When we started learning about anxiety disorders, it sparked an interest in me because anxiety is something that has always been around in my life.  What I mean by that is, I have never personally suffered from any kind of anxiety disorder, but so many of my loved ones have.

The first time I became exposed to an anxiety disorder was with my older sister.  For as long as I can remember, she has suffered from some kind of anxiety.  When she was younger was when it was really bad.  My mom told me she remembers having to pick my sister up from school every day when she was in the fourth grade because she was crying in the nurses’ office.  My sister suffered from a phobia of becoming sick, or throwing up more specifically.  A phobia is an irrational, persistent fear of an object, situation, or social activity.  When she was even younger, she was sitting in school and during lunchtime and a boy right by her threw up milk all over the table.  That marked the beginning of her phobia of throwing up.  She began seeing therapist after therapist for this irrational fear of being sick at any time.  One therapist even had my mom make this weird liquid concoction of different ingredients for my sister to put in her mouth and spit back out to simulate throwing up.  Another therapist had her repeatedly say all the words that mean, “to throw up”.  She would sit with my mom and say, “upchuck, throw up, barf, etc.”  Along with therapy, she was always on medication for it.  My sister is now 21.  She doesn’t suffer from her phobia of throwing up like she used to and she does not take medication anymore.  However she does still experience anxiety about little things, like if the piece of pizza that was sitting out on the table for an hour was okay to eat.  Every one experiences anxiety to a certain extent, but when it becomes excessive or unrealistic is when it becomes a disorder.  My sister will always experience a little bit of anxiety in her life.

My first blog post was about my boyfriend, Anthony, who suffers from post concussion syndrome.  Now presently, he is dealing with generalized anxiety disorder.  Generalized anxiety disorder is when a person has feelings of dread and impending doom along with physical symptoms of stress.  As a kid he said he always had issues with anxiety, but because of the concussion it has become much worse.  A little over a month ago it got to the point where he could not sleep or really function at all.  Now, he is currently he is seeing a therapist weekly and making a lot of progress.  He is on medication for generalized anxiety disorder, as well as sleep medication.

Many people suffer from anxiety, it fact it is common that most people experience anxiety to some degree.  I’ve been fortunate enough not to experience anxiety like my sister, my boyfriend, and so many other people have.  Having an anxiety disorder is serious and getting help when needed is very important, because from what I’ve seen it only gets worse if nothing is done.