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.

[gucia6]

I have not really figured out if I have anxiety or not, but whatever it is the response usually includes following:

• clenched stomach / nauseousness
• dizziness / blank mind (this feeling when meeting new people without having my safety person beside me, like husband or good friend who do the talking. I don't know what to say whenever I meet new people, feel horribly awkward and out of place, and imagining that I am judged as cold, arrogant, rude or complete weirdo)
• lump in throat and chest
• physical and emotional exhaustion and headache following after calming down
• urge to run away, but I can't because there is no real predator to escape from, and as a 'responsible adult' I should be able to deal with whatever problems arise
• in the past I used to experience tingling and numbing in hands and feet, and 'seeing' red an black patches, but fortunately this does not happen any more

[summer_girl]

Hi maccaz

i agree, recently I’ve been trying the acceptance approach and feel it helps somewhat better than previous approaches

I too get a lot of tension headaches which drive me crazy I sometimes feel as though my head is in a vice lately and stressing about it is making it worse .

i need to practice more acceptance

hearing you mention that has been helpful thankyou

[summer_girl]

Yes!

this has been me for the past 5weeks

although I have been feeling anxious lately I’m wondering if it’s from this or my hormones as this has never happened to me before

it’s interesting to hear you have felt the same

[summer_girl]

Hi Dakota

i have just been scrolling through the posts and came across yours and I can’t believe how close your feelings represent mine

fir the past two months I have been experiencing days of feeling lightheaded and dizzy and this feeling of pressure inside my head, almost like a tight band trying to squeeze my brain out!!

my neck muscles are so sore and upper trapezius muscles that I can’t even push my head back . Like you I have tried massages but am yet to see an osteopath I know it’s from some sort of underlying anxiety that I can’t seem to shake. I worry constantly about the uncomfortable feelings in my head . Have your symptoms subsided?
Thanks for sharing

[Yellow Hope]

The physical symptoms that I experience with anxiety include a heavy chest, shortness of breath and headaches (not necessarily all at once). They can range from mild to more drastic at times.

I find some relief through regular exercise and balanced nutrition!

[Baljeet]

Same here I am feeling the same

[dadsgripe]

Hi all. My symptoms have slowly evolved and changed over the years. Just when you get to grips with how to deal with them, the anxiety throws you a new one.

Dearealisation has always been my biggest issue. Most of the other things I can deal with, but derealisation really scares me. Recently, and what brought me here was heart palpitations, more specifically, my heart skipping a beat. I had never experienced this up until a couple of months ago. I have had a stress test, ecg’s and a 24 hr Holter monitor, all which showed nothing out of the ordinary, and my doctor therefore concluded that it is the anxiety. I am a healthy 40yo with no prior issues. It’s seems to happen in the evenings, after dinner, and can happen once, or repeatedly every 5-10 minutes. I felt like no one believed me, and I was starting to doubt myself until my wife actually felt my pulse and caught one of the skips.

I decided to check out the forums here to see how common this is and was surprised at the amount of times I read people noting heart skips as a symptom.

I guess I need to accept it, and re-examine what’s happening in my life. It’s just so frustrating as the palpitations seem to come out of nowhere, I don’t feel anxious or stressed! Though if I’m honest I have been under a lot of pressure lately.

thanks for listening!

B

[qfskies18]

I only seem to struggle with digestive issues physically. Lately I’ve had a sensation of a lump in my throat that makes me feel like I need to gag (think when you’re brushing your teeth). If it’s really bad, I’ll feel like I could throw up, but not usually. The gagging sensation is very annoying. Sometimes I get an upset stomach. I’ve also noticed I tend to breathe a lot faster than I need to lately, but it’s the digestive stuff I deal with more.

[jemma09]

Hi everyone, it's great to see everyone sharing their physical feelings.

I have noticed/realised some new ones for me:

When in panic mode: tingly nerve feeling in my hands, breathing changes and my stomach drops... like going down a rollercoaster. I can almost feel a wave of panic or anxiety wash over my entire body and tainting it. I am then hyper aware of my surroundings. I don't know if this would be classed as a panic or anxiety attack. These feelings will usually happen due to a negative stimuli. But I really don't like diagnosing it, I prefer to do my breathing exercises to get through it.

My eating habits sometimes change when my anxiety is high and ongoing. I don't get hungry, I find it hard to eat decent portions - almost to the point where I feel sick and can't continue. Sometimes I would not eat for over 12 hours. Then of course I lose weight. It is very hard to put the weight back on it takes months, so that is what I am trying to do now is get back to my preferred weight which is about 1-2 kg more than I am now. I try to make sure I eat 3 meals a day and also snacks. Also use ensure drinks which are good for increasing nutrients. This really frustrates me the most as I wish my appetite would just stay the same all the time.

Thanks for reading 🙂

[Mactedbelmax]

I experience exactly the same problems as soon as i feel i have my physical symptoms sorted i also get thrown new ones it is extremely frustrating, lately i have been getting random surges of adrenaline out of nowhere which frighten the daylights out of me! My eyesight changes i get dizzy and feel really off for a few minutes then i calm down and talk myself out of it with the help of my wife lol