Please help.

[chomer86]

A few months back i was very poorly and lost a lot of weight. Im thin anyway so once better i panicked and tried to eat as much as i could to get the weight back on as quick as possible. In doing so, i ended up choking on some toast and it terrified me. I started panicking when trying to swallow food and thinking i would choke again, luckily i have not. Then i started really overthinking it the swallowing, the chewing, the food going down my throat. I made eating so unenjoyable by accident and started to dread meal times. Panicking about one thing or another, will i choke, can i swallow, will it make me heave (i also heaved once on a piece of bread). The thoughts consume me all day long, now today i got scared “what if i have or am getting an eating disorder” (one of my worst fears) and now im panicking about that. What if i start thinking like them what if i cant eat tomorrow because i wont like the food. This is driving me insane i just want to go back to normal i cant seem to stop these worrying thoughts :( can anyone help me? Any goof advice? Please say i havent got an eating disorder, i get scared im gonna die. I am seeing a therapist in two weeks hopefully she can help. This has been goung on all year but the eating disorder thing just popped into my head tonight and is worrying me. Why cant i calm mu mind, its like it works against me all the time to make my life hell :( help.

[Fishmanpa]

help. (http://cbt4panic.org/)

Positive thoughts

[ErinKC]

I'm sorry you're going through this. I think speaking with a therapist will be very helpful. I went through a somewhat similar issue back when my anxiety was totally out of control, but mine was surrounding food allergies. I became so consumed by it that I could hardly eat anything without panicking. It was terrible. But, I was able to get myself through it with therapy and persistence. The best thing for me was just facing the fear, eating, and seeing that nothing bad happened. It was really the only way to get past it.

First, don't overwhelm yourself. Set attainable goals for each day. Instead of starting the day thinking about not being able to eat, make a decision on what you'll eat that day. Once you get through the day with nothing bad happening, you should get a bit more confidence that the next day will go even better. It can take a while, so don't be hard on yourself.

Also, even as you're setting goals and doing some planning, at the same time try to lower your vigilance around eatings. Once you say - ok, today I'll eat this... try to let yourself just eat without over thinking every sensation you feel. Anxiety can really affect things like swallowing, so worrying about it will likely exacerbate the situation.

Good luck!