Sensitive to medication/stimulation

Hey guys, just out of interest I was wondering if many of you here are sensitive to medication. From reading about anxiety over the years I get the impression that people who suffer with it tend to be very sensitive to stimulation of all sorts.

I've written here before about the idea of Highly Sensitive People and I think this fits in with it.

Often with medications I find that I tend to suffer with side effects more than the people around me, like I'll get heart palpitations, insomnia or an upset stomach from fairly ordinary drugs.

Sometimes I can feel drugs kick in, or when they stop working.

With caffeine I can feel it tingle in my whole body.

When I was younger and experimented with getting stoned once or twice I could feel the drug move the whole way through my body with just a couple of puffs, it was a soft buzzing feeling that moved through me. My friends thought I was ridiculous lol! I've never experimented with other recreational drugs though, always felt it would be a bad idea.

When I exercise I can literally feel my mood lift and lighten about 15mins into a workout as the endorphins start to work, again I feel it happen in my whole body in almost a slow wave of this happy feeling. My husband doesn't notice the same stuff.

I wonder if this is all a part of anxiety and being hyper aware of my body, or if it's just that I've always been more sensitive to what's happening in my body. I was like this before I ever really had anxiety problems, but it wasn't as bad.

Do you guys experience the same stuff? Or maybe everyone is like this and just with anxiety I pay more attention to it? It's one of the reasons why I am so hesitant to take new drugs!

BTW this isn't something I'm worrying about at all, I've just been thinking about what it's like to live as a sensitive person and trying to fit into the world in a way that doesn't overstimulate me :)

I think HA makes you hyper aware of every sensation and feeling in your body. That said I don't feel medication working even though I do get side effects from quite a lot but I wonder if that's because I'm primed to feel a reaction so give it to myself, if you see what I mean.

I haven't got HA but am sensitive to stimulants and medication.

I had an high caffeine energy drink once, before a marathon and couldn't stop shaking - I may of run a little faster too because I felt so jittery and had a mother of headaches afterwards.
I moved on to the high energy, caffeine free isotonic drinks for a while but they gave me diarrhea - I didn't realised until after taking them on 3 occasions.
I sometimes get palpitations after a Chinese meal - possibly due to MSG or dehydration.
More recently I tried Nytol - it didn't help much with sleep but I did get painful diarrhea after taking it, I didn't believe it was related until I checked the information leaflet and yep, that's the side effects from hops!
And don't get me started on antidepressants!
If I eat soft cheese my nose blocks within 10 minutes and I sneeze everytime I put chewing gum in my mouth (I still have both though)

I think we do become hyperaware of our bodies when suffering from anxiety but it doesn't mean that we are overreacting, I think some of us are more sensitive to changes in our bodies - probably partly due to the effect chronic anxiety has on our body and partly genetic. I never read the drug info leaflets anymore but like the Nytol proved sometimes our bodies react without any psychological overlay.

Tufty MSG is one I forgot to mention! Sometimes it makes me feel odd too, a bit pumped up & it makes this migraine thing I have much worse.

And I have the nose running with cheese/dairy too! Plus gluten slows down my digestion and makes me feel terrible if I eat it regularly.

I get the feeling that there are a lot of people on these boards like this, and that in a way it adds to our anxiety problems because we're overly sensitive to the world. But then, as you say, anxiety only makes that effect worse and they feed into each other in a horrible cycle.

It's interesting to look at all of this. I'm trying to make my life as peaceful & low impact as possible (within reason!) to see if it will help with both my mental & physical health.

Yep!I am one of those people too.............................all of the above and more. Sometimes I can take one sip of wine and I can feel the sensation throughout my body and know I cant drink any more............MSG...massive no.no!
And like Tufty I am super sensitive to Meds and cannot take anti-depressants at all!!