Physical Sensations During Anxiety/Panic Attacks

I feel like over the last 3–4 years, my anxiety has shifted. A few years ago, I used to be very in my head about how I wasn’t good enough, how I wasn’t cool enough, or entertaining enough, and this used to give me a lot of anxiety in social settings. These were thoughts that would run through my mind in the moment and make me freeze up or feel anxious and panicky.

I went to therapy during this time and talked through a lot of these feelings, and I have made huge, huge progress with those issues specifically. When I go into social settings now, I don’t have these thoughts in my head. I am more content with myself as a person. I don’t feel the same pressure in social settings or have those intrusive thoughts.

However, over the last 3–4 years, I now feel immense physical anxiety. For example, I’ll be heading to a social setting and my mind panics, and I feel like I’m going to throw up, *** myself, or get light-headed. It hits me like a truck. I have really been struggling to work through this type of anxiety because, in the moment, you just feel like you’re dying and your body is giving up on you.

I feel like this has made me cut off social interactions slightly. I still try to put myself out there and step outside my comfort zone, but it is incredibly difficult. The main thing is that I feel like I’m not really present because I’m in my head trying to keep my body from breaking down and trying not to pass out, throw up, or *** myself. I feel like I’m not present and am stuck in my head when I’m around friends in social settings.

Also, with things like dating, I haven’t really put myself out there because, like, why and how would I go on a date and meet people if I’m not going to be present and I’m just going to sit there feeling sick while I’m with someone? I want to be there with a person, talking, listening, and getting to know them properly.

Again, I want to specify that this isn’t just me stepping outside my comfort zone. I know nerves on first dates are normal, and being anxious is normal, but this is more like I feel physically sick and like my body is about to give up. That is not a feeling you can really just push past and tell yourself to put yourself out there.

If anyone has any guidance, it would be much appreciated. This has really been a struggle over the last few years, with very little progress.