What’s Really Going on With Anxiety and Fibromyalgia?
Disclaimer: This article details my experiences with fibromyalgia and anxiety only. I am not a medical professional but an individual suffering from the conditions. Please consult a healthcare provider if you have concerns about your health and symptoms.
Before developing the dratted condition known as fibromyalgia, I never knew that anxiety was such a real thing. Of course, I was familiar with a vaguely churning stomach, but panic attacks, all-consuming waves of adrenaline? Not so much. Like so many of us do, I always presumed that that sort of thing would never happen to me. It was something that happened to other people. Anxiety and fibromyalgia were words I barely knew.
How Does Fibromyalgia Anxiety Feel?
Anxiety was, in fact, my very first symptom. It started as a niggling background sense that all was not well initially. I put it down to life circumstances and little more than that. I knew that I’d suffered a traumatic experience a few months prior and was slowly trying to put myself back together. I guess I put my sudden low level of depression and constant feeling out of it derealisation down to nothing more than some mild post-traumatic stress disorder. I told myself that it would come to pass.
The problem is that it didn’t. The summer of that doomed year, I woke up abruptly one night with intense feelings of strangulation. I thought I might wake up and see an attacker, but there was no one in my bedroom. With the help of someone else, I made my way to the nearest hospital, only to be told that nothing was wrong with me. I came home feeling despondent and more worried and confused than ever.
The Panic Attacks
I’ll admit, once again, that before suffering, I doubted if panic attacks were a real thing. As in, how many physiological symptoms were really involved? Were sufferers just making a fuss out of nothing? The answer is no, and no again.
Fibromyalgia-induced panic attacks are a monstrous wave of adrenaline and an impending sense of doom all at once that come over your entire mind and body. They are so all-consuming that it’s a mighty hard time to think your way out of them. My throat becomes locked in strangulation mode, and nothing can rectify the situation at that very moment. It feels like choking and desperately gasping for air whilst at the back of your mind, wondering if any of it is happening. Even though I’m evidently still managing to breathe, my brain doesn’t seem to register. These anxiety attacks mark the very worst times of my life.
I had multiple what I now reluctantly recognise as panic attacks, so severe that I would once again make my way to an emergency hospital with haste. The hospital would never have any answers, only vague dismissal. My world started to become smaller and smaller, as I feared travelling to a remote place in case of another episode. My life was now marked with distinct terror, and no one had any answers as to how I could get out of it.
Never in any moment of a fibromyalgia panic attack did I think that I wasn’t in genuine physical danger. I consider myself a grounded, somewhat stoic individual, to be frank. So, to experience such terror out of seemingly nowhere was a significant shock. I barely recognised myself and didn’t know what to do. I quickly realised that mainstream medicine has no answers or solutions that could help me.
So, What’s Really Going On With Anxiety and Fibromyalgia?
Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, arguably one in the same condition, is a deeply misunderstood condition. I feel that only now are we on the precipice of shaking off the psychomatic chains.
The reality is that anxiety and fibromyalgia involve major biochemical abnormalities. We are trying to live in bodies that are not balanced and are stuck in mitochondrial failure; mitochondria the thing being responsible for producing energy. Is it any wonder that we’re battling various bizarre and extreme symptoms? We’re like cars trying to drive to a destination on an empty fuel tank. We’re not OK.
What’s more, fibromyalgia is increasingly recognised for what it historically used to be known as, soft tissue arthritis. In my case, my worst affected area has always been my throat muscles. Soft tissue arthritis will ultimately keep tissues in a locked, unnatural state, which is bound to send anxiety levels sky-high. This condition is so multi-faceted, but the tragedy is that the truth isn’t out there yet. Will it ever be revealed? I can’t personally say.
If you’re suffering from unexplained anxiety, it may well be that the bigger picture is anxiety and fibromyalgia. I truly believe that so many who are diagnosed with various mental health disorders are fighting something very much in the physical realm. Whether mainstream medicine will ever catch up is another story, but for now, we can support each other and share information in online spaces. So much is to be said for that.
I’ve published an extensive post on the only treatment plan to help my fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue. You can read the post here.
