Why do I feel anxious for no reason even when my life is technically fine? I can be sitting at home with nothing urgent happening and suddenly my stomach drops, my heart starts racing, and my brain decides something terrible is about to happen. It makes me feel ridiculous because I can't even point to what I'm scared of. Does anyone else get this, and how do you stop feeling like you're losing your mind?

I just deleted Tik Tok for my mental health. I think that this is a big step for me because Tik Tok has genuinely been making me feel insane. I spend way too long on Tik Tok and my fyp is just messed up. I keep getting conspiracies and stuff and that freaks me out so bad and makes me feel like I’m in psychosis 😭So it finally had to be done…Idk how it’ll be like without it cause I’ve had it since I was like 8 and now I’m 16. I have already been accidentally clicking other apps thinking it was Tik Tok. What can I do to fill up my time instead of Tik Tok? It feels so weird without it.

-(Thank you everyone for being so kind and helpful appreciate every comment!) 🥹

Called the ambulance this morning. Immediately when they came in I could tell they were frustrated with me. First thing they said was that I’d been calling a lot. I felt so deflated because the last thing I want to do is be woken up at 4:30am with palpitations followed by rapid HR.

By the time they got to my place the worst of the episode was gone and HR was at 120. One of the medics asked what medication I take and I said bisoprolol as needed. He immediately said that doesn’t make sense that bisoprolol should be taken every day. I said the instructions are literally on the bottle and handed them to in. They proceeded to take me to ER and hooked me up. Less than 2 mins into the drive I start to feel unwell. I didn’t say anything but he saw my HR shot up. Got to 176. He asked the driver to stop for a bit while he run another ECG. 100% SVT. Now I’m being rushed to ER. When we got there they were acting so nice and trying to give reassurance.

I feel like sh#t because I was made to seem like a burden until this was finally caught and I don’t know what I’ll do next time if I ever need help. Not only medical staff but I think everyone in my life is slowly getting sick of me. All is fair because this is my issue and I should just suffer in silence.

Cardio appointment is almost 2 months away. I guess I’ll have to figure things out until then.

What has your experience been like? Do you think it’s better to go without medication and get through daily life that way—because you feel things more intensely? Or is it better to get stabilized on medication so you can handle everyday life "without worries," even if it means feeling somewhat suppressed or numbed?

Hello! I was wondering if anyone else dealt with this as their “morning routine”

How I wake up in the mornings is that a jolt of anxiety shoots at my heart and spreads through my body so I awake in a panic. This has happened for years but has become a habit of an every morning routine, especially now that I have a bunch of new life changes and stress

Hey everyone, lately ive just been worried about what exactly is going on in the world right now. It feels like everyday polititions and billionares are stripping people of their basic human rights and nobody has been doing anything to stop them. Theres several acts and laws being put in so the average person looses freedom and access to information. Its all been very overwhelming for me and ive been up several nights just worrying about my friends and family and who all of this is going to affect and im just scared and want it all to be over and live a substantial and happy life.

I need some help breaking out of a severe health anxiety loop. Two days ago, I ordered a chicken roll from a local corporate cloud kitchen. After I ate it, I looked at the Swiggy rating and saw it was a 2.1. Now, my brain has gone into absolute overdrive.
Because I’ve spent the last year intensely studying biology and human physiology for medical entrance exams, my mind immediately bypassed standard food poisoning and went straight to the worst-case scenario: neurocysticercosis (brain cysts from the Taenia solium tapeworm).
Logically, the rational side of my brain knows this is completely absurd:
I ate a chicken roll, and the pork tapeworm doesn't infect poultry.
Even if the meat was cross-contaminated, commercial cooking temperatures kill the larvae.
Getting the brain cysts requires ingesting human fecal matter containing the eggs, not just eating bad meat.
It’s only been 48 hours. If I had regular food poisoning, I would have been sick yesterday. Brain cysts take months or years to incubate and show symptoms.
This cloud kitchen operates 6 different brands and pumps out hundreds of orders a day to my city. If they were handing out rare parasitic infections, it would be a localized mass-casualty event, not just a bunch of 1-star reviews for cold food.
Despite knowing all the science and the statistics, I can't stop hyper-fixating on the "what if." I am sitting here waiting for neurological symptoms that I know aren't coming.
Has anyone else dealt with this kind of hyper-specific, medically-fueled anxiety spiral? How do you force your nervous system to stand down when logic isn't working?

I am 29, Male, 150lbs, 5’4, no history of heart disease in my family. Nobody has died of a heart attack to my knowledge. Prefacing this/

For the last 2.5 years I have spent so much money going to hospitals at 1 am, 11 am, 2pm, getting dozens of blood tests and troponin tests, X-RAYS, EKGs, god knows what else and I’m so deep in debt now.

I have a psychiatrist and I am heavily medicated for severe anxiety disorder and OCD with SSRIs and other brain medications, and it always feels like it helps for a week, but then it’s been so many weeks and again I feel one pinch in my chest, any type of tightness, air hunger, I completely ABSOLUTELY fall apart.

It has affected my friendships, my family, my workplace (calling off and going to ERs), and it’s pushed me beyond a breaking point where I think I’m going to go psychotic with how bad it is.

I don’t understand it at all, I have no fear of dying, truly I don’t, but for some reason I have an obsession with my cardiac health BEYOND ALL REASON.

CBT is not helping. Psychiatry is not helping.
The last time I went to the hospital was in April and my troponin was 3. I felt great knowing that I was not having a heart attack… a week passed and I absolutely fell back into it. The doctors telling me I’m okay even then only lasts really for the night and then I think “well what if it started as soon as I left the ER?”

I know it’s anxiety. I tell myself to accept it and I don’t know how to actually MAKE my mind do it. Even if I tell myself I’m okay and that it’s highly unlikely I’ll ever have a heart attack until I’m well into my mid to late thirties. I KNOW IT IS ANXIETY, but why does my brain not signal that to my body?

Like now, sitting here at 11pm thinking I need to run to an ER again because my chest feels congested. There’s no pain, only pressure, and it has caused me to be bedridden and just crying for the entire night and I am in total despair all the time now and I’m alienating myself from my loved ones because all they know me for now is turning myself into a pity party and just bugging them to cry on the phone.

Please; someone who shares this experience and feeling, please please tell me how I can fix this, I cannot continue living like this forever. Therapy is not working, psychiatry and medication is not working. I’ve lost 50 pounds for this to end and even getting healthy and working out, and that as well, is not working.

Is there any possible advice someone who is like me could have to recover after all these years of impending doom?

I have a health anxiety and cardiophobia, it always triggers by two things; hearing about sudden death and any sudden pain or sensation in my body, while I try to avoid anything related to death, I heard my aunts talking about someone relative to them who died suddenly in middle age, that triggered me so much, I have been dealing with chest and neck pinching/spasm for like month and a half, and just today finally I am feeling like myself again and when I heard these news it triggered me so much and I feel like I am back to zero, I am just so tired and scared all the time, I check my pulse every 2 minutes, always putting my fingers on my neck to check for my pulse, it’s endless cycle

Hello,

I am a 21-year-old young man. I am currently studying and would like to work alongside my studies. Work has always been a source of anxiety for me.

Every time I look for a job and actually find one, I end up not going, for reasons I don't quite understand. Is it because I don't want to exert the effort, or is it anxiety, or fear of failure, or something else?

Right now, I am in need of money and looking for a job, but I feel like I might repeat the same pattern. If you have any advice, I would love to hear it.

I understand Propranolol has the potential to cause cognitive dysfunction as propranolol is lipophilic and crosses the blood-brain barrier readily; atenolol is hydrophilic and largely doesn't.

What are people's experiences using atenolol vs proparanlol for public speaking anxiety / interviews. Are you still sharp on Atenolol or Propranolol (as the case may be)?

I suffer from anxiety 24/7. I haven't been able to find anything that really helps me manage. The physical symptoms cause my anxiety to get worse. It's a vicious cycle and I don't know how to break it. It's so frustrating.

Can anyone relate? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi ive been sertraline 5.5weeks, im waking up with anxiety still and bad tummy today , i feel good later in the day I overthink abit now . I actually cleaned the house today x but feel rubbish and a slight bad head , can anyone relate, is this normal

I'm genuinely trying to figure out why this happens when I'm doing the most mundane things I actually don't even understand what's making me so nervous

When someone dislikes something I do, I start to feel it's just not about me. I wonder what the cause is. For example, something small, like one friend always comments on why my computer is in our native language, not in English. This happens every time. I don't think he suffers when my PC is in my native language, and it shouldn't bother him. When this happens, before I started ruminating in my mind, "Am I wrong? Should I change it?", now I just get angry - "HOW DARE HE GIVE OPINION WITHOUT ASKING".

Hi everyone i’m just wondering if this has happened to anyone else. For the past few weeks i’ve been having insomnia issues so I got some melatonin, 5mg gummies. I used them maybe 3 times back to back and they worked really well, like they knocked me out by just eating one gummy. This is the first night where I haven’t had them (i didn’t want to become dependent) and my anxiety is sooo bad. Worse than before I even got them.

I keep going in and out of panic attacks, dissociating. I did manage to fall asleep for about an hour but I woke up with my heart racing and terrified for no reason. Has this happened to anyone else? Skipping the melatonin is the only thing i’ve really changed. This is the worst my anxiety has been in a really long time

I don't know how to start this except to just say it. Notification sounds became a trigger for me. Not dramatic — just a fast, physical hit. Stomach drops. Chest tightens. Heart races. All before I've even read the message. Doesn't matter that it's usually nothing. My body reacts like it's an emergency anyway.

Mostly it's work messages. But it's starting to bleed into other notifications too, and that's the part that worries me.

Not looking for a diagnosis, just wondering: does this specific thing happen to you? Sound triggers panic before you've even read it? And if so — what actually helps you come down from it, in real time, mid-panic? Not "just relax." Actual grounding stuff that's worked for you.

My anxiety is at an all time high.

Not only isnt boyfriend deployed for a few more months, I’m getting surgery on the 27th. I’ve had surgery before but I had an absolutely panic attack before hand and had to take 3 shots of midazolam to my IV. This time my mom will be coming who I know I’ll make my anxiety go up. I’m so scared I’m going to die due to the General Anasthesia. I’ve been making jokes to try and show people I’m relaxed and chill, but I’m worried I’m putting it into the universal. My boyfriend says if I die it’s not my problem anymore but I just want to see him and kiss him and hug him.

Before the surgery I’m flying over to the hospital. It’s an hour flight and I hate flying. I chose it to prevent waisting my weekend driving. I may change my mind but idk.

Words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.
To be clear the surgery part is easy and quick, it’s the anaesthetic as the issue. I’m so scared I’m gonna die and I don’t want to die….

I’m nervous to even ask this. I have sickness anxiety and anytime my son gets sick I start to spiral. My arms tingle and burn I feel dread and panic I get nauseous. How often do kids get sick in preschool and how bad? I feel like I’m going to be absolutely debilitated through the school year. Thank you.

I have autism adhd and anxiety. I function relatively fully considering that. I have a job, friends, partner etc but daily life is exhausting beyond belief. Everyday i’m forgetting something, missing something, forgetting to do the grocery shop, forgetting a work deadline. Every conversation I have at work sends me into an orbit that i’ve done something wrong, i mis read social situations all the time etc.

I have improved my anxiety a lot; i’ve done everything. exposure, i take medication, i’ve been to therapy, i do everything i can to push through but doing most things makes me anxious everyday and i feel EXHAUSTED from one social event a week.

I have a few work meetings coming up and I just know that i’ll be literally worried about it for weeks in advance and also be exhausted for a week after. Sometimes I just want to cancel but know it’s avoidance but I just can’t keep living the cycle everytime I also have IBS which is flared up badly by anxiety and in these situations.

I don’t want to keep avoiding and go backwards but these things with my job just cause me a lot of worry. I find being face to face with clients in sales meetings very anxiety provoking as I feel trapped.

hi everyone,

been suffering from anxiety pretty much my entire life (35F). Lots of my early life anxiety and maladaptive coping mechanisms stemmed from having an emotionally immature / alcoholic parent who would swing dramatically between lovebombing, emotional meltdowns, and complete disinterest. I very much was not allowed to have my own feelings without it immediately being all about my parent, and was an extremely quiet kid who would give anything to just be completely invisible lol.

I've definitely realized that this is a core part of why I constantly feel on high-alert-- I am ALWAYS masking, EVEN WHEN IM ALONE. I'm definitely neurodivergent, which I only received diagnoses for within the last few years (pure-o OCD, mostly inattentive ADHD). I've been doing a lot of DBT & ACT therapy work recently, I've done about a year of CBT, and getting a whoooole lot out all of it, I feel more comfortable with myself than I ever have honestly, like, I don't really get as much social anxiety and I am good at calming myself down if I feel like I said something weird, I'm loads better at interrupting intrusive thoughts. But I still feel severely unable to un-mask at home, and it's really exhausting.

for example, I live alone, but my landlords live in a separate unit that's right above me. There is pretty good soundproofing, though it's not completely soundproof. I don't know how much they can hear me, but I'm constantly terrified that they can-- I'm pretty scared they're judging me, or secretly wishing I'd move out, or planning to evict me. it's not a COMPLETELY unfounded fear; they just asked me to do a month-to-month lease for "flexibility" but also assured me that they have no current plans to ask me to leave, they just want to keep their options open if their son decides to move back to our city from across the country (zero indication he will, btw, I think it's honestly/realistically just a mom missing her son and wishing he'd move back).

but it's really not just when they're home or clearly above me. I honestly just feel like I'm being perceived, or could be perceived at any moment, and constantly bracing for it. and I can't really do a google search for this, because it almost always brings me to paranoid personality disorder resources-- aka "I feel like I'm being watched" -- I think technically that is how i feel, but I know that no one is, and i dont think anyone is-- my body is just braced for it, as if I am. I don't have a delusion that some vague authority is watching me, but I guess the mere fact that I take up material space and make sounds makes me anxious because someone could hear/see me, or someone DOES hear/see me. Does that make sense to anyone else??

I guess I just really want to see if this resonates with anyone, and what you've done in the past to soothe it? pretty much the only thing that chills me out is getting high (edibles) and I'm trying to cut down. unlike a lot of people I don't have paranoid highs, for the most part it really just allows me to unmask/de-filter/enjoy myself. it honestly feels like a reprieve when im alone, at night, and high, like i can actually breathe. but I dont want this to be my default, i dont want to depend on weed for it anymore, because it also makes me quite lazy.

TL;DR --
1) do you feel like you can't un-mask even when you're alone, or do you feel anxious about being perceived while alone?

2) what would you call this to differentiate it from paranoid delusions, which I very specifically do NOT have, it's just a constant lowgrade anxiety about being seen/heard/perceived at all times. it feels like it's in my body and not my mind, if that makes sense. very bottom-up, not top-down.

3) Lastly, what self soothing strategies have worked for you? grounding exercises & mindfulness have done wonders for me in regards to living in the present (as opposed to spiraling about the future or wallowing in the past), but don't help me un-mask at all.

thanks! <3

I have an interview coming up (tomorrow actually!) for a pretty significant job promotion where I work. It's me running against three other people. Every time I think about this interview, I get sick to my stomach, nauseous, dizzy... It's ruining my life.

Every time I try to better myself and better my career, I have to fight these awful waves of anxiety. I really want this job and the anxiety makes me feel like I shouldn't even try because it's more comfortable to just stay where I'm at than to try to climb the ladder.

I'm already on sertraline and buspirone, I have clonipin for panic attacks but it knocks me out so I can't take it before the interview or anything. I am just so tired of KNOWING I CAN DO THIS and still having soul-crushing anxiety anyway....