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general anxiety disorder refers to anxiety which is not specific to a certain situation...its with you every day...everywhere...and it gets triggered by nearly everything...it is basically a mix of all anxiety disorders

i've been officially diagnosed with it since july last year,

i was wondering if anyone else here has it? and like how do you deal with it? how does it affect you?

i've been through CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)...thats helped alot...

its mainly about staying relaxed and positive.

i've changed my diet...less sugar and minimise caffeine...also try not too have alot of processed foods...its been found that certain foods and additives can increase the severity of the anxiety


for those of you out there that dont know much about this topic these are some of the symptoms i had to learn to live with...

*insomnia
*early waking (waking up at 3-4am n not being able to go back to sleep)
*night fevers
*sweaty palms (when i get really anxious my palms get VERY wet)
*shaking
*fatigue
*being sensitive to noise
*being scared of crowds
*getting paranoid
*nausea
*low appettite
*vomitting
*heart racings
*muscle aches

thats just some of the stuff that helped comfirm my disorder

actually its the other way around...panic attacks are caused by anxiety...

anxiety and depression are the foundations of a big number of mental illness...such as manic depression, panic disorder, schitzophrenia, paranoia, psychosis...

alot of people hav anxiety but it doesnt necessarily mean they have anxiety disorder...

in order for it to be a disorder you need to have it a vast majority of times, pretty severely and it has to affect you to a certain degree...it also has to happen without a certain cause...eg. its not a disorder if you just get anxious around tests and exams...

same with depressive disorder...you only classify it as a disorder if you have reoccuring episodes over a number of years...

panic disorder means you suffer from panic attacks very often...i used to get them every day...

basically disorders are of higher severity then just your normal everyday anxiety, depression etc...

some people are generally anxious...

I have it although not formally diagnosed. Basically I have to use relaxation techniques and repeating things to myself like "I'm ok, I'm gonna be fine" when I get a panic attack. I am getting better at recpgnizing when an attack is starting so I can start my relaxation BEFORE it is out of control. It makes life very difficult because you are always expecting tragedy and it interferes with virtually everything you do

i can't tell if i have GAD or not--i've yet to ask a doc.

most of my symptoms are actual anxiety attacks (usually chest tightness, powerful racing thoughts, sometimes tears, and short, shallow breaths) which occur a few times daily, as well as some paranoia.

it's been messy, i just haven't been diagnosed/don't know if it's that severe.