The "pains" of stress and anxiety - Anxiety Message Board

StacieLee2000 · 12-25-2003, 09:14 PM

Hi everyone

Just have a few quick comments about the body pains associated with stress. A couple of months ago, I had my first panic attack. My doctor started me on ativan, and the panic attacks are under control. I am now in the process of tapering off from the ativan, but I'm noticing my original symptoms returning. The one symptom which is very annoying is the pain in my joints. The first sign of stress, and I feel an ache somewhere within my body. The pains are spreading now to all parts of my body. I go to the chiropractor every week. This helps relieve the pain, but it is only temporary. I have also noticed that I feel sick to my stomach whenever I eat anything. I don't remember the last time I had any cravings for food. I only eat because I know that I need to physically just to maintain. If anyone else is experiencing any of these things, please write me with any suggestions. Thanks a lot, and take care. Stacie

phigment · 12-26-2003, 12:28 AM

lack of appetite could be a symptom of depression, joint pain could be from poor sleep. just my thoughts on the matter.
i have anxiety and depression, each one causes the other
i can go all day without realizing i haven't eaten or drank anything.
stomach gives me some problems, anxiety related i keep tellin myself, yogurt seems to help settle it down.
dannon peach is my favorite.

hry33 · 12-26-2003, 01:19 PM

try to relax when stressed or anxious as tensing the muscles can cause pain, also tummy troubles

get some books on overcoming panic attacks and stress

artichack · 12-27-2003, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StacieLee2000

Hi everyone

Just have a few quick comments about the body pains associated with stress. A couple of months ago, I had my first panic attack. My doctor started me on ativan, and the panic attacks are under control. I am now in the process of tapering off from the ativan, but I'm noticing my original symptoms returning. The one symptom which is very annoying is the pain in my joints. The first sign of stress, and I feel an ache somewhere within my body. The pains are spreading now to all parts of my body. I go to the chiropractor every week. This helps relieve the pain, but it is only temporary. I have also noticed that I feel sick to my stomach whenever I eat anything. I don't remember the last time I had any cravings for food. I only eat because I know that I need to physically just to maintain. If anyone else is experiencing any of these things, please write me with any suggestions. Thanks a lot, and take care. Stacie

The medication is not going to fix the problem alone. You need to find other means other than the drugs.....there are books out that teach you how to deal with the attacks....breathing, meditation, relaxing, ect. And it works. I had an attack in November, didn't know what to do . After the emergency room, and all that, my doc told me about the alternative methods to pills. The breathing really works for me, you catch it before it becomes a full blown attack. The book that my doc recommended is called The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne Best of luck....

carrielynn · 12-28-2003, 02:01 PM

This happened to me when I suffered severe anxiety from January-June this past year. Somedays I felt like I had the flu because I ached so bad and I worried I had something like fibromyalgia. I also couldn't get a good deep breath. I saw a biofeedback therapist who did EMG (muscle) biofeedback and she showed me how tense my muscles were. The tension seemed "normal" to me, when in fact my muscles were actually constantly tensing in response to my anxiety. This was causing the aches and pains.

The biofeedback therapist showed me how to relax my muscles -- calf, thigh, shoulders, arms, head, etc. -- and then every day I constantly checked the state of my body's tension, about every 10 minutes, and relaxed those muscles for a couple of seconds. (I wore a timer watch that vibrated every 10 minutes, bought it from Global Assistive Devices.) I saw her once a week for about 8 weeks and we'd check my progress. The aches and pains actually got worse before they got better because of the release of lactic acid (similar to when you work your muscles too hard). But 7 months after I started this process, my body is relaxed and the aches and pains are gone. I can breath deeply with no problems.

What I learned from this process was that I didn't know how to truly relax until someone hooked me up to a machine and SHOWED me what relaxation was. At the time true relaxation felt "out of control." Anxiety and tension were how I felt more in control, so I had to learn (and am still learning) how to let go.

I've been addressing the anxiety with neurofeedback, which is a form of biofeedback that does brain-wave training. That has also been enormously helpful. I also employ the cognitive behavioral techniques to reframe issues that stress me out. It takes time to retrain your mind/body of bad habits and I'm still working on these things... I think I will for the rest of my life... but things are SO much better than they were last winter/spring.

Good luck.

CarrieLynn