Tingling In Head Anxiety Symptoms (2024)

The tingling in head, paresthesia in the head anxiety symptoms description:

• You feel a tingling sensation in your head.
• Your brain feels like it is tingling.
• You feel like your head and/or brain has an effervescent feeling.
• It feels as though the top of your head is tingling.
• It feels as though your scalp is tingling, yet there is no visible reason for it.
• This tingling feeling can also affect your face, ears, mouth, tongue, neck, and other parts of the body.
• This tingling in head feeling can also be accompanied by a numbness sensation.
• Sometimes the tingling in head feeling can alternate or be combined with a numbness in head feeling.
• This tingling in head feeling can be also described as a pins and needles feeling.

Other descriptions of the tingling in head symptom include:

• It feels like your head is bubbling, burning, fizzing, prickling, etc.
• It feels like your head is ‘electric’ or ‘electrified.’
• It feels like your brain is ‘crawling’ or tickling in your head.

This tingling in head feeling can persistently affect one area of the head only, can shift and affect another area or areas of the head, and can migrate all over and affect many areas of the head over and over again.

This tingling in head symptom can come and go rarely, occur frequently, or persist indefinitely. For example, you may feel a pins and needles feeling once in a while and not that often, feel it off and on, or feel it all the time.

This tingling in head feeling may precede, accompany, or follow an escalation of other anxiety sensations and symptoms, or occur by itself.

This tingling in head symptom can precede, accompany, or follow an episode of nervousness, anxiety, fear, and elevated stress, or occur ‘out of the blue’ and for no apparent reason.

The tingling in head symptoms can range in intensity from slight, to moderate, to severe. They can also come in waves, where they are strong one moment and ease off the next.

The tingling in head symptoms can change from day to day, and/or from moment to moment.

All of the above combinations and variations are common.

What causes tingling symptoms?

Medical Advisory

Tingling can be caused by a number of factors including:

• Remaining in the same position (seated or standing) for a long time
• Injury or pressure on a nerve (for example, a back injury can cause numbness in the legs or feet, and a neck injury can cause numbness in the arms and hands).
• Pressure on the spinal nerves (for example, due to a herniated disk)
• Lack of blood supply to an area (for example, restricted blood flow–we often refer to it as “falling asleep,” or for medical reason such as, plaque buildup from atherosclerosis–this can cause pain, numbness, and tingling)
• Side effects from certain medications
• A lack of vitamin B12 or other vitamins
• From radiation therapy
• Toxic action on the nerves, such as from alcohol, tobacco, or lead
• Abnormal levels of calcium, potassium, or sodium in the body

Tingling can also be caused by other medical conditions, including:

• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Diabetes
• Migraines
• Multiple sclerosis
• Seizures
• Stroke
• Transient ischemic attack (TIA)
• Underactive thyroid

Why does anxiety cause the tingling in head symptoms?

There are three main reasons why anxiety can cause tingling in head symptoms:

1. Being anxious has activated an active stress response.

Being stressed and anxious (worried, apprehensive, fretful, fearful) causes the body to produce the stress response. The stress response secretes stress hormones into the bloodstream where they travel to targeted spots in the body to bring about specific physiological, psychological, and emotional changes that enhance the body’s ability to deal with a threat—to either fight with or flee from it—which is the reason the stress response is often referred to as the fight or flight response.[1][2]

A part of the stress response changes include shunting blood away from parts of the body less vital to survival and to parts of the body more vital to survival, such as the brain. In an emergency, the brain requires more blood sugar so that it can function optimally when in danger. This shunting action provides that extra blood sugar.

This sudden rush of blood to the brain can cause a variety of sensations, including tingling in head feelings.

2. Stress-response hyperstimulation.

When stress responses occur infrequently, the body can recover relatively quickly from the physiological, psychological, and emotional changes the stress response brings about. But when stress responses occur too frequently, the body has a more difficult time recovering, which can result in the body remaining in a semi hyper stimulated state, since stress hormones are stimulants.

We call this state "stress-response hyperstimulation," also known as "hyperarousal," "chronic stress," or "nervous system dysregulation."

A body that becomes hyperstimulated can behave oddly and erratically, which can be particularly noticeable because of how hyperstimulation affects the body’s nervous system.[3][4]

The body’s nervous system is responsible for sending and receiving sensory information to and from the brain. A main component of the nervous system is specialized cells called neurons (nerve cells), which communicate with each other using an electrochemical process (the combination of electricity and chemistry).[5]

For example, when nerve impulse information is received from one of the body’s senses, neurons relay this nerve impulse information through the nervous system network to the brain for interpretation. And if we want to move a particular muscle or group of muscles, nerve impulse information is sent from the brain through the nervous system network to the particular muscle or groups of muscles to bring about movement (muscles move through a combination of nerve impulse-triggered muscle contractions and releases). Again, this nerve impulse information is conveyed electrochemically by the neurons through the nervous system network.

This system of communication and reaction works normally when the body and nervous system are healthy. Problems can occur, however, when the body and nervous system become stress-response hyperstimulated.

For example, because of their electrochemical properties, neurons are particularly sensitive to stress hormone stimulation. When neurons become overly stimulated, they can act erratically and more involuntarily than normal, which can cause them to “misreport,” “over report,” and send “false” nerve impulse information to and from the brain. These abnormalities can cause a wide range of sensory and physical anomalies, such as experiencing a tingling in head feeling.

And because hyperstimulation can cause the electrical activity in the brain to increase, which can cause neurons to become even more unstable, neurons can fire even more erratically and involuntarily when the body, brain, and nervous system become hyperstimulated.

The combination of the above factors can cause a wide range of odd and bizarre behaviors, sensations, and feelings. Experiencing tingling in head, pins and needles, pressures, numbness, and tremors in the head or any part of the body is an example of some of the odd sensations and feelings that can occur as a result of these factors.

3. Hyper- or hypoventilation.

Hyper- or hypoventilation is another cause of tingling in head symptoms.[6] When we breathe too shallowly and don’t take in enough oxygen (hypoventilation), this causes the CO2 levels in the blood to drop, which can cause a tingling sensation in the body, including the head. Low oxygen in the blood can cause a pins and needles and tingling feeling in any part of the body, including the head. Some people describe this feeling as an effervescence in the head or brain feeling, or like your head is experiencing a prickling or tingling sensation.

If, on the other hand, you are breathing too aggressively and take in too much oxygen, this can also change the CO2 levels in the blood causing hyperventilation, which can also cause tingling in head symptoms.

Even though tingling in head symptoms can seem odd and even unsettling, when they are caused by any of the above anxiety factors, they are harmless and needn’t be a cause for concern. They will subside when you reverse the above causes.

How to get rid of the anxiety tingling in head symptoms?

When the tingling in head symptoms are caused by apprehensive behavior and the accompanying stress response changes, calming yourself down will bring an end to the stress response and its changes. As your body recovers from the active stress response, this tingling in head feeling should subside and you should return to your normal self. Keep in mind that it can take up to 20 minutes or more for the body to recover from a major stress response. But this is normal and shouldn’t be a cause for concern.

When this feeling is caused by stress-response hyperstimulation, it may take a lot more time for the body to recover and to the point where the tingling in head symptoms are eliminated. We explain the many complications to recovery when the body becomes stress-response hyperstimulated in Chapters 2 and 3 in the Recovery Support area of our website.

Nevertheless, when the body has fully recovered from either an active stress response or stress-response hyperstimulation, the tingling in head symptoms will completely subside. Therefore, these symptoms needn’t be a cause for concern.

You can speed up the recovery process by reducing your stress, practicing relaxed breathing, increasing your rest and relaxation, and not worrying about this feeling. Sure, the tingling in head symptoms can be unsettling and even bothersome. But again, when your body has recovered from the stress response and/or sustained stress, the tingling in head symptoms will completely disappear.

When tingling in head symptoms are caused by hyper- or hypoventilation, regulating your breathing to a normal pattern will restore the proper CO2 levels in the blood, which will eliminate ventilation caused tingling in head symptoms.

If you are having difficulty containing your worry, you might want to connect with one of our recommended anxiety disorder therapists. Working with an experienced therapist is the most effective way to overcome anxiety disorder and what seems like unmanageable worry and anxiety.