Hello,
I am new to this group, and i apologize if my question is one asked already in the past. Also, sorry for the long message. To provide some context, I am a 59 yr old male who is generally healthy but have struggled all my life with anxiety and depression; I took benzodiazepines for many years to manager the anxiety but have been off them now for about 17 years. Very proud of that. I have also taken an SSRI on more than one occasion to help with my depression. They worked, but I have been functional without them, and found they were a double edged sword in my case because they made me put on weight and had other nasty side effects like ***ual dysfunction. But as I get older, I am finding that managing the depression is becoming more difficult, anxiety too. My anxiety is really around health and impending death from cancer. Now, to my question.....
The past year has been a horrendous year from a stress perspective on multiple fronts 1. My mom was placed in a residence with a degenerative disease; i see her deteriorate weekly. She was such a proud and autonomous woman only a few years ago.I now have to treat her as if she was a child. Her impending death and deterioration is aching my heart. 2. Three weeks ago, I had to euthanize my best friend, a dog whom I shared almost 13 years with. She was a very wise and spiritual dog. Her absence has hit me very hard as I underestimated how my heart would react. 3. The job is like every other job, full of worry from re-org, etc etc. 4. Finally, I had one of those moments where i "woke up" and realized I am about to turn 60. . With all that wisdom, come other issues, mainly health as you would imagine in my case. I am full of questions about whether I did the right things health-wise in my youth. Did i exercise enough? Did I drink too much? etc etc
So the question now (seriously)....it's been about a month, closely aligned to the death of my dog, that I have been having widespread digestive issues. These include nausea, lack of appetite, indigestion, bowel changes, gurgling, burning etc etc. I am trying to work through the public medical system to rule out a serious organic disease, but it's taking forever to even see a GP. During this time I have lost some weight and also find myself crying, or easily wanting cry. I have lost interest in many things I enjoyed. Can someone in this forum tell me if they have had serious digestive issues as a result of depression and/or anxiety, and how long this persisted? It's a catch 22; is the depression causing the symptoms, or are the symptoms scaring me and driving my anxiety and depression? I know your answers and possible reassurances are not a diagnosis, but i am curious to see if i am alone in this. I cannot exclude the fact that I am 59 and things happen at this age such as cancer. Thanks for reading this far.
Double T
I am new to this group, and i apologize if my question is one asked already in the past. Also, sorry for the long message. To provide some context, I am a 59 yr old male who is generally healthy but have struggled all my life with anxiety and depression; I took benzodiazepines for many years to manager the anxiety but have been off them now for about 17 years. Very proud of that. I have also taken an SSRI on more than one occasion to help with my depression. They worked, but I have been functional without them, and found they were a double edged sword in my case because they made me put on weight and had other nasty side effects like ***ual dysfunction. But as I get older, I am finding that managing the depression is becoming more difficult, anxiety too. My anxiety is really around health and impending death from cancer. Now, to my question.....
The past year has been a horrendous year from a stress perspective on multiple fronts 1. My mom was placed in a residence with a degenerative disease; i see her deteriorate weekly. She was such a proud and autonomous woman only a few years ago.I now have to treat her as if she was a child. Her impending death and deterioration is aching my heart. 2. Three weeks ago, I had to euthanize my best friend, a dog whom I shared almost 13 years with. She was a very wise and spiritual dog. Her absence has hit me very hard as I underestimated how my heart would react. 3. The job is like every other job, full of worry from re-org, etc etc. 4. Finally, I had one of those moments where i "woke up" and realized I am about to turn 60. . With all that wisdom, come other issues, mainly health as you would imagine in my case. I am full of questions about whether I did the right things health-wise in my youth. Did i exercise enough? Did I drink too much? etc etc
So the question now (seriously)....it's been about a month, closely aligned to the death of my dog, that I have been having widespread digestive issues. These include nausea, lack of appetite, indigestion, bowel changes, gurgling, burning etc etc. I am trying to work through the public medical system to rule out a serious organic disease, but it's taking forever to even see a GP. During this time I have lost some weight and also find myself crying, or easily wanting cry. I have lost interest in many things I enjoyed. Can someone in this forum tell me if they have had serious digestive issues as a result of depression and/or anxiety, and how long this persisted? It's a catch 22; is the depression causing the symptoms, or are the symptoms scaring me and driving my anxiety and depression? I know your answers and possible reassurances are not a diagnosis, but i am curious to see if i am alone in this. I cannot exclude the fact that I am 59 and things happen at this age such as cancer. Thanks for reading this far.
Double T
Comment