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How do u explain what anxiety is too some1 who doesn't hav it?

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Anxiety & Panic Disorders
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Posted 3/6/2008 8:57 AM (GMT 0)
Its harder than it sounds, but im fed up of ppl asking me how can u hav an anxiety prob, you hav u got nothing to be anxious about. I know thats why I have an anxiety disorder if my anxiety was a balanced response to a situation it wouldn't be a prob. So i ask how does every attempt to explain wht anxiety is like to som1 who doesn't have it.
Posted 3/7/2008 4:10 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Badfish,  I know what you mean.  It is impossible to explain what anxiety and panic feels like to someone who has never experienced it.  They just think you are nuts or that if you put your mind to it you can just get over it.  Like if you lose a loved one you will get over it within a brief time. I don't know how to explain it but someone who has never had anxiety - I mean serious anxiety and panic just can't put themselves in your position.  I have given up trying.  I often don't go out with those friends(?) because they don't understand me.  I also find that these people are not very sensitive to people in general.  I hope I have cleared up some misunderstanding of how people react to our situations.  However, it doesn't help to know that you can't get through to somone.
Posted 3/9/2008 11:00 AM (GMT 0)
Ok this is my attempt. Say if u got 5 things to do, then som1 with anxiety has todo all 5 by end of the day or they wil be up all night worrying bout doing them 2m, they cant concentrate on 1 particular task coz the anxiety from the other 4 tasks wil contiue to grow and grow, so they hav to do it in a hap hazard fashion switching from one task to the other. Meaning 5 simple tasks = 1 big problem. Chances are even if u complete all 5 tasks you wil stil be up all night worrying bout if u completed them correctly.

Also the anxiety is not like a thoought is not something tht can be dismissed its more like an impulse you have to overcome.

Ther u go my clumsy attempt
Posted 3/9/2008 1:26 PM (GMT 0)
My way of having to explain my a/p is alot easier than others I must say
When I am in full throttle of the a/p and crohns I break out into HUGE sores down to the bone ........anxiety /stess and trauma to the body does this
It is called Pyoderma Gangrenosum

Another thing I do is tell ppl I am not them ( those that dont have this DD) and I cannot "just not worry or let things go"
MY mind WILL NOT let me .......
Unlike them I do worry and do stress about everything and anything ya know ...........

IMHO no matter what you tell ple they "Just dont get it \
The heart palps I use that "Chicken hawk cartoon with the HEART big as can be POUNDING outta of his chest over a female chicken "
I am not sure if you know the one I mean lol it is many yrs old ........

GREAT thread Badfish..........Luvs......LYN

** UNless you do have this DD it is very hard to explain it to ppl I believe .......

You do a good attempt at explaining it IMHO.......Luvs........LYN

Posted 3/9/2008 1:38 PM (GMT 0)
Aurora..........You are so right in your post .........it is so bleeding frustrating to try to explain this to those that just dont have it and many ....too many are very unsensitive to it



It is fact that most ppl have some a/p (stress) but they are not in the same category as us and do not have it like we do ........

Kinda like we walk on eggshells or broken pieces of glass daily while they walk on triple layers of carpet ya know
Am I making sense ....lol........early morning here..........did not not sleep alot last night ......Luvs

LYN

** fixing early am typo's here lol

yeah

Posted 3/9/2008 1:53 PM (GMT 0)
How about jumping out of an airplane? Sometimes without a parachute?



Airborne! Hoorah!
Posted 3/9/2008 3:17 PM (GMT 0)
NOW I do like that one Navy

Sure have felt like that a few times .......
Posted 3/9/2008 3:21 PM (GMT 0)

Like that one myself Navy.  I feel like that today.

But seriously, other than my parents and my twin sister, noone else in my family or my friends knows of the anxiety.  I try to hide it the best I can and, if others notice the physical shakes or stuff, they don't ask.  It is just way to hard to explain this disease to anyone who does not suffer from it.  My parents and twin sis understand something is wrong and that is why I am so antisocial at times and moody and down, but they can't truly get it because they've never experienced it.

Posted 3/9/2008 3:40 PM (GMT 0)
What if you give them some material to read, such as some of the posts on this forum? Do you think that would help? Or maybe something off of the internet. I know how frustrating it is to try to explain and even that makes me more anxious. My nerves get frayed I guess. I wish you luck with this, I hope that this helped some.

Luv and hugs,

Karen
Posted 3/9/2008 4:21 PM (GMT 0)
I agre with Karen some pamplets just laid about the house and or posts from here might help them to see what you live with daily........

I honestly think they need to know just in case you were to go to hospital ( God forbid) and a doc walks in an says " so it says here on your chart you suffer from a/p"

Finding out that way would be worse IMHO then if you were to try and explain it

THERE is no shame in having this disease at all ............
Just my 2 cents worth this am ......
.'Luvs
LYN
Posted 3/9/2008 6:48 PM (GMT 0)
Anxiety/Panic - Feels like shaking inside, nothing is visible outside, takes your concentration - although in a bad attack I am visibly shaking!

Just my thoughts, take care

Ann
Posted 3/10/2008 12:30 AM (GMT 0)
Good way to put it Annuk.........

I feel like that too

Lyn
Posted 3/11/2008 2:08 AM (GMT 0)
I was here today

As my coworkers were telling me...."gosh why do you let it get to you" and I'm physically shaking...um gee why didn't I think of that?!?!

I think it almost makes it worse to know people don't get it.

Thankfully one of the girls at work at least semi-got it...or pretended to...which is good enough for me at the moment.

 

Posted 3/11/2008 2:21 AM (GMT 0)
Most people have expeerience "normal" anxiety at some point in their lives. Having to give a speach in english class, stage fright, a big job interview. They have felt the physica symptoms fo anxiety. Have them start their then ask what if you felt that way all or a lot of the time with out the 'event' to cause it and what if you could not imagine the good outcome only the bad one.
What if you did not know when that feeling would wash over you or how long it would last or how bad it would get. What if you hyperventelated in public or broke out in hives for no reason apparent to anyone else. What if everytime you were in public you had to worry that this might happen to you.
Sj
Posted 3/11/2008 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
SJ you described it very well... I usually say to people - Take a moment when you were really scared (right after a medical test awaiting the result, upon being told that a loved one is injured and you need to go to the hospital, etc...) and the feeling that results from being truly frightened - imagine that you feel that way all the time. It never goes away and you can't understand why it's there or when you will feel better.

I am normally a very outgoing person who loves to be the center of attention but when I get into my anxiety mode, I hide in my office or stay away from social functions because I know that everyone who knows me will ask what's wrong. I absolutely HATE telling people about my anxiety because I feel like they judge me or think that I'm unstable. My husband actually told me today that I need to get help... mind you I've been dealing with this for 10 years and he seems to think that all that I've already done to get help isn't enough. I love my guy but let me tell you that it's impossible to make him understand that anxiety is an on again off again problem that most sufferers deal with for their entire lives... I tried to explain that to him and he said "well that's great, really gives you something to look forward to" That was the moment I told him that if I start complaining about being anxious, just hug me or rub my back... don't remind me of how screwed up I am.

Liz

Liz
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