Terrible physical symptoms of anxiety?

[Misscarlie]

Hello im new here but have been diagnosed with Gad after under going every test possible health wise... i suffer from instant heart racing, feeling like fainting and nausea as soon as my body is waking up every morning and im scared!!! I also feel my pulse through my entire body ontop of the symptoms above allll day i find it hard to accept as gad and keep thinking im dying does anyone else have these symptoms??? I feel like im dying every day i wake up 😞 i also have a heavy/ headache no pain all day... my health scares me so much i lost 7kgs in 3 months and i am so worried its something bad no matter what all tbe docs and tests say...

[PamelaR]

Hello Misscarlie

Welcome to Beyond Blue (BB) forums. the people who provide responses to your post are supportive and caring.

Anxiety ain't the best is it. I feel for you. I too frequently wake with a pulse through my whole body. It's so hard to stop it some times. Especially if I've had caffeine, chocolate (dairy free) or msg, these substances really add to the difficulties I have in managing my levels.

I'm pleased that your tests show that there is no physical problems. It is unfortunate, but anxiety can have some rather unpleasant body reactions. There is a range of material available on anxiety at BB home page under the Facts tab. Also do a google search for anxiety symptoms.

Overall, some of the best things to do are:

• learn to slow your breathing and focus on it. Specifically, breath in for 4 (or more) and breath out for 4 (ore more). Focus on your breath as it goes in through your nose, into your lungs and diaphragm and then out.
• get regular exercise. Daily 1/2 hour walks are good.
• eat healthy foods and keeping healthy lifestyle.
• do some grounding and mindfulness (do a google search for these and/or have a look at the Staying Well threads here in the BB forums)

Let us know how you get on.

Kind regards

PamelaR

[Meowface]

Hi Carlin - have you linked in with your dr again recently? Your feelings and symptoms are still having a major impact on you despite their diagnosis so recommend you check in again or get a second opinion, it’s so important to feel supported and not feel alone.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hey Misscarlie,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for being here.

The first thing that I want to say is that you're not alone in this. If you only take away one thing from my reply let it be that. Anxiety can be terribly isolating even though there is so many people that struggle with it. I have read lots of posts on here from people feeling like they are going to die everyday or utterly convinced that they have a terminal illness.

The most most most important thing is to have a doctor that you trust. It is very easy to go doctor shopping when we don't feel convinced or are told to look for a second opinion. Normally - the Doctor will conclude GAD and use that to explain your symptoms only after blood tests/ECG's etc. This helps to rule out everything else. Even though we're not aware of it, Doctors are also searching for patterns - when you have anxiety you'll probably find that there are times that it's more intense than others. Sometimes it can even help to write it down - when did you start feeling this way/what were you doing/thinking at the time?

Do you feel like you understand anxiety? Sometimes people don't realise that anxiety can be related to all these crazy symptoms - often when people think of anxiety they think of worry when in reality it's much more complex! Getting a better idea of how anxiety works and why you feel like your heart is pumping out of your chest is important - that way you can be more reassured that you are safe and not dying.

Hope this helps

[Bridgetjane1980]

I too have been struggling with the same terrifying symptoms since January. I have had ecg's and blood tests as well and just can't seem to get my head around that anxiety can cause these horrible symptoms I go through every single day. I feel your pain and know u are not alone.

[Kharvey1509]

For me, the two most helpful things that I have done over the last few years with Anxiety is to go through forums such as this and read stories of other people in the same situation. It helped me to not feel so isolated and that I wasn’t crazy for feeling this way because so many other people were going through the same thing. The second piece of advice is to talk to your doctor about how Anxiety can cause these symptoms, once I started to get a better idea of how it worked, they started losing their power and eventually became manageable. If your Doctor isn’t willing to do this or your not happy, find a better one but try to avoid doctor google!

[Anxiousyoungmum]

Hi. I have joined beyond blue because I live in a small town where even a GP is not always easy to get to let alone a mental health worker.
I have really bad health anxiety and what doesn’t help is that I am a nurse and am trained to obsess over every part of a patient and constantly monitor to see if they will become ill and it’s affecting my own health. The smallest symptom has me on the edge of a panic Attack. This week alone I have thought I had a vagina tumour, brain cancer/tumour and the latest one is that I’m going to have a stroke all while trying to care for my 6 month old son
It doesn’t help that my GP thinks I’m just being dramatic. Not trusting your doctor or feeling like no one is taking you seriously will just make your anxiety worse I have to tell myself everyday if there is a physical illness I will get sicker and I can tackle that day when it happens but until then I will just live my life the best I can

[SDeliahS]

When I had my first panic attack and terrible physical symptoms I would refuse to think anxiety could cause this. I thought that it must have been something much more serious, to affect me this much. Now 6 years down the track I am realising that it is anxiety (crazy what our mind can do?!). Now that I can see that I feel somewhat better as when I experience symptoms I know it's anxiety and instead of trying to figure out what the issue is, I focus on what I can do (ie. breathing exercises, meditation etc). Something else that helps me is if I am still anxious about the physical symptoms I go to my GP and get checked out, gives me reassurance.