what physical feelings of anxiety do you get?

[annabay]

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.

[missep123]

@est72 - you mentioned a very important point with breathing! My breathing also gets shallower, I didn't realise until kind of recently that I don't tend to take deep breathes! It's definitely something I've been working on.

[Guest_1584]

l'm feeling sick to the stomach and l don't know if it's best l just push through it, or cancel the whole trip.

l'm suppose to go up to Sydney next wk to see my gf. l't a huge celebration bc she has gotten through her court cases, after 3yrs and everything for her now is fixed. She went through so much.

Thing is , her nervous system is shot too and right now it' s just too much for her to come down to mine, which she's been doing for 3yrs and l can't believe it now that l'm going up there now just this once yet look at me.

My ex w and l traveled all over the country yrs back and l still drive all over the state sometimes interstate for work. l normally love it. But it's wearing very thin now and l don't feel l can do or cope with any more of those trips these days and this last few yrs with Carona l'd onlt done a couple and pretty close. So now this trip .

l've been homebody so long now l only go out locally more and more and l try to only do what l can cope with. But it's the strangest thing. Few yrs ago l'd have been up all night with excitement but these days l feel like l can't even do it and sick. l'm not sure why is just bc l've been so homebody.

Just don't understand why l'm like this now. My ex's parents are 80s and just come back from a drive trip to qld. My dad was still driving intestate well into his later 70s .

rx

[Guest_1584]

And then there's one of my brothers. He's only a yr younger than me lives in qld but travels all over Asia , China. Drives down to Melbourne every yr and spends a mth going all over Vic seeing friends and family, then he goes over to Tassie to go riding with friends, he's into motor bikes.

He was down a mth ago and he's coming down again in 2wks and also Tassie. Then when he get's back he's going over to Taiwan for 3mths.

l'm suppose to go up to his near Brissy when he gets back. l use to love the qld drive, now lm feeling sick at the though of just Sydney.

Just not sure why l've become like this , or whether it's wise to push through it, maybe that's what you need, push through and it all comes back. l'm not my old self at all , ldk.

rx

[WorrierMum]

If it's a severe bout of anxiety - heart racing, upset stomach and jittery.
If it's mild anxiety day to day - tension headaches, shoulder and neck pain and just a general uneasy feeling.

[Guest_1584]

l suppose what has me scratching my head is that you'd think it'd get better with age. Bc with age you start realizing so much of the stupid things you use to sweat over , don't even matter. And with age you also start to realize most of the people crap you use to sweat over , don't even matter either and you start to feel a real freedom in just not giving toss what people think anymore.

Well , for me in many ways all those things have worked out that way , but there's others that haven't or seem to be getting worse.

As my gf says, never peace.

rx

[Jagz]

I was diagnosed with GAD quite young and bounce around like a pinball machine between all the different types of anxieties...one thing thats constant are my physical feelings.

Tingling in my arms and legs, hairs on the back of my arms raising as if I am sensing danger.
Then the heart starts racing. Manageable so far.

Then comes what I call my doom brain...it is a volcanic eruptions of negative and terrifying scenarios. When it’s really bad my steps to minimise go out the window.

Thats when the vomiting starts. My body wants to purge not just my stomachs contents but it feels like my anxiety as well.

Not sure if others get this one, but for me the feeling of fear becomes so great I can’t stop crying as if I am in mourning.

It’s a lot right! The good thing I can say is that by seeing a really good psychologist I am now managing to stop them from happening 9 out of 10 times. And frankly that 1 time, is enough.

[bluemoonbluesky]

I've been pretty good for a week now. Have been quite occupied, barely had time to think about my anxiety. That is indeed one trick I have learnt - occupy and engage, and one's anxiety can magically fade into the background (for a while, at least!).

Recently posted about IBS-like symptoms persisting after food poisoning, and the good news is that all is almost back to normal down there. One of the biggest reliefs? I can now have the simple pleasure of a latte with real milk, as I was lactose intolerant for at least 2 months.

[Dakota_C]

Ive very recently just been experiencing symptoms

Had my first panic attack some months ago where I would be feeling my heart palpitate and some shortness of breath, my entire body basically went numb from the gut down while driving but luckily I was right outside a hospital

Went in and everything checked ok, bloods, ecg, chest xray, so it was deemed an anxiety attack

Was ok for a good few months, I felt myself having the symptoms in the same location weirdly while driving home from work, was able to put some music on and calm myself down luckily

However the whole last week has been on a whole new level, tingly/burning/light feeling in my left arm from the elbow up mainly to my pinky finger, lots of lightheadedness, unable to focus / disassociate, slightly blurry vision, can feel my heart pounding quite heavily
have been in the hospital twice in the last week thinking its heart issues but everytime ive been checked ive returned normal on blood, ecg, and xrays, usually while im laying down being tested I dont feel any of the sensations

The last few days I can just be sitting at my desk and I would feel a real sudden cold sensation around my chest and my heart, almost like ice water was running through it, and then usually associated with a pain along the rib or the back of my neck, does anyone else experience random sudden "cold" water feelings inside?

[Beeee]

Hi Dakota_C,

Thanks for sharing your experience. Anxiety feels different for everyone, but I know how scary anxiety symptoms can sometimes feel. I have also experienced heart palpitations and shortness of breath and it really does feel like something's wrong.

You mentioned that turning on music helped calm you. I have found that having a few methods to calm myself is really helpful. Whether it's music, meditation or deep breathing. Sometimes I like to use a guided meditation app, it helps my mind focus on someone's else voice rather than my own thoughts. I wonder if music had the same effect for you?

Hope you find some relief soon and wishing you all the best.

[missep123]

Hi Dakota_C,

I'm sorry to hear you have been having these feelings. Someone once told me that when we have anxiety it can stem from our thoughts (which can be very stressful) which then makes our bodies believe we are stressed/can feel the impact of our thoughts.

It can take a lot of practice but it might be worth trying to re-frame anxiety provoking thoughts into more positive ones or even realise what kind of automatic thoughts we are having and how our bodies are responding.

Sometimes it can look like this:

Negative automatic thoughts (anxiety-related thoughts) -> body response (i.e tingling, headaches) -> behaviour (being scared of these symptoms, ruminating about them). It can turn into a cycle sometimes.