When it comes to anxiety, there are no set rules. There are no set symptoms that you will definitely experience.
The symptoms you experience might vary from one episode to the next.
I guess this can make it more challenging to actually work out what is going on.
So let’s go back a bit. What actually is anxiety? If you look it up in the dictionary, the definition is “a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease about something with an uncertain outcome”. So it is a sense of worry where there is a perceived threat, so it might or might not happen.
Some anxiety is normal, and can actually be a good thing, such as to keep you alert in situations or to give you a boost to get jobs done.
There can be a lot of different signs and symptoms of anxiety, including:
- Sense of impending danger, doom or panic
- Feeling restless or tense
- Unable to relax
- Feeling nervous
- Rapid breathing
- Increased heart rate
- Shaking
- Sweating
- Weak or tired feelings
- Trouble concentrating and sleeping
- Chest pain or tightness
- Changes in bowel habits
- Dizziness
- Tingling feelings
- Changes in appetite
- Insomnia, either trouble getting to sleep or trouble staying asleep
- Headaches
- Weak immune system
- Excessive, ongoing worry or tension
- Inability to relax and let go of worry
- Feeling restless or on edge
- Overthinking plans and solutions
- Indecisiveness, fear of making wrong decision
- Feeling like your mind goes blank
- Irritability
- Nausea, irritable bowel syndrome
- Being easily startled, nervousness
- Trembling, feeling twitchy
- Muscle tension or aches
- Fatigue, lack of energy
- Perceiving things as threatening when they are not
- Avoidance
- Panic attacks
- Needing reassurance
- Lack of patience
- Procrastination
- Trouble breathing
- Memory issues
- Feeling scared
- Phobias
- Emotional
- Restless
There can be other symptoms too that I haven’t mentioned. It is important to get a health assessment from a health professional to rule out some other medical condition being the cause of these symptoms. It is important to rule this out.
If you are struggling with anxiety, you are not alone. Please reach out for help and support.