Anxiety

To be honest I don't understand anxiety. I hear people talk about it and I have friends who are nervous but it doesn't make sense to me. I feel for people who suffer from it.

It comes in waves for me. But generally yes, I am nervous. It's one thing if I get nervous for an event or a performance but to be sitting at home, on the couch, nervous about NOTHNG sucks.

Yes I have it. Exercise helps it a lot for general anxiety but still the situational anxiety is very difficult. I've learned a lot of tricks for grounding myself and staying calm(ER) than I used to in anxiety producing situations.

Yup. Exercise, breathing control, meditation, sleep, shifting frames of reference all help me.

Tsartele wrote: »

To be honest I don't understand anxiety. I hear people talk about it and I have friends who are nervous but it doesn't make sense to me. I feel for people who suffer from it.

You could probably say the same thing about people who cut themselves, or hear voices. Or any other deviation from what you consider the behavioral norm. Anxiety is related to brain circuitry, and different people are wired differently:

... After studying 590 animals with imaging and phenotyping, we were able to determine a circuit that is overactive in relation to anxious temperament, and includes a variety of structures known to be associated with anxiety." Kalin identifies the structures as the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex. "There are also regions in the brain stem - the periaqueductal grey matter - that are part of the overactive circuit," he adds. "What's important is that we've shown that the overactivity is stable with development...

-- source: https://sciencenode.org/feature/brain-circuitry-and-mechanisms-underlying-anxiety-uncovered.php

OP, it sounds like you might have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). A cognitive therapist can teach you techniques for dealing with the thought distortions associated with the disorder. There can also be physical conditions that cause anxiety so I'd consider having a thorough physical if you haven't had one recently.

Learning stress management techniques like meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, the relaxation response, yoga, etc. is helpful. So is reducing intake of caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine, making sure you get enough sleep and some exercise. Lifestyle changes and cognitive therapy are both highly successful in dealing with anxiety; in many cases, you don't have to resort to medications to control the disorder.

Self-medicating an anxiety disorder with alcohol is a bad idea, since you tend to bounce back from the effects of the alcohol to an even higher level of anxiety so it can become a vicious cycle leading to dependence.

A good self-help book for folks with anxiety disorders is David Burns' "When Panic Attacks". as well as his earlier "Feeling Good" and "Feeling Good Handbook".

I suffer anxiety and depression.i take drugs and see a therapist this is how I keep going.help is available most ins and Medicare pay for thearpists

I hate to be "that person," but this thread relates to me on two fronts: as an anxiety sufferer (serial inside of cheek chewer, was finally now at 25 able to kick the nail/skin around nail biting) and as a registered nurse.

I'd really love to discourage everyone here from giving medication advice. Especially over the counters. Even if you are a medical professional, you can't tell someone to take a supplement without a thorough assessment. It's negligent. The last thing you want to do is to tell someone who has a CABG/stents and is on blood thinners to take St John's Wart because you heard it helps with depression/anxiety. Advice like that can be devastating.

If you're not able to function at a peak level, your first source should always be your primary care physician. He/she can determine if you should get X med, an external consult, etc.

But as someone not on meds, I'll agree with some of the other posters above that exercise helps. Disregarding the chemical aspects, I've found that changing something about yourself you don't like is a great way to relieve anxiety.