We all know the usual symptoms of anxiety. Increased heart rate, sweating, shaking, crying, loud ringing in the ears… But did you know there are a lot more other symptoms that are more unknown?. Or ones that you would have never known stemmed from anxiety?

Well, here are a few unique physical symptoms of anxiety that you may not have expected:

Jaw Pain

Jaw pain is more so caused when you have anxiety. If you feel that you have an excessive amount of jaw pain, it could be caused by a few things while experiencing anxiety.

Quite a few more subtle things can be signs of anxiety. With jaw pain, it could be that when you get anxious, nervous, stressed or overwhelmed you clench your jaw or even grind your teeth. This is often a subconscious action. 

It is, in a way, your body coping with the anxiety that you’re feeling.

Whether you’re aware of your anxiety or not, keep in mind that your jaw pain could be from you unknowingly adding tension where it is not needed. 

This can have lasting effects such as alignment issues, ground down teeth or pain in your jaw and head. 

Ways to begin the healing process is to just begin to be aware of what you do while doing with anxiety. If you feel yourself tensing up, take the time to think about the area that is tense. Open up your jaw and move it around, relax the muscles around and in your mouth. Take deep breaths and for some people, putting their tongue behind their teeth helps them to relax their jaw. 

If you are having pain in your jaw, reflect in your mind and understand that it could be a physical symptom of anxiety and begin the process of trying to relax and focus your mind. It may take a few tries, but the progress will come. 

Skin Rashes

High levels of anxiety can cause physical rashes all over your body. It is not the reaction of an allergic reaction, it is a way for your body to cope with the stress it is under at the moment. 

Histamine is released throughout the body, causing a hive-like rash to appear. It is more common in those who have eczema, rosacea or psoriasis, but can happen to those without those skin conditions. 

Just like in an allergic relation, your body will have a reaction to the heightened emotions of anxiety. It is your sympathetic nervous system’s way of overreacting to the situation at hand. It is a response to stress on the body just like allergies.

The best way to treat these rashes is to begin to try to relax. Yes, it is easier said than done in some cases, but the first step is to get your heartrate back down to normal and then assess the situation. 

After that first step, finding something to get your mind off of the anxiety is key. For some people reading works, for others, taking a walk works. There are other activities such as watching a show, drawing, listening to music, baking and more that can begin the recovery process. 

If the rashes persist, using itch-cream or a cold compress can help. Some people will use antihistamines to assist in the process. 

Finding what works best for you can be a game changer. Skin rashes may be something that you have to deal with as a result of anxiety, but just know that there are usually always ways to help make it more bearable. 

Yawning

Yawning is a way that your body tells you that you aren’t breathing enough or that you’re not getting enough oxygen. With anxiety, the body can go into hyperventilation. Which causes the body to not get enough oxygen and irregulate the oxygen levels, just like when you get tired. 

Yawning expands the rib cage, allowing more room for air to enter the body. When you hyperventilate, you shorten your breathing and your lungs cannot expand to the level they need to in order to get enough air in the body. 

When hyperventilating during an anxiety attack, the body tends to resort to yawning in order to breathe properly. But in some cases this can be harmful to your anxiety attack. It can cause the person going through the attack to worry even more about the amount of air they are getting, which can cause a domino effect, therefore making the hyperventilating worse. 

The best way to avoid this whole strained process is to begin by taking deep breaths from the start. 

It can be very hard, especially in the middle of an anxiety attack where your heart rate is super high and you’re hot and have a hard time breathing, but focusing immediately on taking breaths will help to ease the anxiety attack faster as well as make sure that your body is getting the air it needs. 

Often, people will try to find someone to help them get through their anxiety attacks and walk them through it. Having someone tell you what to do throughout the process can help you to focus on the steps they tell you to do. 

Chest pain

While having anxiety, your heart rate can skyrocket. The stress on your body, worried feelings and nerves have a tendency to pile up and overwhelm the person. 

Adrenaline and cortisol are released into the body which cause the heart to rapidly beat, muscles to tense up and blood pressure to rise. This in turn, can cause chest pain as there is so much happening in the body at one time. 

Since the adrenaline spikes so quickly, it causes the arteries in your heart to narrow. This often feels like a heart attack. It is called Stress Cardiomyopathy. It is not something that occurs with everyone who has anxiety, but it isn’t a rare thing… 

The difference between this kind of chest pain and an actual heart attack is that during a heart attack, that pain is throughout the chest, down the arms and into the neck. With an anxiety type chest pain, usually it is just located in the chest itself. 

Staying relaxed and remembering your deep breathing are things that help with those who have this anxiety triggered chest pain. Asking for help from those around you as well as your doctor can also be helpful remedies. 

With all of these physical symptoms of anxiety, there are ways to help prevent them or at least help to make the repercussions not as bad. Asking for help from those who are closest to you, or asking for help from your doctor are vital. Knowing that you’re not alone in this process can make all the difference. 

Be in tune with yourself and be aware of what your body is going through. Having anxiety is not an easy thing, but knowing what helps and what doesn’t can make it more bearable on the person going through it.