I think looking for friends that have the same problem is more helpful. Like a support group

On the contrary, you should avoid that, support group will actually backfired, you should avoid talking about your anxiety experience at all cost, maybe a few times to your close friends or family members but not after that, because anxiety thoughts are learned bad habits, it's harmless, worst case you will have panick attack but that is also harmless because it's a normal physical reaction of fear & adrenaline rush for fight-or-flight response to nonexistent danger, if you keep talking about it & be reminded about it constantly, your anxiety thoughts will become persistent & hard to shake off over time.

What you should do however is try to fill up your free times with positive activities such as sports, singing, listen to music, chitchat with friends (anything but anxiety stuff), hobbies etc, this will avoid your idling mind to wander into negative thoughts, when you practice these new habits constantly, you will unlearned your bad habits in no time.

Be happy & No worry.

This post has been edited by Trony: Jul 19 2011, 12:35 PM

Hmm well for me, talking about my problems helps as it keeps me aware and motivate me to deal with the problem. But I guess different people have different ways of dealing with problems

In the beginning it's perfectly ok to research your condition, seeking answers/infos/reasons to your condition & sharing your condition with your friends and family. Once you have understood your condition, you will know that you're not alone in this condition, you're just having unpleasant thoughts & feelings which are harmless, with these knowledge you will have less fear & more prepared to deal with it.

To deal with it you may endure it if it's minor, but if your condition started to hamper your day-to-day life, you must then eliminate it by all means, anxiety elimination is a difficult & long journey, drug therapy is often the shortcut but it comes with side effects & short term relief, furthermore dosage will be increased for recurrences that often lead to addiction.

When you're ready to eliminate your anxiety (drug free), your next step is to stop all your previous action of "research your condition, seeking answers/infos/reasons to your condition & sharing your condition with your friends and family" because by now you should have your answers already, the rest will be same as my previous post:Be happy & No worry.

im surprise there's so many people experiencing this..

can anyone here who were confirm a anxiety disorder sufferer tell me how does it feel physically when you think you're in an anxious state?..does these physical experience come suddenly or it get worst day by day until the day you think it's serious?..

I believe there is anxiety disorder, i think i might have a mild form of it. but i always think that we can fix it with our thought. since our feeling comes from thought, and it then became physical..i try and try to figure my way out, and i still feel that im stuck at the same place..

i notice that im worrying a lot now compared to the earlier years. because im much more inefficient in whatever i do. if i were to translate it, it would sound much like. im worrying when im reading, im worrying that i cannot recall what i've read, im worrying that im worrying about my reading. and it goes on and on..

you guys experience stuff like that? personal experience? got any test or exam that doesn't make you feel too weird about it?..im worrying as i write, since im going to bump the thread, and people will start saying some guy have an anxiety disorder again..

This post has been edited by H.K. Lee: Aug 2 2011, 10:45 PM

do you like boxers? you got a cute boxer dog pic on your avatar.

anyways, i have felt terrible discomfort in my heart when i experience anxiety. But I don't experience it a lot. If you want, you can try to see a psychiatrist to see if its really anxiety disorder in a govt hospital or something as it's cheaper.

sounds like you may have paranoia.......but dont' worry, it is treatable my friend. you just need professional advice and some support.

Info extracted & compiled from The Linden Method with minor edit for readability.

Are These Experiences Familiar to You?
» Have you sought medical attention when you have felt unwell and discovered that it was all because of high anxiety?
» Do you worry that you might 'lose your mind' or 'lose control'?
» Do you fear going out, away from people or places of safety?
» Do you ever get anxious when you feel confined or trapped somewhere like the dentist, cinemas, hairdressers or in a traffic queue?
» Do you have constant anxious thoughts?
» Do you worry about your heart and breathing because of feelings and pains you experience?
» Do driving or flying, or fear of being trapped without an immediate means of escaping, worry you?

Do you experience any Physical anxiety symptoms like these?
» panic/anxiety attacks
» racing heart
» breathlessness
» dizziness
» difficulty swallowing
» chest pains
» upset stomach/nausea
» indigestion
» lump in throat
» neck or shoulder pain
» palpitations
» fatigue
» sweating
» insomnia
» depression

Or any Psychological and Emotional anxiety symptoms such as these?
» fear of impending doom
» feeling of going mad
» anxiety about being ill
» aggressive or sexual thoughts
» agoraphobia
» derealization
» depersonalization
» fear of medical procedures
» dread of dying
» disturbing or obsessive thoughts
» feeling alone
» obsessions about food
» confusion
» depression
» disturbing dreams
» irritability
» dreaminess
» fear of leaving home
» stress
» bad moods
» frightening thoughts
» anxiety about being with others

Depression and Anxiety
Historically, anxiety and depression have been strongly linked. But are they related? That depends on the answer to one question!

The question is: What came first, the anxiety or the depression symptoms?

If your answer is that depression came before the anxiety, then chances are that you are suffering from true clinical depression. If you answer that your anxiety came before the depression, chances are you have anxiety-related depression and that's a completely different and very treatable condition. Anxiety causes mood changes which mimic true depression!

There is a big difference between anxiety caused by depression and depression caused by anxiety.

Clinical depression is a chemical mood disorder caused by changes in the chemicals in your body and brain that regulate 'mood'. This chemical imbalance causes a wide range of disturbing thoughts and anxiety symptoms and is generally treated using drugs, psychology, psychiatry and some more invasive procedures.

Anxiety is a behavioral condition caused by the habit of 'Fear Cycle' or repetitive anxious thoughts. We feel frightened, we experience symptoms, these frighten us, our anxiety goes up... and the cycle continues. Stress, phobias and anxiety can cause 'depression like' symptoms but rarely true clinical depression. Anxiety is also generally treated using drugs, psychology and psychiatry which are good for treating and managing it, but not for curing it.

Anxiety Disorder - Is it a physical or mental illness?
In short, no, anxiety disorder is neither a physical nor mental illness!

The word disorder suggests illness, please be assured that you are not ill. Anxiety is a behavioral condition regardless of how it makes you feel. Anxiety is a natural response to fear and, like other bodily systems that can falter, causing things like indigestion, palpitations or sensitive eyes for example, the anxiety response can become disrupted too. But, this isn't mental or physical illness... it's a temporary disruption which can be 'reset' very quickly indeed.

Anxiety disorder is the condition caused when stress or constant anxiety provoking situations cause the mind to become reset at a higher than normal benchmark anxiety level. Anxiety disorder is most noticeable by the vast range of unpleasant sensations and thoughts it creates... unpleasant but harmless!

Creation of an anxiety disorder can happen quickly and is usually the result of an event such as work stress, bereavement, divorce or other anxiety-provoking situations. When anxiety levels become raised due to such stressors, the mind can make a decision to re-set at this new level of anxiety; when this happens an anxiety disorder is formed. Anxiety causes a wide range of both physical and psychological symptoms, all directly caused by the anxiety reaction, all harmless, BUT all also feeling much worse than they actually are! They are the sensation of FEAR... BUT, they are NOT true fear!

Anxiety Conditions (Disorder) - what are they?
There are five main 'anxiety disorders', these are:
1. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

2. Panic disorder

3. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

4. Phobias

5. Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Just because conventional medicine has decided to apply these names to specific features of anxiety conditions, doesn't mean that there aren't some 'fuzzy edges' during diagnosis. If you suffer from any of the above conditions, you have underlying high anxiety, without which none of these anxiety conditions would exist.

Often, anxiety will create a mixture of obsessions, high anxiety and panic, making it very difficult to categorize a sufferer's condition. But, it isn't important to categorize because all of these conditions are caused by elevated anxiety and require the exact same solution to remove them.

Often, anxiety disorder sufferers can be diagnosed as having 'depression' which is a common mistake made by medical practitioners world over; anxiety is a completely separate and very different condition to depression and confusing the two is akin to telling an Athlete's Foot sufferer that they have Eczema... they are both skin conditions but completely unrelated!

Anxiety Attacks - The pinnacle of high anxiety - Can they be stopped?
Anxiety attacks or panic attacks are the most extreme experience of anxiety. Anxiety attacks happen when the hormone adrenalin, which prepares the body for fighting or fleeing from a threat, stays in the blood stream long after it is required. Of course, if the anxiety is inappropriate and has been caused by a disorder and not a true threat, it isn't used up at all; this is when an anxiety attack happens.

Anxiety attacks cause the heart to speed up and for digestion to slow, breathing to speed up and many other changes, which all have the unfortunate affect of causing some unpleasant sensations and thoughts.

Can anxiety attacks be stopped - of course they can.
How?

By reversing the process that caused them in the first place!

Using a structured and simple technique, you can completely reset your anxiety levels back down to normal, something that neither drug therapy nor psychotherapy can do in isolation.

Anxiety Symptoms
Anxiety symptoms are caused by the anxiety response; they are either direct alterations of bodily systems in preparation for anxiety OR side effects of those changes. For example, during high anxiety, the digestive system is slowed down to divert resources to other parts of the body, the muscles for example.

The side effect of this can be stomach cramps or discomfort. The cramps are caused by the anxiety reaction but because the sufferer has high anxiety, they can be interpreted in other ways; fears grow and the anxiety worsens. This then causes more symptoms and so on. This cycle of high anxiety can produce many sensations and thoughts that are mostly misinterpreted by the sufferer as being sinister or threatening, but they are not.

Anxiety causes changes in the body that can cause symptoms just about anywhere and some can be pretty extreme; this doesn't mean they are threatening in any way and all of them will disappear when you eliminate the underlying anxiety that causes them. FACT!

Anxiety Help / Support
Anxiety support can be unstructured and unsupportive through conventional networks and resource shortages are usually to blame. Cost can also be an issue, with specialists such as psychologists and psychiatrists charging high hourly rates and often over long periods. The biggest problem with anxiety help and support though is accessibility. Anxiety sufferers are needy and require support, advice and reassurance during their high anxiety and not just when the specialists are available. Seamless access to answers is vital with anxiety disorders.

Finding such a resource is near impossible through conventional anxiety support provisions, such as a psychology practice, medical practice or hospital.

So, what is the solution to anxiety?
The solution to anxiety is very simple indeed, because the subconscious mind has become 'reset' at a higher than normal level, the cure for anxiety is to reset your high anxiety back down to normal level using a structured anxiety elimination program.

Be Happy & No worry.

I have been diagnosed with Anxiety Disorder. GAD and Social Anxiety Disorder. I find it really hard to do things that i usually enjoyed. I avoided crowded places.

For me, my psychical pain when anxiety attack, attacks.
I have chest pain, racing heartbeats, neck pain, arm pain, shoulder pain and back pain. And its kinda hard to breath at times. And my visions are sometimes focused. idk. This has been going on for a year now. I went for like countless check up if my heart is okay, and all the the test shows my heart is indeed okay.

Emotionally.

I feel very scared, i felt something is about to happen, something bad.
Uncomfortable, uneasy. restless. i also kena insomnia.

My doctors gives me to types of pills.

Alprazolam 0.5mg and Fluvox 1mg.
Alprazolam is for the anxiety and fluvox for depression.

Personally i think a support group would be a great help.
I have very close friends, i talk about this to them.. they want to help.. but they dont understand how does it feels. If in a support group.. each member actually knows how'd it feel ad understands.

same problem as u ts. my first doctor gave me prothiaden
ate that and it make me sleepy too much i rarely went for checkup since general hospital have only do checkup 1 per month and it's crowded so it makes it harder for me to go. next time i went they already change a new doctor and he gave me Luvox.

luvox doesn't work well for me as i have very bad side effects of it but when i go see this 2nd doc, he refuses to hear and wants me to keep eating those pills... so i dont go there anymore.

i went back to prothiaden and got my pills from local pharmacy. downside is i need to buy them in bulk which cost me more than RM300. does it work? no.. i should probably go back seeing a doc . if only things were that easy

To Insidexjokes: Its great news that the meds have finally helped u in ur battle with AD. The doses your r taking are relatively low and if it enables u to resume a decent better quality of life, do continue. But from time to time, our lives will never b totally smooth sailing and you will have stressful triggers again. Those time may cause u to push urself for more Alprazolam and that might cause a vicious cycle. My humble advice to you would be to now take some time to identify what was the cause of the triggers n stressors that may have caused ur condition in the first place. There might be a few factors involved at one given time or none at all but u should try to identify them. The road in dealing with Anxiety or Depression is a long and very hard path to walk. So never walk alone and never look back. Keep pushing on and you will find urself in ur utmost optimal quality in time.

To Liquidsny:
Personally, i wouldnt advice on self medicating especially if the meds are really working for u. Do go back to ur doctor and be adamant that u require something better. Voice ur opinions. Sometimes, its not because they dont want to hear ur pleas or request but from experience, depressed or anxious patients can sometimes be overly dependant on meds to a point where they will start hopping from meds to meds just to make themselves "feel" that they r getting a better meds. Doctors sometimes pick up on this and try to prevent them from doing so. But if ur meds really arent working for u, do discuss with ur doctor. They will help.

yes i get it that he doesn't want me to depend on prothiaden. but i think he forgots that i have anxiety and that would make me difficult to xplain my problems with him.. the thing about GH is that there is no privacy, when u went in to see doc, the nurses can walk in and out as they please and listen in..

as to why i didn't carry on with luvox or luvoc is because it really does gave me bad side effects such as body aches in pain till i couldn't walk and severe headache .. i tried those meds 2 weeks and i ended up in emergency room with bad headache.. they concluded that i had the "wrong pills" ..

@insidexjokes

sry to hijack ur thread n hope ur treatment goes well for u.. do tell us if those prescription makes u feel better

This post has been edited by liquidsny: Dec 10 2011, 02:43 PM

[quote=liquidsny,Dec 10 2011, 11:18 AM]
yes i get it that he doesn't want me to depend on prothiaden. but i think he forgots that i have anxiety and that would make me difficult to xplain my problems with him.. the thing about GH is that there is no privacy, when u went in to see doc, the nurses can walk in and out as they please and listen in..

as to why i didn't carry on with luvox or luvoc is because it really does gave me bad side effects such as body aches in pain till i couldn't walk and severe headache .. i tried those meds 2 weeks and i ended up in emergency room with bad headache.. they concluded that i had the "wrong pills" ..




Well, do go back to ur doctor n request a private meeting. Nurses will always b there but worry not, believe me, they dont pay much attention to the cases at all. =)

Reason y i said to go back to ur doctor is because there are actually many different sort of anti depressants in the market right now. Luvox is just one of the many that you can be started on. Having side effects to it could simply mean u should b started on other classes of antidepressants. Whats more importantly is how r u coping with ur current situation? If u feel u need help, then pls dont worry about meeting ur doctor, just make an appointment and work it out with them. Good luck! Dont lose faith in the Psychiatrist in Malaysia. We are a "young" group of medical team who's striving to make a difference in the Mental Health Care of Malaysia which has been significantly neglected.

Hey there insidexjokes, I'm glad you are getting stronger and better now. You know what, everything in life is actually giving you only TWO options to choose. For either good or bad, day and night, happy or sad, positive or negative etc. Given the choice, why not ignore the bad and cherish the good, watch the sunrise and start your day full of activity and choose to be happy for life is short. Remember, always look at the bright side of everything.

Everyday, think and imagine you are recovering and anxiety disorder is the past. Being past is past and it will not come back just like when a child has grown up, you cant go back to become a child once again dont you. When you start to worry, talk to yourself and say hey, anxiety is my history and there is no way I can go back unless I have time machine which is not possible.
You are now starting a new chapter in your life and are living a normal and happy life like others. In front of you, there are so much good things waiting for you to explore and enjoy. Let's celebrate life.

Cheers,
A lil advise from Zentaro

I had this panic disorder once this year. It occur after i drank a cup of thick coffee. Its been long time I never drink coffee. That day i put in two table spoon of milo and three teaspoon of nescafe in my cup. I think too thick for me. then i ate two packs of groundnuts and one chocolate bar. Suddenly after three to four hours i feel my heart beat so fast at the same time felt like hard to breath.

My hands and feet become very cold. I thought i might have sign of heart attack. So i quickly call my father to fetch me to hospital I am working that day. I dont dare to drive home. While waiting, all sort of thoughts in my mind. I even compose a will and make it as background picture for my iphone. Before my father reach around 10 minutes before i felt my both arms numb, both my legs numb hardly can clench my fist and stand up. I just squat infront my office. and then my stomach cramp... feel like something pushing in and out..feel like the stomach twitch so badly that i want to vomit.

and when my father reach office. I started to talk gilberish. i dunno if he understand. I remember i told him.. " if i died please use this as the proof of my will." i have written down all saving epf and socso will be for my parent.

Then my father quickly drive me to hospital. Along the way my father ask me to breath harder and try to clench fist and release so that the heartbeat will pump... i dunno that is right or wrong i just follow.
Along the way to hospital. i took four panadols, three highblood pressure pill, two pain killers. i have high blood pressure diagnose this year too but then i never took it since i already try to change my lifestyle. daily i did my blood pressure checkup. from 140 now around 110~ 115 already.

By the time i reach hospital in emergency. They test my blood pressure is around 160. heart beat is very fast around 120. I ask doc is it i am getting heart attack. Doc says no. If i can breath hard and deep and fast it is not heart attack. I ask is it a sign of stroke doc says no cause if stroke only one part of leg or arm will be numb not both side.

Then the doc ask me about the symptoms i told the doc. Doc ask me to calm down and given me a anxiety pill. I took one. Only one. after around 15 to 20 minutes i feel better. heartbeat lower down to normal 75bps. blood pressure done down 120.

Doc advice me not to think too much. It is the sudden intense of fear that cause this panick disorder/ anxiety. It will overcome your physcology. If this is not control it will happen more and more frequent. So the cure is not too think too much bad things, dont drink too much caffeine and listen to music, think of happy things.
Then i ask doc to perform ECG to see my heart beat normal or not after the test it is normal. The Doc says cannot simply pop in medicine if not prescribe by doc. Too much pill at that day i feel so weak my body.

until now " touch wood " i only had it once. i don't want another time. The doc did give me a strips of anxiety pills. Doc says only use it when really need. Cause if took too many time you will get use to it then you will depend on this drug. this is a control drug and you cannot get it in any normal pharmacy.

Rest assured that you're not alone in this AD mind trap, all AD sufferers have similar symptoms such as those listed in my last post.

First, you need to understand that you're not "sick" physically, all the physical pain you're experiencing during AD episodes are the results of a normal physical reaction to fear & adrenaline rush for fight-or-flight response to nonexistent danger that keep on playing in your mind's eye, it's totally harmless to your physical body.

So physically you're 100% fit as confirmed by your doctor(s), you can now stop worrying about it, stop visiting doctor(s) again & again for reassurance as it's just another anxious habit, start working on kicking this bad habit of "fear/negative thought cycles", to kick this habit it's like asking you to unlearn driving a car, it's easy if you're a beginner but hard not impossible if you're a 10+ years experienced driver.

Second, you need to understand also that you're not "sick" mentally, all you have is just a hyper active mind with a lot of unallocated resources running screen saver with horror flicks, the different with people without AD is their screen savers is mostly non-fear positive genre, because fear is the key to open the door to AD, no fear no AD simple as that.

If not sick then why need to see doctor & take meds?
For AD beginners, panic/anxiety attacks is a very scary experience, it's perfectly normal to seek doctor(s) for professional help to first rule out any serious ailments of both physical & mental, if it's confirmed AD then you can opt for short term meds for serious AD or no meds for minor AD, doctor should advice you but the choice is always yours. If you're on meds you should consider cut down or stop meds & work on the elimination of anxious thoughts.

Why meds are bad for AD sufferers?
Meds will only provide temporary relief to AD symptoms, it will only mask or suppress your anxious thoughts as long as it's still in your bloodstream, it doesn't eliminate the root cause of anxious thoughts, often times the effects of meds will wear off after sometime which lead to increase dosage/addiction or change meds, not to mention that you have to endure some nasty side effects. If you're on high dosage of meds for a long time & you stop taking it, you will experience withdrawal syndrome with avalanche of rebound anxiety symptoms, in this case you have to talk to your doctor(s) about a gradual withdrawal program.

Why nowadays we have lots of AD sufferers?
Today people are more & more biased towards negative thoughts given the current world/social/home affairs fill with negative issues, bombarded by media 24/7 with lots of negative news, so no one is spare from it.

So why not everyone suffers from AD?
Those without AD are people who are aware & know how to filter out noise (negative) from signals (positive), their mind choose to dwell on positive thoughts rather than negative thoughts & ignore any temptation of fears.

How AD works basically?
Too much negative thoughts lead to fears, too much fears lead to panic/anxiety attacks, too much panic/anxiety attacks lead to more negative thoughts and the vicious cycle goes on & on, it's a positive feedback of fears in Amygdala that trigger the release of adrenaline into bloodstream which causes all sorts of adrenaline rush symptoms, these are just harmless sensations & feelings, scary but nothing more, BUT it's very handy when you're being chased by a real tiger, adrenaline will boost up your escape velocity.

How to stop/eliminate anxious/negative thoughts & panic/anxiety attacks?
The key is to unlearn old habit of anxious thoughts, by learning/practice new habit of non-anxious thoughts to overwrite the old ones, fill up your spare time with lots of positive things/works/hobbies, don't give chance for your mind to idle & wander about aimlessly, identify what make you happy & do it, stop dwelling/researching/talking about your AD conditions & ignore those sad/unhappy stuffs, go to bed early before 11.00pm & have at least 6~8 hours of sleep.
If anxious/negative thoughts try to resurface again, "STOP!" & "DIVERT" your mind/attention to do something else such as phone your friend up for chit-chat (not about AD), play loud music, sing along with it, watch funny videos & LOL, slap your cheeks, dance around, go fly kite, play sports/exercise/Tai-Chi/Chi-Kung, play video games, splash face with cold water, count down from 100 fast, do maths problems & etc, do it until the symptoms subside, make "DIVERSION" your new habit always!

Three teaspoon that's a lot bro, you're having a typical panic/anxiety attacks, coffee is a no-no for AD sufferers as caffeine will make you jittery and more anxious.

Be Happy & No worry.

Thanks Sioe, i have learnt to cope with everything anxiety throws at me over the years, but sometime anxiety is one hell of son of a b!tch. Hahaha.

And to Liquidsny, i agrees with sioe. Do go seek your own meds, go seek a doctor. Its gonna be a long process. Just bare with it.

Thanks Zentaro, i have try everything to look on the bright side, i used to be in a band, a hardcore band. Playing gigs week in week out. For some reason i kept telling myself i still can do that, but my body still refused to cooperate. That is something im working on. Hehehe. But thanks anyways.

---

Added on December 13, 2011, 8:42 amto Liquidsny * do not seek own meds. *do not. hehe typo

This post has been edited by insidexjokes: Dec 13 2011, 08:42 AM

Its good to came across this AD discussion here...pls allow me to share my experience

I was once a AD sufferer 2 years ago and seriously, it was not an easy experience as we need to deal with it by our own mental strength. The symptoms I get is similar to what being mentioned from previous post. I had tried consume xanax, klonopil, alpazolam, etc...but the effect only last temporarily and will haunt you back if you stop taking the meds.

What I can remember clearly that my anxiety is much related to my stomach. It started when I got this serious gastritis which leads me to bloating, cramp, difficulties in swallowing, constipation and difficulty to fart. I lost about 7 kg at that time and my condition is worst at that time...quit my job for half a year (coz too weak to focus in work). Had done a blood test, ECG, ultrasound, endoscope and the results are normal. The docs prescribe me some Nexium, famotidine, charcoal, an other GERD meds but it doesn't help at all. My stomach continues keep bloating with excessive gasses bcoz I can't pass down my gas to the bottom. Then the doc conclude it's due to stress.

Then I go try TCM approach and the sinseh prescribe me some herbs to boil and drink for few weeks. Upon taking the herbs for few weeks, I got diarrhea every morning but the sinseh told me its fine coz it's removing the toxin from my intestines, so I continue with the medication. Later on, I felt much better ...my bowel movement is going from top to bottom (means i got no constipation and can release gasses easily, got more appetite and gain some weight). According to the sinseh, OUR EMOTION CAN AFFECT OUR STOMACH. Therefore, all my physical symptoms is started by my mental problem. After considering the sinseh words, I r'ber that before I have this AD, I was a person with no patience, easily get irritated, annoyed and angry. I guess this is the root problem.

From that day onwards, I decided to change my lifestyle totally...
- dont be a workaholic...take short breaks regularly at work...dont sit in front of the PC for a long time
- sleep early and wake up before sun rises...go for a morning walk or brief jogging
- do charity on weekends by visiting orphanage or old folks home...u'll noticed that by helping the needy, u'll feel that u're more fortunate and u'll appreciate ur life more and this will lead to more positive thoughts.
- if u're single, go find ur soulmate...have some fun and intimacy together.
- i changed my diet by taking more vege and less meat. Seldom take coffee and alcohol.
- but the most important thing is worry less and be happy.

I still get some mild AD on-and-off when I really stress at work now but it's still managable coz I know how to deal with it from my experience. Luckily my condition has improved now and I won't blushed away when talking to strangers and won't get panic in crowded areas. My simple advice is u need to change ur lifestyle and get rid of ur old habit/thoughts.

After going through this period, I somehow feel grateful that I get this AD. This had made me to understand my body and surroundings more

*p/s: if you need someone to talk to, feel free to PM me...TQ

cool!! really encouraging to hear testimony like this...
quite some few friends having physical symptoms when exam is near... when exam is over, no more diarrhoea...

Actually your conscious/logical mind says you can still do that, but your body "involuntary" refused to cooperate due to your subconscious/illogical mind ordered it to do so because of some fear conditioning programmed in Amygdala!

Some or most of our behaviors/habits/actions are involuntary control by our subconscious mind, when you learn new skills, 1st you use your conscious mind to execute the process of a new skill in an orderly manners, as you practise the same process overtime, your act will be programmed into your subconscious mind, next time when you need to perform the same skill set, your subconscious mind will kick in & run the saved skill set program automatically without you making a conscious effort to do so.

The above mechanism also applied to AD sufferers, where constant anxious/negative thoughts originated from your conscious mind when you're running some simulation of fear/worry/danger+fearful-reactions scenarios will trigger your subconscious mind into believing it & record it in Amygdala, when you face the same scenarios again next time, your subconscious mind will playback the same fear/worry/danger+fearful-reactions without you making a conscious effort to do so.

You can still go back & do what you loved before with some lifestyle changes, here are my advice to you:
1. Change your style by playing gigs in less crowded places or do recorded video gigs.
2. Divert your attention away from anything to do with crowded places & do anything that you enjoy/love & happy for until your symptoms reduced.

Some good infos:
http://pukamble.totalh.com/subconc1.htm
http://naturalanxietysolutions.com/article...la_anxiety.html

hear, hear!

You're on the right track mate!

Be Happy & No worry.

Thanks Trony, your advice really helps. I just hope 2012 brings more luck to me.