Horrible emotions in pit of stomach... anxiety, depression or something else?

[amlilro]

I can't even find words to explain a lot of what I am feeling but it feels like I've been taken over by some terrible thing inside me. I wake in the morning with a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know there is nothing to fear or nothing bad that has happened but cant shake the feeling of dread. I try to move on in thought but thinking even positive thoughts about the good things in my life bring on a surge of this grief like feeling of emotional pain along with a sense of rising inner panic. It feels like someone died. Just thinking about making breakfast or other simple tasks fill me with dread and a feeling of being utterly unable to cope or be in my own skin. I look at my beautiful baby daughter smiling at me and the panicky feeling rises. I think about my partner who I love and doing something with him after work but again the panicky doom feeling. Looking at my belongings makes me feel strange. Doing things I normally do feel strange and I get a weird feeling like i cant cope with existing. I cant explain why :( Then towards the end of the day I feel strangely normal again. Its like I'm back to myself again. Then the following day the cycle starts again. Anyone that can offer any insights or anyone that can identify please help me :(

[Want2feelnormalagn]

I am having very similar things go on with me. And it's strange that we both have a few hours of clarity later in the day. My doctor says its anxiety and a touch of depression but I truly believe its something physical. I have been looking up alot of my symptoms and besides anxiety I found something called adrenal fatigue. This might be worth looking into. If you find anything out about it let me know and I will do the same. My doctor is having me collect my urine for 24 hours because I asked him to check my hormones.. I turn it in tomorrow and should know something Monday. I'm at my wits end with this and pray they figure something out.

[Want2feelnormalagn]

Also do you have any other physical symptoms? Mine are sudden surges in my stomach and chest that feel like adrenaline, fatigue, chest tightness, food not digesting properly, weight loss, headaches, shakiness, strange noises in sinuses when I go to sleep or lay down..ect

[M.C]

I get that as well sudden shooting pain at the top of my stomach or under the ribs
Sometimes I m convinced that I have a serious illness to do with either my stomach liver or lung
I told my therapist yesterday and she explained it in a rational way that it made sense to me

[maria.g]

I can't even find words to explain a lot of what I am feeling but it feels like I've been taken over by some terrible thing inside me. I wake in the morning with a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know there is nothing to fear or nothing bad that has happened but cant shake the feeling of dread. I try to move on in thought but thinking even positive thoughts about the good things in my life bring on a surge of this grief like feeling of emotional pain along with a sense of rising inner panic. It feels like someone died. Just thinking about making breakfast or other simple tasks fill me with dread and a feeling of being utterly unable to cope or be in my own skin. I look at my beautiful baby daughter smiling at me and the panicky feeling rises. I think about my partner who I love and doing something with him after work but again the panicky doom feeling. Looking at my belongings makes me feel strange. Doing things I normally do feel strange and I get a weird feeling like i cant cope with existing. I cant explain why :( Then towards the end of the day I feel strangely normal again. Its like I'm back to myself again. Then the following day the cycle starts again. Anyone that can offer any insights or anyone that can identify please help me :(

When I read this I immediately knew what you meant. I look at things too, like my clothes, my room, my friends house and feel like I'm somehow an observer rather than participating in events. Constantly feeling afraid and apprehensive all of the time especially early morning. Gets better as day goes in. Introspection is the word for this - we're over thinking, over analysing everything. Having thoughts and conversations with yourself in your own head and trying to process it all and making no sense. of it?! What exactly are we afraid of??? It's like we 'feel' to much I feel lol ... If that makes sense?! Why can't we just step outside of ourselves like other people and get engaged in the mundane ...? I don't like the feelings it brings and the sense if isolation and sometimes desperation. Awful.
Anyone else anything to add?

[maria.g]

I am having very similar things go on with me. And it's strange that we both have a few hours of clarity later in the day. My doctor says its anxiety and a touch of depression but I truly believe its something physical. I have been looking up alot of my symptoms and besides anxiety I found something called adrenal fatigue. This might be worth looking into. If you find anything out about it let me know and I will do the same. My doctor is having me collect my urine for 24 hours because I asked him to check my hormones.. I turn it in tomorrow and should know something Monday. I'm at my wits end with this and pray they figure something out.

How did you get on with your blood and urine tests today?

[cassidy10]

You have descibed exactly what I am feeling, how are you doing? What helped? I can't even eat, this is horrible. I quit smoking 10 years ago and have been chain smoking, I don't know what has happened to me, I am losing myself. I used to have short bouts of mild depression but nothing like this in my life. I get mad I can't snap myself out of it.

[sweetdaytx]

I can't even find words to explain a lot of what I am feeling but it feels like I've been taken over by some terrible thing inside me. I wake in the morning with a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach. I know there is nothing to fear or nothing bad that has happened but cant shake the feeling of dread. I try to move on in thought but thinking even positive thoughts about the good things in my life bring on a surge of this grief like feeling of emotional pain along with a sense of rising inner panic. It feels like someone died. Just thinking about making breakfast or other simple tasks fill me with dread and a feeling of being utterly unable to cope or be in my own skin. I look at my beautiful baby daughter smiling at me and the panicky feeling rises. I think about my partner who I love and doing something with him after work but again the panicky doom feeling. Looking at my belongings makes me feel strange. Doing things I normally do feel strange and I get a weird feeling like i cant cope with existing. I cant explain why :( Then towards the end of the day I feel strangely normal again. Its like I'm back to myself again. Then the following day the cycle starts again. Anyone that can offer any insights or anyone that can identify please help me :(

I can relate to this on so many levels. I, too, have a baby girl who brings me so much joy, but most days I feel this sense of doom and this panicked feeling inside me. My husband works long hours so I'm alone most of the time, which doesn't help. I am too introspective and it just makes me more upset. The idea of cooking/cleaning just seemed like the hardest thing in the world.

Unlike you, night time is much worse for me. I do better in the morning when the sun is bright and I can get out of the apartment. My anxiety had gotten out of control thinking about death, illness,etc. i finally saw my dr last week and she started me on Zoloft (day 5) and I feel [a little] more like myself today, and I'm now searching for a therapist..I am hopeful that I can regain some peace and joy in my life, for mine, my husband and our daughter's sake!

I hope you can start to feel better soon :)

[Mrm143]

I'm sorry for bringing this up and it being my first post. My name is matt...39 and recently tapered off Zoloft about 6 weeks ago. I was on Zoloft and clonapin for 20+ years for panic disorder. The reason I'm writing is because I googled exactly how I have been feeling the last few days and this came up. I have the exact same feeling very scary and I feel like I'm going crazy. I have not been sleeping well for the past 6 weeks and we are all hoping it's sleep related. Was their ever a resolution to the original posters issue. I am scared to death and need to know what may be going on...

[Ponder]

Yep - many of us have been there. Know that your not alone. In fact I am right there now! My life has been filled with living like so for the last 48 years.

Acceptance is the first thing I will pull out of my well being tool box when close to rock bottom. Right now I have to accept whats going on in my life otherwise I will lose control. Already I am starting to lose my grip, however coming across this thread (TY for making it) and seeking out an answer for it has reminded me just how effective acceptance really is!



For me ... It works like this:

Accepting - Nothing I do seems to change how I feel. I realize that the more I resist the worse I feel. Rather than waiting till I hit rock bottom → I stopping fighting & I stop looking for answers. I just allow myself to feel the pain without giving what I don't understand anymore thought. At this point I realize the less thought I give what I already don't know; the less pain I feel. Acceptance is not an absolute sense of control but more a realization, that I can slowly begin to regulate my emotion due to no longer adding to the pain; thus creating much needed space for the healing to begin. At this point I aim to be thankful rather than despair over the void often associated with such numbness which lead me to this point of acceptance. I remind myself just how painful it was during my phase of resistance and compare it to this feeling now feeling of just - "being" - being present as I now sit with my discomfort instead to adding to it with senseless thought. Being like this allows me to feel a sense of relief regardless of what was previously a depressive void, for now such is more like an expanse in which I can fly. This is where transformation begins to take place.

Observing is now what comes to mind. It's a liberating feeling/experience to finally see without the need for words. I can rarely see what it is that goes on in my chaotic head when resisting the way I often do - I only find words to convey when is this state of observation, moreover I am only seek to tell myself as I no longer have anything to prove. The more I can settle into this state the more I see, the more I freedom I feel, the less I need to know and the less I care for what I don't. This is the reward of finally accepting and a point where I savor every moment as such transpires.

Releasing is part of the observation process. Its not always smooth sailing but it does feel good enough to that I want to keep observing so that I may release what I feel I must. The more I understand this process of Accepting - Observing and Releasing the more willing I become.

I guess I am a slow at learning as I still struggle some 48 years later and have a host of mental health labels to my name. But I can tell you that it does get better each time I practice this process. I am finding Meditation the best place to start when it comes to acceptance. I am only just now coming to see Meditation being like the prelude to Mindfulness where the latter is a state to which allows me to be present in where acceptance just clicks into place. From that point (for me at least) it's just as I described above. It's not a perfect solution and again it takes practice - BUT - I find it saves me a LOT of unnecessary pain & suffering when compared to allowing myself to be disabled with overwhelming emotion.

Its not uncommon for many people to report that hitting rock bottom was the point they needed to reach in order to make sense of what was going on. For many it is a long lasting life changing point that has helped them overcome insurmountable odds ... simply because they finally stopped fighting and started accepting what was and what is.

PS - Welcome to the forum Mrm143 ;)

[Mrm143]

I didn't even realize you wrote back to me I apologize.

Since I wrote this I have gone back on Zoloft it's been about 6 days now but takes time to work
The withdrawals were horrible after a few weeks after this post and I had to go back on the meds. It's ok I accept it. But I can't shake this feeling and desperately waiting for the pills to kick in.