My name is Rob and I feel like I am losing the battle with my anxiety and panic attacks. I have had social anxiety disorder and panic attacks for the last 30 years and have been able to maintain a close to normal life style. Over the last five years though it has been an exhasting battle that has taken it's toll on me. I was in an accident and crippled my left ankle making it very difficult to walk and limits my mobility to a few blocks. Because of my anxiety and panic it makes it impossible to rely on plublic transit. Over the last two years my condition has become so bad I had to be admitted to a hostpital for hypertension and panic attacks twice. The second time I lost partial vision in my right eye and has never returned. Now when I have a panic attack this is the first thing  I worry about losing sight in my other eye. A month later I was back in hospital with a heart attack. It was only a few years ago I was still working out every day and had an active life style. Now I am a borderline agoraphobic and only leave my place for maybe thirty minutes a day and some days I never step outside. This only adds to my condition, it's like a snow ball rolling down hill and it just gets faster, bigger and spinning out of control. This is why I joined…

It was December 5th, 2012 and my fiance and I were headed out of town.  Not 15 minutes into it, I felt like I was going to be sick and had to pull over so he could drive.  It was an instant feeling that I assumed was just a bug or something that was going around.  For a few weeks I felt this way and immediately thought I was pregnant and that would explain the nerves and sickness, so finally talked to Peyton (my fiance) and we took a test - negative.  But then what was making me feel sick?! December 26th - Doctor's office.  She says I am not depressed and that it is anxiety, but there are medications that can help...Lexapro, an anti-depressant that would take about 6 weeks to get into my system.  I have never taken a medication other than birth control and never wanted to, but this had to stop.  It seems to help, but I've had some life changes that are taking a toll still. We've been trying to plan a destination wedding, ok fine...12/16/2013 lost my job after purchasing a new car, ok fine...2/4/2013 got a new job, ok fine...11/1/2013, getting on a plane to Mexico in 5 months, not fine (getting on a flying capsule with a bunch of other people scares the daylights out of me).  Less than a year ago I was in Vegas and had no anxiety!  What the hell is my brain doing to me?! Today:  June 11,…

Mental Health Awareness, and the Latest Movies By Salomon Ptasevich Last week I had a chance to see the latest Iron Man movie, and to my surprise the new Tony Stark seems to be suffering from what appears to be panic attacks, night terrors and PTSD. In multiple scenes we can see him struggling with his anxiety and he even has a full-blown panic attack near the beginning of the movie. I find it really refreshing to see that one of the most self-confident characters on the screen today has been touched by a mental health issue. I think this shows a trend of acceptance of mental health as something that can affect anybody and this will certainly help to raise awareness in the younger generation. Many times I see that new ASN users are really surprised by the fact that there are others that suffer from anxiety as well. Many are unaware of what anxiety is at all. Another thing I really liked about the fact that Stark has an anxiety disorder is the way that this disorder is actually used as a device for the development of the character. It helps to humanize him and make him more likable. On the contrary, I was very disappointed with Silver Linings Playbook (2012) and the way the movie depicts people with mental health disorders. I think it was completely exaggerated, unrealistic and stigmatizing. In this case I will say that unfortunately not every movie that talks about mental health helps…

So I have always been told to document my feelings, keep a journal, write it down. Well, here we go. Figure why not do it on here if it can help someone else. I am 43 soon to be 44, ick, and I have suffered from anxiety for over 20 years. It started when my youngest was born on 11/22/92. He was a month premature and had ventricular septal defect. I will never forget those words! Basically it means a heart murmur. Lots of people have it. Very common thing. Now if I was told that 20 years ago I would probably be fine today! It wasnt explained to me. I asked the dr if he was going to live and his reply was: "WE DONT KNOW". Thats it, end of conversation. REALLY??!! Well, I was sent home while Robert was in NICU. He had tubes all over and was in an incubator. That night was my first panice attack. I drove myself to the ER, my soon to be husband was not much help back then, and I was told I was having anxiety. Ok, Im not dieing, I can go home. Well, needless to say that was not my only trip to the ER. I made several. Finally one night, my anxiety was higher at night, I was treated by a paramedic who was helping in the ER. He asked if I drove myself, I said yes. He explained to me that if I can get up and…

I have started a new blog at http://www.myanxietystruggle.com and in this article I am trying to define happiness. In my point of view happiness is one such thing which all of us are looking for irrespective of the work we are doing, things we want to achieve and whether we are in some relationship. We are looking happiness through money, through people, through some assets and everyone has their own way of looking at happiness. If you ask someone a question that why you want success? Their answer would be to achieve happiness for them or for their family. So everyone is looking for this one word happiness. But the irony is that everybody in this world experience happiness momentarily i.e. for a particular period of time and the main reason behind this irony is that people feels that happiness is something which is dependent on achieving something or getting something. Our happiness is dependent on something outside i.e. our desires comes from outside world. For example “I will feel good only when I get this particular thing”, now it is clear that I will only feel good when I get some particular thing or my happiness is dependent on that particular thing. The main reason for this thinking is our belief system which says that when something is done and it’s done in a right way then i will feel happy or I am doing this so that I feel happy. You can trace back to your childhood and…

Follow my blogging journey here http://anxietygirlsings.blogspot.co.nz/ When you fall back into that spiral of anxiety (yet) again, give yourself time to get your strength back, and then step back into the battle again. No matter how often you fall, you will always get through and you will be able to start again. Sometimes it feels like you can't possibly keep trying to beat it. It will always get the better of you eventually, and to an extent, it's true. We can never be completely rid of anxiety, but we can learn to manage it, and in doing so, we can live our lives more 'normally' and achieve things we really want to achieve. Of course, I'm not a professional, and who am I to be giving advice. To be honest, I am giving this advice to myself. I fall backwards regularly, and each time I get depressed and convince myself that I will never be able to do anything, that I can never beat it, and that it's just not worth even trying anymore. Yet everytime, I slowly get out of that spiral (and yes, it can take a couple of months or more), and pick myself up, and start again. It really is a case of, 2 steps forward, 1 step back - and sometimes, it can be more like 4 steps back. But at least each time I try again, I make even a little progress. I hope that you are too. If you feel like you aren't, try…

Depression is ugly. There’s no way around this fact. Depression is like driving to an amazing job interview and your car dies in the middle of nowhere. Say goodbye to the interview. You will be sticking around for a while. Those of us with anxiety are well aware of our depressive episodes. Depression and anxiety come in the same package. The National Institute of Mental Health states on their website that, “Anxiety disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder, often accompany depression.” When a car breaks down, our immediate reaction is often a bit senseless. We may get angry at the car for busting down. We want to scream at it; to kick it; to take a sledgehammer and smash all its windows. Likewise, when someone we love becomes depressed and simply stops functioning, we often become overwhelmed and frustrated by their ineptitude; and rightly so. It is not easy having a car bust down and spoil longed for opportunities. However, smashing in the car, telling the car it is lazy, sending the car on guilt trips for busting down is not going to get anyone back on the road. Smashing up the car will only make matters worse. One must give the car a tune up. Maybe it needs some more gas. The consequences of maltreatment, however, are obviously more severe for living things. Didier Lefevre traveled into the rough terrain in the bleakest parts of Afghanistan with Doctors…

  Hi, I'm a blogger at http://shygirladventurer.blogspot.com/  I am trying to go on a bunch of fun adventures that take me out of my comfort zone to help me overcome my social anxiety. For my ultimate adventure, I will volunteer abroad in Nepal for a couple of months. Check out this ridiculous adventure I decided to go on. So, I somehow convinced myself that this was going to be a good idea. Everyone reassured me that it was a fine idea when I explained it, so I felt okay about it. Here is a graphic representation of what I envisioned along with a poem that inspired me. The idea was that I would buy a balloon and give it away. This is how I saw it. A great time, framed by this whimsical poem of spring. I imagined that I would be a little awkward like Cummings' balloon man, but I would make people happy. That's not quite how it went. First, I went to the party store. I picked out a big monkey balloon. A big monkey balloon. I tied it to a hair band around my wrist. I drove to a store I was not accustomed to. I felt lost as I wandered through the isles looking for someone to give the balloon to.  I felt like people were staring at me because I was carrying a giant monkey balloon. They were. I knew I should look them in the eye and smile. I think they were grinning…