I once spent the night before an exam in the acute medical unit because my heart rate was as fast as if I had just run a small marathon. I was relatively calm until I began to feel sick and dizzy, and then the palpitations started. I went to the doctor to check everything was okay, and the next thing I knew I was being admitted to hospital. I waited for hours while the physical causes were ruled out, to then be told “oh, it’s probably just stress”, given some beta-blockers, and sent on my way. If the physical symptoms were so ‘acute’ to the extent that I was admitted to hospital, surely the fact that they may have a mental cause should not have stopped me from being properly treated.

Hyperventilation, fainting, nausea, restlessness, headaches, stomach ache, fatigue, heart palpitations, susceptibility to infection, dizziness, tremors, allergies, excessive perspiration, difficulty concentrating, muscle tension, thirst, and numbness: these are only a handful of the physical symptoms of anxiety.

I am lucky. I generally have my anxiety under control and push myself simply to prove that I can. But sometimes, even if you feel you can relatively calm yourself mentally, your body responds differently.

"Anything can trigger your body to want to run, and when running isn’t possible, the sensation is overwhelming and uncontrollable"

The ‘fight or flight response’ is a physiological reaction that everyone has when they sense a threat or feel under attack. For example, when a saber-tooth tiger was chasing your ancestor, they obviously needed to run like crazy. When there are severe threats, your nervous system reacts by releasing chemicals such as adrenaline so that your blood circulates faster, you breathe harder, you use more energy and your muscles tighten so that you can run.

But for people suffering with anxiety, you are not literally being chased by tigers (at least for the most part). But even the smallest daily task can feel like everyone and everything is a tiger. You have a supervision or an exam, you simply leave your room, go to a social event, use public transport, have an awkward conversation. Anything can trigger your body to want to run, and when running isn’t possible, the sensation is overwhelming and uncontrollable. Over time the build-up of these hormones can lead to nervous, hormonal, and immune system disorders.

How Cambridge saved my life

It’s a running joke that I’m both a hypochondriac and always running late. I suppose to other people my fears do seem irrational, like having to check several times that I’ve washed my hands enough, shut the windows, put everything I need in my bag, and locked the door. But I am terrified of something bad happening or being ill to the point that it, rather ironically, makes me ill. Not being able to find a physical cause for symptoms that are also linked to serious physical health issues is extremely hard to contemplate. The physical symptoms of anxiety are far from pleasant and only lead to further anxiety as you feel anxious about the physical symptoms, which worsens the mental ones… and so on. It’s a never-ending cycle.

There are two extremes of anxiety that people can suffer. One, you want to die so you struggle to do anything. Two, you are so bloody terrified of dying that you stop living life properly. Neither should be left untreated. I am lucky that I am well enough to carry on living despite feeling anxious. But I know how hard it is, and those who have anxiety disorder should be treated the same as if it were a physical illness –  and to a large extent, it is. Symptoms should not be dismissed because they have mental causes. Mental illnesses can destroy lives and take lives, and so they should be treated the same as any other life-threatening illness