difficulty speaking, a lot of muscle tension, i am an athlete, what should I do?
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I am currently 22 years old. i have struggled with general and social anxiety pretty much since I was in high school but now my background anxiety and social anxiety are both getting out of control really bad. I am currerntly expericening a lot of muscle tension and pain in my body. I specifically feel this tension/pain running from the upper part of stomach (like my abs/diaphragm) all the way up to my voice box and front part of my neck. I have difficulty breathing and relaxing. I don't know what it feels like to be relaxed since a long time. I have been like this for at least 2 years now. This muscle tension is always there but gets very very bad when i am in social situtations, for example, at work when i have to speak to people and socialize. People often ask me to repeat myself but I simply can't project my voice any louder and I physically feel pain when I try to speak louder.
I feel like someone is literally chocking me from the inside all the time and preventing me from being able to speak loudly and clearly and feeling relaxed. I struggle to pronouce words, and can't laugh naturally because I can't breath, I can't feel relaxed in these parts of my body. I worry i might have damage to my nerves/muscles running along my voice box all the way down to the upper part of my abs.
I just don't know where to start.
This is really weird because I am a long endurance athlete. I run a lot. So, I train my breathing for my marathons and i can breath just fine while running. But when i am not running (when I am just going about my day) I feel so tense in those part of my body. I feel pain. Like a lot of pain.
I was also on prozac and that didn't work, it just made my anxiety much worse and didn't take away the muscle tension in the front part of my neck and upper abs. I also tried applying icy hot to the front part of my neck and the upper part of the abs. That also didn't work. The tension is always there no matter what I do. Ice packs don't help either. Massages don't help either. What should I do? I feel so depressed and worried I will never be a normal person able to socialize. Why do i feel so much physical pain all the time? This condition has been killing me emotionally and really hurting me physically too.
Does anyone experience anything similar to this?
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jan34534 alexCambreera
Edited
I am really sorry that you are feeling this way. I know it must be very frustrating for you.
So have you had a complete physical check up lately? If not, that would be the first thing I would suggest.
As you may know, anxiety and stress can cause all sorts of physical sensations including pain. what I’m thinking is that if the anxiety was able to become somewhat more managed, your physical symptoms would diminish or go away all together. of course it won’t happen overnight but you would be headed in the right direction.
so in order to do that, I would suggest that you find a counselor who can guide you through this and possibly do some CBT which stands for cognitive behavioral therapy. It really helps people who are struggling this way. if your symptoms are related to your anxiety and stress, which they most likely are, you could benefit a lot from regular appointments with a therapist. You could also do this virtually right from your home.
in the meantime, try to relax your mind and don’t overthink things. I really hope you feel better soon!