People With Anxiety please help?!

People With Anxiety please help?

the past few months mysterious physical symptoms have popped up. Heart palpatations, rapid heart rate, confusion, occasional dizziness, "brainfog", random chest and back pains, jaw pains, headaches, hair loss. Im an in shape, active 20 year old. i exercise on a daily basis and have a great social life. These symptoms made me think something was wrong, so i got everything checked and came back negative, i was fine. But as time goes on things seem to be getting worse. More random things are happening. Can anyone who has SERIOUS anxiety, not just normal stress but anxiety that prevents you from operating day to day relate to this or have these symptoms? Does anybodys anxiety get worse with exercise? My heart rate is abnormally high, i get lightheaded and confused and feel like im about to black out if i exercise for more than an hour anymore. Im having trouble seperating what is actually phsyical and a concern and what is brought on by my constant obessessing and worrying about my health

I think it is safe to say that you are experiancing an anxiety disorder, your physical symptoms point towards that, as well as some of your thinking process. Yes exercise can make it worse because your body is in a hyperstate of alertness and arousal.

Much of the time one doesn't know what causes the anxiety disorder. Sometimes it is response to a traumatic experiance, or living or having lived in an extremely threatening situation. Mitral Valve Prolapse can be a cause of some of those symtoms.

I can understand why you are developing an obsession with your health because anxiety has so many physical effects - which in turn can make your anxiety worse. Many people go into the emergency room because they are afraid that they are having a heart attack. With some, it can cause bronchial spasms that look like an asthma attack.

You do not mention whether you have had any traumatic events in your life. Even if they were a long time ago, they can surface later in life.

I would recommend that you go back and see your doctor and have a discussion about your health situation. He could either treat you with medication, or refer you to someone who could like a psychiatrist. Also, you may want to consider counseling and be evaluated by a psychologist who can also provide counseling.

Anxiety disorders are very common, and there are a lot of good self help books out there. Education is one of your best tools in managing this. One book that I found helpful is called "Don't panic." You can find these kind of materials in the self-help section in bookstores.

There are some good tools that I can tell you about. One is good deep and slow diaphramatic breathing. Inhale to the count of 8 and exhale to the count of 10. Slow your breathing down and focus on relaxing your body. Another one is called externalizaiton. When feeling anxious, look at your surroundings and start saying outloud (if you are by yourself) every thing that you see around you. Look at books on a shelf and say the titles, same with vidio tapes or something, no matter how small. Say them in your mind if nothing else. All during this time, continue to do your deep - slow - breathing.

What is helpful about these strategies is that they are distracting you. With anxiety, one focuses inward, this magnifys the symptoms. Again, these exercises cause you to look outward - away from your symptoms.

Another thing that you can do when you are feeling really caught up in an anxious moment is take your fist and hit your hip really hard and at the same time say "Stop." Pain and anxiety can't co-exist at the same time.

It would be good for you to start listing your symptoms and see if you can figure out the order in which they occur, or at least when you identify one, you can start relaxing and distracting yourself and breaking the cycle.

When one is having an anxiety attack, they tend to maxamize their vulnerability and minimize their coping ability. The tools I have mentioned will help you reclaim some of your strenghts.

I like the idea of seeing a chiropractor as they can help with the some of the aches and pains that anxiety can cause. I see one myself. It won't cure an anxiety disorder, but can help allieviate the pain associated with them.

Others have mentioned some good health issues to check out if you haven't already done so.

I personally empathize with you as I have an anxiety disorder and have an idea what you are going through. I am also a former social worker who worked with a lot of clients that had anxiety disorders. I hope this is helpful and I wish you well.