Really, how unwell can anxiety make you feel?

[cattia]

The longer I go on with this anxiety the more generally unwell I feel. I have to drag myself to do anything. I feel dizzy and spaced out 24/7. If I didn't have to do anything I'd happily sit in bed all day long. I know I have anxiety but I can't shake the feeling that something else must be making me feel so ill. I feel like I have flu but without the fever. Can anxiety really do this? Sometimes I feel like I'm blaming everything on anxiety and missing the real cause, but then I guess we all think like this. At the start of this episode I'd have parts of the day when I could feel normal, especially in the evenings. Now that's gone and I just feel unwell all the time. I am sleeping better which also makes me think it's not just anxiety.

[pulisa]

You are doubting that you really have "just" anxiety so your mind is focussing on all the other "alternatives". I think you said that all your recent blood tests were fine so this rules out obvious causes of tiredness/fatigue etc..You could go down the route of getting yourself tested for every possible disease but I suspect that you would go on feeing like this until you accept that anxiety is capable of causing you these very common symptoms which are debilitating but completely benign.

[Primula]

Hi Cattia. When I had a very prolonged spell of anxiety a few years back, I had constant fluey feelings and all sorts of aches and pains. Yes anxiety can do this to you, it does drain your energy, it's the constant fight or flight. Just remember though you are in no danger it's all brought on by anxiety and when that dies down which it will eventually, you will feel better. Try the CBT for panic website if you haven't already.

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[pulisa]

Cattia, does it give you any reassurance to look around the forum and see just how many other members suffer from these symptoms? Relentless anxiety really does take its toll on the mind and body.

[lofwyr]

Anxiety also allows you to perceive feelings that really are just amplified by anxiety. When I was a nineteen a guy I knew who was my age got a brain tumor. I had heard his symptoms, and this was my introduction to anxiety. I had headaches for weeks, months, even. Those headaches were real, and at the bottom of my health anxiety spiral, I got a CT scan. It was clear. That hour, those headaches vanished, never to be felt again.

[Bleet]

Over the many years I have battled with HA I can't think of anything that hasn't ached hurt or felt wrong at some point. Doing stuff is the biggest thing you can aim to do, which I know is not easy, but doing nothing will only feed the HA beast

[cattia]

Thank you so much to you all for your replies. I felt so terrible this morning but I went for a mile and a half walk which helped, because one of my big health fears at the moment is CFS/ME so I felt better that I was able to walk that far with no problems. It really is so hard to accept that anxiety can cause all of this and no sooner do I think I've accepted that my symptoms are anxiety, another new one crops up which seems like it can't possibly be! I know that this is the same story for so many of us on this board. I am giving myself another week to try to get my head straight and If I am no better, I think I'm going back on meds.

[DNR]

Cattia, I have seen a few of your recent replies to threads and I can say everything you are going through is the same as myself, I am dizzy, spaced out with a constant headache, tight neck muscles, the list goes on, I walk around like I am drunk. I can only suggest to try and rationalise that this is anxiety and although I am going through this every day I am trying CBT therapy in the hope it will help. I like you, believe I have CFS because these symptoms make me very fatigued to the point where it doesn't feel like normal fatigue. Have you had medical tests?

[cattia]

Hi DNR, yes, I've had two lots of complete blood counts. I have just had a test for Lyme's disease as I live in a high risk area so I'm waiting for that to come back and I am also getting my vitamin D checked. It's just so hard feeling like every day is the same and I just want to feel well again! I am sorry you are also going through this. I hope the CBT helps. Are you taking any meds?

[DNR]

No meds, tried sertraline, but didn't like the start up side effects, I do sometimes want a med that could give me a few hours break from it all as it is constant. I feel constantly drunk if that makes sense, just going to the local shop causes my symptoms to sky rocket and that's when the fatigue comes in. I know it is difficult, and even I feel how can anxiety make me feel so strange and unwell constantly, but it really is anxiety.