Anxiety Physical Symptoms

Anxiety Physical Symptoms are some of the worst experiences a person can go through. Most people have never experienced a panic attack or anxiety attack, but everyone has experienced anxiety. The difference being in that when a person has a panic attack it is a combination of anxiety physical symptoms acting together that ups the ante into a full blown anxiety attack.

I have been asked many times what are the anxiety physical symptoms. Most people want to know out of curiosity or to verify whether they have had a panic attack themselves. Thankfully, most people have only experienced extreme anxiety a few times and than move on with their lives. Its the panic disorder sufferer that has to learn to deal with and over come the anxiety physical symptoms that can learn the most from this page.

One other point that I would like to make right away is that when I am having a panic attack it is always a combination of symptoms together, its never just one symptom. It is the combination that also ups the ante and overwhelms you and your thinking. Also, I never get all of the symptoms either. That is probably an important point too.

I am going to list them in the order that I usually get them, but this doesn't mean that this is what happens to all panic disorder sufferers. In fact some people only have a few and they are always the same. Mine is usually the same, but the situation can ratchet up my anxiety levels and I will sometimes have more symptoms than usual.

My first symptom is something that I noticed even before I ever had my first panic attack. It is a simple one. It is just a feeling of being hot, even if it is cool outside or I am in air conditioning. It can be an uncomfortable heat, not like you are in the sun but it just seems like I'm hot and not comfortable. It is usually my first symptom. Some people also have chills right after being hot, so this I put into one category. I have been told that it is alot like what a women feels when she is going through hot flashes. So this doesn't usually make you feel all that anxious.

My second anxiety physical symptom is sweating. I know that you think that this would be a normal reaction after being hot, but I'm saying it feels like a separate feeling. Your hands and forehead and chest will sweat. Almost as bad as if you were exercising, but you aren't exercising so you feel like this shouldn't be happening.

My third physical symptom is an accelerated heartbeat. This actually is a feeling that I have that my heart is racing. I have never verified that my heart is actually racing until I have a full blown anxiety attack. So what really happens is that I start to think about my heart beat. Have you ever tried to think about your heart beat and it becomes very difficult to tell if it is fast or slow. Its like when a doctor is checking your lungs and he tells you to breathe normally, All of a sudden you don't know how to breathe normally, so you have to fake it. Its something like that, except you are anxious also. So your imagination can mess with you, and that is when it really starts to beat faster.

My fourth symptom is commonly shaking or trembling. I couldn't believe it the first time that it happened. I never really knew that that sort of thing was real until it happened during a anxiety attack. It almost always starts in my hands but only when I am having a real panic attack. If I am really shook up it will move to my knee caps. That is really a strange feeling, to feel your knee caps jumping up and down on their own. I guess that is what is meant by knees knocking from being scared.

My fifth anxiety physical symptom is shortness of breath. I can't stand this one and it causes me more anxiety. It feels like I can't catch my breath and also I really want to. Like you have ran really fast and you have stopped and for some reason you aren't catching your breath. This one upsets me alot because after a little while I start to think that I'm not going to be able to catch my breath and I might pass out. This causes the feeling of being out of control to creep into your thoughts, which is really bad at this time.

My sixth physical symptom is nausea or stomach cramps. This is actually a very common symptom and sometimes it can be the first or second. I have learned to deal with this one for the most part and I don't take it that seriously overall. It is of course, uncomfortable, but can be dealt with. The only bad part is that you sometimes can't leave when you want to since you have to go to the bathroom first. But I usually take something for my stomach and do my business and go on my way.

My seventh anxiety physical symptom is really rare for me but can be common for others. It is a choking sensation. Another feeling is just the inability to swallow, or to be more precise, the belief that you can't swallow. I have never heard of anyone that actually couldn't swallow, but I have talked to people who for short periods of time thought that they couldn't swallow. I actuall went through a weird period of time where it felt like my adam's apple got caught in my throat when I swallowed with my head turned. I would immediately grab for my adam's apple and push it back to the middle. To be truthful, to you and myself, it never really did get caught, but I thought for sure that it would and sometimes that it had.

My eighth symptom is something that totally scare me the first time that it happened. It is tingling in my fingers or toes or both. Until I learned what was happening to my body this really upset me. I thought something was happening to my nerve endings or that my heart couldn't pump blood all the way to my extremities. But now it makes perfect sense. When our body and mind believes we are in danger, the fight or flight response, it release chemicals and immediately makes physiological changes to maximize our ability to survive. One of these changes is to keep most of the blood near our chest area, near the lungs to maximize oxygen intake and also near our brain. This takes blood away from our extremities which will make them tingle and a little cold. If you were running out of a burning building you wouldn't even notice this, but if you are sitting in a traffic jam, this completely pushes the envelope and scares you.

My ninth anxiety physical symptom is fear of losing control. I know that doesn't sound that bad in and of itself, but if you really felt that you had lost control you would know what I mean. It is the fear of all fears, a feeling that you won't be able to do something that you normally do and have been doing all of your life, like remember your name, or your address, or how to drive. It is totally irrational and it never is true, but you believe that it is true, which is the problem. This only happens in a full blown panic attack and it is a hard one to come down from for me. You have to really learn all about the causes and symptoms of anxiety attacks to dissipate the fear that this one causes. It really comes down to a loss of self-confidence. Like I said, you think that you won't be able to say or remember your name, or walk, or dial a phone. It never happens but it feels at the time that it is happening. But you are functioning the whole time you are having this symptom so if you just calm yourself you will see that you aren't losing control.

My tenth and final anxiety physical symptom is the fear that I had gone crazy or lost my mind. This was my reaction after having my first 2 or 3 panic attacks. I had no idea what was going on, and I had no idea what was triggering these unreal sensations. I had never heard of panic attacks or anxiety attacks and I definitely didn't know of anyone that had this problem. Especially upsetting was that the first few panic attacks seemed to come out of nowhere. For the first time in my life I really thought that I was losing my mind and would be hospitalized for the rest of my life. It is amazing the power of our minds, and this is proof positive of it. Your mind can imagine anything and can even create the symptoms to go along with this imagination. It is one of our greatest gifts and when you get a little over-stressed, one of our worst nightmares.

Now that I have discussed my ten anxiety physical symptoms it is important for you to know that if you have had a panic attack or know someone that has you can find help for relief in many places now. Like I mentioned earlier I had my first panic attack back in 1994 and I had never heard of panic attacks or panic disorder, but now everyone knows about it. Do yourself a big favor and seek help or read a book on the subject or go to a doctor. The earlier that you take this on the easier it is to get rid of it forever. You probably have stress in your life that you are ignoring or your diet and sleep habits are messing with you, but you don't think that they will. But take this on and go on and live your life to the fullest.