Physical symptoms without the anxiety

[j2]

It has been a while since I have been on this forum. I feel like I am not worrying about my health very much and things have been pretty good on the surface. The problem is that I am still having many physical symptoms. I still have lots of nerve pains in my fingers and toes, a feeling of something being stuck in my throat, joint pains, IBS-like issues, GERD pains and the feeling that my speach is slurred. From years on this board I know that all these symptoms can be anxiety related as oppossed to MS, ALS, tumors or God knows what else, but i am worried/suprised to have them in the absense of obvious panic or relentless worry. Strangely, this lack of worry and existance of the symptoms is starting to make me worry that I do have something wrong with me. How is that for irony, not having panic is starting to give me panic. Anyway, if anyone can talk to me about the physical symptoms they have and if they get them while seemingly not having anxiety, that would be great. Also if anyone can talk to me about repressed anxiety or just talk to me to let me know that I am not fatally ill, that would be great too.

[marcc64]

Hi, I think you don't have the symptoms because you are anxious but because you were anxious for months maybe years, then once you start worrying about the physical symptoms it adds more to worry about thus making you wonder what they are "this is a serious illness" and there for making you anxious if that makes sense? this is just my own opinion but if you think about it it does seem true for most people.

I also have some of your symptoms, like with the speech, i sometimes find if difficult finding the right words lol also have twitching going on which seems to have calmed down. This morning i woke up with my right calf muscle all stiff, like i had just ran a couple of miles, except i had been sleeping (unless i run in my sleep lol)

[meg86]

hello

How long have you felt anxiety free for?

with anxiety your body gets used to alot of adrenaline in your system (which causes these symptoms) so it will probably be normal to have them for a little while longer your anxiety ends.

I have gone through phases where i felt like my anxiety was getting better and then a new symptom would come and that would put my anxiety right back up there again! I think it will take probably months for our anxious bodies to go back to normal.

And like you said when we are anxious our minds search for reasons to worry, i go through periods where i think right my body is healthy everything is great why do i feel so awful! and soon enough another worry soon takes its place! We are anxious because we are anxious and we should just accept that and let our bodies heal instead of searching for a reason for why we feel like we do

[Cell block H fan]

This is what I'm like. Deep down I know that we all get aches & pains, & for so long that works & life goes on tickety boo. The after so many months, or even a year or so! I latch onto something & it seems to get worse.
I guess its part of being the way we are & a bit like an alcoholic, it doesn't actually go away forever??? I dont know. Sucks though lol

[j2]

I have been feeling less anxious for a few weeks now but the physical symptoms have not gone away. I just worry that I am overlooking something "real". I am hoping that the physical stuff eases or I know I am going to end up in full blown panic worrying why I am not worrying. Gotta love HA.

[distorted reality]

a relapse is absolutely normal. I've had a pretty horrendous few days due to my own relapse. I'd had 2 - 3 weeks of feeling progressively better then BAM!!! It's hard because the feelings seem new again...

I hope you feel reassured knowing that the road to recovery will have episodes like this. You just have to confront them and don't fear - as hard as that may be at the time. To have had an anxiety free period of time is proof that you can beat it - You've been beating it for that period of time.

The important thing to note is that looking back, you can see it as being anxiety. It's no worse than ever before. This signifies that you do now have some kind of control. No single panic attack has been worse than your first ever - This is true in most cases and should prove that you are healing.

It P****S me off that some people believe that this will be with them forever. For one, if you believe that, then it most certainly will!!

I am a recovering anxiety sufferer. It's been with me for around 8 years and I was eventually diagnosed after having my first panic attack last year. With help from CBT I learned to cope with (not remove) my symptoms and rationalise. With help from my counsellor I can finally see that it is ME that perpetuates and escalates these attacks. I cause them by dwelling on a symptom then keeping a watch out for my next symptom.
I didn't learn this by talking about my symptoms but, rather, how i react and feel about certain situations and the way i handle my feelings/ emotions for certain people/ events (It's hard to explain).

Anxiety doesn't have to be a conscious feeling/ state. Over the years, due to our experience and the way we deal with things, our anxiety level is gradually raised. By now you are a constantly anxious person. You don't feel it because its normal to you. However, would a non-anxious person slip into panic over a muscle twitch or a short-lived chest pain? No. Would s/he then be constantly aware of what happens next? No.

Anxiety is a current state of mind/ emotion. It cannot be treated by any doctor or any pill. You have to accept that you are the only one who can beat this... You literally have to unlearn the way you think by facing your ultimate fear. The whole thing will make you a better person.

I have put myself into the ring to face what i truly believed to be certain death. There are no words for our type of fear but imagine the person you will have become to have conquered it.

Here is a little test I found interesting:

Sit comfortably and relax. Place your left hand on the table in front of you. now close your eyes. Concentrate only on this hand and nothing else, this is most important. Notice all the feelings and sensations. You will "feel" the space between your fingers (weird), You may feel pains, aches, blood flowing, pulse, pins & needles, heavyness. Notice every little thing possible.. Now open your eyes and you're done.

Conclusion: This is what happens when you focus on a part of your body or any symptoms you may have. You didn't notice all this going on just 5 minutes ago, right? For me, it's my chest. I notice every sensation and it worried me. This is because i was dwelling on it. I hope this exercise helps some of you.

So.. I'm very sorry this post is so long but just one more thing...

I'm assuming you've been diagnosed by a doctor and they've shunned you and you've had tests to rule certain things out (They seem not to care because they know you're not in any danger).

Get an understanding friend or partner or parent near you while you're having an attack (difficult to predict, I know). Tell them you're having an attack and if you collapse (which you won't) to dial emergency. Now let this attack come and get you. Sure it's frightening, sure it's hellish but tell it to do it's worst. Tell it you're not afraid of it, ask it to try a little harder because you're not scared yet If it does, say ooh, is that it? Just breath it out. Breath in for 5 and out for 8 using only your belly (not your chest).

The attack will last for a few minutes, yes, it needs to run it's course but it WILL subside. You WILL have faced your ultimate fear, you WILL have taken the first step to showing anxiety that it cannot control you.
You should now recognise that these feelings can't hurt you. You've just beat them and now you don't fear them as much. The more you do this, the more anxiety backs off. Just be aware that it will try to catch you off guard and you will have more attacks but, over time, they become less frequent.

Eventually, They will stop entirely. Now enjoy!!!!

PS: I'm sorry the post is so long. I really hope some of you can benefit. If you do, that's amazing, let me know. If you don't, TRY AGAIN!!!

Believe me. It gets easier every time.

[Claesand]

I get worried about that myself from time to time... but... there is still a clear correlation. I think the brain somehow learns these symptoms to the pathways to them are easily travelled also in the future. I have my weird tongue for example, that feels a little like I lick on a battery from time to time. That has come without overt anxiety sometimes (of course trigging anxiety though). My vision is my big obsession favorite at the present time! Got floaters and a stuck one that irritated the heck out of me... hangs there 20 degrees to the left like a big sign saying "you're mortal". A Weiss ring I was told and of course I know that it is... but the conscious is not the only thing going on in the brain. I hate vision... it's insidious, the more you look the more you find... the more strained the eyes get... and so on.