question about anxiety that I don't understand

[Romo]

I've always had a bit of anxiety which i thought was normal, like not sleeping right away, using the restroom a few times before bed and little things I didn't really consider anxiety until i looked back now. It never got in the way of anything really. Now that I have it 24/7 since a heath scare 3 months ago, my skin crawls, eyes burn and hurt, back hurts and i'm ALWAYS tired where there is times in the day I can't do much and nap in the day ect. now it has affected my life where I quit school. My question is, I read somewhere once all you anxiety is gone, then the symptoms will go...I always thought a little bit of anxiety everyday though out the day was normal. If it doesn't go away until my anxiety goes away, does that mean I will never get any better now? I can't deal with this fatigue everyday, Even when i'm feeling totally fine, my skin starts to crawl, which i'm ok with.. the fatigue/ tiredness i can't deal with. I don't want to take meds also .. Its a lot better then it was, but still it's to the point where I can't do much. I don't think there is such thing as anxiety free, unless you become a monk or something meditating all day.. I'm confused! I've read here where people have been deal with tiredness for 6-7 or 20 years.. i can't do that.

[Captain America]

it does get better, honestly. once you're no longer 'acute' you might occasionally get a symptom...like a buzzy feeling or the crawling skin thing, but the symptoms definitely go away.

i've had back pain, stomach problems, buzzing feeling, crawling skin, hot feeling, pulse sensations all over at different times, tingling in hands and sometimes legs/feet, fatigue (didn't get out of bed for almost a week), etc, etc and on and on.

now, i do get feelings now and then and sometimes they bother me but most of the time i ignore them and think, 'what was i just thinking about that's bothering me' and realize i'm anxious about something.

i just went back to school myself, and the first class i was jittery and couldn't breathe well. by end of class it was over, and by the 3rd class the feelings were gone.

so it gets easier, and most of the time things won't bother you. you just have to get out of the acute phase.

i used counseling and exposure therapy. it was worth it.

[itoldyouiwasill]

The simple (ish) answer to this is that it takes a fair old while for low level anxiety to creep up and then what generally happens is that a stressor (often health related if you develop health anxiety) basically pushes you over the edge and then BAM!!....you now have a chronic physical anxiety condition.

Now, it is about this point that your physical anxiety symptoms no longer are determined by your current mental state. Think of it like this...if you are overweight this is often down to years of poor diet, if you suddenly decide to stop eating cheeseburgers and scoff mung beans 24/7 you are still going to be overweight whilst doing that...you are basically overweight due to has gone before and not what you are doing now.

This perceieved paradox is the real killer for many anxiety sufferers....why I am getting the symptoms if I'm no longer anxious??, the fact of the matter is that once anxiety becomes a chronic physical condition the damage has been done and what has taken years to cause can, in all honesty, take as long to put right as our minds and bodies need time to adjust.

Of course, here is the rub...instead of giving ourselves the time and peace to recover we analyse and catastrophise the symptoms and literally pour gas on the fires of anxiety...we wonder why recovery is so slow and the reason for that is that our response to the symptoms means that very often recovery never actually gets the chance to begin.

Recovery can be a long and frustrating process with many cases of one step forward and two back but the bottom line is that if you don't analyse and don't put unrealistic and demanding false time scales on it then recovery is guaranteed.

[Romo]

oh I se.. I'm glad you told me this becaue i was confused. I don't mind these syptoms once in a while cause they don't scare we anymore.. I can go with my head crwling mst of the day and ignore it..The part where I have to sleep by 3 or 4 really bangs me up because I want to go to the gym and feel great for the day instead of feeling tired if I go or not.. I feel hung over today even if I didn't drink and slept really well. I just accepted this was anxiety for the last month out of being ill for 3 so I hope my accute is almost over.. How much longer you think if i'm doing well with dealing with it




it does get better, honestly. once you're no longer 'acute' you might occasionally get a symptom...like a buzzy feeling or the crawling skin thing, but the symptoms definitely go away.

i've had back pain, stomach problems, buzzing feeling, crawling skin, hot feeling, pulse sensations all over at different times, tingling in hands and sometimes legs/feet, fatigue (didn't get out of bed for almost a week), etc, etc and on and on.

now, i do get feelings now and then and sometimes they bother me but most of the time i ignore them and think, 'what was i just thinking about that's bothering me' and realize i'm anxious about something.

i just went back to school myself, and the first class i was jittery and couldn't breathe well. by end of class it was over, and by the 3rd class the feelings were gone.

so it gets easier, and most of the time things won't bother you. you just have to get out of the acute phase.

i used counseling and exposure therapy. it was worth it.

[Romo]

oh I just saw this.. wow that is not good. I wonder if you accept this, it will go away faster. I started working out and trying to ignore it. It's helped a whole lot! But the tiredness/ sleepyness/ fatigue is still at the worse


The simple (ish) answer to this is that it takes a fair old while for low level anxiety to creep up and then what generally happens is that a stressor (often health related if you develop health anxiety) basically pushes you over the edge and then BAM!!....you now have a chronic physical anxiety condition.

Now, it is about this point that your physical anxiety symptoms no longer are determined by your current mental state. Think of it like this...if you are overweight this is often down to years of poor diet, if you suddenly decide to stop eating cheeseburgers and scoff mung beans 24/7 you are still going to be overweight whilst doing that...you are basically overweight due to has gone before and not what you are doing now.

This perceieved paradox is the real killer for many anxiety sufferers....why I am getting the symptoms if I'm no longer anxious??, the fact of the matter is that once anxiety becomes a chronic physical condition the damage has been done and what has taken years to cause can, in all honesty, take as long to put right as our minds and bodies need time to adjust.

Of course, here is the rub...instead of giving ourselves the time and peace to recover we analyse and catastrophise the symptoms and literally pour gas on the fires of anxiety...we wonder why recovery is so slow and the reason for that is that our response to the symptoms means that very often recovery never actually gets the chance to begin.

Recovery can be a long and frustrating process with many cases of one step forward and two back but the bottom line is that if you don't analyse and don't put unrealistic and demanding false time scales on it then recovery is guaranteed.

[Romo]

bump

[cinny]

Thanks alot.. My counselor said almost the very same thing. It is hard for me to remember that it took along time for me to get like this, and it will take some time to get through it. :doh:

But it was good to find this post. It is appreciated..





The simple (ish) answer to this is that it takes a fair old while for low level anxiety to creep up and then what generally happens is that a stressor (often health related if you develop health anxiety) basically pushes you over the edge and then BAM!!....you now have a chronic physical anxiety condition.

Now, it is about this point that your physical anxiety symptoms no longer are determined by your current mental state. Think of it like this...if you are overweight this is often down to years of poor diet, if you suddenly decide to stop eating cheeseburgers and scoff mung beans 24/7 you are still going to be overweight whilst doing that...you are basically overweight due to has gone before and not what you are doing now.

This perceieved paradox is the real killer for many anxiety sufferers....why I am getting the symptoms if I'm no longer anxious??, the fact of the matter is that once anxiety becomes a chronic physical condition the damage has been done and what has taken years to cause can, in all honesty, take as long to put right as our minds and bodies need time to adjust.

Of course, here is the rub...instead of giving ourselves the time and peace to recover we analyse and catastrophise the symptoms and literally pour gas on the fires of anxiety...we wonder why recovery is so slow and the reason for that is that our response to the symptoms means that very often recovery never actually gets the chance to begin.

Recovery can be a long and frustrating process with many cases of one step forward and two back but the bottom line is that if you don't analyse and don't put unrealistic and demanding false time scales on it then recovery is guaranteed.