DDW056
04-11-2013, 06:55 PM
Hello All. This is my first post on here. Thank you for any who read and respond. So before I go into my current symptoms I will give a little background. I am 32 years old, married with two sons. Back towards the end of 2012 I ended up splitting up with my wife and moving to another state away from my wife and children. For the first month or two I was fine, no anxiety or real stress. During this time I started smoking Cigarettes and Marijuana everyday. Over time I started to have severe anxiety while smoking Marijuana. Instead of stopping smoking, I began smoking less thinking that the anxiety would go away, but it didn't until I had to stop. During the 2nd half of January I was under the weather, kinda sick but okay (still smoking marijuana occasionally during this time). At the very end of January I started to develop a respiratory infection which made me pretty sick and very worried. On February 1st I went into a clinic to be diagnosed. By this time my anxiety was on full boar, non stop, I was terrified and very scared. They prescribed me antibiotics (for bronchitis) and Hydroxyzine for my anxiety (which did nothing). I experienced horrible side effects to the antibiotics which made my anxiety even worse, but I decided to stick out the antibiotics. After my health began to improve, my anxiety did not and was horrible, like nothing i've ever experienced before.
So about a week or two into February I started develop stomach issues. My symptoms were/are, Upper abdominal pain (more discomfort and pressure than pain), bowel and digestion issues/discomfort, mild nausea, mild lack of appetite and feeling sick and not well. Before this happened I was pretty obese and my eating lifestyle was not very good, lots of fast food (3-4 a week), loved soda and candy, , you get the drift. After I started feeling sick I couldn't eat those things, , but also I wanted to get better so I did a complete 180 with my eating. I started juicing, started reading up on herbal supplements that improved digestion, bought probitics, enzymes, even did Dr. Shulze Colon/Bowel Cleanse. Basically spent a lot of money I didn't have on these things. Basically though during this whole time I had pretty severe anxiety also, , and my symptoms never seemed to improve much.
On March 13th I went to the ER cause the anxiety and upper abdominal discomfort was too much for me. They did complete blood work (5 vials of blood), gave me an EKG, UA, and performed an ultrasound on my gallbladder, liver and one of my kidneys. Basically everything came back as normal. They gave me antibiotics for h.pylori (per my request) and gave me some clonazapam (also per my request).
Since then I have moved back closer to my family and have been trying to work things out with my wife. But my symptoms haven't gotten any better, if anything they seem to have gotten worse. Last week I went to a local Doctor at a free clinic. He Felt my stomach and talked to me a little and prescribed me lexapro 20mg and basically told me to keep doing what I am doing and I will get better.
I just don't see how my symptoms can be caused by anxiety and stress. Since I started the Lexapro I have become super nauseous and have no appetite whatsoever basically all day every day (which I had this before but it wasn't as severe). I have to force myself to eat, , but even though I am really only eating about 1 meal a day. I am hoping that the nausea and lack of appetite are due to the Lexapro and that it will pass after a week or two (today is day 6), I almost feel like quitting the Lexapro becuase I have been miserable with this nausea, , completely debilitating.
My current symptoms are basically the same, however the abdominal pain/discomfort seems to move around to other portions of my abdomen. For example for like two weeks straight it was only in my upper abdomen on the left and right side. Then for two weeks it was only on the left upper side, kinda right under my rib cage, , now I only have occasional discomfort that comes and goes, but not all the time like it was. I feel sick everyday, nauseous, no appetite and feel like I have digestions issues.
So my question to anybody who have made it this far (thank you) is should I try to be getting more tests done? I can't afford to see an Gastroenterologist. Could anxiety actually be causing all of these symptoms??? The Idea is so hard for me to grasp, because I am absolutely miserable with this nausea and feeling not well/sick.. and how could this be anxiety?? Also, there are whole days that I don't feel anxious, yet the symptoms remain, , I would think that if the symptoms were being cause by my anxiety that they would reduce or go away. My wife keeps telling me that I am going to be fine that I have to give this time, , but I don't know how to do that... I have never been sick for more than a week or two and I am so miserable, , I just want things to go back to normal. Please help!!
BTW I have an appointment on Tuesday to see a Counsler/therapist, I am praying that something gets better soon... I am terrified of death, , but lately it seems better than what I go through and deal with every day... Thank you for anyone who read to the end.
Jesse
So about a week or two into February I started develop stomach issues. My symptoms were/are, Upper abdominal pain (more discomfort and pressure than pain), bowel and digestion issues/discomfort, mild nausea, mild lack of appetite and feeling sick and not well. Before this happened I was pretty obese and my eating lifestyle was not very good, lots of fast food (3-4 a week), loved soda and candy, , you get the drift. After I started feeling sick I couldn't eat those things, , but also I wanted to get better so I did a complete 180 with my eating. I started juicing, started reading up on herbal supplements that improved digestion, bought probitics, enzymes, even did Dr. Shulze Colon/Bowel Cleanse. Basically spent a lot of money I didn't have on these things. Basically though during this whole time I had pretty severe anxiety also, , and my symptoms never seemed to improve much.
On March 13th I went to the ER cause the anxiety and upper abdominal discomfort was too much for me. They did complete blood work (5 vials of blood), gave me an EKG, UA, and performed an ultrasound on my gallbladder, liver and one of my kidneys. Basically everything came back as normal. They gave me antibiotics for h.pylori (per my request) and gave me some clonazapam (also per my request).
Since then I have moved back closer to my family and have been trying to work things out with my wife. But my symptoms haven't gotten any better, if anything they seem to have gotten worse. Last week I went to a local Doctor at a free clinic. He Felt my stomach and talked to me a little and prescribed me lexapro 20mg and basically told me to keep doing what I am doing and I will get better.
I just don't see how my symptoms can be caused by anxiety and stress. Since I started the Lexapro I have become super nauseous and have no appetite whatsoever basically all day every day (which I had this before but it wasn't as severe). I have to force myself to eat, , but even though I am really only eating about 1 meal a day. I am hoping that the nausea and lack of appetite are due to the Lexapro and that it will pass after a week or two (today is day 6), I almost feel like quitting the Lexapro becuase I have been miserable with this nausea, , completely debilitating.
My current symptoms are basically the same, however the abdominal pain/discomfort seems to move around to other portions of my abdomen. For example for like two weeks straight it was only in my upper abdomen on the left and right side. Then for two weeks it was only on the left upper side, kinda right under my rib cage, , now I only have occasional discomfort that comes and goes, but not all the time like it was. I feel sick everyday, nauseous, no appetite and feel like I have digestions issues.
So my question to anybody who have made it this far (thank you) is should I try to be getting more tests done? I can't afford to see an Gastroenterologist. Could anxiety actually be causing all of these symptoms??? The Idea is so hard for me to grasp, because I am absolutely miserable with this nausea and feeling not well/sick.. and how could this be anxiety?? Also, there are whole days that I don't feel anxious, yet the symptoms remain, , I would think that if the symptoms were being cause by my anxiety that they would reduce or go away. My wife keeps telling me that I am going to be fine that I have to give this time, , but I don't know how to do that... I have never been sick for more than a week or two and I am so miserable, , I just want things to go back to normal. Please help!!
BTW I have an appointment on Tuesday to see a Counsler/therapist, I am praying that something gets better soon... I am terrified of death, , but lately it seems better than what I go through and deal with every day... Thank you for anyone who read to the end.
Jesse