Boland, Maureen. Worried sick? Don't let anxiety harm your health. FAmily Circle, 4/22/97, p 72. Ever since she was a child, Susan Sechrist, 30, recalls feeling worried and slightly nervous. By the time seh hit her mid-20's, she regularly suffered from bouts of dizziness, mild nausea, heart palpitations, insomnia, concentration problems and tingling in her hands and feet. "It was this underlying anxiety that I couldn't seem to shake. I was constantly worrying about what would happen next," recalls Susan, now newly engaged and enrolled in school full time for communications at a university near her home in East Greenbush, New York. "And because I didn't feel well physically, I was sure that there was some disease I had that just hadn't been diagnosed yet. So I jumped form doctor to doctor. All tey said was to cut back on caffeine, and that if things got really bad, they'd give me a prescription for sedatives." ... According to the National Institute of Menatl Health (NIMH), approximately 23 million people have an anxiety disorder. Of these five million siffer from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) - the disorder that Susan was eventually diagnosed with. Like toher anxiety disorders, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, where victims become obsessed with a single thought or behavior, liek washing their hands, GAD is also distiguished by certain characteristics. It can strike as early as childhood or adolescence, and causes victims to worry constantly about a number of things for six months or more. Most GAD sufferers worry excessively about everyday concerns such as whether or nt the boss thinks they're doing a good job, or how they're going to pay the bills. In more severe cases, a victim may become preoccupied with catastrophic thoughts and visions. (What if the plane blows up or the car crashes?) In most cases, people with GAD, despite their constant feelings of uneasiness, are able to function perfectly well in their daily routines. "But when constant worry interferes with that ability, it can be extremely impairing," says David H. Barlow, PhD., professor of psychology and director of the Center for Anxiety and RelatedDisorders at Boston University. The effects of GAD are felt in varying degrees from person to person. The symptoms include overall fatigue, muscular tension and restlessness. In 75% of cases, a person will experience intermittent, brief episodes of heart palpitations, chest pain and dizziness, or may experience the feeling that she is going to suffocate or faint. Diagram: How the body reacts: In response to anxiety, the body releases adrenaline to get blood flowing to teh muscles and heart. As a result, you may experience heart palpitations, chest pain and a tingling sensation in the fingers and toes. The nervous system may trigger perspiration, hot flashes, trembling and dizziness, along with stomach distress and concentration problems. - blurry vision - pressure in head - dry mouth - muscular tension - chestpain and rapid heartbeat - back pain - gastrointestinal problems - overall flushed feeling - cold and tingling hands and feet Because of these symptoms, a GAD sufferer may thin she's physically ill when she's really not. Yet the irony is that when GAD is overlooked it can, in fact make you sickover time. "We know that repeated stress and anxiety do have deleterious effects on one's health," explains Dr. Barlow. "So if you go for years with a full-blown anxiety disorder, your immune system is likely to become suppressed and, therefore, you'll be more susceptible to disease." Conditions like hypertension, migrains and gastrointestinal disorders may develop as a result. It's also not uncommon to find anxiety disorder sufferers who become depressed or abuse alcohol and drugs. THE PHANTOM DISEASE Only within the last 15 years or so have anxiety disorders gotten any real attention from the medical community and the press. This is largely due to NIMH's first-ever survey of mental health, done in the United States in the early 80's,which found that, as a group, anxiety disorders are our No. l mental health illness. Still, despite the numbers, only about 25% of those affected receive treatment. In many instances people are too embarrassed or frightened to seek help, for fear of what they'll learn. "Most people with an anxiety disorder don't know what they have - they think they have a physical illness or are going crazy," explains Dr. Barlow. Jerrilyn Pinsky, 46, a speech pathologist and weight loss counselor from Marlton, New Jersey, says she struggled for years to keep her anxiety hidden from everyone. "Everyday living ws completely exhausting for me because I was always trying to appear as though things were fine when they realy weren't," she admits. Another common reason people fail to get treatment is that anxiety disorders are missed by family doctors about half the time, according to Dr. Barlow. Many patients remain undiagnosed becaue they tend to seek help for a specificx physical ailment, such as breathing problems or fatighe. Often, these complains lead to a series of expensive medical tests that fail to turn up any "real" illness. "The typical person suffering with an anxiety disorder sees as many as 10 doctors before they ever get a definitive diagnosis," explains clinical social worker Jerilyn Ross, director of the Ross Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders in Washington, DC., and author of Triumphover Fear.