Bizarre Anxiety

[weeble]

Ok so my anxiety makes me sick and manifests to my bowel. Long story short - I needed to go one day while driving. Full blown panic attacks ensued each and every time I went in the car. 16 months later I am able to drive - just - but shopping is a no go - I haven't been inside a shopping centre that whole time. I've spoken to a professional who was no help- constantly asking "how do you feel" - it can happen at any time without notice. I'm so over this constant fear. Had colonoscopy and all clear - anyone else have this bizarre condition?It's affecting my work- fortunately am self employed but it still causes troubles. When I go somewhere I don't know I feel absolutely awful. I realise it's just panic but my life is just non-existent now - am 100% fine when I'm home...safe place. 16 months is just too long to be living like this. I can sometimes talk myself out of it - the latest phrase that's working is "it is what it is, nothing more nothing less" but I just want to live a normal life again without this fear of pooping myself in public and subconsciously making myself ill. (nausea - a general feeling of being unwell so that I make it impossible to go out)....any advice anyone?

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[HelenM]

Hi Weeble

I'm sorry you're having this problem. Although I haven't had it it makes perfect sense to me. Panic can bring on lots of symptoms. It's all about fight or flight. Perhaps you know that the natural reaction to the fight or flight (which is instinctive) is an increase in adrenaline, sweating, a dry mouth, the need to go to the loo. There are more. The adrenaline is so that we can stand up to the sabre tooth tiger or fun fast from him. The going to the loo is actually so we carry as little weight as possible. I've forgotten a lot. When I panic I have to run to the loo. Usually I'm in a place where that's possible though I have had accidents on about 3 occassions. Once I had to throw all my clothes out.

It's horrible and I would say it's a type of panic attack. I don't know if my advice is any good but here goes. I think the main problem is the awfulness of having an accident in a public place which is understandable. Try to make a list of situations where it might happen. Put the 'easiest' one at the top of the list. Accept (not easy) that you will have an accident and buy appropriate pads. Continue to do this. Don't try harder things - that's not fair to yourself. It is likely that you will become more comfy and not have an accident in this situation. The key is to go very slowly. If you don't need to do it don't. I despise supermarkets but I can pop into my local shop. I've concluded supermarket shopping is a luxury I can live without.

From what I've read I think mindfulness might help you with this.

Mental illness is a horrible horrible thing. We have to endure a whole host of symptoms that are not socially acceptable.

One other thing. Perhaps it's silly to say. In physical illnesses such a MS eventually the sufferer loses control of their bowel. I don't know if that's worth saying or not.

If what I'm saying sounds rubbish I can only apologise.

Take care, Helen x

[Beltane]

yep i have this kind of anxiety too- goes straight to my stomach and bowels. i have almost constant severe life-destroying nausea and when i get panicked or nervous or just overly anxious i'll be on the toilet with bowel cramps, diarhoea etc..

Firstly have you been diagnosed with IBS? irritable bowel syndrome? it is not seen on colonoscopy. its a diagnosis of exclution- that means you have certain symptoms eg diarhoea or constipation, bloating, farting a lot, and they do tests like colonscopies to rule out anything more serious like Crohns. Then you get diagnosed with IBS.

it is really heavily made worse by stress and is strongly linked to anxiety disorders- eg a lot of people with IBS have anxiety and vice versa.

go to your doctor and ask about medications to slow your bowels- there are plenty of them- or to deal with the IBS. also if you have the money, try out a naturopath or dietician. they are really good to help with your diet as IBS is really affected by certain foods- the foods change per person. mine is dairy and gluten. i'm not lactose or gluten intolerant according to tests, but they cause enormous symptoms so i avoid them

secondly have you asked yur doctor about therapy and/ or medication for your anxiety? my therapy made my physical symptoms much better, and my new medication has erased them entirely. all my bowel cramps, diarhoea and severe severe nausea has just GONE. gone gone gone.

it might take some looking to find the right medication- if the doctor does indeed think they're right for you- but they certainly help. they ease the depression/ anxiety a lot and therefore the physical symptoms. some have even shown great benefits for people who have been diagnosed with IBS as well (as i said, anxiety and IBS are often commonly linked)

please see your doctor and ask about medications either to ease your bowel issues or possibly a medication AND therapy for your anxiety as this could and probably will really help you. i can certainly swear it helped me A LOT. like more than i ever dared hope for!!

[weeble]

Hi Beltane, thanks for your reply. Glad to know that I am not alone!! Yes I have had a colonoscopy and that was all clear. No mention that it could be IBS but I've always thought I had IBS, certain foods would trigger it, but now anything triggers it, something I eat one day could be fine, the next time I eat it, it sets me off. Very weird. But yes, I will certainly go to the Doctor about it and see because as I said - I'm so over it.

[Beltane]

yep as i said Weeble, a colonoscopy does NOT show irritable bowel syndrome- a colonscopy rules out other things like inflammatory bowel/ crohns/ etc.

yes i have the exact same symptoms. basically with irritable bowel syndrome the bowel is irritated (pretty obvious huh?). It depends on the person with which foods are the most likely to cause symptoms. Other people (like me) just have times where we react and times where we dont- exactly as you describe.

thats because the bowel might be more irritated one day then another. sometimes its a food that you eat all the time thats irritating it a little, then you eat another food that irritates you a little and TOGETHER they cause massive symptoms.

the cheapest way to figure it out is to keep a food diary for say 2 weeks. there are plenty of apps on iphone where you can keep track of your food and then symptoms you get- some can help you link up the foods. sometimes with IBS the bowel is so irritated its a bit hard to figure out what it is. the next step is to remove a food groupp and see if it gets better. eg remove gluten, see if it gets better. bring gluten back in a few weeks later and see if it flares up again. then try lactose.

This can be pretty difficult to do which is why i suggested a dietician or naturopath. naturopaths can also offer herbal medicine if you're into that kind of thing (personally ihave found a lot of benefit). but my GP also said there are medications they can give too that can help- especially if your IBS is predominantely diarhoea. they can give meds to slow the bowels down, and soothe the irritation. there are also other things known to help eg probiotics but please seek medical advice first as you dont want to be self medicating.

My symptoms really really improved doing this. You dont have to live a life where you're scared you'll soil yourself (or actually soil yourself). that is a terrible existance but it doesnt have to be yours.

But my symptoms REALLY disappeared when i got the anxiety under control through medication and therapy. remember if you have both IBS AND anxiety then your best bet at getting the symptoms under control (or dissappear entirely) is to get treatment for BOTH as they are tied together. ask your doctor about the right treatments (therapy and/ or medication) for you. as i said some antidepressants have shown enormous benefit for IBS, and others help a lot because they cut down the anxiety which calms your poor body down!!

[weeble]

Hi Helen,

Thanks for your response, no it doesn't sound silly. Makes perfect sense. Funny you should mention pads because I've actually thought of that. I will certainly take your advice. Thank you

[weeble]

Sorry Beltane, I didn't write it clearly - I'm fully aware that the colonoscopy doesn't show IBS, I actually meant that the Doctor didn't even comment that it could be IBS after all the results were in.

I know that lactose isn't the problem as I am lactose intolerant - so don't have any dairy. I did do a food diary not so long ago - which monitored my intake and out-take and seriously, there was nothing to note what would cause a flare up.

I take dairy free probiotics which have helped a little bit. I've just had some more tests and am getting the results tonight, so I will post on here what my doctor has prescribed. He is now convinced it is IBS, so hopefully we can do something about it

[weeble]

Righty oh...so the doctor had an x-ray done of my abdomen - to see how much faecal loading I had, which apparently is a good indication for IBS. It showed that I had "moderate loading" So now my diagnosis is IBS. He didn't give me anything for it, just told me to basically experiment with what is the right about of fiber for me..too little or too much will cause this. Anxiety and IBS go hand in hand so I've certainly hit the jackpot there :(. Will just plod along trying to figure out the fiber and to try and curb the anxiety

[Beltane]

Thats a shame the doctor cant do much. It is a bit of a difficult thing to treat as no-one is really sure what causes it or how best to treat it.

What they do know is that diet, stress, exercise, mental health- all these things are factors. You will have to play around to figure out what it is that is causing yours.

You may find great assistance in seeing a naturopath or dietician- these people can really help you with your diet and to figure out what inflames you. I actually got extras cover insurance with a major insurance company that had a short "waiting period" for naturopathy- its very cheap per month, but i can claim naturopathy, diet help, psychology, physiotherapy- all kinds of things. its been fantastic, for the price i pay i get so much in return- like when my Mental health care plan ran out of sessions, i could keep seeing my psychologist using my insurance.

Naturopaths can also offer natural herbs to help soothe the bowels and assist in maintain proper bowel motions (try to be a little opneminded- some people are quite resistive to naturopathy but it can be quite useful for these kind of digestive issues)

And again i cant stress enough how important it is to get your anxiety under control, whether its through therapy, lifestyle changes, or medications- usually people do a mix of those things. Anxiety causes inflammatory responses throughout our body (thats why we tend to get sicker more often than non-mentally interesting people). So getting that under control will really help. My symptoms, as i've said in early posts, are pretty much non-existant now i've gotten effective control of my mental stuff.

 I think its always important to remember the GOOD things having a mentally interesting thing provides us too- its easy to remember the damage it does. But in my case, i find Im very emotionally aware, have a lot of insight into myself, am very creative, and have life experience now, because of my experience. I do what i can to ease and prevent the bad parts, while embracing the good parts- like the courage and determination it takes to recover. That's going to make you grow as a person.

[weeble]

Beltane, your advise is very helpful. I do belong to a health fund that offers naturopathy - and I will be taking myself off to see someone. I've just started a course of natural remedies that was suggested by the doctor to try. So will see how that goes. It's very odd because I actually had my anxiety under control for about 12 years - not one anxiety or panic attack relapse but then suddenly it came back as mentioned above and a year and a half later, I'm still struggling - getting better daily though. My job is the least stressful job you could have (I'm self employed) and I really don't have any stress in my life - so one would think that it would be easier for me to recover, but it's not! Seeing my pyschologist didn't really help muchI will get another mental health plan or use my private insurance and see someone else. Many years ago when it first started I saw a naturopath who gave me herbs that helped but unfortunately she moved away and I never knew her ingredients. A client of mine recently gave me her naturopath's number so will definitely be going there! Will keep you posted. Thank you for all your advise.