Feeling very anxious

[Flower_Girl]

Hi there,

Bit of a background story.... I was diagnosed with Bowel Cancer 5yrs ago and I was extremely lucky that it was found early and I had an operation to take it out and I it was contained so I didn’t need chemo... I never knew what anxiety was until I went through that.

So every time something doesn’t feel right with my health I can’t help but worry and it causes horrible anxiety but it only lasts until I’m “back to normal” and the anxiety ends.

Well almost 3 weeks ago I felt anxiety like I never have. I live a busy life with 2 young boys and work in the evenings from home. I don’t rest or relax much but at the start of August we had a family get away planned... the Thursday leading up to it I took myself to the physio and all was good but Sunday I woke up with a dead arm feeling and that was the start of the anxiety... Monday I woke up a little dizzy so took yaself to the chiro then Tuesday I started feeling nauseous... I couldn’t stop the anxiety taking over...

I feel like all my symptoms have passed except for when I think about eating it still seems to make me feel anxious and when I do eat sometimes even though I’m only eating a small amount I feel full and that it’s sitting in the top of my tummy... so this keeps making me anxious 🤦🏼‍♀️

My question is has anyone else’s tummy felt like this? Has it taken time to get ya tummy and eating back to normal after feeling anxious for a long period of time? .. I think I keep questioning myself before I eat if I’m going to feel sick and maybe that’s why it’s feeling like it does?

TIA 😊

[_bethy94]

Hi Flower Girl,

Sorry to hear of what's currently troubling you. I'm so happy you fought your bowel cancer and won, you deserve nothing but happiness. It's only natural that after being through a traumatic event, out minds unfortunately jump into panic mode so any health anxiety you're currently feeling is more than likely your brain going into panic overdrive - one negative thought breeds additional negative thoughts until we are overwhelmed with worry.

In regards to the feeling in your stomach, I think I know how you feel. If I'm ever feeling anxious, not only do I lose my appetite but I feel nausea. The smallest amount of food in light of this makes me feel full. Have you spoken to your doctor about these concerns? Not that I advocate for google replacing the advice of a trained medical professional but even a quick google search about feeling full and anxiety could ease any immediate concerns?

Feel free to reply if you feel like it.

Best wishes

[assj]

I'm sorry you feel this way. I have IBS so i'm always a little worried about further tummy issues.

When I get anxious, I sometimes hyperventilate without realising. And that causes air to get stuck in your stomach. It can make eating uncomfortable and just not great in general. I find getting rid of the gas (burping) helps me O: I believe you can beat this anxiety.