What Anxiety Can Look Like in the Body
August 28th, 2012
By Stuart A. Kaplowitz, MFT, Anxiety Topic Expert Contributor
I think if we asked 100 different people what anxiety may look and feel like, we would get close to 100 different answers. Remember that this is a subjective experience, meaning that each of us may experience anxiety in different ways. The dictionary will gives us an explanation such as the following:
1. feeling of worry: nervousness or agitation, often about something that is going to happen
2. something that worries somebody: a subject or concern that causes worry
3. strong wish to do something: the strong wish to do something, especially if the wish is unnecessarily or unhealthily strong
From my own past experiences with anxiety, I would feel it in my stomach. The negative thoughts would trigger the chemicals in my body and I would have an upset stomach. It was as if I had eaten some really spicy food and my stomach was reacting. Many clients have reported some of the same feelings as well as feeling a general uneasiness, as if they could not sit still and they were waiting for something (bad) to happen. This leads to an agitation that can be felt not only in the one’s stomach but throughout the body. Jim Folk with Anxietycentre.com stresses that there are over 100 symptoms of anxiety, and I want to look at some of them here.
It truly is amazing that anxiety can affect our minds and body, sometimes to the point of feeling physically ill (changing body temperature, numbness, feeling itchy, chronic fatigue, chest pains, flulike symptoms, hair loss, shooting pains, and so forth). Now if you already have medical issues, even minor ones like allergies, know that anxiety can impact allergic reactions as well as heighten any other ailments you may be struggling with.
With so many people being referred from their medical doctors, a constant theme I have shared earlier is how many people end up at the emergency room with what they believe is a heart attack. Meanwhile, the test results show their heart is fine and anxiety is deemed as the culprit. Whether it is a tightness in the chest, racing heart beat, difficulty breathing, sweating profusely, feeling lightheaded or nauseous, etc., anxiety can mimic such an event.
When people are experiencing anxiety, they may indeed panic. Along with believing something is wrong with their heart, many complain of feeling trapped and needing to escape. Our heart rate increases as our blood flows more quickly. Certainly this will warm us up as our bodies are flooded with chemicals (hormones like adrenaline and cortisol) as our sympathetic nervous system prepares us for action. The problem is, we may actually be trying to sleep, not getting ready to tackle the day. So imagine trying to relax and sleep while even some of this is going on inside of you.
Night sweats are common with anxiety, as is restlessness, while you are lying there (perhaps kicking you feet or constantly shifting body position), having a dry mouth and needing to drink, and, of course, ruminating over all the things you tell yourself you need to do or did not do, still need to do, and so forth. When you are finally able to sleep, many describe nightmares including falling, failing in the activity they are experiencing in the dream, being a bystander instead of being able to act in the dream or control their actions, and so forth. Meanwhile, as I have noted before this is not going to mean a lot of restful sleep which, in turn, is not going to help your anxiety levels moving forward—a vicious cycle of sorts.
Read More
Self-Care to Combat Anxiety
Skip the Caffeine and Get Moving to Avoid Anxiety
Three Steps for Dealing with Panic Attacks
©Copyright 2012 by Stuart A. Kaplowitz, MFT, therapist in Chino, CA. All Rights Reserved.
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Comments
Funny how the body and the mind remember that you are stressed and upthight even when you are sleeping!
I have the most terrible time sleeping when I am very anxious about a new project at work or when something in life feels unresolved.
I don’t like those loose ends or those feelings that I am going to get behind at work and not create something new or successful at work and unfortunately, even though I can sometimes bury that during the day by staying active and busy, at night when I get ready to go to bed all of that catches up with me and the sleep for the night is doomed. :(
don’t know what it looks like but i sure know what it feels like, like a big ball of cement in the middle of my stomach!
When you are experiencing so much anxiety in your life it can affect you in so many ways. High blood pressure, lack of sleep, panic attacks- if you allow this to permeate your life then there will be some physical consequences that you will experience.
Alexander & LuLu– you hit the nail on the hit here. Please consider trying some of the tools I have discussed in the few previous pieces.
Grace — so true!
Stuart A. Kaplowitz, MFT
My mom has always been the anxious type- you know, the one who always had to take a “nerve pill” (her words) before levaing the house every day. And when I look at her, I can see just how much it has taken a toll on her outward appearance, so I can only imagine what the damage on the inside has to be. My dad often encouraged her to seek help, that she was a little off by always finding something to worry about, even when it was nothing, but she refused and to this day I still think that that was in large part because she wanted to play the role of the martyr. Always having to put up with all of the kids and the husband, this was her way of having a role in the family, so she chose to go through life a little on the loopy side. Don’t get me wrong I love my mom and I am not trying to pass judgement, it’s just that I think about how much happier her whole life could have been had she taken him up on that offer to get some help so that she did not always have to rely on this medication to mellow her out enough to feel like she could face daily life. I think all of us missed out on a lot because of that.
Sorry Keith. I can only imagine how that would affect me too.
I hardly if ever fret and get anxious over things.But my mom is the complete opposite.Sometimes it seems like she just needs a reason to start being anxious.To all the people who get anxious,here’s something I always tell her:You are only causing harm to yourself by fretting over something and that is not going to help.Try and solve the issue on hand rather than putting your energy into thinking what can go wrong.
And now,please dont get anxious about causing harm to yourself,jsut try and get rid of the excessive anxious activity if you have that!
Anxiety can be horrible.Although I am generally not anxiety prone,the few situations that can get me anxious can do so real bad.I start breathing in a hurried manner and sweat profusely.This in turn increases my heart rate and sometimes I feel like my heart would just pop out of my chest.I do not know how to control this.Even though it happens rarely it is horrifying to say the least.
Thanks Stuart. I hated to sound so negative about her, but sometimes the kid in you does kind of go back and wonder what might have been had she chosen to seek treatment or had my dad cared a little more and made her do it. I think that at some point though, he just gave up on the hope for change too.
well said Matilda!
Hi Warren — Wow! Please try some of the tools and consider talking with someone about this. That sounds scary to be going through.
Keith — I appreciate your candor. Sorry to hear that
It can look really bad is what it can look like!
We don’t give enough credit to how something can cause such terrible physical manifestations as well as mental distress when left untreated. We certainly don’t give enough credit to just how damaging all of this can be and how it can take a real physical toll on us.
To me it looks like one huge raging ball of dark destructiveness. Getting bigger and bigger gaining power as it feels you losing control… when I work I get about two to five anxiety attacks through out the day. I cry all day, I don’t think it will ever get better. It starts out a heavy feeling in my chest, then heavy breathing, heart racing. At that point its tolerable. My hands start sweating, shaking, my body starts to heat up. Next goes to filling up with air from the breathing. Makes the stomach hurt and feeling like throwing up. Then finally if it gets bad enough my arms from the elbows down go numb, especially my hands. Sometimes my legs. 95% of the time its a constant battle to keep calm. Some days I just want to die. Its ruining my life, my relationship, and my jobs.
Yes cINDY! And I think Veronica just told us how. V, thanks for your willingness to share. Please talk with your doctor and/or therapist about it. This sounds overwhelming and you need that support
It was an Help to me
I am glad Jivesh!!
It really can be hard to live with. I suffered for many years with anxiety and got through it with natural treatments. I’m so much happier now.
I am so glad Elizabeth
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