I think generally people know when they are anxious. It is an experience that is intuitive to recognise both physically, psychologically and emotionally.
Others can recognise anxiety in you by the way you behave and appear to be thinking. However you may not always realise when you are in a state of high anxiety.
Here is a list of what you may experience if you are anxious:
Hyperventilation – a feeling that your breathing is very fast or you cannot get your breath.
Tightness of the chest – and a sense you are unable to breathe. Anxious people’s breathing is very shallow in the top half of the respiratory tract, upper chest, nose, mouth and causes vibration along the top of the head.
Closure of the throat – when you feel you cannot breathe and go into a panic gagging reaction.
Fainting – temporary loss of consciousness
Blushing – often occurs when anxiety comes on suddenly.
Blanching – when blood pressure drops and you are going into a faint.
Shaking – this can be any part of the body but for some people it can be particularly the hands.
Fast beating heart – a real physical symptom of person in an anxious state.
Heart palpitation – a sense your heart is going to jump out of your chest.
Irregular blood pressure – is present as being elevated because you spend much of the times in an alarm state so the body decides it needs more oxygen to run away or fight a situation. Sometimes though there can be sudden drops in blood pressure.
Light headedness, dizziness – due to hyperventilation and too much oxygen to the brain.
Change in body temperature – going up or down depending on whether the body is overheating or shutting down.
Changes in skin temperature – going up or down depending whether the body is overheating or shutting down.
Seizures – happen to some people when they become very anxious.
Vomiting – in some anxious people vomiting happens as the result of extreme fear.
Digestive problems – occur because you spend so much time in the fight or flight response that your digestive functions are severely depressed.
Acid reflux –when you are producing too much acid in your stomach and the diaphragm is in hyperventilation, forcing the acid up into the oesophagus.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome – when the stools are either very loose, or conversely you are constipated. This can develop into a chronic condition unless treated.
Insomnia – many people experiencing generalised anxiety have poor levels of sleep. The sleep may be fitful, shallow or you lay awake worrying about things. You may also not be able to sleep very deeply or wake up in the middle of the night and cannot get back to sleep.
Tiredness and exhaustion – due to lack of sleep. Also anxiety is a state of very high nervous excitation which takes a lot of energy and is a lot of physical work.
Nervous twitches – occur when parts of the body become spastic and muscles lose control particularly in the face area.
Loss of control of urinary tract and bladder – an anxious person may not be able to urinate, or may urinate suddenly without control.
Allergy and immune problems – occur because the immune system in anxious people is partly suspended as they remain in the fight or flight response so much of the time. This means a greater susceptibility to infection, particularly ear, nose and throat; and sensitivities to allergic-type substances.
Weight loss – because being anxious takes up so much energy the anxious person often has a high rate of metabolism, burning up calories fast.
Pain in the muscles –muscles spend so much time in the contracted position because the anxious person thinks they are in danger of attack. The most affected areas are the neck, shoulders and top of the back although the whole body can ache with tension.
Unable to relax – because the body is so tense and in a state of alarm, the muscles become locked and you feel something terrible may happen if you let their guard down.
Fear – a sense of being afraid, sometimes of a particular thing but sometimes you may not be able to pinpoint about what you are afraid of.
Sense of loss of control – this is present with all anxious people.
A feeling of dread – that something awful is going to happen.
Dissatisfaction with life – happens because you may feel that you never achieve anything or that nothing goes right for you.
Failed perfectionism – is when life never actually comes up to the expected standard. Of course the anxious person’s expectation may be unrealistic but they are unaware that this is the case.
Derealisation – is when a person is so anxious they actually have a sense of leaving their body. It is a form of defensive dissociation to protect you against attack. The extreme form is multiple personality disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder).
Amnesia – may occur when your unconscious mind buries perceived painful experiences.
People may also have their own particular symptom that they may experience individually. Everyone is different so everyone has their own experiences.
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