If you suffer with anxiety would you mind sharing the physical symptoms you've experienced please?

[Anddrumrollplease]

I feel really alone at the moment as I'm really struggling.
Mine is healthy anxiety but becomes more general when I'm stuck in a loop.

I've spent the last few weeks convinced I have pancreatic, bowel or ovarian cancer because of stomach issues, pain and bloating, horribly heavy and painful periods, fatigue, thinning hair, dry skin, brain fog...

My doctor suggested peri menopause - I'm 41 - and I've had a first blood test for it but all came back normal. I've got another booked for 6 weeks time.

I've had my C125 checked, a full blood count done all normal.

I had a scan earlier in the week and although she couldn't see everything due to loops of bowel, she said what she could see was fine but for results to still contact my GP if I didn't hear. Which has set off a new spiral because I am now worrying about why she said that when she told me it was fine.
The scan looked at my lower abdomen and ovaries but as far as I know not pancreas or gallbladder or liver etc and was very very quick.

So naturally I'm still worrying that there's something going on with other organs.

Rationally I know this is my anxiety talking because I'm flipping from one thing to the next then back to the next. I'm on sertraline but I'm not getting on with it as well this time, not sleeping at all, so going to ask to switch on my next review.

I thought if people shared the physical symptoms they've had I'd recognise mine and it will help me rationalise and calm down.

I realise I sound unhinged - it's an exhausting way to live.

Well, I have social anxiety and my symptoms are fast heartbeat, sweating, bad nausea, intense dread, stomach churning/butterflies. This is just for something simple like going into a shop, even walking outside makes me nervous.

I'm sorry @Cavalierchaos it's so awful to feel like your body (and mind!) is out of your own control

@Anddrumrollplease I'm sorry you are struggling. With regards to the blood tests and hormones level's...... they don't always change in peri menopause. Sometimes they will be fine others not. Going by my previous experience it sounds like peri x

Thank you @shellyleppard that's really interesting. I'm having an upset stomach quite a lot, but I get that with period usually so I know hormone related sometimes, and then when I'm worrying about it and stool colour (TMI but it gets yellow when I'm anxious or during period) then it's a cycle that keeps feeding itself.

In your experience will Doctors prescribe anything for peri if bloods don't show anything? I feel like a shell of myself!

@Anddrumrollplease its worth asking but you might find some over the counter supplements help?? Holland and Barrett have a very good range and you can have a free one to one consultation with them

@Anddrumrollplease I used to take some peri menopause tablets from health and her, think they are in Tesco?? Or online too X good luck 💐🙏❣️

Hey OP, I am similar to you in that I have mainly health anxiety but it can become general too. Some of my physical symptoms are
Headaches
Pain in back of neck
Can't get a full breath
Ear pain on and off
Jaw ache
Back ache in middle/one side
Vomiting and/or nausea
Stomach ache
Diarrhea
Pain in arms
Tight chest/ache in chest

I hope you're ok. I think you're really brave for even taking sertraline as I'm too anxious for that too, despite being prescribed it.

I feel for you @Anddrumrollplease - I have anxiety and agree it's awful to live with.

Mine is GAD. I get anxious over anything to do with health as have had close family members diagnosed with cancer, including a very young member of my family that died.

If anyone mentions any illness I start to think I may also get it or suffer from it.

This week I e had tummy pain, nausea, headaches muscle aches. However these are all caused by my anxious response. I'm tense so my muscles will ache. I have headaches because I grind my teeth. Etc

I also get anxious over travel - I haven't been abroad in over 20 years and not holidayed at all in 10 years.

I panic over my young adult children not being 'safe' at home with me. Luckily for them they're both doing well at uni so I know my fear isn't founded in reality.

I've had lots of different kinds of therapy, meds, acupuncture, hypnotherapy but so far nothing has really helped.

My physical reaction anxiety manifests itself as ..

stomach pain and churning guts.
irregular and long heavy periods
Tight chest
Headaches
Jaw ache
Diarrhea and / or constipation (no in-between).
Eye ache
Spot outbreaks
Body aches where everything aches - even your hair aches
Pain in hips

I have tightness of chest and neck.
Feeling of suffocation
Fast heart (has been seen on ecg)
Brain fog
Sometimes my speech is slower
My teeth hurt ( im grinding them)
Intrusive thoughts.
Oh I also have hair loss and bald spots.

I find mindfulness helps as does tapping.

My anxiety is playing right now, for the past fortnight. I’m peri too. I’m taking a variety of vitamins. I had a bout a few years ago but this feels different somehow. I was in a meeting this week and had a moment when I couldn’t breathe. I’ve never had that before, it wasn’t nice but it passed reasonably quickly.

Well there’s a difference between the low-level anxiety I live with 24/7, and a panic attack level of anxiety. The low-level is a tightness/buzzing feeling in my chest. Panic attack level is high heart rate, shallow breathing, light headedness, chest buzzing turned up to 10, mind goes blank, followed by headache and eye pain.

Upset stomach, hot, nausea and vomiting are my normal anxiety symptoms and trouble sleeping

Nausea and chest pains (like someone has gripped my heart in their fist and is squeezing it)

When my anxiety appeared during the onset of peri-menopause it felt like a really tight chest and a constant feeling of dread and fear and like my whole life had gone wrong.
I couldn't take a proper deep breath, like my diaphram was jammed. Only shallow breaths which never seems to get me enough oxygen.

HRT and sertraline put it all right but it took 10 weeks. I've never looked back.

Hope you're ok soon

I get really sweating palms
Pins and needles
Tight jaw
Uncontrollable shivering

Shivering
Pins and needles
Nausea
Upset Stomach
Jaw ache
Chest pain
Itching skin
Splotchy skin
Irregular periods

I have chronic health anxiety which stemmed from post natal.

It is COMPLETELY a related to my children. So make no mistake, I couldn't care less about myself.

If a child of mine coughs, that's me away. Heart racing, sweaty, sometimes dizzy. Won't sleep, won't eat.

When they are actually unwell, which given I have four, is often, I cope in the moment. But can have sickness and diarrhoea.

For me I think, it's more the build up. So say I see a child dropped off for school, not mine, snotty and barking cough. That's me gone. I will be in absolute panic mode , pacing, checking breathing, temperature checking.

I don’t leave the house really but when I do I get:

panic attacks
shaking legs that give way
shaking hands so I can’t hold anything
slurred speech
tingling face
double vision
ringing in ears
shortness of breath
chest pains
numbness in limbs
rapid hearrbest
palpitations

Longer term I get:

diarrhoea
constipation
grinding teeth
clenched jaw
desire to swallow all the time
dry Mouth
excess saliva
rapid blinking
clenching and unclenching hands
headaches
difficulty swallowing

After reading other responses, I can add tight chest, short breaths, shaking, light headedness, feeling of weakness and frequent need to go to the toilet for nervous number 2s.
There's also an intense urge to fall to the floor and curl up into a ball, which sounds weird now I type it out.

How long have you been on sertraline? In my experience you often feel worse before feeling better.

I am just reading through the replies and I feel almost tearful to know I’m not alone.
im so sorry you are all suffering too it’s so hard and so hard to explain if people haven’t experienced it

im going to reply properly but i just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to post and share.

Ive been on sertraline for two weeks this time.

It really takes at least 3 weeks to kick in. The first couple of weeks were hard I found. Give it time. The mind can play so many tricks when you are anxious. Can make you feel you are suffering from all sorts. Stay away from Google. It always gives you the worst case scenario.

any anxiety in me causes, stomach ache, nervy poo, head fog, not thinking clearly, I can’t focus on anything, I sometimes get pain under my ribs for some strange reason. I just had an anxiety attack about an hour ago, as I’m somewhat of an emetaphobe, DS told me he felt a bit sick and my mind instantly went into overdrive. Thinking about everything. Me dd and my sis are off too the usa v england game tomorrow, leaving DS with DP, every intrusive thought about him being sick whilst I’m not here took over.

Reading this thread has been enlightening as I get a lot of these symptoms, particularly the feeling of not being able to take a deep breath, fast heart rate, headaches, jaw and neck pain, pins and needles, light headedness. I've never considered myself an anxious person particularly, although I've realised I do have health anxiety and chest pains etc throw me into a spiral of worrying I'm going to have a heart attack

I am diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I have joint and back conditions on top of a brain injury, so it's difficult to narrow down what is causing any particular symptom, and I think I'm probably just generally a more anxious person than I thought!

I started on Duloxetine a few days ago to try and reduce nerve pain, so hopefully it will help with anxiety too.