Anxiety and Panic

Hi! Im Hanna,

I have always been a shy person ever since i was a little girl, i wasn't shy enough for people to think it was a problem though so everything was fine.

But then i have noticed that over the last few years i have been feeling terrified to walk into a local shop, or walk to some places in case someone talks to me on the street. I am so terrified of social events like weddings, birthday parties etc.. because i don't want to humiliate myself. I am so scared that i will that i almost feel like im going to be sick. I knew that this wasn't right becuase most teenagers love going to parties and me? I sat in my room all day and did nothing, but the thing was i felt content in my room, where noone could see me or talk to me. I dont even like talking to some people i dont know very well on the phone! So i looked online and found a NHS page about something called SAD or Social Anxiety Disorder. I read it through and realised that i could relate to what was on the page. But there was one thing i couldnt which was Panic Attacks i have never had them, nor did i wish to have one.

3 days ago i went to a family wedding-- yes i was very scared of going as you always do not know half the people there because that is the grooms family. A room full of unfamiliar and famililiar faces --- GREAT.

I have a nut allergy, well to hazelnuts and peanuts. There was some food and so i got a little bit because i wasn't feeling up to eating loads. I began eating when i found in the rice what looked to have been a peanut. I ran to my mum and asked her and she tried it and said that it was just a Walnut. A Walnut-- one nut i had not tried yet but i didn't eat any nuts just in case. Immediantly after she said it my throat began to numb up and become dry and hoarse, like in a reaction They got me a drink and i gulped it down. An hour later my throat felt better but i couldn't get it out of my mind. I remembered what happened when i came into contact with a peanut and remember the horror of my skin just growing-- it was very scary. I started to get cold shakes and i was sweating. I then started with the hyperventilating and my claustriphobia kicked in and i felt the need to run, but my Social Anxiety type of thing wouldn't let me. I was too afraid of drawing attention towards myself. So i sat there trying to calm myself down when the tears kicked in. I was uncontrollably crying, until my uncle found me. He took me outside and told me to try and focus on my breathing. I was thank ful, he was the only person that day not to tell me to calm down! When people say that all i think is easy for you to say! But i couldnt focus on my breathing all i could focus on was the feeling that i was going to die. I couldn't speak,  or breath. I was in a strange place, probably no where near a hospital and all of it came together and i just had a huge panic attack on the street. I still have a bad headache from that night which might be due to stress, Im scared of it happening again.

By the way, i got the courage to speak to my parents about my Social problems and about what i found on the internet and they pushed it into my face and told me i was stupid and thats why i don't like social situations, so thanks for the support guys, but then there older, so im putting it out to you guys, am i stupid? Do you think i might have something else?

Thankss for reading

Hey Hannah,

                    It might be worth seeing a doctor and seeing what they suggest. I know how anxiety can make you feel you dont want to see and talk to people, you get nervous and feel trembling when talking to people. You sometimes dont say things as you think you might sound stupid. Im actually pretty confident guy but i have been through some series patches of depression and completly broke down and found talking about it helped so much but that medication mellowed me out and really helped me control my anxiety and got me socialising and been myself again. I would encourage you to still go to parties and events, trust me the more you do it youll get more comfortable. Do you find it hard to think about things to talk about? 

Your definetly not stupid by any means and if your not feeling happy then i can understand why your questioning it. Do you have many hobbies and friends you can talk too? 

Hope this helps. 

Mark

Hi, thanks for replying,

That is exactly how I feel and sometimes when my mum goes for a walk to the shops I will go home incase she asks me to run in the shop for something. 

Yes, I do sometimes struggle with what to talk about because I'm so scared of things being awkward that's all I can think about- well that and the fact that I might do something stupid at any moment.

Thank you! Well I don't have many hobbies because I'm too scared to go to any group but I do have friends. I'm not particularly confident enough to talk to all of them about this but I have confided in my best friend and told her about what I'm feeling. 

Thank you so much for replying

maybe a nut allergy.

Richard