Anxiety is a natural emotion that everyone feels at sometime or another. We can feel nervous when faced with an everyday problem; work related, school test or making important decisions.
But when referring to an anxiety disorder this is completely different than everyday anxiousness. Most anxiety disorders can cause such distress that it interferes with our ability to lead a normal life. This type of disorder is a serious mental illness which can be very disabling. Some types of anxiety disorders include; panic disorder(panic attacks), social anxiety disorder, phobias, generalized anxiety disorder.
Panic disorder or panic attacks are one of the most frightening experiences of my illness. It’s a feeling of terror that can strike at anytime and anywhere with no warning. Some symptoms include; shortness of breath, sweating, chest pain, fear and an overwhelming of you’re going to lose “it”.
As part of my anxiety disorder I experienced a social phobia. This was where I had an overwhelming fear of going into a public building or setting. This really interfered with our social life because I found it very difficult to go to restaurants, malls, stores, movie theatres or anywhere outside the comfort zone of my own house.
People with an anxiety disorder usually experience some form of phobia or phobias. These are intense fears of heights, flying, enclosed spaces or congested gatherings are some examples.
Generalized anxiety disorder is described as excessive, unrealistic worry and tension, even if there’s little or nothing to provoke the anxiety.
When diagnosed with anxiety disorder along with major depression; I was experiencing all types of anxiety symptoms. When experiencing both illnesses at the same time, this makes it very difficult to treat both illnesses. But with time and various treatments it is possible to eleviate or lessen the severity of the symptoms. Treatments include; medication, psychotherapy, cognitive-behaviour therapy, dietary and lifestyle changes and relaxation therapy. All of which have helped me to a certain degree but not always readily available, especially when needed the most. Wait times could be up to six months; not all that encouraging when you are feeling your life is being weighed in the balance! But for me there was no quick fix. Just learning to manage and cope with my symptoms on a daily bases was all I could do. And gradually with time my symptoms became more bearable.
The ironic thing about my illness is that one illness(major depression) is fighting or conflicting with the other(anxiety disorder). Therefore my life as become a total roller coaster ride; without the fun!
