social anxiety

[resa]

anyone else here have social anxiety? if so how do you cope and have a social life? I avoid people all the time. i live in an apartment complex its very difficult to avoid people. i use to not even go into a grocery store until i had kids and had no choice but to go to dr's and such. so grocery stores no longer bother me but i definitly have social anxiety i dont even have 1 friend lolllll. i have a few 'associates' but nothing like a real 'friendship' ...its hard to talk to ppl bc i think im gonna say something that will be embarrassing or childish or something like that. its hard to talk to ppl who are educated too. this really sucks also is preventing me from being productive in any work place. which i do not work right now.

[yoinkmasta107]

I have dealt with depression and adhd for years, but my social anxiety is something that appears to recently have developed for me.

It was strange cause all throughout my teenage years and highschool, I HAD to go out on friday and saturday nights, always went to parties and hung out with big groups of friends.

Fast forward to now (im in college) and my life has completely changed. I have about 2 friends that i hang out with consistently that im really comfortable with, and everyone else i tend to avoid.

I can still go to the store ect., but sitting class next to others i can't bring myself to even say hi.

I can't really say how to cope, since obviously i am not coping well. I am currently on Lexapro and i find it makes me more open to talk to strangers ect, but i still would rather hang out by myself then go out with others.

[Fortune]

I've dealt with social anxety most especially for the past 9 years or so.

I usually cope by not socializing with people I don't know. If I go somewhere, it's usually because I have to go somewhere, and it's typically fairly stressful.

Once I get past the initial meeting, sometimes it's easy to get past my desire to be invisible and I can socialize. Most often, that ends up being pretty awkward because I am so horrible with small talk that any attempt should be labeled a disaster area.

When i have to go into a social situation, sometimes I'm able to go in as fast as possible and get it over with, and once I'm in I can cope with being around people, although I have to deal with it when talking to each new person, and I always feel like I'm either on the edge of or sailing past making a terrible faux pas and everyone's just too nice to tell me how awful I seem.

[Nickis2legit]

Throughout elementry school I had many friends, in middle school I would consider myself popular and also freshman year. Now (senior year) I only have about 4-5 good friends and a lot of people I just hang out with when they're with that person, I wouldn't call it social anxiety I just don't think I should waste my breath talking to some people..

[resa]

i do not know how to double quote so yoink, i have tried lexapro and it didnt work for me. once they put me on 20 mg my body couldnt tolerate it. it made me very nauseas and i woke up with anxiety which is something i never do until i was on that med. im scared of meds bc they all seem to make my stomach sick..........i dont know if i am less anxious if i have been around ppl for a few minutes or hours bc im not ever around people, unless its a grocery store......

[Fortune]

Originally Posted by resa

i do not know how to double quote so yoink, i have tried lexapro and it didnt work for me. once they put me on 20 mg my body couldnt tolerate it. it made me very nauseas and i woke up with anxiety which is something i never do until i was on that med. im scared of meds bc they all seem to make my stomach sick..........i dont know if i am less anxious if i have been around ppl for a few minutes or hours bc im not ever around people, unless its a grocery store......

If you want to quote multiple posts, click on the little quotation mark button on the lower right of each post you want to quote, and then click reply at the bottom of the thread.

[resa]

just testing if i did it right

[resa]

ok forget it thanks anyways though

[Abi]

Resa,

Lexapro works for anxiety for some people but not all. I'm one of those people for whom it doesn't work (I have GAD).

I strongly recommend you ask your doctor to prescribe a benzodiazepine, preferably Clonazepam (Klonopin) or perhaps Lorazepam (Ativan).

These are the ONLY medications that have worked for me, and work well they have. My anxiety is pretty much a distant memory since I've been on Clonazepam.

You might also want to consider a combination of Clonazepam & Lexapro, particularly if you also suffer from depression.

Again, I STRONGLY suggest you speak to your doctor about this. Its literally life changing.

Good luck

[humandefault]

I have no helpful things to add other than to say that I deal with it in many unhealthy ways. However, if you find some way to cope with it and not make a fool/nervous wreck of yourself every time you have to talk to someone you don't know, PLEASE tell me the secret, too. I mean, I have always planned on a career in clinical medicine, but I can't even cope well with a career at Old Navy! lol

[resa]

Originally Posted by Fortune

If you want to quote multiple posts, click on the little quotation mark button on the lower right of each post you want to quote, and then click reply at the bottom of the thread.

1

Originally Posted by resa

i do not know how to double quote so yoink, i have tried lexapro and it didnt work for me. once they put me on 20 mg my body couldnt tolerate it. it made me very nauseas and i woke up with anxiety which is something i never do until i was on that med. im scared of meds bc they all seem to make my stomach sick..........i dont know if i am less anxious if i have been around ppl for a few minutes or hours bc im not ever around people, unless its a grocery store......

2

Originally Posted by resa

ok forget it thanks anyways though

3

Originally Posted by resa

just testing if i did it right

4 hmm?

[resa]

Originally Posted by humandefault

I have no helpful things to add other than to say that I deal with it in many unhealthy ways. However, if you find some way to cope with it and not make a fool/nervous wreck of yourself every time you have to talk to someone you don't know, PLEASE tell me the secret, too. I mean, I have always planned on a career in clinical medicine, but I can't even cope well with a career at Old Navy! lol

lol i dont even feel as though i can work at all. i believe i posted something somewhere on this forum about working. no education firstly...so...cashier is impossible i cant count the dang money. im not stupid i know how to count i just lose track probably bc of my attention and anxiety issues. its hard to work most places bc of social anxiety. work at mcdonalds or bk one might say well i cant see the screens or hear well ....i would be most interested to work in an office position but i do not know specific programs such as excel and such