What comes first, the anxiety or the symptoms?

[SuzieQ]

Hi everyone

I would like to know if anyone has any thoughts/ facts etc on whether the anxiety causes our symptoms or our symtoms cause our anxiety? I seem to always have bad heads, stomachs, breathing symptoms etc and thats when i panic but then I wonder whether I was subconsiously anxious about something which triggers this? Any thoughts? Hope this makes sense!

Suzie :wacko:

[lauren6]

Suzie, it works both ways. I have a good book on health anxiety that says we always have twinges, it would not be normal to not feel pain and nausea every now and then. So we get a pain and yes, we get anxious.

The cognitive school of thought is basically that we never have a feeling (emotional and sometimes physical) that is not preceded by a thought. You feel depressed or anxious due to some fleeting thought that you might not even be aware of. Their mode of treatment is change the thought, reshape it, then your feelings will naturally change.

I know for me, one thought can run me to the bathroom immediately...brain to gut reaction as in IBS...I mean within seconds!

[jwoulf]

Sometimes, for me, it seems like the symptoms come first, but there is usually a trigger.
For me, my triggers are stress, and sleep deprivation. I usually have anxiety and worry about my heart rate. And a fast heart rate can be a sign of sleep deprivation and/or stress. And then the anxiety causes me trouble being able to sleep. So it is a terrible cycle.

[darcy]

hi.. i always find that stress brings on the head aches and head pain etc which in turn makes me panic and once ive spoken to the dr i feel fine... its awful.. i have a friend who never worries about her health and i wonder how lovely that must be....

[girlrock]

Can be either way for me. Right now my last 2 months of health anxiety was brought on by anxiety in general. But usually its "Oh here's a lump, gotta rush off to the doctor because I have cancer." The worst part about the whole thing is that its all a vicious cycle. Anxiety can make you sick and then being sick makes you anxious and around and around we go!

[charsey]

I find that i become more aware of my physical symptons when there are events going on in my life that i can't handle or need time to find my feet in. I believe i always have these symptons but it's only when something in my life is making me unhappy or stressed that i then start to focus on my health.

[SuzieQ]

Hello sorry for the late reply back my internet connection has been down. I agree with all that u have said, it seems different to different people but it seems it can work both ways round, this morning i have a terrible stomach really painfull and I DO NOT want to get any anxiety because of it but I worry in case something happens to me like passing out or something as I have a 19m old son. So far so good!!!

[SuzieQ]

ps i seem more aware when im suffering from stress or lack of sleep too, if i dont get a good nights sleep it seems to really affect me.