Any deal with the more physical side of anxiety?

[Danny123]

Hello my name is Dan. I am interested in knowing if there are other people out there who's anxiety manifests in the more physical side of things.
Its hard to word but i will try to explain. I often get told, show and sent stuff talking more about how to not worry with stuff like dealing with worrying events. Everything i see weather its videos of people talking about anxiety or leaflets are not how my anxiety seems to work.

Its not that i don't ever just worry about stuff and get my self in a pickle but it is a lot rarer. 90% of the time it is related to physical things.
What tends to happen is i get odd feelings in my body and it builds from there. Nothing sets these feeling off.

Recent examples are.
Sudden crushing pains in my chest lasting up to around 10 seconds each time (happened constantly over a day).

Sudden and quick stabbing pains. Happens at random.

Loss of feeling or pain or tiredness in arms.

Struggling to breath. Not panicky breathing, just hard to take in breath beyond a certain point. The deeper the breaths the bore light headed and dizzy i feel.(this is most recent)


I have been to the doctors many times and it always gets put down to anxiety. But i often question if they are just putting it down to that since i have been in a number of times over the years. How would i know the difference between something that is genuinely wrong and what i get with anxiety.

[gypsylee]

Hi Dan and welcome,

I see lots of these posts here. I guess you have to trust the docs when they tell you it's anxiety. I assume they've done some basic tests like bloods?

Often people with health anxiety get more acutely aware of physical symptoms. I'm more of a "social anxiety" person and I don't get that many physical symptoms other than the standard rapid heartbeat and insomnia, but there is a list a mile long here of people's anxiety symptoms.

All the best,
Gypsy x

[raggamuffin]

I've had countless pains like this over the past 5 or 6 years.

Regarding your question about how do you know if it's genuine or just anxiety; firstly a come and go pain wouldn't be something serious. If you're busy or enjoying yourself the pains will probably dull or disappear - proving it's anxiety related. If pains change locations in your body this is another sure sign it's anxiety. Regarding chest pain, I'm no stranger to this and I know it can be unbereable, but the more you work yourself up the more you trigger your fight or flight response and escalate the symptoms. Most anxiety chest pains feel muscular or on the surface, often near the sternum either left or right side, sometimes closer to the armpits or lower down. Truth be told anxiety pains can strike anywhere.

You can't magically stop having them, even if you have a good few days or week when you don't feel anxious they'll still come and go. But you can make genuine improvements. I used to get them 24/7 for over 5 years. I wish I was exagerrating but I'm not. One pain followed another, one fixation of health worries rolled into another and on and on it went. So yes, anxiety can cause all manner of aches and pains and my journey with anxiety has been one racked with physical pains and symptoms.

The past half a year or so I've seen huge improvements. I get a handful of pains a day as opposed to constant symptoms. I've made huge strides and improvements in my life as well. I tackled situations and experiences that caused me the most anxiety and I don't shy away from things that make me nervous. In fact I tend to go towards such situations and refuse to leave until I've dfone what I needed to do. Sure, sometimes I can get horrid symptoms which can sometimes spoil experiences, but I'm not going to leave or run away from things like I used to.

Anxiety is as powerful or as weak as YOU make it. Without you your anxiety wouldn't exist. The journey of recovery is a long one and often arduous. But improvements do come along. I'll admit the start of the road is the hardest, when that feeling of safety within your own mind and body is removed. The constant self doubt, fear of disease, fear dr's have missed something, the constant pains and the paranoia is horrid. But anxiety is merely a symptom prompting change. It didn't come about over night, the stress will have built up over time and anxiety and symptoms are simply showing you that you need to change your ways.

In reality you can come out of this stronger than when you went in. Just remember to share your thoughts with people close to you and never stop reading about anxiety. Empower yourself with knowledge and love yourself. Don't resent the anxiety or parts of yourself that you don't like. Treat your mind and body with respect and with love and you'll start getting better. Just remember you're not alone in this. Everyone on this site is on a different stage of their journey with anxiety.

You'll get better in time, I promise you that.

Ed

[Goomba]

You know when you think of a favorite food and you get a taste sensation in your mouth?

Or, when you think of someone you're interested in and get aroused?

Or, you think about an itch, and you itch?

Or, you remember a smell, and you smell it?

Same thing. You're thinking of pain, stress, and anxiety, so you manifest the symptoms in your body. You also become hyperaware and notice things that aren't an issue. A small cramp can turn into a bad pain, largely due to thought processes.

Eds post is excellent, though for me, dealing with the anxiety did magically make almost all of the symptoms disappear. Everyone has their own experience.

[Danny123]

Thank you fort he responses.
I have had some blood work done gypsylee, how ever this was a long time a go, around the time it all started. 8ish years ago now i think. That was when i just did not know what was wrong with me.