Anxiety slowing recovery after week in hospital

[Cassandra]

For the last few weeks I've had trouble with my stomach, leading to 6 days in hospital. It wasn't anything serious (small hiatal hernia, g.e.r.d. and some inflammation)
As it was quite painful, I haven't been eating properly during that time, and as a result have lost about 20lbs.
I had started associating food with pain, and even though this pain is now mostly gone, I still can't seem to bring myself to eat properly.

I'm drinking high energy "food-shakes" to try and keep the calories at a reasonable level, but I am still getting very anxious at the thought of eating, which in turn is making my stomach hurt. (I can drink the shakes fast so i don't have a chance to start panicking )

How do I stop stressing at the thought of food?

I do feel hungry, and do really want to eat, but when I have a plate in front of me I can't make myself eat. I sit there looking at it, getting more and more anxious until my stomach gets so sore i couldn't eat even if I wanted to.

My muscles are weakened after too much bed-rest. Because I am not eating properly I hardly have the energy to get up and walk/ exercise.

I KNOW I need to get back to a normal eating and exercising routine, I just don't know how to do it. The low energy makes the anxiety so much harder to battle :weep: :shrug:

[aprilmoon]

Hi
I had a big op about 14 months ago and lost about two and a half stone.
When my appetite was poor I found that I could nearly always manage some cereal and rice crispies and cold milk became a large part of my diet for a while.
It was light and easy to get down but along with the milk supplied me with vitamins etc.
Cheese and crackers was something else I had,throw in some fresh fruit,and I did quite well on that for a while.
Don't try and face big platefuls, just graze if that feels easier.
Its not so much the quantity, but the quality of what you're having.
Hope you're feeling much better soon:)

[vicky23]

Bless you I 'm sorry you're going through this.
I can relate to the fear of food, it's totally understandable when you eat something and it causes pain your brain will of course make a link between the two so when you see food your brain goes 'this will cause pain it's scary'
So I suppose it's the same kind of treatment for this as it is for any other kind of anxiety. Gradual exposure to the thing you're fearing, perhaps instead of trying to eat a meal just take it one bite at a time so start off just holding the food then smelling then take a bite and then leave it. No pressure just one bite for now.
Remember lots of positive self talk, tell yourself how well you did, food is your friend it keeps you alive and will make you feel good, soon you will start to get pleasure from it again. You've experienced pain but your body is healed now so you can eat again.
Then next time take two bites and so on.
Best wishes
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