What physical symptoms of anxiety do you experience?

[Muhammed]

I often feel very alone in my experience of having physical chest (what I think is heart) spasms and was wanting to create a space for everyone to list their physical feelings that come hand in hand with anxiety so we can all feel less alone.

Hope everyone is well.

Have you ever considered learning to practice transcendental mediation?

I do this. It helps.

So I've been told many times.

There's been several occasions when I've crossed paths again with several former students who I taught to meditate, and years/decades later, they approached me out of the blue, gave me a big hug and thanked me.

That itself gives one a sense of satisfaction. Knowing that you changed their life for the better. Gifted them peace of mind.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I often feel very alone in my experience of having physical chest (what I think is heart) spasms and was wanting to create a space for everyone to list their physical feelings that come hand in hand with anxiety so we can all feel less alone.

Hope everyone is well.

Nothing to speak of.

You should get blood work done.

I had what I thought was a spasm but it turned out to be an arrhythmia that led to three heart attacks last year as well as thyroid storm. I literally came within a day or so of losing my life with the thyroid storm. And the first heart attack was major, it almost got me, too.. Actually, they weren't heart attacks, per se. I went into cardiac arrest. The first one was real bad. My heart was beating 240 beats per minute. Two shocks after putting me under and they still couldn't bring it down any. I spent a great many months in the hospital and lot of times I was posting from a hospital bed and nobody even knew it. Ha.

Anyway, it turned out that I had hyperthyroidism which was the root cause of all of those heart problems. My body was so used to my thyroid producing so many hormones that my heart got used to it over the years and that's why I was able to go 240 beats per minute and survive it. I take medicine to control the overproduction of hormones my thyroid was putting out now and they put me under and shocked my heart back into a regular sinus rhythm some months back and I'm pretty much normal again.

Don't screw around with that, get it checked.

 

[Gracie]

Thyroid is a huge factor in mood swings, depression, etc. I take Levothyroxine and it helped a lot.

Chanting...I did that a lot when they were poking needles in my nipple; twice while having a colonoscopy. Once, I woke up because they were using that twilight crap...which was short on the twi. That HURT. So as doc was telling me to "hang on, he will stop..just bear with him", I began to chant. Nurse whispered to Dr "She is speaking in tongues!" and the Dr laughed (he was India doctor) and began to chant with me. I remember that distinctly. Then he told her to zap me again with more twilight, and it was enough to put me out until he could remove the probe. He said "next time, it will be with an anethesiologist" and I said nope..there will not be a "next time", cuz I was done. Alas, I had it done again due to probs...but it worked out fine with the anesthesiologist.

I also chanted, held a crystal, during the biopsy of my breat. That hurt too. Good thing the doc doing it was married to a wiccan and he chanted with me as well.

Chanting soothes me. My favorite is this one:

 

[Gdjjr]

lot of times I was posting from a hospital bed and nobody even knew it. Ha.

Damn bud! I'm glad you came through-

 

[Natural Citizen]

Damn bud! I'm glad you came through-

Yeah, it was a hell of a time. Heh heh.

Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

I'll say this about it. When you have a doctor tell you that they can't promise you're going to live to see the next sunrise and that in fact they're really really concerned that you're not, it changes your whole perspective if you can make it through it.

All of a sudden you just don't care about anything anyone says and have absolutely no issue with letting them know it. I don't know why that is, to be honest, but it's a real phenomenon.

 

[Gdjjr]

All of a sudden you just don't care about anything anyone says and have absolutely no issue with letting them know it.

I'm pretty much like that by nature- it has cost me dearly most of my life- but, I'm winning cause I live life my way- and I have no problem letting anyone know it- that's not to say I'm a jerk or disrespectful- unless/until I disrespected- then all bets are off- I was in the hospital the week end after thanksgiving. I thought I was having a heart attack, since I had all the symptoms of one- as it turned out, I didn't, but, the nurses were arrogant jerks and one of the Dr's lied to me- neither sat well with me and I let them know (except the Dr who lied to me since he wasn't there) what I thought of their attitude and the food- and I told them, NO, you are not giving me a COVID test, that I came in because I thought I was having a heart attack, not because I had flu symptoms- the nurse said, I'll call the Dr to see what he says- I said, fine, call him or anyone else you want, all day long and anything you want to call them, I'm not putting up with the bullshit. Period. I walked into my room, removed the IV apparatus from my arm, put on my shirt, called my son to come get me and left- I got a questionaire in the mail too. I looked up the guys name on the website and found how to leave him comments and proceeded to hi-lite the entire fiasco after I started with; I'm not going to waste your time or mine with a 5 page questionaire- I used to be fairly tolerant, but, at my age I'm less tolerant than ever- and IDGAFF-

 

[sparky]

None ...

Feeling anxiety is a complete waste of time. Unlike pain, which protects us from dangers happening now, anxiety does nothing to protect us from dangers that might someday be.

Are u suggesting people voluntarily get anxiety?

I'm suggesting you can voluntarily suppress it.

Maybe for some people, but there are different levels of anxiety. For me my panic attacks used to be triggered by stress at work. They were short, but there was nothing I could do to control them. When I felt one coming on I would go to the bathroom and wait for it to be over. Felt like a heart attack. I was advised therapy and meds. Didn’t do the meds. Did the therapy, it didn’t help and I just had to deal with it. Over time the attacks were less frequent. Since my late 20’s they’ve been in remission, but there’s nothing I voluntarily did to suppress my episodes.

If you're having a non-voluntary (autonomic) physical symptom, you should really try to determine what triggers it. A daily activity (including stressful activities) log is a useful tool for that.

That would be a medical condition totally different from everyday anxiety. Much in the same way that clinical depression is totally different from being grumpy now and then.

If you're prescribed meds for the condition, you should take your meds. But, just like trying to isolate triggers, it's important to keep a log of how you react to the medication so your physician can dial-in the dosage. Psych meds are definitely not one-size-fits-all.

Just like depression however, when most people say the are depressed, they mean they're in a grumpy mood. When a person says they have anxiety, what they mean is, they're worried about some particular thing that happened or might happen to them.

That type of non-clinical depression or non-clinical anxiety is very much a voluntary state as opposed to an autonomous reflex and is very much under the person's control.

exactly....

~S~

 

[sparky]

Damn bud! I'm glad you came through-

Yeah, it was a hell of a time. Heh heh.

Thanks, though, I appreciate it.

I'll say this about it. When you have a doctor tell you that they can't promise you're going to live to see the next sunrise and that in fact they're really really concerned that you're not, it changes your whole perspective if you can make it through it.

All of a sudden you just don't care about anything anyone says and have absolutely no issue with letting them know it. I don't know why that is, to be honest, but it's a real phenomenon.

Not everyone gets to face their own mortality in ways like what i'm reading of you Natural One. The 'reality' of the phenomenon is astoundingly stark.....glad you made it through.....~S~

 

[sparky]

All of a sudden you just don't care about anything anyone says and have absolutely no issue with letting them know it.

I'm pretty much like that by nature- it has cost me dearly most of my life- but, I'm winning cause I live life my way- and I have no problem letting anyone know it- that's not to say I'm a jerk or disrespectful- unless/until I disrespected- then all bets are off- I was in the hospital the week end after thanksgiving. I thought I was having a heart attack, since I had all the symptoms of one- as it turned out, I didn't, but, the nurses were arrogant jerks and one of the Dr's lied to me- neither sat well with me and I let them know (except the Dr who lied to me since he wasn't there) what I thought of their attitude and the food- and I told them, NO, you are not giving me a COVID test, that I came in because I thought I was having a heart attack, not because I had flu symptoms- the nurse said, I'll call the Dr to see what he says- I said, fine, call him or anyone else you want, all day long and anything you want to call them, I'm not putting up with the bullshit. Period. I walked into my room, removed the IV apparatus from my arm, put on my shirt, called my son to come get me and left- I got a questionaire in the mail too. I looked up the guys name on the website and found how to leave him comments and proceeded to hi-lite the entire fiasco after I started with; I'm not going to waste your time or mine with a 5 page questionaire- I used to be fairly tolerant, but, at my age I'm less tolerant than ever- and IDGAFF-

well who are they to question patients Gd? I don't get that?? Shouldn't that be the 'ohter way round'? It just seems to me the best patient outcome was due to those patients (assuming they've the where with all ) asking the right Q's , seeking the best medical sources, etc.....~S~

 

[gtopa1]

Some "anxiety" is quite healthy; before a baby is born, marriage, football game etc etc. harness it and it becomes just another thing not to worry about. How to harness it? I find focusing on the matter at hand and "getting on with it". Very British sorta thing I suppose.

Greg

 

[gtopa1]

Two health issues could have led to mental probs; one was six months in Hospital with an infected bleeding leg; cost me a football 'career. I was 20 and realised after another year or so that something was "wrong" so I took a working holiday..fencing, manufacturing work, anything that wasn't Uni. After that I played footy at a reasonable level but had lost too much speed for rep football. The second was when I had three "megaviruses" at once in the 90s. That was a bummer so the doc put me on something for "depression". It was relatively short lived..about a year. My remedy: take control and if you can't, get medical advice. no shame in any of it.

Greg

 

[Gdjjr]

I think there is a lot of shame involved, especially in the stronger sex about being depressed- it is what it is- everyone is wired differently- there is no one size fits all although many feel that's the case- well, until it's their case and all of a sudden they figure out they're unique having been told all their life that that is spelled special-

 

[initforme]

Having to work all the time, being u der pressure is the american way. Something is wrong in this country.