I never used to worry about my health. I guess that’s common for young people.
Until 2016.
In the span of just about a year, my dad passed away and my first son was born. The juxtaposition of sadness and joy was so overwhelming that I don’t know that my body will ever forget. I think my mind has come to terms with it, but I’m not sure my body has, and that’s often the gist of things like PTSD.
So that’s when my health anxiety hit.
For the first time, I thought the first-time thought every new parent does — what if I die on my family? What if I leave them alone, the way I was just left alone?
And health anxiety is something I fight to this day.
But over the years, I’ve found that so many of our weird health symptoms can be explained by anxiety.
And if you have an anxiety disorder, Occam’s Razor suggests Mental Dread is the source of so many problems.
I’m going to start a series of posts on all the ways anxiety can affect our bodies.
The risk is that, by reading these, you might overthink things. But if you’re reading this, you probably already do, so that’s that.
The good news is that the more we understand how anxiety affects our bodies, the less uncertainty, fear and doubt about that strange something-or-other you’re feeling in your this-or-that which might be responsible for an untimely death or disease.
(I’d strongly recommend the discussion board No More Panic for meeting a community of like-minded people who live so much in their minds that it affects their bodies in really weird ways).
So let’s start with heart palpitations.
The Cleveland Clinic has a wonderful primer on why anxiety can cause your heart to race, flutter, pound, skip, all those things.
Basically, if you’re stressing out, your body goes into flight-or-flight and that speeds up your heart to increase blood flow.
According to cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. John Bibawy, “It’s completely normal. It doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your heart.”
Now of course, if heart palpitations are new to you, by all means, get them checked out.
But if the doctor says your heart is healthy, there’s a good chance those palpitations are anxiety.
The Cleveland Clinic recommends a few things to slow your Chariots of Fire heart: breathing exercises, taking a short and mild walk in nature, and drinking more, since dehydration can cause palpitations.
Healthline notes that anxiety activates your body’s Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), which is responsible for regulating the heart, lungs, digestive system, and various muscles.
As you can imagine — with that much imperial sway over your body — an activated ANS can cause a lot of weird symptoms.
After five years of this song and dance, I’m still getting new symptoms related to my anxiety.
The latest is throat tightening. It’s almost a cliché to say your throat gets tight when you’re anxious, but I had no idea how nuts it can get.
When it first happened to me, I thought I must be having an allergic reaction, so I took 50 mg of benadryl and waited. Nothing. Then I thought, “Maybe my anxiety?” I took my anti-anxiety medicine and boom (or un-boom), the tightening disappeared.
Now I know — throat tightening can be an anxiety thing, and it has to do with muscle tension. (Here are some tips if you struggle with it).
My throat still gets tight when I’m anxious, but at least I now know why.
And that’s the point — once you know a particular symptom is anxiety-based, you’re way ahead of the game.
As time progresses, I’ll post some more anxiety-based symptoms, and hopefully, if you struggle with health anxiety, it will help you on your journey.
[Photo: If you don’t know the movie, you should, no matter your age. But here’s a hint. Yes, anxiety can also cause vertigo.]
