It's been a long time sine I posted, because lately I've been doing amazing with my panic disorder. In fact I'm not even sure if I would still call it panic disorder anymore because of how much the quality of my life has changed. I used to barley even leave bed and be scared to shower in fear of falling so I would take only baths, I also was petrified to go into any store and if I did go into a store I felt like I was going to pass out. Anyways, now I go every where and any where....BUT, my body still feels very weird sometimes. When my anxiety was prevalent in my life, I blamed all my symptoms on my anxiety (because as you all know, anxiety can cause all kinds of pysical symptoms) but now that my anxiety is low (still wouldn't call it "normal", I would say my anxiety is higher than the average persons) I still get the many weird psychical symptoms sometimes. ie: dizziness, lighthead/ feeling faint, hot flashes, insomnia, burning skin, waking up feeling like I can't breath well, frequent stomach aches, and much more. My concern is that since my anxiety is better, that my pysical symptoms might be caused by something else, like a disease or something.
What I am asking is if it's possible for your anxiety levels to be low, but still have remaining pysical symptoms from when your anxiety was extremely high? Because whenever I get a pysical symptom my anxiety comes back - because I am fearing for the worse, but when I feel physically fine, my anxiety is low. Also, like I said, my anxiety is probably higher than the average persons, and it doesn't take much to aggravate my anxiety. I still get anxious quite frequently but unlike before it's tolerable and manageable.
so when you are really anxious for a long time. Your brain is pumping out loads of adrenaline and chemicals into your body. Over time your body gets used to this adrenaline and sort of becomes reliant on it. So often when people have overcome the physical symptoms of there anxiety the bodily sensations will continue even though in there mind they feel much less scared. Its like if you drove a car with your foot down on the accelerator all the time, eventually the car would malfunction. This is what happens to the mind and body if you have been through severe anxiety...... the adrenaline is still being pumped to your body causing physical symptoms even though in your mind you feel much better.
This is however, nothing to worry about, and with time your body and mind will come into equilibrium again you will feel relaxed and amazing. One thing that will really help you is to exercise............. a lot!
If you were in the wild and a tiger jumped out on you your body would create the same adrenaline that you are experiencing, however, you wouldnt be sitting around thinking about it. You would run away fast. This running away would use up the adrenaline and your body would feel normal when you stopped.
So- exercise big time, continue with exactly what you have been doing to help ease your mind, and these physical symtoms will subside.
Good Luck . Well done for the progress you have made so far too! sounds like you are doing awesome!
Also, its quite normal for physical symptoms to trigger mental symtoms.
What you need to do is remember that there is nothing wrong with you, this is just your body giving you adrenaline. So when it happens, try to combat the fear by breathing deeply........7 seconds in, 11 seconds out. Over and over until the physical symptoms subside. Also, most people fear the physical symptoms and try to escape them by running from them, distracting with there phone, or watching tv or eating some food etc....
Next time it happens practice doing this instead- its called body feeling.
Concentrate on your body, concentrate on the areas where you feel the anxiety. Really focus on them as if you are writing an essay on the feelings. For the first minute or 2 it will get worse, but eventually the sensations will subside and you should fine that your body becomes calm, and soon after your mind will follow
Try to remember the body and mind are really closely interlinked. Just play with this technique, it might well help you a lot.