A Bad Association...

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
A Bad Association...
11
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 12:16pm

Hello All. I need some advice here. When I first started having generalized anxiety 2.5 years ago, it was basically 3 months of feeling horrible mentally every morning, very nervous, out of control, and just plain BAD, as you all know and have felt. One other thing was constant nausea. So much that the docs ran many tests to make sure stomach was acting up due to anxiety and not something else. All tests came back fine. I understand that and believe that.

HOWEVER...my brain has clearly made an association between nausea and anxiety. So ever since, any time I get nauseous from anything I automatically think ANXIETY IS COMING....like nausea triggers my anxiety is what I am saying. The good old doomed feeling. Well, sometimes I eat some mints (have found that altoids help) and I can get past it as long as nausea passes fast. Once it is gone, I am usually ok. Well, this week has been kind of an anxious week (dealing with derealization but getting past that now) and I was doing better but last night I visited my cousin who had a stomach virus last weekend he told me. Well, he has been better for a few days now but his 2 kids got it like 2 days ago he said and were puking and all that mess. So, I was at his house for like an hour and was tense the whole time. The kids of course were bouncing around and playing like they were all better and wanted to get all up in my face and stuff (just being kids). Now I am freaking...I cannot handle getting the stomach flu, not with the way nausea affects causes my anxiety. So of course today I have been too hyper aware of myself thinking I have some nausea or that it is coming...I am probably causing the nausea by worrying. Ugh. I feel like I am stuck. I know worrying will not stop it if I am going to get it anyway (the flu), in fact worry probably tears my immune system down even more. See, I know this is stupid but I cannot stop!!

Kim

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-27-2006
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 1:12pm
Kim, you and I need to get together hon!! LOL! I know this is not a funny thing but I have the exact SAME problem. I have lost 15lbs in the last month or so from the nausea and its hard convincing myself its the anxiety and not some hidden stomach ulcer or something. Illness triggers my anxiety also. If I feel a bit sick or the kids are sick or if I am having to be around someone whose kids are or were sick, then I am like you, all hypervigelant, just waiting for it to come. When I had GAD 3 yrs ago, it was really bad, then I went on the Paxil and it totally went away. This time it is not going away so easy and its very frustrating. I tell myself, if they get sick, they get sick and I will deal with it. And if it does happen, I DO deal with it, its just the constant thinking about it that does me in. I hate it that I get all tense every time one of my kids says they have a tummy ache or a sore throat. I have obtained a few other triggers these days and that is frustrating also. I know exactly how you feel, your logical brain is so smart and telling you all this is silly but your emotional brain wants to rule your body and react in its own way. Sometimes I just want to backhand that little voice or put a muzzle on it. I think my *T* is trying to help me do that!! LOL! If you take meds, I hope they help, if not, try talking to a therapist, it can help. Good Luck to you hon, you are NOT alone!!! Hugs, Erin
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-02-2004
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 1:57pm

Thanks so much for writing. It is always good to share stories. Sounds like we are very much alike in this! If I had kids, I'd be freaking when they were sick too! I felt bad last night when my cousin's little girl was hugging on me and wanting to be all up in my face...all I could think of was GERMS. I would love to slap down that side of my brain for sure :) Like obliterate it! Man...it gets old. And about the health concerns - I can TOTALLY relate. I will feel a bump or lump and totally assume it is cancer and make myself sick worrying. I am BAD about that. I get all hypervigilant and drive myself into being sick sometimes I think! I had to go on Nexium for a while to calm stomach. I took Zoloft for a while and that helped. I am not on it now but have accepted that I might have to go back to it. Ugh. Good Luck and Keep in Touch!

Kim

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 2:10pm

(((Kim))) What can I say that you haven't already said yourself??? You're a very savvy lady. The mind & the body cannot be separated. This association between nausea & anxiety is very strong. You CAN break this connection. It takes practice to dismiss this worry from your mind. Throw up a stop sign in your head. Allow yourself 15 minutes on this issue, then get moving. Take a walk. Read a book. Do not give it power over you.


Just as you put the *unreal* feelings behind you, this will soon pass. It may nag @ you for awhile. Even rear it's ugly head in the future. But telling yourself that you will be ok & this is just another anxious thought that

 

 


 



iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 5:13pm

I do the same thing, too.

Sheri Ann

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 6:53pm

Kim,

nice to "see" you. of course, i have the same thing, always wondering what came first the queasy stomach or the anxiety?....i read somewhere and totally agree, anxiety is in the pit of the stomach. like jan said can't seperate the phy/mental thing...

i also read to try the pink stuff when feeling anxious it should help....also, and this one i now do and am not queasy in the morninings....IT IS GREAT, i'm sure a majority of us are shaky, etc. in the morn and it starts to wear off, right....

getting off track, anyway, i am taking benefiber everyday, it dissovles completely in water, can not taste it...i feel it's made my stomach stronger....

any comments??

kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-27-2006
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 7:27pm
Kris,
What's the pink stuff you are talking about??? Pepto Bismol??? Sorry, that's the only pink stuff I can think of!! LOL! And the Benefiber helps with the queasy stomach??? I ask myself the same question of what came first the anxiety or the nausea. Its getting better, I am eating, I think I have gained a pound!!! YEAH!! (OMG, never EVER thought I would be HAPPY to gain weight!! LOL) I am still a bit shaky for a while in the mornings, glad to hear that is part of it all and not some lack of nutrition or something. This board is so great for info!! Thanks for posting!! Hugs, Erin
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 7:39pm

sorry, yeah, it's pepto.never tried it but read about it from someone i respect!

yes, the benefiber totally helps my tummy...i think the fiber helps
balance it?? not sure, but my stomach feels so much better every morning.
and i didn't have a problem pooping and still don't:)

kris

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-27-2006
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 7:59pm
HEHEHEHEHE thanks Kris!! I haven't ever taken Pepto as an adult but when I was little my grandma used to give it to us kids every time we complained about something as minor as a sore toe I swear!! LOL! It got to the point that whenever she gave it to us we threw up (sorry for the visual!!!) and so now I avoid it since that's all I associate it with!! LOL! I might try the benefiber though. I never had a problem being regular before when I was on the Paxil because I drank coffee everyday. Now I have cut out all coffee, caffiene and alcohol and I noticed that I was having a bit of trouble in that area sometimes now. You said it doesn't taste at all??? That sounds like a good deal. I am trying to drink more water and occasionally I have gatorade but I notice I am not peeing as much as I used to either. Well, now that you have all my bodily functions updated I better go! LOL! Sorry if its TMI!!! Hugs, Erin
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-22-2003
Fri, 02-09-2007 - 8:16pm

OMG!

Sheri Ann

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-04-2006
Sat, 02-10-2007 - 9:24pm
From reading all the posts, I am trying to determine whether my nausea came from the anxiety or is it vice versa?
Anyway, I don't know if I can take Pepto--I have some bad childhood memories of the taste and texture! Do you think drinking more water helps? Sometimes, I feel too nauseated to even drink water--then I guess I must also be getting dehydrated! I, too, am off all caffeine and I LOVE the taste and smell of coffee. I have also been off all alcohol!
With all this clean living--you'd think I would be feeling on top of the world--instead I am totally anxious and have so many weird symptoms--too numerous to mention! Can they be attributed to the start of taking Wellbutirn? of course, I had many of the symptoms prior to the medication. Hope they'll get better and I hope at some point I will sleep better.
I hope everyone's tummys are okay! God bless the Pepto takers! I wish I could--I just can't! Be well! Lynne

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