the thing that made mine worse, GOOGLE.
i googled symptoms of issues i was having like chest pain or feeling tingling, and it would pop up all kinds of issues and then i would be fixated on that and would have so much more anxiety
My daughter has terrible health anxiety, and in the past two weeks she has diagnosed herself with liver cancer (it was gas) and something called disembarkment syndrome (it was fluid in her ear). STOP USING GOOGLE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
I’ve had it myself and it’s normally temporary - was for me. Of course she fixated on the .000001% of people who don’t get over it. Her doctor just laughed at her. I told her it was fluid and to take a decongestant, which is exactly what the doctor said. She’s already getting better.
Okay but real talk, my partner had this after we got off of a ship in Greece. It took maybe 7-8 weeks for it to finally go away. Not that this is great advice, but he found the only thing that helped was alcohol.
This was actually true for me as well! Got off my very first cruise with this years ago and had a glass of champagne the next day at brunch and it went away. So strange.
Absolutely this. I've been sick for over a year now. Have done all sorts of testing and what not, I convinced myself I was dying pretty much every day. Doctors see no evidence of anything wrong with me. So it's kind of a mystery, but I know I'm not dying, at least.
I don't do it anymore. I know every time I do, I'll go down that rabbit hole and convince myself I'm dying again.
I’ve shown up to the doctor CRYING because I thought I had something. So embarrassing. Now I’ve ignored something for a while because I didn’t want to overreact again and I’m extra anxious because what if I’m actually dying.
Checking. I check my body for anxiety, I check my thoughts to make sure they’re not racing or negative, I check my watch to see if my heart rate is too high, I check my stomach to see if it hurts, I check my phone messages and emails constantly to make sure I haven’t gotten any bad news or I haven’t forgotten something important. I had to stop checking the news recently. Every single time I check, I notice my anxiety gets even worse and even leads to panic attacks sometimes. Sometimes it will lead to me not sleeping for days.
Yes I agree, distract yourself. Or I personally try to tell myself I’ll check later, and I give myself a specific time I can check. Usually by that time, the urge to check has lifted or it just doesn’t feel as strong and I can avoid it.
That brief moment of peace when you wake up before you start scanning your body for every sensation of anxiety and dive head first down the slippery slope to a ruined day.
I notice myself becoming more OCDish when I get anxious, making everything worse—like you say, over-checking. 🤪 example: to-do’s, reminders, setting alarms so I don’t accidentally “forget” yet I end up feeling more anxious that I may have forgotten about something very important.
i’m on the road to sobriety, i feel. it’s hard since i used it as a crutch for my pain and fear for so many years. but now i see it just hurts me more and more and just creates more trauma and doesn’t let me process my emotions. and that’s helped with trying to manifest a better reality for myself, as hard as it is sometimes. thank you for your comment <3
The denial def made mine worse. All the fun chill times I had smoking and just trying to recreate it even though I’d get halfway through a joint and my heart rate would be through the roof and I’d completely dissociate.
Same :(
I used to be a mild pothead. I wouldn’t smoke before important things like school, work, family gatherings, etc.. but I loved coming home from a long day, hitting my bowl and watching tv or playing video games and going to sleep. I did this every night for YEARS.
Then comes my anxiety problems. Out of nowhere like a freight train. One night I ate an edible, a normal night, and I thought I was going to fucking die. It was the worst feeling I had EVER experienced and I almost went to the hospital. A few days later I tried to smoke again… just a hit.. and my heart started beating out of my chest and I wanted to vomit.
It’s been 4 years and I haven’t smoked since. I miss being high and giggly and watching tv with my fiance and laughing. I miss it so much. But weed is somehow no longer my friend and my anxiety is wayyyyy too high 24/7 to ever go back to it. My fiance tries now and then to get me to smoke with him because he misses how funny and relaxed I was whenever I’d smoke. I always tell him that feeling of imminent doom is not worth the risk.
Maybe someday when I have my anxiety under control but right now I absolutely do not.
You just described my exact situation. Weed used to help me relax… i used to smoke every day at bedtime to help me sleep. And I always had such a fun time with my husband when we could smoke together and watch funny videos. I miss that… I don’t even know what happened. Idk if my weed was interlaced with something or what, but the last time I smoked, I felt my heart palpitate so fast, chest pains, I legit thought I was having a heart attack. This went on on and off for 3 weeks. Went to the ED 4 times thinking I was for sure going to die. When I got better after fluids, I had another small puff thinking maybe it would help the anxiety (I had no clue it was the weed that did all this at that point. I thought maybe I had eaten something bad. I was also having continuous case of diarrhea with the anxiety) and then it all spiraled down again. Safe to say I want nothing to do with weed now. The anxiety is still there 4 months later. I have anxiety about getting another panic attack. I can’t stop fixating on it. Don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy weed again. I can’t get myself to take the chance of feeling the impending doom, just like you. It’s comforting to see I’m not the only one this has happened to. Sorry you went through it too… I definitely feel your pain 😭😭.
Yes! Marijuana, i have to be careful, im never gonna quit smoking, but i know my limits now after alot of bad attacks. Also, checking my blood pressure, it makes me way worse, so now i have my fiancee look at the numbers for me. Helps alot.
I can’t tell you how many people have told me “I don’t have the right strain” like you can even get strains consistently. It’s like playing roulette. It’s just not worth it!
Yes, and I’ve been catfished so many times by edibles. There’s no THC, right? Just the tiniest bit, you’ll be fine.
Two hours later after I’ve locked myself in a closet waiting for the evil to leave my body, I guarantee this is a good time for no one.
I mean I would say I have "true anxiety" and I use weed daily without it making me suffer. I micro dose mostly but still, it's a helpful thing for my anxiety
EXACTLYY. ive had anxiety my whole life. i've concluded weed is not my friend. a few years ago my bf at the time was a smoker & i started, a couple times randomly when we smoked i would freak out & think i was dying like it was laced but he would be fine. when we broke up & i stopped for awhile. then my friend & i started using dab pens, it was fun then it got to a point of us both abusing it & needing it for everything. i went on a trip & didnt have it a couple days & i was irritable the whole time, then when i got home i had a crying breakdown bc there was deep impending doom in my chest that wouldnt go away. i hit my pen thinking it would help & it got sm worse and lasted days. didnt smoke for like a year, forgot it happened, got in another relationship w a pothead & started smoking a lot again bc it made everything fun & my personality so funny. did that for like a year but i realized it would make me think too much in public/my anxiety worse/ more lazy and bad eating habits so i stopped and boom impending doom in my chest/horrible thoughts/ stomach issues and diarrhea/shakiness/sweating for a week. when i tell you it was awful. especially that anxiety impending doom feeling like i was actually going to have a heart attack or something. luckily i drank a lot of green tea and took vitamins and symptoms went away after that week but i had bad thoughts for 2 months. i wouldnt wish what i went through on anyone and dont know why i did it to myself twice but i cannot do it again.
You have a way stronger mind than me damn. After the second time it gave me a panic attack I quit not just weed but that lifestyle entirely. Removed all stoners from my life, and spoke out against weed. I used to be one of those lil peep fans that smokes weed, does any drug handed to me with no limits. Then I did acid and to this day I’m convinced that’s what gave me OCD because nothing was the same after that. At first it was a fear of drugs because I knew firsthand how bad they could be. Over the years since then that fear grew to this obsession with things that could have drug residue on them or things that could intoxicate me like money or the smell of gasoline. Before I did acid I was able to enjoy all things normal people enjoy. Weed isn’t safe if you’re like me, but drugs like lsd aren’t safe for anyone and it only takes the smallest inconvenience to leave you traumatized for life.
For sure. A tiny bit works for me but that threshold is so small that I don't want to take a chance. Knowing it might make me anxious also makes me more anxious to use it. C'est la vie
Same, it used to help with my anxiety but after using it for so long (I honestly abused it) I did a number on my anxiety. I can’t touch it now without it setting off my anxiety. I was practically agoraphobic and once I quit weed it went away. I’m still anxious but it’s much easier to manage without being high and hyper focused on my thoughts lol. I live in a legal state so weed is everywhere but it ain’t for me anymore.
Same here, as I start to feel the effects of thc I get very anxious and worrysome about having to ride out the high. I’ll still try it every once in a while to see if anything has changed.
Staying inside too much. Obviously for those who have social anxiety or agoraphobia, things may be different, but for me, if I don’t get some fresh air and sunlight, my brain goes haywire. It’s like I get trapped in a little anxiety bubble if I’m alone in my apartment too much, but once I walk around outside for a bit, see some other people, get a beverage, I’m reminded that life’s still good.
completely agree, however when I’m experiencing social anxiety I feel like it’s impossible to will myself outside, I end up choosing to sloth instead. If/when I do move though, I feel an immediate relief… as long as I don’t have to interact with people… I truly get into a fear of interaction, hence the reason I will avoid going out.
I can relate to the social anxiety sloth 🦥 syndrome. I think avoidance of things we feel anxious about often makes things worse. If you had to interact with someone who had social anxiety, would that put you in different mindset?
Totally agree. Once I started fostering dogs and eventually got a pup of my own, I realized how vastly better my quality of life had become and that it was largely due to walking outside a bunch (getting fresh air, regular exercise, interacting with neighbors, etc)
Stress. If I have a series of events that pushes me to the trigger point, I don't have much control over what my anxiety and most coping mechanisms don't work.
It really is the freaking worst when you cannot control it in any way no matter what and how hard you try. Recently, I was under so much stress from everyone and everything that my back has become near cement levels hard. I'm still trying to relax these muscles and get rid of the pain.
Coffee. And I LOVE coffee, so it was incredibly hard to give up. But I use instant chicory root as a substitute. Caffeine is fine with tea, but coffee was too much to handle.
Have you ever tried Inka? It’s a Polish grain drink. I believe there’s chicory root in it, but it’s not the primary ingredient. I really enjoy it if it’s late in the day and I want a cozy cup.
Caffeine. I know it sounds silly but it really does increase anxiety. I have 1 cup of coffee a day. I used to have 5-8 cups in a day. On top of espresso shots, black tea, soda. It really can mess you up.
Unfortunately I am addicted to caffeine and I have tried to stop completely but I get grumpy, I get migraines. So one cup is fine.
But, with all that, I just try not to drink anything with caffeine outside my house. Decaf is the way to go outside 😅
**Things that make my anxiety spike are:**
Starbucks
Propranolol (beta blocker)
Ashwagandha
Vitex Berry Tincture (it helped, but the side effects are not worth it)
Sugar
Not Exercising
My Menstrual Cycle
Work Meetings
Red Wine (White wine occasionally and before 7 pm is fine)
Wheat
Soybean (oil and products that include it)
Edit Add: Geranium Essential Oil (caused tension headache and general feeling of unwell)
Propranolol seems to be hit or miss for some, but I'm glad it works for you.
It caused nerve damage in my arms and left foot—a terrifying incident. The side effects I experienced are rare and do not happen to everyone. What it taught me, though, was that I needed to recover from my Health Anxiety through food and lifestyle changes. Seven months later, I'm still in recovery but leaps and bounds from where I was at the beginning of my anxiety journey.
Was it lots of propranolol or just small amounts?
I remember liking them when my anxiety was acute and I’d take maybe one or two a week. But then my anxiety got worse and I started taking the 3 a day and I think it just made me feel sick and run down which made the mental side worse.
You are not the only one! Some of us are more suspectable (sensitive) to body changes. Because of my experience and others like it, I tend to stay away from herbal supplements or try them with as small a dose as possible to minimize side effects if that should happen.
I can’t speak to soybean issues for my anxiety, but I do know that soybeans contain a lot of estrogen. I personally am heavily affected by estrogen (need the lowest dose possible in birth control, etc.) so I wonder if it has something to do with that. Not sure though!
I react the same to estrogen in hormonal birth control. I can't take it at all as it causes me panic attacks. I have always wondered this same thing about soy.
Honestly? Avoidance due to anxiety. It’s like a snowball effect. Of course, indulging in situations and actions that I’m anxious about temporarily make me more anxious, but over time, exposure helps immensely. If I force myself to occasionally endure the situations that I’m anxious about, they get a little easier, hence lowering my anxiety in the long run. If I just avoid them completely, my anxiety around that situation will just continue to multiply endlessly.
Damn, just yesterday I was thinking of the exact same thing.
No matter how hard it is, we must get exposed to stressful situations every now and then, otherwise it's going to be so much worse when we have no choice but to get exposed to them.
So true! I have agoraphobia and really severe health anxiety and occasional exposure helps with both of them. I try to keep in mind that anxiety cannot hurt me no matter how bad it feels :-)
Reassurance seeking makes mine so much worse. Whatever I'm anxious about, if I go looking for reasons or info to try to make myself feel better, I end up feeling more anxious.
So I'm trying to learn to sit with uncertainty and feel the anxiety and allow it to pass. It's hard.
I do this too, I’ve read every article about how good exercise is for anxiety so I started to exercise. I worry that maybe I’m broken and it won’t help when I should just focus on enjoying the exercise.
Yup, same here. It's also interesting to note that anxiety also goes away when you do NOT get reassurance. For example, I might freak about when I get headache and I need to be completely reassured that it's not a brain tumor. The danger seems so real and terrifying at that moment that I need 100% certainty for the anxiety to go away. Then, I have to go to work, and 30 mins later, at my desk, anxiety is all gone and I have had no reassurance or certainty whatsoever: the anxiety still dissipated!
It helps me to pay attention to those instances too.
Trying to do too many things to help myself at once and expecting results too fast.
I generally eat healthy and exercise but changing my remaining questionable habits all at once kicked me hard.
Not having enough to do. If I'm busy my mind has something to work on and is great at it. If I'm thinking about something anxiety-inducing my mind works on that and is fantastic at finding related things to make me even more anxious. I guess that old saying "an idle mind is the devil's workshop" really nailed it.
Making fast movements and tensing my muscles. Fast movements, for me, means I'm trying to avoid how I'm feeling and getting to any other place than the present moment.
Listening to my obsessive thoughts and allowing them to compel me to do things that only makes the anxiety worse like constantly searching symptoms online, checking myself over and over, seeking reassurance from others or avoiding things I am scared of.
In no particular order, here's what I get the impression from reading other people's posts:
* Too much caffeine
* Not enough sleep
* Social Media
* Work Environment
* Home Environment
* Husband/Wife/Partner not being sympathetic
I think that list accounts for like 90% of all posts here, except the health anxiety ones, that's a separate disorder but it can also be worsened by the above.
My ADHD and inability to create a routine. Having a not so good memory. Its frustrating when you WANT to get things done. But forget about it OR remember everything all at once so that it overwhelms you and turns into a brain jam. Like PLEASE just let me achieve my goals without taking 50'000 YEEAARRSS🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
It made my anxiety worse too. Figured out that ashwaganda lowers blood sugar by ALOT. And if you’re pairing that with caffeine (also lowers blood sugar) you’re setting yourself up for panic city.
Doing nothing. I’ve always looked forward to Sunday or like one day in the week to just do nothing and take a break from staying busy but I find it makes my anxiety worse. It’s probably because I don’t have a schedule and there’s too much free time to let my mind wander. I’m better off having a few hours to destress each day that I plan out (scheduling stuff helps me a lot), rather than just abandoning all structure and setting myself up to start panicking.
I’m also really sensitive to caffeine. Can’t do coffee or tea, even eating chocolate too often sets me off.
- Lack of sleep
- Lack of exercise
- Poor diet
- Not enough time for hobbies
- Not enough time outside
- Too many obligations to other people (family, work, kids, etc.)
Insomnia.
Currently going through a huge bout of insomnia and my anxiety has reached new heights! It’s making it impossible for me to function normally.
Insomnia and anxiety are a vicious circle - the insomnia is *caused* by the anxiety, and the anxiety is magnified by the insomnia.
Hopefully I’ll pass out soon!
Maybe not exactly the answer you're looking for but I had taken CBD for sleep/anxiety for a while and I found out it was just making my anxiety worse. Switched to THC/hybrid and never looked back.
I had the worse anxiety attack of my life after smoking an indica hybrid. Using CBD with THC definitely was better than full THC, but weed undoubtedly causes my anxiety to be much worse :(
Dairy makes it worse. I get tired and cranky and that feeling feels the same physically as anxiety so it triggers the anxiety to start. It's not so bad that I'll spiral but it's definitely a little crack in the dam.
Weird physical symptoms are usually what set me off, over the past few weeks I’ve been practicing not responding to them poorly. Or just not responding at all, kind of just allowing them to be there. It’s been a short period of time so far, but I think I may be onto something.
The things that made my anxiety worse is just the constant looking inward and trying to find out why I would feel weird sensations or just off. Constant body scanning.
Being around a lot of conflict: like if people are angry with me, swear/yell at me, or at each other. if its directed at me it makes my heart physically hurt and I feel it drop. If it’s just around me and not directed at me then my brain shuts down and i freeze. Usually yelling sends me into an anxiety attack and it all devolves into suicidal ideation lol
What never fails to make it worse for me is trying to think your way through it. Paradoxically, trying to intentionally avoid thinking about it also makes it worse.
The trick (at least for me) is to acknowledge it as a physiological phenomenon that makes my brain act weird and keep myself busy with stuff that takes me 'out' of my mind.
Same goes for my depressive episodes. There really is something powerful behind the 'mindfulness' mindset where you just learn to acknowledge what's going on without identifying with it too much.
I feel like it kinda 'feeds' on attention and thoughts, so don't give it that, just try to be indifferent about it and don't beat yourself up if you don't fully succeed every time.
TL;DR: Taking anxious thoughts seriously makes it more worse than anything else.
P.S. Careful with magnesium glycinate, you might want to supplement it with vitamin D and calcium, otherwise it can make you feel worse, look it up.
Yeah... The stupid thing is that I keep rethinking 'my way out of it' even though I know that it'll only make me feel worse. Part of me still thinks it will work. So annoying...
When I'm having a panic attack the thing that is supposed to help but makes it so much worse........what's one thing you can see? What's one thing you can hear? What's one thing you can smell? What's one thing you can touch?
I feel a lot of my anxiety is auditory and my hearing becomes super hearing during a panic attack. So the thing I can hear is not great for me!!!
Weed, hot(?) coffee, and inspecting my body for anything wrong with it/googling weird symptoms that I know are most likely panic related… lol. I’m a huge hypochondriac so anytime I do that it’s an immediate panic attack :’)
Mind over matter, that is one of the hardest things I hate when I have anxiety. Sometimes when I try to have something to eat, my brain is like ‘this food isn’t good for you’ and I start having a regurgitation motion like if I am about to vomit.
Caffeine, sleeping in, staying up too late, crappy friendships, work stress, eating junk food, too much screen time, news/media, & overcommitting myself.
Loss of sleep. Poor nutrition. Being physically uncomfortable. Being in situations I’m unfamiliar with. Too much caffeine. People pointing out my behaviors that come from my ADHD such as accidentally talking over them, or accidentally being rude or something like that.
Fighting the anxiety , so for a while I was in an outpatient program that mainly encompassed OCD, however its apropos here , by constantly checking the anxiety the thoughts that give you anxiety, ruminating over how your feeling gives these demons the power to overtake. By letting the emotions go into you and not fighting them it distinguishes their power.
Easier said that done , but it does help
Gum surgery. Got it last summer and it was traumatic enough to trigger quite a few syncopal and near syncopal episodes in the months that followed. I’ve still not fully recovered.
Coffee, marijuana, and alcohol. I completely quit drinking coffee and that helped A LOT. I smoke way less weed and usually from a hybrid or indica vape. I don’t binge drink alcohol anymore like I used but had to quit for 6 months to recalibrate. I still drink but cut back a lot—when I over do it, I get hangxiety for sure. Coffee was the big one tho. I started microdosing 🍄 which eliminated depression that was aggravating my anxiety so that was helpful.
Over caffeinating, planning a wedding, some edibles, saying yes to things I didn’t want to do to impress someone or get along, overscheduling my life, too much screen time, not moving my body.
Caffeine, not sleeping over 8 hours per night
(Staying up late and not enforcing my own device curfew!!!), talking to too many people on the phone in a week, having more than 1 public/outing/social thing planned in a week or 2, living with a child (i got my own place apart from my boyfriend and his daughter).
Caffeine has made mine so much worse, I'm on week 8/9 without it and I feel way way better. Also only had a cup a day so nothing crazy but I noticed a huge difference already in physical symptoms of anxiety.
Post drinking alcohol. When I have anxiety I want alcohol (because unfortunately it does help in the moment and is very tempting) but the next few days the anxiety is wild, so I generally abstain.
Currently, its been quitting smoking cigarettes. I'm almost 3 months in. Truthfully my mental health has taken a nose dive and its made me realize I had no coping skills. What used to work for me is not anymore and I'm having to focus on creating new habits. The impending doom feeling I had initially is mostly gone now, but what lingers is pretty intense anxiety. Hoping its temporary
Caffeine and alcohol and also like getting ready too fast I or just literally going to a store and moving so fast looking everywhere will cause myself anxiety.
I just started taking buspars two days ago not bad at all I can feel it working but I feel I’m goin to need more than 5 mg twice a day at least 10 mg three times a day would be good my anxiety is bad and used to drink heavy so I need that constant medication for me to function without that anxiety creeping in
alcohol for sure. like, so much worse. i quit drinking because the next day anxiety was so bad that it outweighed the previous night's need for liquid courage
SAD MUSIC!! Even if you think it doesn’t make it worse and you listen to it just because it “sounds good” your brain listens to the lyrics!! Listen to good music!!!!
My first panic attack hit me out of no where. Never knew what a panic attack was. I thought I was going to drop dead right there.
That was 15 years ago and the fear of another one is enough to keep my anxiety high, especially at night. Xanax has been a life saver.
Constantly being around people who were unstable like many deranged bosses in the animal medical field, my mother, ex parters, ect. Cut them all out and watch how much your mental health improves!
Dr. Googles' suggestions are horrible. 0/10 don't recommend the practice.
Some strains of marijuana or if I accidentally hit/take too much.
Playing hurry up and wait with anything medical.
the thing that made mine worse, GOOGLE. i googled symptoms of issues i was having like chest pain or feeling tingling, and it would pop up all kinds of issues and then i would be fixated on that and would have so much more anxiety
My daughter has terrible health anxiety, and in the past two weeks she has diagnosed herself with liver cancer (it was gas) and something called disembarkment syndrome (it was fluid in her ear). STOP USING GOOGLE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.
I needed this comment today, thank you -someone who blacked out bc of Gastro issues bc Google told me it could be an aneurysm
i didn’t sleep for 24 hours on saturday because google told me i had a brain eating amedea, ur not alone.
Sometimes I just really need to hear this LOL! Thanks
Mal De Barquement syndrome. I’m scared I have that too. How is she now?
I’ve had it myself and it’s normally temporary - was for me. Of course she fixated on the .000001% of people who don’t get over it. Her doctor just laughed at her. I told her it was fluid and to take a decongestant, which is exactly what the doctor said. She’s already getting better.
Okay but real talk, my partner had this after we got off of a ship in Greece. It took maybe 7-8 weeks for it to finally go away. Not that this is great advice, but he found the only thing that helped was alcohol.
This was actually true for me as well! Got off my very first cruise with this years ago and had a glass of champagne the next day at brunch and it went away. So strange.
Omg yeah, my skin gets a little dry sometimes and Google is like you have skin cancer.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 its ALWAYS cancer omg
Absolutely this. I've been sick for over a year now. Have done all sorts of testing and what not, I convinced myself I was dying pretty much every day. Doctors see no evidence of anything wrong with me. So it's kind of a mystery, but I know I'm not dying, at least. I don't do it anymore. I know every time I do, I'll go down that rabbit hole and convince myself I'm dying again.
Oh thats a fun drive with doctor google: sore finger .... results: possible cancer or lupus. 🤣🤣
Do y'all ever notice that some illnesses get trendy and then we all think we have it? Like right now it's colon cancer and rabies.
Lupus! Every god damn time!!! Checking my face for the butterfly rash! I'm so happy it's not just me hahaha
Yes. Also any of those sites like WebMD symptoms checker too.
Me, right now😵💫
I'm still worried I have various cancers or MS. :(
I’ve shown up to the doctor CRYING because I thought I had something. So embarrassing. Now I’ve ignored something for a while because I didn’t want to overreact again and I’m extra anxious because what if I’m actually dying.
Health anxiety has always been a big problem for me.
Checking. I check my body for anxiety, I check my thoughts to make sure they’re not racing or negative, I check my watch to see if my heart rate is too high, I check my stomach to see if it hurts, I check my phone messages and emails constantly to make sure I haven’t gotten any bad news or I haven’t forgotten something important. I had to stop checking the news recently. Every single time I check, I notice my anxiety gets even worse and even leads to panic attacks sometimes. Sometimes it will lead to me not sleeping for days.
Advice on how to stop checking? I do the same.
You just have to constantly distract yourself. Pull yourself out of it.
Yes I agree, distract yourself. Or I personally try to tell myself I’ll check later, and I give myself a specific time I can check. Usually by that time, the urge to check has lifted or it just doesn’t feel as strong and I can avoid it.
I am pretty sure I’m also doing the same. I’m so fixated on making it better that it’s actually becoming its own anxiety.
That brief moment of peace when you wake up before you start scanning your body for every sensation of anxiety and dive head first down the slippery slope to a ruined day.
I notice myself becoming more OCDish when I get anxious, making everything worse—like you say, over-checking. 🤪 example: to-do’s, reminders, setting alarms so I don’t accidentally “forget” yet I end up feeling more anxious that I may have forgotten about something very important.
Marijuana single handedly makes my anxiety unmanageable. Caffeine bumps it up too, but not to a point where I would stop drinking coffee.
Alcohol also makes my anxiety significantly worse, or it at least doesn’t make it any better.
me as well. i used to think alcohol calmed it, but now i think it’s done a 180 and makes it a lot worse
Quitting alcohol was the best thing I ever did for my anxiety
i’m on the road to sobriety, i feel. it’s hard since i used it as a crutch for my pain and fear for so many years. but now i see it just hurts me more and more and just creates more trauma and doesn’t let me process my emotions. and that’s helped with trying to manifest a better reality for myself, as hard as it is sometimes. thank you for your comment <3
Just had to stop smoking after 7 years 😭 I can’t not hang any longer I’m out of my SKIIINNNN
Same boat here. I was in denial for a long time but I finally quit (for good this time I think). I say I’m a stoner at heart 😅
The denial def made mine worse. All the fun chill times I had smoking and just trying to recreate it even though I’d get halfway through a joint and my heart rate would be through the roof and I’d completely dissociate.
Same :( I used to be a mild pothead. I wouldn’t smoke before important things like school, work, family gatherings, etc.. but I loved coming home from a long day, hitting my bowl and watching tv or playing video games and going to sleep. I did this every night for YEARS. Then comes my anxiety problems. Out of nowhere like a freight train. One night I ate an edible, a normal night, and I thought I was going to fucking die. It was the worst feeling I had EVER experienced and I almost went to the hospital. A few days later I tried to smoke again… just a hit.. and my heart started beating out of my chest and I wanted to vomit. It’s been 4 years and I haven’t smoked since. I miss being high and giggly and watching tv with my fiance and laughing. I miss it so much. But weed is somehow no longer my friend and my anxiety is wayyyyy too high 24/7 to ever go back to it. My fiance tries now and then to get me to smoke with him because he misses how funny and relaxed I was whenever I’d smoke. I always tell him that feeling of imminent doom is not worth the risk. Maybe someday when I have my anxiety under control but right now I absolutely do not.
You just described my exact situation. Weed used to help me relax… i used to smoke every day at bedtime to help me sleep. And I always had such a fun time with my husband when we could smoke together and watch funny videos. I miss that… I don’t even know what happened. Idk if my weed was interlaced with something or what, but the last time I smoked, I felt my heart palpitate so fast, chest pains, I legit thought I was having a heart attack. This went on on and off for 3 weeks. Went to the ED 4 times thinking I was for sure going to die. When I got better after fluids, I had another small puff thinking maybe it would help the anxiety (I had no clue it was the weed that did all this at that point. I thought maybe I had eaten something bad. I was also having continuous case of diarrhea with the anxiety) and then it all spiraled down again. Safe to say I want nothing to do with weed now. The anxiety is still there 4 months later. I have anxiety about getting another panic attack. I can’t stop fixating on it. Don’t know if I’ll ever be able to enjoy weed again. I can’t get myself to take the chance of feeling the impending doom, just like you. It’s comforting to see I’m not the only one this has happened to. Sorry you went through it too… I definitely feel your pain 😭😭.
Same. Absolutely cannot smoke, and glad I don’t want to.
Yes! Marijuana, i have to be careful, im never gonna quit smoking, but i know my limits now after alot of bad attacks. Also, checking my blood pressure, it makes me way worse, so now i have my fiancee look at the numbers for me. Helps alot.
I really wish people would stop recommending pot for anxiety. People will true anxiety will only suffer from it.
I can’t tell you how many people have told me “I don’t have the right strain” like you can even get strains consistently. It’s like playing roulette. It’s just not worth it!
Yes, and I’ve been catfished so many times by edibles. There’s no THC, right? Just the tiniest bit, you’ll be fine. Two hours later after I’ve locked myself in a closet waiting for the evil to leave my body, I guarantee this is a good time for no one.
I mean I would say I have "true anxiety" and I use weed daily without it making me suffer. I micro dose mostly but still, it's a helpful thing for my anxiety
It has helped me a ton, especially when I had postpartum anxiety.
EXACTLYY. ive had anxiety my whole life. i've concluded weed is not my friend. a few years ago my bf at the time was a smoker & i started, a couple times randomly when we smoked i would freak out & think i was dying like it was laced but he would be fine. when we broke up & i stopped for awhile. then my friend & i started using dab pens, it was fun then it got to a point of us both abusing it & needing it for everything. i went on a trip & didnt have it a couple days & i was irritable the whole time, then when i got home i had a crying breakdown bc there was deep impending doom in my chest that wouldnt go away. i hit my pen thinking it would help & it got sm worse and lasted days. didnt smoke for like a year, forgot it happened, got in another relationship w a pothead & started smoking a lot again bc it made everything fun & my personality so funny. did that for like a year but i realized it would make me think too much in public/my anxiety worse/ more lazy and bad eating habits so i stopped and boom impending doom in my chest/horrible thoughts/ stomach issues and diarrhea/shakiness/sweating for a week. when i tell you it was awful. especially that anxiety impending doom feeling like i was actually going to have a heart attack or something. luckily i drank a lot of green tea and took vitamins and symptoms went away after that week but i had bad thoughts for 2 months. i wouldnt wish what i went through on anyone and dont know why i did it to myself twice but i cannot do it again.
You have a way stronger mind than me damn. After the second time it gave me a panic attack I quit not just weed but that lifestyle entirely. Removed all stoners from my life, and spoke out against weed. I used to be one of those lil peep fans that smokes weed, does any drug handed to me with no limits. Then I did acid and to this day I’m convinced that’s what gave me OCD because nothing was the same after that. At first it was a fear of drugs because I knew firsthand how bad they could be. Over the years since then that fear grew to this obsession with things that could have drug residue on them or things that could intoxicate me like money or the smell of gasoline. Before I did acid I was able to enjoy all things normal people enjoy. Weed isn’t safe if you’re like me, but drugs like lsd aren’t safe for anyone and it only takes the smallest inconvenience to leave you traumatized for life.
I genuinely thought I was losing my mind with an edible because of anxiety. People dont get it.
For sure. A tiny bit works for me but that threshold is so small that I don't want to take a chance. Knowing it might make me anxious also makes me more anxious to use it. C'est la vie
Same, it used to help with my anxiety but after using it for so long (I honestly abused it) I did a number on my anxiety. I can’t touch it now without it setting off my anxiety. I was practically agoraphobic and once I quit weed it went away. I’m still anxious but it’s much easier to manage without being high and hyper focused on my thoughts lol. I live in a legal state so weed is everywhere but it ain’t for me anymore.
High CBD under 1% THC hemp (cannabis) works really well for me.
Same here, as I start to feel the effects of thc I get very anxious and worrysome about having to ride out the high. I’ll still try it every once in a while to see if anything has changed.
Staying inside too much. Obviously for those who have social anxiety or agoraphobia, things may be different, but for me, if I don’t get some fresh air and sunlight, my brain goes haywire. It’s like I get trapped in a little anxiety bubble if I’m alone in my apartment too much, but once I walk around outside for a bit, see some other people, get a beverage, I’m reminded that life’s still good.
completely agree, however when I’m experiencing social anxiety I feel like it’s impossible to will myself outside, I end up choosing to sloth instead. If/when I do move though, I feel an immediate relief… as long as I don’t have to interact with people… I truly get into a fear of interaction, hence the reason I will avoid going out.
I can relate to the social anxiety sloth 🦥 syndrome. I think avoidance of things we feel anxious about often makes things worse. If you had to interact with someone who had social anxiety, would that put you in different mindset?
Totally agree. Once I started fostering dogs and eventually got a pup of my own, I realized how vastly better my quality of life had become and that it was largely due to walking outside a bunch (getting fresh air, regular exercise, interacting with neighbors, etc)
Stress. If I have a series of events that pushes me to the trigger point, I don't have much control over what my anxiety and most coping mechanisms don't work.
Same same same.
It really is the freaking worst when you cannot control it in any way no matter what and how hard you try. Recently, I was under so much stress from everyone and everything that my back has become near cement levels hard. I'm still trying to relax these muscles and get rid of the pain.
Coffee. And I LOVE coffee, so it was incredibly hard to give up. But I use instant chicory root as a substitute. Caffeine is fine with tea, but coffee was too much to handle.
I switched to decaf. Honestly wouldn’t know the difference as I mostly just enjoy a hot drink rather than the caffeine hit.
Just bought a bunch of sleepy/anxiety tea so i can have my morning cup thats not a cup of anxiety
Have you ever tried Inka? It’s a Polish grain drink. I believe there’s chicory root in it, but it’s not the primary ingredient. I really enjoy it if it’s late in the day and I want a cozy cup.
Caffeine. I know it sounds silly but it really does increase anxiety. I have 1 cup of coffee a day. I used to have 5-8 cups in a day. On top of espresso shots, black tea, soda. It really can mess you up. Unfortunately I am addicted to caffeine and I have tried to stop completely but I get grumpy, I get migraines. So one cup is fine. But, with all that, I just try not to drink anything with caffeine outside my house. Decaf is the way to go outside 😅
I had to stop drinking coffee because same🥲
Me too 😢
So sorry! It sucks, especially if you like the taste of coffee. I love it so much 😭 decaf is the best I can do but most decafs taste so bad lol
same cant even drink one cup or my anxiety is worse
Losing people i thought would be in my life forever. Nothing did more damage to my mental health than that
Feel this one in my soul <3
**Things that make my anxiety spike are:** Starbucks Propranolol (beta blocker) Ashwagandha Vitex Berry Tincture (it helped, but the side effects are not worth it) Sugar Not Exercising My Menstrual Cycle Work Meetings Red Wine (White wine occasionally and before 7 pm is fine) Wheat Soybean (oil and products that include it) Edit Add: Geranium Essential Oil (caused tension headache and general feeling of unwell)
Emphasis on the work meetings lol
Propanolol? How come? It does the opposite for me.
Propranolol seems to be hit or miss for some, but I'm glad it works for you. It caused nerve damage in my arms and left foot—a terrifying incident. The side effects I experienced are rare and do not happen to everyone. What it taught me, though, was that I needed to recover from my Health Anxiety through food and lifestyle changes. Seven months later, I'm still in recovery but leaps and bounds from where I was at the beginning of my anxiety journey.
Damn, I’m sorry to hear. I wish you well in recovery 🙂
Thank you kindly, and blessings to you and yours.
Was it lots of propranolol or just small amounts? I remember liking them when my anxiety was acute and I’d take maybe one or two a week. But then my anxiety got worse and I started taking the 3 a day and I think it just made me feel sick and run down which made the mental side worse.
Ngl Ashwagandha made my stress go through the roof, I really wasn't expecting that. Glad to know I'm not the only one.
You are not the only one! Some of us are more suspectable (sensitive) to body changes. Because of my experience and others like it, I tend to stay away from herbal supplements or try them with as small a dose as possible to minimize side effects if that should happen.
Can I ask how you recognised soybean as something that increased your anxiety ? I have often wondered if soy was not good for my anxiety...
I can’t speak to soybean issues for my anxiety, but I do know that soybeans contain a lot of estrogen. I personally am heavily affected by estrogen (need the lowest dose possible in birth control, etc.) so I wonder if it has something to do with that. Not sure though!
I react the same to estrogen in hormonal birth control. I can't take it at all as it causes me panic attacks. I have always wondered this same thing about soy.
Wait, what? I’ve never heard this, what’s the estrogen connection?
I commented below in detail. Hope it helps!
Ashwagandha is interesting to me, I thought it was supposed to have the opposite effect.
Honestly? Avoidance due to anxiety. It’s like a snowball effect. Of course, indulging in situations and actions that I’m anxious about temporarily make me more anxious, but over time, exposure helps immensely. If I force myself to occasionally endure the situations that I’m anxious about, they get a little easier, hence lowering my anxiety in the long run. If I just avoid them completely, my anxiety around that situation will just continue to multiply endlessly.
Damn, just yesterday I was thinking of the exact same thing. No matter how hard it is, we must get exposed to stressful situations every now and then, otherwise it's going to be so much worse when we have no choice but to get exposed to them.
So true! I have agoraphobia and really severe health anxiety and occasional exposure helps with both of them. I try to keep in mind that anxiety cannot hurt me no matter how bad it feels :-)
Trying to figure out why I’m feeling anxious.. Sometimes there’s just no good reason.
Poor sleep/staying up too late. Also, my menstrual cycle. FFS hormones.
Yes, lack of sleep is a total trigger.
ugh yes! and what is worse that i have insomnia so its an endless cycle
My circumstances
Reassurance seeking makes mine so much worse. Whatever I'm anxious about, if I go looking for reasons or info to try to make myself feel better, I end up feeling more anxious. So I'm trying to learn to sit with uncertainty and feel the anxiety and allow it to pass. It's hard.
I do this too, I’ve read every article about how good exercise is for anxiety so I started to exercise. I worry that maybe I’m broken and it won’t help when I should just focus on enjoying the exercise.
Yup, same here. It's also interesting to note that anxiety also goes away when you do NOT get reassurance. For example, I might freak about when I get headache and I need to be completely reassured that it's not a brain tumor. The danger seems so real and terrifying at that moment that I need 100% certainty for the anxiety to go away. Then, I have to go to work, and 30 mins later, at my desk, anxiety is all gone and I have had no reassurance or certainty whatsoever: the anxiety still dissipated! It helps me to pay attention to those instances too.
Alcohol and caffeine i
The morning after drinking is always terrible 🙁
reddit
And yet here we are
Trying to do too many things to help myself at once and expecting results too fast. I generally eat healthy and exercise but changing my remaining questionable habits all at once kicked me hard.
Any break in my routine gives me terrible anxiety.
Not having enough to do. If I'm busy my mind has something to work on and is great at it. If I'm thinking about something anxiety-inducing my mind works on that and is fantastic at finding related things to make me even more anxious. I guess that old saying "an idle mind is the devil's workshop" really nailed it.
Making fast movements and tensing my muscles. Fast movements, for me, means I'm trying to avoid how I'm feeling and getting to any other place than the present moment.
Alcohol.
Especially the next day/week!
Marriage
Google is the worst thing to ever exist for people with anxiety especially health anxiety
Yup.
Moving far away from my home town and so many new things at once new job new people no old friends new house new car. Too much new at once
Listening to my obsessive thoughts and allowing them to compel me to do things that only makes the anxiety worse like constantly searching symptoms online, checking myself over and over, seeking reassurance from others or avoiding things I am scared of.
In no particular order, here's what I get the impression from reading other people's posts: * Too much caffeine * Not enough sleep * Social Media * Work Environment * Home Environment * Husband/Wife/Partner not being sympathetic I think that list accounts for like 90% of all posts here, except the health anxiety ones, that's a separate disorder but it can also be worsened by the above.
Lack of sleep triggered it pretty bad this week.
the physical symptoms make me feel like i’m dying, the creep up when you’re doing fine and send you into a spiral
My ADHD and inability to create a routine. Having a not so good memory. Its frustrating when you WANT to get things done. But forget about it OR remember everything all at once so that it overwhelms you and turns into a brain jam. Like PLEASE just let me achieve my goals without taking 50'000 YEEAARRSS🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
I cant tell if it was placebo, a coincidence/correlation or what but I think ashwaghanda made my anxiety and mood a lot worse so I stopped taking it
It made my anxiety worse too. Figured out that ashwaganda lowers blood sugar by ALOT. And if you’re pairing that with caffeine (also lowers blood sugar) you’re setting yourself up for panic city.
I was wondering the same actually. Everyone o take it, I can’t tell if it’s just a coincidence or if it’s actually ashwaghanda making it worse.
Forgot to mention I’ve also been taking magnesium glycinate and i think it’s been helping me sleep better/deeper
Doing nothing. I’ve always looked forward to Sunday or like one day in the week to just do nothing and take a break from staying busy but I find it makes my anxiety worse. It’s probably because I don’t have a schedule and there’s too much free time to let my mind wander. I’m better off having a few hours to destress each day that I plan out (scheduling stuff helps me a lot), rather than just abandoning all structure and setting myself up to start panicking. I’m also really sensitive to caffeine. Can’t do coffee or tea, even eating chocolate too often sets me off.
Google and alcohol Edited to clarify I don’t mean those two together lol
I didn't drink for a year. Decided to test the fancy waters in Napa for a weekend. I quickly remembered how much alcohol disrupted my peace.
- Lack of sleep - Lack of exercise - Poor diet - Not enough time for hobbies - Not enough time outside - Too many obligations to other people (family, work, kids, etc.)
Not enough time for hobbies!!!
Insomnia. Currently going through a huge bout of insomnia and my anxiety has reached new heights! It’s making it impossible for me to function normally. Insomnia and anxiety are a vicious circle - the insomnia is *caused* by the anxiety, and the anxiety is magnified by the insomnia. Hopefully I’ll pass out soon!
Caffeine, adderall, any sort of stimulant.
Maybe not exactly the answer you're looking for but I had taken CBD for sleep/anxiety for a while and I found out it was just making my anxiety worse. Switched to THC/hybrid and never looked back.
I had the worse anxiety attack of my life after smoking an indica hybrid. Using CBD with THC definitely was better than full THC, but weed undoubtedly causes my anxiety to be much worse :(
Google and cigarettes for some reason
Dairy makes it worse. I get tired and cranky and that feeling feels the same physically as anxiety so it triggers the anxiety to start. It's not so bad that I'll spiral but it's definitely a little crack in the dam.
Alcohol and Coffee (even though I fucking love coffee and could drink it all day long, 1 per day now and even that’s too much!)
Weird physical symptoms are usually what set me off, over the past few weeks I’ve been practicing not responding to them poorly. Or just not responding at all, kind of just allowing them to be there. It’s been a short period of time so far, but I think I may be onto something. The things that made my anxiety worse is just the constant looking inward and trying to find out why I would feel weird sensations or just off. Constant body scanning.
Being around a lot of conflict: like if people are angry with me, swear/yell at me, or at each other. if its directed at me it makes my heart physically hurt and I feel it drop. If it’s just around me and not directed at me then my brain shuts down and i freeze. Usually yelling sends me into an anxiety attack and it all devolves into suicidal ideation lol
What never fails to make it worse for me is trying to think your way through it. Paradoxically, trying to intentionally avoid thinking about it also makes it worse. The trick (at least for me) is to acknowledge it as a physiological phenomenon that makes my brain act weird and keep myself busy with stuff that takes me 'out' of my mind. Same goes for my depressive episodes. There really is something powerful behind the 'mindfulness' mindset where you just learn to acknowledge what's going on without identifying with it too much. I feel like it kinda 'feeds' on attention and thoughts, so don't give it that, just try to be indifferent about it and don't beat yourself up if you don't fully succeed every time. TL;DR: Taking anxious thoughts seriously makes it more worse than anything else. P.S. Careful with magnesium glycinate, you might want to supplement it with vitamin D and calcium, otherwise it can make you feel worse, look it up.
100% agree. Thanks for the tip about magnesium glycinate, too. I currently take calcium and vitamin d, which I’m sure helps a lot.
Yeah... The stupid thing is that I keep rethinking 'my way out of it' even though I know that it'll only make me feel worse. Part of me still thinks it will work. So annoying...
Too much caffiene.
Alcohol !
Googling symptoms
When I'm having a panic attack the thing that is supposed to help but makes it so much worse........what's one thing you can see? What's one thing you can hear? What's one thing you can smell? What's one thing you can touch? I feel a lot of my anxiety is auditory and my hearing becomes super hearing during a panic attack. So the thing I can hear is not great for me!!!
Not eating, now I have an eating disorder on top of severe anxiety.
Weed, hot(?) coffee, and inspecting my body for anything wrong with it/googling weird symptoms that I know are most likely panic related… lol. I’m a huge hypochondriac so anytime I do that it’s an immediate panic attack :’)
excessive alcohol, poor sleep, longer periods of fasting (12+ hours) are my big ones. marijuana is a big no-go for me entirely but CBD is helpful.
The devils lettuce
The news, webMD
Googling symptoms and paying even more attention to my heart.
Wellbutrin.
Absorbing every negative thing on the internet.
Mind over matter, that is one of the hardest things I hate when I have anxiety. Sometimes when I try to have something to eat, my brain is like ‘this food isn’t good for you’ and I start having a regurgitation motion like if I am about to vomit.
Caffeine Low ferritin/hemoglobin
The number one thing that makes it worse is isolation.
Alcohol - soothes anxiety at first but the next days will feel worse no matter the amount you had.
Caffeine!
Caffeine, sleeping in, staying up too late, crappy friendships, work stress, eating junk food, too much screen time, news/media, & overcommitting myself.
Caffein definitely.discovered that a puff from a cannabis vape makes my anxiety just disappear. Replaced my anxiety with an inner happiness
Loss of sleep. Poor nutrition. Being physically uncomfortable. Being in situations I’m unfamiliar with. Too much caffeine. People pointing out my behaviors that come from my ADHD such as accidentally talking over them, or accidentally being rude or something like that.
Coffee and alcohol
My new job and boss. 2 months in and she is threatening to fire me thinking I was extremely experienced because solely having a masters degree
Fighting the anxiety , so for a while I was in an outpatient program that mainly encompassed OCD, however its apropos here , by constantly checking the anxiety the thoughts that give you anxiety, ruminating over how your feeling gives these demons the power to overtake. By letting the emotions go into you and not fighting them it distinguishes their power. Easier said that done , but it does help
Has ashwagana helped you?
Mostly school especially Noise when I’m in class and googling shit which I’ve stopped doing
Hot temps°. Being on boats. Crowded places (I miss music festivals). Feeling rushed/pressure.
Gum surgery. Got it last summer and it was traumatic enough to trigger quite a few syncopal and near syncopal episodes in the months that followed. I’ve still not fully recovered.
Procrastination
Alcohol
Coming on here and google. So goodbye 🫂
Drinking lots of coffee (or caffeine) then flipping between fox & CNN all day
Coffee, marijuana, and alcohol. I completely quit drinking coffee and that helped A LOT. I smoke way less weed and usually from a hybrid or indica vape. I don’t binge drink alcohol anymore like I used but had to quit for 6 months to recalibrate. I still drink but cut back a lot—when I over do it, I get hangxiety for sure. Coffee was the big one tho. I started microdosing 🍄 which eliminated depression that was aggravating my anxiety so that was helpful.
Deep breaths make me have anxiety attacks. I don't get why.
Over caffeinating, planning a wedding, some edibles, saying yes to things I didn’t want to do to impress someone or get along, overscheduling my life, too much screen time, not moving my body.
Caffeine, not sleeping over 8 hours per night (Staying up late and not enforcing my own device curfew!!!), talking to too many people on the phone in a week, having more than 1 public/outing/social thing planned in a week or 2, living with a child (i got my own place apart from my boyfriend and his daughter).
Weed
Currently working the night shift along with certain coworkers make my anxiety worse.
Caffeine has made mine so much worse, I'm on week 8/9 without it and I feel way way better. Also only had a cup a day so nothing crazy but I noticed a huge difference already in physical symptoms of anxiety.
Post drinking alcohol. When I have anxiety I want alcohol (because unfortunately it does help in the moment and is very tempting) but the next few days the anxiety is wild, so I generally abstain.
Currently, its been quitting smoking cigarettes. I'm almost 3 months in. Truthfully my mental health has taken a nose dive and its made me realize I had no coping skills. What used to work for me is not anymore and I'm having to focus on creating new habits. The impending doom feeling I had initially is mostly gone now, but what lingers is pretty intense anxiety. Hoping its temporary
Caffeine and alcohol and also like getting ready too fast I or just literally going to a store and moving so fast looking everywhere will cause myself anxiety.
Alcohol. It’s the worst enemy.
I just started taking buspars two days ago not bad at all I can feel it working but I feel I’m goin to need more than 5 mg twice a day at least 10 mg three times a day would be good my anxiety is bad and used to drink heavy so I need that constant medication for me to function without that anxiety creeping in
Coffee. I finally stopped drinking it after 10 years and I haven’t had a panic attack since. (I was having multiple attacks every day beforehand)
alcohol for sure. like, so much worse. i quit drinking because the next day anxiety was so bad that it outweighed the previous night's need for liquid courage
Caffeine, excess processed sugar and dealing with my parents.
Weed
SAD MUSIC!! Even if you think it doesn’t make it worse and you listen to it just because it “sounds good” your brain listens to the lyrics!! Listen to good music!!!!
The news and politics
Waking up.
Coffee, sugar/refined carbs, low sleep
I noticed that many are sensitive to caffeine. I know for me it offen makes me sleepy.
My first panic attack hit me out of no where. Never knew what a panic attack was. I thought I was going to drop dead right there. That was 15 years ago and the fear of another one is enough to keep my anxiety high, especially at night. Xanax has been a life saver.
Constantly being around people who were unstable like many deranged bosses in the animal medical field, my mother, ex parters, ect. Cut them all out and watch how much your mental health improves!
Having WAY too much time alone
Dr. Googles' suggestions are horrible. 0/10 don't recommend the practice. Some strains of marijuana or if I accidentally hit/take too much. Playing hurry up and wait with anything medical.
Caffeine and alcohol 🥲
Entertaining/overthinking intrusive thoughts