Is it normal to feel physical pain in the body when suffering with anxiety?

Is it normal to feel physical pain in the body when suffering with anxiety? ‘Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome.’ It is very natural response to danger, it triggers ‘fight or flight’ response to a change of the environment, though we all know that feeling extremely worry about tomorrow’s exam is not good. In order to understand mechanism behind of unhealthy anxiety we need to take psychiatric and psychological conditions, we are called anxiety disorder (I’m going to use ICD 10 classification and not DSM Four.) This list includes: phobic anxiety disorders and other anxiety disorders. Now what is the most memorable thing about being in danger? What does your body do when you are in danger? Your body gets ready for a fight or a flight, which means your muscles stretch, you become light-headed, your palms get sweaty, you are scared, you think of constant danger. Now that we have understand of basic mechanism behind general anxiety, let’s talk about specific disorders and how can they be linked to pain. 1) Panic disorder can be generally linked to pain, because of its major description – panic attacks. Panic attack is characterized by difficulty breathing, increased hart ratio, which can and most probably will lead to chest pain. 2) Generalized anxiety disorder, which is worrying too much, try stretching your muscles for five minutes time, do you feel pain after softening them? Now imagine stretching your muscles for six month period, which is diagnostic criteria minimum. 3) Speaking of specific phobias, I cannot link them to pain, but in overall process a person can cause damage to himself/herself after phobic attack. Is it normal to feel physical pain in the body when suffering with anxiety? Yes, it is normal to feel physical pain in the body when suffering with anxiety. My opinion is based on my general experience, studies of anxiety and definitions of anxiety disorders from ICD 10 classification and DSM TR IV.

Yes. When you are depressed it is normal to feel weak and in pain. The only cure is to be relaxed and cheerfull. Hope it helps.

Yes! When I was at my worst with anxiety, I didn’t even know it was anxiety. I had chest pains, I couldn’t breathe, I had constant full body tremors, my hair fell out, I couldn’t eat, I was falling apart psychically and I got every medical test done to determine the cause but never found one until I had a full blown panic attack, which I truly thought was a heart attack, they broke the news to me and I still struggled to grasp the concept that anxiety could cause such severe physical issues. If we don’t control our mental health then our bodies decline. It all starts in the brain!

It is absolutely normal to feel physical pain when dealing with anxiety... and many other mental illnesses. The mind is a powerful thing and it controls the body. Not only does it control heart rate, blood pressure, migraines, and stomach tension; but it even can make us incredibly physically ill overtime. Like Morpheus said in the Matrix, "Your mind makes it real."

Anxiety can definitely affect a person's physical health by causing physical symptoms like dizziness, shortness of breath, headaches and muscle tension.

Yes, it is perfectly normal. Often times when we are under a severe amount of stress, the body will trick itself into feeling worse. However, relaxing through physical activity, like yoga or going to the gym, can provide an outlet to help those weary muscles as well as your mind.

It is a very common symptom to experience physical pain in the body when suffering with anxiety; as the body responds to stress via the fight-or-flight response, it tenses up your muscles. Normally, this is a good thing as it prepares the body to react to some perceived threat, but it becomes an issue if your body is unable to come out of this state. It strains your muscles -- usually in the neck, shoulders, or back.

Yes, absolutely it is normal to feel physical pain in the body when suffering with anxiety for most of the people

I think physical pain in the body and anxiety is related, yes. For instance, when I'm anxious I like to over-eat. But by over-eating it puts my body at risk for diabetes, heart-disease, and so many other preventable diseases. Being mindful of my thoughts and being sure I'm engaging in positive self-talk has helped over-eating to not be a go-to coping skill for anxiety any longer.

Whenever I feel anxious I almost always suffer from physical pain/sickness. In my case I mainly suffer from pains in my stomache, nausea, being lightheaded/dizzy and headaches. I also get out of breath really quickly and a lot of the time my heart starts racing. I always try not to worry about the physical pain/sickness, because if you do it will just get worse and that's definitely not what you want. The pain will pass and so will the anxious feeling, it just takes some time. Something that helps me is going outside, maybe for a walk or even just sitting in the sun, getting some fresh air for a bit.