Moderate anxiety

Im a freshman in college and this is the first time I've started to feel that I'm having a problem with my anxiety. I started to realize it was a problem when I felt like I was going to puke from worrying on exams that I know I have no problems with. I ended up getting the highest grades in the class on them. I would obsesivly study for these exams in the days prior to them spending all my time studying. I'd worry about tests weeks in advance , theyd allways just be on my mind. I never felt comfortable once going into an exam.

I also have always been slightly anti social. I have good friends and a number of them but I would always feel anxius around other people. Now I'm in summer school and my friends are not here and I'm spending most of my time alone rather than find new friends. I dont like that.

I can get free psychiatric and I may go that route but I'd figure I'd get an opinion here first.

Thanks

 

go for the free psychiatric. if you don't want to continue after the first session you can quit and it won't cost you anything, and it may help

 

It never hurts to talk to someone so you may as well seek out the free counseling.

I know saying this never helps, but frm what you described it sounds pretty normal. You in a new enviorrnment with a lot of pressure on you, and your feeling that pressure and don't want to mess up your exams. Your alone most of the time and your feeling lonely. It may be something bigegr then that, but lets hope for the best anyway. If that fee psyciatric turns out to suggest medication, DON'T TAKE IT. If I'm right then they'll probly see it too, but there are always stories about mis diagnosis and over aggressive treament.

Good luck and let us know how your feeling.

 

ok im gonna call tommorow and get an appointment
ive been saying this for about a week and havent done it yet
so someone give me some shit if i dont

from a physical stand point my school is pretty quick to throw out meds
not sure on the psycological side though

why no meds
personal experience or just a belief
not sure if i would want to or not asuming they recomended it
not sure what exactly they would do to me

anyways i just need to call tommorow

 

Generelly meds help the symptoms rather than the problem, plus they can be very addictive, and in my experience (not me personally, but several friends) along with what i heard in several psychology classes, psychiatrists can be very eager to prescribe meds because it guarantees repeat business, thus often they are prescribed when they aren't necessary to begin with.

also, side effects can be as bad as the problem, especially if the original problem is just "moderate anxiety"

 

ok i called today
no appointment yet
have to call back tommorow

 

Well to tell you the truth I lived with anxiety for so long I thought I was used to it but it started turning into panic attacks and it was off the wall. I too started to feel lonely and then it began to happen all the time. I never ever wanted to think about takin meds but since yesterday actually when I started taking them they completely turned my life around. ITs what I needed and there was no ROOT to the problem its just somethin I couldnt get rid of it seemed. I lessened it with yoga but ever since I went to college it started. I ended college a while back and couldnt ever completely get rid of the anxiety but like I said meds may be a good option to you or just someone to talk to. Try not to let urself be alone in this situation there are great people and Im sure you have friends who can listen and help out. If you had asked me a few months back meds were a NO NO for me but after yesterday I started takin some low dose ones and my life has sincerely changed for the better. I hope you get some help either way. Dont be like me and "try" and deal with it by urself. Go seek help. IT cant hurt plus if its free why not?

 

if you just started yesterday then you probably don't have the most accurate perception of the reality of being on meds. you might feel different when your low dose meds stop working and you have to increase the dosage every few months until you're high dosage, or maybe when you run out for a day or two and start withdrawing

 

well ill see what they have to say hopefully tomorrow

id like to do it w/o meds simply because it would be more sustainable
but i wont rule anything out
my anxiety's not that bad
it just seems to happen in places it doesnt belong
never had a panic attack so its not to bad

 

Terrific advice. I'm so sick and tired of situational things that are normal but stressful getting turned into quick diagnosis's and labels but I also have been realizing lately how much good psychological counseling can help- the key is to actively seek out what will work for you and not be too quick to buy into certain bullshit.

 

Deciding to take medication can be a life-saver as long as a person realizing it is a TEMPORARY solution. The problem is when people become reliant and think of it as a permanent solution because more then often it is not. Although I personally will not take medication, it has helped me in the past .... I've taken certain meds. to help with particular things for a week or two only and then stopped them... they helped me and did their job and I could easy turn away from them because I know longer needed them.

 

Ok brining back an old thread

I never got the help during the summer. I tried but could never get an appointment. I ended up doing fine on the exams besides the anxiety. I took a semester off to work and took my first test this week.

I think its worse than before. I know the material perfectly but was incredibly nervous. I just felt incredibly anxious the whole week before. I was calm for about 5mins than got the exam and just freaked. I did everything as fast as I could which maybe lead to mistakes not sure yet. Than had another exam the next day. I feel anxious now for the exams that I took and feel anxious for the ones coming up next week.

I just brought this thread up to hopefully make me go in. Ill try to get an appointment tomorrow.

 

Ok well Im not a person who usually talks about how they feel. It took me a half hour this morning to just call and make the appointment but I did. So well have to see how it goes.

Ah I have to call in in an hour and talk to someone on the phone I guess so they can figure out who I should talk to and get generall information but damn it Im feeling anxious. I dont even know why. Nothing can even go wrong.

Ok got an appoitment next week. Guess well have to see how this goes than.

 

I went to the appointment today. She seemed to want me to take the importance off the exams. Which I understand if I dont feel they are as important as they are theirs less anxiety but these exams have huge impacts on me. They affect my enrollment in college, they affect wether I keep my internship or not, they affect what jobs I can apply for when I finish college.

Basically she said try to study less since I know Im spending too much time over studying now and that will make my anxiety go down and Ill do better.

When I study I feel bad for not studying earlier and I just never feel that I know it well enough when I do. Even when Ive studied for days and cant figure out what else to go over. And when I take a break I feel guilty that Im not studying.

I got one exam back and I got a 74% for pretty much one small thing I ddin't know and 2 small simple math mistakes. I spent a lot of time studying for that exam and now next time its going to make me want to study even more.

Right now I feel bad about how I did on that exam and anxious towards the one I'm going to take tonight. I want to try and relax for it but I'm afraid if I do Ill just do worse which is stressing me out more.

 

ive been havign anxiety problems particularly bad since the end of dec, been taking st johns wort and doing yoga lately and it seems to help quite a bit
dunno about your uni but at mine the bellcurve is usually set at about 65, so if youre above 70 youre doin pretty goddamn good

 

tomorrow I talk to a psychiatrist

The thought with the pscyologist seems to be that If I used a beta blocker before the exam it would stop some of the physical symptoms and would help me focus on what Im doing and not how I feel. I also failed an exam (35%) which might cause me to either drop the course of just fail it for the semester from what I think was the anxiety. All the mistakes were basic math errors (+,-,*) and I know the material perfectly. I even think it was too easy of an exam.

I dont really want to use meds to deal with this but the thought seemed to be that If I can break the cycle of doing poorly on exams because of anxiety than I'll feel comfortable and not stressed and do how I should.

I guess Ill find out more tomorrow.

 

I got perscribed propranolol.

They said try it out on quizes and stuff to find the right dose.
Might have one tommorow well see how it goes.

 

ohhh good luck with the meds but i think you should only use them if you really need it psychiatrists way overperscribe these days

 

ya this is one of the things that I kind of didnt want to do
but this doesnt have any effect on how I feel
I still have the anxiety
but I dont feel like Im going to puke or sweat or have a pounding heart

I have had one exam with them
I took a little bit less than normal because I was worried about drowziness
I felt fine during the whole exam
Coupled with vizulization and relaxation techniques I think I did much better than I would have done before

Im hoping that I can break the cycle of anxiety and instead of just being prebared and terrified that ill be prepared and confident and than use less and less till im off and hopefully no more physical side effects

 

good job then!!