5 LESSER KNOWN SYMPTOMS OF ANXIETY // Warning Signs that Something May Be Off

What's going on? Welcome back to my channel. We need to talk about the lesser known signs of anxiety. We all generally know really common signs of anxiety. Somebody may be panicky, sweaty, they're having a full blown panic or anxiety attack, they're telling you they feel really anxious. But there's a lot of things that are lesser known that we maybe don't realize could be anxiety because they're just your body's way of telling you that something might be off. So your body's really smart. Oftentimes it will try to tell you that something is off kilter long before you even realize that something is wrong or long before you even want to admit that something is off. So teaching somebody to be in tune with their body, be more mindful and aware of what they're feeling and what's going on, can often help stay stop an explosion of emotion or stop somebody completely maybe spiraling out of control because they're more aware of their body and their mind or what is happening when something is off and they're able to do something about it sooner or be preventative about what they struggle with. So learning these few lesser known signs of anxiety can maybe help you start to think, hey, is something off? Is something going on? Is there something I need to be more honest about or explore more so this doesn't turn into something bigger or something that maybe I can't handle or that I struggle with? None of this is to say that you have an anxiety disorder. These are things that generally I ask a client so that we can start to see what else is going on or figure out how to best help them because, because they might not even realize that these might be a problem or turn into a problem or might start to impact their ability to function or cope in the future. So this is not for diagnostic purposes. These are just things that I tend to see in my office when we talk about anxiety or when I'm treating it that people don't even realize were a sign a long time before something maybe really started to go wrong or they really started to struggle. So one of the first things that I see a lot because I do get referrals from doctors, is stomach aches. Now doctors will run tests and they'll say there's nothing physically wrong with you. You might need to do something about your stress levels or you might just need to talk to somebody. Now if you want to get a second opinion and all that stuff, like, by all means, please do so, listen to your doctor. But I do get referrals from Doctors of clients who there is nothing physically wrong that they can find. And it turns out there is a lot of anxiety. So stomach aches can be a sign that there might be something emotional happening or something somebody isn't dealing with. Because when somebody is anxious or they start to go into that fight or flight response, the body is gonna put a ton of energy towards prepping your muscles to run, getting your blood flowing, getting your mind to be really alert and sharp. Because your brain's job is to keep you alive. It's to help you survive. So if you're experiencing anxiety, your brain is really sensing danger. It's getting your body ready for fight or flight. So it's not putting a ton of energy into digestion, which if you've just eaten, can impact your ability to digest food and bring on stomach aches and things like that. The other thing is anxiety can kind of cause things to misfire, and it can cause stomach aches and diarrhea, constipation and things like that. So stress can absolutely wreak havoc on the body and it can really impact us. But when we talk about anxiety, a big physical symptom that we see with anxious people or people who struggle with anxiety is stomach aches. Because a lot of times people who struggle with anxiety start to feel a pit in their stomach, or they start to feel sick or nauseous, or their stomach hurts or whatever it may be. But. But a lot of times it's centered in the stomach, and that's where people start to feel it first, or that's the one physical symptom that they really start to notice, and maybe don't even notice that their thoughts are starting to spiral out of control or that this could be anxiety, they're just experiencing a lot of those physical symptoms in regards to, like, stomach aches. So if you've experienced stomach aches and there's no physical cause for it, or your doctor is telling you maybe you need to talk to somebody, I really encourage you to do that because stomach aches are a big sign, a lesser known sign of anxiety that I do see a lot in common with my clients who struggle with anxiety. The second lesser known sign of anxiety is indecisiveness. People who struggle with anxiety tend to not be very confident in their ability to make decisions. So even the small, smallest decision, like what color shirt I should wear, or when it comes to something bigger, like a breakup or a job decision, can cause them to feel paralyzed because they don't have the security to make the decision. But the anxiety is Also causing them to worry about, what if I make the wrong decision? What if this person doesn't like me? What if this comes back to like, bite me in the butt? What if something goes wrong? All of these things tend to go through our minds, but something sometimes we're not even aware of those thoughts. We just know that we have a hard time making decisions. So one thing I see a lot in my clients who struggle with some kind of level of anxiety is their inability to make decisions. It's a lot of indecisiveness. A third, lesser known symptom of anxiety is fatigue. Anxiety is exhausting, especially if you're not aware that you struggle or, or you haven't fully processed what's going on, or you're not really mindful or aware of what's happening in your mind or body and things are just kind of running course without you knowing what's going on. Anxiety can be exhausting. Your thoughts are constantly running, or maybe you're not able to sleep at night, which then makes you tired during the day. And we know sleep can impact our mood and our ability to function. So when it comes to fatigue, if you're feeling really tired, there is probably a reason for that, aside from the fact that you're just staying up late watching Netflix and things like that. If you're unable to sleep or you feel really fatigued throughout the day and you're getting a lot of sleep, there might be something else going on that you might not realize. And I encourage a professional opinion because fatigue can absolutely be one of those long, lesser known signs. We tend to think that people who are anxious are really alert or high energy or like wired, because we think of anxiety as this panicky kind of person. And they might be, but because their mind spends a ton of time anticipating or coming up with worst case scenarios or worrying or whatever it might be for that person, it can cause a lot of fatigue throughout the day because their mind is spending so much mental capacity thinking about things that they might not be aware of, or if they are aware of, that they don't know how to manage. So anxiety absolutely can be exhausting for some people and fatigue can be a sign. A fourth, lesser known sign of anxiety is inability to concentrate or having a difficult time focusing. When there's this heightened sense of anxiety for people, whether they realize it or not, there can be this like intense preoccupation with whatever's going on and they're not able to focus on what they're trying to do in the moment. So a generalization if anxiety is worrying about the future. If your mind is constantly kind of thinking about what if or what could happen or what are they thinking or are they judging me or, or worst case scenario, or just thinking and worrying about the future. When you're in the moment trying to focus on something, your mind has a hard time reconciling, trying to worry about the future, but also staying present. So it can be really difficult for somebody to focus on a task or work or a task at hand or whatever they're trying to do. But we do see a lot of inattention when it comes to somebody who might be more anxious. They do tend to have an inability to focus at times because of all of the preoccupation that's going on in their mind. Something I do see a lot because anxiety tends to be a ton of energy for people, is they bounce around and they try to multitask because they can't stay focused. So then they're multitasking, which we can't do anyway because your brain can't focus on more than one thing at a time. So. So somebody who's highly anxious or struggling with anxiety or doesn't know can't stay focused. They're jumping from one thing to another and then nothing's getting done, or it's taking longer to get things done because their brain can't just sit still. And they're constantly trying to like mitigate the stress that they're experiencing by changing the task or trying to go do something different, or they're getting frustrated that they can't focus, so they go try to do something else. So. So there's all kinds of ways that concentration can be wrapped up in somebody who tends to be more anxious. But if you're struggling to concentrate and there are no other reasons why this might be the case for you, you might want to explore, is there something else going on? Am I feeling anxious? Am I feeling emotional? Are there other thoughts in my mind that I'm not aware of? Because when we're jumping from task to task, we often are trying to stay distant, distracted, and we're not really mindful of what is actually happening. So difficulty concentrating is something that I see and it can absolutely be a sign of anxiety. The last thing I want to talk about is withdrawing. A lot of times when somebody struggles with anxiety, they are struggling with a lot of other things other than what is going on in their life in the moment. They're struggling with all of these thoughts or worries about the future, worst case scenarios, whatever it might be for them and they're not really present in their life. And this can kind of tend to cause somebody to withdraw, like withdraw socially or not be so talkative at work or things like that. Because there's so much going on in their mind. They just don't have the mental capacity or the wherewithal to want to be with other people because there's so much of an internal struggle. One thing I ask my clients a lot if I'm assessing for anxiety is if there's any changes in their socialization or their relationships or things like that. Because people who struggle with anxiety or who tend to be more on the anxious end of the thought process might start to withdraw without even realizing it because they just don't have the mental capacity to be around other people or to engage with other people or to go to social events. Or they're really starting to kind of spiral out of control. They're worrying about what other people think of them. So they start to cancel going places or they don't even want to be around people socially because they're so worried about how other people are perceiving them. And those are the kinds of things that can spiral into like social anxiety and things like that. But withdrawing, depending on what's going on in your life, can definitely be a sign that there might be some anxiety there. Now just remember, none of those five things mean that you absolutely have an anxiety disorder. There's a lot more that goes into being diagnosed and there's a lot more that goes into our assessment as professionals of figuring out if somebody meets the criteria for an anxiety disorder diagnosis. But those five things, stomach ache, indecisiveness, difficulty concentrating, fatigue and withdrawal. Drawing can definitely be some of those lesser known symptoms that anxiety might be something that you struggle with, or that you might just need some new or different or better skills to cope with the stress in your life more. Or there are signs that you need to be more mindful and pay attention of what is going on. Because we don't want any of these things to spiral out of control or lead to bigger issues and cause other problems or cause you to struggle with functioning day to day. Because you haven't been mindful of these lesser known symptoms. You tried to ignore them or stuff them down and now they're starting to kind of blow up in your face. So these are some of those lesser known symptoms that people don't pay attention to. But I really encourage people to pay attention to because we don't want them to turn into anything bigger. It's all about just knowing your body, paying attention. If anything says seems off, realizing, hey, there might be a reason that this is off, or if it's maybe not circumstantial, or maybe you're just having a rough day, that's okay. But if this is happening, or you're thinking about this stuff more than you'd rather be, ask for help. We never want something to turn into a bigger issue than it needs to be. Ask for help. Anything can be worked on. It might be nothing, and that's great, but we definitely don't want it to turn into anything if we can help it.