Can Anxiety Cause Fever: 7 Simple Ways to Treat Anxiety

Can anxiety cause fever? Let us delve into this topic a bit more by doing research and getting to know if anxiety and stress affect body temperature. Feeling anxious in certain circumstances is normal; it is only when your anxiety levels exceed the proportionate level you might require medical expertise to deal with it. That is when you start wondering, can anxiety cause fever or fever-like symptoms?

It is important to know the difference between anxiety and anxiety disorders requiring medical expertise so that your overall health is not affected. You will also be aware of when to seek medical help.

That takes us to the question, Can anxiety cause fever? Do more research on the topic. You will come across many alarming facts that make you realize how difficult it is for someone with generalized anxiety disorders and other stress-induced illnesses ¹to lead a normal life.

That takes us to the next subject, what exactly can be termed anxiety and what are anxiety symptoms and causes? Since we are talking about anxiety here, it is imperative that we are fully aware of what anxiety is, its physical causes, and anxiety symptoms.²

1. What Is Anxiety?

As per the American Psychological Association, you have anxiety when you have emotional stress, tension, worrying thoughts, and physical causes like increased blood pressure. Anxiety is normal in human beings, but when it becomes pronounced in the form of sweating, increased heartbeat, or increased sensitivity to the surroundings, it is better to seek medical help.

It can also be said to be a string of inner turmoil that can affect your emotions, feelings, and overall health to a large extent. A stress-induced or anxiety-related fever, low-grade fevers, hot flashes, a sympathetic nervous system, and other stress-induced illnesses all can take you back to the question, can anxiety cause fever?

2. Types of Anxiety

The most common types of anxiety are:

2.1. Agoraphobia

You are diagnosed with Agoraphobia if you are scared to leave your home and use the lift or elevator. Being far from home, being in crowded or enclosed spaces, or being in remote or open areas can trigger fear, leading to Agoraphobia. It should not be looked upon as something simple, and the help of a family medicine physician will be able to give some relief. This will make you wonder, can anxiety cause fever when you are under acute stress or chronic stress?

2.2. Generalized Anxiety Disorder

This is one of the chronic anxiety disorders ³where you worry about things that are not so important and let them affect you causing repeated stress or fever-like symptoms. This is again one of the anxiety disorders where you are unable to pinpoint the exact cause of anxiety, but it does affect your mental health and health to a large extent.

Stress can cause a lot of problems in the body if it is acute stress or if you have psychological stress.

2.3. Panic Attacks

An anxiety attack that is sudden or brief can be termed a panic attack, and these panic attacks cause dizziness, nausea, and breathing difficulties. Prolonged periods of stress, ongoing stress, and frightening experiences can be one of the causes of panic attacks. ⁴An effective treatment plan is available for panic attack patients. And if you ask, can anxiety cause fever? A panic attack patient can have low-grade fevers or hot flashes as symptoms.

2.4. Separation Anxiety Disorder

When you are separated from a person, and if you experience high levels of anxiety, it can be termed Separation Anxiety Disorder. ⁵This disorder can also lead to a panic attack. The physical symptoms are mostly nausea and headaches. The significant distress caused by Separation Anxiety Disorder can affect educational, occupational, and social functioning.

2.5. Social Phobia Disorder or Social Phobia

This comes from a fact when you are not able to take negative judgment, which can lead to problems in human contact and public situations if ignored. Anxiety that stems from the anticipation of an event can also be termed Social Phobia, and this disorder is said to be more common in females than males. Physical symptoms can be excessive sweating, feeling sick, or increased heart rate.

2.6. Specific Phobia

Specific Phobias can be termed as an extreme fear of a place, object, situation, or living creature. Phobias can cause distress and can also lead to panic attacks and high stress-stress levels. These Phobias can impair your regular functioning and affect your mental health.

2.7. Substance-Induced Anxiety

A stress response after misusing drugs, toxic substances, or alcohol can be bad for your mental health, and the physical symptoms will be headaches⁶, low-grade fevers, chills, and stomach problems. Substance-induced anxiety happens when there is a withdrawal from drugs and alcohol after misusing them.

2.8. Unable to Speak in Certain Contexts and Places

This is something common in children, and though they have good communication skills, they will be unable to speak in front of an audience or in certain places. Selective Mutism, as it is called, can also be classified as a form of Social Phobia.

3. What Are Anxiety Symptoms?

Some of the symptoms of anxiety are mentioned below:

1. Being on the edge always
2. Difficulty in concentrating
3. Digestive Problems
4. Fatigue
5. Feeling Nervous
6. Genetics
7. Insomnia
8. Increased heartbeat and shallow breathing
9. Medication effects
10. Restlessness
11. Recovery from surgery or a prolonged illness
12. Trembling
13. Worrying unnecessarily about day-to-day things
14. Withdrawal from any substances like alcohol, drugs, etc.

3.1. Reasons to Consult a Health Professional

All these symptoms can be cured if you consult a health professional and follow a good treatment plan. It is better to consult a health professional if:

1. Any of the above causes start interfering with your professional and personal life
2. The fear and anxiety you have is hard to control
3. You have suicidal thoughts
4. If you think your anxiety or anxiety-related fever is due to any physical health problems
5. You feel depressed

4. Can Anxiety Cause Fever?

There is an unexplainable connection between anxiety and fever; though anxiety does not cause fever, it can cause fever-like symptoms. Fever usually happens when there is an infection in the body, and those with anxiety are prone to fever because of their sensitivity to their surroundings.

A lot of people connect swollen glands to anxiety, but the underlying cause of swollen glands will not be an anxiety disorder. Anxiety affects the immune system, leading to mild infections like fever, fatigue, and a hyperawareness of the glands and their size.

Stress affects the body temperature, and psychological stress affects the body in many ways. There are different types of anxiety that can make you wonder: can anxiety cause fever? The answer to that is yes; anxiety can cause a fever or fever-like symptoms.

Prolonged stress and anxiety can lead to a rise in body temperature and cause a low-grade fever in many patients. Let us get a little more information about the fevers and other health issues that accompany anxiety and anxiety disorders and how anxiety can affect other areas of the body.

If the stress response to a problem is acute, it is always better to see a doctor and get treated.

5. Effects of Anxiety

5.1. Brown Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis

Brown Adipose Tissue Thermogenesis⁷ can lead to emotional hyperthermia. Obesity is on the rise globally, and obesity-related health issues are proving to be major killers. The Brown Adipose Tissue stores energy and there is always an increase in body temperature when you experience emotional events. This explanation is good if you are looking at the reasons. Can anxiety cause fever?

5.2. Central Nervous System

Long periods of anxiety and panic attacks can make your brain release stress hormones regularly. This can lead to an increase in anxiety symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, and depression. The chemicals released by the brain to tackle the threats are adrenalin and cortisol. Long-term exposure to stress is unhealthy for the body, and long-term exposure to cortisol can cause an increase in body weight.

It is not healthy to be stressed daily in a manner that your daily routine gets affected, and there is difficulty when it comes to handling your personal and professional life easily.

5.3. Cardiovascular System

Anxiety and anxiety disorders can play havoc with your body. It is not only the nervous system but the cardiovascular system is also affected. Patients develop rapid heart rate, palpitations, and chest pain if the stress and anxiety levels last a few minutes and go on for long periods.

There is also an increased risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Can anxiety cause fever? Yes, it can, and it can also affect other areas of your body.

5.4. Chronic Stress

Can anxiety cause fever? This is an interesting topic that makes a lot of people curious because of the reason psychological stress activates many stress-related illnesses and diseases, weakening the immunity of the body.

Chronic stressors are insomnia, anxiety, muscle pain, high blood pressure, and low immunity levels. You never know how chronic stress can prove to be a killer in many ways in the long run if not taken seriously.

5.5. Digestive and Excretory Systems

The digestive and excretory systems are affected and can also affect your mental health. The physical causes can be diarrhea, vomiting, or constipation. Can anxiety cause fever? High fever, fever, and fever-like symptoms can also ruin your gastrointestinal system and overall health. You may also experience loss of appetite and develop Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).

5.6. Emotional Fever

Severe anxiety can cause a fever and fever-like symptoms. Chills are one of the anxiety symptoms, and like psychogenic fevers, you can experience hot flashes and cold flashes without a rise in your core body temperature.

Emotional fever is one of the fevers you can get if you have an anxiety attack or anxiety disorder, and it is closely connected to psychogenic fevers.

5.7. Immune System

More research shows that repeated stress and anxiety affect your immune system. Long periods of stress can weaken the system and your immune response making you prone to infections and illnesses. Can anxiety cause fever? It can cause a fever and many other problems when your immune system is affected.

5.8. Neurogenic Fever

An injury in the brain region that triggers fever can be called neurogenic fever. It can also be caused by sepsis, drug reactions, and post-surgery. If you have a persistent low-grade fever, it is better to get checked by a health professional and find out the root cause of the fever and see if it is caused due to an injury in the brain region.

Neurogenic fever can also cause anxiety and distress in the minds of the patients and make them prone to stress.

5.9. Psychogenic Fever

Fever or fever-like symptoms, when your stress level is high, can be called psychogenic fever. Psychogenic fevers happen suddenly and have a psychosomatic disease ⁸connection. The fever subsides with over-the-counter medication, but medication used to treat depression and anxiety works better for psychogenic fevers.

It is hard to pin down what exactly triggers psychogenic fevers; it can last for a couple of hours or go on for weeks. Psychological stress can cause physical illness and, in the long run, lead to heart disease. It is believed the brain increases the temperature when you are under stress, which leads to the stress hormones interacting with the endocrine system and thereby increasing temperature.

This psychosomatic fever is usually common in young women, and some emotional events in life can cause stress and lead to high body temperature. Psychogenic fevers are on the rise in modern times, with hectic lifestyles and work schedules that affect mental health and physical health.

5.10. Psychogenic Hyperthermia

This stress-related condition common in females is a psychosomatic condition where the core body temperature is either high or you have a low-grade fever. This is because the neuroendocrine intense stress ⁹response of females differs from that of their male counterparts, and this condition is also known as stress-induced hyperthermia.

6. Causes of Anxiety

Now that we know there are times when anxiety can cause a fever, it would be informative to know the causes of anxiety. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact reasons that cause anxiety or an anxiety attack. Many factors contribute to causing anxiety.

Some of the factors that can cause anxiety symptoms or anxiety are:

6.1. Personality Types

Anxiety can be more depending on your personality type. You can be more prone to anxiety than others if you belong to certain types of personalities.

6.2. Relatives Who Have Anxiety Disorders

If there is a family history of anxiety disorders, there are all chances of you getting it at some stage in life.

6.3. Stress Build-Up Due to an Illness or Other Life Situations

Stressful situations caused in life due to illnesses and other events in life can lead to anxiety symptoms and cause anxiety.

6.4. Trauma

Children who have undergone trauma or abuse are more prone to developing anxiety disorders at a later stage in life.

6.5. Too Much Alcohol and Drugs

Too much consumption of alcohol and drugs or withdrawal from them can also lead to anxiety and stress.

6.6. Other Medical Conditions

Anxiety attacks happen due to medical causes too. Patients with underlying cause of medical conditions can experience anxiety. Your doctor can diagnose if your anxiety has a medical cause by doing the necessary tests. Some of the medical problems connected with anxiety are:

1. Asthma
2. Chronic Pain
3. Certain Medications
4. Certain Types of Tumours
5. Diabetes
6. Drug Abuse or Drug Withdrawal
7. Heart Disease
8. Hyperthyroidism
9. Irritable Bowel Syndrome
10. Respiratory Disorders

The best way to deal with psychogenic fevers and anxiety-related problems is by seeking medical expertise or engaging in relaxation techniques like meditation, walking, exercise, yoga, etc.

7. Treatments for Anxiety

There are many ways to treat anxiety without medication, and some of the most common ones are:

7.1. Flotation Tanks

This form of therapy involves isolation tanks or sensory deprivation tanks, and they help to tackle mental health problems and anxiety-related issues without the help of medication. These tanks are set at your body temperature and are soundproof and pitch black. It helps to block all your sensory input, and a feeling of tranquillity and peace prevails. That will make you relax and de-stress easily and better.

Many anxiety patients have found relief with this, and research shows patients suffering from the worst type of anxiety benefit most though the results are said to be short-term. Being in the tank slows down the racing thoughts and emotions, and they disappear.

7.2. Mindfulness Meditation

It teaches you how to practice mindfulness, and it is one of the therapies used by counselors to treat anxiety-related disorders by tackling the negative thoughts that cause an anxiety attack. It will help you look at your emotions, feelings, memories, and outside noises in a detached way and is one of the best psychotherapeutic methods used to treat anxiety without having medicines.

Mindfulness meditation is the best way to bring you back to the present moment and make you mindful and aware of what is happening in the present.

7.3. Psychotherapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most common form of therapy used for treatment, and it looks at how a social situation can affect you mentally, physically, and emotionally. This therapy is rational and focuses on the current problems rather than your past issues. It helps to deal with the negative patterns that cause anxiety.

7.4. Physical Activity

Making physical activity a daily part of your routine is a good way to combat anxiety and stress-induced problems. Exercise can boost your self-confidence and improve your sleep quality if you are regular. It lowers stress hormones like Cortisol and releases endorphins which are good for triggering positive emotions.

Try walking, jogging, cycling, dancing, or other sports activities, and indulge in physical activities more to keep you healthy mentally, emotionally, and physically. Connect with nature, soak in the beauty of the surroundings daily, and watch your negative thoughts fizzle out slowly.

7.5. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Treatment

TMS or Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation treatment is another way to deal with anxiety-related issues without medical intervention. This treatment works by stimulating the regions of the brain with a mild electromagnetic pulse and making the brain function normally.

7.6. Wholesome Diet

A healthy and balanced diet with enough vegetables, limited intake of alcohol, processed sugar, and caffeine, and drinking enough water is a good way to deal with your anxiety problems if you are looking to tackle them without medication. A wholesome diet rich in whole grains and vegetables is better than a diet with processed foods and carbohydrates.

Foods rich in magnesium, zinc, antioxidants, Vitamin B, and probiotic-rich foods are good to help deal with anxiety without taking medication if it is not acute.

7.7. Yoga

Yoga is good for breathing techniques and body flexibility. Many postures in yoga work perfectly for stress and anxiety, and practicing yoga regularly is a good way to avoid anxiety medication. Yoga will also lower blood pressure and heartbeat and reduce stress. You will find a difference in your stress levels and find yourself more serene and relaxed once you start practicing yoga.

Yoga is said to be a potent relaxation therapy for anxiety, and you can see an upliftment in your mood. If you are looking for something that does not involve medication to treat your anxiety, then opting for yoga classes is a good one.

In The End

Can anxiety cause fever? It is scary and disturbing to note how anxiety and anxiety attacks can cause a fever. The clinical population is unaware of the effects of stress and anxiety and the body’s physiological response to it. This lays stress on mental health and how acute, psychological, and chronic stress can be the underlying cause of something more serious.

Visit a health professional if you feel there is an abnormal finding before it can become serious. You will know now that anxiety and stress-related problems can be treated using medication, relaxation techniques, and therapies. Get the advice of your health professional or a therapist and go ahead with the treatment that suits you the best.

In case you liked this article, here is something more.

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Last Updated on July 24, 2024 by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology