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.

[Lacie]

Hey everyone,

so for about a month now, I have been experiencing different things, started with pins and needles in my arms (I went to the doctors about that, got a blood test, that came back fine) I then started getting randomly sharp pains in my chest, I can be doing nothing and it would just appear for like a second or so.. I have recently been experiencing like a shortness of breath, I don’t know if breast soreness is a thing but that has also been happening. I have experienced things like this in the past, it comes it goes, but it seems to be sticking around and now I’m freaking out and back to the doctors on Wednesday.. cos now I’m worried I have chronic artery disease... I know I shouldn’t google stuff but I freak out.... its mainly the random chest sharp pains that I keep getting at least once a day or a couple times during the week... that’s what is really making me more anxious... I feel like cos these things are making me anxious it’s just one big circle! Just feeling really fed up now, I don’t know why I’m feeling like this, I don’t personal feel anxious at this time in my life. Can anyone relate? Thanks guys

[Purple4]

Hi Everyone

I've lost count of my physical symptoms as I'm not sure if they are anxiety related or not. I feel my GP is too quick to just assume all my health issues are due to my anxiety and depression.

What happens to me when I'm anxious and feel panic coming is:

I get pins and needles in my arms and hands.

I sweat and shake.

My whole body tightens up

I feel like my head will explode

My legs turn to jelly and I feel like I will fall down

My heart races

I have IBS and numerous digestive issues. I live with chronic musculoskeletal pain. I also have Fibromyalgia which over laps many things

I'm currently very unwell and will be seeing a gastrointestinal surgeon this week hoping for answers.

[SCoo]

I have a constant lump in the throat, or itchy throat ( a weird one) shaky hands, tightness in my stomach, tight chest and dissociation.
move just been put on meds for my anxiety so hopefully with counselling and the meds combined some of my symptoms go... especially the throat one!
I had my anxiety under control for ages but now it’s turned into a full blown panic disorder which is really frustrating!

[blondguy]

Hey Annabay! Thankyou for this great topic!

Hi Kev....Panic90....Lacie....La Bas.....SMCG10....Sez....Timmy.....Purple4....

thankyou so much for sharing your feelings of anxiety.....

just re-posting my symptoms from above if it helps anyone

*tight breathing (chest muscles tightening.. restricting our ability to breathe) Scary but harmless adrenaline side effects as a result of our anxiety problems

*sweaty palms....shaky hands...
*sleep problems....waking up at silly hours.

*night sweats..cold sweats...dizzyness
*diarrhea (sorry....yet our digestive system is the most sympathetic to anxiety issues)
*heart palpitations....scary at first until I knew it was only adrenaline working overtime

you are not alone everyone

Paul

[ClearQuartz]

My first symptom is always the feeling that something is sitting on my chest, like a heaviness or bad energy that needs to come out. Then I get the feeling that the only way to get rid of it is to "cough it out" so I'll coughing to which I think triggers hyperventilation.

I'm curious if anyone else gets the urge to cough???

[geoff]

Hi I was meaning in my comment ' the second time my comments have gone through', so while I was still typing a reply, my comment was posted before I had a chance to finish it.

I then had to open up a new reply.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[SilvaLady]

Hi Paul,

thanks for posting the symptoms, I have couple of those as well couple of others.

Usually go to bed around the same time, but either wake up 2.30 am (give or take 1 hour), other times will sleep up to 12 hours.

Other times I will either overeat or only have one meal a day.

I never realized that a person's bowel habit would change with the level of anxiety, every day it seems to be different.

Other times my hands shake, feel dizzy and feel "otherworldly" (it feels like that I'm sitting next to myself, observing what I'm doing).

SilvaLady

[that guy]

For me I have experienced multiple symptoms at different times

First time was headaches and light headedness, this was April last year when I was worried about travelling to Japan by myself
Second was my gut, it got so bad and unpredictable, that for 3 months, I was scared that I had cancer, turns out it was just highly reactive to anxiety, since then, whenever I had anxiety attacks, my gut would always be sore.

Third time it was my chest, it got so tight I thought I was having a heart attack

And now I've had muscle tremors and spasms and weakness!

Its just never ending, and who knows what my next anxiety attack will give me....

[Kjp1409]

I have a constant feeling of tension in my body (particularly in my shoulders and neck) and I get random stabbing pains in my ribs nearly every day- it almost feels like a pinched nerve. I also get heart flutters and palpitations, sweaty hands, hot and cold flushes, lightheaded and this weird sensation that I'm not really in my body. I also get pins and needles in my hands, lips and nose if it's really bad. It's a terrifying experience, especially when I get all of the symptoms at once!

I thing I noticed about my anxiety is that the physical symptoms change. Just when I get used to one and I can reassure myself that it's just anxiety, I wont get that exact symptom for a while and I'll experience brand new ones instead. That part I think scares me the most because it starts a new battle in my head of 'oh no, what's this?' 'am I dying?' etc.

Just out of sheer panic, I asked to see a cardiologist who I'm seeing on Friday to give me peace of mind about my heart but I've seen one before and my heart has always been okay. I'm sending so much love to all you out there going through the same thing, it's so tough. We're all so strong though and will get through it. So grateful for this little community 🙂

[Jill_G]

Hi there

I can relate to some of the symptoms to....l also had alot of nausea and dry heaving every morning. ..it was awful. ...in time it got better but occasionally raises its ugly head again.