Eating problem

[Zee]

I know that anxiety and depression can dull the appetite and weight loss is fairly common.. I was always able to eat very well until about mid April when I had blood tests results. They were fine but the few days before results I got very,very anxious and my stomach suffered. I was having tension in tum, griping etc and so didnt feel like eating much..it escalated and now really struggle to get even 900-1000 cals a day which isnt good enough when you burn several hundred of those off.
When my health anxiety goes high it runs to my stomach!!..I was getting things gradually back on track and then yesterday my hubby had a health problem which set my head racing and today my tum was awful so Ive only had water all day..he is ok now but im left with having to start this eating thing all over again.
Do any of you have reactions that go straight to your stomach? and how do I get my eating back on track ?

[jothenurse]

I have lost 20 pounds because of the panic disorder I have. I have gaggy feelings a lot - more like a gag reflex than a stomach problem. My psychiatrist has put me on Ativan, and this has helped. But I have decreased the ativan now down to .5mg in the morning and .5 at noon. Very minimal dose. I did well for a few days, but this morning I got the gaggy feelings back again so may have to increase the Ativan. I usually eat better later in the afternoon and in the evening, but I too can not eat enough calories to gain any weight. And when I do gain a little, I have IBS that acts up or like today I feel really gaggy again and can't eat. If anyone has any help for this, let me know.

[Going home]

Most anxiety is caused by adrenaline and this gets your body ready to either fight or to run, either way your system shuts down any unecessary action in order to fuel the important things needed for fighting or running, such as a faster heartrate and breathing rate, higher blood pressure and extra blood into the muscles of the arms and legs as well as your brain. So digestion is not considered important and this is why alot of people lose their appetite or their stomach churns when anxious. When you've either stopped running or fighting your system slowly goes back to normal activity, but with anxiety these symptoms are with us almost constantly, including muscle pain because we don't actually use up the extra energy in them.

The only thing we can do is to recognise the symptoms of anxiety for what they are and some of them might be ease, and as we start to relax so the symptoms will gradually subside, but it will never go away completely...everyone suffers from anxiety, its part of life and our body reacts to it the way it should do, its only us who make it worse by adding to it and keeping it going. Hope this helps a bit.

Take care
Anna xxx

[Charlotte 27]

I am 27 years old and experianced my first panic attack 9 weeks ago!
I swallowed a cracker and felt like it got lodged in my throat (never did) i went to hospital and hyperventalated I couldnt breath properly I was so scared! ever since then I have lost more than a stone and I feel i look awful! I am slowly getting my eating back on track because I was to scared to eat! scared of choking

Cut a long story short I am now doing CBT it helps but all the work is down to me, before this happened I was really confident happy go lucky!!

Thinking about it now I have always been a real worrier!! My CBT man says I should be free within a couple of months is this true?

The more I talk about my anxiety the more I find its common.

My major concern is my weight loss is this normal???

I hope this forum can help me!

Charlotte

[K3vin]

Hi Charlotte,

You can be free in a couple of months!
Keep up the good work woth your CBT,


Best Regards, Kevin

[Zee]

Charlotte: I think thats my problem too. I had a scare a couple months back with bad indigestion after eating something so next day I didnt eat very much. Then for a further few days I ate less and then I got tum problems, griping, pinchy etc which was probably the result of not eating enough...it went on from there really and escalated. Now I want to eat but having problems getting back to normal.

[Vixxy]

Hi I have a similar problem. I forced myself to eat when I was going through a bad patch and now I associate food with anxiety, so I dont eat very much. Probably about the sama as you a day.
My GP gave me some juice drinks called fortijuice to help get my calories up. 300 cals a bottle with vit + mins.
Ive also just started CBT to try and get myself past this.
Youre not alone and you will get through this^^

[Zee]

Hi I have a similar problem. I forced myself to eat when I was going through a bad patch and now I associate food with anxiety, so I dont eat very much. Probably about the sama as you a day.
My GP gave me some juice drinks called fortijuice to help get my calories up. 300 cals a bottle with vit + mins.
Ive also just started CBT to try and get myself past this.
Youre not alone and you will get through this^^


Thank you Vixxy.. I havent heard of that supplement. I think its somethingn like that I need..I am also thinking about cbt .

[debbsi]

I have IBS and any anxiety problem goes straight there - either indegestion, bowel spasm, loss of appetite etc - anyway it flared up last week for no reason (well it could have been hormonal) and then just as it was settling I had a health scare which set it off again - I get very bloated also which is painful - after researching I found that apple cider vinegar is recommended for IBS - so I've bought some tablets from asda and I'm giving them a go - so far so good - bloating has gone still getting some griping - but I'll keep going and see if I get any benefit

[Zee]

I did wonder about IBS as ive had tum reactions in previous years when upsets have occured.
Im at a stage now with this eating that I put food to my mouth and start feeling pinchy, churning before ive taken a mouthful.. I seem to be associating food with anxiety:ohmy:

[alicegreen]

I get like this too when anxious. I make myself a big jug of smoothie from whatever I have in the house and sip it through the day.

[Zee]

Does anyone have occasions when you have food infront of you and suddenly a waive of nausea appears?.. It happens to me now and then even if im hungry and want to eat.. Am I just associating food with anxiety I wonder ?

[jothenurse]

My reaction is more of a gag reflex - can get really bad sometimes. But sometimes looking at food can make me gaggy. Other times, it looks good, but because of my gas reflex, can't always get myself to eat it.

[Vixxy]

I feel a lot of pressure to eat when food is in front of me, so it triggers the nausea/anxiety. I feel like its there, so I have to eat it otherwise im wasting food.
To combat this I make sure I eat food that can sit for a few hours and still taste ok or something that I can wrap up and pick at like a sandwich.
you sound like youre in the same place as me with food = anxiety. I saw my new therapist this week and Im going to be starting work on this in a few days. Ill post up what hes asking me to do, so that maybe you can work through it too. Im really worried hes going to bring some food and ask me to eat it in the office!

[Zee]

Thankyou Vixxy, that would be really helpful.. Its such a struggle and | can see a few of us on here have similar problems.
Ive managed 950 cals today and it was an effort.

[jothenurse]

Vixxy -
That would be wonderful if you can share some ideas. I'm afraid to eat, because everything I try to eat something, my pulse goes up around a 100 or more after I eat. Other times, I have such a gag reflex, that I can't eat. Thanks for sharing any information.

[Sarah Louise]

I am suffering really bad with IBS and Acid reflux and i am in agony. I get scared to eat and i have lost a stone in a month so far. The anxiety goes straight to my stomach and i just can not eat anything. I drink peppermint tea and take peppermint supplements which help settle my stomach sometimes.