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Almost everyone has felt anxious at some point, but what does it mean to have a true medical diagnosis of anxiety? Many people do not know and most do not understand. I have suffered from anxiety since adolescence but didn’t understand it myself until I had a medical background. If you are reading this and know you have anxiety, you are not alone. Keep reading to find out more about what symptoms you may be experiencing and ways to help manage them. If you think you have anxiety or know someone who does, keep reading as well. The best thing you can do is have knowledge of what anxiety is and how it affects someone and when to seek help.

Let me start by sharing my experience. First of all, I didn’t know I had anxiety until I admitted myself to the hospital in a full nervous breakdown. I was in grad school part-time, working full-time and recently married. I always new I was a perfectionist and pretty high strung but I was getting to a point that nothing seemed right and EVERYTHING seemed to bother me. OK, so I was a little depressed too at the time because we were also trying, unsuccessfully, to get pregnant (obviously not the right timing).

A Little About My Experience With Anxiety

One day, as my husband and I were arguing, I became more upset than I had ever been and felt like I couldn’t go on. I called my parents and told them how I was feeling and they came and took me to the hospital. After months of therapy and starting on some medication to help me, I was feeling more like myself. But, I still didn’t truly understand anxiety or even depression for that matter for along time. I think I truly started recognizing it for what it was and the many symptoms it can present as when my daughter started showing signs. More on that later.

It took many years and many episodes of anxiety for Julian and I to get a handle on it. We had to learn how to recognize my triggers (sometimes you have no clue what triggered you), my first symptoms (may vary by episode), and what would help me calm down. As you can see, it is not straight forward and everyone’s story, symptoms and treatment are different. As I mentioned before, just knowing about anxiety is one of the most powerful things for both the one experiencing it as well as those around them.

Triggers

Triggers can be just about anything but will be different for everyone. Sometimes people have no idea what their triggers even are and their symptoms rear their ugly head out of no where. How frustrating is that?

Often, triggers stem from something troublesome or traumatic in your past. You may or may not remember the event but something in your brain sparks a memory. It can be a sound, a smell or a place. Sometimes even a voice. For instance, I know a young man who grew up in a somewhat abusive home where they smoked marijuana a lot. Now, even in his adult life, if he gets a wiff of that smell, he will have a full blown panic attack. This has been debilitating for him. Even going to outdoor events, he has come in contact with someone in the distance smoking that has set him off.

One of my triggers are when my house is out of order. You may not know this by stepping into my home but when I am under a lot of stress, for whatever reason, if my home is not picked up, every little thing out of place will set me off. If I can’t find something that I know was in it’s place the last time I saw it and now it is gone, watch out! Mama gets on an overdratic war path. There is pacing and crying and heavy breathing. Sounds excessive, I know, but I truly can not help it.

The second thing is having a social gathering in out home. This was one of the hardest things to work on as my husband has a very large family and they get together A LOT! Maybe it’s the number of people or the noise level or lack of having my own private space, but I used to get so overwhelmed that I would have to go in my room and cry or just go away. Talk about a bad hostess. I was ashamed of this because I wanted to enjoy my family and unfortunately, this part of the family did not understand anxiety at the time. Luckily with time and education, things have gotten better!

So, you see, the realm of triggers is broad. Trying to figure out each person’s triggers can take time and digging into the psyche. We will talk more on this in the treatment section coming up.

Symptoms

As I mentioned before, everyone’s symptoms are different just like their triggers and you should check with your primary care or mental health provider to see if your symptoms may be related to anxiety. (Childhood anxiety can present even more erratically. See the post on child anxiety here.)

Some of the most common symptoms are:

• Difficulty sleeping
• loss of appetite or overeating
• excessive worry
• perfectionism
• difficulty concentrating
• increased breathing and heartrate
• sweating or shaking
• fear
• chest pain

Some people can even have panic attacks with their anxiety which usually presents as a sudden onset and intense symptoms such the ones above. This is often mistaken for a heart attack and lands people in the emergency room.

Treatment

Just like the triggers and symptoms, the treatment is not a one-stop-fix-all. It truly depends on your symptoms, severity and willingness. There are several treatment options such as therapy or medication.

Therapy

Therapy should be with a person trained to help you find your triggers and recognize your symptoms. They will help you learn skills to manage the anxiety such as meditation, journaling, talk therapy, physical exercise while helping you learn to adapt your environment. For instance, my example of the anxiety when we have gatherings at our home: the family now knows that I suffer from anxiety and they understand that I may leave the group for a while if I need some time to myself. Julian and I have started setting time frames on the gatherings so I know the endpoint. This really seems to help and we also try to have activities outdoors if weather permits. All of this has made it easier for me and I now enjoy having people over.

Medication

There are a lot of medications on the market for anxiety. Keep in mind that medication is only a part of treatment and should always be used with non-medicinal treatments such as therapy or counseling. Some of the most commonly used are the class SSRI’s or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. These are slow acting antidepressants with some anti-anxiety properties and are typically taken daily over longer periods of time.

Another class is called anxiolytics. These are used for immediate relief and are controlled drugs because they can be addictive. These are used on an as-needed basis and should ONLY be prescribed by your healthcare or mental health provider.

NEVER SELF MEDICATE as the wrong medication can cause symptoms to get worse or even death.

Prevention

You can’t actually prevent anxiety but keeping yourself healthy through a healthy diet, consistent physical activity and making good life choices can help minimize new triggers. Recognizing a change and issue is the first step and then seeking help promptly is the best way to improve your success of treatment.

Remember, mental health was ignored or shunned for so long. NOT ANY MORE! We all need a little help now and then and we deserve to experience the best version of ourselves. You deserve it!

Do you or someone you know experience anxiety? How has this impacted their life and what has helped them overcome it? Please share in the comments