Information on Anxiety Symptoms

Anxiety attacks are often alarming. If you know the common symptoms of anxiety, they can lose their power because you know that your physical discomfort is "just anxiety" and not something more ominous.

Shortness of Breath

• When you are under a lot of stress, you may feel short of breath. People with anxiety tend to breath rapidly. This hyperventilation causes your carbon dioxide levels to become low. This is not harmful, it merely makes you feel uncomfortable. It may also cause numbness and tingling in your hands.

Chest Pain

• Many people with anxiety experience chest pain. This is typically caused by muscle tension in the chest. Chest pain should always be checked out by a doctor, but if you have recurring chest pain that does not worsen with physical activity, it is likely caused by anxiety.

Trembling

• Trembling is another common symptom of anxiety. You may feel cold and unable to stop shaking. The trembling may feel as though it is inside your body, or you may be visibly shaking.

Racing Heart

• Anxiety frequently causes a racing heart and palpitations. Feeling your heart race or pound can be alarming, as can a feeling of "skipped beats." This is your body's natural response to having too much adrenalin circulating in the bloodstream and is not life-threatening.

Sweating

• The phrase "breaking out in a cold sweat" must have been coined by someone who had anxiety. Sweating at inappropriate times is a common reaction to stress. You may experience a hot flushing feeling as well.

Faintness

• People having anxiety attacks may feel faint as a result of the aforementioned hyperventilation. It is important to remember that there is a difference between feeling faint and actually fainting. People with anxiety rarely faint because fainting is triggered by decreased blood flow to the brain; during an anxiety attack, the reverse is true.