Test Taking Anxiety

[Farmerboy]

I'll bet you have some physical issues that are aggravating your ability to handle the stress. If you've been under a lot of stress (even "good" stress, such as excitement or busyness) it can take a toll on your body's mechanisms for handling stress--your adrenal system, your thyroid, stuff like that. Been there, done that. When your stress mechanisms can't handle stress properly, it's not surprising to experience things like being hot, having a burning throat, nausea, etc.

So what I would do is focus on helping your body heal. Make sure you're getting a full 8-10 hours of sleep every night. Cut out all sugar (sugar is a stresser on your body) and refined starches, which means no soft drinks, no candy, no cookies, no white bread, no processed cereals (look for whole-grain Kashi cereal instead), no potato chips, stuff like that. Start reading labels and avoid things with corn syrup in them too. You might even want to cut out fruit for a couple weeks, as fruit is sugary too (even though it's a much healthier form of sugar). Eat lots of veggies and protein. Yeah, it's a boring diet but you'll probably feel better after being on it awhile.

Make sure you're taking a good multi-vitamin.

Have you considered taking any kind of herbal relaxers to help you sleep the night before a test? You might check at your local health food store and ask if they can recommend something for you. Chamomile tea might help too. I've actually taken relaxers right before taking a test and it can help take the edge off.

Also, try eating a healthy snack or meal before your test--especially something with protein. You can get protein drinks at a health food store (make sure they don't have sugar or corn syrup) or you can eat a handful of nuts or an egg or some meat. Protein is good brain food.

You sound exactly like my mom!