Dealing with physical anxiety symptoms, not the mental ones

[damianjmcgrath]

It's obvious I suffer from a form of anxiety. I'm not totally sure which one, either health anxiety or GAD or even a phobia of illness and my experiences seem to be slightly different to most people's but even so, it's clear that anxiety causes me many problems.

I'm at the stage now where I accept it is anxiety. I no longer think my heart is about to explode. I still don't fully understand where the anxiety came from and perhaps I do have an underlying medical problem but due to many tests, I'm now reasonably confident that it's not a serious problem, and its definitely not related to my heart.

I used to keep myself in the anxiety loop, and added mental pain to my physical ones. I'm hoping I've getting on top of that now, and I've noticed I'm getting less panicky thoughts.

However, the physical symptoms remain and they are tough to handle or ignore. I get sudden tiredness, fast heart (which I know isn't a heart problem but it still makes me feel low on energy), grumpy, irritable, lack of focus, dizziness which makes me want to lie down, etc.

These symptoms keep me acting like an ill person - confined to lying on the sofa, not wanting to socialise, not being interested in watching tv with the wife, and generally being a pain to be around. I know why I get those symptoms, but I struggle to ignore them. If I'm tired, I want to lie down! If I'm hot and clammy, I don't want to cuddle my wife or baby. If I'm low on energy, I don't want to go for a walk.

I've tried forcing myself but that raises my grumpiness, almost as if I resent my family or friends for making me go out!

I do feel like I'm doing well to block out the negative thoughts of major illness and that's big progress for me but I want to give off the outwardly illusion that I'm completely cured and I need to get on top of these physical sensations.

Is anyone in a similar position?

[Mark501]

Hi mate.

I'm in a similar position. What hit a chord with me was the grumpiness with the other half. My girlfriend knows that I suffer from HA, but I can become very grumpy, often snap at her when I'm having a hard time of it. I just sometimes want to go into my own world. I often feel like I'm doing everyone in my life an injustice. I'm not living up to expectations and feel that I need to be a better person, not for me but for them.

With regards to physical symptoms, they'll come and go. After a while, you become almost desensitised to them and stop caring.

[vicky23]

Hi,
yeah can totally relate, as you learn to accept that these symptoms are caused by anxiety the thoughts get better but we still experience very real pain and tiredness and nausea and it sucks.
That's about all I can say on it, hopefully someone else will have better solutions
All best wishes

[damianjmcgrath]

Hi mate.

I'm in a similar position. What hit a chord with me was the grumpiness with the other half. My girlfriend knows that I suffer from HA, but I can become very grumpy, often snap at her when I'm having a hard time of it. I just sometimes want to go into my own world. I often feel like I'm doing everyone in my life an injustice. I'm not living up to expectations and feel that I need to be a better person, not for me but for them.

With regards to physical symptoms, they'll come and go. After a while, you become almost desensitised to them and stop caring.

Good post - I always notice myself going into my own world. I think I've got a lot of brain fog too - I don't seem to be able to concentrate or focus on things clearly enough. I feel like I've just woken up, all a bit dozey and not quite with it.

I'd love to feel sharper and have more energy. Stop feeling so.....blah!

[Beckybecks]

I'm at the same stage (only took me 20 years!)

My illness, because I can't describe it as a anything else, comes and goes but it seems to be related to stressful periods.

I get tired and I feel like I have flu coming on, which never actually arrives.(Anyone else get this?).

I've done a bit of research and it seems to be related to adrenaline and cortisol. In my mind I see it as my system having been damaged by being flooded by too much of these chemicals during all those panic attacks and constant anxiety)

From what I've read it is possible to recover but one must have plenty of self discipline to follow a strict regime which involves vitamins, a healthy diet eliminating certain foods and some exercise and MOST importantly avoiding all stress (easier said than done...)

But I'm going to give it a go. :)

[Mark501]

Just to add something to becky's post:

Eliminating or reducing caffeine intake can improve GAD symptoms. Gone are the days of my 2 daily strong coffees

[damianjmcgrath]

Stress is probably a big trigger for me, and I've got a 2 year old who generates some stress for me which is impossible to avoid. I need to learn how to react to situations in a non stressed way. Has anyone done any stress management therapies?

I don't drink coffee and my diet is decent. It's gluten free so it tends to be fresh made from scratch stuff.

Becky if you have any more information about recovery, I'd be interested to read about it.

[Traceypo]

Can empathise with all you said. I isolate myself at times, I know I need to push myself at times but sometimes I just don't feel up to it.
There's times when I want to be alone, but then when I am, the negative thoughts come creeping back in.
I've accepted my anxiety, to an extent, what I can't accept is a lifetime of this, I used to be quite carefree and I'm convinced with the right help and self determination I can get back there.

[Beckybecks]

Stress is probably a big trigger for me, and I've got a 2 year old who generates some stress for me which is impossible to avoid. I need to learn how to react to situations in a non stressed way. Has anyone done any stress management therapies?

I don't drink coffee and my diet is decent. It's gluten free so it tends to be fresh made from scratch stuff.

Becky if you have any more information about recovery, I'd be interested to read about it.

I've been doing a lot of reading and realised I'm never going to go forward until I help my body to heal itself.
This might be a bit of a long read and of course you can research yourself if you google Adrenal Fatigue.

Here's a short summary of what Ive learnt so far.

During stress adrenal glands release cortisol. This is a hormone needed in an emergency for a short time only but not intended for long periods of time such as when we have raised anxiety for days on end.

The high cortisol levels then interfere with our bodily functions - digestion (IBS) sleep (insomnia) immune function (prone to colds and flu).

It also prevents our bodies from producing other necessary hormones. (Effects sex drive, BP, abdominal fat, mood swings).

Once the adrenal glands are overworked and run out of cortisol they start to produce adrenaline which causes us to feel irritable, shaky, light headed, anxious and tired.

The good news is that the adrenal glands can be healed. Yay!

Very interesting to me is that cortisol levels are highest in the morning and lowest at night. This explains why I always feel dreadful in the morning and terrific at night. I always wondered why that was.

1st step is our diet. Eat regularly. Large meals early in the day and light meals later. Eat within an hour of waking and then every two hours even if it's just a snack of fruit. Very important!

Avoid caffeine and refined carbs. Avoid sugar (I eat loads of junk food to comfort myself especially chocolate...)

Chose whole fresh and if possible organic food.

2. Exercise. Keep heavy exercise to the early part of the day and light exercise such as yoga and walking to the later hours and evenings.

Deep breathing and walking boosts serotonin levels. I knew I always felt better when I went for a walk :)

3. Supplements. Take a good multi vitamin and magnesium.

4. Avoid stress. Which is just about impossible for me as I've taught my mind to stress about almost everything. Therefore, learn how to deal with the situations that cause you stress.

5. Relaxation and good sleeping habits.

I'm determined to give this a go. Who wants to join me?
I'm so tired of living half a life.

[damianjmcgrath]

That's all good advice, and I think it probably applies to non anxious people too. There's definitely some room for improvement for me there. Oddly though, I feel better in the mornings and worse at night!

I do feel ok whilst going for a run or walk but when I'm home, the anxiety goes up as my heart is beating quicker.

I'll look into supplements - although I did have my blood tested and apparently I'm not lacking in anything. It can't hurt though.

I definitely need to learn stress management techniques.

[Beckybecks]

Same problem here with the exercise - the rapid heart beat always causes me anxiety, which in turn means more rapid heart beat.....

Interesting about you feeling better in the mornings though. Maybe you don't have adrenal problems. I know that typically people who suffer from depression feel awful in the morning and good at night.

Stress management's the key though.
Do you have any tips?

[damianjmcgrath]

Oddly, I find comfort from daylight and feel trapped by darkness. Mornings are always a time for getting up and doing things, whereas the evening is just sitting around and having time to think.

I find myself getting stressed very easily now. More than I used to. Being stressed is pretty new to me so I haven't got any good management techniques yet.

[pepperutchie]

Im in the same situation right now.. I feel very tired,and weak,i want to do some laundry and i just end up lying here in my bed,very awful feeling.

[amers]

Beckybecks, this sounds exactly like my symptoms and your description of the effect s of adrenaline really ring true, I am so fed up of feeling like this and would like to try some of your suggestions....I tend to feel better in the evenings as well....trouble I have is feeling scared to exercise ( due to increased heart rate) and feel so anxious I rarely eat until the afternoon when I am really hungry.....