My muscle feels tight?

Do you ever have muscle tension in the face? My face gets so tense and tight that it feels like it could crack or shatter. Its anxiety related. What can I do to make this pain stop? It's driving me crazy.

• Answer:

  Well, I'm an anxiety sufferer myself. Muscle tension is a bi-product of the disorder itself, eh? So for the symptoms to subside, you have to learn to control/cope with what is causing them. The first and most important step is to recognize the symptom for what it is. If you keep dwelling on it, going through all the "what ifs" and living in constant fear and stress, it'll only get worse. Anxiety is a very sly sonuvabitch in two major ways: it makes you believe what IT wants you to believe, and then adds insult to injury by unloading all these scary symptoms on you. But you have the power to outwit it. It's hard, yeah...I've been there. You must fight fire with fire. Learn all you can about anxiety because knowledge is power. In the meantime, try some relaxation exercises and deep breathing; these help to ease muscle tension so you can concentrate on what's important. I'll send some good karma your way. Good luck!