jonno123
11-09-2011, 10:41 PM
Hi,
I'm a 22 year old male and am having some, perhaps, slightly unusual anxiety issues. For the past 5 years, I have had gastrointestinal problems. I have been diagnosed with reflux disease (GERD), but it is being managed ok with Nexium. Other than the reflux I also seem to have an extremely strong 'mind/gut' connection, whereby any stress (especially in the mornings) makes me feel nauseous/tired/lose my appetite and causes my bowels to rumble and to have loose stools. Because of this as-of-yet undiagnosed, problem for the past five years I have been struggling through uni. I haven't ever had a job or girlfriend, because I simply haven't felt well enough to commit myself. To cope with the problem I have had to live in a kind of depressive, low energy, low stress state - sleeping in fairly late every day, spending most of my time doing 'easy' things like browsing the internet, and not being very social in general. I am coming towards the end of my degree now, and am faced with the prospect of going into the 'real world'. Living in that kind of state is ok if your only commitments are going to uni, but I simply can't act that way if I'm to finally enter into the 'real world' - often you need to wake up early, be sociable, mentally alert and energetic in general. This is where my anxiety problem comes in. Everytime I try to force myself out of the depressive state I'm living in, I get crippling anxiety which after a day or two makes me feel physically sick to the stomach (I can't eat) and I end up caving and going back to that state where I feel much more relaxed. I have tried stretching for 15 min, followed by 30 minutes of slow breathing meditation in the mornings and an hour before bed, but it doesn't seem to help. After a few days the anxiety builds, and it usually culminates in something similar to a panic attack (very fast heart rate, fearful thoughts etc.). I honestly wouldn't really care if it was just anxiety alone - I can deal with that, because I know deep down even though it feels horrible it will pass. It's just that it manifests so strongly in my gut, that I simply can't go on without throwing up. I am pretty certain as well, my gut is actually being damaged somehow because for a day or two afterwards my stomach still feels inflamed and nauseous (despite me having no more anxiety). Given my stomach acid levels are under control with meds, I have no idea how my stomach could actually be being damaged and what the mechanism is though.
So does anyone know if it is usual for anxiety disorders to register so strongly in the gut, or do I have something else going on?
Also if you think it is an anxiety disorder, what category do you think it is? And does anyone have any tips on how I could get through this?
Thanks so much for any help
I'm a 22 year old male and am having some, perhaps, slightly unusual anxiety issues. For the past 5 years, I have had gastrointestinal problems. I have been diagnosed with reflux disease (GERD), but it is being managed ok with Nexium. Other than the reflux I also seem to have an extremely strong 'mind/gut' connection, whereby any stress (especially in the mornings) makes me feel nauseous/tired/lose my appetite and causes my bowels to rumble and to have loose stools. Because of this as-of-yet undiagnosed, problem for the past five years I have been struggling through uni. I haven't ever had a job or girlfriend, because I simply haven't felt well enough to commit myself. To cope with the problem I have had to live in a kind of depressive, low energy, low stress state - sleeping in fairly late every day, spending most of my time doing 'easy' things like browsing the internet, and not being very social in general. I am coming towards the end of my degree now, and am faced with the prospect of going into the 'real world'. Living in that kind of state is ok if your only commitments are going to uni, but I simply can't act that way if I'm to finally enter into the 'real world' - often you need to wake up early, be sociable, mentally alert and energetic in general. This is where my anxiety problem comes in. Everytime I try to force myself out of the depressive state I'm living in, I get crippling anxiety which after a day or two makes me feel physically sick to the stomach (I can't eat) and I end up caving and going back to that state where I feel much more relaxed. I have tried stretching for 15 min, followed by 30 minutes of slow breathing meditation in the mornings and an hour before bed, but it doesn't seem to help. After a few days the anxiety builds, and it usually culminates in something similar to a panic attack (very fast heart rate, fearful thoughts etc.). I honestly wouldn't really care if it was just anxiety alone - I can deal with that, because I know deep down even though it feels horrible it will pass. It's just that it manifests so strongly in my gut, that I simply can't go on without throwing up. I am pretty certain as well, my gut is actually being damaged somehow because for a day or two afterwards my stomach still feels inflamed and nauseous (despite me having no more anxiety). Given my stomach acid levels are under control with meds, I have no idea how my stomach could actually be being damaged and what the mechanism is though.
So does anyone know if it is usual for anxiety disorders to register so strongly in the gut, or do I have something else going on?
Also if you think it is an anxiety disorder, what category do you think it is? And does anyone have any tips on how I could get through this?
Thanks so much for any help