My social anxiety started in2013

Hi. Good to have you here, You will find a great bunch of guys here who all suffer or have suffered from some form of anxiety, so you are in good company among those who understand. No judgement or criticism here.

Panic is so common in GAD. (Generalized Anxiety Disorder). Any little thing can 'trigger' it. A sight, a sound even a smell. If we panic in certain places it's because our mind still retains the thought of what happened there before. The word 'panic' is derived from the ancient god Pan. Lord of the underworld. The underworld being the unconscious. We have no conscious control over the unconscious, but we can control and accept what it throws up. The emotions and awful feelings of panic. Panic attacks are harmless. Yes they are! No one ever saw on a death certificate 'he died of panic'. There are many ways of coping with panic. But running away from it is not one of them. Dr. Weekes in her books talks of 'Facing, accepting and letting time pass'. Face up to panic. Look it squarely in the eye. Accept the feelings. By that I mean don't add fear to fear. Panic will always die down if you stand your ground. Adrenaline has a limited life. Allow the feelings to come. They will not overwhelm you as you think they will. Now this is not the natural thing to do. We want to 'fight it off' which only adds more fear. Fighting 'IT' takes a lot of energy which we don't have in anxiety. Let time pass and practice acceptance. Try and stop the OMG's and the 'What ifs'. It's those thoughts that add to panic.

Thanks for sharing, I’ve gone through a phase where similar situations made me extremely anxious.

I also had a period of social anxiety back in 2013 at age 20. I was terrified to go to restaurants and eat in front of others. I can’t explain why this bothered me so much, but it got to the point I dreaded eating anywhere except for in the privacy of my own house.

Whenever I would sit down to eat, I’d immediately think about how embarrassing it would be for me to have to get up and run to the bathroom to be sick. The more I thought about that possibility, the more anxious I got. My racing thoughts would also include how guilty I would feel and if I would be considered rude for having to excuse myself from family or friends at the table. It was a nasty cycle of thoughts that really made things hard for me for about 4 months. At one point, I lost faith and thought I would never be able to eat in public again, and this would be a lifelong struggle.

I remember talking to my psychologist about it and we mutually decided I needed to increase my Luvox. The increase in medication helped considerably with the social anxiety and the urges to be sick. However, it made me a little drowsy and gave me an emotional “blah” effect. At least I was able to enjoy restaurants and going out to eat again.

8 years later, I am still doing quite well with this aspect of my social anxiety. I’ve had two setbacks in the past two months, but I haven’t let them discourage me too much.

Camden said:

Thanks for sharing, I’ve gone through a phase where similar situations made me extremely anxious.

I also had a period of social anxiety back in 2013 at age 20. I was terrified to go to restaurants and eat in front of others. I can’t explain why this bothered me so much, but it got to the point I dreaded eating anywhere except for in the privacy of my own house.

Whenever I would sit down to eat, I’d immediately think about how embarrassing it would be for me to have to get up and run to the bathroom to be sick. The more I thought about that possibility, the more anxious I got. My racing thoughts would also include how guilty I would feel and if I would be considered rude for having to excuse myself from family or friends at the table. It was a nasty cycle of thoughts that really made things hard for me for about 4 months. At one point, I lost faith and thought I would never be able to eat in public again, and this would be a lifelong struggle.

I remember talking to my psychologist about it and we mutually decided I needed to increase my Luvox. The increase in medication helped considerably with the social anxiety and the urges to be sick. However, it made me a little drowsy and gave me an emotional “blah” effect. At least I was able to enjoy restaurants and going out to eat again.

8 years later, I am still doing quite well with this aspect of my social anxiety. I’ve had two setbacks in the past two months, but I haven’t let them discourage me too much.

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Dr. Weekes suggests that when you go out for a meal only order food that is soft and easily digestible. There is an anxiety symptom that restricts the throat muscles thereby miking it difficult to eat when eating out. I agree, this can be so embarrassing and it's what causes so many to stay at home. But once again we come back to acceptance. The more we sit at the table getting all worked up the less chance we have to be able to eat. Why are we so concerned about what others think? It is a kind of misdirected pride. We may feel that others will think we are weak or strange in some way. OK!! Let them think it. That's their problem. YOU know what the cause of your trouble is and you are the only one who can do something about it.

Welcome! And thanks for opening up. I recently had a panic attack and really still am not sure how or why it happened. There's still some anxiety in the background It seems to be like a background noise, if that makes sense.

Barnec400 said:

I have panic attacks and anxiety at restaurants and movie theaters and the church I try to avoid those things My face starts getting red and sweaty my heart racing

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Ohh, how are you doing now? Anxiety and stress is the most common mental illness nowadays. I can understand your feelings because I had an anxiety disorder a few years back, I was standing alone in life my family members were not ready to understand my problem, but luckily I have good friends they helped me a lot, they told me about coping strategies and how to do lifestyle changes to make my life in a better way. And I took counseling sessions and trust me it worked well for me.

derrickmyles said:

Ohh, how are you doing now? Anxiety and stress is the most common mental illness nowadays. I can understand your feelings because I had an anxiety disorder a few years back, I was standing alone in life my family members were not ready to understand my problem, but luckily I have good friends they helped me a lot, they told me about coping strategies and how to do lifestyle changes to make my life in a better way. And I took counseling sessions and trust me it worked well for me.

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Thanks for asking. Things are mostly fine. The anxiety/phobia is more of a nuisance than anything. Typically I'll get a few thoughts at some point early in the day, and they will dissipate in a fairly short time. For most the day, no issues. But then, the following morning. It is more of a routine and has turned out to be manageable. I hope you are feeling better.