Anxiety, My Way?

[snugglies]

Hi everyone,
I am only a newbie, so apologies if I have posted in the wrong place :)
I guess I have always felt anxious for as long as I can remember. I am 31 years old now. I guess the reason I am posting is over the last few days I think I am imagining pains/aches/illnesses.
On Friday just passed I was in town, and I felt very faint. Legs felt like jelly and felt like I was going to fall down with the faint. I began to take deep breaths and after a few minutes I felt ok.

Since then I have had a constant headache, not very painful, but more annoying. Varies from side and from front to back. Also in bed last night I felt my left hand, beside my thumb on the "topside" becoming numb. When I scracth it, I feel it, but not as much as the other hand. It is not painful or sore at all. I constantly think with every ache or pain I get that it is going to be a serious situation/illness.

I guess I just want to share and I am scared again. Is it really possible for all this to be anxiety? Is it all in my mind? I have never had medication for anything like this and find it very difficult not to get stressed over this.

Sorry for the rambling and I also forgot to say I am delighted to have found this informative site!

[Itz Omi]

Welcome!!! :)

Yes indeedy, anxiety can play with your mind bigtime!! Not that everything is ALWAYS anxiety, but it sure is the culprit a lot of the time. :)

[Schatmeisje]

Hi and welome !!! yes this is anxiety, i suffer with the exact same symptoms, my hands and sometime parts of my arm goes numb most times when i am trying to get to sleep, and also get those faint feelings and wek legs when im out .

[fluttershy]

Four days ago, you felt faint while walking and had to rest for a few minutes to catch your breath. Your hand started to tingle last night as you were falling asleep. And now you have a headache. Here, most people would pop an Advil and move on with their lives; you worry that disease and disaster is just around the corner, and are aware that you experience such exaggerated reactions to these kinds of fairly-mundane aches that you are starting to worry that your worries themselves are causing these physical pains. That is too much worrying! I don't know whether the symptoms were caused by an excess of anxiety, but I'm pretty confident that your reaction to them was.

I'm not sure how bothered you are by anxiety, but I figure that if it's enough to post on an anxiety message board, it's enough to do something about it. Do some googling if you haven't already, and read about what's helped other people. One thing that's been really good for me is making sure I breathe properly. Don't be a chest breather!! And I would start figuring out how you experience anxiety emotionally and mentally, because that will help you understand how you experience it physically and then maybe things will start to mesh together and make sense. If you can, go see a doctor, and see if that helps assuage your anxiety. And, if you got the cash, therapy can really help. Good luck!

I also love this forum! Reading some of these posts really puts things in perspective, you know? :)