I notice a lot of people in this forum complain about body symptoms that doctors brush off as non threatening anxiety symptoms . Still for anxiety sufferers they seem to rule their world and are very debilitating. I notice that I am very sensitive to my nerves and the slightest tick in my body throws me into a panic. For example it always seems like I’m monitoring my body for any problems, heart rate, breathing, stomach ache. Also I have nonspecific symptoms that really cant be explained but I feel them. I feel noxious at times also. Is it possible that we are just too sensitive to our bodies because of anxiety? I guess the only way to overcome it is to stop paying so much attention to our bodies.
that makes a lot of sense to me. i never paid a blind bit of notice to what my body was doing before my first panic attack, but then all of a sudden i would monitor every tiny feeling i had. i would sit taking my pulse for hours just to make sure it wasn't too fast or too slow because of the palpitations i'd had. i wish i could remember what it was like to not have anxiety. i find it really hard to shut off to the feelings now i've had them
I think I'm the same way. Ever since I turned 40, it has really made me pay attention because all I ever hear and experience is how doctors just want to medicate you and that's not the answer. I feel that we are a very over-prescribed society and if doctors would take the time to really care about their patients, I think anxiety problems would be cut WAY down! Unfortunately, this is just another way for them to make money and we that suffer try to cling onto any good things that we can find.
Which came first the anxiety or the sensitivity. If the sensitivity came first perhaps we were prone to anxiety. If the anxiety developed first then that caused the sensitivity. I wonder if something in our lives, some stress or something, caused us to become hypervigilant and the hypervigilance carries over to our bodily functions. Who knows? I just don't like it.
With me, now that I think about it, I think the sensitivity came first and then the anxiety. If I don't worry, I don't have anxiety. But, I start to think that because now I am in my 40's, and I don't eat right and get little excercise, I feel that sometimes I will get what I deserve with my body. In otherwards, hard habit are hard to break (eating junk food, not excercising, etc...) I want to change, it's just hard to. I also don't drink enough liquids in a day and that is REALLY hard to change! So.....I think the sensitivity came first. Thanks for making me realize that!
I just had another thought about this too but I hope it doesnt sound to out there. What if our bodies are actually too easilly arroused for our own good and its not all in our mind. Maybe some peoples bodies are natrually tuned to be always in an anxious state even if that person doesnt want to be. I guess medication would be the best choice in that case. It seems like Im always fighting to not be anxious and overreactive to things around me. I just wish my body could just settle down or always be settled.
Last edited by tooanxious; 08-14-2004 at 04:33 PM.
Why is it that we monitor every little feeling yet with me, I can be working on something and bang my head and not pay any attention to that. I get cut and my wife says you are bleeding all over the place and I don't even remember feeling it or doing it. None of this sends me into a panic. I think it is only fear of the unknown and anticipation that drives us there.
I think hypervigilance can certainly cause all kinds of problems. I habitually check my pulse and always think it is way too fast (despite what numerous specialists and a top cardio have told me - my own mind has convinced itself that I've got blocked arteries and so I twist and fit all symptoms to that). I've heard people say that hypervigilance can lead to a magnifying affect of symptoms ie - a tight chest can feel like the beginnings of a heart attack, a slight raise in blood pressure can produce sensations most people wouldn't even notice. The human mind can be a vindictive b*****dto us when it wants to be.
All the best - hope the good luck is just around the corner.
Yea it does suck that tunning into our symptoms actually make them worse. I think I obsess about something too much and then make it worse. You think abot your breathing and wham you cant breath..think about your heart and it starts to race...Jeez we must have found a loop hole in the human body becuase I dont see how these can be any sort of advantage to us. I am going to start taking meds becuase I cant stand it anymore.
Last edited by tooanxious; 08-16-2004 at 04:40 PM.
Re: too sensitive to our bodies 
The human mind can be a vindictive b*****dto us when it wants to be.
