S1E12 - What You Need to Know about Anxiety and Self-Care - "You are not alone"

The Geek Fitness Podcast

Season 1 of this podcast is a re-release of the first season of the original Geek Fitness Health Hacks podcast. When switching hosts, the episodes went off iTunes, and they need to exist again. I hope you get something out of them.

Full post at http://www.geekfitness.net/anxiety

So mental health is a big topic for me right now, specifically anxiety disorder symptoms and treatment. I mean, pretty much all of my energy and focus over the past year has been devoted to anxiety and getting better, honestly. I've been so debilitated that I haven't focused on my physical health at all because my mental health has taken such a precedence.

I have pretty severe anxiety disorder, and the docs think I have bipolar II, which I didn't know there even was a type 2 bipolar. But whatever. I don't care about that diagnosis that much. I care about feeling better.

Which is why I am doing this. I’ve had some really rough times this year, and I’m pretty sure there are some of you who have either dealt with similar situations to mine or *are dealing* with something similar. You're experiencing the horrible anxiety disorder symptoms that I did, and you're looking for treatment.

Last August, I had what essentially amounts to a nervous breakdown.

I was pretty much unable to function, both personally and professionally. My co-workers (read: friends. nay, besties) covered the duties I wasn’t able to perform like champs. My wife worked harder than anyone to support me and help me through daily panic attacks and rage tantrums I couldn’t control.

I tried to deal with my anxiety disorder by self-medicating. Not with drugs or alcohol, but with video games to escape from my real-world feelings (World of Warcraft, specifically). I tried herbs and teas and supplements that were supposed to calm me down so that I would not panic over every small detail. I was trying to get whatever exercise I could do between injuries to potentially keep myself grounded, but that fell apart quickly.

And I made lots of superfluous, impulsive, and frivolous purchases of things I didn’t need.

It took months and months of dealing with my anxiety disorder symptoms before I sought help. I got to the point where I had closed myself in my office, turned out the lights, and just cried from panic and stress for a while. Then I called my wife and told her “I can’t keep living like this.”

Read more at: http://www.geekfitness.net/anxiety

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