My experience with social anxiety.

[Anxiety_Tom]

Hello guys.

I'm a 17 year old male and I've suffered with social anxiety and health anxiety for about 3-4 years now but only got properly diagnosed about 12 months ago.

I have a real hard time talking to anyone that isn't 'close' to me. For example, I can't talk to a random stranger I meet, I get alot of paranoid thoughts in my head and I worry that the 'stranger' is already beginning to judge me.

I can't maintain eye contact and my heart starts to race, so in public I pretty much have a constant panic attack.

Having health anxiety doesn't make this situation any better, it makes it 10x worse, especially out in public. I get dizzy in big crowds and begin to panic that something bad is going to happen, and I worry about everything health related.

I have some good days, and I have some really terrible days.

How do you guys deal with it? I've been on 2 different types of medication but non of them work, they only give me horrible side effects and I am adamant that I wont take another pill for anxiety!

Thanks for reading my rambling.

- Tom.

 

[lyricalliaisons]

I've heard Cognitive Behavioral Therapy works great for a lot of people. It won't turn you into a different person, turn your whole life around, & make all your social problems go away, but it's still supposed to help a lot. I don't have any health insurance to get CBT in my area, so I can't try it for myself.

Your lucky to be getting help at such a young age. I'm 26 & have only been getting help for a year. Your chances of getting better are much greater since you're so young (even if you don't think you're that young.. you are). I'm about to be put on clonazepam (Klonopin, brand name) which will be the first anxiety med I'll be put on. I'm worried about it (side effects, etc.), but I hope it works, at least a bit. I've heard it's pretty good. I've been taking mood stabilizers since last year (I'm also bipolar), & they don't help with SA at all.

Since your totally against trying another anti-anxiety med, CBT is the only thing I can think of that could help you. I'd love to try it myself. If you've already tried CBT, then, sorry I couldn't help.