[Da'Burgh]

Common Anxiety Symptoms
Here are some of the many symptoms associated with anxiety disorder (because each person has a unique chemical make up, the symptoms and their intensity will vary from person to person): These help me in hyperchondriac times :wink:

Body
Burning Sensations throughout the body
Chronic Fatigue
Electric shock feeling
Excess of energy, you feel you can?t relax.
Feel like you are going to pass out or faint
Feeling cold or chilled
Hyperactivity, excess energy
Increased or decreased sex drive
Muscle twitching
Neck, back, shoulder pain, tightness/stiffness
No energy, feeling lethargic, tired
Numbness or tingling in hands, feet, face, head, or any other places on the body
Persistent muscle tension, stiffness
Sore or tight scalp or back of the neck
Startle easily
Sweating, uncontrollable profuse sweating
The floor feels like it is moving either down or up for no reason
Trembling or shaking
Urgency to urinate, frequent urination, sudden urge to go to the washroom
Warm spells
Weak legs, arms, or muscles

Chest
Chest pain or discomfort
Concern about the heart
Feel like you have to force yourself to breathe
Find it hard to breathe, feeling smothered, shortness of breath
Frequent yawning to try and catch your breath
Heart ? beating hard or too fast, rapid heartbeat, palpitations
Heart - Irregular heart rhythms, flutters or ?skipped? beats, tickle in the chest that makes you cough

Emotions
Dramatic mood swings
Emotional blunting
Emotions feel wrong
Frequently feel like crying for no reason

Fears
A heightened fear of what people think of you
Afraid of being trapped in a place with no exits
Constant feeling of being overwhelmed.
Fear of being in public
Fear of dying
Fear of losing control
Fear of impending doom
Fear of making mistakes or making a fool of yourself to others
Fear that you are losing your mind
Fears about irrational things, objects, circumstances, or situations
Fears of going crazy, of dying, of impending doom, of normal things, unusual feelings and emotions, unusually frightening thoughts or feelings
Heightened self awareness, or self-consciousness
Need to find nearest washrooms before you can feel comfortable
Need to seat near exits

Head
Dizziness or light-headedness
Frequent headaches, migraine headaches
Feeling like there is a tight band around your head, pressure, tightness
Head, neck or shoulder pain, tightness/stiffness
Giddiness
Shooting pains in the face
Shooting pains in the scalp or head
When you close your eyes you feel like are beginning to, or will, float upwards
Sore jaw that feels like a tooth ache

Hearing
Frequent or intermittent reduced hearing or deafness in one or both ears
Low rumbling sounds
Ringing in the ears, noises in the ears, noises in the head

Mind
Desensitization, depersonalization
Fear of going crazy
Fear of losing control
Fear of impending doom
Feelings of unreality
Frequent feeling of being overwhelmed, or that there is just too much to handle or do
Having difficulty concentrating
Obsession about sensations or getting better
Repetitive thinking or incessant ?mind chatter?
Underlying anxiety, apprehension, or fear
You often feel you are carrying the world on your shoulders

Mood
Always feeling angry and lack of patience
Depression
Feeling down in the dumps
Feeling like things are unreal or dreamlike
Frequently being on edge or 'grouchy'
Frequently feel like crying for no apparent reason
Have no feelings about things you used to
Underlying anxiety, apprehension, or fear
You feel like you are under pressure all the time

Mouth/Stomach
A ?tinny?, ?metallic? or ?ammonia?, or unusual smell or taste
Choking
Constant craving for sugar or sweets
Constipation
Diarrhea
Difficulty swallowing
Dry mouth
Feeling like you can?t swallow properly or that something will get caught in your throat
Feeling like your tongue is swollen
Frequent upset stomach, bloating, gaseous
IBS
Lack of appetite or taste
Nausea or abdominal stress
The thought of eating makes you nauseous
Tight throat, lump in throat
Vomiting

Sleep
Difficulty falling or staying asleep
Frequent bad, bizarre, or crazy dreams
Hearing sounds in your head that jolt you awake
Insomnia, or waking up ill in the middle of the night
Jolting awake
Waking up in a panic attack
You feel worse in the mornings

Sight
Distorted, foggy, or blurred vision
Dry, watery or itchy eyes
Eye tricks, seeing things our of the corner of your eye that isn?t there, stars, flashes
Eyes sensitive to light
Spots in the vision
Flashing lights when eyes are closed
Your depth perception feels wrong

Touch
Numbness
Pain
Tingling, pins and needles feelings

Other symptoms are described as:
Being like a hypercondriac, muscle twinges, worry all the time, tingles, gagging, tightness in the chest, tongue twitches, shaky, breath lump, heart beat problems, head tingles, itchy tingling in arms and legs, and so many more.

In addition to these symptoms, you may also find yourself worrying compulsively about:
? Having a heart attack
? Having a serious undetected illness
? Dying prematurely
? Going insane or loosing your mind
? Harming yourself or someone you love uncontrollably
? Being embarrassed or making a fool out or yourself
? Losing control
? Fainting in public
? Not breathing properly
? Choking or suffocating
? Being alone

This symptom list was used in accordance to: http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml

 

[M A R S]

I have my first meeting with a therapist tomorrow and i think ill print this and bring it.

 

[Shadow Cat]

Wow, that was a great list! Unfortunately, I can relate with a lot of those symptoms. I was experiencing some of those symptoms recently and was wondering why they were happening. Now I know that they are caused by stress.

 

[LOSTONE]

I am very happy to see this post. I have just about all of these symptoms.
Some symptoms scare me because I didn't know they were symptoms of anxiety. Like getting very cold when it is warm out, becomeing very shaky and trembling to the point I feel that I can not stand anymore. always needing to goto the bathroom when I am around other people (I used to think I did this in order to hide from everyone).
Feelings that my heart is going to explode (SCARY!). I also have mood swings (big time when there is any unjustice), extream irrational fears and painfull lasting twitches. Thanks for the post, I now understand a little more about myself .

 

[ret]

Here is a list of symptoms specific to DP:

Affective
- Emotional numbing (for both positive and negative affect)
- Lack of Empathy
- Sense of isolation
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Dream-like state
- Loss of motivation
- Loss of a sense of the consequences of one's behaviour

Cognitive
- Impaired concentration
- Mind 'emptiness or 'racing thoughts'
- Memory Impairments
- Impaired visual imagery
- Difficulty in processing new information

Physiological/Perceptual
- Partial or total physiological numbing
- Feelings of weightlessness/hollowness
- Lack of a sense of physical boundaries
- Sensory impairments (e.g. taste, touch, microscopia and/or macroscopia)
- Sensory distortions (e.g. sound, loss of colour)
- Dizziness
- External world appears flat and 2 dimensional
- Objects do not appear solid
- Loss of a sense of recognition to one's own reflection and voice.
- Changed perception of time

 

[Da'Burgh]

Sound familar guys??

 

[Guest]

I can relate to the majority of the anxiety symptoms and almost all of the DP ones.

"In addition to these symptoms, you may also find yourself worrying compulsively about:
? Having a heart attack
? Having a serious undetected illness
? Dying prematurely
? Going insane or loosing your mind
? Harming yourself or someone you love uncontrollably
? Being alone"

Yes!

Bleh.

 

[Isobel]

Here are ,i mine at the moment :?
Im not a hypochondiac at all , lol :wink:

Excess of energy, you feel you can?t relax.
Feel like you are going to pass out or faint
Hyperactivity, excess energy
Neck, back, shoulder pain, tightness/stiffness
No energy, feeling lethargic, tired
Sore or tight scalp or back of the neck
Trembling or shaking
Urgency to urinate, frequent urination, sudden urge to go to the washroom
Warm spells
Weak legs, arms, or muscles
Heart ? beating hard or too fast, rapid heartbeat, palpitations
Emotional blunting
Emotions feel wrong
Constant feeling of being overwhelmed.
Fear of losing control
Dizziness or light-headedness
You often feel you are carrying the world on your shoulders
Have no feelings about things you used to
Underlying anxiety, apprehension, or fear
You feel like you are under pressure all the time
Lack of appetite or taste
Nausea or abdominal stress
The thought of eating makes you nauseous
Eyes sensitive to light

 

[Guest]

99.9% of the anxiety symptoms right true, along wiht 99.9% of the dp sympotoms, althought half the time i dont realise them, i have gotten used to them over the years, kinda get ot he point i think that is what everyone feels, a part of life, normal...

although i have been diagnosed wiht anxiety and depression nothing else has been mentioned, yet i know there is something there, somethign that links everything together, iwill give you a list of just some of the thing i feel from day to day (there will be alot more but i have trouble remembering them, as i said, half the time they feel so normaly, yet unnatural)

well i always feel as though i am in a different time, it can reange from medielval england to the 70's up to the future.

wheni am at home it feels as though the world is no bigger then my flat, what lies outside my door does not exist

when i am tlaking to people it feels asthoght i am being transpported onto another plane of existance, a different reality, a different dimention, even to the spirit world.

i find myself looking for messages anywhere, i get messages and reply from a dripping tap, say if i am running through ideas in my head and the tap drips louder i take that as a yes..

i feel asthough there are 3 parts to me, all seperate from each other, and all wanting to work independantly, they are my mind body and soul...

when go to my parents place i always feel asthough i am on the outside of a glass box looking in, its asthough i am not part of their existance...

even as i am typing this i look at my hands and i dont see them as mine, i dont actually felel them moving, i just see them moving, liek i am not in controll of them...

when i look into the mirror i see a person standing there, but it is not the person i picture myself to be, everythign looks different...

when i am walkign through my estate it changes everytime i walk it, quite oftern it feel asthough i am the only one who has walked through it for centeries...

i quite oftern feel as though i am in limbo between 2 times, 2 placees, 2 dimentions, i can see one, but it feels differnent, as though it is not real, it feels like i am seeing a past/presant and a future together...

when i look objects they can appear to turn into a cartoon/CGI image, enev when i am talkign to people i can see them change into cartoon charaters...

i feel as though my life is on a constant loop, as though someone has hit the repeat button for a small section of my life...

i feel at times that i am just a puppet in a bigger picture...

sometimes it can feel liek the trueman show, and quite oftern the matrix

the above are just a few i can think of at the moment, alot of how i feel come out in my poems, and they seem to express what i have read on this site, about dp and dr... which is why when a mate told me abotu this i had a look and thought, maybe this is the thing i have been looking for, i mean for years i have been looking for somethign that can explain how i feel, what i think and god know what else...

i quite oftern find myself writing abotu a battle within me, to sides, t different people, andi can quite oftern see it, and feel it, when i think of thinks i dont get thoughts i get immages, yet they are so real i have trouble desiding if they are real or fantasy, you could say i am loosing a grip on it, but hey, what can i say....

this is an example of some of the stuff i write, sorry if it is a little dark and gloomy, but it seems everythign that i write reflects the same feeling... i am 2 people fighting for the same body...

Look At My Empty Carcass

When will all this shit end?
I cannot take it any longer
I have been scraping through life for years now
My nails are cracked and torn
My clothes are tatty and worn

All I ever see around me is anger
When I look in the mirror,
All I see is an empty shell, my empty carcass
I see nothing but empty hate pain and suffering
I have become a lost soul in the sands of time

I have lost all sight of the child I once was
It was lost before its life began
A miscarriage from the time of birth
I do not belong in this time generated too late
My time has passed already

My dreams are full of regret
My dreams are full of lost hope
My dreams are empty
I cannot remember the last time I felt whole
It is just a distant hope

?ThE_Mok

well i think i have ranted and raved enough, if anyone has any ideas pleace let me know, i am eager to find out what other peeps say...

all the best
ThE_Mok

 

[Da'Burgh]

This sounds to me like a severe state of dissociation.

 

[Guest]

you have lost me there im affraid, you mind explaining it a little more?

 

[Da'Burgh]

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dissociation

 

[Guest]

cheers man, next appointment i ahev whith my therapist i will have to ''try'' and explain those feeligns and eppersodes to her... lol, that ill be fun and games tho, :S mins bloody hopel;ess

 

[Welshlad]

Hi guys, back again after a while off. dr better, but I'm having problems with one particular symptom. Everytime I see a repetitive pattern or just lots of the same shape/ objects I cannot seem to focus on them. Some parts will be much more prominent than others. For example if there are many vertical white lines on a darker background or white pebbledash on a tarmac road the lines or pebbledash will stand out so much that I cannot look at them for more than a few seconds. Anyone else experience this one? I haven't heard it mentioned, could be another one of those anxiety-related symptoms. Thanx peeps.

 

[Imagine]

I relate to all of those symptoms unfortunetly.

 

[Da'Burgh]

Yeah welsh, I know exactly what you mean.

 

[Janey]

I was so happy to find this site - i thought i was going mad but reading the list of symptoms has made me realise that what my GP has told is in fact right.
My condition started in march with Labrinthitis and i havce persistent infections since. I started having attacks of feeling like i wasnt here and that my hands werent mine
Id scream as i felt like life was ebbing away from me
I now have constant electric shock feelings in my fingers and my arms ache as if ive lifted heavy weights. I cry for no reason and i dont like being away from my Home, there i feel safer and when things get really bad i go to bed
Its reassuring to know that there are so many people out there experiencing the same things

 

[Guest]

I have at least a few of those symptoms, and I have a question about the nausea thing...

It's mostly just a tight feeling in my throat, and I know I won't vomit, but sometimes I get dry heaves. I'm terrified of vomiting in the middle of class in school, so I've been miserable for months now.

Also, it's worse in the morning, and sometimes drinking water helps. If I use my throat too much, though (like talking, or something,) then I might start to get dry heaves.

Is this physical or DP-related? I have a GI appointment on Dec. 1st, and I hope it's not because of DP.

My other symptoms are dizziness/fainting (I have fainted 4 times in my entire life,) cold right hand (when I'm on the computer), trouble breathing (which is random,) and maybe a few other things.

One more thing; sometimes I get the feeling of being unreal, like I'm in a dream. I'll be like "If I can move my arm, then I'm real." So I'll move my arm, but I'll still question my existence.

Sorry about that, I'm just really worried. Feeling "unreal" doesn't really faze me much, but the nausea/fainting does. Do I sound DP to you?

 

[Guest]

Wow, I went through that list removing what didn't fit. I think it was maybe 5 things total, mostly because once I do fall asleep I don't have frequent nightmares and I'm passed out till morning. I've been diagnosed with depression and anxiety but never depersonalization.

Is it common to start having symptoms when you are young? I distinctly remember being 12 years old and relating a "dream" to some friends. Turns out it had actually happened the day before and I had just gone through the whole time feeling like I was dreaming and when I remembered it the next day I thought of it as a dream.

 

[Guest]

i have read around and found that many of the causes are trauma, drugs, and other stuff but i havent experienced any of that, is there a reasong why i feel this way? it has been going on for about a year, ive been thinking that maybe it will pass by but it hasnt. i dont even know when it started or how. any suggestions r comments?