what does it feel like to suffer anxiety, do i have it?

Question

I've been under a lot of stress and emotional factors, i know i'm not dealing with it well and before you give the standard answer of see your doctor, i did and it didn't help. Lately I've been dealing with a lot of emotional things and i feel like my stomach is in constant knots. I feel like i can't breathe, this feeling has been there constantly for a few days. Is this anxiety am i suffering from a mental disorder, or is it just stress and it will fix itself soon?

Answer 1

According to Wikipedia, anxiety is an unpleasant complex combination of emotions that includes fear, apprehension and worry, and is often accompanied by physical sensations such as palpitations, nausea, chest pain and/or shortness of breath.

People normally experience anxiety when put in stressful or upsetting situations. As far as mental disorders, generalized anxiety disorder involves feeling symptoms of anxiety, but having no idea what is causing them. I doubt you have this since you seem to be able to locate the cause of your anxiety. Panic disorder occurs when you have intense anxiety symptoms (known as panic attacks) for no apparent reason. I would try some stress management techniques, such as deep breathing or meditation, to deal with what seems to be normal anxiety stemming from stressful life situations.

Answer 2

There are a lot of different "symptoms". Some people have anxiety or panic attacks (i did) You feel like you cant breath and your stomach turns. Sometimes you feel like you're dying and the whole world is closing in on you. There are medicines they make for that, but mine eventually went away. If you feel like this could be your problem you should see your doctor, some cases are worse than others. But the best thing to know is you dont have an illness or anything very serious at all and you can control it.

Answer 3

It sounds like you're having some somatization--that is, your brain is transferring stress and causing physical symptoms. It's pretty normal--everybody gets a knotted stomach when they're anxious. What the problem is for you is that it's constant, and you don't have the mental equipment to stop it.

While such anxiety is technically a "mental disorder", it's a common and quite solvable one. Basically, the treatment is to teach you how to relax consciously. There are a lot of techniques you can learn that'll teach you that; but they're all designed to let you become aware of the stress-related tension in your body, and then to get that tension to ease up.

Sometimes a doctor prescribes tranquilizers for someone with anxiety; but you have to remember these are tools to help you while you learn to relax on your own--not a cure in and of themselves. If a doc just prescribes medication and doesn't propose to help you learn stress-management skills too, then find yourself another doctor!!

It also helps if you learn how to be more organized, so that you can predict what's going to happen in the future, and you won't be blindsided by having to do a lot in only a short time.

You can learn stress-management and organization on your own, no doctor required. Anxiety is the "common cold" of mental health problems--common, often mild, and curable with home remedies. It's when your "common cold" gets bad--when you end up with the mental equivalent of pneumonia--that you need to find a doctor. You can tell this has happened when you can't learn what you need to learn on your own, when all your stress and anxiety management skills aren't good enough. Outside help in this instance may be as little as enrollment in a group or class, or as involved as medicine and psychotherapy. It really depends on how much you need.

In any case, it's quite a solvable problem, whether you find you need outside help or not. Address the problem, and within a few months you should see drastic improvement as you learn the stress-management strategies you need.

Answer 4

hey,
I've been where you are. when i felt like that i went to the library and got out some books on anxiety. There were a few that were really helpful. When you feel like you can't breathe that is an anxiety attack. lots of people have them. lots of people have many different symptoms too! try sitting somewhere you feel safe when you are having a panic attack and try to read one of the books. for myself, being able to read about what I was feeling and being able to rationalize it helped me cope.
Tell someone about how you are feeling, a good friend or a family member. I told my dad and he was surprisingly supportive. Bought me one of the books i liked and eventually got me to a doctor who helped me sort it out.
If the feeling lasts more than a couple weeks that can be a good indication that some counselling or medication might be helpful.
Be strong!

Answer 5

You are having problems dealing with anxiety. Nothing that presents itself as a problem will just go away on it's own. If you don't learn how to deal with it, when the problem occurs again, you will still be illequipped to deal with it.

You might have one or more of a variety of anxiety disorders.

There are all kinds of things out there that can help. Your soul seraching journey has begun to find out what works best for you.

Best wishes.

Answer 6

you need an outlet like meditation, yoga, boxing, jogging... a physical activity to releave your anxiety.
There are also breathing exercising you can do to help relieve an attack...

Take a deep breathe - inhale on 1 count to 5 and exhale on 5... you may have to repeat it a few times to feel relaxed.

I suffer from the same.

Answer 7

Sounds like you're doing a pretty good job of describing stress; anxiety is pretty much just another word for "worry." If you're worrying this much, I'd definitely go to see your doctor; there are several good medications available to help you manage anxiety.

Answer 8

I have read some litterature about panic attacks. But they allways seem to have a more scientific approach and that is nothing I need in my struggle to survive those horrible panic attacks. This is a "hand on" and very practical book. I felt it was written to me. I am sure that you are going to feel the same.

Joe Barry writes exactly how I think. The examples are perfectly described. And the method is genius. I recommend this book and thanks Joe Barry for writing it. It changes your life

Answer 9

It sounds like you may either have panic attacks or some form of anxiety disorder.

Answer 10

Well sounds like the body is telling you to deal with the stress already.. If you don't fix it.. could lead to worse effects.. Everyone gets up tight from time to time..but constant for days sounds like something more... Whatever the emotional problems. Your going to need to get a break from them before you give yourself a stroke...