Social anxiety problems?

Well,

Im the same. Im a 27 yo guy and I have had that problem since my early teens some time.

Personally, I am trying to overcome my issues with various methods including meditation, tai chi, it all helps.

Personally, I think I can overcome my problem bit by bit without medication, but you may well need it, so why not try it?

Thanks for the advice everyone. It's nice to hear from other people going through the same thing :)

Mme, my boyfriend does know about it. I'm pretty open with him and he tries to be understanding and he'll leave a bar with me whenever I want to, but as you know, it's difficult to comprehend if you haven't experienced it. Plus he's a very social person. Luckily, he isn't into the club scene either but now and then we'll humor our friends (most of whom are single and thus more into the club scene than we are) and go out.

Chunkybongo, I know EXACTLY what you mean. When time seems to stand still and your body just freezes. I can't hear anything and my peripheral vision goes all cloudy. I get this intense feeling that everyone is staring at me and when I look at them, I can't understand why it seems like they aren't looking at me.

Fred, I'm the same way in that a few drinks usually opens me up a little. But most of the time I'm feeling slightly nauseous...or I at least have the worry that I WILL feel sick as the night goes on. THEN I start to worry that if I drink it will just make the sickness worse and I can't stop thinking about that and evaluating whether or not I'm starting to feel nauseous. Obviously it's all in my head but I just cannot help it.

Thanks again everyone!

Been there. Lots of people experience anxiety, some more than others. I find a couple of drinks helps to relax me and be more social, just don't go too crazy or you might end up doing something embarrassing. But even if you do, just try to laugh at yourself. Nobody's perfect and our little eccentricities make us interesting. By the way, the only people watching you when you are shopping are either checking you out or loss prevention, everybody else is wayy to caught up in their own lives to bother looking for reasons to judge strangers.

Anxiety sucks. I'm a performer, and sometimes I get so nervous singing on stage that when a song is over and the audience is clapping I'll forget I'm on stage and even who I am. I'll look at the audience and not understand who they are either. I'll lose a big chunk of time just sitting there staring. Instead of a big alarm, the people in the audience just start talking to each other about what they did that weekend. They don't care about my panic attack; they only care about themselves. Are you getting my point? All that fear is in our imagination.

I know what you mean when you refer to the mysterious ill feeling.

I get the same feeling whenever I am invited out anywhere. It%%u2019s hard to put into words so no-body else seems to understand%%u2026I%%u2019ve lost pretty much all my friends due to this.

I%%u2019ve never taken any medication though so I can%%u2019t answer that for you, I just thought maybe you would get some comfort knowing you%%u2019re not the only one.

I have the same problem as you but im 18 years old and alone lol. Stay away from medication plz. Does your boyfriend know your problem?speak with him about it or try a therapy.

have a nice day

Medication is awesome, it works!! Zoloft helped so much, now I take Effexer and I like it even more. I got some therapy too, but ultimately the medicine helped most.