For the past 3 or 4 years, Every few months I seem to have some sort of depressive, anxiety or stress triggered stomach problem. At the moment I have been sick now for about 2 months as of writing this. Bad stomach cramps pretty much all the time. Sometimes worse than others but almost always there. Feeling nausea sometimes but no vomiting ever.
Back at the beginning of september my gramma fell and spent a few weeks in the hospital and she ultimately passed away. I felt a lot of stress at the time for my mom because she was very close with my gramma and obviously had some sadness myself for losing a family member. Work and money were giving me additional stress at the time and I started to feel my stomach starting to go bad like it has before. I also had a CT scan for a node in my lung that was giving me some pretty bad anxiety waiting for the results. Foolishly, I waited and tried to not worry about it hoping the stomach pains would go away on its own but once I start thinking about it all the time it only seems to get worse and worse. I often use acupuncture and massages to de-stress but my health coverage had ran out and I dont have funds for that stuff as it can be quite expensive going once a week.
Now here I am, 2 months of bad stomach aches, hours of missed work, and down almost 25 pounds. Having a stomach ache for that long almost 24 hours a day is SUPER stressful and I get pretty depressed about all the dietary changes I have to do to minimize the pain. Going from eating whatever I want to being dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, fat free and alcohol free is really hard. Cutting all that stuff out makes me lose weight crazy fast and in turn makes me anxious about all the weight loss. I get a little depressed every time I see a food commercial or if my wife is having a beer after work. I miss good food and a casual beer so bad its driving me crazy.
I have had a million tests done on my body and the results are almost always the same. Negative. They always say IBS and stress/anxiety. Im not a medications guy but Im currently on a Trintellex and Ativan regiment to keep my stress and anxiety down. I think its working somewhat. I also visited a naturopath (who was very expensive) and he ran some tests for SIBO, parasites and a few other things but I have been waiting weeks for those results and its starting to weigh on me. Waiting is the hardest thing when you have health anxiety. Im starting to get pains in my lower rib cage area now and I get really fearful of having liver, spleen or pancreas problems.
Today Im pretty sure I had an anxiety attack out of the blue. I had been feeling a bit better the last few days but I have been worrying excessively about my health and I woke up feeling uneasy after having some stressful dreams. Within an hour of waking up I felt like I was going to die. Irregular heart beats, numbness in my leg and arm, chills, dizziness, delayed eye movements and a fear that I was going to actually die or have a heart attack. I nearly went to emergency but once the medication kicked in I started feeling a bit better.
Has anyone else ever had these brutal stomach problems that last for weeks upon weeks after a stressful/depressive/anxiety episode? Even on the medications I still worry a lot that I might have some type of cancer or organ problem. The blood, urine and stool test results never come as quick as I want and it leaves me worried all the time while I wait for them. Im kinda hoping that they actually find something like parasites or bacterial overgrowth in my gut but at the same time if they dont find anything I guess I have it narrowed down to just stress/anxiety/depression.
I just want to get over this so I can get back to being myself. Eating normal food, not having stomach aches all day, not worrying and not wanting to be isolated all the time. I know my wife and child are getting sick of it too and I worry that it's straining those relationships. If I have to go on like this for another two months I don't think I want to be alive anymore. Hopefully all those test results come in soon and I can move on to getting healthy again.
Back at the beginning of september my gramma fell and spent a few weeks in the hospital and she ultimately passed away. I felt a lot of stress at the time for my mom because she was very close with my gramma and obviously had some sadness myself for losing a family member. Work and money were giving me additional stress at the time and I started to feel my stomach starting to go bad like it has before. I also had a CT scan for a node in my lung that was giving me some pretty bad anxiety waiting for the results. Foolishly, I waited and tried to not worry about it hoping the stomach pains would go away on its own but once I start thinking about it all the time it only seems to get worse and worse. I often use acupuncture and massages to de-stress but my health coverage had ran out and I dont have funds for that stuff as it can be quite expensive going once a week.
Now here I am, 2 months of bad stomach aches, hours of missed work, and down almost 25 pounds. Having a stomach ache for that long almost 24 hours a day is SUPER stressful and I get pretty depressed about all the dietary changes I have to do to minimize the pain. Going from eating whatever I want to being dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, fat free and alcohol free is really hard. Cutting all that stuff out makes me lose weight crazy fast and in turn makes me anxious about all the weight loss. I get a little depressed every time I see a food commercial or if my wife is having a beer after work. I miss good food and a casual beer so bad its driving me crazy.
I have had a million tests done on my body and the results are almost always the same. Negative. They always say IBS and stress/anxiety. Im not a medications guy but Im currently on a Trintellex and Ativan regiment to keep my stress and anxiety down. I think its working somewhat. I also visited a naturopath (who was very expensive) and he ran some tests for SIBO, parasites and a few other things but I have been waiting weeks for those results and its starting to weigh on me. Waiting is the hardest thing when you have health anxiety. Im starting to get pains in my lower rib cage area now and I get really fearful of having liver, spleen or pancreas problems.
Today Im pretty sure I had an anxiety attack out of the blue. I had been feeling a bit better the last few days but I have been worrying excessively about my health and I woke up feeling uneasy after having some stressful dreams. Within an hour of waking up I felt like I was going to die. Irregular heart beats, numbness in my leg and arm, chills, dizziness, delayed eye movements and a fear that I was going to actually die or have a heart attack. I nearly went to emergency but once the medication kicked in I started feeling a bit better.
Has anyone else ever had these brutal stomach problems that last for weeks upon weeks after a stressful/depressive/anxiety episode? Even on the medications I still worry a lot that I might have some type of cancer or organ problem. The blood, urine and stool test results never come as quick as I want and it leaves me worried all the time while I wait for them. Im kinda hoping that they actually find something like parasites or bacterial overgrowth in my gut but at the same time if they dont find anything I guess I have it narrowed down to just stress/anxiety/depression.
I just want to get over this so I can get back to being myself. Eating normal food, not having stomach aches all day, not worrying and not wanting to be isolated all the time. I know my wife and child are getting sick of it too and I worry that it's straining those relationships. If I have to go on like this for another two months I don't think I want to be alive anymore. Hopefully all those test results come in soon and I can move on to getting healthy again.
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