Anxiety And Chronic Pain

Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare provider. The information I am sharing has come solely from research I have done myself.

Do you ever wonder if anxiety and stress play a role in your chronic pain?

I have had SEVERE anxiety since I was a young child. So severe I would throw up every morning before school because I was anxious. Usually the thought of being away from my mom and just around other people in general would cause this reaction.

I wish I could say it got better as I got older. My separation anxiety turned more into anxiety about life in general. Dying, getting sick, people not liking me….you get the point. Pretty much anything you could be anxious about, I was.

When I first started having chronic pain and inflammation in my body it didn’t make sense to me. How does this just happen? I’ve been fairly healthy all my life.

I decided to start doing some research and was shocked by what I found.

Medical studies have proven that a prolonged or excessive amount of anxiety can be directly rooted to chronic pain. That’s not all I found!

Anxiety can also make some people feel pain that may not be felt otherwise. When you are in a constant anxious state, your body is more prone to inflammation.

My take away from this? Don’t let anyone gas light you into thinking that because you have anxiety your pain is just “in your head”. I am sure we have all heard that at one point or another. Some people would say our anxiety and over thinking about being in pain is causing our pain. It’s actually the other way around. We are anxious which is causing more inflammation in our body …which then leads to MORE PAIN.

I wanted to share this with other chronic pain warriors like myself. I have spent many days wondering, “Am I just crazy? Am I imagining this pain?”.

Well the answer is, no. That is a peace of mind that I definitely needed. I hope this information finds someone else who needs it!

To all my chronic pain warriors, I understand your pain, I hear you, and I respect you more than you will ever know!