Anxious Feelings Treatment Online

Can an online doctor treat anxious feelings?

How an online consultation helps with anxious feelings

• Physical causes ruled out: Heart, lung and thyroid problems, low blood sugar and medicines are considered before anxiety is named.
• Your symptoms explained: What adrenaline does in your body, so a racing heart or a tight chest feels less frightening.
• A plan that works: Breathing and self-help that work, a referral for talking therapy, and medicine when it is right.
• The right diagnosis: Whether it is generalised anxiety, panic, social anxiety, health anxiety or something else, and what helps each.

What the doctor checks in an online consultation about anxious feelings

The doctor checks the warning signs first, then how the anxiety feels and what drives it. The doctor asks about:

• Warning signs: chest pain, breathlessness, fainting, palpitations that do not stop, and thoughts of harming yourself.
• How it feels: your physical symptoms, your thoughts and worries, sudden attacks of panic, and what you avoid.
• When it started and how long it lasts: a recent event or stress, or anxiety that has been there most days for months.
• Triggers: caffeine, energy drinks, alcohol and hangovers, recreational drugs, and new or stopped medicines.
• Your health: thyroid problems, asthma, heart conditions, pregnancy or the menopause, sleep and mood.

Before the call, note your main symptoms, when they happen and what makes them better or worse. Saying ‘I feel anxious all the time and I want help’ is enough to start.

What are the symptoms of anxiety?

Anxiety is a feeling of stress, panic or fear, and it affects the body as much as the mind. Everyone feels anxious at times, before an exam, a flight or a hard conversation. The symptoms are the same when anxiety becomes a problem; the difference is how often they come, how long they stay and how much they affect your life:

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Why does anxiety cause physical symptoms?

When you feel anxious or scared, your body releases stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. They prepare the body to act: the heart beats faster, you sweat more and you breathe faster. That helps in real danger, but when the alarm goes off without one, the same changes feel like illness, and in some people they set off a panic attack. The symptoms are real, not imagined.

What does a panic attack feel like?

A panic attack is a sudden rush of intense fear with strong physical symptoms: a racing heartbeat, feeling faint, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, chest pain, a choking feeling, tingling in the fingers or lips, nausea, and feeling that you are losing control or are not connected to your body. Most panic attacks last between 5 and 20 minutes. They are frightening, but they are not dangerous. See panic attacks.

Is it anxiety or something else? Anxiety symptoms in the body

Most physical symptoms of anxiety have look-alikes, and a doctor rules those out before calling a symptom anxiety. Where you feel it, and what comes with it, decides what to do:

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Palpitations that keep coming back, happen more often or last longer than a few minutes need a doctor, even when you feel well, and so do palpitations if you have a heart condition or heart problems run in your family.

Why do I feel anxious for no reason?

Anxiety does not always have an obvious trigger, and there is usually more than one cause. When you feel anxious without knowing why, these are the common hidden drivers:

• An anxiety disorder: in generalised anxiety disorder, you feel anxious a lot of the time, about many things, and the worry is hard to control. It is more likely to be generalised anxiety disorder if you have felt anxious most of the time for at least 6 months.
• Caffeine, alcohol and drugs: caffeine can make anxiety worse, alcohol and recreational drugs can cause it, and anxiety can be a side effect of some medicines, or come on when you stop them.
• Your body: an overactive thyroid causes nervousness, anxiety and irritability, and palpitations from any cause can feel like fear.
• Hormones: the menopause can make you irritable, stressed and anxious, and anxiety that returns before each period can be PMDD.
• Past and present stress: very stressful or traumatic experiences, money, housing or work problems, illness and bereavement can all leave you anxious long after the event.
• Other conditions: anxiety can be part of PTSD, depression or OCD, and autistic people and people with ADHD are more likely to have anxiety.

Finding the driver changes the plan: cutting caffeine, treating a thyroid problem or getting help for low mood can ease anxiety that seemed to come from nowhere.

What is hangxiety? Anxiety after drinking

Hangxiety is the anxiety, and sometimes low mood, that some people feel the morning after drinking. Alcohol calms at first, but heavy drinking leaves you dehydrated, with disturbed sleep and low blood sugar, and many people also worry about what they said or did. Small amounts of alcohol stimulate a calming brain chemical called GABA; heavy drinking depletes it, which adds tension and panic as the alcohol wears off.

• Hangxiety is a particular problem for people with social anxiety, and for people who are anxious already.
• Drinking again to feel better, the ‘hair of the dog’, restarts the cycle: anxiety comes back as the alcohol wears off.
• Rest and water help the morning after, and breathing exercises help the anxiety.
• Keeping to no more than 14 units a week, spread over 3 or more days, with drink-free days, lowers the risk, and not drinking avoids it.
• Anxiety often eases within a couple of weeks of cutting down or stopping, as sleep improves.

If you drink heavily every day, or get shaky, sweaty or anxious when you stop, do not stop suddenly: withdrawal can be dangerous and needs medical advice. See substance abuse.

When are anxious feelings an anxiety disorder?

Anxious feelings become a disorder when they are out of proportion, hard to control, last for months, or affect your work, relationships or daily life. Each anxiety disorder has its own pattern, and its own page:

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Anxiety disorders are common, and they are treatable. Worldwide, only about 1 in 4 people who need treatment get any, so asking for help is worth it.

How can I stop feeling anxious right now?

These steps calm the body’s alarm. They work best when you practise them daily, not only in a crisis:

1. Let your breath flow deep down into your belly, without forcing it, breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth.
2. Breathe in gently, counting steadily from 1 to 5, then breathe out gently, counting from 1 to 5 again.
3. Keep going for at least 5 minutes, and make it part of your daily routine.

In a panic attack, stay where you are if you can, breathe slowly and deeply, and remind yourself that the attack will pass and is not life-threatening.

How to stop being anxious in the longer term

• Talk to a friend, a family member or a health professional about how you feel.
• Exercise regularly, such as running, walking, swimming or yoga, and eat regular meals.
• Set small, achievable targets rather than trying to do everything at once.
• Gradually spend more time in situations that make you anxious, rather than avoiding them.
• Cut down on caffeine, and do not use alcohol, cigarettes, gambling or drugs to relieve anxiety.

Which treatment for anxious feelings might the doctor recommend?

Treatment follows the cause and how much the anxiety affects your life. This is the framework the doctors use, in line with NHS guidance:

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Treatment options for anxious feelings

What you can do yourself

• Practise slow breathing every day, so it works when you need it.
• Use recommended self-help, such as books, online tools or courses you can do in your own time.
• Keep moving, eat regular meals and keep regular sleep times.
• Cut down on caffeine and alcohol, and keep away from recreational drugs.
• Face what you avoid in small steps, rather than all at once.

Prescription treatment

A prescription is never issued without a consultation. Talking therapies usually come first, most often CBT, either one to one or in a group. If medicine is right for you, the doctor may prescribe an antidepressant, usually a type called an SSRI, after a full assessment and with follow-up. It usually takes 1 to 2 weeks to start working and up to 8 weeks to work fully, and it should never be stopped suddenly. Benzodiazepines are generally not recommended for anxiety disorders because of the risk of dependence, and benzodiazepines, pregabalin and other controlled medicines are never prescribed online. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.

What does not help

Alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to calm down: the anxiety comes back worse. Avoiding everything that makes you anxious, which makes the fear grow. Focusing on what you cannot change.

Special situations

Pregnancy and after birth

Tell your midwife or doctor about anxiety in pregnancy or after birth, because it can be treated, and see depression in pregnancy and after birth.

Menopause

The menopause can make you feel irritable, stressed and anxious, and hot flushes can bring palpitations and anxiety. Treatment for the menopause often helps: see menopause.

Heart, lung and thyroid conditions

If you have a heart or lung condition or a thyroid problem, new or different symptoms should be checked before they are put down to anxiety. The doctor also checks how any anxiety medicine fits with the medicines you already take.

While travelling in Europe

Travel can stir up anxiety, from a fear of flying to panic far from home. A doctor by video can help wherever you are, and the phobias page covers fear of flying. In an emergency, call 112 anywhere in the EU.

Children

Mobi Doctor consultations are for adults aged 18 and over. A child who is unwell needs a paediatrician or a local doctor in person, and emergency signs in a child mean 112.

How Mobi Doctor works

1. Book a time that suits you: daily 7am–11pm CET. You can see a doctor over video, usually within 15 minutes. No subscription, and the exact price is shown before you pay.
2. Speak to a licensed doctor about how you feel: describe your symptoms, when they started and what sets them off, and mention caffeine, alcohol and any medicines you take.
3. Leave with a plan: what to do, what to take and for how long, and which signs mean you should be seen in person. If the doctor prescribes, use the prescription at a pharmacy near you.

Frequently asked questions about anxious feelings

Related conditions

Anxiety Panic Social Anxiety Health Anxiety Stress Heart Palpitations All mental health

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