Symptoms of anxiety when not anxious?

[Peak]

This is something that has bugged me for many years to the point where I don't know if the symptoms I have are caused by anxiety or are causing anxiety.

A lot of people on here clearly suffer from anxiety in the traditional sense in that they feel anxious about something and that causes physical symptoms and/or prevents them from performing everyday tasks etc. I on the other hand am rarely aware of feeling anxious.

Here's the thing. I first started getting palpitations about 15 years ago when I thought I had cancer. I was so scared and so stressed that I was getting palps all the time. After eventually seeing a doctor I was told it wasn't cancer and the sense of relief was incredible & the palps stopped and went away for about 10 years.

7 years ago my wife & I started having fertility treatment which was obviously quite stressful but I didn't think it was affecting me that much. That said when it came to an end and we found out we couldn't have children it hit me an awful lot harder than I thought and I ended up going for counselling for this and also for other matters. The other matters where a lot of childhood traumas and family traumas which have permanently torn my family apart which the whole childless thing had unearthed again after I had buried in my brain for 30+ years.

It was whilst going through fertility treatment that I started having palps again which just come and go every few weeks lasting a few weeks at a time. It was during the time I was having counselling I started to also get panic attacks completely out of the blue.

Today though I don't really consider myself as someone who feels anxious. I feel accepting of the fact that I won't ever have kids but yeah there are the occasional day here and there where it makes me feel sad & even a little panicked. The family traumas I know will never be resolved but on a day to day basis I don't think of them and they don't affect me but yes there are times of the year or when a particular person calls or I see them that I do feel very stressed & this comes on very quickly. I know that I have a lot of unresolved anger there. So day to day I don't think of any if this stuff, it doesn't bother me etc but I keep getting episodes of palps etc which my doctor says in all anxiety.

Does anyone else feel that they pretty much only feel anxious when they get the physical symptoms of anxiety when generally they feel pretty "normal"? On the one hand I can understand how someone going through what I've gone through could feel anxious but on the other hand I imagine someone whose anxious as being someone that can't cope, that can't function day to day. But I can. Sure there are days when I would like to give up & stay in bed but I know it's not an option & not really what I want to do. So confused!

[lsapphirel]

I have the symptoms still, only at night though. But im no longer anxious. Im having palps now as i type this. I will have my burps at 8:30 pm and i get my nose blocked at 9:30. I will yawn alot to gasp for air too within this hour. All this will last till i sleep.

[dazza]

Traditional anxiety is just part of a personality.

I actually feel that people, especially the very young, who use this forum for day-to-day issues like "they're a bit frickin' scared of doing a little talk in front of the class tomorrow" should not actually be using this site at all.
Not for me to say or administer I know - but these types of issues are just part of growing up I reckon and do not come anywhere near close to that anxiety DISORDER in the more mature groups.

Anxiety disorder goes way, WAY beyond that of just feeling a liitle nervous. Our entire way of thinking & living can be badly affected... not to mention the horrific symptoms that come with it, often making us believing that we're actually dying from some terminal illness.

All this crap when we've also got mouths to feed / bills to pay / work to do / others (& ourselves) to look after and so on.

As for the continuing symptoms but non-anxious... well, that's just more shit on the end of the anxiety shitty stick I'm affraid.
From what I can make out, the way our brain handles FEAR is seriously altered... permanently for the very unfortunate or for a LONG time for the unfortunate.

The trauma, whatever that was (either real or a belief (like heart attack)), seems to make fight or flight become an easy thing to trigger thereon, which in turn causes nasty symptoms, which in turn makes us believe we're ill, which in turn causes health anxiety, which in turn causes constant worry, which in turns fucks up our lives... again and again and again...

We can get past the panic and feel fairly normal, but I can guarantee you that your deepest, darkest fears will be lurking, which themselves trigger fight or flight... for a LONG time after.

I said it a while back on here... having anxiety disorder is like living between two worlds. Normal world and dark world... where we so frequently & unexpectantly get transported from one to the other in an instant.

[lsapphirel]

Where is the post you mention about living 2 worlds dazza? I wanna read it.

[jhunter89]

http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?13319-Anxious-world

Think that's it lsapphirel

[Jinaiya]

This is a topic that has left me wondering what's real and what isn't fairly often in my life.

I suffer very physical symptoms: chest pains in various locations, racing heart, pounding heart, heart speeding up and slowing down. I also have severe Acid Reflux that effects me all day and often I feel like my throat has something stuck in it.

Someday's I'll feel good. I'll be doing my thing and then all of a sudden my heart starts racing, or I'll get pains and then suddenly I am overcome by panic. It's scary for me when I am just relaxing and my heart will begin racing. If I were running or something then great, but come on! I'm laying down! I get really frustrated during those times. I often wonder which it is. Is the the symptoms causing the anxiety or the anxiety causing the symptoms? If it is indeed the symptoms causing the anxiety, then that means something is in fact WRONG and I am trying to ignore my body's only way of trying to tell me to get help. What more can I possibly be doing though? I've had tests, I'm getting more soon. It is at those times that I just throw my hands up in the air and think "Fuck it. If I am dying then hurry it up".

[lizzie]

Traditional anxiety is just part of a personality.

I actually feel that people, especially the very young, who use this forum for day-to-day issues like "they're a bit frickin' scared of doing a little talk in front of the class tomorrow" should not actually be using this site at all.
Not for me to say or administer I know - but these types of issues are just part of growing up I reckon and do not come anywhere near close to that anxiety DISORDER in the more mature groups.

Anxiety disorder goes way, WAY beyond that of just feeling a liitle nervous. Our entire way of thinking & living can be badly affected... not to mention the horrific symptoms that come with it, often making us believing that we're actually dying from some terminal illness.

All this crap when we've also got mouths to feed / bills to pay / work to do / others (& ourselves) to look after and so on.

As for the continuing symptoms but non-anxious... well, that's just more shit on the end of the anxiety shitty stick I'm affraid.
From what I can make out, the way our brain handles FEAR is seriously altered... permanently for the very unfortunate or for a LONG time for the unfortunate.

The trauma, whatever that was (either real or a belief (like heart attack)), seems to make fight or flight become an easy thing to trigger thereon, which in turn causes nasty symptoms, which in turn makes us believe we're ill, which in turn causes health anxiety, which in turn causes constant worry, which in turns fucks up our lives... again and again and again...

We can get past the panic and feel fairly normal, but I can guarantee you that your deepest, darkest fears will be lurking, which themselves trigger fight or flight... for a LONG time after.

I said it a while back on here... having anxiety disorder is like living between two worlds. Normal world and dark world... where we so frequently & unexpectantly get transported from one to the other in an instant.

This is very true and do you know what I couldn't agree more what you said about living in 2 worlds is actually amazingly true it's inspiring , thank u x

[dazza]

Jinaiya

I've read that a sudden speeding up of heart rate for no apparent reason can be, amongst other things, for the following reasons:

1/ A nerve problem such as dysautonomias (unlikely) or a nerve problem which exhibits itself in certain postures.
I've read a few cases where heart rates increased for people say, bending over. This was because as they bent, certain nerves would
get pinched which in turn aggrevated or influenced the heart.

2/ Anxiety / panic (of course)

3/ A / some heart valves may not be shutting properly (prolapse). Unwanted returning blood causes the heart to beat fast to get rid of it.

4/ Thyroid issues

5/ Blood sugar issues

[Peak]

Cheers all for you replies. Really relate to that Living Between 2 Worlds. That really is exactly how it feels!! It's strangely reassuring to hear that others do get the symptoms of anxiety even when they are not aware of actually feeling anxious.