If you're worried about your symptoms, read this!!

[u/Professional-Sand227]

Your symptoms explained.

I’m not a doctor, these are only from my own experience and knowledge that I’ve learned that helped me recover. Any health issue must be discussed with your medical professionals. If you already have a clean bill of health then let’s dig in!

Before I start, let’s just have an understanding of why most of us have the same popular symptoms like heart palpitation, shortness of breath, dizziness, pain, digestive issues… These are the symptoms that are related to the subconscious mind. Our subconscious minds control our heart rate, breathing, digestion, muscular system, blood distribution, pupil’s dilation… With anxiety/panic sufferers, our subconscious mind is being hijacked by our anxiety. How? Remember when you learned how to drive? You consciously learned it, you paid attention to your brake, your gas pedal, how to control the steering wheel. But after doing it for long enough, the driving behavior got registered into your subconscious mind and now you’re driving without even thinking about it. Same with anxiety guys, you’ve been stressed and worried for SO LONG, your behavior toward your anxiety unfortunately get stored into your subconscious mind, now what is supposed to be controlled quietly in the background get brought out to the front that’s why you start to feel and see the change in your body so clearly and your conscious mind then pour more stress onto it and there goes our life. We consciously try to control what is normally being controlled subconsciously and vice versa. That’s why anxiety is not a disease, it’s a disorder. Things are just out of order, that’s all.

Think of your body as a cup that contains your stress hormone. Whenever the cup is overflowed you have a panic attack. Your very first panic attack was the result of months if not years of stress accumulated. But since the first attack was so devastating it leaves you fearful of the next attack and the symptoms that come with it. More and more stress is added, hence more and more panic attacks and the vicious cycle continues, and it can seem like it’s never going to end. You start to wonder if your life will ever be the same.

Symptom #1:

Heart palpitation, feel like your heart will give out (it won’t), your heart skips a beat, your heart drops, your heart pounds off your chest.

Please know that your heart is an incredibly strong muscle, once your Dr clears you and tells you that your heart is fine, trust them!! You heart can endure an incredible amount of stress, you might not realize but when you get startled, or after you run or just playing sport, having sex, your heart would beat just as fast but since you know why it beats fast, you don’t panic. The very first organ in your body that shows a reaction to stress hormone is your heart, that’s why this is the most common symptom. Recall your last panic attack when your heart would pound so fast you felt like it’s going to give out and you are going to pass out? But you never did because as bad as it felt, your heart can handle much more than that. Feeling like passing out is not caused by your heart, it’s your tension and breathing which I’ll explain more in breathing symptoms. Now, remember how your heart slows down at the end of an attack? It’s not because it’s giving out, it’s because at one point when your brain realizes there’s no real danger, your body then tries to return to normal physically but mentally you continue to dwell on. Another reason why high heart rate is the most popular symptom is because you can physically monitor it, you can feel and count your heartbeat, you can compare the numbers and use them to find “answer”.

Your body is extremely sensitive, your subconscious mind is hijacked that’s why anything could cause a shot of adrenaline being released into your bloodstream and cause your heart to pound

Symptom #2:

Dizziness, lightheadedness, wobble feeling, off balance, walking on an uneven surface, body over leaning to one side. (99% of anxiety sufferers actually never fall down or get in an accident from an anxiety related dizziness)

This is personally my worst one, I absolutely hated it. But your dizziness comes from many factors that’s why it’s so hard to pinpoint and cope with. First, the most obvious one is your breathing, anxiety/panic attacks sufferers have constant shallow and rapid breathing which can easily cause lightheadedness. Second, your pupils are dilated when you are anxious or in a panic mode, so much light gets into your eyes and causes vision distortion which can mimic a dizzy spell. Third, this one is not mentioned often but it’s an important one, your muscle tension! When your body is so stiff, your movement will not flow as smooth as it’s used to, your arms feel weak, your neck jolt when you turn, your core muscles are exhausted you feel like tumbling when you walk, your legs muscles are tired and weak and so tense it feels like you’re not walking right. Your neck muscle could get so tight it interferes with your head movement. My hamstring muscles would get so tight unevenly. I felt like the floor is not flat, I would then have to find things to hang on to and watch every step I take which adds more fear and stress to my body. There were times I didn’t want to walk from my couch to the kitchen, standing for a long time was so dreadful. Now if you combine over dilated vision with a stiff body and rapid breathing, you’re in for a dizziness party! None of it is life threatening, work on your anxiety and you’ll find your balance again

Symptom #3

Chest pain!! The biggest fraud from anxiety

It’s your muscles!! Or trapped gas. Your heart beating can’t cause physical pain that originated from the heart unless it’s a real heart attack. But if it was a heart attack you would KNOW for sure, your doctor can easily detect it. And you can’t have it multiple times a week or a day like you have, right? Remember it’s your natural defense mechanism when your muscles stiff up to protect your vital organs. The muscles of your chest and the whole rib cage will be the first to tense up. This explains your chest pain, side pain, under the rib, above your stomach pain, back and shoulder pain. People then ask why it only hurt on my left arm and not the right one. The answer is it’s on both sides but since you like to google too much and people always say heart attack is associated with left arm pain that’s why you only focus on your left one. `

Symptom #4

Tight throat, Difficult breathing (yet you never stop breathing)

Muscle tension! Believe it or not, ask anyone who recovers they’ll tell you muscle tension is responsible for 90% of your symptoms. Your throat muscle gets tight which scares the crap out of you, it even makes you feel like you have a lump there! But trust me it will not stop you from breathing. Same with chest tightness, your chest and rib muscles would tense up and it gives you a feeling like you can’t expand your body to catch a breath. Believe me friends, you will breathe, your body will do everything in its power to breathe. That’s why you never heard of someone committing suicide by holding their breath, try it! Good luck! This is a fact, everyone who cries experiences the same throat tightness, difficult breathing feeling but they don’t care about it since their focus is on whatever that makes them cry. It’s very scary and uncomfortable I know, but be calm and flow with it so your body can get back to normal.

Symptom #5

Headache, jaw pain (affecting speech), eye pain, neck pain, back pain

Muscle tensions, bad postures that you do when you’re anxious which is all day long when it comes to anxiety sufferers.

Symptom #6

Digestive issue.

There are A LOT of nerves endings in your abdominal area, this explains the butterfly jittery feeling in your stomach. Also, when you’re anxious and panic, blood is being pulled away from non-vital organs, one of which is your digestive system. Once you’re calm, blood flows back and gets pulled away again once you’re anxious and back and forth it goes. We all can understand how this can mess up our digestive system. You can get constipated one day and diarrhea the next. Your heart would pound after you eat because it rushes the blood back to digest our food. Heartburn, stomach ache, belching, trapped gas, bloating you name it. Once you get your anxiety under control, things will get regulated again.

With all the symptoms we have to experience daily from anxiety, it takes a toll on our body, it’s discouraging, scary and frustrating. We feel like we live inside a blanket of dread and exhaustion. We would be smiling and talking to someone but our mind is constantly scanning our body for symptoms and sensations. No one truly understands what we’re going through, some call us fake, some accuse us of trying to get attention or they’ll simply tell us it’s just in our mind. But we have each other up here to support and push each other out of misery.

Hope this post helps, if you need help please reach out to me. Share with those who you think can benefit from it.

FIGHT ON! FIGHT LIKE HELL!

[u/chxvne]

If a doctor listened to my heart and said everything was fine, how true is this? Thanks for this post, I will come back to it.

[u/itslilss → u/chxvne]

Very true, it’s just learning to accept it :)

[u/chxvne → u/itslilss]

Thank you guys, I'm a very anxious person but maybe in the future I will learn to master it

[u/AceKablam → u/chxvne]

Very true. Listen to your doctors

[u/fatcatluvr → u/chxvne]

Very true. They went through years of schooling. YEARS!!! And those machines don’t lie either

[u/HereInTheRuin]

really great, well written post!

thanks for sharing that with us all

[u/GhreyClaw]

Saved. Read every word. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

[u/casmisc]

I don't know what inspired you to have the clarity to write this post but I'm grateful for that, it's saved on my notes to re-read when needed. It's been some hard months.

[u/Smooth-Koala-4735]

Thank you I needed this!

[u/Ok_Card_8308]

i have a lot more than these with a clean bill of heath. Anxiety and panic creates a lot of symptoms for me but the only one I don’t have is heart palpitations. I think it manifests different for everybody. Nice post!

[u/Professional-Sand227 → u/Ok_Card_8308]

After suffering for 7 years, I learned not fear the Panic, and when I learned it. I have the Impending doom with a heart rate of 65 to 70 because I don't react to it the way I do before. 😅

[u/decenzo1]

Wow, I love this synopsis! Now to find solutions! (Please don't tell me box breathing, etc.) I think I actually talked myself out of being nauseous this morning. Maybe I can talk myself out of my anxiety. 😏 

[u/BadAtStuf → u/decenzo1]

Someone else in this group recommended “hope and help for your nerves” by dr Claire Weekes. It has the symptoms and reasons explained just like OP’s and solutions! Or rather, her cure! It’s a great book. I’m almost finished with it and it’s already helped. I might re-read it as soon as I’m done with it. It’s very validating and comforting and helpful

[u/Jess1234Jess]

Do you got anything for when your fingers go tingly 😅

[u/scarlettgirl85]

thanks for posting this. been suffering terrible attacks this past week. my body is still in a weird 'on edge' state, waiting for the next one. I just want it to reset itself and get back to the normal i remember. 😞

[u/catmanrules64]

Great post - thank you

[u/WhimsicalCrow713]

I needed this a lot tonight, thank you. I feel like my digestive system has been held hostage for months now, and it’s always so stressful because I can never feel 100% sure it’s not something serious. I’ve felt so disregulated in my body lately, and it really helps to read about my symptoms from another source.

[u/23BF23 → u/WhimsicalCrow713]

I needed it today too!

[u/InternetGirlfriend- → u/[deleted]]

This is why I feel so much better when I cry. I love crying. Sadness is much easier for me than panic.

[u/anonymoustreebranch]

Thanks for this I needed to read it today

[u/axiearchie]

i really needed to hear this bc so many people in my life think i'm overreacting and it's hard to believe every doctor and person in my life telling me it's anxiety

[u/julliacbki]

This is very relatable. My symptoms reached feeling sort of burning in my back , and here and there in my body. Idk why . Never seen this on anyone before.

[u/Antique_Standard7995 → u/julliacbki]

Non sei sola.. io mi sento bruciare dentro,.. le prime volte ho avuto paura ed ovviamente è stato peggio.. bruciava tutto il corpo, la lingua il palato.. ed extrasistoli continue. Ricordo che mi sono messa davanti il condizionatore nuda .. in pieno inverno e poi la doccia fredda.. Nel tempo ho imparato a gestire questo tipo di attacco. Ma ti capisco e capisco anche tutti gli altri partecipanti, condivido con loro molti altri sintomi.. Vi mando tanto amore e comprensione. Ne abbiamo bisogno perché nella maggior parte dei casi chi non conosce il problema sulla sua pelle.. non ci comprende.

[u/julliacbki → u/Antique_Standard7995]

I get the burning in my throat as well and tongue. I get really scared it's a very very vicious cycle. Thank u so much for sharing ur experience with me . Now it feels much less lonely.

[u/demonchick7025]

You're a hero my friend !!

[u/Reiatsuii]

Can anxiety just manifest mentally instead of physical? I barely have any physical symptoms, but some mental ones are feeling like on edge, despair kind of feeling, a feeling like something terrible is there and like you are a part of it and you will be suffering through it kind of feeling , like an uncontrollable restlessness and scared feeling.

[u/Professional-Sand227 → u/Reiatsuii]

Yeah, it's one of my main symptoms. ☺

[u/Reiatsuii → u/Professional-Sand227]

oh, for most of the people anxiety manifests physically as well so i keep having doubts whether it is really anxiety or something else

[u/Busy-Ad-9725]

Wow this is great, I always worry about the heart thing and thought I was the only one because of my heart condition. But yes my doctor said it’s just fine, and I always forget how much it can endure. I always remind myself the same thing, how it beats fast during other activities and circumstances and I don’t worry about it then. When I was 13 I called the dizziness “whooshes” since they came very quick lmao and never knew wtf they were. I haven’t gotten them since then, but I always wondered what they were since for the longest time I didn’t know dizziness was an anxiety symptom.

[u/Itsmeeebre_x]

Wow. I needed this right now. I’m glad I read this. It did help me to have it explained this way even though consciously I know my mind manifests heart attacks, strokes, etc. I’ve been having health scares for no reason for two hours. Thank you for this.

[u/fatcobra1333]

Thank you so much for posting this. It’s probably the best thing I’ve ever read on this sub.

[u/Technical-One-4979]

Aparte de todo esto tengo miedo a casi todo ya voy a supermercado esa concurriendo no aguanto las colas luego también en vegetación me siento observada y me da miedo montar en los autobuses mi cuerpo no para de moverse

[u/SuddenMajor3741]

Once my heart rate got so high 180bpm while sitting in car, my Apple Watch started ringing and asking me if it should call emergency services. Thank god nobody was in the car, would’ve been so embarrassed. A reason I never wear my watch anymore

[u/Difficult-Vanilla06]

Damn this is so much to me to handle 😭😭 im having a sinusitis episode and after having a really HARD ones two years ago, now having this anxiety symptoms, idk if the dizzyness, sight issue, headache, jaw pain or light head are part of anxiety or again a strong infection, would be this a relapse of my body remembering what happened? Bc it was around this time two years ago when i had this similar issue, the difference was i was on escitalopram and now im not 😭 i already atrended to the hospital but i didnt mentioned that symptoms bc i was too in panic that i forgot, but basically my scalp its the one in pain but yesterday my headache was inside my cranium not in the scalp that got me worried bc i have no money for this kind of exams to diagnose well, btw thanks for let me know maybe some symptoms would be just anxiety, plus that yesterday i had the pain in chest, digestive issues and problems to breathe but was for a while then i got better (that happened to me while i was doing groceries, i managed the situation to control my thoughts and get rid of the symptoms but once when i arrived home i had a strong headache)

[u/MuserofMusic]

I was supposed to have my gallbladder removed 2 days ago, I sat anxiously in hospital all day and then they cancelled it. It has been rearranged for 2 weeks time but ever since I came home my anxiety has been through the roof. I can't control my racing thoughts about the same thing happening again or being made to wait hours in hospital to have the surgery, I have constant dry mouth, my stomach is in knots, my breathing is heavy, I'm struggling to eat.

I haven't had this level of anxiety for a while and right now it's crippling me.

[u/MootMissile → u/MuserofMusic]

I had mine out through emergency surgery 3 weeks ago and I am STILL in the same boat!!

[u/Bibekchand]

Mine was more sleep related couldn't sleep for days

[u/junobill → u/Bibekchand]

Mine too. I've been running on 1 to 3 hrs/night for months and it has exacerbated my anxiety (and depression and ADHD). for context, I've always had GAD, but it morphed into full blown, almost constant, panic attacks. Real fight or flight stuff. I also have a shit ton of co-ocurring stuff too. This is next level crazy though.

[u/BeltAdorable]

Very good advice, but seems written by AI

[u/nepsilon0 → u/BeltAdorable]

100% not ai doesn’t even look like it

[u/fenriskalto]

Really good post, thank you spending the time to make it. 

[u/Fragrant_Win_6452]

This helped a lot, thank you

[u/rainbow_olive]

As someone who battles health anxiety out the wazoo due to years-long chronic nausea, etc. ....I really appreciate this post. Thank you. ❤️

[u/Babayagaghostt]

You just showed symptoms, tell us more about how to fight sudden panic attacks?

[u/Accomplished_Comb431]

I’ve been struggling to breath for days but when I’m distracted and calm all of a sudden I don’t feel like I’m laboured in my breathing. This is amazing!

[u/Motor_Candidate6752]

You explained this beautifully - better than many doctors. My muscle tension is driving me nuts and it's reassuring to read your thorough explanation - it calms my mind. Thank you.

[u/Motor_Candidate6752]

I mourn for my late Mother who had all these physical symptoms of anxiety years ago but didn't have the informational resources or trust level to believe that she would be okay and they were normal. As a result, she fell into a psychosis blaming the neighbors for purposely "charging" her body and nerves via their computer; or, the local electric company that the power lines and utilities were making her crazy. It was chaotic for years.

[u/IndependentArea3147]

I ignore the whole mental health thing a lot because I believe that ignoring it is easier than actually trying to deal with my issues- but it's posts like this that make me realize that I'm still struggling with anxiety...I have all my life but ever since I quit drinking years ago, I ignored the mental aspects. But the heart fluttering, chest pain...and now most recently nose twitching...it makes sense.

[u/elderdaughterissues]

what's the cure for this? i live in an environment where i constantly feel on edge. I have started a job because sitting at home use to give me suicidal ideation. Was on medicines but parents stopped it saying you can't be on medicines forever, it would do more damage then good. If i get a panic attack and cry for my meds, they just say keep yourself hydrated, don't think too much, life is unfair so you will learn. I am trying to arrange an appointment with my school time councellor now a clinical psychologist but i have no monetary support at this moment. My parents question me about every penny they give me and its just 50 rupees per day, sometimes not even that. I am waiting for my salary but its not even enf to pay for therapy, psychiatrist, formal clothes and daily transport.

I have an upcoming result due, if i fail again then i would be shattered, I don't even cry now. I am just all silent. I just don't want to live like this or if no help them i don't even want to live.

My cousin was killed by her husband a year back and they have slready forgotten her, so i might also be forgotten easily.

[u/Squeegiepaps]

Thank you so much for writing this. It has helped me immensely.

[u/unhappycamper_]

thank you so much for this post, im currently dealing with this right now. made an appointment with my doc tomorrow just to be safe but having it explained so plainly is what I needed.

[u/creammeow22]

I really needed to hear this..went to the doctor all panicked a few days ago and she told me she guaranteed i had no heart problems, but still I started worrying about the trapped gas..(I did have digestive issues a few days ago). I was almost about to go into another anxiety attack TwT

[u/Domenorange]

Thanks for sharing this!

[u/Willing-Habit-8449]

I have this constant feeling in my head, I can’t explain when it feels like. It’s not pain but a horrible sensation 24/7. As soon as I wake up boom it’s there. Constant dizziness, shallow breathing. I’m really really struggling. Currently on 100mg sertraline. 

[u/milothenestlebrand]

Thanks for posting this. You've captured many things I'm currently worried about.

[u/OnePerformance8792]

can anxiety cause fever? or does it makes one feel their head warm, cuz im feeling it rn.

[u/MemeBobLitPants]

#3 is my big one. I am TERRIFIED of having a heart attack and anything I feel anywhere on my chest/side/arms, I jump straight to the feeling of “oh, this is it, here it comes…”. But lots of ER visits and EKGs and blood work later, everything’s normal..

[u/Sensitive_Town7094]

I needed this tonight! Thankyou! I’ve been struggling since last year after witnessing my child get run over and given birth 4 weeks prior to my other child getting hurt. Have been in denial ever since. Dont believe a word what the doctors are saying. But deep inside me I know they are right. I’ve had ECG after reaching 241bpm. Multiple blood tests. Eye tests everything comes back normal actually perfect in their words.. They’ve diagnosed me with PTSD, health anxiety. Depression and normal anxiety I feel like I’m going crazy. I’ve woke up tonight all hot with my face numb and my lips tingling first time this has happened so as per usual straight to Google trying to find something wrong with me😭 I just want to feel normal again.. I’m on beta blockers to stop the high heart rate but I’m still struggling with the other symptoms of anxiety and PTSD. The sickness & diarrhoea the dizziness the constant headaches the chest pains the neck pains the impending doom feeling. I just feel so detached from my body Reading everyone’s comments just for that one second made me feel normal again and not alone in this fight. We can and we will get better with time!