The Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

While the emotional symptoms of anxiety are at the root of the problem, it is the physical symptoms of anxiety that cause most people to seek professional help.  This is mainly because the physical symptoms are often mistaken by patients for other far more serious ailments.  Often a person with a severe case of anxiety may experience shortness of breath and chest pains that are so severe that they go the emergency room fearing that they are having a heart attack.

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If you are experiencing symptoms associated with anxiety or panic attacks, you should not be too embarrassed to seek professional help.   There are millions of others who also suffer from the same problems who are currently working on getting better. Unfortunately, many people who suffer from the symptoms of anxiety never seek help; they simply think that there is no hope for a cure and go on letting the physical and emotional carnage continue.
With proper diagnosis and treatment, you can recover from your anxiety and learn new skills to help ensure that you never have to suffer again.  These results do not take years and can be achieved in a few weeks or months with a very high degree of success.

To be diagnosed with an anxiety/panic disorder the American Psychiatric Association states that you must exhibit four or more of the following physical symptoms and they must appear suddenly, reach their peak in less than ten minutes and be very intense.

The most common symptom is a rapid heartbeat or palpitations.  This may begin as being able to feel or hear your own heart beat and be accompanied by a nervous feeling or one of fright.  The sensation rapidly escalates to the point where you think you are having a heart attack and feel like you are about to die at any moment.  Fortunately you cannot die or even be hurt by these feelings.

Many people complain of dizziness and shortness of breath or difficulty breathing.  This is often brought on by emotional distress.  The brain does not get the oxygen it needs and this can lead to feelings of instability or loss of balance. Some anti anxiety medications can also cause this feeling so if you are on medication you should see your doctor.

Trembling is very common as an indicator of stress or anger and may be uncontrollable for a short period of time.  If you find that the tremble is constant it may be indicative of a more serious problem and you should seek medical advice.

Sweating appears to go along with the tremors and while some amount of sweating is normal for most people, profuse sweating is often associated with an anxiety or panic attack.

Other physical symptoms may include stomach pain and vomiting on a regular basis.  Anxiety often causes these symptoms and the nausea is often related to triggers such as smell, taste or anxiety over a particular event. An example of this might be vomiting moments before giving an important speech.

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While the physical symptoms are very real, the underlying cause of them is, generally speaking, not a medical issue so much as it is a mental issue.  It is the body’s way of letting you know that there is something wrong.  Once you deal with the mental issues, you can rest assured that the physical symptoms will also go away.