A Bad Association...
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| 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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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
(((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
I do the same thing, too.
Sheri Ann
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
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
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
OMG!
Sheri Ann
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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