Body Pains!

[Kev1979]

Whereabouts do you have your anxiety body pains?

at the moment mine is left thigh upper and left calf!

came on a couple of days ago i always get it in the same spots! :weep:

[meditation6]

I get chronic chest pain when I am anxious. Right now I have a small pain in the back of my neck by the base of my head. Before I have an anxiety attack (full on hyperventilation) I get a pain/tingling/numbness in my left arm (similar to a what doctors say to look out for before a heart attack).

The trick is to try and convince yourself that its just anxiety. :)

[Kev1979]

Why do we get pains like this and how does it happen?

sometimes get heart flutters in bed also :(

[meditation6]

Well, something to know is that 2/3s of our thought process is subconscious, and we don't know a lot about the brain, but I think that the subconscious has a little bit to do with it.

We, as people, have aches and pains all of the time, it's just part of life. Many are unexplainable and I don't know why they happen, probably from just being alive and being active (or inactive, which I find laying in bed all day causes even more aches)

I think that most of this is processed on a subconscious level, but since we suffer from anxiety problems those subconscious thoughts are processed as conscious thoughts and we over analyze and think that there must be something wrong with us, when nothing really is, it's just the aches of living. (like growing pains for adults)

I get the heart flutters too, they're heart palpitations, and like the aches, they are common in everyone from time to time, it is only when you are having them all the time that you should be concerned. I consider a mild panic attack (for me) to be a heart flutter they can strike me any time of day no matter what I am doing, I pause for a second, check my heart beat, take a deep breath and continue on with what I was doing.

I think that because we have anxiety, especially health anxiety, all the things that happen to our bodies that are usually sensed on a subconscious level are sensed consciously for us, maybe it has to do with the chemical make up in our brain? I don't really know why, but I do know that you need to learn to tell yourself that you will be ok.

If you can find a personal mantra to chant that helps you calm, or listen to/sing along with a song that you find calming. The other day in the car I was panicking and Workin' on Leavin' the Livin' by Modest Mouse came on and helped me calm. The lyrics are mostly the lines "in heaven everything is fine" but I heard "and every, everything is fine" when I was scared there was something wrong with me while I had a pain. And despite the wrong lyrics, this is what I still hear because it is what I want to hear and what I need to hear.

You just need to find a way to prove to yourself that you will be okay and that there is nothing wrong with you. It's hard to do, I know, but music helps me so much. Make an anxiety playlist in itunes or something and play it while you're laying in bed (you can set a sleep timer for the music to turn off)

Also, I find that having someone that I can talk to helps a lot. The most helpful is to talk to someone that also has anxiety, because they understand 100% what you are going through, if you don't have someone, a very close friend, family member or partner is a wonderful resource. Although my boyfriend does not have anxiety problems, he has helped me through many panic attacks.

I hope this helps. :)

[Kev1979]

thankyou so much for the reply, i'll keep all that in mind xx