People face anxiety-causing situations regularly. Expectations at school, work, or home, as well as in relationships can be particularly troubling.
It’s different with anxiety disorders. You’re not just nervous. Your feelings remain. In fact, the anxiety can get worse and can negatively affect your overall health.
But when you have general anxiety disorder, you’re really worried about issues even when you have little or no reason to worry. In fact, you feel anxiety most of the time, believing projects or tasks will fail. Sometimes, these worries can even prevent you from just initiating tasks and interfere with daily activities.
General anxiety disorder often starts slowly, usually emerging when you’re a teenager or young adult. Sometimes you’ll feel better, sometimes not. You may feel worse when you’re stressed.
Symptoms of general anxiety disorder include:
- Inability to relax
- Easily startled
- Trouble concentrating
- Insomnia
- Tiredness
- Headaches
- Tension
- Trouble swallowing
- Trembling
- Twitching
- Irritability
- Sweating
- Nausea
- Light-headedness
- Frequent urination
- Breathlessness
- Hot flashes
A typical diagnosis for general anxiety disorder involves having a combination of these (and possibly other) behaviours for at least 6 months.
Because people with general anxiety disorder often ask for help with a specific symptom, doctors may not recognize the symptom as part of a larger condition. As a result, a diagnosis may not occur until after several visits.
If you think you have general anxiety disorder, talk to your doctor about your symptoms. Get an exam to see if general anxiety disorder is the true cause of your symptoms. Then see a mental health specialist for treatment.