Mental Health Awareness

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Recognising Anxiety: Signs and Symptoms

*I am not a mental health professional. The information provided is based on my personal experience and that of fellow anxiety survivors. If you are struggling with anxiety please seek professional support and advice. There is no shame in asking for help, only strength.

If you are in need of urgent help, please call your local GP surgery for an emergency appointment. If your GP surgery is not open, you can contact the NHS Out of Hours Medical Service on 111. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.

If you feel at risk of harming yourself or others go straight to your nearest Accident and Emergency department or contact the Samaritans on 116 123. The Samaritans’ phone lines are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the number is free to call.  You can also email the Samaritans jo@samaritans.org.  For more information visit their home page.

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What is Anxiety?

We all feel anxious sometimes. The feeling of butterflies in the stomach, nervous energy coursing through our veins, heart beating a bit faster than normal.

This is all perfectly normal.

Healthy anxiety occurs in response to a stressful situation. The physical sensations are caused by a sudden spike in adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones are released by the body to help us be more alert and able to respond to the impending threat. Once the danger has passed our bodies stop producing these hormones and our bodies relax. Consequently due to the rapid change in body chemistry you may experience physical shaking.

This process is often referred to as the “Fight, Flight, or Freeze” response and is a normal process. In these situations anxiety symptoms are considered helpful. Some people even find the rush of adrenaline exhilarating and purposefully seek out thrills to experience this natural high (skydiving anyone!?)

Anxiety also has a strong mental component. We experience feelings of stress and anxious energy due to emotional situations. “Predicting” thoughts can take over as we try to discern the outcome of the scenario. Again, this type of healthy anxiety allows us to hone our focus and can be beneficial.

So how do we tell the difference between experiencing normal levels of anxiety, and recognising the signs of an anxiety disorder?

Unhelpful Anxiety

Extremely simplified, unhelpful anxiety can be divided into two categories:

1. Anxiety disproportionate to the perceived threat.
2. Anxiety is long lasting and impacting everyday life.

The first type is experienced in response to a stressor (just like healthy anxiety). However, the triggering event is either: essentially harmless; or not proportionate to the response experienced.

This type of anxiety encompasses Phobias, Fears, and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Essentially, the threat may be minimal, but the physical response is intense.

The second type may lack an obvious trigger, and can last for an extended period of time. Anxiety is felt constantly and is often linked to a myriad of situations.

This type of anxiety covers Generalised Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety, and OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). Symptoms include unhelpful or harmful behaviours, and often includes avoidance.

15 ways to deal with Anxiety: Find what works for you!

These two types of unhelpful anxiety are not exclusive of each other. Anxiety Disorders are a complex mental health issue, and I only explain unhelpful anxiety this way as an introduction.

The mental health charity Mind provides an extensive and extremely helpful resource for Anxiety. I highly recommend reading through these pages for more information.

So, how can you tell when is anxiety a mental health problem?

Basically, if it impacts on your ability to live your life as fully as you want to. For example, if your feelings of anxiety are very strong or last for a long time, causing you to you avoid situations that might cause you to feel anxious.

Signs and Symptoms

So what are the symptoms of an Anxiety Disorder?

Well, unfortunately they are vast and varied. A person may experience only one or two symptoms, but the impact on their life could be substantial. Another may identify with several physical symptoms, but struggle to identify a link to the psychological.

There is no one size fits all when it comes to diagnosing any mental health condition.

Recognising an Anxiety Disorder can be difficult, especially when denial and shame come into play. In my experience, and having spoken to others dealing with anxiety, many try and deal with the physical symptoms alone.

For example, some of the most common physical symptoms of an Anxiety Disorder include:

• dizziness
• tiredness
• a noticeably strong, fast or irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
• muscle aches and tension
• trembling or shaking
• dry mouth
• excessive sweating
• shortness of breath
• stomach ache
• feeling sick
• headache
• pins and needles
• difficulty falling or staying asleep (insomnia)

Information provided by NHS Direct

These are all common ailments and can be symptoms of various other illnesses. It can feel easier to try and treat a stomach ache or headache than to face the potential underlying cause of a mental health issue. Sadly, it is also far more common to feel at ease discussing the discomfort of a physical problem than admit there could be an underlying psychological cause.

Ironically, even if there is found to be a physical issue, if you are finding it difficult to control your worry or fears, this may be a sign of an Anxiety Disorder surfacing amid other problems.

Some other psychological signs to lookout for include:

• restlessness
• a sense of dread
• feeling constantly “on edge”
• difficulty concentrating
• irritability

Information provided by NHS Direct

Predicting thoughts are no longer helpful, and instead are pessimistic and focussed on worst case scenarios. If you are struggling to control worries and fears, then you are dealing with unhelpful anxiety.

You are not alone!

Anxiety symptoms vary from person to person. There is no perfect formula to diagnose an anxiety disorder. There are links to self esteem issues, fears or phobias, trauma, and control issues. Hormonal imbalances and genetic disposition are also factors to consider. There is no specific “type” of person who experiences anxiety issues.

However, as with all human experience there are notable similarities. The sensations anxiety sufferers describe share many tropes.

In order to exemplify this, I asked some fellow bloggers to join me in sharing their experiences of anxiety and how the condition made them feel:

Ashley Allyn

“Ravaged. No give. No relief. Dizzy, disoriented, short of breath. Mouth dry. Can’t breathe. Can’t breathe. Heart thumping, drumming against chest. So fast. Erratic. Terrifying.

Tell yourself you’re fine. Tell yourself it’s nothing.
Confusion. Fuzzy, disconnected, devoured.
Focus.
Breathe.
Tell yourself it’s in your head.
Tell yourself it will pass.

Pressure building. Noise, nonsense, static. Numbing cold. Sweaty palms. Sight filled with white spots, growing, expanding. Reeling, staggering.
It will stop.
Why won’t it stop?

Brain buzzing, ants crawling along skin, then underneath, everywhere. Trails of torture. Eating me alive.

I want to scream. I want to jump out of myself. Get me out of here. Escape.
Frantic, frenzied, out of control, overtaken, consumed.
Exhausted. Depleted.”

Ashley Allyn writes about her life and mental health journey on her blog “The Messy Badass”.

Cailin Davis

“Anxiety. It can make me feel like I’m drowning in the depths of an ocean. I try and try to escape, to swim to the surface, to take a precious breath of life-giving air, but the surface is always just out of my reach.

As defeat settles in my bones, I find myself plummeting back down to the sandy floor.

I strive to keep in motion, but paralyzing fear grips me. The weight of the water around me holds me down, threatening to crush my body and spirit.

My chest tightens around my racing heart as I realize I’m losing control. The pressure of swelling worries builds within my skull, so I hold my head and squeeze, willing my thoughts to stay trapped inside.

Suddenly, my attention turns to my breathing as I realize it can no longer be postponed. Deep breaths start – in and out, in and out, faster and faster.

I can’t stop.

It burns like fire, but I can’t stop.

My head feels light, and my vision is blurry. My movement slows.

Then I stop.

My breathing slows.

Then, slowly, I regain composure. The water releases me. I can swim once again, so I make my way to the surface and step out onto dry land.”

Cailin goes on to state: “This is a description of my anxiety at its worst. My anxiety is rarely this severe, but it can increase to this terrifying level easily if I fail to self-evaluate and recognize some of its earlier signs and symptoms.

These earlier manifestations usually include irritability, excessive worry, insecurity, and restlessness. If I fail to address these earlier indicators, more noticeable signs and symptoms emerge such as palpitations, shortness of breath, dizziness, disorganized thinking patterns, and panic.”

Cailin writes about her journey on her blog “Purposefully Portioned“.

Candice Williams

“For me, I experience anxiety every day. I experience shortness of breath; my hands start to shake and I just dread leaving home! It’s my haven.

I am a support worker therefore my shift pattern is all over the place. I work night shifts, day shifts and evening shifts. Every time I get ready for work and ready to leave my house on a whole, I get extremely nervous: My hands begin to shake, my breathing increases and I have experienced heart palpitations muscle twitching/tension daily. And not to emotion (just to warn you this is a little TMI), I must use the bathroom a couple of times as well. I think that is my body’s physical reaction to stress.

I try to distract myself when I feel anxious. I do this by staying busy! Exercising, listening to music, watching videos on YouTube, running my blog, you name it. I do this to escape from a negative thought pattern.

In order to combat my anxiety; I incorporate a few things into my daily routine:

• As soon as I wake up, I meditate. I sit still on my bed for a few minutes and just focus on deep breathing.
• I read positive affirmations. Thoughts become things!
• I do a super quick (I’m talking 100 pulse squats)
• I practice a language using Duolingo. This usually takes 5-10 minutes
• I shower! I just need to feel clean it helps me feel better
• And I eat!! I must eat breakfast before leaving hope. It impacts my mood otherwise.

If I feel anxious at any point during the day, I focus on deep breaths and try my best to distract myself. The negative thoughts do not last forever!”

Candice shares her mental wellbeing story over on her blog “Confident Candy” providing tips and helping promote mental health awareness.

My experience

At it’s absolute worst, having an anxiety attack feels like I’m being crushed. My lungs feel too small and tight to let in enough oxygen.

My vision gets blurry, and all my thoughts seem to have a loud static film over them. The only voice I can hear clearly inside my head is the one that tells me lies.

I become increasingly paranoid, about everything from my health, to what people really think of me. Of course I think they hate me. That I’m a burden.

Before I learnt how to manage my anxiety, these feelings could last for weeks. It would become difficult to go outside, or to have any human interaction at all.

To anyone who knows me personally, they know this is not who I am.

As I have become more open and honest about my struggles over the years, more and more people have witnessed my lowest points. And for this I am grateful. Because letting someone see my illness is one of the hardest things to do. It means I am getting stronger, letting people in and not fearing they will flee.

However, it may surprise some that this is what goes on inside my head and at home after a long day of pretending to be fine.

Even now I know what to do, I slip up and have days where things get the better of me.

But the bad moment are fewer, and much further apart. They don’t last as long.

I accept that I will probably be dealing with anxiety and depression my whole life. I also intend to make that life as long and full as possible.

Mental Health Discussion

Mental Health issues continue to experience stigma in many societies, despite campaigns and promotion of open discussion. Ironically this is in part due to the nature of the condition. Many people suffering with their mental health experience shame as a symptom, making it even more difficult to speak openly about their condition.

Yet Anxiety Disorders are one of the most common health issues (not just mental health!) people experience. Did you know that 1 in 10 people in the UK have been diagnosed with a combination of anxiety and depression? That is 10% of the population! Plus, for every 100 people in the UK, 3 have PTSD, 3 have a Phobia, 1 has OCD, and 1 has a Panic Disorder.

(Want to know more? Check out this Fact Sheet from Anxiety UK. Just click of the Facts and Statistics link to download the pdf from their website.)

Development of any mental health issue can occur at any time in life.

Any life event can trigger the development of an Anxiety Disorder. Symptoms can come on quickly, slowly, or may not present for many years.

What is important to know is that there is no shame in having an Anxiety Disorder. It does not make you weak, nor does it mean you are unstable. It doesn’t MEAN anything.

All that matters is that you know what is causing your suffering, and can get the help needed to overcome it.

The best thing you can do is talk openly, be open to the help, support and love of others, and know that you can live a happy and fulfilling life.

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I hope that if you are struggling, or know someone who is suffering, that you know that you do not go through this alone.

Together we can build a community that shares their stories, and supports one another. Please comment below and join together in creating a safe and supportive world.

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