Nausea and vomiting from anxiety.

[Pinali]

Sorry about the length. Thank you ever so much if you take the time to read it and reply, I'm really desperate.

I'm new around here and looking for some advice with feeling constantly sick from anxiety. It only happens when I'm in certain situations but often it is impossible for me to avoid those situations, and I know avoiding everything isn't going to help me get over this, so well.

I used to get sick and vomit from anxiety whenever I was excited or nervous about something. Going on holiday, exams, meeting someone I'd never met before etc. It had been not so bad for months, but it's gotten a lot worse now.

A few weeks ago it stepped up a few notches and now I'm in hell. The trigger was meeting someone new. A penpal seemed interested in coming to my city (I study in Manchester in England) to see the sights so I offered to let him stay with me.
Bad idea. I began to feel nauseous a few hours into his stay and recognising the symptoms of my dormant anxiety rearing its ugly head, rushed to the bathroom and alas, vomited everything I'd eaten that day. It only stops when there is nothing left to vomit and so my body forcefully stops the retching.
I felt sick the rest of the weekend and was unable to eat until he left. The thought of eating made me want to vomit again.

It's been pretty much constantly in the background since then. There were a few days where I felt okay about a week after he left, but I went to a convention with some friends the next weekend and alas, it was back.
I managed to keep myself from vomiting that time but it made me unable to do anything but sit in the hotel room alone for two nights.

This past weekend I've come here to France to stay with my boyfriend who lives here. The flight was awful, I was so anxious. I've come to see him before many times and it's never been like this. I've felt a little sick when I arrived a couple times but never for longer than a few hours.
This time I threw up on the plane before I even arrived on Saturday. And again yesterday even though I had not eaten anything; I was dry retching.
I haven't eaten anything for 50 hours right now because when I think about eating, I feel like vomiting again. I know that if I would attempt to even look at food with the intention of eating it, I'd be in the bathroom retching within seconds.

The problem is I can think of nothing I am actually anxious about. This is annoying and pointless and yet my body will not let me get on with my life without it.
I've been to see a doctor who said "oh yeah, here's some breathing techniques to help," but said techniques only work for as long as I have my eyes closed and perform them. The second I open my eyes again the nausea comes rushing back.

I just don't know what to do. I am in France for three weeks now and can't speak French, so I can't really go and see a psychologist or doctor here.
I'm hoping it'll just gradually go away as it has before but usually it's gone sooner and it hasn't been this bad before.
Anyone has any advice on that?

[V for Victor]

Hi, and welcome to the community! :)


Nausea is a typical symptom of anxiety, and vomiting naturally follows it. But usually only if the anxiety is really severe and sustained.

I've been nauseated from anxiety before, and I hadn't eaten for a while. I figured that all I needed was to eat, so I made a sandwich, and only managed a couple of bites before I felt like I needed to puke. I didn't, though. I really, really don't like vomiting, as I'm sure nobody does.

So it sounds like you've got the trigger of your anxiety figured out. Good for you! It sounds like Social Anxiety Disorder; fears of meeting new people, fears associated with socializing, etc.

Breathing exercises CAN help, but it sounds like you need something a little stronger than that. For the severe problems you're experiencing, I'd recommend going to talk with a therapist or doctor as soon as you can. Try to get on some pills to control your anxiety. I'm currently on Citalopram, and it's helped me with every angle of my anxiety problems.

You don't necessarily have to stay on the medication forever. They may just put you on them for a year or so, and see if you can learn to deal with the anxiety with less and less dependency on the meds. And that's the key: Learning to deal with it on your own. The medication can give you a head start, and help clear your mind in order to that.

Help this helps! :)

[Pinali]

Yeah, thanks a lot for your advice.

I've been really scared whenever anyone mentioned taking any form of medication for mental problems (hearing horror stories about antidepressants and how they made people unable to function, changed their personalities and who they are etc) but if it's the only way I can begin to get better I guess I should just swallow those fears and go see a doctor again even if it means they might put me on some sort of medication.

Pinali-

I think your perception of anti-depressants needs to be updated. There are some wonderful anti-depressants without any side effects and it is up to the patien to work with the doctor to get the dosage right. That's antidepressants.

Anti-anxiety medication can be a bit more tricky, but you have had a great realization about your trigger. That leads me to think that some ntensive therapy, as opposed to medication, could ultimately help you.

I do hope you'l reconsider your general view of meds. The only one losing out is you. Some of these products have drastically improved the quality of life for so many people. And it does ultimately come down to "quality of life."