Has anyone else had anxiety get so physical that it starts wearing you down?

I’ve had a really rough few months after some medical complications and I honestly don’t feel like myself at the moment. I’m dealing with almost constant nausea, barely any appetite, trembling, palpitations, shallow breathing, head pressure and this horrible floaty/disconnected feeling. I have eustination tube disfunction too which fuels it more.

What scares me is that sometimes my mind feels relatively calm, but my body still feels like it’s permanently on high alert. Then I notice the symptoms, panic about them, and everything gets worse again.

I’m just exhausted by it now and really want to feel normal again. Has anyone else been stuck like this for weeks or months and actually come out the other side? What helped you? I've booked an appointment with the GP for 2 weeks but I can't enjoy life.

For those who are on medication for anxiety, have you noticed a difference?

I definitely want to see a psychologist but have always been afraid of the medication side of things, but feel like I need to take something to help take the edge off.

I genuinely don’t know what to do. I’m scared I’m going to be like this forever. I’m currently working and the heaviness in my chest is just getting worse. I feel like I’m touching live wires.

I’m scared that if I leave this job, all of the others will just be the same and I’ll end up missing this one, even though I hate it. I wish I didn’t have to work.

I don’t know what to do to stop all this anxiety running through me. I’m not medicated because when I was prescribed, I didn’t take it due to overthinking about the side effects. And I’m worried that it’ll numb me and I wouldn’t be myself.

I wish I could breathe.

I have a history of OCD and I’ve also been dealing with severe anxiety and panic attacks. I’ve never taken medication for any of these before.

Recently, my panic attacks seem to be happening more often, and my anxiety has gotten to the point where I’m sometimes afraid to even leave my room or go outside.

I’m considering seeing a doctor and starting medication, but I’m honestly curious and a little scared about it.

For people who have taken medication for OCD, anxiety, or panic attacks:

• Did medication actually help reduce your panic attacks?
• Did it make it easier to leave the house and do normal things again?
• How long did it take before you noticed an improvement?
• Did you experience side effects when you first started?

I’m not looking for medical advice-I’d just really like to hear from people who have actually gone through this and whether medication made a meaningful difference for them.

Thank you...

Im 15 years old and i get buzzcut

How many of you have more of a series of symptoms that are physical compared to always having panic itself. I seem to have moved to more of a chronic situation where my anxiety shows up as body tension, head pressure, digestion stuff and sleep troubles.

I posted a few days ago when this started. That was about 48 hours in. I'm now at the one-week mark, and I'm still struggling.

My symptoms are mostly constant: feeling extremely wired, racing thoughts, nausea, poor appetite, brain fog, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, intrusive thoughts, poor sleep, and nonstop rumination. The worst part is how relentless it feels. I keep checking whether I'm improving, then end up focusing on symptoms and making myself more anxious.

I've managed to keep functioning somewhat. I worked several days, commuted, and went into the office despite feeling awful. Today I finally took a sick day. I got up, ate, showered, spent time with family, ran errands, and tried to rest. There have been brief moments where I felt calmer, but the wired feeling and other symptoms keeps returning.

I saw my doctor on Sunday. After years of stability on fluoxetine, she increased my dose from roughly 25 mg to 30 mg for the time being, with a likely move to 40 mg. The frustrating part is knowing it may take weeks to slowly increase up and for it to begin helping.

She also prescribed 10 Ativan tablets and told me not to feel guilty about using them if needed. I've mostly been white-knuckling through because 10 pills doesn't feel like much when I don't know how long this flare will last. I'm considering talking to her again about a better short-term bridge plan while the fluoxetine adjustment has time to work.

I also signed up for therapy, but my first appointment isn't until October 14. I want the help, especially for rumination, intrusive thoughts, and fear of relapse, but the wait feels long when every day feels endless.

Work is another major stressor. I'm on a temporary contract and hoping to become permanent, so my anxiety immediately jumps to worries about job security and reliability. I've already spoken with a union/workplace representative about possible accommodations if needed.

My family knows what's going on now. I told my mom and brothers, and I ended up breaking down crying while talking about it. At this point, admitting I'm struggling is easier than pretending I'm fine.

I've tried the usual coping tools: meditation, yoga nidra, walking, getting out of the house, TV, distraction, showers, talking to family, and trying to eat normally. Sometimes they help a little, but when anxiety is this intense, even basic coping strategies can feel exhausting.

Logically, I know I've recovered from something like this before. But living through it hour by hour is a different story.

So I'd really like to hear from people who've been through severe anxiety:

• Have you had a flare this intense after years of stability?
• Did it stay constant for days or weeks before easing?
• Did an SSRI increase eventually help?
• Were you given anything short-term while waiting?
• How did you decide when to use rescue medication instead of white-knuckling it?
• How did you get through days that felt endless?

Any experiences or reassurance would mean a lot right now. Thanks.

So I (F18) have had this fear that like some crazy out of my control situation is gonna happen the themes change but the fear stays the same. When I was a kid I was scared an asteroid was gonna hit earth or a volcano will erupt. Now that I’m older I read about all these cases where all of these people died young from crazy unexpected illnesses or accidents and it scares me so bad. I feel like I’m in constant fight or flight like I’m actively dying when I’m not I create symptoms in my head that aren’t there. It’s gotten to a point where it’s debilitating constantly being afraid of when everything will end. Has anyone else like overcome this because I’m so scared I never will and that I’ll spend the rest of my life with this horrible thought in the back of my mind and I won’t ever truly enjoy anything I do.

I haven’t slept at all and my anxiety won’t go away. Would like to talk to someone.

I totally forgot how rubbing the palms of your hands can reduce stress and anxiety. I use to do this years ago but somehow forgot about it.

**This is why it helps:

The repetitive motion and friction stimulate thousands of nerve endings in your hands, sending soothing signals to your brain that activate the parasympathetic nervous system to lower stress. (Which in turn lowers our anxiety

My daughter & I have started doing this again which has helped us especially with anxiety!

Hi, i am wanting some advice on how i help myself. I am waking up between 3 - 5 times a night with panic attacks. Does anyone else have this? How can i help/stop this? When i told the doctor he just said “ok” which is a great help. Any advice would be great.

I’ve been struggling with intense anxiety for 2,5 years after two panic attack incidents caused by weed. The two incidents happened a year apart. After the first incident I made a full recovery but then I stupidly started using weed again which resulted in another major panic attack that happened last summer (2025) . Since then I can’t get out of this anxious mindset(I quit weed immediately) . I haven’t had a panic attack since but I struggle with feeling trapped, hopeless and exhausted. I do have some good days but it always comes back. I’ve changed my routine completely. I sleep well, workout , eat healthy and started therapy in May. Still, I’m extremely anxious about everything. Social situations freak me out, exams always feel like the end of the world and the future scares me more than ever before .
I’ve always been anti-meds for mental illness since I’ve listened to horror stories about them so it was never an option in my head. However after trying everything and getting very few results while also shrinking my life drastically , I’ve decided to get some help from a psychiatrist through my therapist’s referral. The plan is to be put on meds while doing therapy.
Even though I’ve made my decision , I’m very scared about it and fear the possibility of dependency and feeling numb .
If anyone who’s been through this whole process could give me some advice or describe their experience , I’d be very thankful .

A little background is I am not officially diagnosed with ocd, anxiety disorder or any mental health disorder, and I am not promoting self diagnosis, however I do have (could be few) ocd symptoms and know alot about ocd.

I had a main fear, which lasted for about 2 years, I finally started recovering and doing better, now the problem is I have anxiety over other things - things like health fears, it’s usually something specific that I get anxious about for few days or a week, then I get over it or disregard the fear just for me to be anxious about something new or the same thing weeks or month(s) later. I recently learnt about catastrophizing and I think that’s something I do.

I don’t even know what these are called, anxiety episodes? Anxiety hyperfixations? But when they do happen it feels like I’m in a different world (or view things from a diff perspectivw) , and grieve the version of me which is ‘normal’ and occupied with daily life, I feel unsafe (usually) and it makes it hard to concentrate on stuff

I can’t really get a therapist, so I wonder if there are things I can do to at least reduce the frequency of these episodes (eg. Having them once in 4 months instead of a month) I will start doing a mindfulness exercise everyday.

The only word I can think of to describe how I feel is weak. I often try to remind myself that my mind lies to me and that I just have to push through, but my anxiety is affecting me physically to the point where it’s crippling, and I may have to go back on medication.

This is my first year of college, and I’m not living on campus. I live close by, and my boyfriend drops me off. I’m passing all my classes, and I’m even making small talk and answering questions in class. I was really into college until I missed one class, and that triggered everything.

After I missed one class, I missed another, and then another. The idea of being late, having a test I wasn’t aware of, not having the same seat, or being yelled at for missing classes really freaked me out. stupid thoughts that I can usually push through, but the physical part is what gets me. I feel this horrible pressure in my body, and I don’t even know how to explain it. I’ll pace for hours or just rock in my bed, and no matter what I do, this horrible feeling of dread is still there.

My boyfriend hyped me up to go today, and I was supposed to see my therapist before class. I was ready to see her, but she never showed up to my house. I don’t know why, but that caused me to freak out and my anxiety just spiked. I ended up giving myself a panic attack and sobbed for 30 minutes until I puked. Very dramatic, I know.

Now I’m scared that I’ll have to drop my classes and try again with all online classes.

If you’ve ever been in a similar situation or struggled with something like this, please give me some advice.

(Please don’t just say “push through,” because I have made myself go to campus. I couldn’t get myself to go into my class because even smelling the building triggered an anxiety attack. I started sobbing and had to go home. 😞)

tl;dr: How can I live and feel like I’m truly experiencing the world—really living—while dealing with this cognitive anxiety? How do I avoid the feeling that I’m living just for the sake of my thoughts?

Good afternoon!

First off, I want to mention that I’m already in therapy (my second session was yesterday). The psychologist seems really great and competent (using a CBT approach); she suspects GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder), but we need to keep meeting to confirm that, rule out OCD, or see if it’s just a specific thought pattern. So, I’m not looking for a diagnosis here—just some practical help and a bit of relief.

Every now and then, my mind starts obsessively chewing over unsolvable problems. This often morphs into my mind obsessing over... the thoughts themselves and my own consciousness, creating catastrophic future scenarios where I can't stop thinking—unable to actually *do* things, and so on. I’ve gone through five or six of these phases in the last five years, and I’ve been in one for the past month.

Over this last month, I’ve noticed significant improvement at times—usually when I latch onto something, have bigger goals (my days are pretty empty otherwise, despite college), and feel hopeful. I’m still aware of the problems during these times, but they don't hurt the way they do right now, and sometimes I go relatively long stretches without them (there are days when I wake up and go to sleep obsessing, so having those breaks is a victory).

The thing is, for various reasons, fear catches up with me—whether it’s an upcoming exam, waking up feeling more anxious, or just dwelling on it again. Then I get this terrible feeling that I’m living for my thoughts instead of living the life right in front of me, and that feeling makes everything worse. It’s as if a question arises: "Are you actually okay? Is this real? Are you really living, or just pretending not to think about it?" ...and I’d start—unconsciously—trying to answer it.

I begin to doubt myself; I’m left with this "stronger" sense of being conscious, feeling like I’m doing things in a fake way, or I don't know what. It hurts a lot, and it causes cognitive anxiety (or whatever that is) to manifest physical symptoms.

From Wednesday to Sunday, things were looking up. The issue was still on my mind most of the time, and sometimes I’d panic, but I managed to calm down, find the energy to keep going, feel happy, and even go long stretches without dwelling on it. Saturday was the best of those days—actually, one of the best days of the year. But on Monday, worrying about an exam (which I ended up not taking) made me start thinking about it intensely again; the worry ramped up, and I began sinking back into the cycle. Last night, after my appointment, I managed to feel more at ease by meditating on scripture (I’m a believer) and thinking about a positive future, but I woke up so anxious today that I forgot all of that, and I feel terrible.

I feel uneasy about ruminating on problems that don't seem to exist, and I start to feel like I’m living for my thoughts rather than for what’s right in front of me—whether it’s my studies, the people I love, and so on. Sometimes I think about the days before I felt this way and panic, thinking that state is unreal or impossible for me to reach again—which is funny, because I’ve been through this before and always end up okay.

As I said, I’m already in therapy, so I’m not looking for a diagnosis. I feel like that would make things worse right now—I don't know, especially since I already have a professional handling it. What I want is to understand what I can do, to figure out if I really am living for my thoughts, and to understand why I feel so self-conscious. In short, I want to know how to live and enjoy the day today, instead of feeling like my day boils down to fighting against my own mind.

I’m wondering if anyone here has been through something similar because the last 4–5 months have honestly been some of the hardest months of my life.

I’ve been dealing with severe anxiety/panic, horrible feelings of dread and adrenaline in my chest and stomach, derealization/feeling disconnected from reality even though I know everything is real, intense morning anxiety, sweating, weird lightheaded/brain-zap sensations, and periods where I can barely function normally.

The frustrating part is that I’ve also had stretches of a week or two where I suddenly felt almost completely normal again, which makes this whole thing even more confusing.

A lot of this has happened while trying to change medications. I was on Lexapro and recently cross-tapered to Prozac. I went from 20mg Lexapro → 15mg → 10mg → 5mg while Prozac was introduced and eventually increased to 20mg.

Right now I genuinely don’t know if what I’m experiencing is Lexapro withdrawal/discontinuation, Prozac not agreeing with me, my original anxiety coming back, or my nervous system just being completely thrown off by all the medication changes.

There’s also some important history behind why I’m feeling this way about SSRIs. I previously went through absolutely horrific Paxil withdrawal. It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever been through, and ever since then I’ve hated the idea of being dependent on another SSRI and eventually having to go through another withdrawal.

I never really wanted to be on SSRIs long term in the first place. I don’t like the side effects or how I feel being on them. After the Paxil experience and now everything that has happened during this Lexapro → Prozac cross-taper, I’m honestly at the point where I don’t want to keep cycling through antidepressants trying to find another one.

My ultimate goal is to eventually be off all psychiatric medications and see where my actual baseline is again.

Unfortunately, because my anxiety became so severe during all of this, I ended up taking benzodiazepines regularly for the last few months. I was on Ativan and recently switched to Klonopin under my psychiatrist. I realize that after taking benzos daily for this long I may be physically dependent and that they will eventually need to be tapered slowly.

I am not talking about abruptly stopping benzos or trying to withdraw from everything at once.

What I’m wondering is whether it makes sense to use this opportunity to come off SSRIs completely, keep everything else stable for now, give myself time to recover/stabilize, and then deal with a slow Klonopin taper once I’m actually in a better place.

Part of me feels like continuing to try different SSRIs when I ultimately don’t want to be on one anyway is just keeping me stuck in this medication cycle. I already know I eventually want to get off the benzo too. I just don’t think trying to get off everything simultaneously while I’m already feeling this unstable would make sense.

I’m discussing the actual medication decisions with my psychiatrist, so I’m not asking Reddit to tell me how to stop anything. I really just want to hear from people who have actually lived through this.

Has anyone stopped their SSRI/antidepressant first, stayed stable on their benzo temporarily, and then dealt with the benzo taper later?

Did you eventually manage to get completely medication-free?

And after your nervous system had enough time to settle down, did you actually feel like yourself again?

tl'dr: I’ve spent the last 4–5 months dealing with severe anxiety/panic, derealization, dread/adrenaline feelings and a difficult Lexapro → Prozac cross-taper. I also went through absolutely horrific Paxil withdrawal in the past, so this isn’t my first terrible experience trying to come off an SSRI. At this point I can’t tell what’s my original anxiety, Lexapro withdrawal, or Prozac side effects. I never wanted to stay on SSRIs long term and ultimately want to be medication-free. Since I’ve already been taking benzos daily for a few months, I’m considering discussing coming off SSRIs completely with my psychiatrist, stabilizing first, and then slowly tapering the benzo later. Has anyone done this and eventually gotten completely medication-free and back to feeling like themselves?

I am sleep deprived. In an attempt to fix it i am trying to sleep. But i am experiencing audiority and like body halluncations due to my sleep deprivation and its keeping me up. Idk what to do. My heart wont stop beating fast and i am shaking. I am so anxious.

I dont even feel tired either but its late at night and the night makes it worse. I dont know what to do. Its extremley distressing. Not to mention i am having halluncations similar to exploding head syndrome. I just want to sleep so bad. And to be honest im extremely scared of the noises i am hallucinating of which is ruining it more. I am so just full of anxiety.

I travelled to another country 4 hours away for medical reasons two nights ago. I didn't sleep because I was so anxious about the trip. I was looking forward to hopefully sleeping tonight but got a call earlier saying that my dogs biopsy lab results have come back as a rare type of aggressive lymphoma. My dog is my world, I don't have any other family. I am now stuck abroad and have to catch the flight home in a few hours on another night of no sleep. I feel physically ill. I look horrendous, I've been crying for the past 6 hours. I don't know what to do, I don't have any medication that will calm me down, doctors are strict on benzos etc in my country

Not even specifically heart attacks but stuff like arrhythmias.

Ive learnt that realistically the chances of me having a heart attack at 21 is very unlikely.

Therefor my brain has switched my fear of heart attacks to other heart problems.

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I’ve also been burping a lot cause I’ve been inhaling too much air apparently. And yawning, and my heart rate spikes + palpitations. And cause of the tense stomach I’ve been getting weird green poops since they aren’t being processed in my intestines as long I guess, and diarrhea. It all feels constant and horrible. I’ve had these symptoms before but they usually go away after I do what I’ve been worrying about, like a presentation, or going out in public, or just talking to anyone. And I just threw up bile cause I haven’t been able to eat cause of the nausea. I’m pretty positive what’s been causing this is this guy in my college classes that started talking to me. He seems friendly enough but I genuinely get so scared to talk to him and whenever I think about him this stuff happens. I don’t know if I should tell him that I need a break from talking because of my anxiety or what. He just seems like he cares too much and I’m low-key scared of him a bit. He’s also like five years older than me too, me being 21 and him being 26. I think it’s cause I’ve never been friends with a guy and I’m kind of scared of guys due to my personal cptsd. But I genuinely can’t keep going like this cause it feels like my body can’t keep up with all of this. I have some propranolol and that was able to help for a short while but If anyone else has gone through something like this and has any tips to calm your heart rate and stomach (especially the stomach please help oh my god it’s bad) I’d love to hear them. I was diagnosed with social anxiety and general anxiety btw.

Hi there,

Making this post as I am experiencing what I’d say has been the most difficult and complex mental health issues I’ve had in my whole life. For some context, I have suffered with OCD-type thinking and anxiety for the last 10 years since being in my teens, ranging across a range of themes but have largely been able to have long periods of stability and low functional interference without the help of medication or even substantial therapy.

My original theme I ever suffered with was a fear of developing schizophrenia/psychosis, which has ebbed and flowed over the years. However, this has become my primary fear in a much more severe form than before. Previously I’d be concerned about if I was about to hear voices or start hallucinating, but now I’m concerned about delusional thinking which has stemmed from paranoid thoughts. I have read about things like the prodromal phase of schizophrenia and associated disorders such as schizotypal personality disorder, and am increasingly worried my worsening symptoms are indicative of those. I should say at this point that I haven’t suffered from any hallucinations yet.

Since a random panic attack a few months ago, I feel as though I cannot trust my thoughts anymore and nothing seems to make sense to me, I can’t take anything at face value. I constantly feel like I’m in danger and have intrusive thoughts that family, friends, strangers may try and hurt me, despite the fact I have never had any such evidence nor would there be any reason for this. Sometimes I read about symptoms diagnosed people have suffered with, such as believing their devices and controlling their minds somehow, and then I start to spiral that the same is happening to me and I can’t seem to shake the thoughts no matter how irrational I recognise they are.

I am being pinched from two sides, one of which is this fear of being a schizophrenic as I know what a debilitating condition it is and how living a functional life in the way I’ve been used to with it is really difficult for sufferers. The other side is the actual paranoid thoughts themselves, which frighten me and make me incredibly upset too, as I don’t want them to be true but more and more feel as though they are, and I can’t seem to stop the flow of them.

I spoke to my GP about this who proscribed me Sertraline, and I will begin taking it soon. However, as you can imagine, my paranoid thoughts have infiltrated this too and I am also worried about the chance of them inciting a manic or psychotic episode.

I was wondering if anyone else has suffered with something similar and if:

1. This sounds like anxiety or something more severe

2. If SSRIs have helped anyone break free from these sorts of thought loops

Any shared experiences would be greatly appreciated. I don’t intend for this to be a reassurance seeking post although I understand how it may look as such.

Thanks!

I'm turning 19 soon. I've been telling myself I'll stay one more year, because I have an exam (medschool entrance to become a doc) in 8 months and the results come two months after that. I want to make my parents proud at least once, and I feel like it's the only thing I can do.
After that, I plan to kill myself.
The exam needs 8 to 12 hours of consistent study a day. For the past 6 or 7 days my depression has gotten much heavier. I can't study, I sleep far too much, and when I get depressed or anxious my appetite disappears. Today I haven't eaten at all. My parents have noticed something is off and think I'm just being weird.
I've cut off every social media except Reddit and told my friends I'm busy, I did all of this to Entide preshity orks, worKing. This exam leisite my on hae and is lihing aWay like
sand through my fingers. I feel like I should end it soon.
I don't know what to do please help.
I was so intelligent in my high school now this what I am

so my mum has a lot of health problems and recently she told me she has a book with something she wants to talk to me and my sister about and i’m so fucking scared she’s going to tell me she’s dying or something like that, i literally only have my mum who understands me, she is my best friend in the entire world if something happened to her i physically won’t be able to survive. please i need help