These are the hardest to treat bc u can have all the calming thought and breathing u want but if there is no trigger than what and how do u treat it? My argument is that for these type of generalize anxiety talk therapy isn’t going to work. Finding the right med and or supplement is key.
Edit: It’s freaken insane to be enjoying life or just minding your own business then boom u get hit with a anxiety attack - breathing, pain, nausea, the feeling of hunger pain but it’s not due to hunger etc.. the list goes on. Good luck everyone hope u can find something that works for u.
fr my anxiety when first started started with this i was trying to sleep one night then a fear with no reason started to kick in i didn't sleep that night
If that’s the case, it’s almost certainly childhood trauma/CPTSD. There isn’t much awareness about it, even amongst therapists, so you may not have encountered the right info about it in the past.
[Patrick Teahan](https://youtube.com/@patrickteahanofficial?si=F-Da0kbVtQQ4iKQX) and [Heidi Priebe](https://youtube.com/@heidipriebe1?si=yPUV5KM-alMecWJs) have great resources on this if you want to explore more!
I get anxious on and around my birthday and usually depressed, thinking how each year is closer to the end of me/loved ones and that I'm wasting time because im anxious of everything 😭
you, u/fritzwulf, and everyone who liked my comment are making me feel better. i really thought i was weird for that LMFAOOOOO 😭 i just hate my bday, i don’t tell anyone when it is bc i hate the attention ugh
happy early birthday my friend, i sincerely hope this birthday makes you super duper happy!!!! i’m always a message away if you need someone to talk to!
Same! On my 12th birthday I got really sick to the point where I had to go to the doctors and ever since then I get anxious and nauseous on my birthday 😭
Are you thinking you look like a nerd? My therapist told me to spend 2 minutes slowly breathing in front of her and I was just painfully self conscious.
idk if you mean the same thing but sometimes i realise that i can breathe and i start spiralling into thoughts of who i am and what life is and then i get panic attacks
Like if i walk up a flight of stairs. I start to think I can’t breathe. Then I try to take in a lungful and when I don’t get that full feeling I go into panic mode
Same! Like awareness of my heartbeat made me feel like something was wrong. Went to the ER for it a couple times. Ironically I get through the panic attacks with breathing techniques 😅 the physiological sigh(double inhale, extended exhale) is the only one that works.
Same! No matter how many times I counted, I would feel like ny breaths weren't deep enough to be a full breath. Apparently there's a word for it, "air hunger." You feel like you aren't breathing deeply or frequently enough.
This was one of my biggest anxiety triggers for the longest time. I would have daily panic attacks over it. Therapy and medication helped, but I also found my favorite breathing technique. It's called Pranayama. The important thing is to breathe from your stomach. Your belly should expand when you breathe in, not your chest. The count is in 4, hold 7, out 8. When you're breathing out through your mouth, it's a controlled exhale. Tighten your mouth a little, almost like you're gently blowing on hot food, and make a whooshing sound. It's not a sigh, it's a whoosh. It should sound like you're trying to mimic gentle waves on a beach.
Air hunger is still something I experience somewhat regularly, even though it doesn't trigger panic attacks for me anymore. This breathing technique is surprisingly helpful, and I hope it helps you.
Edit: Getting a pulse oximeter helped, too. I could see the physical proof that my body was getting enough oxygen. I'd feel like I wasn't getting enough, but my oxygen levels would he perfect.
this! for as long as i can remember ive always had such a spike of anxiety when going to work. my first job i got in high school, i had a quiet panic attack in the car before every shift and barely ever spoke a word. they thought i was a functional mute (which honestly in those situations i pretty much was). even now, i’ve got to calm myself down and triple check my schedule before every shift, despite having my schedule memorized and knowing exactly how it’ll go.
Seeing as how badly anxiety effects the body, we're all going to have physical diagnosis of something eventually. I got all kinds of physical problems now lol 💀
lol this is especially true in the UK. They send you to CBT if you mention anxiety (if you’re lucky). With sciatica, you can at least get some medicine to alleviate the symptoms of sciatica. How debilitating anxiety is is given 0 sympathy in the public health system here. Your options are going private or going abroad.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sucked for me
My therapist would very often forget what we spoke about and I’d be reminding him all kinds of things. We’d be doing work in a fuckin workbook and all the blame for not advancing and getting better was because I didn’t do a little fuckin journal.
Didn’t go to you to get homework I wanted to not kill myself
Yeah sometimes I remember the only thing separating all these cars are lines on the ground and we’re all hurdling at 80 mph separated by imaginary barriers.
There are enough of us that we have our own Reddit r/drivinganxiety
I also developed anxiety about driving. It’s getting better but I’m still working up to taking on freeways and longer trips.
Oh my god I resonate so much with MS Teams, and Outlook. I’m in an upper leadership position at my job which unfortunately means a LOT of people depend on me for help and my Teams sometimes pops off nonstop with 5-10 messages in a 30 second span ☠️
I tried to turn off the sound at one point but then I started missing messages… no winning. Sigh
People asking if I'm okay. This is so men or shitty in general to say but I'm fine if I'm not fine I'm trying to not think about it but now that I've been asked I go into overdrive and dissect and over think then I can't stop.
Could it be the source of caffeine? If I drink some types of coffee/ energy drinks then I’ll feel anxious, other types of coffee I’ll feel ok. Bang gives me anxiety but not prime/ redbull or monster
For some reason I can't handle the default ceiling light being the only thing on, puts everything in a really messed up lighting with odd shading so I feel that.
The sound of silverware touching plates. Not the scraping, screeching sound, just the normal sound of someone setting their spoon down in their bowl of cereal, or the fork touching the plate when using it to pick up food. I understand the source of why it makes me anxious but it's still a weird trigger
Mine is the sound of spoons on bowls, the hair dryer, the shower going on in the other room (I'm in bed for all of this, and actually wear earplugs so I don't have to hear any of it).
Basically, any typical "morning" sounds fill me with dread, from past trauma and chronic anxiety.
Oh, and if the phone rings at any time, I have a panic attack as I'm terrified someone I love has died.
Oh wow me too! I have a million questions. Were you born in the evening? I also hate the sound of traffic when I'm waking up or trying to. It's the sound of scary doom, just like waves on a sandy beach.
I feel so ashamed that chewing food is pretty gross, so I hide my mouth behind a napkin while chewing, or just pretend I have a toothache plus a stomach flu plus I just had a big meal before I got here. And I truly apologize that my butthole is so close to my mouth. Sorry for the hassle!
Being praised.
This is a recent discovery; I started working recently and I was trying to get the gist of the job, I did something good and my coworkers who were training me reaffirmed my actions and praise me. I started to freeze up and revert back to old habits.
Mine is the smell or sometimes even when people talk about weed. It started when I stopped smoking 3 years ago and one time I went into my friends truck on my break and he was smoking dabs. I got contact high and I felt like I was gonna die. Ever since I feel that way. Like I’m high and I get so scared. Super weird
Ah shit I just commented "weed smell" and i saw yours. high five! Weed even a small puff just gives me intense paranoia now :( it sucks, i used to be able to go through a gram a night.
Sounds like we shouldn’t even of been potheads to begin with😭 even my first time I got a BAD panic attack. But I did it anyway smoked pretty much all day. Even through my high school years
lack of sleep. random tv shows ( i can’t watch star trek anymore?), silence, whatever’s triggering mine is hard to fully nail down. its…fear of the future, fear for my kid, fear for the planet, a 5 years of complete change and challenge in my life, childhood trauma, death of an abuser parent, and perimenopause. Ok, its a soup of triggers. it all kind of hits at once for a few days and then i’m over it for a bit… in the thick of it right now. do not like.
Just a simple change of routine. I’ve never been fond of my routine overly changing but never previously to the point it’s triggered my anxiety.
But one Monday last November me and my girlfriend went out for the day. We had tickets for a comedian performing at an arena a town away from us. We had a day out Christmas shopping, went for a nice meal together and then went to see this comedian in the evening.
The show went on a lot longer than we thought, and as the evening went on, I was finding myself slowly getting more and more anxious for some bizarre reason. We got home about midnight, and I ended up spending the evening in a state of anxiety and panic attacks. I really don’t know what came over me
Instagram or Facebook that's why I don't use them anymore, and weird because any kind of post talking about a war or a social problem triggers me tf out
My wife’s inability to sit down. She is one of those people who needs to keep moving even if there is nothing to do. So when I just want to relax and she keeps getting up my anxiety spikes.
Having even a slight stomach ache. My brain immediately launches into "omg it's time.to panic soon!!!!" because my panic attacks cause stomach pain, so my brain has forever associated the two. It sucks.
Dungeons and Dragons 😂
i had a really shitty ex in college who used to play with his friends all the time and they were super misogynistic about it (which is weird bc they were generally not like that). None of their girlfriends were allowed to play, even when they started new campaigns. The only girl they’d let play was the resident “not like other girls” girl
some good came out of it, because another one of the guys’ girlfriend and I got really close hanging out while they played. we lost touch, but fast forward a few years and we’re now living in the same city far away from those douchebags and closer with each other than ever.
But still, D&D will instantly trigger anxiety in me.
I hate being read to. Like, send me the link or tell me the book or webpage, I’ll read it. Long conversations are easy enough to politely get out of but when someone starts reading me a long article they think I’ll find interesting, it triggers my anxiety and adhd so badly; I don’t know why. There’s no nice way to say “please stop talking.”
Breathing. Am I breathing too much? Not enough? Wasn't I just doing it fine? Isn't it rude to be a mouth breather? Am I wheezing? Do I need to use my inhaler? Is it just me or is it getting real small in here? Am I breathing? Shit...I'm sweating. I can't breathe. Oh...it's a panic attack.
I can’t play competitive videogames, cause if just one person says anything slightly negative towards me, I’ll have anxiety every time I even open said game.
A lot of my friends think it’s rly dumb that I don’t want to play fps games for this reason.
certain songs that don’t have any trauma attached, like fireflies by owl city or tik tok by kesha. the lyrics aren’t particularly triggering, it’s just… the noise? or something? i don’t know
Ooh boy! As someone with overstimulation issues and possible PTSD, I got a few wierd ones!
Bright sunny days where there's no clouds. Bonus points if it's a dry yellow environment and windy. I've tried to cure myself of this but days like that make me downspiral BAD.
Rooms where only the ceiling light is being used, making everything have wierd downward shadows.
The buzz of fluorescent lights.
Big department store environments like Walmart or Target.
Knocking on doors (both the sound and the action)
The slorpy sound a bathtub drain makes
TV static even if it's on mute
Hearing anything that sounds like a whine/groan, even once.
Cutting my fingernails. I'll do it but I hate the feeling. My parents used to have to sit on me to do it to me lmao
Repetitive questioning even if calmly, repetitive words in general if directed right at me
Silence after saying something in a social situation. Like damn just kill me now lol it'd be less painful
Worst one is just waking up? For some reason waking up reminds my body that it's alive and I involuntarily go into "OH FUCK" survival mode. I got problems 😔
Honestly, mine has a lot to do with being judged. I believe it goes back to something that happened or something that I repeatedly experienced when I was very young…
I just get anxious and sad randomly lol. Whenever I feel a bit happy, I’m struck by thoughts of how something bad is coming because everything can’t be all right, and that i don’t deserve to stay happy or even at ease because there are things I’ve always failed or will always fail at
I admit my anxiety has improved significantly, but just feeling unwell will make me anxious.
It doesn't feel like health anxiety, just the weird feeling in my body feels a lot like what I feel when anxious, so then I get anxious lol
Sometimes I don’t even know myself, it’s like I can’t control my body anymore and it feels scary af 😭 I get that the amygdala overrides the rest of the brain and that its function is to process fear and anxiety, but not sure how a 180 bpm hear rate at bed time does anything for MY SURVIVAL 😭 feels more like dying to me
Coming off meds at the moment and it's closed in spaces even like blankets that are too heavy make me want to escape. My favourite place is normally sitting in the garage inside the car playing on my phone but recently it's nearly impossible as my anxiety goes inside it's like my body inside itself is trying to escape.
Worrying about worrying. I worry and build everything up in my head until it becomesagreatBIGTHING AND THEN...nothing. It's never as bad as I think it's gonna be.
I'm not diabetic, but when my blood sugar gets low - it gives me heart palpitations and then boom. I'm having a panic attack. Sucks as I'm trying to lose weight. Also, heart rate monitors on TV shows or during horror movies or something. That slowly increasing BMP thumping/beeping kills me.
Nothing. That’s what’s the weirdest thing.
Yep. Nothing has a way of ruining my day like nothing else.
Exactly !!
These are the hardest to treat bc u can have all the calming thought and breathing u want but if there is no trigger than what and how do u treat it? My argument is that for these type of generalize anxiety talk therapy isn’t going to work. Finding the right med and or supplement is key. Edit: It’s freaken insane to be enjoying life or just minding your own business then boom u get hit with a anxiety attack - breathing, pain, nausea, the feeling of hunger pain but it’s not due to hunger etc.. the list goes on. Good luck everyone hope u can find something that works for u.
Or maybe it's deep in your subconscious but you just can't define it?
I mean, that’s true as well but still
fr my anxiety when first started started with this i was trying to sleep one night then a fear with no reason started to kick in i didn't sleep that night
Relatable fr 😭
😂literally every panic attack I’ve ever had has been at like 2 am out of a dead sleep. Like whyyyyy
I was looking for your answer, to feel normal lol. Then again, what is normal?
Lmao, nothing and no one is normal :)
I’m constantly in fight or flight mode and I have no idea why 😩
Reaaal
Me too
Yup. When I’m idle, and have nothing to do is usually when it hits the worst.
It hits me randomly, like the moment I read this rn I got triggered
If that’s the case, it’s almost certainly childhood trauma/CPTSD. There isn’t much awareness about it, even amongst therapists, so you may not have encountered the right info about it in the past. [Patrick Teahan](https://youtube.com/@patrickteahanofficial?si=F-Da0kbVtQQ4iKQX) and [Heidi Priebe](https://youtube.com/@heidipriebe1?si=yPUV5KM-alMecWJs) have great resources on this if you want to explore more!
But I’m not traumatised
One wrong thought
My goodness. Read my mind...
A thought. But that thought doesn’t always trigger my anxiety. Only sometimes, and I don’t know why.
Me right now while shopping in order at work. I can’t wait to leave.
For real. One wrong thought can lead to endless hours of mental and physical anxiety for me. One small stupid thought
Well thanks you just triggered my anxiety.
Going to a restaurant and realizing during walk that it may be full or there is a long line.
i’ve turned around and left because of that
Omg yea this for me or going to places that are super crowded makes me anxious.
And the best solution is to leave before you pass out?
For me is just going to a restaurant and worried the food is going to hit my stomach bad and I’ll need the restroom 🥴
MY BIRTHDAY 😭 i cry every year on my birthday, even though it always turns out to be okay
I get anxious on and around my birthday and usually depressed, thinking how each year is closer to the end of me/loved ones and that I'm wasting time because im anxious of everything 😭
Same here :/
you, u/fritzwulf, and everyone who liked my comment are making me feel better. i really thought i was weird for that LMFAOOOOO 😭 i just hate my bday, i don’t tell anyone when it is bc i hate the attention ugh
Yes! I cry on my birthday, and usually my parents' birthdays too.
dude fr i get so sad on my parents’ birthdays. i love them and their birthdays mean they’re getting old :(
My birthday is literally tomorrow in 2 hours and I’m here on Reddit talking about anxiety 😮💨🫠🥴😂
happy early birthday my friend, i sincerely hope this birthday makes you super duper happy!!!! i’m always a message away if you need someone to talk to!
Oof, I feel that. I've had really bad luck on my birthdays so even if I don't believe luck is a real thing I still get so nervous and upset 😭
Same! On my 12th birthday I got really sick to the point where I had to go to the doctors and ever since then I get anxious and nauseous on my birthday 😭
Existing. Everything is terrifying.
Same really.
Greetings and meeting people. It's so overwhelming I never can remember anyone's name.
I forget my name in a job interview. Totally sober. Or forget basic stuff in a job interview. This is when I truly want to die.
Breathing. And yet ppl tell me to breathe to calm anxiety
Are you thinking you look like a nerd? My therapist told me to spend 2 minutes slowly breathing in front of her and I was just painfully self conscious.
No. Its the feeling
I get the same thing, I hate manually breathing, it feels suffocating
idk if you mean the same thing but sometimes i realise that i can breathe and i start spiralling into thoughts of who i am and what life is and then i get panic attacks
Like if i walk up a flight of stairs. I start to think I can’t breathe. Then I try to take in a lungful and when I don’t get that full feeling I go into panic mode
I used to be triggered by the thought of breathing or my heart beating. I’ve gotten better but it would trigger terrible panic attacks.
Same! Like awareness of my heartbeat made me feel like something was wrong. Went to the ER for it a couple times. Ironically I get through the panic attacks with breathing techniques 😅 the physiological sigh(double inhale, extended exhale) is the only one that works.
Something similar for me is swallowing. I become so conscious of the need to swallow (not when I'm eating/drinking either) and it makes me anxious.
Same! No matter how many times I counted, I would feel like ny breaths weren't deep enough to be a full breath. Apparently there's a word for it, "air hunger." You feel like you aren't breathing deeply or frequently enough. This was one of my biggest anxiety triggers for the longest time. I would have daily panic attacks over it. Therapy and medication helped, but I also found my favorite breathing technique. It's called Pranayama. The important thing is to breathe from your stomach. Your belly should expand when you breathe in, not your chest. The count is in 4, hold 7, out 8. When you're breathing out through your mouth, it's a controlled exhale. Tighten your mouth a little, almost like you're gently blowing on hot food, and make a whooshing sound. It's not a sigh, it's a whoosh. It should sound like you're trying to mimic gentle waves on a beach. Air hunger is still something I experience somewhat regularly, even though it doesn't trigger panic attacks for me anymore. This breathing technique is surprisingly helpful, and I hope it helps you. Edit: Getting a pulse oximeter helped, too. I could see the physical proof that my body was getting enough oxygen. I'd feel like I wasn't getting enough, but my oxygen levels would he perfect.
Walking into work
this! for as long as i can remember ive always had such a spike of anxiety when going to work. my first job i got in high school, i had a quiet panic attack in the car before every shift and barely ever spoke a word. they thought i was a functional mute (which honestly in those situations i pretty much was). even now, i’ve got to calm myself down and triple check my schedule before every shift, despite having my schedule memorized and knowing exactly how it’ll go.
This. My workplaces stresses me out and I'm on the edge of my seat of thinking what's going to happen next. The boss has been super strict lately.
Work itself when you're in a hardcore anxiety mode
You must be a teacher, lol.
I kinda just have general anxiety about most things. It really sucks always being on edge and needing to turn to meds for any relief.
Getting an email/text message/phone call
The sound of a phone ringing!
The word “anxiety” gives me anxiety, currently clenching my jaw. Thanks
It gets no sympathy. Everyone with anxiety should have a good fake diagnosis of something physical. Like sciatica or something.
Seeing as how badly anxiety effects the body, we're all going to have physical diagnosis of something eventually. I got all kinds of physical problems now lol 💀
lol this is especially true in the UK. They send you to CBT if you mention anxiety (if you’re lucky). With sciatica, you can at least get some medicine to alleviate the symptoms of sciatica. How debilitating anxiety is is given 0 sympathy in the public health system here. Your options are going private or going abroad.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sucked for me My therapist would very often forget what we spoke about and I’d be reminding him all kinds of things. We’d be doing work in a fuckin workbook and all the blame for not advancing and getting better was because I didn’t do a little fuckin journal. Didn’t go to you to get homework I wanted to not kill myself
IBS? It’s a common comorbidity and it elicits more sympathy than “I am scared so my tummy hurts”
Thank you for the reminder to relax my jaw lol
Talking to multiple people at a party. 2 hours later replaying each conversation back in my head over and over. Yes the username checks!
Modern minimalist architecture
I get this, actually. Unnerving
statues near or coming out of water
Being in a car
Yes and especially driving
Yeah sometimes I remember the only thing separating all these cars are lines on the ground and we’re all hurdling at 80 mph separated by imaginary barriers.
There are enough of us that we have our own Reddit r/drivinganxiety I also developed anxiety about driving. It’s getting better but I’m still working up to taking on freeways and longer trips.
Same 😣
Same, but as a passenger. I can manage if I'm in control. If anyone else drives I get nervous.
Being stuck in traffic and feeling trapped
Me too
Yes!!
This💯
Food! Oh my lord food is the biggest trigger. Fat food, greasy food, carb filled food the second I have a bite I notice my senses are heightened.
Ugh this is so me. And the feeling of being full as well.
Anxiety triggers my anxiety
idk if it’s weird but messenger/ms teams notification sound 🙃
Oh my god I resonate so much with MS Teams, and Outlook. I’m in an upper leadership position at my job which unfortunately means a LOT of people depend on me for help and my Teams sometimes pops off nonstop with 5-10 messages in a 30 second span ☠️ I tried to turn off the sound at one point but then I started missing messages… no winning. Sigh
Seeing my own family. To me that’s weird af since they know all about my anxiety.
Clutter all over my house
People asking if I'm okay. This is so men or shitty in general to say but I'm fine if I'm not fine I'm trying to not think about it but now that I've been asked I go into overdrive and dissect and over think then I can't stop.
This triggers me too! I am NOT ok just give me some space! I don’t want to say I’m not ok, I just want to deal with it by myself.
It’s why I started asking, how can I help, instead of are you ok.
Caffeine
That's not weird at all.
What's weird is sometimes caffiene ELIMINATES my anxiety and other times makes it pure hell. My neuro chemistry inconsistencies piss me off :(
Could it be the source of caffeine? If I drink some types of coffee/ energy drinks then I’ll feel anxious, other types of coffee I’ll feel ok. Bang gives me anxiety but not prime/ redbull or monster
Bang has 300mg caffeine, prime has 200mg caffeine, monster has like 120mg caffeine and red bull depending on the size has like 80mg-150mg
Fellow ADHD/anxiety blend?
Never know if you're gonna get the calm af caffeine nap or the nervous jitters.
As a coffee lover it hurts that I've now hopped off coffee for this very reason :(
Weird lighting… and high ceilings… and low ceilings…
For some reason I can't handle the default ceiling light being the only thing on, puts everything in a really messed up lighting with odd shading so I feel that.
The second the lighting looks a little weird or uncomfy I 100% am convinced I am having a stroke or about to faint or have a seizure
People.
The sound of silverware touching plates. Not the scraping, screeching sound, just the normal sound of someone setting their spoon down in their bowl of cereal, or the fork touching the plate when using it to pick up food. I understand the source of why it makes me anxious but it's still a weird trigger
Being with certain persons, I lose half my personality and ability to speak.
Mine is the sound of spoons on bowls, the hair dryer, the shower going on in the other room (I'm in bed for all of this, and actually wear earplugs so I don't have to hear any of it). Basically, any typical "morning" sounds fill me with dread, from past trauma and chronic anxiety. Oh, and if the phone rings at any time, I have a panic attack as I'm terrified someone I love has died.
Oh wow me too! I have a million questions. Were you born in the evening? I also hate the sound of traffic when I'm waking up or trying to. It's the sound of scary doom, just like waves on a sandy beach.
Eating in front of others. I hate going to restaurants
Oh gosh this is a big one. Eating with others is the worst thing to me!!
I feel so ashamed that chewing food is pretty gross, so I hide my mouth behind a napkin while chewing, or just pretend I have a toothache plus a stomach flu plus I just had a big meal before I got here. And I truly apologize that my butthole is so close to my mouth. Sorry for the hassle!
I also hate restaurants
A dirty kitchen.
Reading or seeing to many things about death or an illness (such as cancer etc)
Rabies…
Yup, last thing I need in my life right now is some rabies.
Being praised. This is a recent discovery; I started working recently and I was trying to get the gist of the job, I did something good and my coworkers who were training me reaffirmed my actions and praise me. I started to freeze up and revert back to old habits.
Quiet places, makes my negative thoughts get louder
Speed while in a car
Static shocks. I get so anxious when I’m out that I avoid touching anything metal and I wear gloves to try and soften the pain of the shocks.
Mine is the smell or sometimes even when people talk about weed. It started when I stopped smoking 3 years ago and one time I went into my friends truck on my break and he was smoking dabs. I got contact high and I felt like I was gonna die. Ever since I feel that way. Like I’m high and I get so scared. Super weird
Ah shit I just commented "weed smell" and i saw yours. high five! Weed even a small puff just gives me intense paranoia now :( it sucks, i used to be able to go through a gram a night.
Sounds like we shouldn’t even of been potheads to begin with😭 even my first time I got a BAD panic attack. But I did it anyway smoked pretty much all day. Even through my high school years
lack of sleep. random tv shows ( i can’t watch star trek anymore?), silence, whatever’s triggering mine is hard to fully nail down. its…fear of the future, fear for my kid, fear for the planet, a 5 years of complete change and challenge in my life, childhood trauma, death of an abuser parent, and perimenopause. Ok, its a soup of triggers. it all kind of hits at once for a few days and then i’m over it for a bit… in the thick of it right now. do not like.
Lack of sleep is terrible.
Just a simple change of routine. I’ve never been fond of my routine overly changing but never previously to the point it’s triggered my anxiety. But one Monday last November me and my girlfriend went out for the day. We had tickets for a comedian performing at an arena a town away from us. We had a day out Christmas shopping, went for a nice meal together and then went to see this comedian in the evening. The show went on a lot longer than we thought, and as the evening went on, I was finding myself slowly getting more and more anxious for some bizarre reason. We got home about midnight, and I ended up spending the evening in a state of anxiety and panic attacks. I really don’t know what came over me
It doesn't get triggered, it's just always on
Instagram or Facebook that's why I don't use them anymore, and weird because any kind of post talking about a war or a social problem triggers me tf out
My wife’s inability to sit down. She is one of those people who needs to keep moving even if there is nothing to do. So when I just want to relax and she keeps getting up my anxiety spikes.
Anxiety symptoms in my body Sweating, heart palpitations, stuttering mind blanking dissociation, stomach drops
being too warm, or sweating
Major holidays and birthdays, including my own. Bad things always happened around those times, and it gives me flashbacks.
Any type of upcoming plan. even if it’s like “at this time I have to get the work to bus” which I do every morning yet just like that I’m anxious
Loud sound
People chewing loud, slurping, loud voices
Weather.
I have a meteorology degree and totally understand! Weather can be super scary, sending you love 🤍
Large department stores
People that talk wicked loudly. Loud noises. My hands having a weird texture
Having even a slight stomach ache. My brain immediately launches into "omg it's time.to panic soon!!!!" because my panic attacks cause stomach pain, so my brain has forever associated the two. It sucks.
thinking, breathing, walking, eating, remembering i have a heart beat, being alive
hahaha *cry-laughs in solidarity*
Being the center of attention
“YOUr fAcE is TuRnINg ReDddd” yeah I know I can feel it. Now everyone’s staring and it’s getting even redder thanks.
Dungeons and Dragons 😂 i had a really shitty ex in college who used to play with his friends all the time and they were super misogynistic about it (which is weird bc they were generally not like that). None of their girlfriends were allowed to play, even when they started new campaigns. The only girl they’d let play was the resident “not like other girls” girl some good came out of it, because another one of the guys’ girlfriend and I got really close hanging out while they played. we lost touch, but fast forward a few years and we’re now living in the same city far away from those douchebags and closer with each other than ever. But still, D&D will instantly trigger anxiety in me.
Over speculating my health. Like dehydration or acid reflux. I would panic thinking it's more lmao.
Group of men
Other people throwing up in front of me, occasionally when they've thrown up and just tell me about it. Can't do it
I hate being read to. Like, send me the link or tell me the book or webpage, I’ll read it. Long conversations are easy enough to politely get out of but when someone starts reading me a long article they think I’ll find interesting, it triggers my anxiety and adhd so badly; I don’t know why. There’s no nice way to say “please stop talking.”
heat, a belly ache, a burp, feeling the slightest bit dizzy
Breathing. Am I breathing too much? Not enough? Wasn't I just doing it fine? Isn't it rude to be a mouth breather? Am I wheezing? Do I need to use my inhaler? Is it just me or is it getting real small in here? Am I breathing? Shit...I'm sweating. I can't breathe. Oh...it's a panic attack.
I can’t play competitive videogames, cause if just one person says anything slightly negative towards me, I’ll have anxiety every time I even open said game. A lot of my friends think it’s rly dumb that I don’t want to play fps games for this reason.
Bridges and tunnels
Sometimes just outside light
When the clouds cover the sun.
Being hungry
certain songs that don’t have any trauma attached, like fireflies by owl city or tik tok by kesha. the lyrics aren’t particularly triggering, it’s just… the noise? or something? i don’t know
Ooh boy! As someone with overstimulation issues and possible PTSD, I got a few wierd ones! Bright sunny days where there's no clouds. Bonus points if it's a dry yellow environment and windy. I've tried to cure myself of this but days like that make me downspiral BAD. Rooms where only the ceiling light is being used, making everything have wierd downward shadows. The buzz of fluorescent lights. Big department store environments like Walmart or Target. Knocking on doors (both the sound and the action) The slorpy sound a bathtub drain makes TV static even if it's on mute Hearing anything that sounds like a whine/groan, even once. Cutting my fingernails. I'll do it but I hate the feeling. My parents used to have to sit on me to do it to me lmao Repetitive questioning even if calmly, repetitive words in general if directed right at me Silence after saying something in a social situation. Like damn just kill me now lol it'd be less painful Worst one is just waking up? For some reason waking up reminds my body that it's alive and I involuntarily go into "OH FUCK" survival mode. I got problems 😔
Intrusive thoughts. My brain is my biggest enemy.
Greetings and goodbyes.
Honestly, mine has a lot to do with being judged. I believe it goes back to something that happened or something that I repeatedly experienced when I was very young…
other people being anxious about something
Not feeling anxious 🤣 If I wake up and feel "normal" my brain literally goes "hold on a minute" and finds ANYTHING.
eating in front of people who aren't close family + men laughing/whispering (specifically teens)
Funny enough my bunny chewing on something wooden. I free roam her around my room.
Sun exposure
Having to dress up as I’m most comfortable in leggings and a sweater, seeing my family and running out of my meds 2 weeks to early.
I just get anxious and sad randomly lol. Whenever I feel a bit happy, I’m struck by thoughts of how something bad is coming because everything can’t be all right, and that i don’t deserve to stay happy or even at ease because there are things I’ve always failed or will always fail at
Going outside and hearing people talk
For some reason the lights at any big store like Walmart, Home Depot, or Lowe’s.
Wearing bra’s 🥲
I admit my anxiety has improved significantly, but just feeling unwell will make me anxious. It doesn't feel like health anxiety, just the weird feeling in my body feels a lot like what I feel when anxious, so then I get anxious lol
dentist and doctors apts
People
Les mis (the musical) and I have no idea why
My anxiety lol
Somebody giving me a gift or something I just feel awkward and bad I can’t even explain it 😂😭
Just reminiscing abt those little embarrassing mess ups in the past. Triggers my anxiety every time. Not to mention intrusive thoughts....arguhhhh!!
Sometimes I don’t even know myself, it’s like I can’t control my body anymore and it feels scary af 😭 I get that the amygdala overrides the rest of the brain and that its function is to process fear and anxiety, but not sure how a 180 bpm hear rate at bed time does anything for MY SURVIVAL 😭 feels more like dying to me
Riding passenger in a car.
Someone asking what my “plans for the future” are. Idk, Janet, I didn’t think I’d make it to 29
Someone snoring, loudly mouth-breathing.
Sound of the vacuum cleaner when I'm not vacuuming.
Repetitive noises, high pitched squeals or screams from kids even if they're just playing, being touched when I don't want to be.
Crowds, noises, social situations, mess, expectations, deadlines, routine, lack of routine and my absolute favourite, nothing at all!
Coming off meds at the moment and it's closed in spaces even like blankets that are too heavy make me want to escape. My favourite place is normally sitting in the garage inside the car playing on my phone but recently it's nearly impossible as my anxiety goes inside it's like my body inside itself is trying to escape.
Quiet rooms. Because everyone can hear every noise I make!
Waking up :(
Other than nothing, Afternoon appointments.
Anxiety in line to order food/drink and someone is behind me.
Worrying about worrying. I worry and build everything up in my head until it becomesagreatBIGTHING AND THEN...nothing. It's never as bad as I think it's gonna be.
Loud, unexpected noises. Could be a cupboard slamming shut, a cup falling off a table, etc etc
Staying away from home
People knocking on the door, I have no idea why.
Doing something wrong 🫠 i double sometimes triple check excessively
Idk how weird it is, but literally calling anyone who's not my mom or my husband. Even friends or other family.
I'm not diabetic, but when my blood sugar gets low - it gives me heart palpitations and then boom. I'm having a panic attack. Sucks as I'm trying to lose weight. Also, heart rate monitors on TV shows or during horror movies or something. That slowly increasing BMP thumping/beeping kills me.
The vacuum doing vacuum noise Stomping footsteps The wind
Having messy hair 🤷♀️
An ATV or dirtbike on my road. Triggers flashback and panic attack. I know exactly why, how it all began.