Anyone else suffer from anxiety disorders/depression?

anxiety!? no, why? did someone say I have anxiety!? who was it? why did they say that?

I DO NOT have anxiety and I'll slap you if you say it again ~

exercise, meditation/yoga, ativan and sometimes I self-medicate .. ok well not infrequently - so what? oh, and journaling. I write about what I'm thinking, how I'm feeling - what's going on externally ... get it out of my head & on paper. Helps clear my head for really important stuff like ... what was I saying?

I have GAD that results in a lot of obsessive kinds of paranoid thoughts and occasionally depression. I've never been medicated. It kind of wracks me every day.

Edit: Huge doses of Vit D and runner's high, two things that make my life significantly better.

PTSD, schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and especially social anxiety.

i suffer with depression and PTSD and have done for 6 years. i feel like it has gotten worse lately, so things can be a struggle. i can find it hard to stay motivated, although exercise can make me feel calmer, especially yoga.

I suffer mostly from anxiety and depression comes later if I allow my anxiety to get out of hand. I tried medication, but 25 lbs later, i decided that it wasn't doing anything for me but cause additional depression because I felt fat and ugly. I quit the meds cold turkey and began exercising. I also started seeing a therapist to help me with family problems and just really focus on who I am. Then, I joined weight watchers and did great on that! Once i lost my first 5 lbs I ran my first half marathon and haven't looked back. I use running as my therapy now because it clears my head and makes me calm (my therapist was expensive!). I've lost the 25 lbs, but have gained so much! I have learned that 1. what doesn't kill you makes you stronger (also a great song) 2. the only thing you can control (about anything) is your reaction to it (so my mom will be a B, i just have to let it roll off my back) and 3. I hold my head up high because I know that the past 12 years of my life were better than the first 15 and it's only going to get better from here!!! I still pick my cuticles until they bleed and chew my lips when I am really anxious, and occasionally, I will lose sleep over something, but it's not anything like it used to be. You just have to find out what works well for you.

You're definitely not alone! I have suffered from anxiety and OCD and occasional bouts of bad depression since I was about 12. The OCD at times was just terrible...I had a form of it where I didn't really do things like counting and hand-washing and obsessive cleaning, but I was a severe hypochondriac and would worry obsessively that I had some terrible disease and was going to die. I would become convinced that I could detect "symptoms," and little things would trigger my anxiety. I never wanted to be very social because social situations made me terribly nervous...I spent a lot of time studying and practicing piano and clarinet, so I became very good at those things, but my mind was kind of out of control.

I have found a combination of meds that works for me and I see a psychiatrist and therapist once a month. Sometimes it takes awhile to find the right combo of meds that work. Not all of them will turn you into a zombie; sometimes even one that DOES turn you into a zombie will not have that same effect if you take a smaller dose. Right now I'm taking clomipramine, and I started out at 150 mg which turned me into a sleepwalker, so we cut my dose in half and now it's working just fine.

When I'm exercising regularly, it really helps with my depression and anxiety as long as I"m doing it consistently. It can be hard to find the motivation to start, but once I get some consistency and momentum going, I find that it improves my mood considerably. Even my psychiatrist has said that exercise needs to be part of my "prescription." I just have to be careful not to focus too much on the numbers on the scale, because then I start to obsess about numbers instead of how I feel.

I meditate, I take xanax, and I grind my way through a workout even though my brain is screaming "STOP THAT, you're going to have a heart attack." Anxiety can suck my *ss for all I care.

bump to see if anyone can respond to my response

i have a question for you guys... is this something that can come out of no where... only reason im saying this is i believe i have anxiety now. It all started a month ago when i got sick and hit in the head by my daughter (dont laugh)... ever since then, i have been having trouble breathing and my mind is filled with so many thoughts...


sometimes i have trouble sleeping and i feel so depressed.... im in line to getting my deviated septum fixed but i think thats getting me nervous as well. are these all things you are all going through?

You should see a doctor. Self diagnosing or having other people diagnose you who don't fully understand it can be a bad situation.
Being on medication and depending on that is NOT fun, it sucks. So I would recommend taking a test with your doctor than if it's dealing with mild anxiety you can maintain that with counseling, which is what I've done and only now have depression to beat.

But to directly answer some of your concerns trouble sleeping and thoughts that are overwhelming and coming out of no where are both symptoms of anxiety/depression.

my sister i believe suffers from it and she thinks i might be going through it now... freaking sucks because it came out of no where

It can be genetic, so you really really really should go to a doctor and have them evaluate you.

Just my opinion but I hate psychiatrists now, mine REALLY messed me up.

oh no... definitely not trying to self diagnose myself... im trying to get a better understanding if this is what i have... im not sure what i have and why i feel this way...

again... the weirdest part about this was when i got sick 1 month ago... it was bad but i didnt think this would be the outcome of it.. it was like a flu..

I was diagnosed about 10ish years ago with depression. The anxiety aspect has just been over the past few years. Right now Im not doing anything to treat or help with it. Although, I do feel I am getting to the point with anxiety that it is going to start hampering my daily activities. I might have to talk to someone about it then.

Hello,
Yes I struggle with depression. The one thing that is helpful although I can't do it every day, is going to bed at 8:30 so I can wake up at 4:30 so I can get a work out and my quiet time before work. The challenge is getting to bed by 8:30 and falling asleep. Last week I was able to do twice, this week so far, twice. I've been off my anti-depressant for 1 1/2 years and that has been the most helpful thing I've found. Are you on medication?

I thought it was out of the blue until my dad recently dropped the bomb that he's had panic attacks for years - so yes, there is a genetic aspect of it. Mine however was triggered by my ex husband's douchebaggery - I had two "episodes" of panic that subsided after several days. However, it became full time when he left in 2009 - and right after that my gallbladder went bad. My doctors could not figure out that was the cause because I didn't present with gb disease like most people. The gallbladder issue is resolved, but the panic remains because I developed health anxiety on top of that. Now I deal with constant muscle pain from the anxiety, but I do not have panic attacks anymore. Once you stop fearing them, they really do stop happening.

I have both. Usually my workout is my escape from all the bad thoughts in my head, but once in a while I'll get an irrational panicky feeling while exercising that makes me feel like if I push myself too hard, I could have a heart attack, or an aneurysm, or a stroke. AND I'M NOT EVEN 20 YET. My dearest wish is for my anxiety to just disappear. It makes me scared to do a lot of things. I'm on medication for it, which has helped a little. But once in a while, my fears will come creeping up on me. It sucks.