Experiences: Dear Abby

Jun 12, 2017 by BrooklynnBlodgett

Dear Abby,
I could really use some advice, because I genuinely don’t know what is wrong, and perhaps you might have some insight. The other night I was sitting at a Chinese Food Restaurant with some friends, this is something that we do every Friday night, but this time the large booth was filled. We had to fit 5 into a small booth, so I offered to go into the side with 3 people. I thought this might be something fun and different to do, and some fun memories to remember. However, I soon discovered that sitting in the middle of two friends in a cramped booth is not fun, and certainly not something someone should ever volunteer to do. I was having such a terrible time, that it felt like I had just volunteered for the Hunger Games or something. I had my one friends hair rubbing up against my shoulder, and my other friends leg brushing up against me, I just felt so overwhelmed. I felt like I was stuck. I eventually had to go to the washroom to take a few seconds to calm myself down, because this was just such a stressful encounter. I started freaking out in the washroom, scratching my arms and breathing like I just ran a marathon. I’m wondering what is wrong with me, and why little things like sitting in a booth, are such wicked social encounters for me. This is just one example of a specific time that I have felt anything like this, but sometimes, I feel like I have all of this pressure collapsing onto me, and everything seems so big. It leads to my heart racing, sweating, nausea, shaking, and discomfort, feeling lightheaded, numbness or tingling within my body, feeling really dizzy, palpitations, chest pain, sometimes chills, but sometimes hot flashes. The worst part of them is the Psychology Conditions of these extreme episodes of struggle, like I’m choking or like I’m losing control of everything. I also have a severe fear of dying when I go through these. I’ve heard other people talk about having anxiety before, but I know it’s not that. I’m not crazy and I’m not going to go on a bunch of pills to make my brain better, or smarter, or whatever. These episodes really impact my life and I need to know why they are happening, or what’s wrong with me. I have been to a few different doctors, and they just told me change up my diet habits and exercise some and then I will be all better again, but I have friends who were told that too, and they ended up having depression, but it got a lot worse before anyone noticed what was really going on. I’m really hoping that I don’t have a mental illness, because I’m not crazy, I swear.

Thanks,

Anonymous