Anxiety turned physical needing advice.

[Appleblossom]

Hi all

im 52, been in and still am in, therapy on a weekly basis.

ive done CBT, on medication and know a lot about managing anxiety.

but it seems I still have so far to go..

im in a place in my life that even my therapist says is extremely tough.

but I desperately need help.

i am suffering permanent physical pain across my diaphragm and nothing is getting rid of it.

ive read all the forums on things to help with anxiety and am SO GRATEFUL for all the help. The music helped for a day then stopped working.. the breathing techniques (which I had ‘down pat’ are not touching it.

my only sense of relief is medication (and I’m on the top levels) and sleeping.

i run my own business and NEED this pain to stop.

ive been in bed for nearly two weeks now. Like a complete cripple.

this has NEVER happened to me before.

i would be so very very grateful if anyone knows ideas to help.

im loosing weight as I can’t eat (which is probably making things worse?)

the pain is debilitating!!! 8/10

so please ANY advice would be so gratefully received

thankyou for any help

I appreciate everyone on here

😘

[White_Rose]

Dear Appleblossom

Welcome to the forum. Thank you for telling us your story, I hope I can help in some way.

I am so sorry you are experiencing such huge pain. I can relate to being in pain although not to such persistent pain. After a while I understand it, pain relief does not work as effectively as before.

I am trying to put myself in your shoes but this is difficult although I can appreciate your desire to be well and back to running your own business. This may seem like a silly or obvious question but have you been thoroughly checked out by your GP and specialists? It amazes me how much physical discomfort can impinge on our mental health.

OK that bit is done. I gather you believe your anxiety is the cause for this dreadful pain. Is this correct? You have learned a lot about CBT, something I understand but not convinced about. It does require you to constantly work at changing your thinking and your actions. Have explored neuroplasticity? This is about changing your brain pathways in much the same manner as CBT. The theory is that when you automatically turn down this pathway the outcome is always the same. Instead, making new paths allow the old paths to get overgrown and forgotten and the new way becomes the default path.

I know from my own experience that the more often I keep repeating the same action the more frustrated I get. I have to remember the same action always gets the same result so I need to turn left instead of right etc. Have a chat with Mr Google. This theory I believe has great merit with the added bonus that it debunks the myth that as we age so our capacity to learn new things decreases. Not so. Notice how many people learn to play an instrument or learn a new language in their later years. Take up a sport, travel, got to uni (I was in my forties at uni), make a dramatic change in jobs.

I know you have tried the various tips given here and they have petered out. Part of this is visualising how different you will be/feel by continuing to work at say breathing exercises. When you reach a certain level you do not feel the benefit as you did at first. Well that makes sense. You have become competent at that level and are now in a holding pattern. Why not go on to Pilates or yoga or meditation. Keep using the skills in different ways. Your body is capable of many amazing feats.

First stop GP to check your level of fitness then start exploring the neuroplasticity effect. Cheers

Mary

[stackcats]

Are you sure this pain is anxiety related? When I had pain under my diaphragm it turned out to be gallstones. That type of pain is skewed to the right and can radiate to the shoulder. It's debilitating, I couldn't think of anything else while having an attack, and it was impossible to find a comfortable position to lie in. There are lots of other organs in that vicinity too which could be causing your pain.

Have you asked for an ultrasound or other tests to see if anything's going on in there?