To what to know your most personal symptoms of stress

[LanaDelRaybans]

As per the title...

I say personal, because for me, I'm one of those people that holds it all in and doesn't let anyone know I'm crumbling. It feels so personal and intrusive, almost, to discuss what stress does to me.

But it's an anonymous forum so I'll share, and I'm really curious what it looks like for too:

Broken sleep
Can't actually fall to sleep to begin with
Racing / intrusive thoughts
Feeling weak / tired / shaky
Feeling lightheaded / dizzy
Pacing
Avoiding being social
Over / under eating
Being irritable
Being snappy
Difficult to do anything I enjoy

So there's mine. Please share yours and make me feel less crazy 😩

My worst stress symptom is retching and vomiting 😬

Then just the usual - racing heart, nightmares, irritable, crying, avoiding socialising, no appetite.

Oh gosh retching and vomiting that sounds so horrible I'm sorry 😞

Hands swell up and my tic starts, in addition to many of yours.

*breaking out in a rash which i scratch until it bleeds
*drinking
*weight gain

Waking at night having panic attacks which I never have during the day!

Waking and not being able to fall back to sleep due to racing mind
Overeating
Snappy, zero patience with kids and total sensory overload from normal household (children) noise and chatter

Yes 100% I forgot the sensory overload, which is ridiculous and it's one of the things that upsets me most. Adding brain fog and forgetfulness to the list now 🤦🏻‍♀️

All of what you've said and feeling like I've gone numb and my ears have been packed with cotton wool

Yep this is me
Feel sick
Also close down and doom scroll then feel terrible that I am not facing whatever it is that is causing me stress

very disturbed sleep and can’t fall asleep for hours.
racing heart, dizziness, get very emotional, nausea and bloating, dry mouth, trembling and hyperventilating.
when it was really bad I had some hair loss too

My IBS flares up big time when stressed. I also get snappy a d can't deal with sensory overload

Sensory overload is def top of my list
Waking at 4am and not being able to go back to sleep
Over eating - bordering into binge eating
Constant feeling that I'm going to burst into tears at any moment

Doom scrolling! I didn't even connect that with stress but yes that's me too.

BONUS QUESTION:
How long do your "episodes" last? I can usually pull myself out of it a by now but im into week 2 and no signs of it abating. Im prone to stress and this easily happens 4-5 times a year but not for this long 😩

I have recently been through a period of intense stress (over several months). I have suffered with really bad stress eczema (I only get it when I am stressed) and also had a period where I had almost constant UTI type symptoms/discomfort. I also get heart palpitations and found that my nails just seemed to stop growing when things were at their worst...

Tapping. Always fucking tapping. How nobody has killed me yet, I have no idea.

An inability to maintain coherent thoughts so that what are normal distractions ten bloody million of them every fucking day in a workday leave me wanting to run away or stay at home in leggings and a t-shirt and not have to speak or hear anybody else speak or even see that they exist.

Oh, and the biggest teller of this happened this morning.

I've actually had two days off, yesterday only having one work question emailed to my personal email address where somebody else's fuck up was potentially meaning I have to give up my entire leave for this year like I've had to do for the last twelve months, with only Xmas Eve/Day/Boxing Day not working (I refused point blank to deal with the email problem). When I woke up at 5am this morning, it took me at least ten minutes to convince myself that I'd actually dreamed my boss phoning and asking me to work from 7am until 10pm today because 'I know it's not your job, but I can't get anybody else to do it'. I even considered the possibility that I had agreed to do it a couple of days ago and forgotten, so I was dreaming about it because I subconsciously knew I was going to be late.

I never remember dreaming at all. But this came through loud and clear, so the reality of it was unnerving.

Can't get to sleep
Eat to much
Intrusive Thoughts
Twiddle my hair continuously
Clean the house continuously
Get awful skin breakouts

-The shits

• lying awake going over things I've said to people and worrying I'd upset them or sounded foolish. Even situations from years ago.

• picking at my scalp

• tearful and snappy

• procrastination

• binge eating

Coughing, wrenching and throwing up. That’s oddly it. Sometimes I don’t even realise I’m stressed until this starts and then I sit down and think about it and realise I am.

All the things you mentioned, OP, plus bowel problems (once lost a stone in 3 weeks, caiding my periods to stop, purely because of this), playing with my hair and even pulling strands of it out.

Sudden stressful incidents make me shake badly and not be able to think clearly, feeling like my head is about to explode.

Biting the skin on my thumb until it’s pouring with blood, often in meetings (awkward)

Retching

Waking up shivering/shaking from 4am

Over / under eating

Squeezing and picking at spots around my jaw & hairline

Biting nails until they hurt

Having a bipolar episode

[the final point on the list is the absolute pits. It’s at various points cost me my marriage, my sanity, my ability to drive, my health, and nearly my life….I’m supposed to manage my stress properly now to avoid risk of relapse, but I don’t…I’m perpetually stressed (NHS job, lone parent, ADHD so my affairs are in a mess) so I’m constantly on the cusp of a stress-related relapse of losing everything again. Good times! 🙈

I stop eating. It’s like my digestive system just totally packs in, I cannot eat anything when I’m stressed.

Longer term patches of what seem to be Psoriasis which hang around for ages often on face and small painful spots in nose and ears.

Short term - bowel issues - and often disturbed sleep or if my body is over tried or doesn't know what to do with discomfort - vomiting or neck shoulder pain with tension.

How long do your "episodes" last? I can usually pull myself out of it a by now but im into week 2 and no signs of it abating. Im prone to stress and this easily happens 4-5 times a year but not for this long

Depends on what causing the stress.

Short term it's grin and bear it trying to work on the symptoms - long term probably needs some thinking and changes.

There often come a point where I have to stop and act - start looking at good sleep habits - shower before bed often helps - lavender sprays. Stopping and realising I need to eat better - and taking vitamins/probiotics and trying to do more walking/exercise or heat packs and exercise for neck pain. Mostly though it finding escapism for a bit - book/comedic film - working on stopping thoughts to find that mental break. Sometime it's blocking or avoiding people who make it worse.

IBS flares up
Running fingers through hair constantly.
Obsession with cleaning the house.
Whooshing sounds in my ear.

I'm currently really quiet stressed at work and thinking of quitting. I've been on an ssri for about 10 years for anxiety. It's pretty well mangef in the meds. My current one works really well almost too well at times. But the stress symptoms are now breaking through...

Mine are:
Nightmares
Trouble sleeping
Eating more
Doing less in time off, like I can't properly function to do bits at home.
Lack of patience / tolerance

Sorry others going through this.