Anxiety - Osseo,MN

Medication can be helpful, but it only treats the symptoms of anxiety. You also need therapy. Ask your doctor for a referral, or find one on your own. A therapist will help you understand how to manage and control your anxiety during periods of stress and/or panic attacks.
Look at it this way, if you had a skin problem you'd see a dermatologist, a heart problem a cardiologist, etc. When you have a mental disorder you need to see a mental health professional.

How old are you?
Is it possible you might be having some hot flashes?
Have you had your thyroid checked?
Sometimes hyperthyroid can make you feel hot and anxious.

Anxiety is caused by fearful thoughts. Medication can temporarily help the symptoms but it does not heal the cause. You can find a good counselor that works with thoughts and beliefs. They can support you in becoming aware of and questioning the fearful thoughts and beliefs that are creating the stressful emotions.

Another good way to become aware of and question your thoughts is the work by Byron Katie. Her worksheets and many of her videos are free. You can find her on youtube and her website www.thework.com.

Medication can only help so much. I urge you to get counseling so that you can learn how to manage your feelings. I take medication for depression and anxiety. During difficult times I sometimes see a counselor twice a week. I then taper off as I feel more secure. I learned that often my anxiety is caused by the way I think. A counselor helps me understand myself snd way of thinking so I can change myself.

Yes it sounds like anxiety. Also, how old are you? The hormone changes from perimenopause and menopause can also increase anxiety and cause the symptoms you are describing.

I've always been predisposed to anxiety, but I really noticed the physical symptoms once I began entering menopause. Hormones helped with that.

I don't like being confined anywhere like this. It's a social confinement though. Like...if you got up and ran off screaming they'd think you were nuts but you really really really want to jump up and run off screaming because you're trapped but you're not really trapped but you feel trapped!!!!!

Oh my, been there, done that. I am much better now. Recognizing your triggers and accepting that you feel insecure in those situations will help your brain to calm down. A LOT!

I still can't go sit in the choir loft at church unless I am sitting beside the exit. I still can't go sit at the front of a classroom unless it's right by the door. I don't do it. I go early to new places to I can scope out the lay of the rooms and pick my safe zone. I sit by the exit at the theater. I sit by the exit every single place I go. No joking. If I have to ride an elevator I tell my husband to tell my some funny jokes or show me cat/dog pictures on his phone from some web site. Anything to distract me so I don't have to think about where I am or to look around at the walls.

It works. I drive back streets sometimes too. I don't drive on the highway, I take main streets through town, I go 35-40 instead of 65-75, I recognize I feel safer if I use my avoidance behaviors. As long as they work for you there isn't any reason to not use them.

Plan ahead. Close your eyes and use visualization. You're sitting in the chair. What would happen if you suddenly needed to run to the bathroom and have diarrhea or puke from food poisoning. They'd simply move out of your way. IF you need to get up and move around tell them you are getting cramps in your legs/back/and need to get up for a few minutes. They'll simply move out of your way.

Practice visualizing that you are not trapped socially or physically and take deep relaxing breaths. Push your shoulders down away from your ear lobes where the tension has them so tightly strung up. You can do this. Breathing and relaxation and visualizing a good outcome will help you get through this.

You are anxious because you feel like you can't escape from these events, if you feel the need.