This is not a doctor’s advice. This is my own story.
For two to three years, my own brain kept telling me — “You are going to die.” And every single time, I believed it. But I am still here today. That realization changed everything.
I want to talk about a phase of my life that I actually went through myself. This is not theory. It is not something I read in a book. This is what my body and mind both felt — every night, every morning, every single moment.
When people hear the word “anxiety,” they usually say — “Just stop overthinking.” When I was in that phase, that line used to make me really angry. Because anxiety is not just overthinking. It is something completely different — and until you have lived it yourself, you truly cannot understand it.
🧠My Brain Became a Very Clever Liar
There was a time when my brain had become so clever that if I read about any disease anywhere — I would start feeling those exact same symptoms in my own body. Science calls this Predictive Coding.
It means that if your brain keeps thinking “there will be pain in the chest” — it sends that exact signal to your nerves, and you actually start feeling that pain. Without any physical injury at all. This is the power of the brain — and in anxiety, this very power becomes your enemy.
A simple example: Imagine an empty cup — completely still and calm. But if you keep adding water drop by drop, a moment will come when it starts to overflow. Our brain works the same way. Years of suppressed fear, pain, and emotions — when they go beyond the limit — they come out through the body. And we mistake them for a "physical illness."
💔The Symptoms I Actually Felt
I am sharing the experiences I personally went through during that period. Everyone’s experience can be different — this is only my story.
- Something stuck in the throat
- Choking sensation while drinking water
- Jolts / electric-shock feeling in body
- Heaviness in the chest
- Heart beating very fast
- Brain fog
- Extreme fatigue
- Unsettled feeling in the stomach
- Unable to focus while talking to people
- Feeling alone even in a crowd
Through all of this, I was constantly checking my pulse. I kept thinking — it must be a brain tumor, or cancer, or some serious illness. But every time I got tested — everything came back normal.
A Real Moment I Remember
Once I went to a wedding. There were so many people. Suddenly I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I ran straight to the washroom and splashed cold water on my face. In that moment, only one question was running through my mind — “Am I going crazy?” I can never forget that moment. There were hundreds of people around me — and I was completely alone, locked inside the prison of my own mind.
Getting Stuck in Sympathetic Mode
In anxiety, our nervous system gets stuck in “fight or flight” mode. This means your brain is working 24 hours a day as if there is some kind of danger. Because of this:
- The brain keeps getting exhausted, and that exhaustion shows up as physical symptoms in the body.
- Cortisol (the stress hormone) keeps rising, which causes muscles to tighten up for no reason.
- These tightening muscles create chest pain, stomach trouble, and pain all over the body.
- We start treating every small sensation like it is a serious disease.
The pain that comes with anxiety is real. The brain genuinely creates that pain. But it does not come from any physical injury. It is psychosomatic — meaning it is created by the mind. And I was stuck in this misunderstanding for years.
Something I personally noticed
Anxiety pain never stays in one place. Sometimes in the head, sometimes in the chest, sometimes in the stomach, sometimes in the back. But when there is a real physical illness — that pain stays in one specific spot.
The Loop I Was Trapped In
Anxiety follows a pattern that works like a never-ending loop:
A negative thought enters your mind → you get scared → stress hormones are released in the body → physical pain happens → you get even more scared → more thoughts → more pain.
I was trapped in this loop for many years. The more scared I got — the more pain I had. The more pain I had — the more scared I became.
In science, this can be understood through Neuroplasticity. If you keep thinking about the same negative thought for weeks on end — the brain gets used to that pattern of pain. This is why even when I was calm, the pain would still be there.
“My brain had been telling me for 2–3 years — you are going to die.
But I am still alive today.”
The day this truly sank in — that was the day things started to change.
The Turning Point When Things Started Shifting
I am not saying there is any magic solution here. It was a very long process. But there were certain realizations that personally became turning points for me:
First: When all my test reports were normal — I told myself I would trust the facts, not my feelings. “Feeling is not Healing” — this line means a lot to me. Not every feeling needs to be treated as a threat.
Second: During a panic attack, my heart rate would go up to 140–150. But when I looked at my reports — my heart was completely fine. So all of that was because of anxiety — because of my own thoughts. Once I understood this, I slowly started to fear those symptoms less.
Third: I stopped running away from the pain and started trying to observe it. From a scientific point of view. When you look at something with curiosity instead of fear — the fear starts to reduce a little.
Fourth: I started trusting my own body. This heart has been beating non-stop for 35–40 years. One panic attack cannot stop it.
The Moment the Loop Broke
The day I stopped giving “value” to anxiety — from that day, the physical pain also started slowly fading away. It was not magic. When you stop feeding fuel to the Amygdala (the fear center of the brain) — it starts to quiet down. That is just science.
Neuroplasticity — The Brain Can Change
The biggest thing that gave me comfort during that phase was knowing that just as the brain learned negative patterns — it can unlearn them too.
The brain works on plasticity. If it can create pain — it can reduce it too. You just have to give it a new direction. This process is slow, but it happens.
What personally worked for me was — deliberately slowing down my breathing. When you consciously slow your breath, a signal goes to the Vagus nerve that there is no danger. And this helps the body relax a little.
If You Are Going Through This Too
I cannot say that your experience will be exactly like mine. Every person’s journey is different. But if you feel alone even in a crowd, if you treat a small pain like it is a serious illness — know that you are not alone.
I have lived through that phase. That fear, that pain, that confusion — I have felt all of it. And I am still here today.
Anxiety does not kill you — but if you keep fearing it, it will definitely stop you from truly living.
This is my personal journey. If you also want to talk about anxiety or share your own experience — write in the comments. I do read them.
I cannot say that your experience will be exactly like mine. Every person’s journey is different. But if you feel alone even in a crowd, if you treat a small pain like it is a serious illness — know that you are not alone.
I have lived through that phase. That fear, that pain, that confusion — I have felt all of it. And I am still here today.
Anxiety does not kill you — but if you keep fearing it, it will definitely stop you from truly living.
This is my personal journey. If you also want to talk about anxiety or share your own experience — write in the comments. I do read them.