can anxiety make us think we have pains?

[crunchie01]

hi everyone,

just wondered what peoples thoughts were on this.

can our anxiety cause our bodies to feel the pains we are worrying about?

is it really anxiety related?

i get twinges in my side every now and then, but last month i hardly had any at all,i was worrying about a mole. this month i am worrying about the twinges and they seem to be there??

jenniexxxx:hugs:

[lorac]

Hi jennie

I get aches and pains all the time which are mostly due to the tension in my body. I don't think we realise how much our bodies tense up when we are anxious.

Carol

[janeybaby25]

Hiya, yes it can cause us to have aches & pains. I was asking a professional once, how do I know if they are in my head or if they are real & he said the aches & pains we have are very real but they anxiety causes us to think that its something else when it's not. They key to recovering is accepting. Once you have accepted its just anxiety, the pains seam to go away & if they do come back then we just don't let our minds get out of control. Hope I have explained that ok & not confused you even more! lol xxx

[joyce1980]

Oh yes!!
I have asked this question many times myself....i had so many pains and problems related to anxiety, i went back on meds and 4 weeks later all those real symptoms just went away.

[Horse]

You Bet!!

Whatever happens above the eybrows, is responsible for whatever happens below!!!

Kevin.

[jill]

Hi hun :D:hugs:

I have had these twinges.

There are many, many things we need to learn when we are acute with anxiety and one of them is getting to know your own body. All humans will have aches and pains from time to time, its only natral, but when you are acute with panic, anxiety, our minds questions these far to much. The MORE you focus on these anches and pains, the worse they FEEL.

It it true that its hard when acute to know, when there is something, wrong, (apart from anxiety) thats why its soo important to get to know your own body.

At the moment I am in the prosses of looking more closely at my body, each month due to periods, my body is changing. I only have a weeks break and it all kicks off again. I am panic, high anxiety free because of this great site, BUT, I am starting to quetion, WHATS WRONG, is it anxiety related, is it hormones???? because of my age, each month is different symptoms,(will not go into the symptoms) mmmm, I am playing the waiting game at the mo, if my thoughts play with me to much. I am off to gp to see what I am dealing with, (peace of mind goes along way) I feel for me, its my age and my body is changing, but I do know, that even if its that, I NEED to know, because even with hormonal changes, it can effect how I think, so knowing what I am dealing with (anxiety, hormones ) WILL help me sooo much.

**can our anxiety cause our bodies to feel the pains we are worrying about?**

YES HUN, I do know that when people are in cronic pain, they go to pain manegment, this helps them deal, mentaly with the pain. The mind IS a powfull thing, learning just how powrfull it can be, helps us move on a little.

You say you have twinges, look at them a little more closely, are they there when due on? (which is normal) are they there, when you are NOT thinking about them? (mmm, this maybe hard because your not thinking about them, but LOOK at it closley) it could be that you have tension there. Do these twinges go worse the more you think about them? watch your thoughts when this symptoms comes on, as you know, scary thoughts will make this symptom FEEL worse.

You also have to look at what you have written, last month it was not there, you gave yourself something different to worry about, the mole, your reasuring coping skills must have kicked in over this mole ( WELL DONE) this shows that YOU DO have your reasuring coping skills in there, please, try and see this, BUT, because you stopped worrying about the mole, Mr anxiety is giving you something else to worry about.

SO, notice, that if you can give yourself something else to worry about, this problem we go, our minds will focus on what we fear the most, lets face it, who knows us better than anyone else, who knows are fears, WE DO, we know in the back of our minds, what will trigger worry and fear.

LOOK to what this twinge maybe, something less important, eg, tention, make positive patheways forward to take this tention away, relaxation cd's, hot baths, anything that will relax you.

If you have noticed that its there when periods are due, then at least you know what you are dealing with.

It could be that your bowl may be getting irratated when under stress, due to anxiety, this is normal when acute anxiety, again, eat healthy make positive change to your lifestyle.

Your twinges maybe caused by any of these things, BUT, if you focus far to much on it and put to much importants on this symptoms, Mrs Anxiety loves this and it makes it FEEL worse.

Hope this has helped a little, even if its just knowing that someone else has had the twinge.

YOU TAKE CARE HUN.

LOVE JILLXXX:hugs:

[jadeybags]

It can me! I have been put on betablokers yrs ago because of anxiety due to acute tummy pain. They even sent me to the hospital within days because i got myself in such a state. I didn't believe what the gp was telling me.
But when the consultant at the hospital told me i only had I.B.S i was so thrilled and within a few hours the pain had pretty much gone. Now i had had that pain for about 2 months, worrying away about it 24/7 even to the pont of shaking all night. My poor boyfriend at the time!
That was before i had 2 children 14/15 yrs ago now. Since then ive had numerous aches and pains and sensations that tend to not be there when i wake up in the morning but get worse as the day goes on. That eventually speaks volumes to me once i get my sensible head on. And I'm still here!
The mind is a scarily powerful thing!

[jasper]

Tell me about it!!!!

Tell me a symptom and I can get it within minutes/hours. Distract me or reassure me and it is gone. The mind is so powerful it is scary. Somehow we have to play anxiety at its own game!!

Best wishes for now x

[ijustagirl]

i wish i knew the answer..im in cronic pain 24hrs a day and doctors dont know if its my injuries have not healed correctly or part of the problem in my mind..the problem is the pain is there..i suffer from pts from an accident and it may be due to that..i would hope it is my mind as then i know the injuries have healed, none the less the pain is real .

[Helen1973]

i wish i knew the answer..im in cronic pain 24hrs a day and doctors dont know if its my injuries have not healed correctly or part of the problem in my mind..the problem is the pain is there..i suffer from pts from an accident and it may be due to that..i would hope it is my mind as then i know the injuries have healed, none the less the pain is real .

I'm so sorry that you are in pain, and that you suffered an accident:hugs: I myself find that I can manifest pain and symtoms at the drop of the hat and that is definately in the mind. Worry definately causes tension which then affects the body. I hope and pray that you are pain free very, very soon.:flowers:

[Mindy]

I definitely think that anxiety can manifest real pain in the body. Personally I always do it to myself. I will have indigestion, get worried about a slight pain in my chest and within 5 minutes, I can feel intense pain in the centre of my chest!

I also read some side effects that you can get from the contraceptive pill I am on and one of them is blood clots (in rare cases) and the leaflet warns of a pain in the calf muscle, sure enough my calf started to get pains and I was scared of blood clots :unsure:

When my mind is not focused on physical ailments, its amazing how they are not there anymore.

Also, I think you can have a minor symptom and anxiety can focus in on it and it can feel MUCH worse.

[CONS]

Yes,

'phantom pains' they are know as, just like the arm amputee who has an itch in the arm that has been removed.

[Cell block H fan]

Its a very common thing that if a family member/friend has a heart attack, we suffer chest pains for instance :)