Physical symptoms of anxiety

[Isla667]

Hi All,
I finished up BF cold turkey about 7 weeks ago, and it seems to have caused a huge spike in anxiety, particularly health anxiety, for me. I know now that the dizziness, headaches, tinnitus and nausea were all hormone related, but at the time I couldn't see my own GP and got a useless doctor who didn't know me and just made me feel nervous and much worse. I actually came out of my appointment crying.
This started up a cycle of major anxiety for me where I convinced myself I had a brain tumour, MS and then MND due to symptoms which my own GP thinks may all be caused by anxiety and hormones. Initially I had heart palpitations, racing heart, hyperventilating, chest pain. That gave way to muscle aches and pains and some twitching which I think might be carpel tunnel.
My GP did start me on setraline but I was so sick with it I couldn't keep it up so I'm now going with CBD oil and talk therapy. While my physical symptoms are easing they're not gone. How long did it take others with physical symptoms of anxiety for their physical symptoms to go? Thanks!

Hi Isla667, I’ve just read your post - I’m so sorry that you are struggling with health anxiety. I think you also commented on a post I wrote yesterday. It sounds like we have similar stories. I hope your day has been okay. X

They'll go when you are really convinced (deep down) that you don't have a serious illness. I had HA years ago, and found that keeping a symptoms diary helped. If I developed a symptom I could look back and see that I'd had it before but that it had gone. I knew that real illness doesn't usually work like that, and eventually it worked, and I don't get health anxiety at all now.

It's a painful condition - people seem to think it has comedy value or is attention-seeking (eg Dot in Eastenders), but it causes real suffering.

Hi @Isla667 ... Interesting post. So I developed Health Anxiety about 18months after my DD1 was born. I couldn't make head or tail of it....I thought it was burn out trying to juggle work and child. But I also realized it coincided with the end of breastfeeding. It persisted for over 1yr and it was crippling. In the end after endless therapy, I did go onto Citalopram. It was brutal and I wanted to turn back ....like constantly for over 1month.
I'm back on Citalopram following a miscarriage (hormones again?!) And again it's that brutal experience. If you do decide to try ADs again, you could do what I did which is to increase the dosage by tiny amounts. It's a bit of a gamble as I still got side effects and because the dosage is low, I still had anxiety. That said - thinking positively - I had side effects that most people would easily tolerate while the meds started to build up in my system to tackle the anxiety.

Hi my name is Jake and since the start of this year my have been struggling with physical anxiety symptoms, it’s been on and off but when I do get the symptoms they are very repetitive, my anxiety symptoms seem to hit me the worst when I’m driving, such as struggling to swallow, shortness of breath, cold rushes through body etc, my doctor has put me on setraline 100mg now which admittedly i keep forgetting to take everyday ,is there anyone who has got some advice on how to help , thanks a lot

Have a look at this video on the effects of stress on the body;

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And this one on anxiety;

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