Christmas eve panic attacks...

[Chelsea Doak]

Is it the change of the weather that's making me feel like my heart has a straight knife in it?

Ugh. My anxiety is so physical it freak the hell out of me! I'll get stabbing pains in my heart. I get pressure headaches. I get dizziness. I get short of breath. Is this abnormal? I literally feel crazy! I think of every possible wrong thing that could be happening to me.

Right at this moment I am convinced I have a brain tumor cause I've had a pressure headache for a week straight now. Ugh. Please somebody tell me that you get physical symptoms as much as I do?

[Goomba]

When my anxiety was bad, I had awful headaches almost every day. I had a lot of vision symptoms too. I didn't have bad heart pain, but I had some. My heart would race, and I could see and feel my pulse all over my body.

I was CONVINCED at some points that I had a brain tumor, or some kind of stroke, etc. MRI revealed a perfectly healthy brain.

When I stopped focusing on it, and stressing about it, the headaches completely stopped.

A lot of chronic headaches are caused from tension, and neck muscles.

[Tranquil]

It is amazing how powerful our brains are and the symptoms you are feeling are panic and anxiety. You sound like you are feeding your fear. Try to relax and let it go. I know it is extremely hard to do. Believe me, it is hard not to focus on it but just try to accept it and be ok with the feelings until they pass. I've had a lot of the same feelings you are having however it was a long time ago... thank goodness. I'm telling you, our brains and our reactions to stress, whether panic out of nowhere or real stress, has the capacity to cause a lot of crazy symptoms. In 2008, when I had quite a bit of intense anxiety, I had a lot of chest pain but I knew it was my anxiety. At times, I literally felt as if my heart was breaking. If you can accept your feelings as anxiety and panic and try not to escalate the fear in your mind, it might help a little. I hope you will find some peace tonight. Oh and the pressure headaches I get a lot due to stress and hormonal changes however I also suffer from mal de debarquement syndrome and that intensifies my headaches at times. Peace to you.