Any members that have severe anxiety issues?

Anxiety can really mess a person up! I had major anxiety issues when I was in college. I've gotten it more under control now, but it still sparks up from time to time. My anxiety was about the possibility of throwing up and I decided that if I didn't eat then there couldn't possibly be anything to come back up. I ended up very thin in a short amount of time because I was down to a granola bar a day and never felt hungry. I was so thin it hurt to sit in chairs and I never felt like I had enough energy to get through the day. So, yeah, I know how you feel. There were a bunch of things I did that helped.

1. Identify supports: once my mom understood she was willing to be helpful. I could call her or my brother whenever I had anxiety. They knew many of my good and bad coping skills and could talk me down, so to speak.
2. Identify helpful coping skills: I found that distraction worked best, so things like online word searches, hidden object games, and cold help me focus on something other than my anxiety. Also, I had to keep moving because I would freeze in place.
3. Relaxation tape: I listened to a CD that was focused on reducing panic attacks. I don't remember the name, but it had guided meditation and such. I ended up listening to it to go to sleep a lot because my anxiety skyrockets at night.
4. Know what sets you off: the list was so long for me. At one point even reading that a character in a book had thrown up was enough to derail me for an entire night. The biggest problem was my own thoughts. Before eating I would panic about the possibility of it making me sick, so I would plan to use one of my coping skills before eating.
5. Medication: I did go on medication for a while. The daily style medication didn't do much, but knowing that I had my fast acting "emergency med" was more comforting than actually using it. There were some times where it felt like a life saver though!

Seeking professional help is also a good option. While it didn't cure mine, she pointed me in the correct direction for how to manage it and was able to help my mom understand why I freaked out about something that is a minor inconvenience to everyone else.

Sorry for writing a novel. Feel free to contact me if you need anything, I know how much it can suck and it can be helpful to have someone reminding you that you aren't crazy.

All of what Andrilla said. Been through it all. They said everything perfectly.