confused

[rebeccad]

hi i am fairly new to this anxiety and am a bit confused i dont think i have anxiety attacks as such just feel constantly anxious especially over my health, i have my physical symptoms for most of the day at the moment its dizzines, i have been reading other posts and it seems people only have attacks so does that mean in between attacks there should be no physical symptoms, sorry to ramble and sound really dumb? My husband does not understand and keeps telling me its all in my head but it really isnt, I do feel really off balance but i am not swaying or even walking off balance.

[Jaco45er]

Hiya Reb

You are right to be confused because everyone is different.

An anxiety "attack" is more or less a panic attack or possibly not quite as severe. However, constant anxiety (like health anxiety or general anxiety) kinda sits with you all the time, but you may not be climbing the walls.

I used to get times (weeks and weeks) of just constant anxiety and would dwell on my health, my heart, obsessed with reading about people dying at my age etc.

When you are in this anxious state, you will get physical symptoms that just feed the fear of your anxiety.

What is important here is, you feel how you think. If your mind is worrying, your body will react to this (hence your dizziness, or shooting pains, or tight chest etc etc).

This leads you to beleive that it is not in your mind, you really are ill !!!!

But in reality, you are physically fine, it's your thoughts that are faulty, not your body.

Check out Claire Weekes book "hope and help for your nerves" she explains this beautifully (I think it's in the NMP store).

Good luck

Jaco

[agent orange]

the funny things is that your husband is partly correct, it is all in your head, but we know it is not, because we have such awful symptoms. If our thinking continues in the way it has, then it is not surprising that we will have such awful symptoms. Today and for the last few weeks, mine are achey joints from the neck, shoulders, arms, legs etc, an awful feeling, not a lot I can do unless I stop thinking about health. When you have thought like this for many years, your body does become accustomed to these symptoms, even though you are not ill, which in turn makes you think that you are ill. I don't suffer from panic attacks much, but I do have high anxiety and an anxiety that continues daily. It would be wise to seek help, either Cognitive behavioural training or some other type of counselling. Medication is fine in the short term, but if we are not depressed then they will not actually do that much. I have tried so much medication for anxiety, but they themselves caused me to feel awful, but this is different for everyone.