14 Unexpected Symptoms of Anxiety – Have You Experienced Any?

@Jenna

A couple uncommon symptoms I experienced were amnesia, dizziness and rapid blinking.

Amnesia

I've found that when I try to recall the events of a day or a period of my life where I was incredibly anxious, I just can't. I think it's because I was in such an intense state of sensory overload in those moments. Too many onbsessive thoughts, and feelings of illogical terror take over what actually happened during that day or period of time and I often can't recall anything outside of what I was feeling after the fact.

Dizziness/ Off balance

I also find that when I'm particularly anxious or uncomfortable with an environment or people, I'll get spells of dizziness. I'll stand up to grab something and suddenly feel very off balance. Or I'll be walking down a hall and suddenly feel off balance. Once I'm outside the environment that that's me uncomfortable, I never experience the dizziness again. It always seems to occur in environments that trigger my anxiety.

Rapid Blinking

When I'm in a social setting with a lot of people, like a dinner, or in the break room at work, I've found myself blinking a lot more too. Maybe this thing in particular is just me, but it always seems to occur when I'm in settings around too many people, or around a specific person or people that make me anxious. I've been called out on it before. It's strange.

@Jenna

For me the most unexpected personally was the memory problems. I can't remember what I've done or where ive put things. Just today i left my credit card at the drive through of a restaraunt and didn't remember until my sister mentioned something

@Jenna I am curious if this is even where I belong. I was diagnosed by a certified therapist, but have practically none of these symptoms. I have no idea what anxiety even means in the context of my lived experience. All I know is I feel like crap, but don't have access to affordable therapy right now. Not sure where to even begin.

@Jenna

I really like the way you have put it out there

when my anxiety is high..i hear different sounds .like anybody say me something ..i turn around back but no one is here..my mind totally stop ..and look like im going in dark..

When I am asleep my mind/body randomly shocks itself like the kind of thing that happens when you are asleep and hear a loud noise and just wake up in shock, just that there is no noice.

I can' really describe it I'm sorry

@galaxyGirl299 You can't really describe it but I think you described it perfectly. I call them body shakes. I had them for the first time in a long while about a week and a half ago. I was trying to fall asleep and then my body would kind of jolt like I was startled by something. It kind of freaked me out which didn't help with easing my anxiety. But they only lasted a little while and once the next morning came and I was up and doing things they seemed to have subsided.

@HeadFullofThoughts

Yes, exactly. I thought I was the only one.

@Jenna

Shakes have really started to affect me more. At first, it started just with meeting people or being in large groups because my official diagnosis is social anxiety, but now it is starting to pop up while I am writing, working on my school work on my laptop, or even cooking when my mind drifts. It seems right now I am just anxious about everything going on in the world right now and I cannot stop thinking about it. I am behind on schoolwork because I cannot type while it is happening and I have even broken a few dishes because of it. The only solution is to take a break from whatever task I have going on.

Waking up in the middle of the night with a panic attack is exactly what I'm suffering from right now...

@JMMouse

It can be rough! I put lavender under my pillow and ground myself by just focusing on that smell when that happens to me. It doesn't always work, but it does sometimes and any progression is helpful to me. What do you do to get back to sleep or in a better mindset?

@akay06 I pretty much wait until I'm absolutely exhausted and then hope I fall asleep quickly. I trled lavender oil, but it didn't seem to help.

So glad I read this thread. ...dizziness, inability to speak well, waking up in the middle of the night, trouble falling asleep, waking up in panic mode. Pretty much everything that everyone is talking about.

And it's all very exhausting.

@thoughtfulmomma oh yes its so exhausting! Its like I have an extra layer to process that everyone else doesnt have. Its so draining

For me its my chest being so incredibly tight that it physically hurts. The muscles aches for days afterwards

It was especially bad when I first started going out after the corona. I felt terrified just sitting in a cafe and talking to a friend.

My unexpected symptoms are pins and needles in the hands and parts of my face. The sudden rush of warmness to the face and trouble concentrating on anything. I sometimes also feel like I’m in a daze and kind of just motioning through the day. I hate these feelings.

I feel like i relate to alot of your anxiety scenrios especailly the fear of outcomes and thinking of every possible bad thing that could go wrong, I sometimes say odd things to fill in silence in social settings when i don't know someone, i'm working on this through counseling especially when i have to meet new people and I don't feel like interacting and i have to force myself to talk. I'm learning to internalize what i'm thinking before i say something and later regret saying whatever was on my mind and then agonizing for days and weeks on end of what I said, My anxiety is a life long journey that i'm constantly mindful of

@Jenna thank you for sharing this with us, Jenna

I can relate with you my dear friend...... let's keep breathing no matter what problems are there for me you are strong enough to handle any problem.....🩵

@Jenna

I can relate to this anxiety. I'm struggling with sleep loss and it has a profound effect on a person. I've come to the point to where I've accepted the sleep loss. Thinking about it does not help.

My vision is affected as well. At night is when I am affected. Car lights are blinding! This makes me angry, like people are doing this intentionally.

I too go mute during conversations. I never was a good communicator so this validates it.

I was having panic attacks but, thankfully, as I gained an understanding of what was happening in my mind/thoughts, the attacks ceased.

I've turned to "addictive" behaviors to help with the feelings of hopelessness and anger but it only takes the edge off temporarily.

I perceive that friends have been avoiding me, or maybe I'm avoiding them. I tell them and myself that "I'm not very good with people". I tell them this so they won't be offended by my behavior. Sometimes this backfires. People don't understand that I'm trying to help them.

A positive end will come to all this.