Anxiety is different for everyone, and not everyone’s symptoms are going to be black and white. These are just some of the symptoms that I have experienced throughout my journey of dealing and struggling with anxiety.

1. Tingling throughout your entire body.

Do you ever find yourself feeling like your legs and arms all of a sudden have pins and needles running through them? Sometimes, I find myself with tingly hands and feet for what seems like no reason at all, when in fact it’s a symptom of anxiety for me. If you’re experiencing this, it could be a sign that you are dealing with anxiety without even realizing it.

2. Your cycle can become irregular.

Sometimes an intense amount of stress and anxiety can cause your cycle to stop all together, or be totally whacked out. If you’re noticing that it’s been ‘off’ or irregular for a while, it could be anxiety.

3. Upset stomach.

If I’m ever about to do something I know will cause great stress on my mind, my stomach is the first thing to freak out. Out of the blue you could get hit by waves of nausea and sometimes it’s not food poisoning – it’s anxiety.

4. Yawning all the time.

With anxiety comes trouble with breathing. It’s hard to feel like you are getting enough air into your lungs and often times it can feel like your throat is closing up. I find myself yawning excessively just to try to make myself take a deep breath when it’s almost impossible to do so.

5. It feels like the floor underneath you is dropping.

In college when this first happened to me, I thought the ground beneath was literally moving, or that maybe an earthquake was occurring. But of course, no one else around me was panicking. This is a symptom that can really scare you especially if you don’t know what’s causing it.

6. Your throat feels like it’s closing.

One of the strangest and scariest, but also most common symptom of anxiety is feeling like you are choking. Many times, I thought I was allergic to something I just ate, or that maybe I was actually going to die. Turns out, it’s the anxiety that was the culprit.

7. Weird rashes appear on your skin.

Sometimes anxiety can cause your skin to react in alarming ways. Because anxiety can cause so much unnecessary stress on your body, your immune system can freak the fuck out and can cause you to break out in hives and other itchy reactions. (Once, I broke out in hives on July fourth. Fun times).

8. Your eyes can’t stop twitching.

Have you ever been walking around minding your own business, when suddenly your eyes feels like they are having seizures? Suffering from severe anxiety could be the reason why.

9. Your heart feels like it’s on fire.

During my worst panic attack to date, my heart felt like there were fifty lit matches inside of it and I could explode any minute. I literally thought I was having a stroke, when in reality, my heart was just fine.

10. Hot flashes.

It could be the dead of winter and all of a sudden you’re stripping off your clothes because you can’t stand the amount of heat and uncomfortable sweating that is going on. It feels like you’re going through menopause except twenty years too early.

11. You feel like you’re always sick with something else.

You’re convinced that you have mono, or the flu, or anything other than anxiety. Because your symptoms are so strange, it’s honestly hard to believe that anxiety can do all that to you. Unfortunately, anxiety is incredibly powerful and can come along with weird, annoying and weird ass symptoms.