Anxiety & Panic Attacks

My Experience:

* My anxiety started in year 7. I've was always a shy kinda person and always been a socially awkward kinda person.
It got worse over time.

* Different people experience anxiety differently and everyone's anxiety is has different severity's and some people get panic attacks along with anxiety, some people just get the anxiety & anxiety attacks

* I've had both anxiety and panic attacks
* My first panic was attack in year 8 i believe

- Panic attacks
(noun)
- plural noun: panic attacks

- a sudden overwhelming feeling of acute and disabling anxiety.

- "she has suffered from panic attacks since her early twenties"

* I don't have panic attacks often. Mostly just my anxiety kicks in. Usually when i have to socialise with new people or i have to go into new situations i get anxious and can have panic attacks

* I've also known people who have had anxiety & panic attacks from school

* My last proper panic attack was when i started year 11. The first day or year 11. On the 3rd of September 2015. I wrote about it in my journal actually

- How it feels:

* When i get anxious or panic attacks it starts off as feeling nervous. I get a funny feeling in my stomach. I get stomach pains. I get hot. I feel tense. I can get emotional. I can get quite stressed out. I need space. I need to get out. I can get irritated. Hyperventilate.  Bad thoughts. Unsteady. Sick. Lightheaded. It depends weather i'm anxious or if i'm having a panic attack

* I've been forced in to counselling due to anxiety. I didn't wanna go. It didn't help me. I basically got forced to go to the school counsellor too which i didn't wanna go to. I hardly did. My mum has recently said maybe i should go to the doctor & ask for anxiety pills.

- Socially

* Looking for a job is a really hard thing for me due to anxiety. I still sometimes get anxious about going to or being at work. (I'm a waitress).

* Making friends is also a really hard thing for me due to anxiety

* Moving schools in year 9 was really hard for me due to anxiety. I would sit in the library. It took me a good 2 - 3 ish months to actually make friends & feel somewhat comfortable at my new school

* Over time i have learnt how to deal with it.

- Dealing with It:

* How i deal with it is to take deep breaths, take my self in to a quiet area where i can be on my own or lock myself away, i write down how i'm feeling or what i'm experiencing at that moment, i cry if i want / need to, i talk to myself about it.

* Talk to someone else about it, maybe a close friend or family member or partner, you could. Or another idea is you could talk to the camera about it, you don't have to post it on any social media platform, you don't have to, u can keep it private. Or if you wanted to share it on Social media you could. You could maybe create a group for you & people you know who have anxiety or join a public / social media group for people with anxiety. Download Apps. You could create a blog about / for your anxiety.

- Anxiety & Panic Attack Symptoms:

* Rapid, pounding heartbeat
* Feeling of your heart being squeezed or pressured
* Chest pains - often sharp pains in the center of your chest
* Intense sweating with possible hot / cold sensations
* Lightheadedness possibly with confusion
* Shortness of breath - feeling like you cant get a deep breath
* Weakness, tingling or numbness in the arms and legs
* Dizziness or faint
* Burning Sensations through the skin and muscles
* Intense feeling of doom - as though something terrible is gonna happen
* Trouble concentrating or focusing
* impulse of feeling like you need to get away or you need a doctor
* Trouble listening / hearing
* Overwhelming fear - a level of anxiety that can convince you of something terrible
* Depersonalisation - also known as the feeling as if you are watching yourself
* Nausea & stomach discomfort - possibly with pain
* Head pressure - like being squeezed
* Palpataions
* Trembling / shaking
* Unsteady