So Many Symptoms, So Little Sanity
It is estimated that almost 20% of Americans experience an anxiety disorder each year. (1) There are more than 100 possible symptoms, many of which are not well known. When these symptoms occur, the anxiety can be exacerbated by the additional worry and stress they cause. This article looks at some of the weird anxiety symptoms and steps you can take to help alleviate anxiety.
What is Anxiety Disorder?
Anxiety can be categorized as a feeling of mild or severe unease brought about by worry or fear. People with anxiety often respond to situations with fear, dread or a sense of impending doom. There are also several physical symptoms of anxiety, such as sweating and experiencing a pounding heart.
While feeling anxious is a typical response to problems or an unknown situation, people with an anxiety disorder feel extreme nervousness and fear. Anxiety disorders can inhibit an individual’s ability to function, produce an overreaction to problems and an inability to control how you respond to various situations.
Unusual Anxiety Symptoms
Common anxiety symptoms include an increased heart rate, sweating, fear and jittery and jumpy. Several other symptoms of anxiety are less common. If you experience any of these persistently, seek medical attention. Symptoms include:
Indigestion
Anxiety can cause temporary and chronic indigestion, manifesting in uncontrollable burping, flatulence, heartburn, diarrhea and stomach cramps. Similarly, symptoms often associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be caused by anxiety.
Burning Sensation
One of the more unusual symptoms of anxiety is a burning sensation on your skin, tongue, lips and in some cases, in your eyes. The feeling is very similar to sunburn, with individuals feeling a prickling sensation, a burning feeling when touched or shooting sparks.
Heart Irregularity
Although a pounding heartbeat is a common sign of anxiety, several other heart irregularities can also be a symptom of an anxiety disorder. A racing heart, palpitations, feeling as though the heart is going to burst through the chest, and skipped heartbeats could all be signs of experiencing anxiety.
Great care should be taken when experiencing heart irregularities, as the symptoms could indicate a heart attack.
Numbness or Tingling
Feeling numbness in your hands, feet, arms, legs, or face are potential signs of anxiety. Sometimes, this numbness may induce a tingling feeling in these parts of your body and occasionally manifests as physical weakness.
Phantosmia
Often known as “phantom smell,” phantosmia is when people think they can smell something that isn’t there or when a neutral odor becomes noxious and unpleasant. Phantosmia is a kind of hallucination.
Dry Mouth
Feeling a dry mouth is one of many symptoms of anxiety, which can be caused by breathing through your mouth, or several anxiety medications. These include Xanax, Valium and Lorazepam, due to the changes in how your body processes fluids.
Excessive Yawning
Hyperventilation is a standard part of experiencing anxiety attacks, as your body feels it isn’t receiving enough oxygen. Frequent yawning is one way your body attempts to stave off hyperventilation by allowing the body to gain the oxygen levels it needs to remain calm.
Brain Shivers
Many people experience brain shivers when adapting to new mental health medication or as a withdrawal symptom when coming off them. Occasionally, they are a sign of anxiety.
Brain shivers feel like an electrical surge, jolt, tremor or vibration that runs through the brain. In most people, they are mild and brief, although some feel more severe shivers that last longer than usual.
Derealization
When anxious, some people feel that everything in the world is unreal. A feeling of detachment separates them from the world and people around them, as if in a foggy-headed dream-like state. Perceptions of time, space and the speed at which they interact with the world can feel warped, and they think they might be going crazy due to fuzzy, blurry feelings.
Tremors
Anxiety can bring on bodily tremors throughout the body. In addition to nervous shaking and trembling that somebody is voluntarily doing to release nervous energy, the body can react by throwing involuntary tremors through the body. These can display as arm or leg spasms, shaking for a longer time or slower than usual, while muscles can also cramp due to anxiety.
How to Alleviate Anxiety
Everyone experiences anxiety symptoms at some stage without necessarily realizing it, even if they have not been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. Where a condition is diagnosed, it will often be treated with anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication. However, there are many other ways to alleviate the signs of anxiety without needing to use meds.
During stressful periods, getting into good sleep patterns and allowing yourself plenty of time to rest will help keep anxious feelings under control and lead to fewer symptoms. Slow breathing is another proven way of settling some of the most troubling anxiety symptoms. Concentrating on the out-breath releases tension from the body, and relaxation enters.
Mindfulness meditation is another excellent way of calming anxious feelings in the body and mind. Setting aside ten minutes daily before increasing the duration can help relax the body and mind. Meanwhile, exercise can help to relieve muscle tension and improve cognition. Even a brisk fifteen-minute walk around the block can lead to several hours of relief.
Anxiety's Strange Signals
These are not typical symptoms of anxiety, with some being symptomatic of other conditions. If symptoms persist for a prolonged period, or you or someone you know is concerned about any of these symptoms, seek medical advice at the earliest opportunity. Anxiety is treatable with the proper guidance, support and a healthy lifestyle.