If you are experiencing anxiety and someone asks if you are okay, your answer will likely be something along the lines of “I’m feeling really tense.” That is because “tense” is exactly what you are: the fight or flight chemicals your body releases in response to anxiety are making your heart pound, your body sweat, and causing muscle tension in the neck and chest. These symptoms can be very uncomfortable and even painful.

While armpit and chest aches can have other sources, as can excessive sweating, the anxiety may be playing a role. It is important to find out how much of a role they may be playing in your underarm pain and unexplained perspiration, and what you can do to relieve these symptoms. You can do this by eliminating any other possible causes and by addressing your anxiety directly.

How Anxiety Can Cause Underarm Pain

你身体的每个部分都受到焦虑的影响。但当然，你的腋下痛苦不是你急于发生的唯一问题。

You may be wondering, what do my armpits have to do with how anxious I get? The fact is, there are many different issues that can lead to underarm pain – some of which are directly caused by anxiety, some of which are caused by other symptoms of anxiety that seem to have an effect on the armpits.

Let's take a closer look at the anxiety symptoms that can lead to underarm pain:

• Rapid Heart Rate快速心跳和快速呼吸伴随着它要求胸部的肌肉加班，以适应肺部和心脏的快速运动。过度使用这些肌肉使它们感到紧张，当你以导致它们弯曲的方式移动时，可以通过它们射击疼痛。
• ShakingShaking happens as a part of the flight or fight response your body engages in, alerting all your muscles to the possibility that they make have to be used on short notice to combat or escape the perceived threat (essentially getting them “warmed up”). However, the adrenaline that shaking sends to your muscles does not get used when there is no fighting or running away necessary. This confuses your muscles and leaves them feeling strained and achy.
• 出汗/刺激有趣的是,另一个被遗忘的腋下pain is sweating. Sweating itself doesn't lead to underarm pain, but what it does do is irritate the skin, which in turn can cause itching or burning that may result in pain. It's an indirect symptom that can still lead to fairly distressing discomfort.

While anxiety can be a cause of underarm pain (and can be addressed in order to make the pain go away), it will be important to be sure that it is not being caused by something more serious, as doing so can actually help relieve your anxiety.

Other Possible Causes of Underarm Pain

It's important to realize that not all underarm pain is going to be caused by anxiety, even if it's linked to anxiety. Another common problem with anxiety is this feeling that "normal" pains are abnormal. For example, you may wake up one day and feel a normal ache under your arm for no serious reason (such as sleeping on it wrong). Those without anxiety shrug it off, while those with anxiety tend to translate that pain as meaning something more serious is going on.

Underarm pain can be alarming because pain from swollen lymph nodes under the arms have been linked to infection and sometimes linked to cancer. In this way, underarm pain can actually cause anxiety, rather than the other way around.

检查淋巴结是否肿胀是肿胀的，你可以自己做些什么：只需感受到你的手臂，检查任何小的，硬的肿块。如果你怀疑一个问题，请用医生检查，但请记住，令人沮丧的淋巴结可能是由寒冷刷牙的任何东西造成肿胀的淋巴结，而且当你有焦虑时，你可能会造成肿胀的淋巴结造成的。感觉'一个并不是真正有的碰撞，因为你不习惯你的皮肤感觉。

It may also be a simple case of having pulled a muscle. This could have happened while you were exercising, lifting a heavy object, or even while you slept. A pulled muscle can feel terrible and make it hard to move, so if this seems like a likely cause, just go easy on your arms for a while and the pain from the strained muscle will fade by itself.

Why Anxiety Causes Sweating

Whether anxiety causes “unusual” amounts of sweating depends on how severe the anxiety attack is, how hydrated the person experiencing the attack happens to be, and how much they tend to sweat in general. However, a well-hydrated person experiencing a severe anxiety attack may well produce unusual amounts of sweat when agitated.

当你焦虑时，急于你的身体调节核心温度的方式。当你的心脏迅速跳动时，由于所有核心温暖的血液通过你的系统迅速抽水，你的身体被警告产生汗水以保持过度过热。有趣的是，腋下汗水（我们最突出的地方）也可能具有“润滑”手臂，以防止由弯曲引起的不适。

When you are anxious, it is healthy to sweat to keep your core temperature down (though the extra armpit sweat as lubrication is not too helpful, since you don’t really need to fight or run away from anything when you are nervous due to anxiety). However, it is also possible that you sweat too much, which could be caused in part by other factors.

Additional Factors in Excessive Sweating You may sweat even more than you should when anxious due to additional factors.

• HyperhidrosisIf you are completely soaked in sweat after just a minute or two, you may be suffering from a condition called hyperhidrosis. It is believed to be a malfunction of the nervous system that may be hereditary, so it could be a good idea to find out if your parents were diagnosed with it if you suspect that you have it.
• Being OverweightIf you are overweight, your body has to work even harder to get blood everywhere it believes it needs to go. More effort for the heart, as well as the extra heat caused by unnecessary fat, tells your glands that they need to release lots of sweat to keep you cool.
• 药物的变化切换到新药往往会带来意想不到的和不愉快的问题。出汗是一种可能的副作用。提醒您的医生，以便它们可以改变您的剂量或可能完全推荐不同的药物。
• MenopauseThe “hot flashes” associated with perimenopause and menopause can result in brief periods of what may feel like anxiety attacks, with a rapid heart rate, shortness of breath and a feeling of being too hot accompanied by excessive sweating. If you are a woman in her forties or even her mid to late thirties, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor to find out if menopause is what’s really going on.

Checking to make sure these factors are not influencing your anxiety symptoms (and addressing them separately if they are) is a healthy precaution to take. In addition, you can use the self-care tips below to reduce your anxiety overall and decrease the likelihood of experiencing uncomfortable side effects like underarm pain and excessive sweating.

Self-Care Tips To Prevent Underarm Pain and Excessive Sweating

The following tips can help keep your anxiety-induced sweating and muscle pain at bay, as well as putting you in a more relaxed frame of mind on a daily basis.

• Get Massages享受按摩，无论是来自专业女性的男性或来自朋友还是爱人，都是缓解焦虑和肌肉紧张的好方法。已被证明只触及或受到物理触及的人被证明是显着减少焦虑。
• 练习瑜伽所有年龄段，形状和尺寸的人都可以练习瑜伽。瑜伽有助于伸展核心肌肉，让它们灵活强壮。这将有助于防止张力和过度核心肌肉的疼痛。
• Eat a Healthy DietAs the world shifts more towards organic fruits and vegetables, cruelty-free vegetarian and vegan diets and revolutionary eating choices like the “paleo” and “raw food” diets, alternative healthy eating styles are becoming more and more popular and viable. Jump on a healthy or ethical bandwagon and find the “happy weight” that doesn’t lead you to sweat more than you should.
• Exercise 3 Times a WeekKeeping your body fit is something you can do on your own in almost any way you can imagine: by running, swimming, hiking, biking, or just taking a walk down the road and back. As long as you do it for 30 minutes 3 times a week, you will be moving your muscles and keeping them loose and relaxed, as well as encouraging your body to produce the endorphins or “happy” chemicals that are the hidden anxiety-reducing bonus of exercise.
• Drink Your WaterThough this won’t keep you from sweating, it will help you from making your anxiety worse when sweating threatens to dehydrate you. Keeping a bottle of water handy will not only prevent dehydration symptoms like headaches and dizziness that can set off anxiety, but it will also reassure you by being there to replenish your 80% water content whenever you need it to.
• Take a Break From Deodorant一些除臭剂和止汗剂会刺激the skin when exposed to too much sweat. If your pain feels more like a burning or irritation, take a short break from those chemicals to give your arm a chance to breathe naturally.

Following these instructions and checking to make sure that there are no underlying problems affecting your underarm pain and sweating symptoms will help keep you mentally and physically comfortable, relaxed and healthy.

Still, when your underarm aches are caused by your anxiety, it's not uncommon to find that you simply need to control your anxiety in order for these aches to decrease.