View Full Version : Where does your anxiety live?
Hi all, I'm starting some research into anxiety and I could do with some help!
I find that my anxiety tends to "live" in my chest: I can feel it there, tense and coiled up, even when I am feeling happy and motivated. It's like a physical sensation.
Does anyone else "feel" their anxiety inside them? Like maybe a bunched up area inside your brain, an electric sensation running down your temples, a knot in your stomach, a lump in your throat?
If we start to understand the physical aspects of anxiety, maybe we can work out how to do something about them without having to visit a doctor or ask for more medication.
hellbelle49
04-09-09, 18:13
Hi Psycho poet. My anxiety also "lives" in my chest. Sometimes it is more intense than others but sometimes when i feel relatively calm, i can still feel down and depressed as all i can feel is that opressive feeling in my chest so i know i dont feel 100% relaxed. I have suffered on and off with anxiety for 11 years (although i have had big gaps when i havent had any) the last 4 months i have been in a state of severe anxiety and feel really depressed with it. For me along with the chest pain, it is all the negative thoughts that i think about constantly that trigger panic, and mine is always to do with relationships as my first attack happened in a lift with a guy when i was 16. My relationship with my boyfriend is hanging on by a thread at the moment as we are on a break as i have become so phobic and anxious of him and convinced myself through anxiety that he looks different and that we are different in personality that i dont know what i believe to be true anymore. I really want to try and fight for it but it is so hard. Do you or know of anyone who has had these thought patterns. i just feel so alone and think that my anxiety is so different to everyone elses that no one understands. I have all the symptoms of GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) but feel a fraud!
Mine lives in my tummy:lac:
Nasty painful knot!!!
Kaz x:D
Mines in my tummy too ! Sue
mines a bit of a nomad,,,goes all over,,,depending of which area i will take notice of,,if i ignore say chest pain ,,,then it will go someplace else and try that,,,:D
between my shoulder blades, up to my neck and back of my head - its horrible :-(
mine is in my tummy too.
Sue xxx
nomorepanic
04-09-09, 21:33
throat
mine is always in my tummy too its like a washing machine
Depends on how severe my panic/anxiety is.
If its mild I get a pulsating feeling in my stomach, annoying but no big deal.
Slightly more severe and I get dizzy feeling in my head, like I'm gonna pass out.
Other times, when its worse, I get adrenalin rushes in my arms and legs.
Worst case scenareo...... dizzy, wobbly legs, feeling sick, stomach problems, adrenalin rushes, paranoia, lump in throat/choking feeling, palpatations ..... all at the same time!
It sucks :weep:
Mine is mostly in my tummy, sometimes chest and head too!!!!
Thanks everyone, I read every response in full and if anyone wants to supply more details or tell their story, please do so. The more info, the more I will learn when I put all this stuff together.
Sounds like the stomach is the place in which anxiety lives for most people... is there a coincidence that there are (supposedly) intelligence cells in the abdomen, which links into the old saying "gut feelings"?
Keep it coming everyone!
mine feels at home most in my head.
When I started with this, it was in my chest but now is in my head....
fallenidol1
05-09-09, 03:28
Mine "lives" in my chest as well but it is a bit of a jet setter and likes to travel to exotic places like my head, stomach and legs.
When I am anxious, my jaws hurt. There is tension in my forehead, and my shoulders ache. Sometimes, all of a sudden, my IBS kicks in. Pretty :lac: having to leave abruptly when in social situations.
Granny Primark
05-09-09, 08:47
Mine is in my tummy. It feels like a washing machine and makes me feel sick.
mine lives in my chest and my head, but i wish it lived in the shed!!
My anxiety tends to move from my stomach, through my chest and then into my head !
A working example :
I got really frustrated and stressed at work in the middle of the week.
This immediately generated a feeling of tension in my chest. It felt like I was going to have a heart attack......even though I've never had a heart attack and hence would not know what one felt like !!
As an experienced anxiety sufferer I now do not panic in these 'physical symptom' situations and I just look for the next opportunity to calm down and relax.
After this chest tension period has passed (2 - 3 days), my anxiety moves to my head and I have a sort of 'pressure' feeling for a few days until it all clears itself away.
The initial feeling can generate in my chest or stomach.
Hope that helps,
krog.
Mine seems to prefer my chest and shoulders most of the time, but will sometimes reside in my tummy - perhaps it vacations there.
What an interesting question to ask! definitely in my chest
In my neck , shoulders , jawline, night-time grinding/clenching of my teeth ( have chewed through numerous mouthguards). Everything seizes up.
Sometimes in the morning when I wake up I feel as though my teeth are made of sawdust- even worse I could very rarely turn my head (due to neck pain) I could only stare straight ahead !
I also pick at the skin around my nails, like imaginary hang-nails-my hands look like they belong to a stressed tortured soul.
Rachel_123
05-09-09, 22:35
Mine lives in my tummy:lac:
Nasty painful knot!!!
Kaz x:D
girl, i know the feeling!
Thank you for sharing everyone -- please keep them coming, tell your stories, share your symptoms. Identify where your anxiety lives if you can, and you may be one step towards beating it through use of "visualisation" (imagining that you can see it disappearing) and other techniques.
I wonder if there are different "kinds" of anxiety -- do people whose anxiety lives in their chest suffer from similar symptoms to one another, but different symptoms to those whose anxiety lives in their stomach?
These are the kind of weird, off-beat questions I want answers to, cos just maybe we can learn something that nobody else has noticed, and answer questions that no scientist ever thought to ask.
My stomach feels like its bunched up ,like a load of tangled washing .Gently swirling round ,first one way then the other .It progresses from the constant wave like motions to the super fast spin cycle .Which leaves me feeling completely exhausted and unable to sleep properly for days .Its nervous tension no matter where you get it ,too many of the wrong hormones being released and not enough of the ones that calm you down . Adrenaline and cortisone .Sue x
anxious elephant999
06-09-09, 14:48
mines mostly in the head as constant dizziness thats if the dizziness is anxiety like the doc says , but also my eyes , my throat ( sometimes feels like its going to close up),my tongue feels like its swelling up or is going to stop working , then theres my stomach (feel sick),my legs ( sometimes there shaky sometimes they hurt sometimes they feel really weak) :ohmy:
mine is mainly in my head, dizzyness and tension, but I have IBS so it usually then moves down to my stomach!
JohnLuke300
06-09-09, 15:55
Definitely in my chest, it usually feels like someone trying to get out with a blowtorch. But when I am particularly anxious feels like my chest is going to cave in. I haven't yet decided which sensation I prefer more. :D
All the best
John
Mine isn't too fussy where it lives. Generally it's in my bladder area making me feel like I need to pee but its often travels to my stomach to make me feel sick or my chest if it thinks it needs a change of scene.
My anxiety seems live in various places at different times sometimes my head occasionally dizzy and then it seems to move to my chest giving a tight feeling then occasionally can be in my gut.
So it seems that there are 3 main areas where anxiety seems to "live".
1. Head (e.g. in the mind, or physical symptoms such as headache)
2. Torso (chest, throat)
3. Abdomen (stomach, bowels)
It also seems that anxiety seems can "shift" locations in some people once it realises that it has been discovered and/or pinpointed. This, to me, suggests a kind of "intelligence" at work; the anxiety appears to have some form of awareness - perhaps a sign that our conscious mind is directing and controlling the anxiety independently of our wishes, and is constantly feeding it information in order to keep it one step ahead - like a grass providing criminals with a tip-off before a police raid?
Some people may simply experience a general sense of anxiety i.e. there are no places in the body where anxiety seems to "bunch up" or assume control.
When my anxiety first started I gradually became aware of a "knot" of negative emotions snarled up in my brain. Talking therapies rapidly (but painfully at first) undid this knot and it literally seemed to dissolve in my mind over a period of about 2 weeks.
Now I notice a near-constant feeling like a knife wound or a burn in the centre of my chest. Anyone seen Aliens? It's like the events that led to my anxiety were the facehugger, and the anxiety that now lives in my chest is the alien embryo implanted within me! The facehugger is dead but its alien cargo has been deployed... I just hope I can cut it out before it hatches lol!
joshuaainsworth
08-09-09, 11:59
I find that mines in my chest, a heavy feeling that gets worse if I worry more.
Hi, mine is in my solar plexis - one massive hard knot !
cricketjar
08-09-09, 15:48
Mine is in my chest and when i stress it gets worse along with sweaty hands. I hate it and it gets me down alot:weep:
again mine always appears to start in my tummy then takes over most other parts of me
My anxiety feels like it is in the upper part of my stomach, throat and also in my chest. When I get super anxious the back of my thighs/legs tingle and my legs go weak and shake lol I know it sounds stupid but they do :blush:
valleybear
08-09-09, 17:49
In my chest and throat.
TheMadPikey
08-09-09, 18:15
Chest for me The good old blowtorch feeling,Sharp pains,with numbness of the arms threw in for good measure.What can i say its a blast thinking i'm having a heart attack seven days of the week.Just started escitalopram a week ago which for now seems to have made the anxiety even worse.guess i just have to hang in there like everybody else here,Ave had 2 ecgs and 1 blood test all have came back fine which is good but at the same time leaves me feeling quite fed up as i don't know how to stop these feelings of panic 24hrs a day that i'm going to die.Its a strange thing this just started 7 weeks ago out of nowhere and seems to have a good grip of my life now.Anyhow thats my lot,Ryan
mine is in the top of my tummy - almost in my chest - when im feeling really overwhelmed by stress i find the muscles there really tense up and can often spasm or twitch. I believe it accumulates here because it is the central part of your body; like the core of your self. When you want to curl up in a ball, it is like you want to protect that vunerable part of yourself which should - metaphorically - be filled with nuture and love.
rubymolloy
10-09-09, 10:10
The anxiety lives in my head, visits my jaw, shoulders, neck, stomach.
Even legs at times of deep stress.
ruby
x
The top of my tummy :) its where i get love butterflys to but when its anxiety i get a horrible knot that seems to build up! when i am on the verge of panic i always grab my stomach to make it go away (which it doesnt). xx
Hi there
Mines changes, mainly in my neck and head, but does go to my throat, my face and my tummy depending on which bit I feel first thing in the morning, its a nightmare really but definitley down to my negative thinking.
x
Mine lives in my upper chest and also in my "tummy" - which I would say is just south of my sternum, not off to the left where my stomach is. When my panic rages in wave after wave, I can always feel the adrenaline gushing from that point. The rest of my life the anxiety is held at the top of my chest.
Hiding in a tight ball under my left shoulderblade... and sometimes jaws. Someone once told me that it is when you have a 'schizoid personality you are trying to escape from yourself'.
Would be interested to know more about this....
cheers x
Mine lives in my throat about where the thyroid gland is and in the center of my chest. It likes to move to the left side of my chest too. My nerves will also be on edge and jumpy as well.
If I get a surge of anxiety I feel it in my chest,though my stomach seems to harbour it as well....not to mention feelings of electric shock running down my arms and legs.However,I would think that the obvious place our anxiety lives is in our brains?
Hi there when I have a bout of bad anxiety I feel it in my chest, my upper arms and the back of my neck they all feel ice cold to me, however not to the touch.
rochelle_21
29-09-09, 21:37
mine is always different it depends what sets me off, sometimes i feel it burning in my chest and i get lumps in my throat.... but i always have the feeling in my tummy.. even now!
Mine is always in my stomach, its where i get butterflies, its where i get the empty feeling and where i get the irritation feeling etc. I hate it. To try and subside it i often make up a hot water bottle the heat of the bottle seems to take away the sting lol Just like a stomach bug!
I do feel it in my head but its more mental than a physical feeling.
Desprate Dan
29-09-09, 22:25
Mine lives in my chest but seems to run through my entire body like a slight electric current...Its there all the time but notice it more when laying alone in bed or sat on my own..
If i put music on it seems to disapear or maybe my mind is stimulated so i dont feel the sensation as much..
Dan
Mine is my shoulders and chest. My shoulders feel constantly tensed up and i have to tell myself to relax
Mine is chest and shoulders. They seem to be always tensed up until i tell myself to relax
mines extravagant and has two houses, my throat and my stomach, I usually feel like my throat is tightened up or like theres 'a lump' in it and I often have a very ticklish feeling in my belly, like my intestines are wriggling or something, this secind sensation is so annoying that it can prevent me from sleeping even when really tired.
my theory on anxiety being in that area is that its vaguely in the same area as your adrenal glands (situated at the top of the kidney i think), which get fired up when you get anxious.
Dan
mine in my neck & tummy...its horrible isnt it ...i have just started on meds this morn propranolol 80mg feeling a little strange at the mo....the med is kickin in....trying to keep myself calm & sayin to myself its the meds its the meds .....!
propranlol 80mg made my stomach worse lol im on citalopram now which has helped with the mentla side of things and im only on day 3 lol
Right in the middle of my ribcage, slap bang in the middle of my chest. Moves to tummy for a panic attack.xx
munkeyinblack
30-09-09, 20:29
Mine is constantly in my tummy a constant feeling like im going to be sick its horrible. x
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