Has stress ever caused you to manifest odd physical symptoms?

I once had a stomach ulcer; although it was a very real physical thing, and I’m told it was caused by a viral infection, I’m certain that stress contributed to it.

I’m with downtide. My stomach went really bad when I went to college. I ate rolaids like candy. It took mono and 4 straight days of sleep to get it to go away after I graduated. But no other signs..

Definitely. I’d argue that most of my strange physical symptoms are caused by my stress/anxiety. It certainly exacerbates the problem either way.

I’ve had widespread pain and even semi-severe breast pain caused primarily by anxiety. I was diagnosed with IBS while planning my wedding, but that diagnosis no longer applies as I haven’t had symptoms since. That, in addition to your standard muscle tension, headaches, fatigue, trouble breathing, etc.

One very stressful time in my life, I flushed beet red all over my body for about an hour, luckily it went away after I calmed down.

Another stressful event made me so tense my back went out in the tanning bed and I was stuck.

Another time when my mom broke up with my step-dad, I got stomach ulcers and went to the doctor because I couldn’t keep anything down for several days, then I was put on a bland diet with 7-up and water only for about a week.

Needless to say, xanax just made me lazy so I quit after a year and took my doctor’s advice to read and exercise since they both calm me. From then on, I’ve handled stress much better.

Yep.

Stress is a neat little thing.

I had tension headaches. Got tension in my shoulders and neck so bad that regular activity hernaited two disks, pulled my shoulder out of the socket, and tore a tendon.

I was wrapped up in stress for a months that time though. I would say it was unusual. But I do this thing where I hold my body up oddly when I am tense.

There was one confrontation that my stomach was so knotted I had trouble breathing. I held it together until after and I got physically sick immediately I could feel my knots unwinding.

I literally get a pain in my right butt cheek that won’t go away.

I get headaches and suffer more stomach upsets.

A colleague of mine when faced with a really stressful time at work broke out in hives.

Oh and neck cramp. There is a muscle in my neck that cramps up. I think it’s because I must hold myself taught or something. I didn’t draw the connection between stress and these recurring neck cramps for quite a while. Now if I feel my self tensing up, it is an alert that I’m stressed. When I get these cramps I can barely move my head for days on occasions until it loosens up. Since I’ve been aware of the relatedness to stress, I don’t remember having one.

After a really stressful week once, a patch of skin just below my rib cage all of a sudden became sensitive to the slightest touch (even wearing a shirt was too much), and temperature changes. After 2 days it was gone, but yeah no other explanation, just an unusual reaction to stress..

One time my boyfriend was so stressed out about his roommate that I made a stir fry and he ate a ton of it, this was at night. And probably 12 hours later, in the morning, he puked it up and it hadn’t even begun to digest! It had just sat there. I was like “woaaaah, you need to resolve this issue” lol and luckily he did.

Recently I was so stressed about work that I almost vomited on the spot. But I didn’t. It’s crazy how physical it can become.

I have had severe back problems on occasion from extreme stress filled situations. I had a big issue at work, the next morning trying to get out of bed my back completely locked up and caused me severe pain.

That has happened about 5 times in the last 30 years.

Yes. My head gets itchy. And I get these little tiny blisters on my arms, and hives. I also get anxiety attacks so bad I stop breathing and then I think I am having a heart attack. Woohoo. So much fun.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl You might want to get that checked. I’ve had allergic reactions like that and I’ve wondered if I’m going to stay conscious.

I’ve never gone to the doctor for anything related to stress but I do notice that when I am stressed I a more exhausted, I scratch my skin more (self induced irritation I guess), I grind my teeth more, I sometimes get stomach cramps or bloating and I get headaches. Oh also I get like joint or muscle pain, nothing serve but overall my body feels like crap when I’m stressed.

@Adirondackwannabe I am allergic to things. The most notable allergic reaction often appears ironically as soon as I know I am going to stay conscious..I am bipolar I have summed that up to my brain being allergic to life. 0_o

Severe anxiety has at times caused me severe gastrointestinal distress, I’ll spare you the details. Fortunately I have long ago learned to master my anxiety.

I had an ulcer at the age of 12. I had a few panic attacks in high school. Most recently, about 3 years ago, I was rushed to ER for crushing chest pains. After an EKG, and feeling my tense muscles at my back and shoulders the doctor told me it was the most extreme case of stress causing pinched nerves he had ever seen.

Yes, and it landed me in the hospital.

Almost seven years ago, I was in a very stressful job and financial situation. Wasn’t sleeping, lots of aches and pains. Then, one day, I started getting chest pains. I went to the ER and, after a quck EKG, they were sure it was a heart attack. Then, they thought I had a hole in my lung.

They kept me in hospital for three days of tests and observation. In the end, no initial diagnosis bore fruit.

They ultimately decided it was a “stress induced episode”.

I started to develop heart palpitations and thought I had a dangerous arrhythmia after starting the Job From Hell, it took me a few weeks and a panic attack during the Christmas shopping rush midway through buying a kettle in Kmart, that I realized it for what it was anxiety induce adrenalin surges.

When I was about 14 I suffered from stress-induced hives for a few weeks because of bullshit I was dealing with at school.

I didn’t see a doctor for it. Had it lasted any longer than it did (10–14 days), I’m sure I would have.

@nofurbelowsbatgirl An allergic reaction and a panic attack are very similar. The difference is how fast they develop, usually. Panic attacks come fast. Plus allergic reactions get worse each time.

@FutureMemory Bullied or similar?

@Adirondackwannabe

I think I was getting kicked out of high school for truancy at the time.

@FutureMemory High school was over rated anyway.

@Adirondackwannabe Yes, I have panic attacks, I know because they happen only during certain extreme stressful/fearful times, say for example a crowded store, or a hospital, I get them at both.

Ugh, story of my life. It is very strange to me how emotions can have such strong physical effects on the body! My digestive disease has always responded to stress. Stress can trigger a flare, and the problem then is that once you get that ball rolling it’s not necessarily going to stop once you calm down. And of course being sick is stressful, so it’s a vicious cycle too.

It took me a very long time to learn to stop beating myself up and feeling that sickness is “my fault” for not handling stress well enough. The fact of the matter is that a person is supposed to be able to get stressed out now and then without dire consequences, and the fact that my body couldn’t manage that was not my fault.