Re: Feeling physically ill just want to get over this
Hello Phil,
I've read your posting and your concerns. Realize that situational anxiety, which most people have experienced at various points in their lives, can exceed a reasonable level to become not only chronic in nature, but also set in motion a physiological process known as fight or flight response. It is an innate set of physical changes which take place in the body in response to a fearful stimuli. Surely you can recall being suddenly frightened at some point in your life, even if but in the presence of a good horror movie. At the climactic point of the movie, most all people can experience physical changes that take place, such as tingling sensations, rapid heart rate or pounding heart, palpitations, sweating, nausea or sinking sensations in the abdomen and so on. These sensations are being initiated by the brain in response to the visually fearful stimuli in the movie. People even tend to enjoy this kind of rush because it is both brief and represented in a somewhat predictable environment. In other words, the physical changes themselves are rational because there is an identifiable cause.
In the case of persons suffering anxiety which has become chronic and to the point that it is somatic (physical) in nature, the underlying cause of the ongoing anxiety is actually most often unidentified or at the very least, denied due to the fact that it produces highly unwanted features that are uncomfortable, sometimes even traumatic. When anxiety reaches this level, most all persons misinterpret the associated physical changes as signs of possible disease or imminent health consequence. This happens because unlike the horror movie where the cause is known, the underlying stimulus of the anxiety is spread out over a far greater timespan and sort of collects other fear-invoking problems along the way. For example, the very first original source of the anxiety may be something as simple as suddenly feeling helpless in the presence of others in a certain context, but as time grows and the circumstance remains unresolved and avoided, the anxiety-stricken individual finds that even approximations of the same circumstances will produce a similar result. As a consequence, life-altering changes may become elective to the extent that it generally becomes a life of avoidance behaviors, which merely causes the anxiety to be attenuated in the background, but never extinguished.
Thus, when life happens such as the loss of a job or any change from the routine formerly established to diminish the anxiety, it suddenly presents the individual with a flood of thoughts about all sorts of negative consequences which are, for the most part, highly irrational. It produces a rather hap-hazard approach to problem solving and lack of preparation that makes the anxiety-stricken individual feel as though they've suddenly lost their pace with the anticipations of daily life and it's as though they can't move or think fast enough to get ahead of the situation. A job interview that is just right for them suddenly appears, but they're too busy fending off all sorts of irrational ideas and notions in order to have been prepared, much so that they feel trapped.
This adds to the already prominent physical symptoms and both energy and outlook become grossly attenuated. There is little physical effort, but tremendous mental and physical exhaustion. This quickly erodes self-confidence and it is at this juncture, that the individual is unable to achieve normally inconsequential tasks. They become self-conscious about both their health and their interactions with others, often feeling uncomfortable when speaking with others because they are simulataneously evaluating their own behavior and interactions.
Priorities become entangled and what was once a fluid and confident approach to life, manifests into problems coming from so many directions that it is often difficult to overcome any single struggle because they are all receiving some portion of attention, yet with no forethought or planning necessary to make it a successful event.
This entire process often leads to a life of ruminations that predominate the normal strivings to the extent that such persons typically exclaim that they lost themselves somewhere and just want their life back. They don't feel like it's them living their life, but as though they are wading in a thick fog with somewhat blunted perceptions. They describe their heads feeling thick and their thoughts rambling, with near-obsessive ruminations about certain health matters related to their physical symptoms. In essence, such persons feel constantly afraid but are uncertain of precisely what it is that might happen to them. They only know that it is directly on their heels and they feel powerless to predict its oncoming or consequences.
It produces the need to feel safe and the most common retreat to obtain this safety is at the home in familiar surroundings. Reassurance becomes widely relied upon, much so that a sort of dependence upon it can be developed that helps reduce immediate tensions, but further incapacitates them from being able to restore their independence and strength.
So we've talked about the psychological and psychogenic aspects of the issue. As for the nature of the physical symptoms being described, they are virtually all directly related to the type of intense anxiety I've been describing to you and none of the symptoms either singularly, or in combination, fit any pattern of actual underlying pathology associated with disease or illness. You can take a deep breath and relax.
As for a direction or plan, much like Dorothy in the wizard of OZ, you've had the ability all along. You only need to begin believing in yourself once again rather than sheer dependence upon others because your confidence is all but lost. Do not attempt to take on all that plagues you, but rather target the single most necessity and do so passionately and with the fact in mind that your health and outlook are just fine. Nothing is going to happen to you as a consequence. You simply need to become purposeful and single-minded in your approach to problem resolution. As you realize the actual potential which has only been submerged and not lost or taken from you, matters will soon fall under your power once again, but you must always choose your battles and most importantly, set aside patterns of faulty thinking which hold no substance and are purely irrational beliefs that have perpetuated your fears.
So study your circumstances and draw forth a plan of attack. Make certain that you are well-prepared and then move forward. You're going to be just fine. Choose an image of yourself that is formidable rather than vulnerable. Take a stand and you'll see change.
Best regards,
Rutheford Rane, MD (ret.)
Last edited by RLR; 19-01-10 at 00:59.
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Best regards and Good Health
Feeling physically ill just want to get over this
I could hand pick lots of posts on here which how I feel in a day, some days it changes? Still have a few major things that worry but I feel for me the way that may help is neutralizing the thoughts started this but need a better view on it.
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Originally Posted by phil06
The symptoms sound like classic anxiety to me 
