Hello Bloggerbeans,

Here is the second post in my series of 'Let's Talk about Mental Health' posts. Anxiety is something that I wanted to talk about as it has affected me in many ways and I know that some of you may suffer from bad anxiety or know someone who is affected by it. Hopefully this Blog-post may help you understand more about Anxiety. Anxiety comes in many shapes and forms and according to the wonderful web there are 7 main categories of with these being:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

Social Phobia

Panic Disorder

Agoraphobia

Phobias

Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

For me anxiety is very hard to explain. It is constantly in the back of your mind, sometimes even making snarky remarks, making you question your decisions and every thought which leaves you feeling horrible. For me, it is your worst enemy which keeps on throwing insults at you. I know for some it is more of a feeling of wanting to hide away and not face the world. Depending on the type of anxiety, it can be present in different ways. A panic attack is when all these thoughts overlap into one huge pile until they suddenly collapse onto you.

You wouldn't think by my blog that I suffer from anxiety and maybe panic attacks but I do. I seem confident and extroverted when that is just down to my excellent drama skills which have helped me to 'fake it'. It is weird being a mixture of introverted and extroverted as when alone my anxiety does really wreck havoc with me. I speak from experience when I say that it is the worst feeling ever with panic attacks being horrendous.

Symptoms of Panic attacks

Shortness of breath

Sweaty palms

Feeling dizzy/ Lightheaded

Feeling trapped, confined

Finding it hard to breath

Pains in your chest

Hot/Cold flushes

I suffer from PTSD so my panic attacks go hand in hand with flashbacks which is not a nice combo at all! I get triggered by many different things and when you suffer from this, you know (from experience) how to try and prevent your anxiety becoming a panic attack. Different things will trigger different people and what triggers one person may not to another and vice versa. I know my triggers and when I feel like I am going to panic I go find somewhere quiet to calm myself until I feel better.

Panic attack tips:

And afterwards:

A Panic attack really drains you and makes you incredibly tired. Rest yourself afterwards and don't do anything that requires a lot of effort as you will still feel a bit unstable. Spending time with friends for me helps with them just 'being there'. After my recent panic attack I just let my two friends Jo and Sian plait my hair which made me feel calm. Even though we weren't talking their presence helped me a lot. Also make sure to drink and hydrate yourself as you do use a lot of energy up, maybe even nibble on a snack.

You think that you are free from it and after a while you believe this until it creeps back into your life. Anxiety may be a part of you but it does not rule you or control you. 

That's it for today's post. I plan on doing a couple more of these 'Lets talk' post however feel that I can only talk about subjects that I have experienced personally as I feel it would be wrong to give opinions and say thing's if I haven't actually gone through it myself. 

How do you cope with anxiety if you suffer from it?

Here is a video created by childline which I watched 3 years ago which helped me understand what I was going through.

Farewell x

~Katy Summers (TeenageBlogger)

Disclaimer: This post was written from personal experiences and is not a substitute to medical help and diagnosis. If you feel like you have Anxiety or suffer from panic attacks please talk to someone as they will listen. Do not feel like you have to face things alone x