Hi all,

I have this underlying anxiety that I call unconscious because I can't pinpoint the reason its here. So I guess it's the reason that is unconscious and not the anxiety. How can I find the root cause and deal with that?

Love and Hugs,
Tara

[Aunt Donna]

Do you have any triggers or anything you worry about? This may help you find the root cause.

[sundog]

Hi tara. Welcome! I have a lot of free-floating anxiety also. That is, a physical feeling of anxiety in my body that I can't attribute to anything in particular. I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder and this free-floating anxiety is a common part of that. You might want to mention GAD to your doctor and see about a referral for some therapy?

At the same time, it's always good to get some tests done to make sure there isn't an underlying physical cause.

Let us know how you are doing!

[cutebagaddict08]

Hello! Welcome! I can understand how frustrating it is to have anxiety and not know why or what is causing it. I have anxiety with Premenstural dysphoric disorder. I was diagnosed about a year ago. I've probally had anxiety all my life, I've always been known to my friends and family as the 'worry wart.' About 3 to 4 yrs ago, I noticed my worrying was getting worse and it was not related to a stressful event that I could pin-point. I started seeing a therapist about a year ago, and through that realized I had alot of hidden hurt feelings and anxiety with my parent's divorce that happened 7 yrs ago. (When they first got divorced I was graduating from college, starting a new job/career, in the process of moving out;etc. so I had things to disctract me from dealing with their issues in a way.) I also started tracking when I would get the anxiety and noticed it increased greatly right before my menstural cycle. So I started researching, etc, and spoke to my doctors.
Journaling also has helped me alot.....helps me keep track of my feelings and work out my anxiety at times.
Hope some of this helps you!

Hi All,

I was given an anti-anxiety med which surprised me. I had serious head trauma from a suicide attempt and the doctors told me that meant the anti-anxiety meds would do harm to my fragile brain.

So all is well. I take the meds when I need them and don't when I don't.

Love and Hugs,
Tara

[sundog]

Good to hear from you ((((((tara))))))) I'm glad the anti-anxiety med is helping.

[Cyran0]

I too am glad the med is helping.

But you bring up an interesting question. For those of us who experience a lot of free floating anxiety, what is the cause and how do you deal aside from pills? I find it interesting because my therapist and I were talking about that today and he had an interesting theory in my case.

For the first 20 years of my life there was a lot of abusive stuff going on and he thinks my body/subconscious learned to have anxious be my "normal". If that's the case he says there are things we can work on to change my "normal".

Anyway, thought I'd share that tidbit since it fit your question so perfectly.

Cyran0

[Rose76]

I was attracted to the name of your thread. All my life I've been prone to anxiety and usually what I feel corresponds to the situation I'm in or the particular stress that is provoking it. About 5 years ago, I started having episodes of chest pain - like a feeling of someone stepping on my chest and it would hurt to breath. The first time it happened, I had no idea it was related to anxiety. I had someone take my to an emergency room. By the time I got there, it went away. I was living in a domestic violence shelter. People were nice to me there. I liked the place. One evening when I thought I was relaxed this chest pain came on.

Since then, I've had (not frequently) other episodes of pretty hard chest pain. Aways it seems to come on when I'm not conscious of being particularly worried of anxious. But, always it comes on when the circumstances of my life, or something that is going on is not normal.

I am glad you brought up the idea that the mind can be intensely worried at a sub-conscious level. When I have gotten these chest pains that can last 25 minutes, I have been not crying, not feeling panicky. My conscious mind was kind of at ease. Maybe that allowed my unconscious mind to use more of my brain, cause it wasn't being used for something else.

Try to figure out what you are really afraid of. Like not just short term - but what you are worried might happen down the road. I could find something to account for every episode of chest pain I have. Now that I know it's my mind and not my heart that is creating the problem, I can almost "will it" to go away. So, it lasts 5 or 10 minutes instead of 25. But, lately, since worrying about getting another job, I do get episodes.

[lachrymose]

I'm kind of a the same place. I like the term 'free floating anxiety'. It's like a little cloud that follows me around and decides to rain on me occasionally.

Sometime I know what brings it on - like a specific person or situation. But other times it's jut there...lurking..waiting for me.

Is there something in the subconscious that I haven't identified? Perhaps a topic for the shrink today...

[Open Eyes]

I can really relate to the stories here and even the confusion, especially going to the emergency room thinking I was having a heart attack or something. It was embarassing when I was told, oh your just having an anxiety attack and nothing more. I felt embarassed, especially by the way they were acting like it was no big deal.

I remember the doctor coming in and saying, if only you could win the lottery, that would make it easier. I found it pretty peculiar. At that point, because I was experiencing addressing a lot of damage resulting from a traumatic event, I simply said, even that would not fix my problem.

But, at least I got to see that even though I felt completely stressed out in anxiety, I was still experiencing normal heart rythm and blood pressure.

But, I have to say that I don't necessarily think that the floating concept is completely accurate. From what I have read and even some medical explanations, I have come to know that stress and anxiety builds up in our bodies and at some point it erupts. It can erupt even if we are not having a very stressful day and it can seem to catch us off guard. But, if we stop and track the previous days there may have been an event or very stressful situation where it didn't come out, and in fact it was slowly building.

I do know it can be pretty difficult to gauge because we also have to consider triggers if we have PTSD. Even then, sometimes we can be triggered and not really recognise it and that can be another way for it to build up.

I also think that it can be very difficult if we are going thru a difficult period in our life that is causing stress, for example financial issues etc.
And, even more, I have noticed that because of the overall tone of our economy and events going on in the world, that can also be some sort of subliminal stress that can silently build up too. I have noticed that many people are struggling today and they are uneasy in general.

Open Eyes

[madisgram]

my T called it "free floating" anxiety but also said there was an underlying cause of course. my journaling helped me identify that "sneaky" cause most times.