Anxiety ruining my life

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I have anxiety symptoms from basically all anxiety disorders and it scares me.... I avoid places that give me anxiety or meltdowns, I get a lot of anxiety talking to strangers and public speaking (near panic), I excessively worry and think back to my past and try to figure out if I'm a bad person, I panic when I use the phone... There's more but those are my biggest issues right now.. I feel so much constant anxiety when I'm out that I hate being outside the house. I don't have any friends. And I'm terrified I'll lose my job because I avoid social events at work and I've left early over anxiety.

Blah... Any advice? I can't call to get therapy.... I freak out

You maybe should to look some ways to fight situations that fear you and get you unfunctional and then hold the others less, personally. In truth, I believe there're many ways to fight anxiety.

Are you also afraid of what will happen if you don't make the phone calls? Are there any phone calls that are less scary to you that you could practice with? Would it be less scary to call, say, a crisis hotline?

Avoiding anxiety provoking situations unfortunately spirals into increasing anxiety. I've been there, and what helped me was medication and exposing myself to uncomfortable situations (such as leaving the house ). Hope you find what works for you.

I have anxiety and depression, and for me therapy and meds have been helpful. That and reading about Asperger's, which has provided so much insight into how my brain works. It's really made me feel better that some of the feeling that I experience are not experienced by me alone, but by many others. And recognizing what those triggers are is a big help. I avoid some social situations, and exactly like you I avoid those work functions. They just don't work for me (or us), and that's OK. I've felt guilty and scared that I don't do these things, but there's no point in that. The recognition of that is what's important.

Therapy was key for me, and it took me a while to find a good therapist. But once you find one you'll know. If you are anxious talking on the phone, leave a voicemail for a professional (they often just go to voicemail anyway), and they may be open to doing email if that helps you. At least as a start.

Hope you feel better.

I have anxiety and depression while living with Asperger. It is a part of a life. A part of me. It is like i can´t have a normal life because I hurt myself to dangerous. But I am not afraid of phone or being at the hospital, even I have to deal with people. But I get very scared for who that comes when the one that is here go home. I have someone with me all the time, even at toilet. I don´t have any good advice for you, other than writing. Writing helps me a lot. Then I can speak even I am to afraid to talk sometimes. Keep on writing. To friends, to the forum, to a therapist.

Anxiety is a physiologically reaction to perceived danger. For some reason a part of your brain and/or body is under the assumption that you're in danger. There is obviously no threat that you need to deal with you're as safe as you can be. Your emotions are lying to you so there is no need to pay attention to all those feelings and adrenaline they wont harm you.
Try writing down thoughts you were having before and during your periods of anxiety and panic. They might be a contributing factor.

Thanks everyone for the advice and such... I ended up being hospitalized for it and they diagnosed me with OCD and social phobia, and I'm on meds too so I'm getting it under control.

Some can think there way through
Some use a good counselor.
Some can act there way through
Some are prescribed stuff like Lexapro
Some are prescribed things like Xanax prn.
Some find combination is better.

How about you

People are like puzzles – I don’t naturally understand them and they don’t seem to understand me. It is like we are speaking different but similar languages and I am constantly missing out on important bits of the conversation. THIS is one of my biggest sources of anxiety. Also not being in control of my body and sensory overload gives me anxiety.

I find reading this post very helpful.

Transsupernatural, I hope you are doing better.

I went to a Celebrate Recovery tonight. Lecture was on Hope.

I left feeling less anxious.

I found Mindfulness techniques useful in taking the edge of Anxiety

This is all true, just be careful using benzodiazepines for your anxiety, it can be a slippery slope into a hellish dependency.

When I first started taking klonopin I thought I found the holly grail for my anxiety/ over stimulation issues. I was more functional then ever before.

But as the months went by I needed more and more of it to have that same sense of relief to the point where now if I don't take my (huge) dose I am housebound and out of touch....three days later the withdrawals hit hard and I will have life threatening seizures.

Now my memory is fried, can't remember sh!t, as in I can't remember if I ate breakfast when it's time for dinner, or I'll walk into a room to grab something and just spin around lost as to why I'm there.....

Benzos are great if and only used every now and then, my doc screwed up and put me on a scheduled daily dose, so my body is completely dependent on this drug now.....it's causing so many hardships in my life, I won't bore you with the details but just be careful with the benzodiazepines, and good luck my friend.

I'm back in the gym
Today at work I walked and talked once around the track.

I find the med Buspar helps my anxiety alot without side-effects. What I like about Buspar is that it's specially for anxiety instead of being an antidepressant or a sedative like benzodiazepines. Like antidepressant & other non benzo psych meds, Buspar has to be taken regularly for a while to notice it's full effect & Buspar can be taken with antidepressants & benzos & lots of other psych meds.