I think i have anxiety. How do...

[Autumnkk]

I think i have anxiety. How do you know?

[Chica123]

Hello! I’m guessing that there’s a wide range of experiences and I can share my experience— for me, it started with physical symptoms that I thought were related to cardiac problems. It started with heart palpitations and then spiraled into feeling what for women are the symptoms of a heart attack: irregular heartbeat, feel short of breath and lightheaded, feeling a heaviness in my chest and feeling a deep sense of worry that something bad was going to happen. At the time, I didn’t realize that it was anxiety and I was having panic attacks. I sought help from my doctor and not a one ever talked to me about this- I was treated for acid reflux (dr figured that maybe that was the cause of the chest discomfort), heart palpitations (given a cardiac med for this), etc. Eventually I switched doctors and found one who explained what I was likely going through. I felt relief to know (a) I’m not dying (b) I’m not going crazy and (c) there is hope and strategies for dealing with anxiety. I haven’t had a panic attack in a while and now will feel every once in a while anxiety as a worrying feeling, with at times an irregular heartbeat. I try not to fight it or be afraid of it— accept it for what it is and have strategies that help. Reading DARE and learning about guided meditation and breathing have helped, too.

[gogogirl]

Remember anthropologically way back humans had to flee from dangers we do not see today- such as living outdoors amongst wild animals. We still can have the fight or flight actions that constitute what is called left over anixiety. I understand it is how we manage it.

[Hidden]

Here is a great site to take a short (few minutes) quiz and it will rate your anxiety level and give you anxiety advice tailored to your score. My score was the highest LOL. Hope this helps! It is Calm Clinic. calmclinic.com/anxiety-test/