[lxegirl]

i either dont eat or i eat alot when i'm anxious, depending on how anxious i am. i havent eaten since 2pm yesterday...i've been so anxious... but like when its low level anxiety, i eat like a monster. like i need food every hour. anyone else this happens to? and is it like bad..?

[SoupDragon]

Yes - I have the exact same experience, can't eat when high anxiety, can't get enough food when anxiety is lower.

[Perna]

Interesting research article: http://web.psych.utoronto.ca/psy339/...0al%201987.pdf

[lxegirl]

thats really interesting, perna!!
yeah, i just ate. in the past 24 hours i've had a bowl of pasta. a cookie. half a bagel. and a sandwhich.

[Cyran0]

When my anxiety is very high I don't eat. Anything less than very high and my appetite is not effected.

Cyran0

[lxegirl]

i think i'm eating more closely to normal. i had an apple, half a chocolate bar, some fries, and a nice full dinner today.

[ans23]

Yes definitely, if im very anxious,like for example before i go to a job interview or when i had to take my pssas and go around a bunch of people i didnt know(since i do cyberschool) I couldnt eat like at all and its so hard to force it, and that definitely sucked since i couldnt eat for 4 hours until i could go home. But yeah i cant eat at all when my anxieties really high

[BatsAndButterflies]

I barely eat when I'm really anxious because food is the last thing on my mind... I do have a bad habit of biting my nails if that counts though...

[OrangeMoira]

Good topic!

I don't eat when I'm very anxious, but I eat tons if I'm depressed or angry.

I think if my anxiety is low enough that I'm unconsciously doing things to distract myself, eating is one of my distractions.

I often get anxiety feelings when my blood sugar drops; when I'm that far gone, I definitely don't feel like eating, but I need to.

[lxegirl]

yeah... like i dont feel the need to eat even though i know i should

[Addie76]

Great topic!
I just posted something about anxiety and overeating. I'm at pains with this myself...

I'll eat more (a lot more) if i'm anxious but I'll eating nothing when I'm depressed. Lately I'm been more anxious so I'm struggling with this too...

Hugs,

Addie

[HalfSwede]

I'm pretty much the same as you -- high anxiety=no food; depression=lots of food, especially bad stuff. I've been as high as 230 lbs. and as low as 160, and I'm 6'2".

[lxegirl]

thats not healthy at all halfswede...

[eskielover]

I have a terrible time eating when I am anxious. When I was in college & before finals, I would end up eating a bag of M&M's, or a whole batch of brownies.....& end up loosing weight.....as soon as that anxiety was over, eating was the last thing I was interested in doing....like I needed the energy to get through.

However, the more serious levels of anxiety I have later in my life experienced have since ended up causing me to not eat at all....the sick feeling I get when I eat when I am going through horrible anxiety keeps me from even wanting to eat. I have ended up loosing so much weight during those times that I end up in the hospital with IV nutrition.....& have actually been Dx'ed with anorexia because of the massive weight loss I have experienced several times with several different anxiety situations.

The first situation was loosing my career after 15 years of being a firmware design engineer in the aerospace industry....& the second time was 6 years ago when I joined here & went through the trauma with the home care person when my mother was dying of cancer (long involved situation)....ended up fearing for my own life not knowing what the home care person was really up to.

After the first situation, I went to an eating disorders treatment center for 6 weeks...only problem was they didn't help me with any of the stress & just focused on "body image".....My not eating had NOTHING to do with "body image".....so that was a complete WASTE of time.

The next time, after the horrible trauma, the Pdoc I was then seeing said I needed to go to an eating disorders treatment center....I called several & expressed what I had gone through & the weight issues I was having....they said they had no way of helping with anorexia caused from trauma situations. I was in the middle of finding no one who could help me with anything I was going through.......it was definitely a very helpless feeling I remember having. I was just ready to throw in the towel....I ended up surviving.....took several years to get through the weight loss & start to gain a bit to even be at a safe weight & I can honestly say it was NO THANKS to the psychologists or Pdocs or even the medical Dr's involved......because I sure didn't get any help from those who were paid to help.......I can honestly say that it had to be God as there was no other help that existed & it wasn't my will to survive at that point.

I am so happy that I did get through that & was finally well enough to leave my husband & start my new life moving across the country where I didn't know anyone......it was stressful in a way, but nothing like the stress & anxiety that I had gone through in the past. I still have times when I get the anxiety level where I don't feel like eating, but life has settled down so well & feeling so calm......& have also grown in my Christian beliefs.....which really helps me deal with life around me.

I'm being very aware of how I am feeling before the not eating gets bad because I am responsible for my 6 dogs & if I were to get into the state that I was previously in, I wouldn't be able to care for myself nor my dogs....not a good place to end up in.....to really aware of at least having something easy like cereal to eat when I'm not feeling like eating.....anything mild is easier to eat. Friends are always inviting me to dinner or going out after we get together.....life is so much better than it was when I was really having the anxiety & not eating problems....& feeling better about life even when there is a little anxiety, I am able to handle it better than when I wouldn't end up eating at all.

Now I just have to make sure I don't eat too much & gain too much weight.....usually with exercise & riding horses, it helped keep me healthy, but after fracturing my back in March, my activity level isn't possible to be very much right now...& when I overdo, I end up in bed for a day.....trying to make it feel better.....then slowly get back into doing activities again.....too easy to gain weight when not able to be active even when not eating much......there just doesn't seem to be a good balance at times.......

But I sure never want the level of anxiety/trauma that caused me to have the massive weight loss ever again

[lxegirl]

((eskielover)) thanks for sharing

[Open Eyes]

When we are really troubled, have a lot going on and we are overwhelmed we can't think straight. Our brains are designed to take things one thing at a time. So, if a lot is going on, well it does feel pain and it sends that pain by anxiety, stress and even lack of appetite and even digestive upset. In fact we become mentally exhausted.

The key is to slow down as much as possible. It is only fair to your brain, thats why we take vacations as we need to allow our brains to function normally by slowing down and looking at one thing at a time.

So many people don't realize that when this happens YOU HAVE TO SLOW DOWN. You really do and take whatever is coming and only let it come to a resolve ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Now I know that we cannot always run off and take a vacation. So, we do have to take TIME OUT in anyway we can. We really have to think TIME OUT and consciously make an EFFORT to SLOW IT DOWN. If you learn to do this YOU WILL FEEL MUCH BETTER. We can only do so much,
WE CANNOT CONTROL THE WORLD. We have to PACE OURSELVES and our BRAIN.

If your a person who says that you cannot meditate very well, HELLO, you are a person who needs to control every minute and YOU CANT LET GO. Now think about it. The whole purpose of meditation is to allow your brain to do what it NEEDS TO DO, SLOW DOWN AND PROCESS ONE THING AT A TIME. You have to realize that you are overworking your brain and it is saying, EASY, I NEED A REST, IM TIRED, PLEASE LISTEN. If you GIVE YOUR BRAIN THE ATTENTION IT NEEDS, YOU WILL FEEL BETTER. This is what people do not realize, they just don't take care of their brains. YOUR BRAIN IS NOT A MACHINE it is only capable of just trying to solve or address ONE THING AT A TIME. So all the feelings that tag along with you day in and day out, you have to understand, YOU CANNOT CONTROL THE WORLD OR OTHERS, YOU CAN ONLY CONTROL YOURSELF. If you wake up in the morning nauseus well, HELLO, maybe your brain is SAYING, please stop it, give me a break. No matter what it is you are facing, if it is too much, well, you have to EASE UP. Really YOU HAVE TO, You have to find a way to stop CONTROLING EVERY MINUTE AND SLOW IT DOWN. Even if that means making sure that you go for a walk or do something every day that rewards your brain and slows it down. And so when you get up, you have to remember that during that day I DON'T CARE HOW BUSY IT GETS, you will take time out to walk a way and let YOUR BRAIN RELAX COMPETELY.

Here is what you HAVE TO UNDERSTAND, no sometimes life really comes at us, and we keep saying too much, I am being overwelmed. But you have to understand, YOU ARE ALLOWING IT TO OVERLOAD YOU. Now I know that this can be very hard to understand and yes there are times when we do have a lot going on all at once. BUT THE ONLY PERSON THAT CAN CHANGE HOW IT EFFECTS YOU IS YOU. It is not that everything is coming at you, it is YOU ARE ALLOWING IT TO COME AT YOU AND OVERWHELM YOU. You have to take time out NO MATTER WHAT. And give your brain TIME OUT. And don't say, Oh I try, I can't do it, its too hard, JUST DO IT.
Open Eyes

[Jess32247]

I do the same thing, I can't eat anything when I'm anxious, but eat normally when I'm not. And I don't think it's that bad, it probally happens to alot of people.

[lxegirl]

i dont have time to take resting time really...like idk the closest thing is like at night i just chill out...but it doesnt do anything.

[HalfSwede]

Originally Posted by lxegirl

thats not healthy at all halfswede...

I know. I've got to be more careful. I think my weight's pretty close to normal now.

[Helloanxiety]

I lose my apetite when I get very anxious. Also when I do eat when i'm anxious I develop funny habits like covering my face when i'm chewing, something I don't do when not anxious.

[FuriousGeorge]

When my anxiety levels are high, I eat a lot. Typically junk food too, like Doritos, candies and huge amounts of Pepsi (a 2 litre bottle a night).

When depression sets in i tend to eat a lot of junk foods again.