Vomiting, GAD, GERD

[jordan]

Hello everyone,

I have had anxiety for the past 15 years and I managed it as best as I could. I was diagnosed with GAD and PTSD and I am only 38 years old, but the GAD has been around forever. My main problem is physical symptoms of anxiety. I have acid reflux, sometimes I vomit acid. Blood work came back with fatty liver, high cholesterol. I've also had high heart rate and high BP. I 'self medicated' with non-alcoholic beer (around 100 beers a month), high fatty foods and lots of sugar.

I have this embedded fear of dying young, but in the same time I do next to nothing to improve my wellbeing. What concerns me the most is that from time to time (recently they have begun to appear more frequently), I get these vomiting and coughing spouts. I usually vomit acid, which may be from the stomach. Today I vomited twice. I am afraid of revisiting the doctor and I don't quite know where it is coming from.

Can someone please share their diet and acid reflux+anxiety stories? Any useful information will help so that I may start doing something to improve myself. My only vices are my bad diet, non-alcoholic beer and I play video games a lot.

As I type now I have this fear that an anxiety attack might resurface and I will be awake at night or have interrupted sleep.

Thank you!

Jordan

[Sophie_M]

Hi jordan, 

Thank you for your openness in sharing with our community. It’s a really good place to have come to hear from others. We’re really sorry to hear you’ve been dealing with physical anxiety symptoms, we know how concerning it can be but we think sharing here is a great step towards feeling better.  

We cannot provide medical advice on the forums but if you want to talk through what you’re feeling at any time, the Beyond Blue Support Line is here for you 24/7 on 1300 22 4636, or online here. It’s ok to reach out when you’re feeling anxious or upset, they can talk you through some ways to find a bit of calm, and then help you to figure out some options for further support. You've mentioned you have attended a doctor in the past but are anxious about going back, we know how scary it can be attending appointment. It can be helpful sharing your concerns with your doctor as they may be able to provide you with some relief, it may be worth calling us or another source of support prior and after the appointment to talk through any anxiety you are feeling. Another option could be using telehealth as often that can be less anxiety-inducing than visiting in person.

We’re sure we’ll hear from the lovely community soon, but in the meantime, here’s some strategies you might like to have a look at it. We understand you might have been through some of these in the past and it might feel like cold comfort right now, but they’re here in case they do pique your interest: 

• Another thread where the community have shared some strategies for managing anxiety 

• Beyond Blue Article: When your inner critic is giving you a tough time 

Thanks again for sharing. We’re here to listen and offer support, and you never know how your story might help someone else. 

Kind regards, 

Sophie M 

[Flowergirl97]

Hi Jordon,

When I read your post I really got a sense that you have a lot of fear in your life. For me, dealing with my anxiety which is basically also fear at its core, it helps to recognise that fear is an emotion and we need to learn to self-regulate our emotions and process them in healthy/beneficial ways that make us feel better not worse. From what you have said about your diet and lifestyle it sounds like you know that you are doing some less healthy behaviours that you want to change which are reinforcing a cycle of fear in your life. I have also had a fear of death and getting older and also a fear of failure and failing to live up to my potential. Emotions are signals that tell us we need to do something but our response to them can be that we want to avoid feeling them because they can feel overwhelming. So we make choices and do things that feel good in the short term but leave us feeling worse in the long term. What has helped me most is prioritising my long term goals and noticing when I am doing things that will not benefit me in the long term. There are so many things to be scared of in our daily lives but knowing that it’s leading me closer to my long term goals helps me overcome a lot of that fear. I hope this helps 🙂