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Eating & panic
Does anyone else feel anxious & panicky when it's time to eat?
I have my dinner in front of me at the moment & I just can't eat it! I can't breath properly & the anxiety has taken away my appetite.
I had this last year but got over it (I don't know how, it just went). I don't have an eating disorder, I want to eat, I can eat snacks but when it comes to a meal I get panicky.
I feel pretty anxious today anyway, I had to go to shops & got anxious in there & even when I was walking home (shops are only couple hundred yards away). I have lots of twitches today too.
I'd better stop b4 I tell u my life story! I would like to know though if anyone does have this problem & if you do, what do you think is causing it?
Els
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Re: Eating & panic
I get that sometimes too. I'll feel hungry and cook for like an hour, still hungry the whole time it takes and then, I'll sit down, look down at my plate and feel like I'm having trouble breathing, which makes me not want to eat.
I'm not sure what causes it, but I'd say it's normal for people who do suffer attacks. For some reason, eating snacks is easier for me to. I guess that's why they suggest eating small meals throughout the day, plus if maybe there is a link between low blood sugar and panic, it would make abit of sense about maybe you need to eat to feel better.
But each person handles it differently, I usually take a couple bites, wait a few minutes and see if it goes away, if it doesn't, I put it away and snack on something after about a half hour. if it doesn't improve by then, I take a pill and then normally feel like I want to eat everything in sight. Xanax does that to me. x.x
but I just wanted to let you know, you're definately not alone having this same thing happening. Hope you can eat soon, I'm going to try to eat soon too. Starving. xD
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Re: Eating & panic
Hi, Els!
I sometimes get anxious when I have to sit at the dinner table to eat a meal...I think it's because a few times when I sat down at the table I was already feeling anxious...so now I relate that anxiety feeling to the table (if that makes sense lol) Also our table chairs don't have arms and since I have a problem with leaning over to the right I don't feel quite safe.
I have more of a problem with anxiety after I eat...especially at night time. Sometimes my heart races after eating and that scares me and I have a difficult time eating in the morning for the same reason. I use to have a bowl of cereal around 10 at night and then would lie down to go to sleep a couple of hours later. I would feel weird feelings in my stomach and then that would make me go into a panic attack. For the past week or so I haven't eaten at night and I seem to be going to sleep better. I tried to eat a bowl of cereal the other night just to see how I felt and the same anxiety came back so now I know not to eat at night lol.
It's so funny (not ha ha funny but strange funny) how much anxiety affects so many areas of our lives!
Take care,
Lacey
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Re: Eating & panic
I get like this too. When i first started getting panic/anxiety attacks...i went into a real bad state. i was hospitalized for 10 days.. i lost about 35 pounds in a month and a half! and it was becuase i couldnt eat. like you guys said, everytime i would try to eat i would feel sick to my stomach, and panicky. i still dont know why, and i still get like that.
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Re: Eating & panic
I get very anxious at the minute when Im eating, its been this way for about 6 months. I panic when I first look at the food but when I have it in my mouth my throat seems to tighten, as If I will choke.
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Re: Eating & panic
I get this too. If your family don't mind, I've found a good distraction is to eat in front of the TV - not very polite I know but it helps give me something else to focus on. It still takes me ages to eat but I eat more than if I was sitting up at the table.
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Re: Eating & panic
I have never experienced that before but it obviously sounds horrible! Why not eat small portions at a time? That way, if you finish what is on your plate you get more. It could the size of the meal that maybe triggering it, as you said that you can eat snacks easier then meals.
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Re: Eating & panic
When I was at secondary school I couldn't eat. I just couldn't do it, I was fine at home but not at school. Just faces with even a packet of crisps, I felt sick, hot, panicky, I couldn't swallow... The way I got over it was to start with tiny bits, just aim for a couple of crisps one day, with tiny little bites. Then eventually I got up to a whole packet of crisps, then half a sandwich, etc etc. Also, distraction was a big help for me. I surrounded myself with a couple of friends, we'd talk about anything, and then the food didn't become such a big deal.
Even now, when I'm feeling anxious I find it hard to eat. I know this is the opposite way round, but obviously food and anxiety/panic are linked.
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Re: Eating & panic
This has become a bit of an issue for me too, I'm sorry to hear that so many of you suffer from the same thing!
I try not to make my anxiety too obvious to my family, as my Mum is under a lot of stress already and I don't want to make her worry. Now that I avoid eating at the table when I'm very anxious, or when I'm visibly anxious when I do eat a meal with the rest of the family they think I have an eating disorder. Because of anxiety my immune system is shot and I feel ill all the time, that usually ends up with me feeling sick and therefore not wanting to eat.
I'm not looking forward to the Christmas day dinner when we all have to be crammed around a tiny table to eat. Can't wait to get rid of my anxiety so I can just enjoy a meal at the table!
xx
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Re: Eating & panic
i too get anxious when im eating but i get to the point were i cant use my hands whitch sends me into a blind panic