Hello, I am a 18 year old who is struggling with anxiety and it makes my everyday life harder. Most of the time my anxiety comes from stomach pains and some weird feelings in my body. I am anxious that I might have a disease, or that I might have to throw up, or have diarrhea or just shit my self. I am anxious that I may not have anywhere to go like a toilet, or that I might be stuck in there for hours before I can get home. Even though my mind most of the time knows, that there is nothing to be worried about but still my body goes into a fight or flight mode. I have physical symptoms, for example stomach pains, chest pains, feeling like your throat is clogged and having trouble breathing. Sometimes my mind makes my physical effects worse. For example what starts as a small weird feeling might snowball into a full blown panic attack. I start thinking about what if I have some disease and I have nowhere to go and I am stuck in a place for hours before I can get home. That what if thought makes my physical symptoms even worse and then my What if thought becomes even stronger and realer, turning into an endless loop of my mind feeding my body (and vice versa) making my anxiety even worse. I feel like my overall life quality has worsened quite tremendously. I have trouble using public transport and going to a mall etc because of my anxiety. I also have IBS-syndrome so it makes my anxiety a lot worse because it is new and I am still trying to figure it out. I am afraid to eat outside, especially fast foods etc because it might trigger my IBS and I wouldn’t have anywhere to go or anyway to get home.
I would like to get some help and tips on how to control my anxiety. Feel free to ask some questions because this might have been a bit unclear. I have a trip to Italy coming in a few days and I would like to enjoy it as much as possible without my anxiety. I have been struggling with this for some time, I am becoming more and more desperate. Also, sorry for the bad english. Thank you for your help :)