14 Unexpected Symptoms of Anxiety – Have You Experienced Any?
Its often more than just feeling scared and anxious…
While some of the most well-known symptoms of anxiety are feeling fearful and nervous, there is more to it. We gathered some reader experiences with unexpected symptoms of anxiety and added some of our own to help people get an even more complete image of what it can encompass. There might even be more unexpected symptoms of anxiety (otherwise they wouldnt be unexpected), so feel free to add your own! As an added note: please be kind and respectful. Some people might find some of these symptoms logical or straightforward, but for the people who sent in their contributions, they were more unexpected. Please stay aware that anxiety is different for everyone. What might be unexpected symptoms of anxiety for some, might be expected for others. Some contributors preferred to stay anonymous, which is totally fine!
Its not just fear…
One of the most unexpected things about having anxiety, at least for me, is that I will become incredibly sad and cry over nothing. When I have an anxiety attack I will get nervous which makes the attack even worse.
Sometimes its not that obvious
I get slight shakes and to me, I pause more in speech but everyone denies seeing both. I never knew anxiety could be so… hidden when I was younger and I always thought my panic attacks and sensory overload were normal but… it turns out theyre the end result of ignoring my more minor symptoms.
More than just emotional symptoms
The most unexpected symptom of anxiety: I have had so much anxiety for so long that it is difficult to go to the bathroom.
My bowels absolutely went mad. Whenever my anxiety was high Id get horrible painful stomach cramps.
Never knew Id get more anxious about this one
Anxiety for me always revolves around time. Its like a clock that forever controls my life. I worry about everything I do because I think about what might be the worst outcome in the future. It also feels like that same clock is constantly crushing and weighing you down in life until you cant get back up.
Sleepless nights
A lot of people expect that you might feel most anxious during the day. An unexpected symptom of anxiety can be the loss of sleep. One of the most unexpected problems Ive had is being so anxious it causes insomnia. the countless number of times Ive stayed up for days straight because Im too anxious about things happening around me.
Overactive insides
A symptom of my anxiety is the constant need to use the toilet before I go anywhere, after reaching a place and sometimes on the way. Knowing there is a toilet and it is accessible without causing embarrassment is when I am calm. I even have to return home or go to a random toilet somewhere on the way due to it.
Sometimes it lasts so long it seems like a personality
The most unexpected thing about my anxiety was how my fear seemed to alter or control so much of my personality (e.g. optimism, how much I spoke) Although now this seems obvious to me, I realize I will never quite been seen for who I really am.
The way you speak
One unexpected problem that Ive started to experience is stumbling over my words, and stuttering so much that I kind of shut down can cant even complete the sentence.
More than just shyness
Sometimes my anxiety gets too bad I just go mute for a while. I just cant get the words to come out.
…and when youre finally sleeping
However, one of my unexpected symptoms of having anxiety is waking up in a panic from a deep sleep, not knowing why Im freaking out and just sitting there until I can go back to bed. Sometimes Ill sit there for 3 hours.
Never knowing when it strikes, which makes me even more anxious…
For me, the worst thing about anxiety is the sudden rush of bad feelings I get sometimes. Like one day I felt I was doing something poorly and the phone ring made me feel like someone was calling to reprimand me so I felt this terror/guilt/shame all at once for a second before realizing it was just my wake up alarm.
When your mind is going 100 miles an hour
Something surprising about anxiety to myself: I simultaneously love and hate everything Im doing. I love being at home but hate that Im not saying that time with someone Ive been wanting to see. Or Im enjoying some people and still wishing I could go home and stop spending so much energy trying to properly socialize. Balance is almost impossible.
Caught up in trust
When I started going to counseling and healing I was able to analyze the symptoms I experiences that were not normal. Some that were unexpected were: picturing something bad happening with every scenario and not being able to escape that thought, fainting, and not being able to trust me or others.
The eyes, the eyes
When my anxiety is high, I get trouble focusing. My eyes just go a bit blurry and my mind is racing.
Have you ever experienced anxiety? What were some of your unexpected symptoms of anxiety?
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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.....🩵
