What the heck is happening to me?

[panicBill]

Hello all. Hope you are well.

So, I have recently turned 30. For the last few years I have been heavily drinking at night. Never in the day. I don’t smoke or do drugs.

I would wake up in the morning out of breath with a fast heart rate after drinking. This would last most the day. This went on for months. One day i drank less and woke up fine. No breathlessness at all.

Then I had left side pain next to my bellybutton. It wasn’t bad but one day I was messing with it and the pain was 8 out of 10. I passed some gas and the pain went back down to 1. I can still slightly feel it.

Then, I was getting very tired and was shaky. When I go for a bowel movement, it’s not solid but not diarrhoea.

Two days ago at work, after a night of heavy drinking, I was fine for a few hours then BOOM. Heart began to beat at 127. I felt absolutely fine but my heart was going crazy. It stayed slightly above 100 for 5 hours. Then, when I began to relax, the heart went back to 80s.

The day after, I felt fine, but I went very tired and began to have hot cold sweats most of the day, and my lower abdomen was hurting.

Today the pain has gone.

In the last 2 years I began to drink heavily. I lost my mum to cancer and me and my GF split up after 12 years, as well as me getting my own apartment. Drink helped me. I would only drink at night.

This month alone I have self diagnosed with testicular cancer, non Hodgkin lymphoma (my mum died from that) pneumonia, Covid, Bowie cancer and appendicitis yet 99% of the time I feel fine. Just very anxious.

So, could all this be anxiety? I’m on the process to quit drinking now, and get to the gym. Lucky my job means I was for 10 hours a day so I always get cardio.

[Nugatory]

Hello all. Hope you are well.

So, I have recently turned 30. For the last few years I have been heavily drinking at night. Never in the day. I don’t smoke or do drugs.

I would wake up in the morning out of breath with a fast heart rate after drinking. This would last most the day. This went on for months. One day i drank less and woke up fine. No breathlessness at all.

Then I had left side pain next to my bellybutton. It wasn’t bad but one day I was messing with it and the pain was 8 out of 10. I passed some gas and the pain went back down to 1. I can still slightly feel it.

Then, I was getting very tired and was shaky. When I go for a bowel movement, it’s not solid but not diarrhoea.

Two days ago at work, after a night of heavy drinking, I was fine for a few hours then BOOM. Heart began to beat at 127. I felt absolutely fine but my heart was going crazy. It stayed slightly above 100 for 5 hours. Then, when I began to relax, the heart went back to 80s.

The day after, I felt fine, but I went very tired and began to have hot cold sweats most of the day, and my lower abdomen was hurting.

Today the pain has gone.

In the last 2 years I began to drink heavily. I lost my mum to cancer and me and my GF split up after 12 years, as well as me getting my own apartment. Drink helped me. I would only drink at night.

This month alone I have self diagnosed with testicular cancer, non Hodgkin lymphoma (my mum died from that) pneumonia, Covid, Bowie cancer and appendicitis yet 99% of the time I feel fine. Just very anxious.

So, could all this be anxiety? I’m on the process to quit drinking now, and get to the gym. Lucky my job means I was for 10 hours a day so I always get cardio.

Sorry your not feeling well.
Good news is it sounds like you know where the problem starts and that seems to me like it's the drinking. Can you manage without or maybe find local help?
Fixing one issue might solve others. Good luck.

[Carnation]

Sounds like anxiety to me. Drinking unfortunately fuels it. Might be worth changing to decaf as well.
One thing you can get with anxiety is IBS. But very common is trapped wind and that's what probably caused you the pain. I'd start by cutting out the drinking or at least minimise it.

[panicBill]

Thank you both for the reply.
Funny thing is, the pain came back today. I have researched and it seems like IBS and anxiety. Even the shaking and sweats is anxiety. I never get it when Im not anxious, but as soon as I get a little anxious, it happens. The pain on the scale is 1, at best and its not even a constant pain.

[WorryRaptor]

Sounds like you're going through a lot!

I would guess that anxiety could indeed cause a lot of what you're feeling, but if you're making big lifestyle changes, a visit to your GP is no harm. Not that I'm suggesting anything is wrong, but having a once over is a great idea when you're getting fit again. I'd be careful diving straight back into cardio if you've spent a long time drinking or following an unhealthy lifestyle. It can be a bit of a shock to the system.

Also, you mentioned being in the process of giving up drinking. Maybe your body is feeling that change and you have a little bit of withdrawal going on? That can cause stomach pains, sweating, and a raised heartrate and blood pressure for some people.

I hope you're feeling better soon :)

[Sar89]

To add onto worryraptors reply I would also advise starting gently with the cardio as it’s so easy to overdo it. I personally would advise a visit to GP first before starting any exercise. I do think it’s anxiety related personally but it’s better to get clean bill of health when it comes to new symptoms. When I do drink which is basically never now I get terrible anxiety almost suicidal the next day alongside heartburn and palpitations. It’s dreadful. I think when you suffer from anxiety you are hypersensitive to your body anyway. So any slight changes to the chemistry of it will play havoc on your mind and body. Let us know how it goes with GP. Sarah