Common Anxiety Symptoms
As with all human beings, when you feel stressed, your body is
designed to respond by producing adrenaline. This hormone helps to
prepare you for "action" by stimulating some bodily functions while
damping down others. This normal, automatic reaction is known as the "fight
or flight" response, and is usually triggered when you
feel threatened. Once the threat subsides, the adrenaline levels
decrease, and you return to your normal routine without continuing to
worry about the threat, or the feelings it stirred within you.
However, those who suffer with stress and anxiety problems experience
the effects of the "fight or flight" response in a more lasting,
damaging way. When their threat dissipates, the feelings caused by
their increased adrenaline persist long after the adrenaline levels
have receeded.
In the beginning, the reason for the release of adrenaline might or
might not have been obvious - it may have been due to some unseen, and
perhaps un-noticed event or series of events, which increased your
stress levels to a point where your body could simply no longer cope.
To those initial stresses is added the second level of worry, resulting
from the uncomfortable physical symptoms caused by the adrenaline
release. It is when these worries get out of control that things can
become distressing. The more you worry about the
symptoms, the more you fuel the anxiety by worrying about the symptoms
- this "fear of fear" is what worsens and
prolonges the problems of anxiety. Escaping this vicious circle is not
easy, but it is possible.
COMMON COMPLAINTS AND
SYMPTOMS
ASSOCIATED WITH ANXIETY
- Mood Disturbances.
irritibility, quick tempered, easily upset, likely to "fly off the handle" very easily.
- Sleeping Dificulties.
insomnia, bad dreams, recurring dreams.
- Fatigue.
exhaustion, easily tired.
- Loss of Motivation and Interest.
"Can't be bothered to do anything".
- Unreal Feelings.
"Everything around me seems unreal", "I feel different - like in a dream", fuzzy headedness.
- Very Sensitive to Noise.
noises you used to tolerate are now very irritating.
- Absent Minded.
unable to concentrate, forgetful.
- Clumsy.
Poor co-ordination.
- Indecisive
"Can't make up my mind even about small matters".
- Restless.
agitated, fidgety, can't sit still.
- General Loss of Self Confidence.
- Tendency to Go Over Things Again and Again.
- Nagging Doubts and Fears.
- Constantly Checking on Things Already Done.
- Panic Attacks.
Remember, if your symptom is not listed
here, it does not mean you are "odd", or your case is "peculiar", it is
just that there are too many symptoms to list them all, and your's was
left off the list for reasons of space.
Also, please note that you cannot catch a symptom you
don't already have just by reading or hearing about it
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