hi there
medically I don't know why, but this happens to me too - almost as if once anxiety is established it has a life of its own in the brain. RLR might put  me straight on this, but I think the nervous system is so out of kilter once you have had anxiety a while it shoots off odd signals even if you are not feeling particularly anxious, which is why CBT's thought tracking is often difficult to work with. sometimes you might spot a negative thought pattern but other times not. You might just be having a stressful time which just triggers it all off.

Best wishes
beadbabe

I have found this too - at times my anxiety spells are clearly linked to a stressful situation, but at others the anxiety just kind of floods over you from nowhere. I can only describe it as a wave of anxiety - and you can no more resist it than you can stop a wave of nausea from making you feel sick. I can sometimes see that it is linked to lack of sleep or even hunger, but at times I still feel anxious for no reason. I can only think that when you have been anxious for a very long time, it really takes very little to 'set you off'.

I am much less anxious than I used to be - but I still have a slight head tremour, which never seems to go completely, regardless of how I feel.

It is possible to get better though - don't ever give up believing that you can get well. At times I have been totally paralysed by anxiety, almost agoraphobic, big panic attacks, the works - all due to anxiety about my heart and ectopics. Actually, last week was the 3rd anniversary of my operation and then trip to A and E and diagnosis, which (mostly) set the whole anxiety thing off. Three years on and although I am not 'back to my old self' (though who is ever the same all through their lives?) I am well on the way to living my life without anxiety holding me back.

I am still full of ANTS (automatic negative thoughts) - I had to take a toy back to a shop today. I had already convinced myself that the woman was going to give me a hard time and had actually written my complaint letter in my head. In fact, she just changed it straight away and said 'Make sure you take your batteries out'.

All I can advise is not to fight the anxiety, but to let it wash over you. Resisting it and 'fighting' it is exhausting. There is no magic wand but it is possible to recover from these things with time and patience.

hello
That is a very good way to describe it - I have been having that for about a week now. It is a prickly tingly feeling around my heart area or top of stomach that happens when I am moving around. It feels related to my heart. I wonder if it is the same thing. It worries me but my GP didn't know what I was talking about!