what are your worst symptoms of anxiety to deal with?

[psychofatale]

Hi everyone, I am new here and just wondered what all of you considered your worst anxiety physical symptom.

I know mine is that overwhelming feeling of impending doom right from the pit of my stomach, for me thats worse than any of the other symptoms. :(

[Hey Guys]

fear of going crazy/fear of there being something mentally wrong with me other than anxiety

that's my personal favorite, right there.

[psychofatale]

Do any of you feel you have health anxiety too? (hypochondrias). I know I have my present fears are cancer. I go from one worry to another, they are all massively fuelled with big anxiety and sometimes panic attacks too.

[Hey Guys]

I used to be convinced I had a brain tumor, or was having a brain anyuerysm(however you spell it) due to strange sensations/pains in my head.

Oh, not to mention I thought I had lymphoma.

I seemed to have gotten over these thoughts quicker than I got over the fear of going crazy, though.

[ligeia]

My anxieties don't manifest themselves so much as physical symptoms, but the fears themselves are really bad.

My biggest anxiety is that people won't like me, that I'm no good, that I'm stupid and ugly and unworthy. One thought that automatically pops into my head is "I hate myself, I hate myself!"

The worst of my physical symptom is feeling dizzy and feeling sort of cross-eyed, like my fields of vision crossing and blurring. Then I get more self-conscious that I am looking cross-eyed! I also get really really tired when I'm anxious, like it takes a lot out of me.

[Robbed]

I think the WORST symptoms of anxiety are those feelings of unreality and that feeling that you are constantly in a somewhat dream-like state. It REALLY makes me feel like there is something wrong with me. And it just REALLY gives me these dark feelings like I am so far gone compared to my usual self that it will be impossible to come back.

[TWYI]

I can deal with most of the symptoms, except when they get physically painful. Chest pains are the worst, the stabbing pains can really hurt.

Tiredness (after an attack) is annoying too

[imported_admin]

I think the thing that scares me the most is my heart. Sometimes it beats so hard, and palpatates I think I will have a heart attack. Also the thoughts of death are not too nice.

[Music_lover]

My worst symptom is derealazation. It scares me so badly, I would do really anything to prevent it. The physical things I can deal with. Although I get scared it's not anxiety and somehting serious, and I get scared I'll die, Id rather feel that than derealaztion. Anyone else get derealazation/depersonalzation?

[KillingTime]

My worst symptom is nausea. I am normally nauseas most of the day, but during a panic attack I can't even open my mouth or I start gagging, it's horrible.

[TWYI]

My worst symptom is nausea. I am normally nauseas most of the day, but during a panic attack I can't even open my mouth or I start gagging, it's horrible.

I used to have serious nausea but now take Losec, it is a powerful prescription antacid. It has completely stopped by nausea and the heartburn and jumping stomach that accompanied it. One pill in the morning with brekkie, no side effects whatsoever

Ask your doc about it!

[Gail10]

is also that feeling of doom in the pit of my stomach...
I have terrible hypochondria (sorry if that isn't the correct sp)
I'm always worried I have something terrible and lately I am worried that I will get cancer from all the CT scans I've had!!
I take ativan as needed, but lately it's been every day.
I'm also trying zoloft.
Any info or suggestions would be great.
Gail

[leftie15]

worst is the thoughts of going crazy or doing thins that are so far from who you are that is crazy and derealization sucks pretty bad to but i could deal with that if these thoughts would go away god they are annoying

[synaptic]

i guess the worst would have to have been a severe episode i had about a month and a half ago that made me feel like my reality was completely warping. it felt like my anxiety was trying to twist my mind inside out...that i was going insane. that one ramped up from standard anxiety and just kept going, with the worst of it lasting 3 days before easing back down to my "normal" levels of anxiety.

i have generalized anxeity so next in line would have to simply be the fact that feel some degree of anxiety pretty much all the time. that constant stress is tough. an additional side effect of that is that my digestive system is always messed up now. i eat a whole lot less than i used to. what most people would consider an appitizer is a meal to me now. most of the time i only eat twice a day, but sometimes i can go back for another snack later in the evening. i rarely ever feel comfortably full anymore. what i do now is eat a bit and even though i might still feel hungry, i stop. within minutes (if it had not already kicked in) i will feel overly full. if i try to eat anymore than that i'll just feel nauseus. though sometimes i feel nauseus anyway, which just further puts me off eating. sometimes i get the runs because of this too.

since my anxiety kicked back in february, i've lost 20 pounds because of it.

truth be told, i needed to loose weight anyway. im 5'9" and i weighed around 185 (sometimes heavier)...and none of it was muscle. this past weekend i weighed myself for the first time since march and im now 165. while its rather nice to see myself thinner, i do realize that this is not a healthy way to loose weight. i havent seen this level off yet either. thus far, the weight loss has been consistant. every few weeks i'll noticed i've lost some more. i am concerned that if this keeps up, it will eventually take a serious toll on my overall heath.

another anxiety related symptom i experiance is the regular feeling of being slightly distanced or removed from life/reality. this is a bit of a drag but not intollerable, or at least not in compared to the other symptoms. being that i have a background as a visual artist, i can at least find this experiance slightly interesting, since it feels like it makes me view the world around me a little differently.

i have of course also experianced a reduction in the quality of my sleep. but thankfully i still do get an acceptable amount of hours in each night so i cant complain too much there. i'd be in vastly worse physical and mental shape if that were not the case.

the general drained/dizzy/kinda out of it feeling isnt too great either. i suspect thats probably due to all the above mentioned issues wearing me down.

but above and beyond all of this, the absolute worst part of anxiety is that i have it at all. as crappy as any of the symptoms and side effects are, none of this would be happening if it wasnt for the anxiety. so rather than look too much at the symptoms, these days i tend to prefer to direct my ire towards the source of the problems because thats the one i really need to fix.

[viper]

I got a couple for ya.... Fear of losing control, having a heart attack and my all time favorite is having a fear of fear!!!!!!! WHAT IF... WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF... great lines that we need to do without! Stay in the NOW not the futer or past!

[steph0402]

hands down the worst symptom to me is derealization!!! i could deal with every other symptom upto and including having an actual panic attack in exchange for this!!!

[obizues]

The worst for me is just not feeling like I'm in my own body. The impending doom, feeling like I'm having a (insert extreme medical condition here). Worrying about

[zeromisfit999]

the worst for me is the lack of air into the lungs feelings.. I think i have hypochondria a bit as well. constantly checking my heartbeat throughout the day. The mental aspects dont bother me too much, except when in panic mode

[porcia]

The heat i feel in my back is usually the start of a panic attack.
I feel constant worry that i am going to have a heart attack or stroke.
Ans when i have a headache or blurred vision i convince myself that i have a brain tumour.
This really is a horrible illness to live with and i hate it with a passion.

[Rhymes]

For me the worst symptoms would be chest pains to start with. Sometimes it feels like 10 people are sitting on me and the breathing gets shorter and shorter until i have to use a paper bag to calm down. The next symptom would be not being able to switch off my mind before bed so i can sleep. It just keeps going and going and not a single positive thought enters through and i'm left in bed for hours until i finally shed a couple tears and fall asleep. Recently stomach issues have come up and i've lost 10lbs because i hardly eat anymore but i would take that over chest pains any day.

[northstar]

For me the worst symptoms would be chest pains to start with. Sometimes it feels like 10 people are sitting on me and the breathing gets shorter and shorter until i have to use a paper bag to calm down. The next symptom would be not being able to switch off my mind before bed so i can sleep. It just keeps going and going and not a single positive thought enters through and i'm left in bed for hours until i finally shed a couple tears and fall asleep. Recently stomach issues have come up and i've lost 10lbs because i hardly eat anymore but i would take that over chest pains any day.

hi rhymes, welcome to the forum!

2 things you wrote about made me want to respond to you. the first thing is not being able to sleep at night because your mind just wouldn't switch off. how many nights i've spent like that! being unable to stop the thoughts so that you never really get a proper rest and find yourself in the morning more tired that you were before you went to bed! eventually i realised (and i'm surprised by the amount of time it took me to figure this out, i'm talking years lol) that it had to do with what i was eating in the evenings. i found that if was out drinking in the pub with friends, or if i had people over for pizza and wine, or if i was at a party eating lots of tasty sugary party foods and soft drinks, or if i had simply eaten sugary things or junk foods in the evenings all contributed to not actually sleeping. you might want to look at the kinds of things that you are putting into your body in the evening times, are you drinking coffee or tea or soft drinks or alcohol, are you eating junk foods or too many refined carbohydrates? there are lots of things that you should avoid especially in the evening times as they will upset your body or put it on edge when actually it needs to rest :)

the second thing you mention is that you hardly eat any more. not eating much is just as bad for you as eating the wrong kinds of things. if you're not getting enough food then you're doing damage in two main ways:
1) you're not getting the proper nutrients a healthy body and nervous system need to run properly. if your body is low on essential nutrients this can lead to exhaustion, anxiety, depression, panic and all kinds of things. your system will be totally worn out. if you're not eating much then at least take a multi vitamin supplement to give your body a bit of a boost.
2) if you're not giving your body and brain fuel in the form of food then it will play havoc with your blood sugars. low blood sugar problems are little known cause of anxiety and can cause all kinds of havoc in your body. fortunately it's easily managed with diet :)

you can read more about both of these things in this thread here: http://www.anxietyforum.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4087

i hope you find this of some benefit, you'll be surprised how much looking into how you take care of your body can help :) i managed to pull through anxiety when i realised that it was mainly my diet that was making me feel so bad! please let me know if you find this helpful! take care :)

[Rhymes]

Hey North, thx =)

My diet has been blown to pieces the past 2 weeks but i have started taking strides to eat properly and actually eat. I've been forcing myself to eat today in particular even though i have no appetite whatsoever but i still feel exhausted :( I don't eat before i go to sleep nor anytime close to it. I ususally have dinner and then a banana for a snack around 9ish and i drink tons and tons of water throughout the day. 1 thing i do have to pick up at the store is vitamins. I do need to start taking those asap. Any in particular i should look for or just a random multi?

[northstar]

a vitamin B complex with magnesium is great for anxiety, but if you're not eating very well then you may want to take a multi vitamin too. ask your pharmacist / health food shop assistant about the best ones to take and to make sure they're compatible with anything else you might be on :)

[Rhymes]

i have to see if the B and multi are compatible with this paxil stuff they gave me but it should be fine i'm sure. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction with those vitamins :)