I might go and see my GP again but I'm worried he might get angry with me............

[cjemc]

Hi guys, I am so sorry to put you through another rant. But I am considering going back to my GP this week as soon as I get a day off of work.
I worry though that he might have an "oh it's you again" attitude and try and dismiss my symptom.
However I have lost nearly 4 years of my life with this symptom and I really do feel that I need to take action quickly before I lose another 4 years of my young life. I am so despondent I cannot convey it to you in words.

What would you do in my situation? What would you ask your GP to do for you? Would you be nervous about going to bother him yet again for the same problem?

*The problem I am on about is the persistent and sometimes violent urges of non-productive emesis (retching) without any other symptoms.

Thank you guys so sorry... :scared15:

[Greenman298]

If the problems have still persist after previous visits to the doctors, then you absolutely should go back, yes :)

[Dissolved girl]

I am sorry for what your going through - wish i could help : (

Definitely go to the doctors, that's what they are there for.
Your health and well-being is the most important thing
Maybe see a different doctor if you haven't before?

[MyNameIsTerry]

If your last consultant has proven that there are no issues to address and believes this to be an anxiety symptom then it's worth pursuing therapy for it.

Can you identify a trigger? Are you more anxious hence this starts?

Could it be a compulsion? One form of OCD which is little known is sensorimotor OCD which covers bodily functions.

Medication is a possibility but it's not a first line treatment anyway unless you are severe enough to need it, so perhaps you can avoid it via going the therapy route?

[nicola1980]

Hi I've answered many of your posts before too, I too had the retching and gagging every single day for nearly a year, i lost weight and looked dreadful and it was all classic anxiety symptoms and until I got on the right meds and believe me I tried a few it carried on, I've just had a major blip and the retching came back but I knew it was simply just my anxiety. You really need to address your anxiety issues yourself and accept them or no Gp or anyone on here can help you X X

[cjemc]

If your last consultant has proven that there are no issues to address and believes this to be an anxiety symptom then it's worth pursuing therapy for it.

Can you identify a trigger? Are you more anxious hence this starts?

Could it be a compulsion? One form of OCD which is little known is sensorimotor OCD which covers bodily functions.

Medication is a possibility but it's not a first line treatment anyway unless you are severe enough to need it, so perhaps you can avoid it via going the therapy route?

Hi Terry, even though anxiety has been suggested by the last consultant I saw no-one has ever positively diagnosed me with anxiety.

There doesn't seem to be a trigger apart from the fact that it is on my mind all the time, even when I am not retching I am dreading the build up to the next round of heaving. However it does seem to be tied in to having to go places and general socialising and day to day living.

As for a compulsion I suppose it could be, the fact that it is on my mind 24/7 for the past 3 1/2 years seems to suggest this. It could be a learned behaviour EG. I am expecting it to happen so much that I am actually bringing it on myself.

Like I say I don't feel sick in my body, I don't have any pain, no indigestion, no dysphagia, no regurgitation, no weight loss (always been very skinny), no heartburn, no nausea or vomiting. Just a really irritating and sometimes violent urge to just retch and gag over and over again until it fades away after a few rounds of heaving.

I am at a loss I really am. I crave sweets really badly these days as well and they definitely help supress the retching and heaving, I don't know why this is but they do help.

All my blood work including coeliac serology is all completely normal and like I said my Barium X-Ray showed no abnormal growths, strictures, polyps, ulceration, cancer or Acid Reflux.

Is it purely psychosomatic anxiety? I am not sure?
Could it be an ear, nose and throat or a metabolic issue? I am not sure?

Other conditions which cause retching and heaving include Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, Boorhaave's syndrome, Intracranial pressure, Gallstones, Pancreatitis, Hepatitis, etc, etc.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Leaving all the health problems aside since are for a consultant, can you explain more about these trigger scenarios? Can you also explain what part you take in process itself eg do you bring it on, feel the need to control it but still do it, etc.

Your response could some light on whether there is an OCD element in play here.

It's strange that medication is being advised when your GP hasn't made an anxiety diagnosis. Is there a reason for that?

[cjemc]

Leaving all the health problems aside since are for a consultant, can you explain more about these trigger scenarios? Can you also explain what part you take in process itself eg do you bring it on, feel the need to control it but still do it, etc.

Your response could some light on whether there is an OCD element in play here.

It's strange that medication is being advised when your GP hasn't made an anxiety diagnosis. Is there a reason for that?

Well the only way I can describe it is that I cannot get the retching and heaving out of my mind at all, ever since it first reared its ugly head in July 2011. It just came out of the blue one day with seemingly no trigger or cause. In 2012 the symptom completely stopped apart from literally a few occasions when I had to go far from home or to a social event.
Then since February 2013 it has been non-stop literally every single day, it happens when I am in the bath, at home in the kitchen, in the car, in the supermarket, when I am walking, when I am in work, when I am in the garden.

I cant fathom as to whether there is some chemical imbalance in my brain triggering this? As for bringing it on myself I cannot positively say if I do or not, however the fact that it is always on my mind must suggest some sort of learned behavioural or tic related OCD symptom I assume? I feel the need to carry out this urge and if I try to stop it then it gets more violent, I notice when I have finished off a 10 second period of retching that my right hand side nostril is streaming beyond belief, there is a surge of watery matter streaming from my nostrils, I also notice my eyes watering excessively and my whole body is shaking and my heart is racing. However if I pop a sweet in my mouth then I can to a certain extent control the retching as having something to suck on seems to "calm me down" for want of a better word.

Saw GP in 2013, sent me for blood tests, glucose was very high, GTT and HbA1c tests however have ruled out any diabetic condition, from here I have seen 2 Gastroenterologists who were at a complete loss to explain my symptoms, one even going as far as to say "I don't think we are going to find the answer to your problems" One said that in 35 years of practise he had never heard of such a symptom which has been so long lasting without any actual vomiting or accompanying symptoms. I was due for an endoscopy but the nurse in charge asked me 10 questions about my symptom and I answered No to all 10 and she said "I don't think an endoscopy is going to shed much light if you don't have any Gastroinestinal symptoms" She asked me if I vomit, am I in moderate/severe abdominal pain, do I vomit regularly, am I awoken at night with this symptom, etc.

All my blood tests including Liver, Renal, Thyroid, Lipids, Bone Profile were all clear. My Full Blood Count was incredibly healthy and ruled out any anaemia in the Gastrointestinal tract.

The last specialist I saw did comment "Do you know it could be anxiety? To which I replied "Yes I am a sickeningly anxious individual" He gave me 40mg of Omazeprazole which I will be trying to see if this helps. However he didn't seem to elaborate further on the anxiety aspect which is a bit odd?

Since then I was told I would be reviewed in autumn but this was 4 months ago and I have heard nothing back so I am not sure where I go from here now???

I will definitely be considering an OCD related tic though if these tablets don't stem the urges. Do you think this could be a plausible answer? This has been going on too long now for it to be a serious illness, I would have deteriorated and died by now if there was anything majorly wrong with me I am sure.

*Alcohol stops the retching, so maybe if I could find a med that worked on the brain in the way that alcohol did then I could quit the drinking as well???

[Fishmanpa]

Calumcco...you are constantly reeling people in who don't know you. I see new members trying to help you just as older members have done in the past, and they don't answer you these days do they...probably because you're ignoring their advice and always have done. And yes it's the nature of the beast called health anxiety. Your doctor may well take a big sigh when he sees you yes, but perhaps because you refuse to take the medication he gives you? How can he help you if you don't at least try it? You say it's because of the possible side effects it may bring, well don't you think a few side effects might be better than the serious discomfort you are in now? Take the meds Calumcco, you never know, they might just work.

ISB

ISB has a valid point. One only need look at your post history to know you drink to excess. Taking the meds along with drinking is a definite no no and it's obvious you made a conscious choice of which to pursue. Granted, it's because you feel it's the only way to stop the symptoms but in reality it's a catch 22 and is detrimental in more ways than you care to admit or realize. That and the fact that when you quit drinking, the retching stopped. Quitting the alcohol along with some therapy and/or meds is a much more productive and realistic way to control your anxiety and symptoms. Go to your doctor. Also let him know truthfully just how much alcohol you do consume on a daily basis. Let us know what he says.

Positive thoughts

[MyNameIsTerry]

Its obvious that you have some form of underlying anxiety and given the wide range of triggers is likely to be GAD or a combination of disorders.

Was that present before this retching first started?

It also sounds like you feel the need to do this and that you can pinpoint that there are times when you do have a trigger. Not satisfying this compulsion seems to result in a more powerful version but does this happen because you are suppressing it?

There is also the issue of alcohol. From looking at your thread history you seem to be posting in the GAD section so I'm not sure where the HA comments from others may be coming from unless its because you are pursuing your diagnose very thoroughly, something which I would be doing but wouldn't be panicking over or someone without an anxiety disorder would. Where has that come from?

In regard to the drinking, from reading a couple of your threads, it seems you do this because you have found it stops the retching. Was the retching there before you started drinking?

Have you told the specialists about this drinking and the effect it has? They need to rule out the possibility of it relaxing the cause of the retching. However, it could always be that it relaxes the CNS hence preventing a symptom or compulsion. Do you still feel anxious whilst taking alcohol or are you calmer?

I wouldn't rule out some form of OCD here but it's difficult to say without knowing more.

Given no doctor had said this is anxiety and there is clearly loads of complicated issues that are solely for specialists to work through, I can only say be knowing more about it, it may be possible to find forms of anxiety disorder that it could be so that you can engage doctors over it. The one that said it could be probably doesn't cover psychology so can't say anymore.

OCD is diverse, and I was wondering if it could be a sensorimotor form, but it's hard to understand at the moment from a compulsions point of view. If it were leant behaviour, it would become a compulsion because its not a normal function.

[Tessar]

I find your thread interesting calumcco, I've skimmed through previous threads of yours too. It really strikes me that you are desperate to sort your physical issues but clearly you have unresolved underlying issues preventing you from doing so.

Call them what you may..... mental health, OCD,GAD ......
They are part of your current mindset and they need to be dealt with.

Your doctor has given you some medication you could take which may give you an improvement in the physical symptoms. I see no reason not to take the meds. My partner takes similar medication & I know several others who take it as well. None have had any side effects whatsoever. What they have had is a 100% improvement in their symptoms. Take this on board.

And how about this too..... by all means see your GP but don't ask for more physical tests or interventions.

Instead ask for some mental, health support. Some CBT, counselling... That sort of thing.

Comments you make about obsessing over this whole retching thing ... that even when it isnt happening you worry about when it happens next? Clearly this has become an issue of the mind. I am certain you will see an improvement in how you feel in mind.

Something I am also certain of..... It is something you need to be pro-active about. You can choose to change where you are at. You can change the focus of your kind and take control. Bit this does need to be a choice you make.

I suggest psychological support because making these changes is not easy at the outset. But it is entirely something you could accomplish with support and then life can go back to a more normal balance for you.

[debs71]

I think that from the sheer number of tests you have had - which have clearly ruled out a physical cause for your retching, the most obvious being a gastric issue such as acid reflux - then you really have to seriously consider the fact that there is a strong probability this is psychosomatic, and driven by both anxiety, and a mental expectation that you are GOING to retch, so it is self-fulfilling.

It is incredible what the mind can do when it comes to the physical.

You are not beyond help...it is just a case of finding the right help, which may well be psychological.

[cjemc]

Its obvious that you have some form of underlying anxiety and given the wide range of triggers is likely to be GAD or a combination of disorders.

Was that present before this retching first started?

It also sounds like you feel the need to do this and that you can pinpoint that there are times when you do have a trigger. Not satisfying this compulsion seems to result in a more powerful version but does this happen because you are suppressing it?

There is also the issue of alcohol. From looking at your thread history you seem to be posting in the GAD section so I'm not sure where the HA comments from others may be coming from unless its because you are pursuing your diagnose very thoroughly, something which I would be doing but wouldn't be panicking over or someone without an anxiety disorder would. Where has that come from?

In regard to the drinking, from reading a couple of your threads, it seems you do this because you have found it stops the retching. Was the retching there before you started drinking?

Have you told the specialists about this drinking and the effect it has? They need to rule out the possibility of it relaxing the cause of the retching. However, it could always be that it relaxes the CNS hence preventing a symptom or compulsion. Do you still feel anxious whilst taking alcohol or are you calmer?

I wouldn't rule out some form of OCD here but it's difficult to say without knowing more.

Given no doctor had said this is anxiety and there is clearly loads of complicated issues that are solely for specialists to work through, I can only say be knowing more about it, it may be possible to find forms of anxiety disorder that it could be so that you can engage doctors over it. The one that said it could be probably doesn't cover psychology so can't say anymore.

OCD is diverse, and I was wondering if it could be a sensorimotor form, but it's hard to understand at the moment from a compulsions point of view. If it were leant behaviour, it would become a compulsion because its not a normal function.

Sorry for not replying until now!
One point I can relate to is the relaxing point you made.
As soon as I drink in the evening then I feel relaxed and the retching completely stops and when I take alcohol I feel so calm that I am like a different person.
I wonder what it is Terry? I had Pure O as a teenager but it was never accompanied by any physical retching sensation.
I wonder if I have OCD again possibly with a retching physical urge/sensation???

[Brunette]

How much are you drinking at the moment?