Is this anxiety?

[Girl18]

Last night after my cardio workout, shower, I began feeling funny when I lied down to relax and go to sleep. I felt as if there was a huge amount of energy in me and my body couldn't calm down. It started to really worry me and I began feeling tingly in my hands. My brain noticed this and my heart rate sped up so I quickly sat up and I calmed down. I know I definitely have anxiety because I experience stress from OCD and work, so I naturally thought this strange "rush" feeling in my body was from anxiety. It's still here the morning after and it's making me feel even MORE anxious because this feeling is so weird. I didn't get much sleep last night either so my concentration is off today. Do you guys experience this "rush" (best way I could describe it) when anxious? I feel as if my body is alert for something. I'm worrying that this may be something serious which is stressing me out even more.

I forgot to mention that I've become super aware of my body... my heart rate and how I am feeling.

[Cherrytree12]

Hi Girl18,

I wouldn't say that what I experience when having an anxiety attack would be described as a 'rush' as a rush would indicate something good to me however I can kind of understand what you mean as you can't be still, constantly fidgeting/stressing etc and then the longer this goes on, the more you worry and the worse your symptoms get. I would keep an eye on it if I were you but it could simply be a bit of adrenaline in your system from your workout. I don't work out much any more but I remember when I used to, I felt very alert for the whole evening afterwards whereas you'd think it would make you tired! I hope you are feeling better later in the day and you have a more restful evening today x

[Girl18]

Hi Girl18,

I wouldn't say that what I experience when having an anxiety attack would be described as a 'rush' as a rush would indicate something good to me however I can kind of understand what you mean as you can't be still, constantly fidgeting/stressing etc and then the longer this goes on, the more you worry and the worse your symptoms get. I would keep an eye on it if I were you but it could simply be a bit of adrenaline in your system from your workout. I don't work out much any more but I remember when I used to, I felt very alert for the whole evening afterwards whereas you'd think it would make you tired! I hope you are feeling better later in the day and you have a more restful evening today x

Thanks for responding to me. I guess the best way to describe it would be very alert and full of adrenaline. I feel like I need to keep my foot moving constantly when I am sitting. I also feel butterflies in my stomach. All these weird feelings are beginning to stress me out. Hopefully as the day goes on I will feel better. I'll be drinking lots of chamomile tea.

---------- Post added at 17:15 ---------- Previous post was at 14:47 ----------

Feeling much better this afternoon. I've been drinking chamomile tea which I think is helping to calm me.

[MyNameIsTerry]

That sounds more like an adrenaline rush experienced through exercise. Thats all normal but the problem tends to be that we focus on these things negatively and turn them into anxiety.

The physical symptoms can be very similiar between normal functions of the body and anxiety. For instance, have you ever been quite excited and found yourself thinking "oh no, is this going to turn into anxiety?"

Your body will handle the adrenaline rush but because you increased your adrenaline through becoming anxious or panicking, it will take much longer to go. Some light exercise or deep breathing can help with this as it burns it off. Your body will metabolize excess adrenaline over time, its just more than expected right now.

Don't let it cause you to avoid exercise though, that will create an even bigger problem which you will have to overcome again later.