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what physical feelings of anxiety do you get?

annabay
Community Member

hey there, what physical symptoms of anxiety do you experience?

I often feel very alone in my experience of having physical chest (what I think are heart) spasms and was wanting to create a space for everyone to list their physical feelings that come hand in hand with anxiety so we can all feel less alone.

hope everyone is well.

797 Replies 797

Sandro
Blue Voices Member
Blue Voices Member

Hi C#ristine

Hope your well in this challenging climate ,

I sympathise with you on having to experience those terrible feelings of feeling stuck and cognitively challenged and poor memory. I got to the stage where I did not even use a computer, sending an email became a real pain as the words were just not coming to mind and along with suffering insomnia just being able to do the usual work / life things took allot of energy and will. However today I find myself in the best mental and physical and spiritual health due the following. I watched this video for 30 days in a row on anxiety- it's called "Bob Proctor Reveals The Secret To Overcoming Anxiety" on youtube which started to give me an understanding, on the way our interesting minds work sometimes for us and sometimes against us. Cleaned up my diet and eliminated allot of sugar and drank plenty of water, along with walking , stuck to the same bedtime routine, doing my favourite things even if you have lost interest (it comes back) like listening to a fav podcast , playlist , watching a movie, reading a helpful book and setting myself little tasks nothing to big. But the greatest benefit I have found has come through meditation and mindfulness, I am not sure whether this is something your interested in but I definantly recommend it. I have only just joined this forum and this is only my second reply so not sure whether we can recommend books ect but I would highly recommend , Breaking the habit of being yourself by Dr Joe Dispenza which has helped me so much. Also note that over time you will overcome the fight,flight,freeze , just need to keep searching for alternatives that will continue to help you

Hope this helps you a little,

Take Care

Sandro

isabelle21
Community Member

Hi all,
I've been suffering from anxiety and more so some strange physical symptoms with stiffness in my legs (more so my thighs)... and it feels like my legs are jelly-like. It's really weird... as I will notice it when I go out for a walk. I never notice the stiffness anywhere else. I don't know whether this is something worse or not anxiety related but it's causing me so much panic and stress to the point where I am anxious to even go for a walk and feel comfortable and confident that my legs are going to suddenly fail me. I don't know whether this is something other people have experienced? Sometimes I won't get the stiffness and sometimes I will. There's no pain as such but just tightness.. like the feeling of elastic bands around my thighs. I am really concerned. The more I think about it.. the more I panic. When I do go on my walks and feel it coming on... I will often turn back and come home because I feel really strange.
I exercise often and am fit but the stiffness in my thighs feel different to post workout strains that I would normally get.
Any thoughts, comments, ideas? 😞

Gg22
Community Member
My biggest struggle is a rapid pounding heart. I can see it in my chest and it scares me I usually get shaking afterwards and generally feel low. It usually comes out of nowhere which is even scarier for me.

Watermelon1234
Community Member

Hi everyone,

One of the symptoms of my anxiety is dry mouth, especially when my anxiety levels are high. I am constantly sipping water, however, that means going to the toilet more often. I have also tried chewing gum every now and then.

Just wondering if anyone has found any remedies or techniques to help minimise dryness in the mouth?

Thanks in advance!

Jill_G
Community Member

Hi Gg22

Yes l know how you feel it's really scary when your heart is pounding really fast. Anxiety brings on many symptons as l found out. To ease my mind l wentvto the gp to get it checked out just for peace of mind. Take care

Mattw
Community Member
yea mate i know exactly what you mean, the more you focus on it the more that chest shaking happens, went to cardiologist then he directed me to a psychologist where she explained what was going on with my brain and she taugh me a simple breathing excercise which shuts down the anxiety feeling almost instantly for me, which is breathe in for 4 secs then hold it for 4 seconds then breathe out for as long as you can and repeat that. the heart palpitations and the shaking feeling in my chest goes away fairly quickily when i wake up with them now

Kody
Community Member
I regularly have anxiety attacks which mainly consist of rapid heart beat, nausea, dizziness and heat waves throughout my body. They usually only happen when i have to present something at school or have to talk in front of a large crowd and they only last for a couple of minutes but they can get very frustrating when i am trying to concentrate on something important. I also crack my knuckles frequently and fiddle with the things in my hand to try to calm my anxiety although it only sometimes works. the thing that i have found most effective is chewing gum as it takes my mind off the attacks and makes me less stressed. The only problem with this, is that my school does not allow chewing gum in class, meaning when i feel anxious i have to hide my gum from my teachers which raises my stress levels anyway.

Hi Everyone and huge thanks for contributing to Annabays' thread 🙂

Hey Watermelon1234

After dealing with dry mouth anxiety related symptoms I found a helpful fix....I just bought another bottle from chemist warehouse and it works really well!

  • Oral7 Moisturising Mouthwash 500ml

any questions are always welcome

my kind thoughts

Paul

Larks98
Community Member
Hi Guys.

Was at work on the 1st of June and felt my heart all of a sudden start racing.
I also had flu symptoms at the time.
Went straight to hospital to get tested for COVID. Results came back negative.

Left the hospital and went home. Whilst at home felt my heart was still beating fast and decided to go back to hospital.
Spent the night in hospital and had multiple blood tests done as well as a chest X-ray and ECG.

During this time having the flu, I honestly thought I had COVID and it scared the shit out of me.

As time has gone on I have seen my GP on the regular and have had more tests done all to have come back with nothing wrong with me, just negative thoughts.

Anxiety is all new to me.
So coping has been very hard, trying to tell myself that I'm fine aswell as having panic attacks every now and again.

My symptoms have been: indigestion aswell as having the constant taste of vomit in my mouth.
Having a constant feeling of having something stuck in my throat.
Constant muscle aches and pains through my arms, back, shoulders and chest.
Some mornings it feels as though I've had someone sitting on my chest through the night.

My anxiety is both mentally and physically draining. Some days are harder than others.

Off to see a physcologist on the 28th of this month. Hopefully they can get me in the right mind set and on the road to recovery

Yara
Community Member
I'm continuosly having difficulties in getting sleep this week, so the headache always there, even with the analgesics, it is heavy week really