Recognizing the Physical Symptoms of your Anxiety
Welcome to our Wednesday series for anxious people who have an oversensitive alarm system, whose “danger scanner” is always on, and who need a little bit of self-care and positive emotional energy by mid-week (when the tanks are starting to approach depletion). Calm nature pictures are a great way to “nurture” our insecure selves and help us stay grounded and in the moment.
I am passionate about finding new ways to manage stress & anxiety, primarily because I’ve struggled with anxiety all of my life. Chronic anxiety doesn’t go away, but it can be successfully managed. The first stop is always recognizing the main signs of anxiety. Most people experience a combination of physical sensations, thoughts, imagery, and feelings that are odd, unpleasant, uncomfortable, and seemingly unexplainable. These tend to build on each other and overtime spiral the state of discomfort from mild, to moderate, to severe.
The trick is to identify these signs in the mild or moderate states before they get to severe, which is where panic, insomnia, feelings of going crazy, and trips to the ER take place. Every week, we will peel the layers of anxiety, in small bites. This post will list the PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS:
Headaches
Light headedness or dizziness
Sweating
Dry mouth
Tension
Choking sensation
Shortness of breath
Nausea
Chest pains
Palpitations
Pounding or racing heart
Stomach pains
Butterflies
Shakiness
Trembling
Pins & needles
Jelly legs
Feelings of paralysis (can’t move)
Bladder weakness
Diarrhea
An urge to run away (flee)
An urge to attack
A feeling of unreality
Are you experiencing any of these? Take this list to your primary care doctor and make sure they rule out any other physical conditions, hormonal imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, medication side effects, recreational drugs side effects (including too much coffee).
If you get a clean bill of health, and you are still experiencing these (and especially if they’ve been more or less always a part of your life), looking for a psychologist who can diagnose and treat an anxiety disorder should be the next step.
If you want a deeper dive into Anxiety and Stress management, without committing to therapy just yet, I want to invite you to my 2-hour course, “The Overthinker's Guide To Managing Anxiety”. If you are not ready to invest time and money on individual therapy, if you are not quite ready to try out medication, but you are ready for a change, then this is a course meant for you!
ABOUT: Dr. Ruxandra LeMay is a private practice psychologist in Litchfield Park, Arizona with experience in family therapy, ADHD, stress and anxiety management, and executive coaching. She is the author of My Spouse Wants More Sex Than Me: The 2-Minute Solution For a Happier Marriage. Click HERE to check out her free resources on effective communication, emotional unavailability, and intimacy or join her at www.ruxandralemay.comfor blogs posts and additional programs.