Physical Symptoms of Anxiety
Im a pretty mindful person, I meditate and practice Bikram Yoga regularly. Unfortunately though I suffer from what seems to be ongoing anxiety. Right before I go to bed my brain is in a habit of switching on and keeping me awake. This morning I woke up with a real lack of energy. I had two coffees. Ive just started a new job and Im finding myself extremely anxious. One week in and I felt my heart go into weird almost painful heart beats where it would do one big pulse as if skipping a beat and then tingle through my chest. I went to hospital that weekend and as with my past of having SVT, as soon as I got to the hospital they couldnt find anything wrong with me. Its now a week and a half later and something similar is happening where my heart feels like its skipping a beat, does a big beat, and no pain or tingles this time but I feel the need to gasp for air. These symptoms of probably: being tired, 2 cups of coffee, complete anxiety about my work, is making my anxiety worse and doing my head in. I wonder who else gets crazy physical symptoms.
I've experienced, racing heart rate, hyperventilation, tense muscles, dry mouth, choking feeling, dizziness, numbness, lump in throat.
@sunnyShip2345
Hey I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I do the same thing.
@selfconfidentTangerine1778 no you aren't alone it's a very bad feeling it actually prevent me from going out much cause I'll start feel some of the symptoms.
@sunnyShip2345
I do this all the time myself. It is horrible.
@sunnyShip2345
I hear you
@Catunderstanding
Do you have a General Practioner (GP) that you can talk to this about? You might have an underlying condition no one has thought to look for and you don't know to advocate to test for. Start a diary of your attacks - note times, feelings, symptoms, people present, activities underway, anything you might have eaten prior to the attack -- you never know what a trigger is and you won't be able to necessary recognize those triggers until you write them down.
The symptoms themselves sound if they would contribute to your anxiety - I've come to recognize similar symptoms as the signs of a severe panic attack (usually triggered by people's energies and behaviors and some situations) and/or moderate to severe dehydration (I'm terribly prone to that ... no one knows why ::shrug::) and the biggest culprit is turning out to be food allergies. Figuring out how to respond to them will help them keep from taking over your life -- you can control how you respond to the symptoms when you can't control the symptoms - may take a lot of practice but I have found you can.
For me personally, it turned out that my Wheat/Gluten auto-immune plus severe malnutrition were triggering most of my symptoms similar to yours - arrythmia, racing thoughts, fluxing emotions, depression, anxiety, crippling body pain and many more. Thank God I finally stumbled upon a GP that's like a real-life "House" (the show with Hugh Laurie as a doctor if you aren't familiar that managed to solve incredible illnesses with simple test and thought). A vampirical visit to the lab and a ton of blood panels later -- we both saw the need to correct the nutritional shortfallings and to be more aware of my food intake. Go to your GP and ask about blood test to rule out vitamin deficiency and sit down and tell them - this is what happens and I want us to work to stop it or at least make it liveable. (Yes, liveable sounds like a compromise and it is ----- but it's better to live a life knowing how to deal with the symptoms/illness than holing yourself up and letting the symptoms control how you live and what you let yourself do because of them -- been there, done that, should put it on a plaque and hang it on the wall.)
Job stresses definitely does not help any (from my experience)-- figuring out what is triggering the panic would be where I'd start. Stop and observe your environment and make notes. Is there something in the environment - smell, sound or lighting that just doesn't feel right? Perhaps you're picking something up from a co-worker's behavior that is making you uneasy - even something so subtle it has clicked in your awareness yet. Perhaps the energy shifts to something more frenetic at 2:00PM as people are trying to get things done by their 4:00PM deadline and you're picking that up. Perhaps there's something generating a type of white noise (motor hum, high pitch whine only a dog should hear but you do) and that is slowly eroding your abililty to concentrate and stay calme. Stop, check out your environment throughout the day for a couple of days (weeks) and make notes -- then if it is something you can change, figure out how to do it -- like maybe taking the glare off your computer screen, re-arranging the desk so the phone isn't in an awkward place to reach, adjusting computer monitor heights or chair heights, bring in something like a tennis/raquet ball and squeeze it to help relieve stress, prepare yourself for the energy shift with a coffee/tea/snack break for that time of day to help you slide into it.
Most of all -- make time for yourself. Make time for yourself to unwind. If you're brain starts revving before bed -- write it down on paper, set it on the bedside table (or the floor) and just roll over and go to bed. Wake up in the middle of the night - pick up the paper, write it all down, roll over and go back to bed. Don't worry about reading it in the morning -- just keep writing it down and then sometime when you're feeling good later in the weekend or shoot next week, next month - pick it up and read it. Scratch through the silly stuff and say "Why was I worried about that?" Circle the things you can change and put together a plan of action. Still worried about something on the page -- come here, find a listener, hit the threads -- let it out, check the feedback, take what you want, apply what you want and then re-evaluate that stressor later and see if you can finally cross it off too.
You are in control. You are in control of how you react. Teach yourself how to take care of you, how to respond to things, and how to advocate with your medical professionals -- you'll be doing yourself a favor.
Hope something of this helps you. Take care.
I have really bad chest pains or I shake really bad when I have anxiety attack. Sometime is it so bad that I can't breath. Is this normal?
@selfconfidentTangerine1778 Everyone's anxiety symptoms are different. For some, the magnitude of them can be horrible like the shaking so hard you feel like you'll cause an earthquake. For others, it may not be as severe.
If you have a GP, I would definitely talk to them about the severity of the symptoms. Advocate for yourself, convey how hard you shake, how often you shake like that and how you feel afterwards. Talk about how to cope with the attacks and what tools would be helpful with your symptoms. Keep advocating for yourself - you are your best advocate when it comes to your health.
I had severe shaking and uncontrollable crying with my anxiety and opened the dialog with my GP -- it turned out to be the medication not working well with my chemistry. He changed things up and it went away -- so greatful for that.
Take care of yourself.
@diplomaticconfucious
I have not found anyone who could help me. My last doctor made me feel like I was crazy. They threaten to contacted social services or have me locked up because I had an anxiety attack while I was at the doctor office.
@selfconfidentTangerine1778
Then you might want to look for another doctor, in my opinion. Health professionals shouldn't judge patients - which is why it is important to advocate for yourself in the doctor's office by providing details and even logs of attacks with as much situational data as possible.
Don't give up - there is someone out there what will help you, it just usually takes time and a lot of effort to find them. I know that sounds horrible right now -- but it's better to take time find someone who will listen and actually take steps to help you feel better than someone who threatens and would rather not even deal with the symptoms.
Use the tools here to help you cope with your attacks. Find a listener and talk over how your attacks make you feel. Ask friends and familiy about their GPs or Nurse Practioners and see what kind of feedback they give. Keep a journal - fill it with details of your day and attacks.
Real important -- listen to yourself. Your mind and body are telling you something - and even in the jumble of panic, fear, frustration, anger and roller coaster of emotions -- you are the key to helping you. Discover the art of mindfulness - do an inventory of yourself - make note of how you feel, your surroundings - put it on paper if you have to so you can look back at it - you are more aware of what's going on around you and in you than anyone else can be. No matter how small something seems - make note of it. From the top of your head to the soles of your feet - get to know you.
Arm yourself with information and awareness. The more you know - the more you can work to understand and advocate for yourself. Sometimes it takes a nudge to set things in motion at a doctor's office - sometimes it takes a shove - sometimes it takes a matter-a-fact tone, a few articles and a "we need to look at this, and here's some data on it if you aren't aware of what I'm talking about" advocating from you to get your point across that you want a solution and you are active in your treatment.
Keep strong. You are strong for sharing. You are strong for reaching out and communicating. You may be helping someone watching silently who is afraid to reach out but now realizes - they aren't alone because of you opening the door to this conversation.
Take time for your self - and just breathe.
@Catunderstanding
I completely understand how you feel because I feel the same way that you feel.
Hi. Anyone having trouble swallowing? I had this since last year, after some time it got better but now feeling under stress and anxiety it is back again.
@secretZebra9903
Yes, I had that -- oh, it was frightening. I kept getting choked eating - which was embarrassing, scary, and to those around me a tad disgusting. Sometimes the immediate choking would trigger a panic attack or afterwards the trauma of choking would trigger an emotional response with tears I couldn't stop.
For me, after initiating the topic and talking it over with the GP and how frightening and regular it was becoming; we both agreed we needed to find an answer. It actually traced back to my malnutrition and extreme Vitamin D shortage that was confirmed in a diverse Chem Panel workup at the GPs. Now I take supplements as directed by the GP and it has seemed to eliminate that symptom along with many symptoms I had as well.
This may not be your case - but advocate for yourself with your care provider and open up the conversation to trying to find a solution.
Take care and thanks for sharing.