I wish I was normal - Anxiety issues

[Megson]

I made a list of possible anxiety disorder symptoms I have one day at school because the anxiety was bothering me so much. So far, there's 22 symptoms on that piece of paper.

Yeah, I'll admit, some of the symptoms are similar to each other, and others only arise in certain situations, but still. 22 is a lot. But I don't want to tell anyone. I don't want to see a therapist because it makes me feel...needy. For some reason, in my mind, needing help is the worst thing that could ever happen to me. I hate the feeling. I loathe it.

I'm not going to self-diagnose myself. All I know is that I'm an overly anxious and socially awkward person. I don't want to be. I wish every single day that I could be normal. I can't even TALK to another person like a normal human being. I stutter, my mind wanders, my palms get sweaty, my heart races, I feel paranoid, and I NEVER know what to say. And that's all just in normal conversation with, usually, people I don't know.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm asking for here. Advice, maybe? How to deal with this? Maybe I just want to vent, and hope at least one person will listen. Anyways, sorry for the long post.

[Dimitri]

Hey there, I am sure you think that asking for help makes you feel weak....but listen here.

Among us medical students and nursing students we have something called Medical Student Syndrome (Medical because I am a Pre-Med) but what it is is that when we study diseases and psychological disorders we start to analyze ourselves and think we have it ourselves, we were warned by our professors at the beginning of the semester, you have no idea how many mental disorders I diagnosed myself with, it was rough but hey.

You need to realize and if you need to see someone then you need to buck up and do so....

[Gordo]

Actually, I like longer posts.

A team mate of mine had some of those symptoms, sweaty hands, chest pain sometimes, sweats more than others when just hanging out and breaks a sweat taking exams. Anyway, he went to a therapist and was taught to do some breathing exercises and how to get rid of muscle tension. He didn't have any speech issues though. Anyway, after about 6 months, he's just like the rest of us. So you might want to search on relaxation techniques and breathing exercises. He showed me the stuff he did and it's simple stuff that doesn't take much time. Like he can do it during school, in a car etc.

[TheMightyBruce]

+1 to Dimitri...Although I'm not pre-med, I've had a fascination for various psychological aspects and been sucked into the self diagnosing phase... When it gets down to it, I know that being constantly placed in environments that cause you to feel anxious and establishing positive feelings towards that environment can help. I'm still an anxious, introvert person but by working on it, I've been able to do pretty well in joining the most social frat on my college campus. If you've got any questions or want some advice from me just message me.

[FlyingSlightly]

All psych students get that same talk. Self-diagnosis is one of the biggest pitfalls of working with psychological disorders. However, if you do feel this is a major issue, I would suggest you discuss it with a counselor or other mental health professional. It is quite possible that you have an anxiety disorder, but you can't be certain until you meet with an unbiased professional source