One year in on the anxiety journey

[Helenmaree46]

Hi all,,hope you are all doing ok. It's been a year since my anxiety and panic attacks started. This last few weeks the panic is subsiding , but I am left with extreme exhaustion and a weird feeling in my eyes, like they are stary and not awake. For the last year I have had daily anxiety and I'm wondering if because the anxiety is easing am I noticing fatigue more. I have never felt so tired. Any thoughts or similarities ? Thankyou

[Emmen]

Hello Helenmaree46,

Anxiety can cause your body to react in many ways, and exhaustion may be a result of it. In all honesty, daily anxiety attacks sounds exhausting - your body could be feeling the effects of this.

Even if the panic subsides, your body may still be in a tense state (that was my experience), especially because the entire year, you've been in that state to the extent that it has become your norm. What helped for me was to do mindfulness activities and progressive muscle relaxation to consciously relax my body so that I could teach myself a new 'normal'.

If you are concerned about your fatigue, you can also visit your GP to rule out any medical causes. Personally, I'd try the relaxation for a couple of days first and see if that helps.

Take care,
M

[Here_I_am]

Hi Helenmaree46,

The exhaustion/physical tension that anxiety brings is something I experience a great deal of. I notice that I am often very tense with muscles flexed, jaw clenched, breath held or very shallow breathing... and that's just whilst watching The Block room reveals! 🙂

When the fatigue really takes over, I know that it's a short few days before other anxiety 'symptoms' come back, such as the racing mind, the sleeplessness (as in 4 - 6 hours maximum before I'm wide awake and off racing again) and the racing heart, dry mouth and useless thought processes that help no-one and go nowhere.

For me, vigorous exercise helps a lot. Getting my body working really hard to the point where my mind has to tune in and pay attention to what I'm doing rather than the other way around is of great benefit. Intense exercise and good diet help tremendously to counteract cortisol build up, which is quite common when we experience that constant, low grade anxiety long term. Hitting the gym, going for a long bike ride, a couple of hours of tennis with someone who can actually play, a focused session of karate on the lawn or with other students... whatever you can get into; have a go at physical activity to see if that can break you out of the fatigue state you describe! It works for me.

Hope to hear from you soon! 🙂