I've been having more and more physical anxiety symptoms and they are really starting to scare me I suffer from health anxiety so these symptoms are making me terrified and taking over my every day life. Has anyone else suffered from physical anxiety symptoms and if so what type of symptoms have you had and how did you deal with them. I just don't see how these weird symptoms and sensations are from severe anxiety I feel like I'm fighting a losing battle sometimes. 

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Hi Joey,

I have depression, daily anxiety and panic disorder. I get daily physical anxiety symptoms. I usually get some or most every day, the severity depending on if I am having a good day or a bad day. If I am in full blown panic attack or migraine I may get all.

Nausea, Headaches (base of skull and above eyes), Acid Reflux/Heartburn, disorientation, difficulty focusing, head zaps (feeling like electric pulses in my brain), light headedness or dizziness, tight chest/breathing difficult, increased heart rate and breathing rate, fatigue, severe sensitivity to light or sound sources, and vomiting (can be frequent).

These are the most frequent and regular symptoms I get, most of these I have medication or other methods to deal with, but on really bad days I cannot function at all.

Do any of these seem similar to your symptoms? What symptoms do you get recently?

thanks

SB

I get rashes under my knees, on the side of my leg, also shooting electric like shocks in my sternum, tight chest and feels like somethings trying to get out, tireness, ulcers sometimes but they're terrible, put me in bed for a week with severe pain.  Pricklie sensations from the tips of my toes to the top of my head lol, mostly when I feel embarrassed but sometimes just for no reason.

Friggin horrible this anxiety.

Yes, I've been getting physical symptoms for a while now. Particularly fatigue, tingling in my limbs, muscle twitches, headaches, blurry eyes and sharp pains in seemingly random places. This has only been happening the past few months and I don't really have a way of dealing with it yet, I just try and bear with it and calm down the best I can. 

Honestly, I don't see how anxiety can cause these either but the proof is all there. I hope it starts getting better for all of us soon.

Yes I get the physical symptoms with relapses- muscle pain, hot and cold, tingling.  Usually with the right meds I can settle these, drink lots of water, eat right, not the time to overdo coffee and alcohol. All the stuff we know. I think of it as a bit like just being in a near miss car crash- my body is full of adrenaline and getting ready to take off or prepare for attack which is why I get physical symptoms. And that's also why it's exhausting being that way- overdose of adrenaline. Massage sometimes helps, green tea to absorb the toxins being produced, wrap up in a blanket.

Anyway this website has all the tips but it does happen, hang in there.

Depends on the severity of my anxiety (health anxiety sufferer) usually during a period I can suffer

muscle twitching, weakness in extremities, breathless doing house chores, numbness feeling in legs sometimes in just one leg, I shiver (like someone walked over my grave) type shiver all the time head to toe eg I can just be talking to someone about my anxiety and it will happen or someone will touch me and it can happen, tense neck muscles, shaky hands, I do get fatigue but not that often, I also feel insecure about myself. At the moment I have all those symptoms and it sucks! The worst bout I have had. I have recognised I am going through an anxiety "relapse" and seeking help. Antidepressants don't work for me! 

Agree with meditation and breathing techniques.

Also forgot to mention when I have a panic attack those symptoms are exaggerated ten fold. Then once I settle down the symptoms of weakness ect go back to what they were and I'm more shaky for the next hour or so. Then the convincing little voice in my head continues on and on.

Thanks everyone for your posts it's like a roller coaster ride that I feel is  never ending I get a symptom then am fixated on that symptom so much until it finally goes which makes it 100 times worse but some last for weeks which freaks me out more and yes that voice in your head that keeps telling me it's something life threatening and terrible. I can't relax I wake up anxious and can feel my body so tense as soon as I open my eyes I have no idea what it's like to be relaxed anymore I wish I could just feel free and relaxed for once but I'm constantly on edge and with having the symptoms convince myself it's some type of disease. Sometimes the symptoms are so strange you think how can this be anxiety even though you have read the symptoms over and over again. Feeling so frustrated  and like will I ever feel normal again. I wish all of you the very best !! 

Also when you have had physical anxiety symptoms how long have you had them last for ??? 

Depends on how long my anxiety goes on for.

If I have worried myself sick and I have tests done and they turn out negative, I see the symptoms slowly disappear over a few weeks, sometimes quicker.

it depends how much I have psyched myself up over my health worries. I find, once I move from one concern, over to another those symptoms can disappear. 

I know it seems impossible to think anxiety can do this to your body, but if you think of flight/fright response, how your heart races, you breath faster, you feel numb, weak and sick all at once. Well now think of it as your body is in a mild state of flight/fright mode all the time. You aren't allowing yourself to recover and calm down. When anxiety is at it's peak, we do breathe shallower and we don't even notice it. So if you think then, well we are not breathing correctly, oxygen is not adequately been moved around the body, so it's no wonder we have all these symptoms. I find when I'm going through an episode that my extremities get numb more than they would if I wasn't anxious. For example if I cross my legs, they will go numb and tingly, where's if I wasn't anxious this does not happen.

also another thing is my symptoms will hang around for as long as I focus on them. Remember there is a lead up to anxiety and symptoms slowly creep up, they will take just as long to go away.

hope this helps

The reason you wake up anxious is because your mind is not switching off. 

I think of it as when I was studying, I would be up late every night reading and doing little tests. I would eventually become fatigued and go to bed. I often though, how on earth  am I going to remember all this? During my sleep, I would wake up as you do sometimes and look at the time, and my mind would be rehearsing everything I just learnt. Storing all the facts and info I guess. I would wake up the next day, being able to remember everything I learnt from the night before and also understanding it better. So I guess you have heard of people cramming the night before an exam.

so my point is, you are going to bed with all these concerns and worries, and while you think you are sleeping, your mind is still doing all the worrying, so you are not relaxed like you normally would be when your not anxious. As much as you tell yourself you are going to wake up better (that's your subconscious trying to override your conscious thoughts) your conscious is going to win. Until you find a way to overcome your thoughts and worries,whether that is through medication, behavioural therapy, meditation, exercise you will wake up day in and day out feeling tense/uneasy/upset. Your mind once in this state is very hard to switch off.

I have had anxiety for as long as I can remember (I'm 31 now) and I find the more attacks I have the more physical the symptoms and the more I can convince myself and freak my self out of having a disease. I know anti depressants don't help so CBT, yoga, exercise are the best medicine for me and remembering to stick at it, regardless if I start to feel better

I hear you! I'm very much the same. My anxiety symptoms are mostly chest related. I get flutters, little tiny zings, so minute I even wonder if I've experienced anything at all, but the problem is that my body is so hypersensitive to the tiniest sensation that when I do feel something, I go into a state of hyper-alert (the only way I can describe it) and I wait.... And the what if games begin... And just when I convince myself that it's anxiety, I'll experience a completely different sensation, which throws me off kilter ALL over again. 

For me, the physical symptoms are definitely the worst - I feel your pain, and I think a lot of others do too *hugs*

I get quite a few physical symptoms, like hyperventilating, feeling sick, feeling dizzy, heart beating really fast, head rushing, sweating, blushing... but the worst for me is that I suddenly - for basically no reason - will need to use the bathroom (for either one, or both, of the two things). And if I don't get to it induces or worsens a panic attack.

I'm not coping excellently with it, but having some tablets on hand at all times for preventing diarrhea reassures me a little - it's not good to take them too often, because that's an avoidance behaviour, but having them helps me. As for the other thing, I try not to drink too much before a class, car/train/bus journey or anything like that, and take regular bathroom breaks.

For everything else I find that deep breathing, having some tea (or cold water if I can't have tea), going for a walk outside and just normal painkillers seem to help. Talking to someone about how I'm feeling also sometimes makes me feel a little better.

Stay strong, and remember that while the physical symptoms are really happening to you and are scary/a pain, you can prevent them in future, and deal with them when they happen. You've got this x

Glad to know others experience these too. I blush (I'm half English show my face goes pretty red), get sweaty hands, get uncontrollable body tremors, breathe fast and shallow, and become ultra-sensitive. As many people have told me - awesome if you're fighting a sabre-toothed tiger, not so awesome for going about day to day life.

Ironically the time I'm most relaxed is after some really tough exercise.

Been getting a lot of the sabre-toothed tiger (or Jungle Lion) references recently from MHC professionals when talking about the panic/anxiety attacks.

Shouldnt evolution have smoothed that out by now? or maybe are we stuck with it for the next 20,000/30,000 years.

Hey Joey

I went through a series of really high stress situation during 2011 when I was in year 11 that resulted in my first encounter with physical symptoms of anxiety. One day I came home from a camping trip and started cooking myself some food, ate it and almost immediately afterwards i was throwing up. 

This continued to happen to me for 8 weeks, things that stressed me would make me begin to gag and through up. I couldn't eat so my doctor gave me anti nausea medication and told me to try yogurts, up and go and things that would give my protein in liquid forms.
 I went from 60kgs to 45 in those 8 weeks. I was scared that i might die, but my mother kept reassuring me that i would overcome it, It's a slow process and as I have a very fast metabolism it's difficult for me to put on weight, but i'm happy to say that my appetite is very strong now.I'm not sure what your symptoms are but when i was in this really bad state it was a catch 22, I would eat and through up, and then i wouldn't eat incase i would throw up. I in no way had body image insecurities, my anxiety just manifested in a physical form. Cheers x

Hi All,

I have generally been on the depressivd scale of the spdctrum, with very few anxiety attacks which generally resolved themselves very quickly. Since leaving my husband however, my anxiety has been through the roof and I am finally understanding that at least to me it is worse than depression. Maybe I just know how to deal with depression, and am yet to get far with that for anxiety. 

I have had fast breathing and heart rate, dizziness and worst of all, shakes. I normally have a left hand tremor, but it goes from there to my other hand and my legs, some extent to my chest and worst is the facial twitches. I am a verbose person who speaks clearly and well, but when I am anxious, which is most of the time lately, I develop a stutter and repeat words. 

These physical symptoms, on top of my psychogenic non epileptic seizures, terrify me in ways that depression does not. Any advice would be helpful as to how to deal with it. 

GA

Hey hun

I'm so sorry that you're going through this! xx
Anxiety is horrible and it's such a ridiculous barrier to have to cope with. After loosing my father i'm more on the depression side rather than my anxiety which used to be through the roof. 

This may not be helpful at all to you but here's what I've done to try and reduce anxiety:

* Cut caffeine out of my diet completely (energy drinks, coffee)
* Reduced alcohol intake as it is a depressant
* Stay away from really sugary drinks like sodas (things with caffein

Also breathing techniques are great :) while making a cup of tea or sitting at the lights do 10 deep breaths and exhales. 

Try and find a good psychologist who can help you worth through everything.

And above all just tell yourself not to worry and that everything will be fine 10 times a day :) xxx just breathe xx 

Hi Rain Girl,

Anxiety is a beast of a different colour from depression. I am even making headway with depression, away from a relationship which was not healthy for me. Not sayign I don't get sad and the same thoughts, but I am doing the dishes more often than I was. In my state, that is progress.

But anxiety.....ugh. my psych is awesome and gave me some breathing and visualisation exercises, but when anxiety gets past a certain threshold, it seems like nothing helps. Then I start getting anxious about being anxious. It is terrible.

I have been trying to stay away from alcohol and energy drinks. I have never been a big drinker, nor had energy drimks at all except around exam time at uni. Lately I have been falling down an energy drink pit but even then I have one and I am done.  Despite only having three and a half hours sleep (thanks insomnia),  I haven't had one today. I haven't been able to nap either, but at least I am not shaking too bad now. 

I am also not a big coffee drinker, I am a tea person. I don't even drink coke, but I wouldn't give up my teas for the world. That said, some are caffeine free so I can work on that. I guess if tea gets me out from my blanket of solitude, I'll take any caffeine hit with it.

Hi all,

Anxiety certainly can cause physical symptoms. Below are some video stories from people featured in our "I Am Anxiety" campaign:

Hot and cold flushes

Chest tightening

Racing heart

Hi Prawn,

Some symptoms which may be attributed to anxiety can be caused by physical complaints. The body, mind and emotional connections can be very complex I think. I had a variety of symptoms that I had attributed to my stress/anxiety which has now been diagnosed as a fairly rare type of rheumatoid arthritis. 

If you digestive system is a bit delicate some whole grains can be a bit harsh. Have your tried something like psyllium which can be much kinder.

Grateful.

Hi Grateful

I have tried herbal things like that but not trying Psyllium. I might give it a try.

Thank you.

Yep I had tonnes and tonnes oh nausea. All day every day, so severe I've been out of work 6 monts and could only work part time before that.i did anxiety therapy- 2.5 years of therapy, plus lifestyle changes. I did every medical test and blood test they could think of including rare expensive ones. My life becane a hell of nausea, dry fetching, vomiting and losing weight cos I couldnt eat. I even tried naturak therapies, sorcial diets. I becane what several doctirs referred to as "a medical mystery"This webt on for years. I also suffered extreme insomnia, headaches daily, random bowel problems., i tried 5 different antideoressants which all made it sooooo much worse- I ever up in emergency twice before doctirs decided antidepressanys for me. one antideoressaht helped a bit, and some short term anxiety drugs realiy really got rid of the symptoms. But you can't take then long term due to addiction.but I told all of that to a new psychiatrist and he instantly suggested I try a second line anxiety drug- a low dose antipsychotic.

my life has changed. It's only been 5 days so I'm still getting used to it. NO nausea, no bowel pains, no vomiting, I'm eating normsl meals, I'm sleeping 8 beautiful hours then I'm wide awake during the day and my anxiety has pretty much disappeared. I feel like how I imagie normal people feel. Like I'm not a zombie, I still care, I stupl  have emotions, I still worry about things tat deserve worrying about but that panic and anxiety is GONE!!

i hope this post helps someone!

Hi All,

I often get a tingling/heavy sensation in my legs which is really annoying. Does anyone else experience this? I know it's just anxiety but I'm hoping there's something other than keeping busy, that I can do to help it? Any suggestions or just to hear someone feels the same would be very comforting! Thanks :)

Hi missjr,

ive had that tingling sensation in the feet legs and hands (and sometimes random sharp jabs) does yours feel a bit like pins and needles? Mine only happens when I think about it, which is a lot! But I feel the best thing is to go for a walk or jump on the spot for a while until they go away. Hope that helps :) 

Hi,

Back/ muscle pain in shoulders. Butterflies in tummy, upset bowel, tiredness, trouble concentrating, lack of appetite, emotional.