What Type of Anxiety Disorder Do I Have?
Question by Oliver M: What type of anxiety disorder do i have?
I feel extremely anxious during certain moments of my life. Since the commencement of the new school year I felt extremely anxious during my first period. My hands would get sweaty and i would have the urge to take off my jacket(the room was cold according to others). I would feel nausea and I felt the need to draw on my paper or play with my hands. If i didn’t keep myself busy the nausea would intensify; talking would also make it worst. Sometimes I felt as though i could take it anymore and i would ask for permission to go to the bathroom before anyone noticed that there was something wrong. The problem stopped about two weeks ago although once in a while i feel a more mild sensation.
I cannot eat in public. When i was younger(about 10) my family learned not to ever take me out to eat. Before even entering the restaurant i would feel incredibly anxious. I would begin to breathe heavier and eventually i would begin to gag. I never through up due to anxiety but I would have the sensation of it. I feel really bad whenever I go to a friends house and their parent offer me food because i always reject it. One of my friends baked me a muffin one day and gave it to me before school. I told her i would eat it later but she insisted that i take a bite. I didn’t want to hurt her feelings and so i did. Immediately after taking a bite i begin feeling really nervous. A few minutes later you find me with my head down on my desk feeling really dizzy.
Last Saturday I was going out with my parents. Out of nowhere i felt as though my left body was numb. I felt like i couldnt breath and i got a huge pain on my chest. I thought something was seriously wrong with me but as soon as we got home I calmed down and everything went away instantly.
Also my best friend is constantly trying to help me but im not sure if her methods would actually benefit me. Whenever a teacher in class asks someone to go to the front she never hesitates to say “Pick Oliver!” Once im up there, in front of the class, she tells me “Its for your own good” She also told me that she was going to have me go over to her house on monday and that she was going to order pizza. She told me “Im going to force you to eat some of it.” I feel so uncomfortable and so scared of some of the things she makes me go through but she claims its for my betterment.
What type of anxiety disorder do i have? Would my best friend’s methods help in anyway? Why is it that if i am asked to talk in front of class without expecting it i dont get anxious?
Btw i am a 17 year old guy in high school
Best answer:
Answer by gally
Your friend thinks that if she exposes you to your fear in a safe place (ie with him) then you will see that your fears are unfounded and not rational and therefore you will “get over it”. Your friend is trying to help, but there would have to be some acceptance on your part. This type of “exposure therapy” is common for people with fears and anxiety. I don’t like that she elects you to go to the front of the class. You should be sitting where you feel most comfortable.
I think your friend should be just that .. a friend to you. It is not her place to try and “cure” you (even though I know she’s just trying to help). I’d tell her to stop. A friend is someone who tries to make you feel better, not someone who throws you into panic.
You have panic or anxiety attacks. Lots of people have it. Some people never get over them and some people spend years in therapy. Look up anxiety on the internet and you’ll find ways to help yourself (for example breathing techniques which do work). You’ll also see different approaches to therapy (cognitive or emotional).
My sons have anxiety but only in certain situations. It makes them completely freeze up. We’ve been through the mill with “therapy”. Sometimes it’s a lot of BS. One place just wanted to drug up my son and send him in to school sedated. He did not want to be sedated and I backed him up on that. It’s kinda hard to understand why a therapist thinks they know what’s best when they have never had a panic attack themselves. I respect them and their anxiety .. they got it for a reason. Both are now homeschooled.
I have a friend who gets panic attacks and I asked her about “exposure therapy”. She said, “why would you? .. Why would you put someone into a panic?” She believes there’s nothing wrong with just staying away from some situations and she has lived with it for years. So you’ll find different schools of thought about anxiety.
In any case, you know you can’t avoid all situations, but you can learn how to calm your body and mind. And you can avoid some situations.
Answer by sleepy dragon
I think it’s most likely that you have panic disorder, this is when we become afraid of the physical symptoms of anxiety and fear something bad will happen if they dont stop. For you the feared outcome during a panic has mainly been vomiting in public but you have described that in other situations you are worried about other bad things happening too. you have started to avoid particular situations where you think there might be a danger of this happening.this is known as agoraphobia.
It’s possible the problem may have started as vomit phobia and has developed more into panic.
People who suffer from panic become over sensitive to normal physical sensations and changes that occur in the body. Because these symptoms are interpreted as dangerous the person becomes yet more anxious so more physical symptoms arise.
It’s important to note what you do in response to panic, so whilst it might appear that avoiding situations, distracting yourself or putting your head down bring you anxiety down the message you give yourself is that the situation is actually dangerous. Very frequently panic attacks are maintained by people taking in more air than needed by taking deep breaths. Because we have allowed too much oxegyn into our system it gives rise to light headedness and other panic symptoms.
The best form of treatment is CBT this helps you to learn to overcome panic by taking you through particular exercises intended to reduce your fear of symptoms and rebuilding your confidence in order to stop avoidance and other unhelpful behaviours.
If you can’t access therapy then it would be helpful to read up on fight or flight which is about learning how the body responds to fear
You can also buy CBT self help books such as overcoming panic.
The reason that you don’t panic when suddenly faced with something is that you don’t have time to worry or anticipate something bad happening.
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