Topic: what physical feelings of anxiety do you get?

I get the whole tightness in my chest, I can't breathe, shakiness, knots in my stomach, and sweating under the arms and on my palms. It's absolutely horrible. I am absolutely miserable and ashamed of myself that I can't function normally like a normal human being. And I feel like it's going to take me a lot to catch up to everyone else my age in terms of life experiences. And then I get depression when I think about that as well.

Tight chest, mild cold sweats thinking about anxiety itself, feeling helpless, mild body ached, tense upper back and neck muscles that does not go away or comes back after stretching, broken sleeps, dreams, fatigue. It's tough, rough, annoying and it never seems to end. Wears you down.

Hi Cee I feel your pain and understand exactly how you feel. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you ThomasJakeLim.. It's tough isn't it? Wish there was a cure for this horrible affliction.

Hi isabelle21

How are you feeling now? Have you found any answers? I am experiencing the same thing and it causing major health anxiety . I have seen a neurologist about it and in the end he said it is anxiety. he is doing an mri for my sake to help my anxiety but he said he 100% doesn’t need to do it for him. So I will let you know how I go.. otherwise all I can say is I was on anxiety meds and it helped dramatically and once I got off them I feel everything 10x more I feel worse! Also I went to physio and she worked on my back and that helped some of my symptoms too. So it could be a mix of things I hope you feel better soon as I know how scary it can be.. I am convinced I have MS

I am with u.

The worst for me is the anxiety l still get even yrs later over the regrets of something l did during anxiety, some go back 10yrs, some even more. But l can't change and undo a thing or apologize or explain to anyone.

lt's the absolute worst part of anxiety for me. rx

Yeah that is not easy at all.

Hi Rach, thanks for the reply!
Honestly... I don't think I have gotten to the bottom of it yet.

I went and saw a physio and we suspected it was a muscular thing in which he started to get to me work on strengthening my glutes and thighs.... but it wasn't doing much... so I went to see an osteo and he thinks that it has something to with my legs being hypertonic and not "switching off"... I am still not convinced because I find I still get weak/stiffness in the legs from time to time. I am really struggling quite a bit with it all... and probably going to request to do some scans for it...
I am also wondering whether this is just my anxiety? Very stressful because it plays on my mind all day... and I justwant an answer... :(

I don't deal well with anxiety at all. I chain smoke, which in turn has an affect on me physically. When the fear takes over I sometimes can't get out of bed because the anxiety is too overwhelming. I have tried self-soothing and that seems to calm me down a bit but the negative thoughts are just too much sometimes.

Have been dealing with spasms/twitches in all sorts of places on and off for almost 2 years, but the last few weeks I've had a return of chest and pectoral spasms and a weird spasms/twitch near the bottom of my sternum. It was originally a spasm like feeling in my chest that triggered my first panic attack and ER visit.

They're not painful and might happen a few times every few days but it's frightening as hell. It's hard to describe. They can come out of nowhere but tend to happen when I'm sitting or standing, not moving. I might actually go back and get some blood/electrolyte work done at the GP, but everytime they've come back fine and the GP is left scratching their head. Frequently I'll get twitches in my calves, arms, back, and chest, never had them before my first panic attacks.

On another note, I'd recommend the DARE app and its exercises. That app has really helped me to cultivate an attitude to just stop caring so much about what might happen to me. Plus just also a really nice thing to listen to.

In my low level panic attacks I get tingles in my hands and arms, have this drop feeling in my chest and may get the feeling if needing to do a number 2... At my worst I have been dissociative, I couldn't walk, couldn't feel my arms and literally felt like I was going crazy. Like I needed an ambulance. It was after that I decided to do on medication. I still get some physiological symptoms, but definitely not as bad.

Looked at a computer screen and though I could see the words on it, it’s as if I could read it over and over again but it wasn’t going in. Got worse as I panicked about it. A bit different for me as I usually feel anxiety through stomach upset.

I notice too a massive drop in energy level when anxious. Like I suddenly feel a desperate need for a sleep but was fine 2 minutes ago. Then that stresses me out because it’s hard to feel confident completing tasks with no brain power.

Hi Annabay!

I’m a bit late to the party as I’m only new to forums but here goes

My physical symptoms of anxiety can include

- a warm burning sensation down the back of my neck or through my arms + chest

- a lump in my throat like I’ve swallowed a large piece of food and can’t quite get it down, which turns into me stressing about choking

- heart palpitations and racing pulse

- blurry vision and the feeling I’m going blind. (Thinking vision is cloudy or getting tunnel vision)

- nausea and stomach problems

- headaches, mostly down the back of my head and into my neck

- I’ll get the shakes, my muscles will twitch and spasm

I don’t usually get all these symptoms at the same time unless I’m having a major panic attack but even then I usually will cycle through them with 1 or 2 at a time. Anxiety is such a strange thing but we have to remember, it’s HARMLESS!!!

hope you’re all well!

Chest tightness, pins and needles over my whole body, the shakes, dizziness, hyperventilating, “cotton wool” brain where I can’t think.

I’m so glad there are other people on here who I can relate to. I don’t know too many people who’ve had similar symptoms to me but reading through the comments makes me understand otherwise!

When I first got anxiety 11 years ago my symptoms were:

- lump in my throat like before you start crying but it never goes away and it makes you freak out about feeling like you’re choking.

- all over body shakes and muscle spasms

- racing heart

- anxiety attacks where I couldn’t breathe

- nausea

- diarrhoea

- heart pain/chest pain

- increased gag reflex

Now, I still get symptoms but they’ve sort of narrowed down and worsened in my opinion and feel more long term.

- lump in throat still

- gag reflex really sensitive

- swallowing reflex

- heart palpitations

- sudden and random pain in lungs lasting a few seconds

- false sense of asthma onset

- IBS

- panic and especially in crowds when it never used to happen

- fear of heights

i hope this helps anyone struggling and feeling like their symptoms aren’t valid or understood. I think everyone has different symptoms and they’re all valid ❤️

Hey everyone! and to Annabay who created this excellent thread back in 2019

Lucyyy mentioned 'Anxiety is such a strange thing but we have to remember, it’s HARMLESS!!!' Good1 Lucyyy

Hey GG224....Welcome and thankyou for taking the time to post your symptoms...I used to have the same and yes anxiety is an awful set of symptoms for sure

Just from my own experience....If our anxiety begins to interfere with our ability to function on daily basis...whether at work school or personal life seeing our GP can reduce our anxiety issues

my kind thoughts

Paul

Hi Guys! I am new to this and very excited to get involved!

I would say when I get anxious, the number one thing I experience is the sick feeling in the stomach, the tight chest and sometimes my body shakes if I am really anxious about something. Although, it is good to tell yourself that these symptoms are okay and it is just your body trying to keep you safe. I know from my therapy sessions I have learnt that it is a safety mechanism, therefore tell yourself that your safe, your okay and you will get through it. The body and mind can do amazing things to protect us.

I hope this has helped some people,

Thanks,

Brooke :)