Physical symptoms of anxiety & panic attacks

 

We may have never had anything wrong with us before but then start to get physical sensations that occur and they might come from nowhere.
We may have been dealing with things fine and suddenly our body is having a reaction to something or we are feeling overwhelmed by emotions or physical symptoms and we don’t know why.

We may have started having such strong physical symptoms that we think there must be something wrong with us and think we might be dying because of what we are feeling physically.
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Physical symptoms and panic attacks can be worrying and scary because we may not know what it is or why this has started. We may not think we are stressed, or know that we are stressed, or think that we have been dealing with the stresses quite well up until now.

I always say to people we definitely need to get things checked out with our doctor (General Practitioner) or if it feels a lot more serious at the time is to either consult emergency services or go to the hospital to rule out anything that could be more serious. Some of the symptoms we might experience could be anxiety/panic attacks but it could also be something that a medical professional needs to diagnose and treat.
This is because the symptoms we might experience also can identify other conditions that may need to be treated by medication. I think that is one of the worries we may have sometimes when we start to experience the symptoms, not knowing what is causing this and I didn’t have this before.

It was one of the main reasons I became a counsellor was due to having physical symptoms from my body. Sometimes it was low-level symptoms and I could go about my day and work and it would affect me but I could still do my job. Other days I would be on the floor from the symptoms and just not able to get up at all and then other days would be somewhere on the spectrum between those places. There would even be some days where I wouldn’t feel the effects of the physical symptoms at all. Those days would be great because I could do whatever I needed to do and not feel the effects but sometimes I would worry if something was just going to come on and not know when or if.

Symptoms of anxiety
​& Panic attacks

There are so many symptoms we might experience while feeling them physically and I want to say it is all individual and you or someone you may know may have other things that are on the below list.  
Dizziness / Tiredness / a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations) / muscle aches and tension / chest pain / trembling or shaking / dry mouth / excessive sweating / hot flushes / chills / shortness of breath / a choking sensation / stomach ache / a churning stomach / feeling sick / headache / pins and needles / difficulty falling or staying asleep / a tingling in your fingers / feeling like you're not connected to your body

​Panic attacks may have similar symptoms but may be more intense. It may last for a short period of time or even longer in some cases. We may feel a fear, apprehension and anxiety in these moments. Some people may experience them once or twice a month and some may experience them several times a week.
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There might be a build-up to the attack or they may just come out of nowhere so we might know why we are experiencing them or may be confused about why this might be happening to us. A panic attack definitely can feel very frightening and distressing.
Sometimes the hard things around physical symptoms and panic attacks can be what other people are thinking about us. Whether it is the thoughts that others think we are making it up or the embarrassment of what symptoms we are showing and not being able to change them or reduce them and then other people seeing us like that. This can sometimes increase the symptoms of the panic attacks or anxiety and just because we are used to having them so we think it is just going to happen again. I know I would feel worried that a panic attack was going to come on sometimes because I had something in the diary that could cause a panic attack. I would also worry that people I knew or worked with couldn’t understand why or even felt like people didn’t believe me and sometimes it would be hard to prove due to the symptoms.

As I mentioned my panic attacks I had years ago is what started me out into becoming a counsellor and helping others. I started getting them when there was a lot going on in my home life and in my work life and I thought I was able to deal with everything and just keep going. I could usually deal with stresses but at this time there were multiple stress factors some small some big and I was trying to deal with them all because I would have been able to before. I think I would have been able to deal with a couple of big stress factors but because there were multiple then my mind and body wasn’t coping. I wasn’t listening to it then.

There were moments with my physical symptoms that they would be so extreme I really thought I was dying. I remember times when I would get up in the night and thought I was dying needed to use the toilet and just collapsed on the way there. Other times the pains and symptoms were so bad I had to get an ambulance and other times I actually needed to go to the hospital to rule out anything. Looking back at it now after a while and maybe some reassurance my body would stop reacting physically and it would subside but I would feel physically and mentally exhausted from it.
I wasn’t able to go to work for a period of time and so there were multiple stresses and anxiety that came from that.

What do others think? Am I going to be able to get back to work? Are they missing something? Is there something wrong with me?  
When we are going through it I think we will think these things and maybe other questions.

What eventually helped me was going to see a counsellor and talking about it. I didn’t think it was going to work but I was in a place where I had tried everything else and the doctors are saying there is nothing physically wrong with me. They would say it is anxiety and stress related. I didn’t believe them at the time, I couldn’t understand how stress and anxiety could do this to my body.

I had some counselling and it started to reduce my symptoms and my panic attacks started to get a lot less and further between them. I eventually was then able to go back to work as well. It wasn’t like a magic pill that changed it although sometimes medication from the GP can help some people reduce symptoms while having talking therapies. Once we feel we are in a better place with counselling we can always consult our doctor in reducing or coming off the medication completely.

For me I very rarely get panic attacks now. I can’t remember the last time I had one. I sometimes get physical symptoms which I now see as my body as just trying to make me aware of something I may have not noticed. With counselling over time it has allowed me and taught me to listen to my body a bit more. How I have experienced physical symptoms has taught me that if I don’t listen to my feelings then they will present in my body as a physical symptom to make me aware that something is there.

If I don’t take notice of that physical symptom then the physical symptom will get louder and become more painful or produce another symptom to try and get my attention. If I ignore that or try and ignore that then it will ‘shout’ even louder. If I then ignore that then I could find myself flat on the ground where my body is trying to say to me you need to stop and take notice. I think looking back at it now my body back then was going you need to take a break and stop trying to do things otherwise I am going to make you physically collapse.

So for me it was a build-up and I didn’t notice it because I just thought I was a machine and I can deal with it.

As I mentioned we might need someone going alongside us like a counsellor to hear how it is and help us to start to listen to the signals in our body and eventually, they get less and less and we start to hear our feelings before they become something bigger.

I suppose it is a bit like those senses we have in our cars or in our homes sometimes. We will get the warning lights about things like we need to service the car, or we need to top up the oil, or check the tyres, or check something else with the engine. If we ignore them then maybe another sensor comes on like the orange engine light. If we ignore that for long enough and don’t do anything then the red engine light might come on. If we then ignore that then the car may stop completely and so we definitely have to listen to it because we then need to find out what the warning lights were trying to tell us. A bit like when I was collapsing some days with my physical symptoms.

I hope you have found this information useful and you can relate to some of the things discussed above. Physical symptoms can definitely reduce in some way, I didn’t think they would when I was experiencing them myself but I can say now that they definitely do with help and support.

If you or someone you know are experiencing physical symptoms or panic attacks and feel some counselling would help them manage it better then please do get in touch and we can have a conversation or a consultation.

You can contact me
by phoning 075555 97 600,
​email [email protected] or through my website. ​