Ooooh My gutt!!!!

[M1ssjess89]

I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster. The start of March my anxiety shot though the roof to the point I had pins and needles. It's only been in the last couple of weeks I've finally calmed down to normal stress for me. I've had gutt problems in the past, but this time it's been lasting for about 6 weeks.
I have
Upper abdomen pain and sometimes feels tender to touch
Lower abdomen pain
Random sharp pain sometimes
A dull ache on my lower right hand side of my ribs
I'm not regular AT ALL and when I go it's not healthy
I have the worst gas
Cramps. Cramps all the time.

Does anybody else have these issues? I've been to the doctor and had blood tests and everything came back clear. I eat well, exercise, drink water, have upped my fibre. It's frustrating. And it is making me more anxious thinking I have cancer or something like that. So it's all I focus on 😣

[constantoverthinker]

i 100% am in your situation right now. i am paranoid something is wrong, but its all in my head.
my farts smell, i get paranoid,
i do more than 3 poo's a day, i get paranoid.
get random cramps, do a fart and it goes away and i get paranoid.

i never used to be like this, but has gotten worse last few months 😞

[M1ssjess89]

Yeah I'm pretty much the same at the moment. But I'm very sure it's anxiety and yours is probably also. Even without realising my body goes into panic mode so I'm still getting highly anxious

[Emmen]

Hello constantoverthinker,

You've chosen a very apt username! I overthink too, and it's important that we recognise how damaging that tendency is to our wellbeing. Farts and poos are a normal part of life - there are no rules as to how they should smell or how many times is normal. It really depends on what you have eaten! In all honestly, you're experiencing things a normal, healthy individual experiences but anxiety unfortunately, has a way of blowing these things out of proportion. I hope you remind yourself that these are all part of a normal digestive functioning if you get paranoid in the future.

In the meantime, have you tried addressing the anxiety by doing breathing exercises/mindfulness exercises? You also mentioned the anxiety has gotten worse the past few months. Do you know what happened to trigger that?

Take care,
M

[Emmen]

Hello M1ssjess89,

That's the scary part. We go into panic mode without realising it. I recall a GP once telling me that I was so used to having my body in a state of tension (and along with it, feeling all the other symptoms of anxiety) that I didn't seem to understand what being in a relaxed state felt like. The hardest part was actually teaching myself to recognise when I was feeling anxious, and that took some time because I first had to learn what being calm felt like. I actually started noting down on an excel spreadsheet how my body felt when I was tensed/calm etc. until I could start differentiating these when I was feeling it. So these days, if I become aware of a tension in my body, I'd take a few minutes to do some breathing exercises and consciously release the tension before continuing with whatever I was doing. It does take some time to get there, though. And I don't always succeed - sometimes the panic is a little overwhelming. But it is far more manageable now.

Keep with it and I hope it gets better for you too 🙂

- M

[M1ssjess89]

You've hit the nail on the head. I am always in a state of tension!! It's insane. And it's my normal. I know I need to work on calming it down.

[InhaleExhale]

Hi M1ssjess89,

It’s great to hear you are trying the meditation app, I hope you find it useful. As nights are best for you, maybe you can put a 10min meditation into your routine before bed. I find if I don’t add it into a routine, I forget to spend some time to myself.

There are a few forums on BeyondBlue about meditation and mindfulness which you might find interesting. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/online-forums/staying-well/mindfulness-what-is-it-(even-if...

I hope you find something that works for you.

InhaleExhale.