Please can you tell me your anxiety symptoms?

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one struggling with this... maybe we could share our symptoms?

Mine are:
Irritability
Exhaustion
Itchy skin with no rash
Racing heartbeat
Waking with a panic like from a nightmare
Insomnia
Restlessness and talking too fast
Poor concentration and memory
Panic over little things like being late for something minor that doesn't matter
Obsessive thoughts

I get:

Itchy skin (also no rash)
Insomnia
Obsessive thoughts
Hyperventilation
Freezing cold
Tingling in my nose and hands
A sense of not being here or being real

I’ve had it since I was 13 and possibly before. I’m not sure I actually know what it is like to live without anxiety. I’m starting to think at my grand old age of 37 that I’m just tired of its effect on me and im now starting to consider meds.

Palpitations
No appetite
Only getting 2-3 hours sleep a night
Absolutely overwhelming feeling of fear, constantly

Going through a bad spell at the mo

I know it's not what you asked, but this free app from Bristol University is quite helpful for anxiety

www.sam-app.org.uk/

I get racing heart, night panics, itchy skin, fidgety restless legs. Intrusive thoughts, obsessive thoughts. Lightheaded and dizzy. I get a kind of hallucination too, but I can feel it rather than see it. So hard to explain. My hands feel heavy and sticky like they are covered in glue. Or it feels like something (water? Blood?) is running down my arms and legs.
I also sometimes feel like I'm really small and trapped inside my own head, that the rest of my body isn't mine.

I had anxiety at university for a few years.

My main symptom was insomnia which then caused other sleep issues such as sleep paralysis. It caused me to have a lack of concentration, tense muscles and not act the same during the day as I was so tired. Overthinking everything at night started to lead to a bit of OCD, I would check if the oven was off about 10 times because I think the house would burn down.

In my case, the anxiety only lasted a few years. Once I finished university and the work load and stress dropped so did my anxiety. I am now completely free of it. My advice would be to try things like exercise to tire yourself out, research breathing techniques (I loved an app called Headspace), or listen to an Audi book or podcast when you feel anxious, this will help take your mind off the worries without having to look at a screen. Tell your GP and try see a councillor? I saw a councillor at university and he did an amazing job at rationalising my worries.

I hope that helps. X

Rainybooo I've used sertraline before and it has helped me a lot. I'm realising slowly that I need meds again. Like you I've always been anxious since teenage years but I've been well for the last 3 years. Recently I've nosedived and I can't see what the trigger was.

redsky sorry to hear you are having such a tough time. The lack of sleep is awful. I really struggle so much more when I'm tired. Right now I'm finding the constant worrying is wiping me out and I have no energy at all. So it probably presents as depression but is definitely anxiety.

I need to see the GP I think. I saw him last week as I fainted during a blood test at the surgery and he popped in to check me over afterwards. He looked quite worried about me but I said I was fine. Was in denial thinking I had a physical illness but blood tests were normal.

Constant catastrophising and worry about something terrible happening
Intrusive thoughts about disasters, or about running away
Exhaustion
Teariness
Irritable
Dissociation where you don’t feel like you’re in your body or “present”
Horrible panic attacks at night where my whole body would tense up

I once heard it described as like having ground glass in your bloodstream, and that was weirdly accurate.

I’m much, much better now thanks to meds, if anyone hasn’t tried that please do.

Itchy skin is a symptom of anxiety? Well, that explains a lot...

Palpitations
Headaches
Mixing words up and stammering
Feeling the need to yawn to get a full “breath”
Catastrophisising
Feeling every ting change in health must be deathly - health is a big worry for me

Thank you all so much for sharing. I feel like a freak sometimes when everyone around me seems normal. I guess you never know what's going on in other people's heads though.

Light headed, dizzy, fast heart rate, breathless, panicky, over thinking, tapping my foot, sorry for tmi but really effects my IBS too

Feeling of impending doom,
Early waking
Itchy skin (never thought this was linked but it is a big problem)
Feeling really frightened
Thinking loved ones are hurt if late home. (Suffered PTSD following being caught up in major train accident so may be linked to this.)

Also health anxiety where I would get so tensed up I’d be convinced I was about to die of a heart attack etc. I would go to GP and they’d patiently remind me it was my anxiety again

StigmaStyle I also find it very hard to attribute symptoms to the anxiety and start panicking at every physical symptom... convinced I have an incurable disease.
The itchy skin is interesting. I was sure I had a liver disorder or kidney failure or anaemia. All bloods were normal. It took me a few days when it most recently flared up a few days ago to link it with my state of mind. I'm rubbish at joining the dots.

Racing heartbeat, dizziness
Lack of concentration - except with my work where I over-concentrate
Endless worries over trivial things
Needing to be busy all the time and can't relax
Lack of appetite
Worrying that people know I am anxious just by looking at me
Over thinking everything
Stomach problems

Strangely I rarely have trouble sleeping. I often feel like my thoughts are constantly in overdrive and its exhausting though. My anxiety is massively helped by exercise and its better now on the whole than it used to be but I can't ever see me being completely free of it.

Thanks sorting, I think it might be time to take a deep breath, book and appointment and ask to try something like sertraline.

I hope you feel better soon.

For those of you with itchy skin, I find that cold water in a hot water bottle calms it, otherwise I rip my itchy legs to shreds in my sleep.

Thanks TyneTeas I’ve downloaded it.

Op I think it’s part of it, isn’t it. You lose your sense of perspective and cant see clearly. With mine I found my caring and wise GP was such a big help because she always helped me see it didn’t define me. It took a long time to find the right meds but she didn’t give up on it.

Definitely ask for help with it again, it’s great that you’ve recognised it now.

Huge lump in my throat. And most symptoms listed. It’s awful.

Catastrophising
Wobbly legs
Itchy skin
Heart racing
Difficulty concentrating
Constantly on edge
Paranoia
Tearfulness

Fun isn’t it. to all x

Palpitations
Overheating
Trembling
IBS
Restlessness
Early waking with a headache
Short tempered
Constant worrying over everything
Inability to concentrate
Always thinking worse case scenario

I recently tried Sertraline but it made me 100% worse, so GP took me off it. Just starting Citalopram at 20mg and noticing a slow improvement.

Feeling very hot
Mouth ulcers
Inability to concentrate
Snappy
Waking in night with racing pulse
Constantly on edge

Crap isn’t it?

Can I say I am so glad it’s not just me with the itching. I was convinced it was liver failure last week.