Scared of being excited

[Marc0133]

I've said before my anxiety has gotten worse and now I'm afraid to even get excited! Mainly because I'm worried that, combined with my anxiety, my heart rate will continuously go up until I'd have to be hospitalised. Last night, I suffered a big panic attack because I got an exciting feeling when doing something and it took me a while to relax. I don't have any heart condition but anxiety constantly makes me think otherwise. I've been told it's all in my head and it is. My thinking and thoughts have gone all over the place these days thanks to my anxiety. I don't know what to do anymore! Will I suffer from anything by being this way? Thanks.

[daisychained]

Anxious, scared, anger and excitement all bring on the exact same "symptoms" or rather physical responses. I'm guessing anxiety is the worst one because we don't always know the reason behind it, like we would if we became angered .. so i think we end up just simply fearing the feeling. And anything that resembles the same feelings and physical responses- a raise in heart rate, faster breathing, sweating etc.

Just my thoughts, I would try hard to attribute all these sensations to a good thing, whatever you're excited about and reassure yourself.

Best wishes

[Agora1]

Hi MarcO133, I was wondering when someone was going to mention having the same symptoms of anxiety when excited about something. Of course it's true because it's all coming from the sympathetic nervous system. But what are we to do? Walk around in a monotone state? As daisychained said, attribute those sensations as positive as normal. After all we are human and were meant to feel different emotions. As to how we play it out will make the difference. So sing, love and live life, it's okay to feel excitement. It shows that we are alive.

[SmellsLikeRalph]

Complete understand this my head is all over the place. my mind feels like a race car.

[Agora1 in reply to SmellsLikeRalph]

You need to start applying the brakes to slow down that racing mind. The best way is to be doing slow deep breathing and meditation a couple times a day until you are able to do it unconsciously. Hydrate as well as no stimulating drinks with Caffeine. It does work but needs practice.

[daisychained in reply to Agora1]

There's so much truth in that, I downloaded an app to work out how much water i drink a day, encouraging little reminders what it was doing for my body etc, I thought I was already drinking enough but I wasn't even meeting half of what I should have been drinking! And though it's no cure, I felt so much better generally for being properly hydrated x

[Alun001 in reply to Agora1]

Great advice. Make sure when you deep breathe your stomach moves in and out and your chest stays still. If your chest moves and your stomach doesn't you are taking big breaths, you need to do deep breaths, which are different and very beneficial