Typically, when you think of anxiety, experiencing excessive worry and mental tension may come to mind. Thus, anxiety is often considered by many to be something that affects your brain.

However, did you realize that anxiety causes physical symptoms too? These can range from back pain, nausea, and even blurred vision.

Taken only by themselves, understanding the reasons why you’re experiencing these symptoms can be confusing when the underlying problem may, in reality, be anxiety.

Consider ten physical symptoms you shouldn’t dismiss as being effects of anxiety.

1. Changes in Body Temperature

People may experience changes in body temperature when they have anxiety. On the one hand, you may feel very cold when anxious, regardless of the season or what you’re doing to try to get warm. On the other hand, you may feel very hot when anxious and begin to sweat.

2. Back Pain

Back pain is another physical effect of anxiety. When experiencing an episode of anxiety your back muscles can get tight and become very painful. Even if you get a massage to work out the tension, the pain often still remains.

3. Nausea

If you have anxiety, becoming physically sick to your stomach can be another symptom. Your body becomes so stressed that it must evacuate whatever is in your stomach. If you have an anxiety attack while in public, this can be very embarrassing. All others see is that you’re being sick.

4. Racing Heartbeat

This is one of the most scariest effects of anxiety, when your heart starts to beat very fast. If you experience this problem, it can be very distressing. Even though there is nothing wrong with you, it still feels as if you are about to have a heart attack. The worry alone can make your anxiety worse.

5. Gastrointestinal Problems

Have you noticed that when you feel anxious you have a sudden urge to go? You may also have stomach cramps which cause pain. This problem can greatly interfere with your life and make it hard for you to function day-to-day.

6. Blurred Vision

You start to get anxious and your vision begins to get blurry. The disorientation can make it hard to focus. Or you may experience tunnel vision where your range of vision narrows. As with other effects of anxiety, this experience can be scary.

7. Migraine Headaches

One of the classic physical symptoms of anxiety is experiencing headaches, particularly migraine headaches. These can be very painful and make it impossible to focus on anything else but the headache. Blurred vision, mentioned above, can be part of that.

8. Loss of Vocal Control

With the loss of vocal control, you’ll find it difficult to talk. You trip over your words and stammer as you talk too fast. It’s as if you have lost the ability to form words and sentences that are coherent. Embarrassment over what is happening can cause your anxiety to increase.

9. Narcolepsy

When your anxiety is so great that your mind and body shut down, it can cause you to fall asleep. It’s that typical movie character fainting when someone have a completely shocking encounter. If this happens to you at an inopportune time, it can not only be embarrassing but dangerous.

10. Rashes

You may have noticed that you occasionally break out into a painful and itchy rash. Would you have ever connected it to effects of anxiety? Sadly, the stress and discomfort associated with a rash only add to the distress of an anxiety attack.

Multiple Symptoms at Once

Keep in mind that it’s possible to experience multiple physical anxiety symptoms at the same time. For example, if you become anxious, your heart rate may rise, you become hot and sweaty, you break out in a rash, and you get a migraine headache—all at once.

For the average person, these symptoms by themselves seem unconnected and are, of course, troubling and painful to experience. However, the deeper reason for why you may be experiencing the symptoms is because they can be effects of anxiety.

Clearly, having anxiety isn’t easy.

Combined, both mental and physical symptoms can be overwhelming and only add to the anxiety. This is especially true if you don’t understand why certain things are happening to you.

However, with my help, you can begin to gain back control and keep the physical symptoms of anxiety from overrunning your life. Please, contact me.