A range of different anxiety symptoms?

[Tasha'93]

Along with this torturing phobia I also suffer with (at times) severe anxiety along with anxiety attacks. I can be having a good time and enjoying myself then all of a sudden i'll become dizzy and feel as though i'm not in my own body which sets me into full on panic mode and makes me feel as though i'm going to vomit, and it petrifies me. Overall, my main anxiety symptoms can include; dull aches in my stomach/actual pain which can go into my ribs, headaches, lack of energy (which occurs a lot), sleepyness, tight feeling in my chest and shaking. I often get worried though that these symptoms are maybe linked in with something more serious perhaps and I get these awful senarios in my head that make me think i'm going to die.. I know that sounds quite extreme but it's the way I feel, a lot.

I just wanted to ask, anyone else on here who also suffers with anxiety, what symptoms do you get, how often do you get them & what for you personally brings on an anxiety attack? If anything at all.

[orton99]

I guess I'm lucky in that I've never had anxiety quite as badly as you describe, although more generally I think that heightened anxiety seems to go hand in hand with this phobia. I know from my general sessions to date that my therapist sees the phobia as symptomatic of wider anxieties, so we end up talking about pretty much everything that has ever bothered me in any context at all, I suppose as a means of hopefully making the phobia diminish by talking out the various other anxieties around it.

I'm realising that a lot of it is self-inflicted simply by worrying about things excessively and not taking action to relieve the worry sooner than I do. For example (and this is just one example, there are loads I could pick!!), if I have to tell someone at work something that I don't think they're going to want to hear then I'll put it off endlessly until the point where I can't postpone it any longer, simply because I hate the idea of confrontation. Of course, what this actually does is just gives the worry about the conversation time to stew and ferment, so making me over the longer term more anxious. Although that's just one example the basic principle of that holds true over and over again in a whole range of situations, in that anxieties aren't dealt with as quickly as they could be and just fester. Putting things off may seem like a good idea at the time but it just makes things worse as the anxiety builds and builds.

In fact, I had the sudden thought the other day (which I'll discuss with her later this week) that this could well be one reason why I'm so scared of being ill, as this is one thing that I don't like but can't "put off until tomorrow"! If you're going to be you're going to be, you can't postpone it!

Anyway, I'll leave it there for the time being as I don't want this post to turn into War and Peace (which I have read incidentally, about six years ago. Funny story with it is I was reading it at work one day and my team leader came up to me, indicated the size of the book I was holding and joked, "What's that, War and Peace?" Well actually, I told him...), but there is a lot more I could say on this subject!!

I know you've got some sessions coming up soon, so I'd recommend you talk about this as well, as my experience so far is that general anxiety/worrying and this phobia all seem to be interlinked.

Oh, and Tash? At the age of just 17, it is unbelievably unlikely that you've got anything seriously wrong with your health, trust me!!

[Tasha'93]

Cheers for the reply! I know the phobia is definately linked in with anxiety which causes the feeling sick, which causes me to panic and then I get even more anxious. Vicious cycle? I think so!

I can almost handle the anxiety attacks it's just the awful symptoms.. obviously feeling sick/stomach ache are the worst ones but just the odd ones with it, like I mentioned above, worry me and I always get myself thinking i'm dying, which I know is quite extreme when i'm thinking rationally.

You're so lucky to not suffer with severe anxiety, but to be quite honest any strain of anxiety isn't pleasant. I'm glad you're doing well with this general therapy, sounds as though you're getting somewhere when it comes to being pretty rational - & I shall do, i'm not holding anything back when it comes to therapy. But yeah, overall this post was just because I wanted to see if people had the same or simmilar anxiety symptoms to me, because if so, i'll be more at rest in my mind knowing that it really is just anxiety and nothing more serious.

[kellybeth]

I have horrible anxiety and panic attacks. I had my first one when I was 12. I remember it very well. Sometimes I have anxiety for days on end, other times I feel ok. If I'm worried about something my panic increases, but I can feel ok and not nervous and I will have an anxiety attack out of nowhere. It's a terrible thing to have to deal with. I had a pretty bad attack on Sunday.

My symtoms can include:

Dizzy
Feel like I will pass out
Sweating
Upset stomach
D*
Numbness in limbs
Racing heart
Unable to pay attition
Shaking
Every noise seems louder
Chest pain
Feeling "outside" of my body

I hate this!! But I feel like I can deal with it better then I did when I was young. Now I know what it is and I feel like if I just let the panic happen it will pass over me much quicker then if I try to fight it.

[Tasha'93]

Ah, not nice! I agree it is really horrible, especially when it gets to the point where you feel like you have absolutely no control over it anymore.

Has it ever got that bad for you where you think you could have a terminal illness or something? I always think like that, I know I shouldn't but when my anxiety hits that point I struggle to think clearly and assume because it just comes on out of nowhere that there must be something more to it

[kellybeth]

At times it has. I convinced myself that I had thyriod cancer once. But I dont.

[Tasha'93]

At times it has. I convinced myself that I had thyriod cancer once. But I dont.

Oh gosh :/ - for me it's been gallbladder problems, a tumor in my chest and cancer. I dont have any of them (as far as i'm aware, *touches wood*) either, I think your mind just runs away with you sometimes.

[KaydeeJayde]

My symptoms include:

* Continuously asking questions
* Fidgeting
* Hyperventilating
* Whole body goes hot and cold alternating
* Dizziness
* Diarrhea
* Sweating
* Can feel every time my heart beats

I've heard things like people hearing voices when they're having an anxiety attack and hallucinating. I think anxiety can cause just about any symptom, depending on how the body wants to deal with the stress.

I think I can be a bit of a hypochondriac sometimes, as well. I always seem to have something wrong with me. A little headache becomes a migraine, a tiny stomachache becomes severe period cramps. I think it's an anxious thing

[Jen06]

My symptoms (get ready for this...haha):

-Hot flashes
-Teeth chattering
-Body tremors
-Muscle twitches
-Obsessive thoughts
-Frequent questions (but only if someone else is sick)
-Dizziness
-Nightmares (if I fall asleep feeling nauseous or witness someone else being sick)
-Heart racing
-Extreme nausea/gagging
-Crying/whimpering
-Hostility (if someone tries talking to me when I feel sick)
-Frequent urination
-Once in awhile, diarrhea; most of the time, constipation
-Shallowed breathing
-Scratching my thighs if I'm on the verge of v*ing
-Continuously pushing my hair behind my ears
-Dry mouth/excessive salivation
-Body aches (typically dull)
-Flushed face/neck
-Hands and/or feet can be tingly or numb
-Chest pain and/or tightness
-Fatigue
-Shortened breath
-Headache
-Ringing in my ears
-Difficulty speaking or thinking
-Difficulty swallowing
-Insomnia and jolting awake
-Seeing black or white spots


I'm sure I missed a few, but you get the jist. Of course, I don't suffer from all of these at the same time. If I did, I'm sure I would've already been dead by now. I would've had a heart attack. But at one point or another, I have experienced ALL of these symptoms (at different times). Anxiety can make you feel like you're going crazy or insane. It can do NUMBERS on a person, unfortunately.

[Tasha'93]

I can definately sympathize with the post above and the one above that, as I also have experienced quite a few of the symptoms that you have both mentioned. It really is horrible, I mean quite a few times i've been so tired at like 4 in the morning, still not letting myself sleep and CONVINCED that I have a stomach bug when 9/10 times it is just my anxiety playing it's part. It is scary and I think for anyone who doesn't experience anxiety of some sort will ever fully understand just how awful it is.

Do either of you, or anyone else for that matter ever have long term anxiety symptoms? For example, even when your not having an actual anxiety attack, throughout the day still feel certain symptoms that just refuse to go away?

[Jen06]

I do, at times, have symptoms that are almost always present, though, not nearly the amount on the list.

Some that I experience more frequently are:
-Obsessive thoughts
-Frequent questions
-Dizziness
-Nausea
-Constipation
-Dry mouth
-Fatigue
-At times, insomnia.

These aren't 24/7 symptoms, but are present almost daily. :-/ For some stupid reason, anxiety thinks it has the right to take over your body.

[Rebecca85]

My panic attacks are very acute. If someone v'ed in front of me, I can appear calm (though in reality my heart will pound and I shake like mad) until I can remove myself from the situation. If I can't remove myself, I go into full blown panic attack. I am usually pretty unaware of my actions, it's like I'm watching myself. I don't know what I'm about to do until I do it. I may run away, at full speed and no regard to where I'm going. If that isn't possible, I may scream and hurt myself. I'm not actually sure what senstations I feel, because I'm pretty out of it. All I can think about is how to make it (the v) stop. That part can last maybe 5-10 minutes. Afterwards I am weak, tearful and shaky.

The only anxiety symptoms I experience when not panicking are heightened awareness, and that heart skips a beat/ stomach lurches feeling if somebody gagged, or said they felt ill or similar. Although that has lessened with the meds I'm on.

[Tasha'93]

My panic attacks are very acute. If someone v'ed in front of me, I can appear calm (though in reality my heart will pound and I shake like mad) until I can remove myself from the situation. If I can't remove myself, I go into full blown panic attack. I am usually pretty unaware of my actions, it's like I'm watching myself. I don't know what I'm about to do until I do it. I may run away, at full speed and no regard to where I'm going. If that isn't possible, I may scream and hurt myself. I'm not actually sure what senstations I feel, because I'm pretty out of it. All I can think about is how to make it (the v) stop. That part can last maybe 5-10 minutes. Afterwards I am weak, tearful and shaky.

The only anxiety symptoms I experience when not panicking are heightened awareness, and that heart skips a beat/ stomach lurches feeling if somebody gagged, or said they felt ill or similar. Although that has lessened with the meds I'm on.

It sounds like you have pretty strong anxiety attacks but on the plus side at least these symptoms are more or less when you're panicking, you could have persistant symptoms that refuse to go away, so if you don't have them, you're one of the luckier ones.. even though you probably feel the opposite. I'm glad your meds are helping though.

[lauren37]

Things i suffer from form anxiety or panic attacks are...
- obsessive thoughts and or images
-nausea (which just make me more nervous)
-fast heart beat
-feeling unreal
-stomach aches
-trouble breathing
tightness in muscles
- can't sit still
-lump in throat/feelings of choking

so yeah there are MANY different symtoms and yours are common not to worry!

[lauren37]

and Jen06 i do the same thing with pushing my hair behind my ears constantly!

[Tasha'93]

Things i suffer from form anxiety or panic attacks are...
- obsessive thoughts and or images
-nausea (which just make me more nervous)
-fast heart beat
-feeling unreal
-stomach aches
-trouble breathing
tightness in muscles
- can't sit still
-lump in throat/feelings of choking

so yeah there are MANY different symtoms and yours are common not to worry!

Again, very popular symptoms, can definately familiarise myself with those ones. & I guess so.. It's not really the attacks that make me that worried it's the other side where I just get constant symptoms without any attacks

[Rebecca85]

Tasha- yeah I feel lucky when I'm not panicking, but just after an attack I don't! I think the attacks are so bad because I try and suppress the panic, it's like a pressure cooker. If you block the little steam vent, pressure will build up till it explodes. But the alternative (for me at least) would be to let the panic out in little spurts, which would most likely result in me not having a life (or job). So I think I'll stick with it! I did think about asking for something to take when I panic, but I think I get into too much of a state too quickly for it to have any effect! At the moment I take an anti depressant (for depression) but it's also an anti anxiety.

[Tasha'93]

Tasha- yeah I feel lucky when I'm not panicking, but just after an attack I don't! I think the attacks are so bad because I try and suppress the panic, it's like a pressure cooker. If you block the little steam vent, pressure will build up till it explodes. But the alternative (for me at least) would be to let the panic out in little spurts, which would most likely result in me not having a life (or job). So I think I'll stick with it! I did think about asking for something to take when I panic, but I think I get into too much of a state too quickly for it to have any effect! At the moment I take an anti depressant (for depression) but it's also an anti anxiety.

I guess.. I mean we all feel lucky when we're not panicking, right? - I hope you progress with the tablets & things start to look up for you

[roadtofreedom]

i dont think i have it as bad as any of you guys (but enough to make me worry)
-doing weird things with my hands
-dry throat
-that feeling in your stomach
-odd breathing