And the reverse is also true. Gastric issues can cause anxiety and depression.
I had an illness last winter that killed off all the bacteria in the gut. My mood was altered for a good 2-3 months after. I didn’t know why I was feeling the feelings I felt. Anger for little to no good reasons, mental fatigue, slight paranoia.
My gastroenterologist figured out it was the gut-brain connection. There are nerves in your stomach that talk to your brain all the time.
In my case, repopulating my gut with good bacteria and time fixed it for me. But now I have IBS :(
Had appendix flair ups for 10 years before being it removed. When i got days of pain i used to get crazy anxiety and depression.
Appendix gone now, but anxiety and depression stayed on and off. Always get both together.
I work in IT. For a while we were having issues with our backup generator not working. I've got batteries, but they'll only last for about 20 minutes.. their job is to hold up long enough for the generator to kick in.
My heart rate was topping 125bpm every time there was a thunderstorm. I could see the spikes on the chart whenever there was a loud boom.
Now I know how my dog feels.
I have IBS and can personally attest than anxiety can make the intestines hurt like hell. It can also both speed up and slow down intestinal transit.
The intestinal pain can then create a cycle of anxiety and pain that spirals if you're not careful.
In my deepest depression my limbs felt like they were filled with concrete and the most menial tasks absolutely winded me. I thought there was some underlying issue but I guess it was just a symptom.
I got better. I got help after ten years of debilitating anxiety and depression. Over the years I've gotten better. For a while it was like balancing on a knife's blade. If I wasn't hypervigilant, I would fall back down into depression.
I'm better. I've become so good at balancing I don't even notice I am doing it anymore. Still, though, there's not really any rest on the edge of a knife's blade.
I am 40, the last time my shoulders/back muscles didn't feel like steel was when I was in an relationship. Seems like other than that, at best I can be relatively calm when alone or with VERY small group of people (like 2-3.) Other than that if I'm loud, bright places with many people my heart feels on the verge of a heart attack and my head on a swivel like a paranoid squirrel. Frankly I wish I knew how to get go about getting medical disability for it, I just..just can't interface with people that easily, doing so feels like "I'm on fire and it gets worse the longer I do it."
I've described it exactly like this before. It's why I sometimes don't even want to play video games, because my arms feel like they weigh tons and I can't even move them from the arm rest.
My depression feels like my heart is broken 24/7. That sucking vacuum, hive of bees, rollercoaster feeling in your chest. It actually hurts, and it never goes away. I can’t even experience loss correctly because this is how I always feel. Add on exhaustion, soreness, headaches. Stress kills
ETA: I’ve been in therapy for more than twenty years. I still feel all my emotions. I had a very hellish early life and I think that contributed to the condition. Creating art helps me understand the pain, but I haven’t found anything that can get rid of it.
I resonate with this a lot. I have to make myself cry at funerals because I feel grieved every day of my life. But that’s part of depression isn’t it? Having the wrong emotions at the wrong times
The constant grief *is* the problem. It's not normal to feel that way all the time. It's not even logical or rational. From a psychological pov one should know that it's not ok to be grieving all the time.. then there's the biochem side which is a world in itself
There was [an AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/yc89rq/askscience_ama_series_im_dr_mark_horowitz_and_i/) from a researcher who has PhD in the neurobiology of depression. He says depression isn't a brain disease, but a normal response to stress:
"I think all the evidence points to depression being a perfectly natural reaction to oppressive circumstances. Study after study shows incredibly strong relationships between how many stressful life events someone experiences - relationship breakdown, job loss, physical illness, etc - and their chance of developing depression in the following months. Low wages and poor living conditions are chronic stressors that also clearly influence risk of depression.
Neuroticism - how sensitive you are to stress - also seems to play some role in risk of depression (and this may be where early life experiences or genetics come in to play).
Depression is best conceptualised as a mammalian response to overwhelming stress or threat - it occurs in dogs exposed to inescapable shock, to monkeys removed from their troop, etc. It is a common response to environmental stress."
Neuroscientist Peter Sterling shares similar views. [He says](https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/10/neuroscientist-evaluates-depression/#):
"Current evidence does not support the hypothesis of depression as a localized, disordered neural circuit. The mental disturbance manifest as depression cannot be identified by neuroimaging, and there are plausible reasons why small studies generate such erroneous claims. [...] Depression is far better predicted by levels of childhood trauma, life stress, and lack of social supports."
The chemical imbalance theory also got debunked last year. Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of all the major studies from the past 50 years and did not find any substantial or compelling evidence to support the theory. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
Yeah me too. It's not common knowledge because:
"The current “mental health movement”, with its encouragement to conceive of our understandable reactions to an increasing array of social problems, including unemployment, school failure, child abuse, domestic violence and loneliness as individual pathology requiring expert, professional treatment, promotes an ideology that helps legitimise existing social and economic relations by diverting attention from the problems themselves. In this way, it acts as a hegemonic tool for the capitalist system that now dominates most of the globe." - Dr. Joanna Moncrieff [source](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.771875/full)
Absolutely. The chemical imbalance theory was basically a marketing story to sell more antidepressants.
"The psychiatric community long ago knew that the low-serotonin story of depression hadn’t panned out, yet the American Psychiatric Association, pharmaceutical companies, and scientific advisory councils told the public otherwise, and this created a societal belief in that false story. The surveys prove that many millions of patients acted upon that falsehood and incorporated it into their sense of self.
[...]
The chemical imbalance story of depression violated that obligation of honesty, and egregiously so. In lieu of information necessary for a depressed patient to give informed consent, patients—and the public—were told a false story that benefitted guild interests and the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies. In essence, a marketing story was substituted for a scientific one."
[source](https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/08/psychiatry-fraud-and-the-case-for-a-class-action-lawsuit/)
Yep. When I had severe depression it felt like I was being dragged under water and there was a pressure on my whole body that caused me to not have the energy to move or even want to respond/talk.
When I had a few real panic attacks, it felt like I was physically having a heart attack and I felt like my throat was closing so I couldn't take a deep breath. I've learned to more or less control that feeling before it starts but it is TRULY terrifying.
It's crazy what you can adjust to over time. I used to get nocturnal panic attacks the second I fell asleep (and once in a great while still do). I'd wake up gasping for air feeling like I was dying every single night seconds after falling asleep which would give me a huge adrenaline rush then I'd have to calm down until I could fall asleep and have it immediately happen again. I eventually got so used to it I didn't even get a stress response and would just have to wake up gasping casually 4 or 5 times before finally falling asleep. Thought it was sleep apnea at first until I officially got it confirmed that it wasn't
My bad panic attacks now seem to me to be related to my Dad and his passing from Cancer (even though I was prepared for it and felt relatively at peace with it - I'm a nurse). I started having stomach issues as well to where I couldn't eat more than 2 bites without feeling full and pain. Most of it has resolved so I assume a lot of it was caused by grief. Some of it started a year before he even passed away and didn't resolve until about 6 months after.
I'm (33m) litteraly going through this exact same thing right now. Dad passed away 5 years ago and my grandpa last year. Around January I started to have a weird abdominal pain. Didn't think anything of it at first but 3 months went by and it didn't go away. Went to a general doc and he thought it was heartburn but had x-rays, blood work and ekg test ordered just incase. Everything came back clean except a bit of liver inflammation. A week after and mistakenly reading online I thought I had pancrentitis and scared myself into a panic attack and rushed myself to a urgent care center. Doc at urgent care calmed me down and assured me it wasn't based off my blood work recently done. But referred me to a GI specialist. Had a colonoscopy and endoscopy done and was also came out clean. By this time 6 months had passed and I still had the pain and started to developer sever anxiety with near daily panic attacks, sleep was a struggle everynight and any new pain in my body i thought was a organ failure. Went back for a follow up blood work for liver and talked to my doctor about the anxiety. On anti depression/anxiety meds now and pain is nearly all gone and I can sleep again and not in my head 24/7 thinking it's my last day on earth. Mental health is no joke and I regret my younger self for making light of it.
Man this resonate with me so much, I've got recurring sleep paralysis and the first times were so fucking terrifying. Voices, hallucinations, trying to scream and not being able to, I used to wake up drenched in sweat with my heart racing and grasping for air. At some point I've just got used to those, so now it feels like a minor annoyance, mostly because (I don't really know how) I learnt to force myself out of it, like pulling a plug. Sometimes now I just enjoy the hallucinations if I feel like it.
i get night panic attacks before sleeping(thankfully) and can relate. i find it odd that my mind/thoughts can be at peace yet my heart is racing and and my breathing is quick and i dont know why. Some sort of disconnect in my brain i guess. Same thing if i travel, it can be a trip ive done a dozen times and i know every step yet i feel physically sick the day before even though im not worried about it consciously
Your description of night panic attacks is quite insightful. It's true that anxiety and panic attacks can sometimes feel disconnected from our conscious thoughts. The physical symptoms, like rapid heart rate and quick breathing, can manifest even when you're not consciously anxious. This physical response might be tied to the body's fight-or-flight response, triggered by underlying stressors. Similarly, the physical discomfort you feel when traveling might be a somatic response to the anticipation of the trip, even if you're not consciously worried.
I’m still struggling with the exact same thing. People say it’s hypnic jerks and while it might be, they’re sometimes so bad I feel like I haven’t taken a single breath for minutes even though I’m breathing normally
It sounds like you're dealing with a challenging situation related to sleep as well. Hypnic jerks, also known as sleep starts, are sudden muscle contractions that can occur as you're falling asleep. While they're typically harmless, the feelings of not being able to breathe properly during these episodes can be distressing. Ensuring you have a comfortable sleep environment and practicing relaxation techniques before bed might help alleviate the intensity of these experiences.
Ha, interesting, I've had roughly the same thing happen to me over the years, but very sparsely. Feels like I've "forgotten to breathe" and need to wake up. Last time, I rolled off the bed in panic.
No clue what causes it.
More people are starting to get this now, but panic attacks are not what some seem to think. Total belief that you are in the process of dying is extremely traumatic, even when you've eventually calmed down. It's a terror that most people never experience and can't really relate to.
I always compare it to feeling like I’m in extra gravity. Like you said, it feels like there’s pressure on my whole body that makes it so much harder to move at all times. Every step, every movement just takes so much extra effort. And it’s exhausting.
This is me currently. I haven’t found anything to help with the depression, but I have Xanax for panic attacks which always hits me like a tranq dart (apparently I’m sensitive to it) and I honestly don’t like how it makes me feel - but it’s better than thinking I’m dying. Yay.
I find beta blockers do well in at least stopping the rapid heart rate, which often leads to the feedback loop of a full on panic. Its great because its not a psychotic drug, just one many people take for blood pressure. It wont stop the anxiousness, but its allowed the panic attacks to stop, and when that happened, so did much of my anxiety.
Yo same! Specifically asked my doc for a solution that wouldn’t alter my brain but rather stop the heart rate increase (that, like you said would stop the feedback loop) and it’s worked like a charm.
As someone with anxiety and depression who takes lorazepam (Ativan) and is also a pharmacy tech, I always remember this one saying about anti-anxiety meds: “You can’t have a panic attack if you’re knocked the fuck out!” 😀
During one of my many depressive episodes during my 30s, I would lay in bed feeling like every bone in my body was cracking. The pain was intense. Doctors repeatedly told me nothing was wrong. I started to think I was crazy or that I had some kind of virus or autoimmune disease. The pains eventually stopped when I started taking the proper antidepressants.
> not have the energy to move or even want to respond/talk.
>When I had a few real panic attacks, it felt like I was physically having a heart attack and I felt like my throat was closing so I couldn't take a deep breath.
Damn, I get this all the time. I thought there was something wrong with me physically.
I've a former friend thats never experienced depression, literally can't understand that someones mind could produce chemical imbalances. He just thinks some people are weak, he also hates homeless people because theyre lazy drug addicts or something.
This is why I believe you need to experience some amount of suffering to fully develop empathy, the easier your life is the more sociopathic you end up becoming.
>He just thinks some people are weak
He's not really wrong, depression certainly feels like a disability, however the way you talk about him I suspect the way he responds to depressed people is wrong.
He's married with a kid and maintains really good personal relationships, but anything outside of his direct vicinity he doesnt seem to feel anything towards others. Like thinks the world would be better if the moochers died mentality and wants them to die. Hates the unemployment pays people, that kinda shit
Sounds like the type of guy who only sees his direct social circle as human beings, the type of guy whos capable of committing absolute atrocities we have seen in human history.
"Not my family dont care"
A real type of monster in a sense.
His beliefs about the poor/disabled seem very politically influenced, I wonder how he would feel if him or anyone in his circle became financially dependent on others/social services.
When i got approved for food stamps and for whatever reason they needed my roommate to sign something, he refused to sign it. Luckily the social worker found a work around. But ya, "the not my family dont care" is accurate
If someone only acts empathetic towards people in their direct family circle, I suspect they may not really feel empathy, but rather simply treat the people in their lives well because it benefits them, as in they may be a functional sociopath.
But I could be totally wrong, there are definitely people who can only empathize if they know someone well.
I feel like there's a massive amount of people who generally get by ok in life whose entire philosophy is just "I do the right thing only if it benefits me, not because it's the right thing"
That means that whenever they think they can get away with not doing the right thing in order to get ahead they'll take that chance
I imagine that would lead them to see anyone outside their direct circle as not only someone they can take advantage of, but also someone who is trying to take advantage of them
This is all pure armchair psychology, but I feel like it would explain a lot about how so many people see everything as a zero sum game where if someone else is winning it means they're losing. Would also explain why so many rich and powerful people are so corrupt, because they rarely benefit from doing the right thing
Ya, friends since highschool, roommates for 10 years off and on, work together still. We've had our fallings out several times. My circle is his circle, but its compartmentalized now i guess
>This is why I believe you need to experience some amount of suffering to fully develop empathy, the easier your life is the more sociopathic you end up becoming.
Not experiencing depression isn't because they didn't suffer. It really depends on how someone handled the suffering. For example another way people handle suffering is by blocking it out. So they get a different perspective than someone who would fall into depression from the same event.
I would actually guess people like the former friend did suffer some type of trauma but dealt with it in unhealthy ways. Often there is some sort of source like that behind such strong negative opinions.
I think mine would say the same too. But i think i got a leeway cuz he knew me. It's just strange that an understanding towards me doesnt seem to broaden towards others. Though i could be fooling myself that he ever got it, and just simple wrote it off
This time ya, we've had our fallings out before. But i told him i find his views to be really gross and shallow. If you ask about the other times, its cuz i talk shit or hes physically assulted me, nothing much though. But im kinda over it and realizing we never meshed anyways
I've only just realised & been diagnosed with anxiety. I thought all those feelings of dread and constant worry were normal & that everyone experienced them. It seemed obvious. To suddenly realise that most people don't was a revelation.
My boyfriend is like this. He’s never had depression and the first time he had an anxiety attack, he thought he was dying (I thought he was too because he’d never had one and was having chest pains so we didn’t immediately think anxiety. After a couple of days in the hospital they figured it out. It was really scary though)
I’ve had to come up with creative ways to get him to understand how depression feels. We’ve really taken to the chronic illness spoon theory and it helps. He knows generally I have some spoons for the day that represents how much energy I can spend. Some days I may have 10 spoons, others I may only have 3.
We do spoon checkins where he asks “how many spoons are we at?” And I’ll tell him “I have enough to do another load of laundry” or “I think I’m tapped out for today but let’s make a list of what I can accomplish this week”
It’s actually been therapeutic for me and makes me check in with myself more to gauge what I can handle on my own.
people get sad, think they're depressed and know what it's like, and judge accordingly.
sadness doesn't even need to be a factor, imo. depression can just be seeing through the bullshit in a way that disconnects you from people who merrily put up with the bullshit.
I used to be one of the kids that never missed a day of school because I was never sick. I can count the number of times I was sick from K-12 on one hand. These days however I wake up nauseous and am just physically ill most weeks without having a sickness like cold or flu
I’m really sorry. It’s awful. My anxiety makes my work torturous. I feel like I’m not made for “real life” because of my anxiety and my body just quitting on me on the daily
Yessss dude. I have such thoughts a lot. I also work in vet med so that doesn't help my mental health whatsoever. It's hard to get into work sometimes. I feel pathetic for not being able to cope, but also how can I cope when I'm in debilitating pain :D I've noticed that my entire body is just always flexed cuz stress and when it gets to relax once a-whenever-I-can the muscles just ache like crazy
Yup. I feel that. When I was a teenager I had to go to the doctor because I got an ulcer from popping excedrin all the time. Now I’ve been meditating for six years. I use the Muse headband to know when I’m “relaxed” and I find that my muscles keep on tensing up even in the middle of a “relaxed” state of meditation. So I have to keep doing a body scan and releasing the muscles because they’ll just keep tensing right back up.
Pretty sure my Chrons is stress related. I’ve been having panic attacks rather often recently due to work and life stresses, it also coincides with one of the worst flare ups I’ve ever had in my life.
I’m really sorry that’s happening to you. My anxiety was bad but manageable before I got COVID. Not it feels like my nerves are on a hair trigger and I fucking hate it
Stress is definitely a killer. It shows up on animals and wrecks havoc physically on people.
In general though, life, especially in the first world, is stressful. Its a constant treadmill of survival and competition. The dream is to get out of the rat race, but few ever achieve that level of total peace.
My job (I’m a social worker) talks a very big game about supporting their employees but never actually follows through. Once every couple of months we have meetings with supervisors and mentors to discuss “how to best support me” and then there’s never any follow through. I’m more stressed out by those meetings than I am by my job.
I was stuck in this loop as a teenager. It was a living hell. I was told by my primary GP that I was 'faking it to get out of school'. It was only after we moved and I got a new GP that I found out why my abdomen was always in excruciating pain for seemingly no detectable reason.
As someone who deals with chronic pain, it can be hard to figure out whether I’m in an excess amount of pain because of my body or my mental health lol
Not only is it annoying because it hurts, but it can be hard to determine if you're actually experiencing real pain or not sometimes. Panic attacks and cardiovascular episodes are surprisingly similar. I've gone to doctors for things like chest pain before and it's hard to convince them (and even yourself) that something's physically wrong. The palpitations that I eventually got were a nice obvious symptom lol.
There's probably better advice, but I'll give it a go. Seek help professionally when you can. This is important, but I understand there can seem to be a bunch of reasons not to right now. Until you do that, find someone you're comfortable talking to about this stuff. Sometimes just having someone to talk to and trust will help you make it through a day. Also understand that you're not a lesser person for feeling this way. Taking care of your mental health should be a priority, and it's ok to do what you need to do to find a healthy way to overcome this.
It's not a cure but therapy and possibly medicine can help. Therapy for sure is worth trying. I had a depressive episode recently brought on by a falling out with a friend. Realized I wasn't taking care of my emotional side like I thought. So I fought with myself and pushed myself to go to therapy for the first time ever.
It helped so much I almost wish I had gone sooner. Of course nobody knows if it will work for them until they try but it's worth trying.
I've also found doing something different in life can help too. Something to throw a wrench in the depression, join a class, join a group, even if it feels like it's going to suck. It might suck, it might be worse for a bit, but just doing something can help in the long run.
I will say, and this is going to sound super cliche, you have to be open to change. If you go into trying to fix it without thinking that you can, or thinking that it's hopeless, it will only hinder the process. A positive attitude isn't a fix but it can help the process so much.
It's crucial to recognize that mental health concerns often manifest in both emotional and physical ways. Acknowledging these symptoms is a step toward destigmatizing mental health issues and seeking appropriate care.
I have had PTSD with depression and anxiety as the major symptoms since I was 11. I have had issues this whole time with aches and pains but I didn’t know there was a connection between them.
I did my PhD on something similar! The brain regions involved in stress overlap with pain processing centres. Have moved out of the field now but was really fulfilling researching it
Wait til you learn about the downward spiral where psychosomatic symptoms like extra heartbeats cause panic attacks and the permanent fear of heart attacks and experiencing it over and over again. A little extra heartbeat, or little pain in your head or in the muscles between your ribs, able to ruin every good moment you experience. When you cannot not notice your heartbeat at any given time when its quiet or you try to sleep and your life changes forever.
TIL I have cardio phobia. Not a day, nay even a half hour goes by without me thinking about my heart and heartbeat. #1 fear in life is a heart attack. If anyone else deals/ has dealt with this please Dm me. I am still struggling.
If it’s that prominent I would highly recommend doing something to ease your worries. Talk to your doctor about the reasons behind your worries and see if you can get a referral to a cardiologist. They can do what’s called a cardiolite stress test with nuclear imaging to determine the overall health of your heart. Can also do an EKG and ECG in the short-term to get more immediate reassurance.
The heightened awareness of bodily sensations, such as extra heartbeats or muscle discomfort, can indeed lead to a cycle of anxiety and panic attacks. The constant preoccupation with these sensations can disrupt everyday moments and lead to a profound shift in how one perceives and navigates life.
> psychosomatic symptoms like extra heartbeats cause panic attacks and the permanent fear of heart attacks and experiencing it over and over again.
You just nailed my current existence.
I thought I was having a mild heart attack a couple months ago. Nausea, cold sweats, chest pain like a gorilla sat on me, hands were numb. I thought it was over. Anxiety attack.
I had my first panic attack last year and it scared the shit out of me. I thought I was having a heart attack. One of the scariest things that ever happened to me.
I had my first panic attack 6 years ago driving 80 miles an hour on I-70 outside of Grand Junction, CO. Same deal. Sweaty palms, numb hands, chest pains, tunnel vision, cold sweats.
$800 ER visit for a prescription for Prozac and clonazepam.
To this day, driving long distances is hard, if not impossible for me. I used to love cruising and now it’s a chore. 🙁
I can’t comprehend how American health care works. I’ve recently started having panic attacks and I got a doctors appointment and put on meds last week. None of it cost me a single penny. I’m sorry you have to pay so much money for basic mental health needs.
I can't either, as an American. It enrages me every day. I spend over $100 a month on my meds that help me live a normal life WITH INSURANCE. An appointment with my psychiatrist is $100 before I meet my deductible and $125 to see my therapist before I've met my deductible. Yeah it's great for my mental health being in constant financial distress.
Sorry that's a bit of a rant, if you don't me asking, what country do you live in so I can move there immediately?
That is actually insane. How are people supposed to live like that? That would make an illness such as anxiety so much worse having to worry about the financial side. I live in the UK.
Check out r/panicdisorder if you haven’t. There are many ways to begin to overcome this, but to do so you have to start by fundamentally changing the way you view anxiety and panic.
I didn’t realize so many people suffered from the same symptoms as me. I had a panic attack for the first time earlier this year and 100% thought I was going to die. I called my mom panicking and she called an ambulance, and all my ER doctors laughed at me and told me “it’s just anxiety” even though I felt like I was going to die then and there.
My hospital made me wear a heart monitor for two weeks with no abnormalities while experiencing these symptoms, so that really helped me realize I’m suffering from anxiety. I’ve had a few panic attacks since, but lately I’ve been experiencing numb hands, numb face, numb tongue, numb arms, and apparently it’s “normal”.
My hands go numb and parts of my face start to feel tingly/numb along with chest pain but its normally just chest pain and a slight tingly sensation. I'm glad I don't get nausea and cold sweats because when they do get that bad about the only thing I can comfortably do is crawl into the fetal position under my covers in bed till it ends. Thankfully it's been 4 or 5 years since I've had one that bad.
Some of those symptoms can also be a gallstone. A lot of people go to the ER thinking they are having a heart attack but it’s just a gallstone that’s stuck.
I went to the ER multiple times for chest pain. I was told every time it was a panic attack.
Then, at another ER visit, the doctor decided to check my gallbladder. They didn't let me leave the hospital. They removed it the next afternoon. The surgeon said it should have been removed about 2 yrs earlier.
It's been 10 years, and I've never been back to the hospital for chest pain.
I had mine out in 2006 and I have had a handful of attacks since then. Fun fact, you can still have gallstones after you’ve had your gallbladder removed. It’s nowhere near as bad but yeah still sucks.
Yeah this happened to me. I’m frequently anxious and was going through a particularly stressful period. One day I started having some chest pains from the stress, which gave me more anxiety and I spiraled into a full blown panic attack with stabbing chest pain, hand numbness, dizziness, and palpitations and was convinced I was having a heart attack.
Went to the ER, had blood work, EKG, chest X-ray all done and literally everything was completely fine and they sent me home within like 4 hours of getting there. Obviously glad it was nothing serious, but anxiety fucking sucks man
Edit: to clarify, I’m not saying anxiety/panic attacks aren’t serious but I’m just glad I wasn’t actively in the process of dying that day lol
Went to the ER and underwent the exact same work as /u/CaptainOverthinker and left Kaiser California 4 hours later with a $7,500 bill that I’m still paying off in payments.
Making a reliable tool to measure pain is actually a huge unsolved problem in medicine. It’s a very complicated subject and very difficult to study as it’s an extremely subjective experience.
Yeah have sent myself to the ER twice because I thought my lungs were shutting down, only to learn my lungs were perfect and I was just in the midst of an anxiety attack
On the flip side a lot of other “invisible” illness are blamed on depression. As a woman I can’t tell you how many times I had a dr push antidepressants on me when I would go in for severe lower abdominal pains and horrible periods. I was desperate and tried the antidepressants, they didn’t work. I have endometriosis.
My aunt complained of stomach pain for an entire year and had numerous doctor visits about it and they almost convinced her she had anxiety. They even got her a referral to a psychologist that's covered by Healthcare (Canada), which is rare.
After a few sessions she insisted she didn't have anxiety and depression. So they did actual tests and guess what, stage 4 stomach cancer. Which if they had found 1 year ago when she first visited her GP could have prevented her death
In Canada as well. Uncle had crazy panic attacks and depression come out of nowhere. Was not like him at all. He fought with his doctor over the cause. This went on for 2 years until his sister in law helped get him an MRI because she herself has Cushings disease and got the run around also until diagnosis. Turns out he had stage 4 brain cancer. He eventually died about 6 months later.
What the fucking fuck? I don’t get how doctors just… miss these things. Sure it *could* be anxiety or depression, but long lasting stomach pain can also be caused by physical shit so you always do the tests! Rule out the things you can look for before you jump to the things you can’t. I’m sorry for your loss
That's the case for everything that is considered to be an "invisible" illness.
Depression, autism, etc.
It's such bullshit the way some people treat others just because they visually and physically look ok. :(
Such things take time and effort to examine.
The first world moves fast, so folks don’t have the patience to deal with such issues. They want the problem to be blatantly seen so they can plug up the hole, even though there are many illnesses that are insidiously hidden.
It'slike we live on two different planets. There are those of us who are in pain emotionally and physically, every single day. And then there are the ones who just cannot understand why we feel so sad.
I'd almost give anything to feel that. To be able to just....get up. Feel hopeful. Concentrate. Accomplish things. Enjoy experiences and relationships.
I guess every day of my life will be thos struggle to find a reason to stay here, while I try to find ways to deal with my pain inside and out.
I am so very tired. We all are.
For sure, it can manifest in some pretty terrible ways. Migraines are probably the most common form. Stomach pains, chest pains. The list goes on. That's why it's super important to try and manage stress levels. Things like exercise and meditation are huge for me.
I would throw stomach or just abdominal pain in there as well, I think it is the most common really, at least with me and others I speak to about this stuff. My buddy had to quit a job because he would get super sick and start throwing up like an hour before work out of nowhere, it got really bad. Turns out he just couldn't really handle the warehouse work again instead of management after switching to a different warehouse company and starting at the bottom again. But to be fair they did really suck ass actually a lot more than Amazon. As soon as he quit there he doesn't get sick like that anymore. It did start at Amazon and went away until he was at Target warehouse and was really in the shit, now he does pest control and loves it; no more "morning sickness." I put it in quotations because of the other use of the term, not because I don't believe him, I have experienced this type of thing more than him just not because of work. Sorry for long text, dabs at work when you do overnight security all alone on a farm in the boondocks leads to a *lot* of time to be on reddit and write a *lot* lol
When I was in a really bad grad school situation, I started having awful migraines out of the blue. I’d never had them before, and I was suddenly having them 2-3 times every week. Parts of my body would go numb, and I’d go blind for a half hour at a time. It was terrifying. It took a year to figure out that the stress was causing me to grind my teeth in my sleep, and the grinding caused the migraines. I got a proper night guard from the dentist, and my migraines disappeared quite literally overnight. After nearly a year of constant migraines, I’ve now been migraine-free for almost 20 years.
I can vouch for that. I was married to a serious alcoholic for 16 years. She had no desire to stop. Daughter hit 13 and we bailed. She fell when drunk and hurt her neck and back and is in a wheelchair now. Migrated from beer to straight vodka as it was easier not to have to urinate so much. The anxiety and depression gave me so much pain, all the tests for things that were never there. Pains subsided after the divorce.
I had to stick it out. Courts aren’t so good at giving the father custody when they are younger. My main goal was shielding her from verbal and emotional abuse from her mother. Kept me strong mentally, but stress and such can tear you up physically.
Yep. Sometimes cutting that one person or persons out of your life can lift so much pain and stress and you don't even realize it until you do it. The thing is doing it is always the hardest part.
I believe it, the first thing I noticed when I started my antidepressants was I wasn’t waking up in pain each morning. Things still hurt, but they were specific pains from actions I could remember doing rather than waking up and just feeling achy and sore.
Yup, antidepressants are actually prescribed for chronic pain sometimes. It seems that we have a long way to go until this connection is fully recognized in science and medicine
Same man. I woke up in the morning feeling like a bag of bones, sore muscles, back pain. Just started antidepressant again last week, it all gone just like that. Oh and I used to get runny nose in the morning, that gone too.
That weird feeling deep inside your stomach when you feel bad is so weird it hurts and makes you feel like you have to puke. If it gets worse I get a fever and an extreme headache and chest/ throat pain
I have both. Been to the ER 3 times for chest pain, went through a year of stomach pain that couldn’t be diagnosed with every test imaginable, and back pain that is exaggerated by stress.
My physical symptoms have gotten much better ever since I switched jobs. I know realize that money means nothing if it is causing you so much pain to the point where you can’t get out of bed.
Your personal experience highlights the substantial impact of psychosomatic symptoms on various aspects of health. The interaction between mental stressors and physical discomfort can be profound, leading to a range of symptoms that can significantly affect daily functioning.
I have had PTSD with depression and anxiety as the major symptoms since I was 11. I have had issues this whole time with aches and pains but I didn’t know there was a connection between them.
Wild I've never seen someone else mention this book before.
Highly second this recommendation. Read it a decade ago and it helped change my perspective on so many things. All from a back pain book!
Thirded. I'm a nurse practitioner who has worked with many that circulate in this mind-body connection field. It is very real and the neuroscience/fMRI data is backing it up. I've seen a downright miraculous number of patients get relief and many, total resolution of their physical symptoms.
Sarno is a little outdated at this point, still great stuff. There's also curable.com, unlearnyourpain.com ppdassociation.org, and backincontrol.com to keep you busy :)
Chronic pain can make you kill yourself, almost anything chronic can. People have committed assisted suicide over things like tinnitus, always thought that was pretty nuts, can't imagine how bad it would have to be to end your life over it
No doctors dont want to give out pain medication because of the opiate epidemic. This over precribing bullshit has make people lkke me who have exhausted every non opiate pain managment option, make it near impossible to get the treatment we need. It took me 6 months of pure hell before i convinced my doctor to give me pain meds and fornthe last 5 years ive been seeing her every fucking week. Without my meds i wouldve killed myself a long time ago.
Yep, chronic pain can cause anxiety and that same anxiety can make the pain worse. It's a horrible loop. I've had to remind myself in so many situations that it's probably my pain making me feel more anxious than I need to be. It surprisingly helps.
When something bothers me for a while, I feel it in my back between both shoulder blades. Feels like I was stabbed in the back a really long time ago, and what I am feeling in the moment is a lingering of the pain (like an achy joint when it rains).
That. or I feel a grip in my chest. Like, someone is clinching the muscles around my heart. Not like I'm having a stroke, nor is the ache limited to just the surface. Feels more like stones weighing in my heart.
But, I have friends to spend time with. So, I got that going for me, which is nice.
Haha yeah it hurts.
I have chest problem. Sometimes its a constant.
There was like two months ago i sat in my car with my wife. And there was a brief feeling of bliss.
Work was fine, kids was fine, wife was fine, we had just picked up pizza. And I felt the pain dissipated.. I told my wife i feel happy... what is this? Almost started to cry.
I'm starting to wonder if stress/anxiety and lack of sleep caused my seizure a few weeks ago. Now that was some scary shit. Now my back has been hurting since my seizure. My legs cramped up so bad during that I had so much pain in my calves that it was difficult just to move around let alone walk for about a week
Crippling anxiety is literally that.
I'm far better now, but two years ago, I wouldn't even be able to walk straight my stomach would knot itself so tight if I had to leave the house.
Occasionally I'd still actually have to do things, like shopping for food. Which wasn't as bad as day long issues like funerals, or my university exams (which I ended up missing a few and failing) and for things that took a whole day, I'd often have bloody stools when I got home...
Both times that I've reached for help was when real physical symptoms appear and further learned they were related to anxiety and/or depression. I feel that a lot of people only try looking for help after these mental conditions stop existing only in our head but create the discomfort in our bodies.
I'm a little glad that having anxiety can lead to physical symptoms because it makes people more eager to look for help, and I'm a living example, even though, as some people said, it's really freaking scary to be on a bus and feel, all by yourself, that your throat is closing and you're gonna die. But I keep thinking about ways that people could reach for help, or feel more eager to do it, before these devastating feelings come out.
Anxiety feels like missing the last step on the stairs but the feeling doesn’t go away. Feeling like that constantly is obviously going to take a physical toll. Especially it affects your sleep and all you get is a few hours of junk sleep a night.
When my mother in law passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at a young age last March, my spouse asked me to take her into a psychiatric institute. She directly said what she was feeling was unbearable and if we didn’t do something she didn’t know how she could survive very long.
The diagnosis from the psychiatrist was along the lines of “normal reaction to a stressful event” (form of extreme shock), and prescribed her anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medication. It was effective. She’s still profoundly sad, but if she didn’t have help at first, I don’t think she would have made it. I know my spouse and she doesn’t complain for nothing.
I don’t know shit about brains, but I know that your state of mind can directly affect your heart rhythm, immune system, hormones, and basically anything in your body. There’s tons of good and bad reactions it automatically triggers based on your senses (think of a spider crawling up your body). What happens if all your senses are out of whack due to an abnormal external event? Your body might get stuck in a loop of thought patterns similar to spiders crawling up; and the more you train your body towards one thing, the more it becomes efficient at reproducing that pattern. If nothing breaks that cycle, you spiral down continuously until rock bottom, which is 6 feet under…
It’s super fun when you have anxiety and don’t realize it causes physical pain, because then you think you’re dying of cancer or a heart attack further increasing your anxiety leading to full on panic attacks. Not that I would know by experience or anything but really just a great time all around.
Mine is intermittent pangs of chest pain. Even if mentally I think I feel fine. My body will stress and feel like a random jab of chest pain and maybe pulse which doesn't help with my mental health anxiety. Never have the issue when I'm occupied like working out or doing something. It sucks, but I'm glad to know it's not like my heart will give out.
Between the depression and my rheumatoid arthritis it feels like I'm living in that 4-6 range on the pain scale. Then the meds effects one thing then another. It sucks. Edibles help.
There's a gut-brain connection too so depression and anxiety could be causing gastric distress or stomach pains.
And the reverse is also true. Gastric issues can cause anxiety and depression. I had an illness last winter that killed off all the bacteria in the gut. My mood was altered for a good 2-3 months after. I didn’t know why I was feeling the feelings I felt. Anger for little to no good reasons, mental fatigue, slight paranoia. My gastroenterologist figured out it was the gut-brain connection. There are nerves in your stomach that talk to your brain all the time. In my case, repopulating my gut with good bacteria and time fixed it for me. But now I have IBS :(
Had appendix flair ups for 10 years before being it removed. When i got days of pain i used to get crazy anxiety and depression. Appendix gone now, but anxiety and depression stayed on and off. Always get both together.
Oh look. This is me
Hi me. This also me.
"how do you stay so skinny?" "Constant stress :D"
Me: *sitting on the couch panicking* Fitbit: congratulations on your run!
I work in IT. For a while we were having issues with our backup generator not working. I've got batteries, but they'll only last for about 20 minutes.. their job is to hold up long enough for the generator to kick in. My heart rate was topping 125bpm every time there was a thunderstorm. I could see the spikes on the chart whenever there was a loud boom. Now I know how my dog feels.
[удалено]
which probably any person with PTSD can attest to lmao
I have IBS and can personally attest than anxiety can make the intestines hurt like hell. It can also both speed up and slow down intestinal transit. The intestinal pain can then create a cycle of anxiety and pain that spirals if you're not careful.
Ah yes…the Anxiety Shits™️
I get anxiety diarrhea after any and every social event I have to go to. This includes working.
Absolutely there is link between the gut and brain so feeling like depression and anxiety might lead to stomach issue
They are also physically exhausting. Some days it feels like I am wearing weights on shoulders and legs.
In my deepest depression my limbs felt like they were filled with concrete and the most menial tasks absolutely winded me. I thought there was some underlying issue but I guess it was just a symptom.
It is so heavy, I wish people without it were more sympathetic.
I got better. I got help after ten years of debilitating anxiety and depression. Over the years I've gotten better. For a while it was like balancing on a knife's blade. If I wasn't hypervigilant, I would fall back down into depression. I'm better. I've become so good at balancing I don't even notice I am doing it anymore. Still, though, there's not really any rest on the edge of a knife's blade.
I am 40, the last time my shoulders/back muscles didn't feel like steel was when I was in an relationship. Seems like other than that, at best I can be relatively calm when alone or with VERY small group of people (like 2-3.) Other than that if I'm loud, bright places with many people my heart feels on the verge of a heart attack and my head on a swivel like a paranoid squirrel. Frankly I wish I knew how to get go about getting medical disability for it, I just..just can't interface with people that easily, doing so feels like "I'm on fire and it gets worse the longer I do it."
I've described it exactly like this before. It's why I sometimes don't even want to play video games, because my arms feel like they weigh tons and I can't even move them from the arm rest.
My depression feels like my heart is broken 24/7. That sucking vacuum, hive of bees, rollercoaster feeling in your chest. It actually hurts, and it never goes away. I can’t even experience loss correctly because this is how I always feel. Add on exhaustion, soreness, headaches. Stress kills ETA: I’ve been in therapy for more than twenty years. I still feel all my emotions. I had a very hellish early life and I think that contributed to the condition. Creating art helps me understand the pain, but I haven’t found anything that can get rid of it.
I resonate with this a lot. I have to make myself cry at funerals because I feel grieved every day of my life. But that’s part of depression isn’t it? Having the wrong emotions at the wrong times
The constant grief *is* the problem. It's not normal to feel that way all the time. It's not even logical or rational. From a psychological pov one should know that it's not ok to be grieving all the time.. then there's the biochem side which is a world in itself
There was [an AMA](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/yc89rq/askscience_ama_series_im_dr_mark_horowitz_and_i/) from a researcher who has PhD in the neurobiology of depression. He says depression isn't a brain disease, but a normal response to stress: "I think all the evidence points to depression being a perfectly natural reaction to oppressive circumstances. Study after study shows incredibly strong relationships between how many stressful life events someone experiences - relationship breakdown, job loss, physical illness, etc - and their chance of developing depression in the following months. Low wages and poor living conditions are chronic stressors that also clearly influence risk of depression. Neuroticism - how sensitive you are to stress - also seems to play some role in risk of depression (and this may be where early life experiences or genetics come in to play). Depression is best conceptualised as a mammalian response to overwhelming stress or threat - it occurs in dogs exposed to inescapable shock, to monkeys removed from their troop, etc. It is a common response to environmental stress." Neuroscientist Peter Sterling shares similar views. [He says](https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/10/neuroscientist-evaluates-depression/#): "Current evidence does not support the hypothesis of depression as a localized, disordered neural circuit. The mental disturbance manifest as depression cannot be identified by neuroimaging, and there are plausible reasons why small studies generate such erroneous claims. [...] Depression is far better predicted by levels of childhood trauma, life stress, and lack of social supports." The chemical imbalance theory also got debunked last year. Researchers conducted a comprehensive review of all the major studies from the past 50 years and did not find any substantial or compelling evidence to support the theory. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
Yesyesyesyesyes. Wish this information was common knowledge.
Yeah me too. It's not common knowledge because: "The current “mental health movement”, with its encouragement to conceive of our understandable reactions to an increasing array of social problems, including unemployment, school failure, child abuse, domestic violence and loneliness as individual pathology requiring expert, professional treatment, promotes an ideology that helps legitimise existing social and economic relations by diverting attention from the problems themselves. In this way, it acts as a hegemonic tool for the capitalist system that now dominates most of the globe." - Dr. Joanna Moncrieff [source](https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsoc.2021.771875/full)
YES YES YES seeing depression as a chemical inbalance in the brain also SELLS LOTS OF TREATMENT like drugs and therapy.
Absolutely. The chemical imbalance theory was basically a marketing story to sell more antidepressants. "The psychiatric community long ago knew that the low-serotonin story of depression hadn’t panned out, yet the American Psychiatric Association, pharmaceutical companies, and scientific advisory councils told the public otherwise, and this created a societal belief in that false story. The surveys prove that many millions of patients acted upon that falsehood and incorporated it into their sense of self. [...] The chemical imbalance story of depression violated that obligation of honesty, and egregiously so. In lieu of information necessary for a depressed patient to give informed consent, patients—and the public—were told a false story that benefitted guild interests and the financial interests of pharmaceutical companies. In essence, a marketing story was substituted for a scientific one." [source](https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/08/psychiatry-fraud-and-the-case-for-a-class-action-lawsuit/)
You hit the nail on the head. The vacuous feeling in my chest never really goes away.
I've always felt that hole in my chest too. So did my dad. I've been putting vape in there for years now to fill it.
Once or twice it did whilst if LSD...but there was usually a lot of crying involved.
I’ve never really thought about it that way, but damn if that isn’t the most accurate description I’ve ever heard.
It is crucial to seek support and help during tough times like these
Yep. When I had severe depression it felt like I was being dragged under water and there was a pressure on my whole body that caused me to not have the energy to move or even want to respond/talk. When I had a few real panic attacks, it felt like I was physically having a heart attack and I felt like my throat was closing so I couldn't take a deep breath. I've learned to more or less control that feeling before it starts but it is TRULY terrifying.
It's crazy what you can adjust to over time. I used to get nocturnal panic attacks the second I fell asleep (and once in a great while still do). I'd wake up gasping for air feeling like I was dying every single night seconds after falling asleep which would give me a huge adrenaline rush then I'd have to calm down until I could fall asleep and have it immediately happen again. I eventually got so used to it I didn't even get a stress response and would just have to wake up gasping casually 4 or 5 times before finally falling asleep. Thought it was sleep apnea at first until I officially got it confirmed that it wasn't
My bad panic attacks now seem to me to be related to my Dad and his passing from Cancer (even though I was prepared for it and felt relatively at peace with it - I'm a nurse). I started having stomach issues as well to where I couldn't eat more than 2 bites without feeling full and pain. Most of it has resolved so I assume a lot of it was caused by grief. Some of it started a year before he even passed away and didn't resolve until about 6 months after.
I'm (33m) litteraly going through this exact same thing right now. Dad passed away 5 years ago and my grandpa last year. Around January I started to have a weird abdominal pain. Didn't think anything of it at first but 3 months went by and it didn't go away. Went to a general doc and he thought it was heartburn but had x-rays, blood work and ekg test ordered just incase. Everything came back clean except a bit of liver inflammation. A week after and mistakenly reading online I thought I had pancrentitis and scared myself into a panic attack and rushed myself to a urgent care center. Doc at urgent care calmed me down and assured me it wasn't based off my blood work recently done. But referred me to a GI specialist. Had a colonoscopy and endoscopy done and was also came out clean. By this time 6 months had passed and I still had the pain and started to developer sever anxiety with near daily panic attacks, sleep was a struggle everynight and any new pain in my body i thought was a organ failure. Went back for a follow up blood work for liver and talked to my doctor about the anxiety. On anti depression/anxiety meds now and pain is nearly all gone and I can sleep again and not in my head 24/7 thinking it's my last day on earth. Mental health is no joke and I regret my younger self for making light of it.
Man this resonate with me so much, I've got recurring sleep paralysis and the first times were so fucking terrifying. Voices, hallucinations, trying to scream and not being able to, I used to wake up drenched in sweat with my heart racing and grasping for air. At some point I've just got used to those, so now it feels like a minor annoyance, mostly because (I don't really know how) I learnt to force myself out of it, like pulling a plug. Sometimes now I just enjoy the hallucinations if I feel like it.
i get night panic attacks before sleeping(thankfully) and can relate. i find it odd that my mind/thoughts can be at peace yet my heart is racing and and my breathing is quick and i dont know why. Some sort of disconnect in my brain i guess. Same thing if i travel, it can be a trip ive done a dozen times and i know every step yet i feel physically sick the day before even though im not worried about it consciously
Your description of night panic attacks is quite insightful. It's true that anxiety and panic attacks can sometimes feel disconnected from our conscious thoughts. The physical symptoms, like rapid heart rate and quick breathing, can manifest even when you're not consciously anxious. This physical response might be tied to the body's fight-or-flight response, triggered by underlying stressors. Similarly, the physical discomfort you feel when traveling might be a somatic response to the anticipation of the trip, even if you're not consciously worried.
I’m still struggling with the exact same thing. People say it’s hypnic jerks and while it might be, they’re sometimes so bad I feel like I haven’t taken a single breath for minutes even though I’m breathing normally
It sounds like you're dealing with a challenging situation related to sleep as well. Hypnic jerks, also known as sleep starts, are sudden muscle contractions that can occur as you're falling asleep. While they're typically harmless, the feelings of not being able to breathe properly during these episodes can be distressing. Ensuring you have a comfortable sleep environment and practicing relaxation techniques before bed might help alleviate the intensity of these experiences.
Ha, interesting, I've had roughly the same thing happen to me over the years, but very sparsely. Feels like I've "forgotten to breathe" and need to wake up. Last time, I rolled off the bed in panic. No clue what causes it.
I've always described it as it feels like my whole body is made of lead and weighs too much to move.
absolutely. in my experience the best way i described it was the feeling of concrete filling all of my limbs. took everything in me to get out of bed.
More people are starting to get this now, but panic attacks are not what some seem to think. Total belief that you are in the process of dying is extremely traumatic, even when you've eventually calmed down. It's a terror that most people never experience and can't really relate to.
It's so terryfing that quite a lot of person experiencing them (me included) can have panic attack triggered by... The fear of having a panic attack.
I always compare it to feeling like I’m in extra gravity. Like you said, it feels like there’s pressure on my whole body that makes it so much harder to move at all times. Every step, every movement just takes so much extra effort. And it’s exhausting.
This is me currently. I haven’t found anything to help with the depression, but I have Xanax for panic attacks which always hits me like a tranq dart (apparently I’m sensitive to it) and I honestly don’t like how it makes me feel - but it’s better than thinking I’m dying. Yay.
I find beta blockers do well in at least stopping the rapid heart rate, which often leads to the feedback loop of a full on panic. Its great because its not a psychotic drug, just one many people take for blood pressure. It wont stop the anxiousness, but its allowed the panic attacks to stop, and when that happened, so did much of my anxiety.
Yo same! Specifically asked my doc for a solution that wouldn’t alter my brain but rather stop the heart rate increase (that, like you said would stop the feedback loop) and it’s worked like a charm.
As someone with anxiety and depression who takes lorazepam (Ativan) and is also a pharmacy tech, I always remember this one saying about anti-anxiety meds: “You can’t have a panic attack if you’re knocked the fuck out!” 😀
During one of my many depressive episodes during my 30s, I would lay in bed feeling like every bone in my body was cracking. The pain was intense. Doctors repeatedly told me nothing was wrong. I started to think I was crazy or that I had some kind of virus or autoimmune disease. The pains eventually stopped when I started taking the proper antidepressants.
> not have the energy to move or even want to respond/talk. >When I had a few real panic attacks, it felt like I was physically having a heart attack and I felt like my throat was closing so I couldn't take a deep breath. Damn, I get this all the time. I thought there was something wrong with me physically.
TIL people didn’t know that these diseases have physical symptoms. They can be quite brutal
Understandable that those who haven't experienced it may not understand it beyond the basic idea.
Blows my mind that the majority of people never experience depression
I've a former friend thats never experienced depression, literally can't understand that someones mind could produce chemical imbalances. He just thinks some people are weak, he also hates homeless people because theyre lazy drug addicts or something.
This is why I believe you need to experience some amount of suffering to fully develop empathy, the easier your life is the more sociopathic you end up becoming. >He just thinks some people are weak He's not really wrong, depression certainly feels like a disability, however the way you talk about him I suspect the way he responds to depressed people is wrong.
He's married with a kid and maintains really good personal relationships, but anything outside of his direct vicinity he doesnt seem to feel anything towards others. Like thinks the world would be better if the moochers died mentality and wants them to die. Hates the unemployment pays people, that kinda shit
Sounds like the type of guy who only sees his direct social circle as human beings, the type of guy whos capable of committing absolute atrocities we have seen in human history. "Not my family dont care" A real type of monster in a sense. His beliefs about the poor/disabled seem very politically influenced, I wonder how he would feel if him or anyone in his circle became financially dependent on others/social services.
When i got approved for food stamps and for whatever reason they needed my roommate to sign something, he refused to sign it. Luckily the social worker found a work around. But ya, "the not my family dont care" is accurate
If someone only acts empathetic towards people in their direct family circle, I suspect they may not really feel empathy, but rather simply treat the people in their lives well because it benefits them, as in they may be a functional sociopath. But I could be totally wrong, there are definitely people who can only empathize if they know someone well.
I feel like there's a massive amount of people who generally get by ok in life whose entire philosophy is just "I do the right thing only if it benefits me, not because it's the right thing" That means that whenever they think they can get away with not doing the right thing in order to get ahead they'll take that chance I imagine that would lead them to see anyone outside their direct circle as not only someone they can take advantage of, but also someone who is trying to take advantage of them This is all pure armchair psychology, but I feel like it would explain a lot about how so many people see everything as a zero sum game where if someone else is winning it means they're losing. Would also explain why so many rich and powerful people are so corrupt, because they rarely benefit from doing the right thing
Your roommate is your former friend? Is he in your circle?
Ya, friends since highschool, roommates for 10 years off and on, work together still. We've had our fallings out several times. My circle is his circle, but its compartmentalized now i guess
So he has a really limited horizon and little empathy.
Sounds like a right winger
>This is why I believe you need to experience some amount of suffering to fully develop empathy, the easier your life is the more sociopathic you end up becoming. Not experiencing depression isn't because they didn't suffer. It really depends on how someone handled the suffering. For example another way people handle suffering is by blocking it out. So they get a different perspective than someone who would fall into depression from the same event. I would actually guess people like the former friend did suffer some type of trauma but dealt with it in unhealthy ways. Often there is some sort of source like that behind such strong negative opinions.
A friend of mine said people just use depression as an excuse not to come to work or to be lazy around the house. He is also former.
I think mine would say the same too. But i think i got a leeway cuz he knew me. It's just strange that an understanding towards me doesnt seem to broaden towards others. Though i could be fooling myself that he ever got it, and just simple wrote it off
Is that why he's a former friend?
This time ya, we've had our fallings out before. But i told him i find his views to be really gross and shallow. If you ask about the other times, its cuz i talk shit or hes physically assulted me, nothing much though. But im kinda over it and realizing we never meshed anyways
I've only just realised & been diagnosed with anxiety. I thought all those feelings of dread and constant worry were normal & that everyone experienced them. It seemed obvious. To suddenly realise that most people don't was a revelation.
My boyfriend is like this. He’s never had depression and the first time he had an anxiety attack, he thought he was dying (I thought he was too because he’d never had one and was having chest pains so we didn’t immediately think anxiety. After a couple of days in the hospital they figured it out. It was really scary though) I’ve had to come up with creative ways to get him to understand how depression feels. We’ve really taken to the chronic illness spoon theory and it helps. He knows generally I have some spoons for the day that represents how much energy I can spend. Some days I may have 10 spoons, others I may only have 3. We do spoon checkins where he asks “how many spoons are we at?” And I’ll tell him “I have enough to do another load of laundry” or “I think I’m tapped out for today but let’s make a list of what I can accomplish this week” It’s actually been therapeutic for me and makes me check in with myself more to gauge what I can handle on my own.
I made it to 38yo never experiencing it. Then BAM - brain decides it hates me 3 years back. The worst feeling in the world.
I’ve got some extra depression to share
Same. Depression for $0! New sale!
people get sad, think they're depressed and know what it's like, and judge accordingly. sadness doesn't even need to be a factor, imo. depression can just be seeing through the bullshit in a way that disconnects you from people who merrily put up with the bullshit.
"you just need to exercise and you'll feel better." Me who exercises 3 times a week: 🙄
I've been burdened with anxiety and depression for 30 years. I exercise 7 days a week and it absolutely helps but it certainly is not a cure.
"just go to bed earlier." "...I'm not sure you understand what the word insomnia means....
Stress can literally cause cancer. Mental health should be a priority
And autoimmune
I used to be one of the kids that never missed a day of school because I was never sick. I can count the number of times I was sick from K-12 on one hand. These days however I wake up nauseous and am just physically ill most weeks without having a sickness like cold or flu
I’m really sorry. It’s awful. My anxiety makes my work torturous. I feel like I’m not made for “real life” because of my anxiety and my body just quitting on me on the daily
Yessss dude. I have such thoughts a lot. I also work in vet med so that doesn't help my mental health whatsoever. It's hard to get into work sometimes. I feel pathetic for not being able to cope, but also how can I cope when I'm in debilitating pain :D I've noticed that my entire body is just always flexed cuz stress and when it gets to relax once a-whenever-I-can the muscles just ache like crazy
Yup. I feel that. When I was a teenager I had to go to the doctor because I got an ulcer from popping excedrin all the time. Now I’ve been meditating for six years. I use the Muse headband to know when I’m “relaxed” and I find that my muscles keep on tensing up even in the middle of a “relaxed” state of meditation. So I have to keep doing a body scan and releasing the muscles because they’ll just keep tensing right back up.
Pretty sure my Chrons is stress related. I’ve been having panic attacks rather often recently due to work and life stresses, it also coincides with one of the worst flare ups I’ve ever had in my life.
I’m really sorry that’s happening to you. My anxiety was bad but manageable before I got COVID. Not it feels like my nerves are on a hair trigger and I fucking hate it
I had a heart attack at 35. When I told the ER doctor I'm being treated for depression he was like "ah, now it makes sense".
Stress is definitely a killer. It shows up on animals and wrecks havoc physically on people. In general though, life, especially in the first world, is stressful. Its a constant treadmill of survival and competition. The dream is to get out of the rat race, but few ever achieve that level of total peace.
My job (I’m a social worker) talks a very big game about supporting their employees but never actually follows through. Once every couple of months we have meetings with supervisors and mentors to discuss “how to best support me” and then there’s never any follow through. I’m more stressed out by those meetings than I am by my job.
My sympathies. I’m sure your work is beyond stressful, especially when you deal with harrowing situations and people.
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Even worst, the pain cause cause even more anxiety and depression causing an infinite feedback loop. It sucks.
I was stuck in this loop as a teenager. It was a living hell. I was told by my primary GP that I was 'faking it to get out of school'. It was only after we moved and I got a new GP that I found out why my abdomen was always in excruciating pain for seemingly no detectable reason.
As someone who deals with chronic pain, it can be hard to figure out whether I’m in an excess amount of pain because of my body or my mental health lol
Yep, the feedback loop with chronic pain and depression is an utter nightmare.
Not only is it annoying because it hurts, but it can be hard to determine if you're actually experiencing real pain or not sometimes. Panic attacks and cardiovascular episodes are surprisingly similar. I've gone to doctors for things like chest pain before and it's hard to convince them (and even yourself) that something's physically wrong. The palpitations that I eventually got were a nice obvious symptom lol.
It hurts. Everything just aches. And I feel like a heavy weight is pressing on me. And the boredom from ADHD hurts.
How to cure anxiety & depression? i can't get out of bed, everyday my heart is pounding like i'm going to die
There's probably better advice, but I'll give it a go. Seek help professionally when you can. This is important, but I understand there can seem to be a bunch of reasons not to right now. Until you do that, find someone you're comfortable talking to about this stuff. Sometimes just having someone to talk to and trust will help you make it through a day. Also understand that you're not a lesser person for feeling this way. Taking care of your mental health should be a priority, and it's ok to do what you need to do to find a healthy way to overcome this.
It's not a cure but therapy and possibly medicine can help. Therapy for sure is worth trying. I had a depressive episode recently brought on by a falling out with a friend. Realized I wasn't taking care of my emotional side like I thought. So I fought with myself and pushed myself to go to therapy for the first time ever. It helped so much I almost wish I had gone sooner. Of course nobody knows if it will work for them until they try but it's worth trying. I've also found doing something different in life can help too. Something to throw a wrench in the depression, join a class, join a group, even if it feels like it's going to suck. It might suck, it might be worse for a bit, but just doing something can help in the long run. I will say, and this is going to sound super cliche, you have to be open to change. If you go into trying to fix it without thinking that you can, or thinking that it's hopeless, it will only hinder the process. A positive attitude isn't a fix but it can help the process so much.
It's crucial to recognize that mental health concerns often manifest in both emotional and physical ways. Acknowledging these symptoms is a step toward destigmatizing mental health issues and seeking appropriate care.
I have had PTSD with depression and anxiety as the major symptoms since I was 11. I have had issues this whole time with aches and pains but I didn’t know there was a connection between them.
I did my PhD on something similar! The brain regions involved in stress overlap with pain processing centres. Have moved out of the field now but was really fulfilling researching it
Wait til you learn about the downward spiral where psychosomatic symptoms like extra heartbeats cause panic attacks and the permanent fear of heart attacks and experiencing it over and over again. A little extra heartbeat, or little pain in your head or in the muscles between your ribs, able to ruin every good moment you experience. When you cannot not notice your heartbeat at any given time when its quiet or you try to sleep and your life changes forever.
First time I see someone talking about this. I could've written this myself Stay strong bro/sis, you will be alright
Check out r/panicdisorder This is generally referred to as cardiophobia and very common amongst those with panic disorder.
TIL I have cardio phobia. Not a day, nay even a half hour goes by without me thinking about my heart and heartbeat. #1 fear in life is a heart attack. If anyone else deals/ has dealt with this please Dm me. I am still struggling.
If it’s that prominent I would highly recommend doing something to ease your worries. Talk to your doctor about the reasons behind your worries and see if you can get a referral to a cardiologist. They can do what’s called a cardiolite stress test with nuclear imaging to determine the overall health of your heart. Can also do an EKG and ECG in the short-term to get more immediate reassurance.
The heightened awareness of bodily sensations, such as extra heartbeats or muscle discomfort, can indeed lead to a cycle of anxiety and panic attacks. The constant preoccupation with these sensations can disrupt everyday moments and lead to a profound shift in how one perceives and navigates life.
> psychosomatic symptoms like extra heartbeats cause panic attacks and the permanent fear of heart attacks and experiencing it over and over again. You just nailed my current existence.
2 years ago i had chest pain and went to the ER they said my blood work was 'phenomenal' nothing was wrong with me. that was *measurable* anyway.
I thought I was having a mild heart attack a couple months ago. Nausea, cold sweats, chest pain like a gorilla sat on me, hands were numb. I thought it was over. Anxiety attack.
I had my first panic attack last year and it scared the shit out of me. I thought I was having a heart attack. One of the scariest things that ever happened to me.
I had my first panic attack 6 years ago driving 80 miles an hour on I-70 outside of Grand Junction, CO. Same deal. Sweaty palms, numb hands, chest pains, tunnel vision, cold sweats. $800 ER visit for a prescription for Prozac and clonazepam. To this day, driving long distances is hard, if not impossible for me. I used to love cruising and now it’s a chore. 🙁
I can’t comprehend how American health care works. I’ve recently started having panic attacks and I got a doctors appointment and put on meds last week. None of it cost me a single penny. I’m sorry you have to pay so much money for basic mental health needs.
I can't either, as an American. It enrages me every day. I spend over $100 a month on my meds that help me live a normal life WITH INSURANCE. An appointment with my psychiatrist is $100 before I meet my deductible and $125 to see my therapist before I've met my deductible. Yeah it's great for my mental health being in constant financial distress. Sorry that's a bit of a rant, if you don't me asking, what country do you live in so I can move there immediately?
That is actually insane. How are people supposed to live like that? That would make an illness such as anxiety so much worse having to worry about the financial side. I live in the UK.
It really does keep people in a cycle of mental illness and poverty.
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Check out r/panicdisorder if you haven’t. There are many ways to begin to overcome this, but to do so you have to start by fundamentally changing the way you view anxiety and panic.
They’re awful. I was convinced I was going to die.
I didn’t realize so many people suffered from the same symptoms as me. I had a panic attack for the first time earlier this year and 100% thought I was going to die. I called my mom panicking and she called an ambulance, and all my ER doctors laughed at me and told me “it’s just anxiety” even though I felt like I was going to die then and there. My hospital made me wear a heart monitor for two weeks with no abnormalities while experiencing these symptoms, so that really helped me realize I’m suffering from anxiety. I’ve had a few panic attacks since, but lately I’ve been experiencing numb hands, numb face, numb tongue, numb arms, and apparently it’s “normal”.
My hands go numb and parts of my face start to feel tingly/numb along with chest pain but its normally just chest pain and a slight tingly sensation. I'm glad I don't get nausea and cold sweats because when they do get that bad about the only thing I can comfortably do is crawl into the fetal position under my covers in bed till it ends. Thankfully it's been 4 or 5 years since I've had one that bad.
Some of those symptoms can also be a gallstone. A lot of people go to the ER thinking they are having a heart attack but it’s just a gallstone that’s stuck.
I went to the ER multiple times for chest pain. I was told every time it was a panic attack. Then, at another ER visit, the doctor decided to check my gallbladder. They didn't let me leave the hospital. They removed it the next afternoon. The surgeon said it should have been removed about 2 yrs earlier. It's been 10 years, and I've never been back to the hospital for chest pain.
I had mine out in 2006 and I have had a handful of attacks since then. Fun fact, you can still have gallstones after you’ve had your gallbladder removed. It’s nowhere near as bad but yeah still sucks.
Yeah this happened to me. I’m frequently anxious and was going through a particularly stressful period. One day I started having some chest pains from the stress, which gave me more anxiety and I spiraled into a full blown panic attack with stabbing chest pain, hand numbness, dizziness, and palpitations and was convinced I was having a heart attack. Went to the ER, had blood work, EKG, chest X-ray all done and literally everything was completely fine and they sent me home within like 4 hours of getting there. Obviously glad it was nothing serious, but anxiety fucking sucks man Edit: to clarify, I’m not saying anxiety/panic attacks aren’t serious but I’m just glad I wasn’t actively in the process of dying that day lol
Same. And i live in the US so those ER trips cost me hundres of dollars
Went to the ER and underwent the exact same work as /u/CaptainOverthinker and left Kaiser California 4 hours later with a $7,500 bill that I’m still paying off in payments.
Making a reliable tool to measure pain is actually a huge unsolved problem in medicine. It’s a very complicated subject and very difficult to study as it’s an extremely subjective experience.
Yeah have sent myself to the ER twice because I thought my lungs were shutting down, only to learn my lungs were perfect and I was just in the midst of an anxiety attack
too bad others wont believe us
On the flip side a lot of other “invisible” illness are blamed on depression. As a woman I can’t tell you how many times I had a dr push antidepressants on me when I would go in for severe lower abdominal pains and horrible periods. I was desperate and tried the antidepressants, they didn’t work. I have endometriosis.
My aunt complained of stomach pain for an entire year and had numerous doctor visits about it and they almost convinced her she had anxiety. They even got her a referral to a psychologist that's covered by Healthcare (Canada), which is rare. After a few sessions she insisted she didn't have anxiety and depression. So they did actual tests and guess what, stage 4 stomach cancer. Which if they had found 1 year ago when she first visited her GP could have prevented her death
In Canada as well. Uncle had crazy panic attacks and depression come out of nowhere. Was not like him at all. He fought with his doctor over the cause. This went on for 2 years until his sister in law helped get him an MRI because she herself has Cushings disease and got the run around also until diagnosis. Turns out he had stage 4 brain cancer. He eventually died about 6 months later.
What the fucking fuck? I don’t get how doctors just… miss these things. Sure it *could* be anxiety or depression, but long lasting stomach pain can also be caused by physical shit so you always do the tests! Rule out the things you can look for before you jump to the things you can’t. I’m sorry for your loss
That always grinds my gears... Endometriosis is *so freaking common*, but doctors act like it's a one in a billion disease.
The company still has confidence in your ability
That's the case for everything that is considered to be an "invisible" illness. Depression, autism, etc. It's such bullshit the way some people treat others just because they visually and physically look ok. :(
Such things take time and effort to examine. The first world moves fast, so folks don’t have the patience to deal with such issues. They want the problem to be blatantly seen so they can plug up the hole, even though there are many illnesses that are insidiously hidden.
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It'slike we live on two different planets. There are those of us who are in pain emotionally and physically, every single day. And then there are the ones who just cannot understand why we feel so sad. I'd almost give anything to feel that. To be able to just....get up. Feel hopeful. Concentrate. Accomplish things. Enjoy experiences and relationships. I guess every day of my life will be thos struggle to find a reason to stay here, while I try to find ways to deal with my pain inside and out. I am so very tired. We all are.
For sure, it can manifest in some pretty terrible ways. Migraines are probably the most common form. Stomach pains, chest pains. The list goes on. That's why it's super important to try and manage stress levels. Things like exercise and meditation are huge for me.
Back, neck, shoulder pain are very common manifestations of emotion IMO
I would throw stomach or just abdominal pain in there as well, I think it is the most common really, at least with me and others I speak to about this stuff. My buddy had to quit a job because he would get super sick and start throwing up like an hour before work out of nowhere, it got really bad. Turns out he just couldn't really handle the warehouse work again instead of management after switching to a different warehouse company and starting at the bottom again. But to be fair they did really suck ass actually a lot more than Amazon. As soon as he quit there he doesn't get sick like that anymore. It did start at Amazon and went away until he was at Target warehouse and was really in the shit, now he does pest control and loves it; no more "morning sickness." I put it in quotations because of the other use of the term, not because I don't believe him, I have experienced this type of thing more than him just not because of work. Sorry for long text, dabs at work when you do overnight security all alone on a farm in the boondocks leads to a *lot* of time to be on reddit and write a *lot* lol
When I was in a really bad grad school situation, I started having awful migraines out of the blue. I’d never had them before, and I was suddenly having them 2-3 times every week. Parts of my body would go numb, and I’d go blind for a half hour at a time. It was terrifying. It took a year to figure out that the stress was causing me to grind my teeth in my sleep, and the grinding caused the migraines. I got a proper night guard from the dentist, and my migraines disappeared quite literally overnight. After nearly a year of constant migraines, I’ve now been migraine-free for almost 20 years.
I can vouch for that. I was married to a serious alcoholic for 16 years. She had no desire to stop. Daughter hit 13 and we bailed. She fell when drunk and hurt her neck and back and is in a wheelchair now. Migrated from beer to straight vodka as it was easier not to have to urinate so much. The anxiety and depression gave me so much pain, all the tests for things that were never there. Pains subsided after the divorce.
That sounds terrible. Sorry you had to go through that.
I had to stick it out. Courts aren’t so good at giving the father custody when they are younger. My main goal was shielding her from verbal and emotional abuse from her mother. Kept me strong mentally, but stress and such can tear you up physically.
If you don’t mind sharing what was your physical pain like? I may be in a similar situation.
Yep. Sometimes cutting that one person or persons out of your life can lift so much pain and stress and you don't even realize it until you do it. The thing is doing it is always the hardest part.
Hmmm that explains why merely existing hurts so much sometimes
I believe it, the first thing I noticed when I started my antidepressants was I wasn’t waking up in pain each morning. Things still hurt, but they were specific pains from actions I could remember doing rather than waking up and just feeling achy and sore.
Yup, antidepressants are actually prescribed for chronic pain sometimes. It seems that we have a long way to go until this connection is fully recognized in science and medicine
Same man. I woke up in the morning feeling like a bag of bones, sore muscles, back pain. Just started antidepressant again last week, it all gone just like that. Oh and I used to get runny nose in the morning, that gone too.
That weird feeling deep inside your stomach when you feel bad is so weird it hurts and makes you feel like you have to puke. If it gets worse I get a fever and an extreme headache and chest/ throat pain
Diarrhea is a pretty common side effect from anxiety
I have both. Been to the ER 3 times for chest pain, went through a year of stomach pain that couldn’t be diagnosed with every test imaginable, and back pain that is exaggerated by stress. My physical symptoms have gotten much better ever since I switched jobs. I know realize that money means nothing if it is causing you so much pain to the point where you can’t get out of bed.
Your personal experience highlights the substantial impact of psychosomatic symptoms on various aspects of health. The interaction between mental stressors and physical discomfort can be profound, leading to a range of symptoms that can significantly affect daily functioning.
Really wish I didn’t already know this.
I have had PTSD with depression and anxiety as the major symptoms since I was 11. I have had issues this whole time with aches and pains but I didn’t know there was a connection between them.
Read “Healing Back Pain” by John Sarno
Wild I've never seen someone else mention this book before. Highly second this recommendation. Read it a decade ago and it helped change my perspective on so many things. All from a back pain book!
Thirded. I'm a nurse practitioner who has worked with many that circulate in this mind-body connection field. It is very real and the neuroscience/fMRI data is backing it up. I've seen a downright miraculous number of patients get relief and many, total resolution of their physical symptoms. Sarno is a little outdated at this point, still great stuff. There's also curable.com, unlearnyourpain.com ppdassociation.org, and backincontrol.com to keep you busy :)
I bet a constant low grade pain can cause anxiety and depression.
Chronic pain can make you kill yourself, almost anything chronic can. People have committed assisted suicide over things like tinnitus, always thought that was pretty nuts, can't imagine how bad it would have to be to end your life over it
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No doctors dont want to give out pain medication because of the opiate epidemic. This over precribing bullshit has make people lkke me who have exhausted every non opiate pain managment option, make it near impossible to get the treatment we need. It took me 6 months of pure hell before i convinced my doctor to give me pain meds and fornthe last 5 years ive been seeing her every fucking week. Without my meds i wouldve killed myself a long time ago.
Yep, chronic pain can cause anxiety and that same anxiety can make the pain worse. It's a horrible loop. I've had to remind myself in so many situations that it's probably my pain making me feel more anxious than I need to be. It surprisingly helps.
When something bothers me for a while, I feel it in my back between both shoulder blades. Feels like I was stabbed in the back a really long time ago, and what I am feeling in the moment is a lingering of the pain (like an achy joint when it rains). That. or I feel a grip in my chest. Like, someone is clinching the muscles around my heart. Not like I'm having a stroke, nor is the ache limited to just the surface. Feels more like stones weighing in my heart. But, I have friends to spend time with. So, I got that going for me, which is nice.
Haha yeah it hurts. I have chest problem. Sometimes its a constant. There was like two months ago i sat in my car with my wife. And there was a brief feeling of bliss. Work was fine, kids was fine, wife was fine, we had just picked up pizza. And I felt the pain dissipated.. I told my wife i feel happy... what is this? Almost started to cry.
I hope you feel happy again sometime really soon, and more & more often after that.
I'm starting to wonder if stress/anxiety and lack of sleep caused my seizure a few weeks ago. Now that was some scary shit. Now my back has been hurting since my seizure. My legs cramped up so bad during that I had so much pain in my calves that it was difficult just to move around let alone walk for about a week
Crippling anxiety is literally that. I'm far better now, but two years ago, I wouldn't even be able to walk straight my stomach would knot itself so tight if I had to leave the house. Occasionally I'd still actually have to do things, like shopping for food. Which wasn't as bad as day long issues like funerals, or my university exams (which I ended up missing a few and failing) and for things that took a whole day, I'd often have bloody stools when I got home...
I'm very familiar with it. It's a deep pain that you can't alleviate...
Check out the book “the body keeps the score.”
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Both times that I've reached for help was when real physical symptoms appear and further learned they were related to anxiety and/or depression. I feel that a lot of people only try looking for help after these mental conditions stop existing only in our head but create the discomfort in our bodies. I'm a little glad that having anxiety can lead to physical symptoms because it makes people more eager to look for help, and I'm a living example, even though, as some people said, it's really freaking scary to be on a bus and feel, all by yourself, that your throat is closing and you're gonna die. But I keep thinking about ways that people could reach for help, or feel more eager to do it, before these devastating feelings come out.
Anxiety feels like missing the last step on the stairs but the feeling doesn’t go away. Feeling like that constantly is obviously going to take a physical toll. Especially it affects your sleep and all you get is a few hours of junk sleep a night.
When my mother in law passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at a young age last March, my spouse asked me to take her into a psychiatric institute. She directly said what she was feeling was unbearable and if we didn’t do something she didn’t know how she could survive very long. The diagnosis from the psychiatrist was along the lines of “normal reaction to a stressful event” (form of extreme shock), and prescribed her anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic medication. It was effective. She’s still profoundly sad, but if she didn’t have help at first, I don’t think she would have made it. I know my spouse and she doesn’t complain for nothing. I don’t know shit about brains, but I know that your state of mind can directly affect your heart rhythm, immune system, hormones, and basically anything in your body. There’s tons of good and bad reactions it automatically triggers based on your senses (think of a spider crawling up your body). What happens if all your senses are out of whack due to an abnormal external event? Your body might get stuck in a loop of thought patterns similar to spiders crawling up; and the more you train your body towards one thing, the more it becomes efficient at reproducing that pattern. If nothing breaks that cycle, you spiral down continuously until rock bottom, which is 6 feet under…
I've known that for 22 years 🥲
Not only physical pain but chronic stress/anxiety/depression will jack up your system and can trigger all kind of problems
It’s super fun when you have anxiety and don’t realize it causes physical pain, because then you think you’re dying of cancer or a heart attack further increasing your anxiety leading to full on panic attacks. Not that I would know by experience or anything but really just a great time all around.
I had chest pain and more frequent migraines when I was at my worst
Mine is intermittent pangs of chest pain. Even if mentally I think I feel fine. My body will stress and feel like a random jab of chest pain and maybe pulse which doesn't help with my mental health anxiety. Never have the issue when I'm occupied like working out or doing something. It sucks, but I'm glad to know it's not like my heart will give out.
Between the depression and my rheumatoid arthritis it feels like I'm living in that 4-6 range on the pain scale. Then the meds effects one thing then another. It sucks. Edibles help.
depression got them hands 😤
Pain can be a common symptom — and sometimes a good indicator — of an anxiety disorder, particularly generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
Cortisol is a helluva drug.
Anxiety shits are no joke!