Dany

Hi, Of course there is a light at the end of the tunnel. There always is and this depends only on you because you have the power to change the way you look at life and your mindset. If a worry pops into your head, start by asking yourself whether the problem is something you can actually solve. The following questions can help: Is the problem something you’re currently facing, rather than an imaginary what-if? If the problem is an imaginary what-if, how likely is it to happen? Is your concern realistic? Can you do something about the problem or prepare for it, or is it out of your control? Productive, solvable worries are those you can take action on right away. For example, if you’re worried about your bills, you could call your creditors to see about flexible payment options. Unproductive, unsolvable worries are those for which there is no corresponding action. “What if I get c****r someday?” or “What if my kid gets into an accident?” If the worry is solvable, start brainstorming. Make a list of all the possible solutions you can think of. Try not to get too hung up on finding the perfect solution. Focus on the things you have the power to change, rather than the circumstances or realities beyond your control. After you’ve evaluated your options, make a plan of action. Once you have a plan and start doing something about the problem, you’ll feel much less worried. I really hope this helps... Take care!

I am sorry to hear about your problems. It is good that you took a heart examination and now you are confident that you have a healthy heart. This means only one thing: anxiety related chest pains. These can be treated in different methods, depending on your state of mind and the intensity of your anxiety. Here are some effective tips you can follow to ease the symptoms: Control Your Breathing –> Recall that this type of chest pain is often caused by hyperventilation, and even if you're not hyperventilating, getting your breathing under control is a great way to calm the nerves. Take slow, controlled breaths using deep breathing techniques that take at least 15 seconds and you'll quickly see a difference. Control Your Thoughts –> One of the reasons I recommend going to a doctor first is because understanding that your chest pain is anxiety related reduces the severity of the experience. You know that your heart is in good health, so don't let your thoughts spiral out of control. Otherwise you may make the chest pain worse. Control Your Environment –> Chest pain caused by thoughts or anxieties is often made worse when you sit and focus on the experience. See if you can give yourself a healthy coping distraction, and much of the chest pain will fade away. I hope this helps... Take care and be safe!

My sister had eye problems all her life (she is 20 years old now) and she always complained about terrible headaches. Apparently eye problems can give serious headaches, so no need to worry about no brain tumor. Just like Twinks said, if you are starting to feel better this is a clear sign that you don't have anything serious. Like she also said, from a brain tumor you don't get better without any medication or proper treatment. Take care and stay positive!

Nobody will be able to help you if you don't speak your mind... Talking with others about your problems has been proven to be an effective way of reducing anxiety and stress. Give it a try...

Well said Alice, this is the only truth we all need to overcome anxiety and depression. I am really happy for you that you managed to find your own way out of negative emotions and feelings, out of the anxiety prison. Take care and stay positive!

If you never had a MRI done I suggest doing that. Why? So your mind can not bring these negative thoughts about doing an MRI and "what ifs" when the panic starts. Knowing for sure that you are completely healthy will set your mind at the subconscious level. I am sure you MRI results will come up great and that you don't have anything to worry about. Remember, you are doing this only for your subconscious mind. Once this is done, you can start working on your health anxiety. There are many effective techniques that can help you and the best one for you might be cognitive therapy. Go and see a specialist and decide together what might be the best treatment for you. Take care and stay positive!

It seems that you know why you have the symptoms but you don't know how to overcome them and this can be a problem because I know how hard it is to have those negative feelings. You have completed the first step in overcoming health anxiety and that is knowledge. Now, the second step is to change your mind set and say to yourself that you are healthy and everything will be alright. You need to change the way you are thinking and how you are looking at your symptoms. Try to look at them from a different perspective, from outside. When the panic comes, try some breathing exercises because they really work if you know exactly how to perform them. In the end all you have to do is to change your negative thought into positive ones, changing your mind set and be more positive about life in general. Take care and stay positive!

Sorry to hear about your sleeping problems because of anxiety. We all know how that feels like. There are some effective techniques you can try to help you fall asleep faster without medication. Here are some great ways for falling asleep easier that I use with success: 1. Force your worries. If worrying kicks in just after you close your eyes, schedule a daily "worry time" well before you go to sleep. Choose a 15 minute period at the same time every day when you try to think of every possible worry, and then tell them to a trusted confidant or write them out in a journal. 2. Get out in the sunlight soon after waking up in the morning. When you wake up, don't lounge around in bed. Don't even stay inside. Get out in the morning sun soon after getting up. The bright sunlight tells your body's natural biological clock that it's time to wake up, and that same clock will then be set to tell your body it's time to go to sleep about 14 to 16 hours later. 3. Avoid taking a hot bath. There is a lot of advice that says to take a hot bath to relax yourself, but since the body needs to lower its temperature in order to fall asleep, a hot bath will actually keep you up. If you enjoy a soak in a hot bath, just be sure to finish your bath at least 2 hours before bedtime so that your body has enough time to cool down. 4. Make your room colder. Your body needs to cool down in order to fall asleep and stay asleep, so do what you can to make your room cool. For me, a cool bedroom has the added benefit of allowing me to nestle into a heavy comforter, and I find the heavy warmth very soothing. 5. Keep a pen and notebook next to your bed. Often when I'm lying in bed, or even while I'm sleeping, I'll think of a new idea for work. Or I'll remember something important that I forgot to do during the day. Rather than try to remember it, which causes anxiety (which is stimulating), I write it down so it exists on paper and doesn't have to stay in my head. And, if I keep a notebook for these things right next to my bed, I find I'm more likely to write it down. I hope this helps. Take care and stay positive!

Your best option on this is to go and ask your doctor if this is dangerous and maybe discuss about a change in your treatment. One thing though, if there was a threat to your life because of that medication you would have more severe symptoms and not only a rash. The symptoms are quite fast and in minutes from taking the pill you will have them. Talk to your doctor and see what might caused that rash. Take care!

I am sorry to hear about your anxiety coming back but you should know that agoraphobia is actually a very treatable problem. However, many people find it very difficult to overcome. This is generally because they think the way out is to first find a way to get rid of their fears, and then re-enter the situations they have come to avoid. First you need practice handling the fear, and that means practicing in the actual phobic situation. It's there you can become confident in your ability to cope, and it's there that you will lose your fear. Agoraphobia treatment based on cognitive behavioral methods can help you overcome agoraphobia with two key steps. First, you learn how to respond to panic attacks in ways that calm them down, rather than aggravate the situation. Secondly, as you get better with those skills, you practice them in more and more challenging circumstances, until you have regained all the territory that you previously gave up to panic. This kind of treatment is usually called exposure treatment, and it's considered the most effective treatment available for panic and agoraphobia. Remember, the power to healing is in your hands! Take care and stay positive!

If you don't drink just avoid bars and the people who frequent these places. Instead try to meet people that have something in common with you. Do you have any hobbies or passions? For example I like astronomy and cars so I go to the planetarium and cars exhibitions. There I can meet people interested in the same topics like I am and it is easier for me to open a discussion about something I know. You can even meet really nice girls in these places, girls that might be interested in you because you share the same passions and this can be a starting point in a relationship. Don't be sad about your life because you are the only one that can improve it, you just need to change your mindset. Don't give up, keep trying and you will eventually succeed. Take care!

I am sorry to hear about your problems. Have faith, you will overcome them, with patience and in time. I sometimes get anxious while driving and it can be really frustrating. I love driving and this feeling is interfering with the pleasure of driving. There are some effective techniques that have helped me reduce anxiety while driving and it might help you also: >> Distract yourself while driving. Give yourself something to listen to so that you can get out of your own head. Music can help, but it may be better to listen to something like talk radio or podcasts in order to give yourself something to think about. That will make it harder to focus on the attack and how you feel. >> Driving anyway. Depending on how severe your attacks are, you may want to try driving anyway. Those that get very dizzy during their panic attacks may find driving to be too difficult. But those that can still drive should strongly consider facing their fear and driving anyway. >> Drive Safely. All stress is bad stress when you suffer from panic attacks, so make sure you're not contributing to anything that will cause you anxiety. Drive the speed limit, take very few risks, keep a GPS in the car so that you're not worried about getting lost, and don't try to swerve around traffic. >> Control your breathing. While driving, the tendency to breathe too quickly increases. When you feel like you're having a panic attack, don't try to take in as much air as possible. Instead, try to fight the urge and simply slow down your breathing so that each breath takes as long as 15 seconds or more. You should breathe in for 5 seconds, hold for 2 or 3, and breathe out for 7. This will prevent hyperventilation and improve carbon dioxide levels in the blood stream. >> Practice driving for extended periods of time. While it may not be pleasant, sometimes the cure for driving panic attacks is to drive for so long that you find driving boring. You may get a panic attack while driving, but if you keep driving, you'll find that you start to worry about it less. Hope this helps. Take care!

I know how you feel, I also have a cold right now and feeling awful. Also I have problems breathing through my nose for the last 10 years now, and whenever I get a cold things are getting worse. Regarding your school project, you don't really need more stress especially with your anxiety and being sick. I suggest putting this electronic baby in another room and set your clock to wake you up in the night. It is different from waking from a crying noise.

Your feeling towards your new girlfriend are showing how much you love her. This is not a bad thing but you have to be careful not to lose control over you feelings. Jealousy can brake even the strongest relationships, so be careful. It is normal to be jealous but not obsessive because you will drive her away in time. Try to be yourself and make her feel safe and protected around you. Show your love to her by taking care of her not being so obsessive. You need to understand that if she really wants to cheat on you, she will and you can't do anything about it. So, no need to worry that much about this, if she loves you then she will be faithful. Take care!

One technique that works for me really well is to accept the pain. You said that you know that your thoughts and concerns are irrational and that means you know you don't have a brain tumor or something else. From this point you will have to accept the fact that you have a regular headache that millions of people around the world are experiencing every single day and that is a normal thing. Headaches can have multiple reasons so no need to worry until you don't take a complete medical examination and see exactly if you have a real reason to worry or not. Accept the pain and learn methods to relax like deep breathing so you can ease your pain. Also herbal medicine can be really helpful, for me works a lot. Take care and stay positive!

I know how you feel, talking to people can be really difficult sometimes. First rule is not to have big expectations, not at the beginning at lest because you will end up hurt really fast. Don't be afraid of rejection, this is a normal part of life that everyone is experiencing so you are not alone with this. Don't try to say what the other person want to hear, just be yourself and say what you think no matter if the other person wouldn't like you. Remember you can not please everybody but this way you can be assure that you will find the right one, the one who likes you for you. To overcome the fear of speaking with strangers I recommend you to exercise with regular people, even on the street, so you will be prepared when speaking with the people you really care.

Communication is the key to every strong relationship! If you keep hiding your feelings from your boyfriend you might get into a situation where he might think wrong things about you, like you don't like to be with him or go out with him and other friends. He might understand the wrong way and you don't want that. But, if you discuss with him about your anxiety I am sure he will understand and he will try to help you overcome it. Make a team together and fight against it in two. It is much better then just by yourself isn't it? You can decide together what is the best strategy to approach your social anxiety. Take care!

If a person's skin or lips turn blue, it's usually a sign of low blood oxygen levels or poor circulation. When blood becomes depleted of oxygen, it changes from bright red to darker in color, and it is this that makes the skin and lips look blue. The medical name for this bluish tinge is cyanosis just like leeniemo said. Go and see a doctor and find out exactly what might be wrong with your body. Take care!

I know how you feel but you should take into consideration that a little nervousness before a test is normal and can help sharpen your mind and focus your attention. But with test anxiety, feelings of worry and self-doubt can interfere with your test-taking performance and make you miserable. Here are some strategies that may help reduce your test anxiety: 1. Learn how to study efficiently. Your school may offer study-skills classes or other resources that can help you learn study techniques and test-taking strategies. 2. Learn relaxation techniques. There are a number of things you can do right before and during the test to help you stay calm and confident, such as deep breathing, relaxing your muscles one at a time, or closing your eyes and imagining a positive outcome. 3. Don't forget to eat and drink. Your brain needs fuel to function. Eat the day of the test and drink plenty of water. 4. Get some exercise. Regular aerobic exercise, and exercising on exam day, can release tension. 5. Get plenty of sleep. Sleep is directly related to academic performance. 6. Talk to your teacher. Make sure you understand what's going to be on each test and know how to prepare. 7. See a professional counselor if necessary. Talk therapy (psychotherapy) with a psychologist or other mental health provider can help you work through feelings, thoughts and behaviors that cause or worsen anxiety. Now you can use this tips to keep your test anxiety under control.

Well said Alice! The power to change is inside us, we hold the key to a normal life. We can make or brake our life depending of our state of mind. Think positive and you will have only to win in life. We will not live forever, enjoy these moments while you can, you never know what the future holds. Take care and be safe!

Here is the right place to talk about your problems, people are really supportive and they share their experiences with everybody. I personally like this forum and found tons of good advice.

Happy Holidays to you too! One effective technique when you feel overwhelmed with negative thoughts and high anxiety is to shift you attention on a completely different and positive thought. Make your mind busy and focus on happy thoughts from your past or wishes you might have for the future. Never focus on your breathing and heart beat, but if this happens you should relax and leave your body to do its normal functions. Try counting backwards or memorize something, anything that can make your brain busy. Best of luck and take care!

Google can be so evil sometimes. If you have any symptoms you are not sure about and are anxious in nature, don't search it on Google first, go and see your doctor, ask someone who might experience something like that or seek help and ask questions on forums where people are dealing with loads of symptoms. Because some symptoms are general and applicable to many diseases you will get confused very fast and this will only harm you. Take care and be safe!

Sorry about your hard life. No one should go through this especially at a young age. It is difficult to give a good advice in this situation because nobody knows how you really feel. Only you know that and that is why you are the only one who are able to rebuild your own life. Get up, dust yourself up and move on, it is hard but you have to do it if you want a normal live. There is a saying: "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" this is exactly your case, become stronger that anyone and start your live over. Best of luck!

You tried to get rid of anxiety by focusing only on your body. Remember that anxiety is a behavioral problem of the mind, it is important to have a healthy lifestyle but for getting rid of social anxiety you have to combine exercising and healthy living with therapy so you can attack the disease on both fronts. This is more effective and can end anxiety on the long term. Try to work more on your mind and get rid of the fear to talk to people by actually talk to strangers so you can get used to the situation.