Anxiety Attacks - Heat Sensation

[Ricman]

I have recently lost my sister to cancer after a short illness. My second sibling to die under the age of 50. I am the youngest and only one left. Just me and mum. A couple of days before her funeral I had what I believe was my first anxiety attack. Racing heart, dizziness, the fear of doom. Hard to remember everything that happened. Since then I've had my heart checked, seen my GP who has put me on AD's for GAD. Occasionally use medication if I am really bad. My main anxiety comes from the thought of something happening to me. I get that life is uncertain but it's the attacks that worry me the most. Fear that they aren't an 'anxiety attack' and something more sinister or when I'll have another one. I've read a lot online about the symptoms and I pretty much have them all. Muscle aches, headaches, tiredness, insomnia, feeling jittery etc but when I have an 'attack' I get scared the symptoms are something else. If I could describe it, I suddenly get this intense feeling of heat running from my leg right up the left side of my body mainly in my ribs and then I get the rest, pounding heart, racing thoughts that something bad is going to happen, feeling spaced out etc. It usually passes in 20 minutes or so but then I am left absolutely exhausted. Am I losing my mind?

[therising]

Hi Ricman

I'm so incredibly sorry for all the pain and challenge you face. It always leads me to feel sorrowful when someone is suffering so much. My heart goes out to you.

You sound like an incredibly sensitive person, so much so that you can feel each sensation in your body (certain sensations a lot of folk are unable to feel). You could say such sensitivity is like a blessing and a curse depending on the circumstances. Most of us are pretty tuned into the sensations we experience when we perceive them as something being 'wrong'. We're not always as well tuned in when we're being excited in positive ways.

It's kind of weird to become an observer of your own body. As a 49yo female, entering into that stage of life, there's some pretty interesting changes occurring and one of them is heightened sensitivity. When I say to folk 'I know exactly what gives me 'hot flushes' and I know exactly how to deal with them effectively' what I'm generally met with is 'Yeah, sure! Good luck with that!'

Yes, I do know how crazy this might sound but when I get what's known as a 'hot flush' (in the head region) it follows a particular course. Say I'm sitting researching something fascinating on my laptop that I find exciting, I can feel a buzzing in my feet. This can move further up my legs. What I'm researching can then get my heart racing and before I know it, I'm in a state of hyperactivity doing a bit of sighing (aka energy exhausting) before, BAMM, the excitement manifests as heat in my face. A few glasses of water generally calms things down within minutes. Yes, seriously weird.

What you describe sounds like a gradual rise in energy. It's a work up that takes a particular course, from the tips of your toes to the top of your head. Sounds like a bit of a strange question but have you ever noticed if the coursing heat up your leg follows a buzzing sensation in your foot?

A lot of sayings out there which reflect a rise in body/mind energy: To become hot headed (when stress rises to anger), to be buzzing with excitement, feeling the vibe (vibrational or excited energy within our cells), a rise to courage (which can be misinterpreted as anxiety) and the list goes on. With the body/mind connection, tying dis-ease in with disease can allow us to observe our self in interesting ways, especially when it comes to our sensitivities.

I would suggest you're in no way losing your mind. If anything, sounds like it's opening up to more closely observe your 'sensational' self.

🙂