[exception_e]

(Note: if you feel that this is just "regular" anxiety and it can pass, my wall of text is something you can skip. Only thing that should be considered are developing coping skills! I'm just trying to be helpful.)

I'm thinking you'll reach the end of this dark tunnel here soon - but with a bit of work! The posters here have been thoughtful and there's a lot of good stuff to consider - I may be able to touch on this from another angle.

If you have the funds, I would strongly encourage you to see either a psychologist or psychiatrist. I have suffered with clinical anxiety and regular panic attacks for over a decade. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with Bipolar 1 and Psychosis about 2 years ago, which are very rough and sometimes "team up" to make my existing anxiety/attacks worse.

Even though this "teaming up" effect has been given me more anxiety than I can handle... trying out a 1 or many medications, reading books on coping skills/etc, and putting in the effort to test out said coping skills are great for many people.

If you don't want to go this route, I would at least spend some time looking into and testing out various coping skills. You can use them as soon as things are headed in the wrong direction. This approach will also help if you have non-clinical anxiety as well.

note: not a doctor... just a "patient" and can relate :) - I think you got this!

[arpa]

You make very good points and I concur that getting professional help helps a lot - from past experiences. It seems that most likely I exhausted my coping mechanism pool, and if the state continues to deteriorate, I will most definitely reach out to some professional. Thanks!

[exception_e]

"It seems that most likely I exhausted my coping mechanism pool".

Been there, done that! I have about 10 "core" mechanism that have stuck, but some stop being effective because I needed to change them up to make it more suitable to address my suffering.

The psychwards I went to before my Dx/meds taught (DBT) (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) it's more about coping and life skills to execute on. You can also find therapists that practice with this modality. In a nutshell, DBT is all about "mindfulness" and "skills" (basically more involved coping mechanisms). It's more "actionable" than regular CBT in my opinion - but I'm biased.

You can skip the DBT therapy and look up all of the skills and practices on your own too. It's good to have a professional as a therapeutic guide and hold you accountable, however. I won't go too far into that, but you have to track "bad habits" (PG-13) and if you followed through with what you set out to accomplish for you illness.

Also, if you're in the US, you can freely/anonymously join the local DBSA (Depression and Bipolar Support) meeting. The name is misleading though - it's basically for any mental or "advanced" mental illness. My sample size is 1, but their were folks in the meetings that had debilitating anxiety / anxiety disorders soo..