Does anyone else feel Pressure/Tension in solar plexus? Please help!!

[sarahchauser279]

Hi there,
I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing similar physical anxiety symptoms as me. I've had anxiety since 7th grade, and for the longest time I've experienced this pressure or tension in my solar plexus. Its completely involuntary and I can't control it. It just feels like some kind of muscle or nerve in my solar plexus is uncontrollably seizing up for literally no reason. There's no pain, but just feels like a huge knot of constant tension.

I've been struggling with this feeling ever since 8th grade. I know it's a symptom of anxiety, but it never goes away. I just feel so exhausted and defeated after living with this weight for so long. Does anyone know anything about this symptom? Has anyone else gone through this? Please help.

 

[BrokenArrow]

Well, you are basically talking about the dead center of your body. When you have anxiety you constantly tense yourself up and basically, every muscle group is affected. I do it without even realizing it. I tense up my entire body, pull my shoulders up, tighten my chest and stomach. It just a common reaction to anxiety. Most of us have constantly sore muscles. The only real way to treat it is to stop tightening up, which can be hard if you are doing it involuntary and not even noticing it until it hurts.

 

[sarahchauser279]

But even when I'm relaxing my whole body, I still feel tension only in my solar plexus, even if all my other muscles are relaxed

 

[Joe diesel 09]

I do this. It's like that bump thing that hangs down under your diaphragm. Or whatever it is. That thing will feel tight. When im intensely anxious I catch myself involuntarily holding pressure on it. Bugs me. But, it's been that way so long, I use that to confirm it's just anxiety. God bless you guys

 

[sarahchauser279]

Wow, finally someone who has experienced the same thing. I've looked up this sensation online so many times, but never found any helpful info. Nice to know that someone else struggles with this odd thing too.

 

[Savvvy]

I have been experiencing a contraction of the muscles in my solar plexus area for over a year now. It started the weekend after my first hypnosis session. And then came again during hypnosis and now whenever I work on an inner blockage or fear.

I have been suffering from depression for about 4 years and have done a lot of inner work with various therapies.

The stomach contraction comes mostly when I am lying in bed, completely relaxed. Sometimes during meditation. I have had times where I have felt fear about something, then I try to completely give into the fear and feel the core of it. The result is then the muscle contraction which lasts about 30 seconds to a couple of minutes. Usually I feel lighter afterwards.

Sometimes it comes without warning, no thoughts or fears. Like it's fixing something in the unconscious.

I've asked every therapist I've seen if they know what it is and just get blank stares. I believe in my case it's a healing process. Only problem, the healing is a long, long journey. Still dealing with some unconcious issues that I can't seem to solve.

Anyway, if this sounds like the problem you have, it would be interesting to see how you are getting on with it, now a few years down the road...

All the best!

 

[Jonathan123]

I have been experiencing a contraction of the muscles in my solar plexus area for over a year now. It started the weekend after my first hypnosis session. And then came again during hypnosis and now whenever I work on an inner blockage or fear.

I have been suffering from depression for about 4 years and have done a lot of inner work with various therapies.

The stomach contraction comes mostly when I am lying in bed, completely relaxed. Sometimes during meditation. I have had times where I have felt fear about something, then I try to completely give into the fear and feel the core of it. The result is then the muscle contraction which lasts about 30 seconds to a couple of minutes. Usually I feel lighter afterwards.

Sometimes it comes without warning, no thoughts or fears. Like it's fixing something in the unconscious.

I've asked every therapist I've seen if they know what it is and just get blank stares. I believe in my case it's a healing process. Only problem, the healing is a long, long journey. Still dealing with some unconcious issues that I can't seem to solve.

Anyway, if this sounds like the problem you have, it would be interesting to see how you are getting on with it, now a few years down the road...

All the best!

It is said, and mostly agreed with, that the solar plexus contains nerve cells very similar to brain cells. It's why when we are punched hard there we collapse. Being the centre of all those nerve endings is it any wonder when we have anxiety that it tenses up? In some religions and philosophies the solar plexus is regard as a chacra, that is to say it is a centre of certain emotions. Self worth and self esteem being among them. The way our bodies react to anxiety varies so much from person to person, so there is no fixed pattern.
But having said that there are always one of the myriad of symptoms. Obviously, not everyone gets all of them, but it does depend on our temperaments and the way we think and perceive the world.
You are so right. Healing can be a long and arduous journey along a very bumpy road. But what we learn on that journey about ourselves and life can be invaluable in the future. That's if we listen to what our anxiety is telling us about our life and the way we live. Sometimes we need a good kick up the pants to get us thinking. When I had GAD many years ago I sure did get that kick big time.
It took time to get well, but looking back it changed my life very much for the better.

 

[MATD]

Anxiety affects the body as well as the mind. Dr Claire Weekes’ gives us the answer for these involuntary tensed muscles. Anxiety affects the parasympathetic nervous system which controls involuntary muscles and the nerves among other things. This PNS is in an uproar with anxiety, it is responsible for those muscles being tensed. As a matter of fact, the PNS is responsible for a lot of body symptoms. Practicing Dr Weekes’ acceptance method will help you recover. Getting the anxiety under control is the route to letting the PNS return to it’s normal state, thus these symptoms go away, our muscles return to a normal state as well. What you describe is a direct result of the PNS. I can relate to what you describe. I told myself that when I didn’t have that lump in my gut anymore, I would know the anxiety was gone. After practicing acceptance for at least a year now, that lump is there sometimes, and sometimes it’s gone. I’ve had anxiety since I was a small child, I’m 64 now and with Dr Weekes’ method, I’m finally getting better. It’s a process that takes time, not a quick fix, but rather a fix that will be permanent.

 

[MARCC]

If I push my finger into my solar plexus, it is uncomfortable and sometimes it hurts. My physician told me it is muscular related, and I have had it off and on for many years.