Hi!! I'm SO GLAD to have discovered this site, and the WONDERFUL PEOPLE ON IT!
I've been 'anxious' as far back as i can remember... I had a very critical and angry dad and, tired, sad, depressed mum.
I'm the oldest of 5 children, and had to take care of them all a lot.
As far as I can figure out, I developed 'social' anxiety on changing schools at the age of 7, which became VERY severe in the first year of high school,( WAY too many people for me to cope with ) :oO Although I just had to 'get on' with it, and it DIDN'T get any easier as time went on.
As a teenager, I also believed I was extremely UGLY, and would walk around with my head down, so that nobody would 'have' to look at me. I didn't want people to get eye contact and try and talk to me, as in MY mind, they would see how ugly i was, and I wouldn't know what to say to them. I'd blush and get tongue tied, with a 'fuzzy brain' if I had to talk in front of a stranger(s) especially more so when there was more than one person around.
I got teased at school because of this, one guy in particular seemed to make it his life's 'mission' to make me blush and have others laugh at me. I managed to have plenty friends outwith school, but not so many in it (only some other 'quiet' ones, whom it turned out I didn't have much in common with other than being shy..)
Arghhhh....if only I knew then what I know now!!!
:o))
I'm SO GLAD :o) HAPPY...:oD ...JOYoUS!!!! :oDD for us all on here, especially the younger ones, that 'Anxiety' is getting taken more seriously now, and noticed sooner in life. I'm also sad though there's still seems to be no 'cure' as such..

just ways to EASE the suffering we go through. (someone FIND a CURE..PLEEEEZE...and LET ME KNOW WHEN YOU DO ....PLEASE???)
I'm now trying to figure out if it's a physical problem,rather than emotional/mental, as it's an 'overactive' medula (part of the brain) which triggers the anxious state in us.. worth a thought???
LOVE & GOOD STRENGTH TO US ALL!! Lx:o)