A person with high-functioning anxiety can be the picture of success. You may arrive at work before everyone else, dressed impeccably and with well-groomed hair. Rather than seeing anxiety as a weakness, reducing stigma has allowed society to highlight when people with anxiety can live a full and productive life. Your doctor will discuss the following to diagnose your condition.
Symptoms such as headaches or fast heartbeats may be due to anxiety. But if you have health anxiety, you can confuse them with signs of illness. Many brain disorders can resemble anxiety because they sometimes cause symptoms such as headaches, memory problems, and tremors. They can also cause anxiety, rapid heartbeat, and difficulty breathing.
Talk to your doctor if you have a family history of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or multiple sclerosis. With regard to anxiety disorder, the term high functioning has been the subject of much debate. Although it is not an official diagnosis, the symptoms one feels are very real. But because people who suffer from high-functioning anxiety seem to have no disruption or impairment of life functions, many people don't know that something is wrong, not even the person who is experiencing anxiety.
A person may look good, even though his heart rate may be elevated, and intense feelings of doom and gastrointestinal upset occur. However, the ability to “move forward to get the job done” is also high enough to overcome anxiety in public. Some of the same people later “clash when they are in private. The exercise of controlling intense emotions can take its toll and require time alone, or periods of very low functioning to regroup.
Other medical and mental health problems can develop under these circumstances.
