Food Triggers

[AnxiousPsychGrad]

I'm on a search to begin treating my anxiety holistically. One of the suggested ways is an "anxiety free diet". My biggest question throughout this all is -- are my stomach issues causing my anxiety or is my anxiety causing my stomach issues??

My question for everyone is if they have a specific food trigger that makes their anxiety greater after eating it?
Also, has anyone done any research on the correlation between dehydration and anxiety? If so, please point me in the direction of where I can get some information on that topic as well.

My food triggers (as far as I can tell) are:
Spicy foods (really tough because I'm Cajun -- we add spice to everything!)
Some dairy products
Also, if I eat something I'm REALLY not in the mood for, it gives me anxiety and I become nauseated.

[Dahila]

Well it is ; anxiety causing your stomach problems. I believe you checked you are not suffering with some stomach lining damage?
What I believe eating calms the person down. Not the other way around. We tend to program ourselves to anxiety. Lets say you are eating something very spicy and you sweat at the time. You mistake it with anxiety. When I anxious i have the same symptoms as when I have my hormones going crazy. Low blood sugar is easy to mistake with panic attack. :)
When dairy products are irritating your stomach it could mean you are lactose intolerant
One day just when you eat you get the phone call from school with some not pleasant message, immediately you connect the panic to the food you consuming instead to the phone which you could actually get two hours before meal or you worry you will get it. Our mind is a very powerful tool , and it will do what you want.
Have you try meditation? I am fun of it and I do it every day. I helps me the way i thought is not possible. I am dealing with anxiety from very early childhood and I am grandma of 8 years old ;))

[Kuma]

I find that drinking alcohol can increase my anxiety, when my anxiety is already at a relatively high level. I feel better just after I have a drink, but then later at night it can increase my anxiety and impair my ability to sleep.

When my anxiety is not at a high level, the alcohol does not seem to trigger anxiety. But when I am feeling anxiety to begin with, the drink makes it worse.

Note that I am not talking about excessive drinking or getting drunk, etc. I don't do that.

[Dahila]

Alcohol gives relieve for a very short time, then comes anxiety worse than before. I had been there, and always got drunk when I could not take it anymore. It made everything worse. I decided not to touch alcohol for 9 years, (raising my children alone) My anxiety was much easier to manage:) Now so often I have a beer , small one. On special occasions gin and tonic :)) one the most two
drinking a lot of coffee raises the heart beat for some time and it can be the cause of anxiety too:)

[av1988]

Alcohol gives relieve for a very short time, then comes anxiety worse than before. I had been there, and always got drunk when I could not take it anymore. It made everything worse. I decided not to touch alcohol for 9 years, (raising my children alone) My anxiety was much easier to manage:) Now so often I have a beer , small one. On special occasions gin and tonic :)) one the most two
drinking a lot of coffee raises the heart beat for some time and it can be the cause of anxiety too:)

Thanks for posting this! Alcohol does in fact rid your anxiety...until you aren't drunk anymore. Then the next morning, you are hung over (gives me anxiety), you may even have a moral hangover (omg why did I act that way!) and you are dehydrated/hungry. Anxiety is easier to manage without alcohol. I still drink sometimes and am drastically lowering the amount of times I drink.

[Dahila]

I forgot to add that drinking WATER no soda or pop or whatever is important to avoid headaches, not when you hungover but always, every day :)

[Xerosnake90]

I had huge stomach issues when my anxiety first spiked. Had my doc check it out and no problems found. Still having bloating, intense pains at times. Nausea, this and that. That all continued until I found out I had high levels of anxiety. From then it's been a steady progression to being fine. Understanding that anxiety was the cause helped me out. Stay well :)

[AnxiousPsychGrad]

Thanks everyone for your input.
I've suffered with stomach issues long before I've been diagnosed with anxiety which is why I question it. Also, in my studies I've learned that there is a link between the stomach and anxiety. I will talk to my psychologist more on the topic next time.
As far as drinking, I'm 25 soon to be 26. I LOVE to have a good time, and sometimes that means drinking a little alcohol. I feel GREAT the night of drinking, the next day -- death is on my doorstep and my anxiety is higher than usual --- MUCH higher. This is why my question of dehydration came up in the initial post.

[Dahila]

Hi I do not think we should quit on anything; you are young and social life is connected having two or three drinks. Just do it responsibly. Anxiety highers the acidity in stomach. Too much acid and you get bloating, pains, even burping. Have you check your blood for presence for bacteria?

Stress, spicy foods, type A personality. Which of these causes most stomach ulcers? The answer: none of them. Research shows that most ulcers -- 80% of stomach ulcers and 90% of those in the duodenum, the upper end of the small intestine -- develop because of infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).

It a simple blood test, the first time, I had another one in nuclear medicine to make sure that is gone. It was torturing me for years. When I lost so much weight due it, my doc after my suggestion of course send me for test. Problem solved, it is more than ten years, no pain. I have high acid in stomach due the Anxiety and damaged stomach lining by bacteria. I take tecta but not all the time. Check the blood please. People usually forget that this bacteria present in 95% of population in some causes MaJOR problems with digestive system.

[Joe.]

While under chronic stress, or anxiety, it is helpful to drink water, preferably non-fluoride water. Somehow it helps.

[homebird]

The only thing that seems to make my anxiety worse is caffeine. So when I'm feeling stressed or upset, I avoid it.