Topic: what physical feelings of anxiety do you get?

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.

Hi Annabay

With my anxiety my most physical symptoms were nausea/dry reaching which lasted for months. ..mostly mornings. ..also phantom smells.

Hi there

Hope your well. Yes the nausea and tummy symptoms have been awful for me over several months l feel it mostly mornings. Even though its better it has not completely gone yet.

Me... I had sweaty palms. racing heart, lump in the throat feeling, constant sighing, and sleep problems.

Now... the medication helps greatly, but I will still get that racing heart (muted), lump in the throat feeling (occasionally), constant sighing

For me the best way I can describe the feeling is feeling like I’m drowning. I feel like my heart is being squished and I struggle to get enough air into my lungs. Having PTSD from an assault I also find that once I become stressed or anxious I get really bad pain in my legs and in my tummy. Like someone is getting a steamroller and driving it straight over the top of me. And once I’m In that state I find it so hard to get back on track. My counselor always talks to me about staying in my window of tolerance. So when I start to feel like I’m beginning to drown I need to think fast and try my best to get back on track. But of course when I try and do that I become more anxious about the fact that I’m becoming anxious. Crazy isn’t it.
I do find now though that I try and start grounding myself without even realizing I’m doing it. And I’ve got a few little sayings or quotes that I keep with me, or in my handbag when I’m out work for example, and I try and read these and remind myself that I am safe, I am brave, and I can get through this.

hope that helps someone in someway! Life can be cruel. But look at us, leaning on each other for support and guidance. No matter how hard your past, present or future is, someone somewhere will always have your back and that’s something we all should try and remember.

ah I’m babbling now, so sorry!

Hi Annabay....excellent and very helpful thread topic by the way :-)

I used to have chronic anxiety that has reduced (a lot) with frequent ongoing treatment (yay!)

• tight breathing (chest muscles tightening.. restricting our ability to breath) Scary but harmless
• sweaty palms.....
• sleep problems....waking up at silly hours....(oversensitised/adrenaline release/common anxiety)
• night sweats..cold sweats
• dizzyness
• diarrhea (sorry.... but our digestive system is the most sympathetic to anxiety issues)
• heart palpitations....scary at first until I knew it was only adrenaline and way too much caffeine

These are all very common symptoms of various levels of anxiety...They are harmless yet a good indicator that we may have slow down and make some changes...The counseling and cognitive therapy is priceless :-)

So much great support here too!

Great thread topic annabay....I hope some of this is helpful to anyone on or off the forums

Paul

Hello Annabay, some great replies back to you as well as to the many others suffering from anxiety.

OCD can be a form of unwanted recurring and persistent thoughts, urges or impulses by having obsessions, compulsions or unfortunately, both, which cause great anxiety and distress and will create a physical feeling related to this disorder.

When someone is unable to perform their habit/ritual, then these feelings may cause physical symptoms, such as a fast heart rate and shakiness and can keep you from carrying on with your life normally.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

Hi Timmy1

Even though Annabay wrote this thread on Oct 22nd we can see your post and Welcome to the forums too :-)

Always great to have newbies Timmy1.....If we didnt have new members posting the forums wouldnt exist

So you can have more specific responses to your own situation you are welcome to start your own thread if you wish

Great to have you on the forums!

Paul

For me the physical manifestation I can only describe as a cold, rushing sensation in the chest. I'm told that's adrenaline. A friend of mine used the term "flooding" to describe it in it's constant mode.

My symptoms - constant sighing and yawning, trying to get the peak breath. Which ends up making my jaw and chest hurt.

And because my anxiety alters my breathing (in my mind) I'm constantly aware of my surroundings; where is the nearest hospital? Where is the closest door/toilet if I need to escape? etc

It's been happening for the past 2 months after I experienced a particular rough panic attack, and it's just exhausting!

Hi smcg10,

Your symptoms sound very similar to mine... although I've never actually been diagnosed!

I had a large panic attack at the start of 2019, which completely altered my life - but mostly my breathing, it's almost like I've needed to re-learn how to breathe.

My symptoms are shortness of breath, heart palpitations, constant back pain and jaw pain as well as some dizziness. Tried to find something physically wrong with myself for so long but being in denial never helped. I suffer from at least one of these symptoms everyday, but have learnt to manage.

Agreed, it's very exhausting... no wonder my body is always tense!

Hello Timmy, I'm sorry I haven't got back to you and yes if you reply back to me then everybody who wants to read a thread is able to read what you've said.

That maybe good because what you do say may help someone who's hiding away and too frightened to make a comment, so it may help draw them out and join in.

Any side-effects from medication will be listed in their pamphlet but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen to you, the company has to list all of what may happen, only for legal reasons and to protect them legally.

This is the second time my comments have gone through, so Ill have to check with BB why it's happening.

Are you able to start your own thread, simply because comments made on somebody else's thread do get lost and not answered, so please let us know.

Take care.

Geoff.

Hi Geoff

Any side-effects from medication will be listed in their pamphlet but it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to happen to you, the company has to list all of what may happen, only for legal reasons and to protect them legally.

This is sort of true but only in legal terms . For example in there would be increased anxiety and depression which is only two things but would include many things in themselves .

I believe that the powers that be need to fund a mental health diary that a person can write in things that happen after they start a med so that a doctor can see what may have changed from the medication . As much as people just dont want to talk about it they do cause side effects if they dont agree with you but then the correct one will cause very little .

One with me caused me to be manic on a very low dose within hours , where as one i took gave me no side effects.

Doctors need to listen to the people they are treating and i think a diary would be a great help with this.

cheers kev

I get the typical nauseous feeling in my stomach and being generally confused/clouded thoughts.

If my anxiety is moving towards a panic attack, it usually starts with a hot feeling around my neck area and moves to being short of breath, nauseous, sweating profusely and a somewhat irrational and immediate desire to 'get out of there'. (i.e. leave whatever area I'm in regardless of what that is)

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

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.

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

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???

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.

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

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....

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 :)

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.