Anxiety and sadness

[2faces]

I’m new to BB and have found just reading the forums has made me feel a little better already. Most helpful was one about what physical symptoms people experience with their anxiety.  Particularly the breathing issues.  I would like to hear more from people with this debilitating symptom.  I’ve gone down the path of looking for medical reasons for my constant shortness of breath and tight chest but with no findings. Just knowing that others share what I’m going through helps me to believe that what feels like a serious illness could in fact be anxiety.  
And then I want to try to understand the accompanying sadness, which I’m not sure is depression because I rarely actually shut down.  Outwardly I am animated and jovial whilst internally my chest is crushed and I’m just biding my time to get to the end of the day.  
Even just writing that down feels like relief. 

[Mark Z.]

Hi 2faces,

Welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry for your challenge but happy to know that you feel a bit relief after reading the posts and sharing your story here.

Yes you are right that serious anxiety can cause serious physical symptoms, vice versa. And your sadness could be depression. However to my knowledge (I'm not a professional), one of the main difference between mental and physical illness is that it's much harder to diagnose by symptoms and it's very likely that our self-diagnose is wrong.

That's why I want to encourage you to seek professional help (seeing a psychologist for example) via your GP's referral. Before that if you want, it is also a good idea to call BeyondBlue hotline and have a chat with a professional over the phone. Hope you'll find yourself on the right path soon.

Mark

[sbella02]

2Faces,

Thank you so much for posting here, welcome to the forums. I resonate with a lot of what you have just said, as anxiety and depression can sometimes cause physical symptoms as you have described - stomach pains, exhaustion, breathing difficulty etc. As Mark has said, it's always best to check these out with a GP or other medical professional, and if you're not having any luck with one, there's no shame in seeing somebody else instead.

I'm glad that you feel better reading through the forums and expressing your experience in a written way, it's great that you've recognised that these physical symptoms are causing you distress. Journalling is also a good way of doing this, this is something that I practice often.

Please feel free to chat with us some more, we're here to support you as best as we can.

SB