just about any little thing that might mitigate the anxiety...  i'm trying to catch anxiety before it gets so bad.... can be hard. many seem to like meditation - i do feldenkrais - to try to calm oneself.

meds are something i've definitely avoided, til now.

For me it's where I experience things like,

My throat feeling tight

Stomach pain

Upset stomach

Trouble breathing

Feeling sick

Fast heartbeat

Dizziness

Sweating

And trembling.

But I also tend to feel anxious like I know it's happening and usually this feeling is crippling and suddenly I'm overwhelmed and on come the symptoms I mentioned above. 

I try to avoid anything that causes me worry and then results in anxiety but usually everything and anything causes it so there's not a lot I can do.

just surviving, pain and stress are ongoing issues

hopefully I will reach pension in one piece too

One things which really helped me in CBT was undesrtanding that sometimes you have to tolerate the anxiety and pushing it away can make it worse.  That's not to say trying to reduce  anxiety won't help but for me at a time of peak anxiety, even relaxation methods didn't work. (You WILL relax!!) I also used to get really bad (and still do to some extent) anxiety about more anxiety. It's tiring and never ending. I also learned to move away from "good days and bad days" as having a good day would set me up for a fall when the bad day came back. So now I just see it as days. The ebb and flow of life.

One things which I have difficulty with and it's still work in progress is that often times I cannot get past how I feel here and now. I can't remember having felt any differently and feel that it will always feel like the present. I'm slowly learning that it's not the case but it's work in practise. Keeping a dairy has helped.

Hope you find a way through

i have had a lot of trouble with my vehicle, which has been vandalized about 5 times in the space of a year - to the cost of my deductible, which was $1000 per incident..  i'm traumatized by that, maybe, but i decreased the deductible to $250, which was doable. so, yeah, taking action... also, talking to other people, who've witnessed similar thefts and breakins, etc --- actually is sort of calming. i realize it's happening all over... not just in my hood.

unclear what i'll do about this situation... the whole van thing has been difficult for me, made much much worse by the vandalisms....  i guess i'm still trying to figure out how much my van stresses me out.... i no it does, but i'm trying to take day trips in it. so far --- that has been kind of scarey. trying to figure it out...... 

 yes... going to the market is not horrible, but it's kind of a thing...  thankfully, i have a choice of lots of them.

do you do okay at work? ---- thankfully, i got put on disability, physical and pain issues, probably caused by my ASD and stress, and am now retired. 

ty for the advice. yes, i notice my anxiety goes away when i get involved in a task - it's just hard because when i'm anxious like this, it's just hard to focus on anything. i just go numb.  i guess i'm paying attention to doing simple things these past few days - cooking, cleaning, exercise, and trying to kind of stay on top of things that i need to... but avoid the big anxiety producing stressors....  

i avoid the news. i may try to send something for ukraine... that is so awful.... 

the aspie-like people i no seem to really need lots of control.... for me, i'm like that too...  trying to figure out how to let go of some of that.... currently my strategy is trying to simplify everything... reduce things... trying meditation type things, audio asmr things...  just trying to get thru this current anxiety phase - and i need to recognize it better... it just snuck up on me, that is, from my normal probably pretty high level of it, to ultra high... my blood pressure today was 140 at my doctors, when normally its 120.... i did feel like it was probably high... just felt like it was. pretty stressed out.

Have learned this way and it really worked for me. However I think it can only go so far. For instance if sensory aspects give anxiety, you probably cannot do exposure to it as these things will always give anxiety. 

glad it (exposure) works for you --- but my understanding of autism spectrum, sentivities, etc --- no, many must learn their triggers, sensitivities, etc --- and learn how to mitigate them. that includes.... avoidance. i guess exposure to stimuli can be useful, though, once you find the stimuli that you want to be more comfortable with...  at this point - i'm using a lot of avoidance.. most psychologists know almost nothing about ASD...........

raspberrypie said:

i feel i always am wary of danger, very careful about protection against theft, worry over activities and events so much that i just have written them out of my life

Technically, being wary of danger is not a bad thing, but it does sound like it's crippling for lack of significant specifics on how to reposition yourself - how to take matters of being responsible for the self into your own hands. Proper strategic and reliable defence. 

What can you fix and what can you not?

It's important to prioritise. Assess what you're trying to control that's not yours to control (how another behaves for ex.) and what you can be 100% responsible for (keeping my keys in a specific location for a fast exit, putting my glasses back in their case so they don't break even if I have to get out of this cozy bed and go upstairs). Make contractual arrangements with yourself. 

With the newspaper actually printing the phrase "Nuclear Winter", I suddenly start making plans to learn more about foraging and work out if I can buy a cottage on Shetland. And then make tea, float back to the present and just get on with my day noting that I can send a few quid to Ukraine and send a letter to my representative. 

Doing an Action - Taking Practical Responsibility toward and for myself has proven to be (over the last 15 years since starting) the Number One Fix of anxiety. Whether it has been making an exact plan for exiting a bad relationship or taking a probiotic daily or learning how to assess if someone is putting up a healthy boundary or being abusive (they can appear the same oddly). The moment I engage in the action, the anxiety is gone.

Except in one remarkable situation and that's when I'm hyper calculating late at night Something In Production - some technical/creative endeavour which is triggering on repeat 'Excitement' and that is the same trigger, just the other side of the coin to 'Anxiety'. Unfortunately they cause the same chemical response in the brain and I have to micro-dose on an anti-anxiety drug to shut it down. Essentially it's Thought Stimming.

There are physical signs of anxiety that you can look out for, including:

• rapid heartbeat (not everyone can sense their own heartbeat, but often people with anxiety can)
• sweating
• dry mouth
• shallow or rapid breathing and chest breathing
• intestinal discomfort or sudden need to pee or diarrhoea (can also be fear related, this is where the phrase "sh*****g yourself" comes from)
• trembling (from the adrenaline of the flight or fight response, your fingers might shake or your voice might tremble)
• chest pains

Psychologically, anxiety is a feeling of apprehension. It's difficult to describe a feeling. I can't tell you what the qualia of an emotion feels like, but for example, if you remember how you felt when you had to stand up in front of a lot of people and give a speech, or before a difficult exam - that's the feeling of anxiety.

pretty much my life style, though I experience anxiety attacks after coming back home, from those places I limited myself to: work, supermarket, friend's house,

and before leaving, endless procrastination