Anxiety Symptoms During and After Eating

[minderaser13]

I have suffered with anxiety and panic attacks on and off for three years. It has been pretty bad recently. I have been getting better, but there is one place that I get anxiety like feelings and it really bothers me...after eating. I get worried that its not anxiety but a serious illness. I get all the classic anxiety symptoms while eating and immediately after...heart racing, sweating, head pressure, feelings of off balance, tiredness...almost like i am having a panic attack. The anxiety after eating is worse on anxious days and less on days I have been relaxed, but its still there. I spoke to my doctor about it and he told me that your body works very hard when digesting and in my sensitized state, every bodily sensation is causing me to have anxiety. He said once I get my anxiety under control, the anxiety during and after eating should go away. I have had all the normal blood tests and a physical and besides anxiety, I am an otherwise a healthy 28 year old. I don't have an eating disorder or anything like that. When I am really anxious I do lose my appetite, but I have recently gotten it back as my anxiety levels have improved. Is my doctor right? I just can't stop worrying that I have something wrong with me. Anyone had this?

[ItWillPass]

I do get the anxiety during/after eating also. I think having small, light meals throughout the day is helpful. I would also lose my appetite, then sit down to eat dinner and just get very light headed. It always felt a little better when I would force myself to eat small snacks all day.

[minderaser13]

Thank you for the quick reply...so it is just anxiety then?

[ItWillPass]

well... my theory is that when we eat, especially if we have eaten little all day, the blood leaves our heads quickly, and goes to the stomach ( a normal reaction to eating) But, since we are prone to anxiety, that sensation causes us to panic... so while its just a normal body reaction, when someone is sensitized like us, panic begins.

[stress-bag]

writing on behalf of my dad.

He has recently started with anxiety attacks and depression. He has noticed when evening comes and he has a meal he becomes very panicy. He has recently started on medication to help this however this hasnt started to work fully. When it is fully working do you think this evening meal anxiousness will pass?

many thanks victoria

[tracy0924]

Hey all,

I joined this site specifically to respond to this thread. I just google searched anxiety after eating because I definitely do suffer from horrible anxiety after I eat. I started to wonder if maybe I have a disorder or something because it is especially bad after I eat a big meal and am very full.

I can't begin to tell you the relief I feel that so many other people also have anxiety after they are finished with a meal. I am still anxious because I just ate, but still feel so much less weird and alone. This has happened so often recently that I had to google it and see if anyone else has ever felt this way. What a relief that I am not alone.

Thank you all for this thread. Please if anyone else has any thoughts or information on this topic, please please please post your queries!

Tracy

[hi-tech]

Like Tracy 0924, I joined because of googling this thread!
I guess it's always hard to tell how extreme it maybe for each of us.
I have never experienced anxiety before in my entire life, didn't even know what it was, now I'm in my early fifties.
The first small sign of changes showed up about 7 years ago, when my wife came to a doctors appointment with me and mentioned to him that I had cut back my eating significantly. I explained that I felt so much better when I didn't have much to eat. He told her that I would eat if I got hungry enough. Since then it's become more than just feeling better.
A few years ago I started to suffer panic attacks along with the anxiety.
The last year has blossomed into having really bad heartburn and I.B.S. (something else I've never experienced).
I've been tested for so many things, that now I just feel like giving up on the whole situation.
The following tests have all been negative.
I'm not diabetic even though I experience the shakes upon waking up!
I'm don't have Celiac (Sprue) yet I bloat terribly after most meals.
I can't handle milk products, yet I'm not lactose intolerant.
I've had a Colonoscopy, and a upper G.I. Endoscopy, everything is fine they tell me, yet when I eat I really suffer pain in my stomach and lower intestines.
The specialist says it's all in my head!!!
I have never been a hypochondriac and see no reason to become one. I've never wanted attention for myself, in fact, my whole life I have been a dedicated giving person.
Here is what has changed in my environment which makes me wonder.
I had an addition to the house built that took us down another level underground (about 22ft.) 8 years ago. I'm not sure if mold could of started or Radium gases are being given off, all I can feel is something in my life style must of caused this change, or it's something in our foods.
My wife also gained symptoms of Fibromyalgia around the same time my symptoms came into effect.
Any way, there is my life history.... oh ya, I used to drink lots of pop, I'm only a couple of pounds overweight (5'8", 165lbs). Nothing to even worry about, although when I'm bloated it looks like I'm very heavy in the midsection, and suffer joint aches!
I'd like the specialist explain how having I.B.S. episodes could be in my head? I think stress has a really big part in this, in my case I wonder which came first though!
Perhaps what I have is different from others, although food seems to be the common link for my anxiety!
Thanks for your time reading this.

[Zee]

I never had eating problems at all until anxiety started in Spring of this year. It came out of nowhere but I had been through 6 years of stressful situations and was feeling very low. I began eating less because my tum was getting upset and I didnt associate that with anxiety at the time.. It went on from there really..very soon I had halved the amount of cals I was eating and weight started dropping of at the rate of 1lb per week. I then developed food anxiety, Food became a source of anxiety to me.
I sit to eat an evening meal and sometimes my tum just flips over and I get anxious.
Im trying so hard to eat better as I used to enjoy food so much

[Alissakobe27]

I have the same problem. All my life I have had a weird anxiety about eating. I always feel that when I eat I'm going to throw up, but then I tell myself that if I don't eat, I am going to die. Then I freak out and have a full on panic attack. In two weeks I am taking a long trip to Oregon and I am scared I am not going to eat anything. Do you have any advice?

[Invisibletouch]

I too have a similar thing. I suffer with anxiety and it has got worse since i've got older. I can usually cope most days but this has got worse recently. I have for maybe a couple of years noticed that sometimes when i eat in the middle of the day, and not necessarily anything much, after about half an hour or less i get the increased pounding heart rate and this usually lasts about 20 mins. I have not worried that much about this and put it down as others have said to the digestive system. However, about 10 weeks ago i had something smallish to eat at lunchtime and then went to clean out the rabbits. After a few minutes i could feel my heart pounding and racing and had to come in. I felt just awful and thought i was going to be sick. It eventually went off after about 20 mins or so. This happened again 6 weeks ago, again after i had eaten lunch at a friends, by the time a had driven home and carried the shopping in same thing happened. I really thought something major was happening but again it went off eventually. I went to the Gp, she did my bloods and an ecg and said she wasn't sure why it was happening She said if the bloods came back ok, which they did, the next step was a 24 hour moniter, although she also said unless it did it when it was on they wouldn't know what caused it.
I still believe it is to do with digestion although i also believe as others have said, that the anxiety makes our bodies react extremely as they are so sensitised. I also have thought that both times in my case i didnt let my food go down properly, but carried on with doing bending and lifting things, which i know can upset the vagus nerve. I am also now very careful what i eat!!