I’ve always had anxiety and ocd about throwing up but then it went into just horrible panic attacks where I needed someone close to calm me down like my mom or gf. It subsided and I was doing great for years. But it’s come back and now, I live in NYC, for the last 2 years I can’t take the subway anymore m, I can’t get on elevators or planes. It’s controlled my life. If im on there alone I get panic attacks. It happens automatically. I’m scared that the subway is going to get stuck and I can’t get off same with the elevator and plane. I’m scared of having panic attacks now and I just have a huge general sense of anxiety everywhere. I just feel off constantly now. I really want to get my life back and not care about these things. Anyone else dealing w the same?

Hey! Just wondering if anyone else has dealt with something similar. A bit of background: I have POTS and had a horrible flare up in March which led to us calling ambulances; I started on meds which didn’t agree with me; the POTS flare passed and left me with horrific anxiety on a level I’ve never experience before. I was still able to go out and do every day things like grocery shopping and see my nan but nothing more. Fast forward a few weeks my uncle dies and the grief and stress triggered a massive migraine, and bc I’ve never had a migraine before it scared me and I thought I was having a stroke or something. The migraine passed but my brain latched onto the fear of it and how it felt to have one. Long story short since the beginning of the year it’s been one thing after another. A few days ago I had the worst panic attack ever downstairs in my house (felt like I couldn’t feel my arm or face) and it sent me into a spiral. I am now terrified to leave the house in case I have a panic attack outdoors, it just feels so unsafe. I went to the shop with my dad yesterday and felt so bad, but i managed to do it and I was proud. Tried again to go to a different shop closer to home because I was already feeling bad, and it was horrific. I started having a panic attack, felt faint, my arm and face went tingly, so we went back home. I’m trying to challenge myself every day but I am really really struggling and not sure what to do at this point. I tried fluoxetine but had horrible side effects (which included a horrific dip in my mood) so I had to stop them. I’m seeing my doctor tomorrow to tell her everything and explain how difficult it is, but I’m just SO scared all the time. It’s like my body is constantly scanning for danger. It’s got to a point where it’s been going on for so long I’m just desperate to try anything to help me feel just a little bit better. I’m not asking for much, I just want to be able to go to the shop without feeling like I’m going to die. My question is has anyone else dealt with anything like this? The panic attacks are terrifying, and even though I know they’re “not dangerous” it does not help because they’re still so so scary and even worse when I’m out of my bedroom because if I’m by myself I can kinda lie down, do some breathing and talk myself round. I just don’t know how to get over this and I’m so so sad because I’m 31 and scared of being stuck like this forever 😭

So I’m severely emetophobic but these past few weeks have gotten SO bad. I had a bad reaction to an SSRI that made me feel like I was gonna throwup, I stopped taking them over two weeks ago but ever since then the fear has got even worse. I haven’t left the house properly in weeks because I’ve convinced myself I’ll be sick. I feel nauseous even indoors a lot of the time (there are hours when I don’t, like for example this afternoon I was fine). But I challenged myself to go for a short walk this evening and omg it was so hard I really thought I might throwup. The thing is I KNOW it’s anxiety and not real nausea because it feels completely different to when I was actually nauseous from the medication. This feeling is more like a tight throat/sensation of a lump in my throat that makes me feel like I’m gonna gag. I also have RCPD (I can’t burp basically lol) so I just feel like I have trapped air in my throat that’s gonna make me puke. The phobia has gotten really really bad. I have started therapy recently but I’ve been scared of throwing up since I was a kid and I’m now 31 lol wtf. I remember last Christmas my mum said someone at her work had been sick and I was so scared my mum had caught it and would pass it on to me that I refused to leave my bedroom without wearing gloves and a mask and wiping everything with anti-germ wipes. But right now it’s so so bad because I have literally gotten to the point where I’ve convinced myself I feel nauseous pretty much 24/7 and I am taking anti-nausea meds almost every day. Has anyone else dealt with/has tips for this??? I’m literally desperate 😭

So a few months ago a suffered with a really bad panic attack (I didn’t know what it was at the time) and my anxiety has never been the same since. It’s almost like I had to relearn living life with this new anxiety. I have had to force myself into uncomfy situations to remind myself that this will not over come me. It seems that my anxiety stems from being in a place I’m not familiar with or have this feeling that I may be stuck and can’t get out back to a place where my body feels at ease. I wanted to expose myself to a very uncomfortable situation to prove that I will be ok. So I took myself and 15 year old brother on a 3 day long trip to 2 major cities NYC and Philly. I did have some small moments where I felt heart palpitations or that I couldn’t relax (mainly driving into these cities/ being stuck in traffic is what spiked it) But over all I’m feeling really happy with how I managed the trip. I think I’m just mourning the person I was before this anxiety. A few years ago I would’ve never felt that kind of anxiety on the trip. Maybe leading up to it. But I’m hoping the more I continue to force myself out of this bubble that anxiety wants to put me in, I will begin to regain the ability to be away from home and relax again.