[monkeybruv]

I've been diagnosed with depression and anxiety. My mum says I start to 'get like this when I get stressed'. I've always had weird symptoms and neither me nor the doctors could work out why, until I got my diagnosis and I just put it all down to anxiety. I would throw up whenever I tried to eat when I got to my worst stages, and I also got told I might have anxiety induced IBS when I finally told them about my agonising stomach cramps last year. They gave me peppermint oil which made it worse because I couldn't eat enough to dilute it...burned my innards like a *****! I've been checked for diabetes several times because of passing out a lot when I was younger when I got hungry, and had quite a few blood tests and urine tests to check my kidneys are fine because I get lower back ache amongst the dizziness. They checked me for thyroid hormones because I go through stages of getting excessively hungry and dizzy, where the more i eat the worse it gets. I would sometimes end up crying from frustration as I would be totally full get still ravenously hungry and dizzy with my heart going really fast. As I said, physically I'm apparently fine so when I got diagnosed I thought it was the anxiety causing all this.
Problem is, I'm now ok mentally. I'm on a medication which had really helped my anxiety. I don't think I'm consciously worrying about anything. But the symptoms are back again. Hungry all day and night no matter how much I eat, feeling kinda nauseous when i do. Dizzy, vision blacking out when I stand up, heart going crazy when I do as much as go upstairs, lower back pain and intestinal cramps. Anyone else get these things just from anxiety? or do you think they're a cause of my anxiety?:L

My opinion is that it's all about anxiety, which is a mind AND body illness. IBS and anxiety (and the IBS can be HORRIBLY painful!) often are connected.

[monkeybruv]

Originally Posted by Sister Rags

My opinion is that it's all about anxiety, which is a mind AND body illness. IBS and anxiety (and the IBS can be HORRIBLY painful!) often are connected.

Thanks for the reply. What about the hunger? is that an anxiety thing too?

[monkeybruv]

I think it's getting worse day by day. I seem to have 'attacks' just after eating meals. just coming down from one now. heart was beating really fast and i felt i had to eat as much as i could or i would pass out, but nothing was working to make the hunger go away. still quite dizzy now, eating cheese. I'm not overweight btw - about 51kg and 5'6''

Well, obviously I'm not your doctor, but in my experience the hunger problem can most definitely be anxiety-related.

[monkeybruv]

Thankyou. I wasn't sure if I was the only one who got that symptom!

[nummy]

Look up "reactive hypoglycemia". Or ask your doctor to. I just read about it a few days ago, it's a real, physical reaction to stress that mimics panic attacks. Hope this helps. Aside from the name, I don't have any other info that might help. Good luck!
(Wait; check this out below)
Ps, lower back ache? Adrenals? Have they checked your adrenal and pituitary??
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...s/CON-20021340

Note: I'm not a dr but had a family member with weird symptoms that was endocrine related.

[monkeybruv]

Thanks! Interesting, I'll look into it! It's usually on the left side I get the ache. They've run blood screens but idk if they've checked adrenals in particular.

[signets]

I have suffered from hypoglycemia. My symptoms were feeling sleeping and overexhausted. I literally felt like I was going to pass out. I take glucose tabs from the local store by reli on.. I just pop one of those or as many I need when I feel that way. I also have experienced the racing hear. I have been experiencing that for about 2 years now. I went to cardiologist and they said it was all in my mind. Then finally this year, I was diagnosed with clinical depression and anxiety. I still have a hard time with racing heart. It feels so funny. I can suggest the breathing exercises to try to calm down or soothing music or doing something that takes your mind off of it all..Best of goodness to ya!

[Hellion]

It could certainly all be anxiety related? what medication are you on for the anxiety? Some meds for that might make you feel calm mentally, but without stopping the physical symptoms.... just a thought since I've been prescribed anti-histimines in the past for anxiety which only calm the physical aspect but do nothing for the anxious feeling in my mind so maybe some end up doing the opposite. so it could be that the medication isn't working right or maybe it could be combined with something so do talk to your doctor about that and get their professional opinion.

Also though ginger can be good for digestion which might help the IBS discomfort some...I drink ginger tea to help my IBS issues which as far as I know are from my anxiety and PTSD but yeah there is still times I can't eat, some times I eat enough but just can't get full like my body instantly burns up any nutrients or calories or whatever the food had leaving me just as hungry or I am able to eat but it doesn't seem to digest right.

[monkeybruv]

Thanks guys. I feel a bit better after another whole day of dizziness and hunger and acidy belly after cramming in a whole easter egg after my three meals xD I'm on venlafaxine 225mg and i think doing very well anxiety-wise. In fact, according to the test I do regularly with my therapist, I'm now sub-clinical. She said where I clearly used to have an anxiety disorder, it no longer is classed as one. She observes that where I used to be wound-up and fidgety and distracted, I am now 'centered' , calm and coherent, and that is my experience too. In fact, mood-wise I am in quite a comfortably numb state, struggling more with low motivation and apathy more than anxiety. So I don't know why this is happening now! I've got an appointment with the doctor next week so I guess I'll bring it up again then. I just want it to go away!

[krisakira]

Dear Monkey,
I have the exact same problem. When my panic attacks started, I had no idea what was going on. I thought I was going to pass out from not eating enough! I started getting terrified of being hungry, because I thought I was starving myself. My first panic attack was when I thought I hadn't eaten enough and I tried to eat but it would not go away. I had been checked for diabetes and hypoglycemia because thats what they thought ti was from feeling like I was going to pass out from being hungry. When I was told by a friend it was panic attacks, I did not believe them! I would have these attacks and try to eat as much as I could so it would stop and I always ended up throwing up or getting really sick! I was diagnosed with panic disorder at age 17 and it all makes sense now. I am not starving, I am having panic attacks and my trigger is hunger. Zoloft was my first drug and it made my panic attacks go away within 6 months or so. I still get really freaked out when I'm hungry and I've gained a lot of weight, because I avoid hunger as much as possible, otherwise I get anxiety. It is a really tough illness to have and I'm sorry you have it too, but I am grateful to find someone else who has this same thing. Please PM me if you want to talk more about it. I'm relieved I have found you.

[LucyG]

I've had reactive hypoglycemia for over 30 years, and I don't experience hunger with it. It's more of shakiness that hits when something really upsets me, and the only way to stop it is to eat. I assume my blood sugar drops like a rock, and once I get enough to get it back up, I'm okay. I had a glucose tolerance test that showed my blood sugar fell to low too fast but the endo ignored it.

Do you have a very high metabolism? That might be part of the problem.

[monkeybruv]

wow kris, that all sounds so familliar! Can yours sometimes last days and weeks? For me it tends to get worse after eating, which is horrid as I eat because I already feel shaky then feel even worse after! My mum used to try and stop me when I got like that because she said I was 'crazed' and knew I'd just end up throwing up from stuffing too much :L

To Lucy - I'm not sure, I have a low body temp (36.2 c normally) and low blood pressure generally (when I was in hospital after my overdose they noticed this, as well as when I've been at the doctor's for various other things, but they didn't seem worried). I was never hungry as a child and didn't eat, when I hit puberty i started getting dizzy spells because I was so hungry but was always skinny no matter how much i ate. I don't restrict what i eat now and find it hard to put on weight but I don't eat very big portions (I feel sick, and lately it makes the hunger worse so I generally leave some food at meals then have yogurts, milk, chocolate, cheese etc after as snacks).

Darn, I'm getting hungry again. And as I just said, I only just at a whole easter egg xD

[monkeybruv]

I might have found something that helps, even if I don't know the cause: spearmint! I've had peppermint oil before and it was burny. I've tried antacids and gaviscon with no help. but for some reason I've felt better over the last couple of days having two capsules a day. I went with the principle that when I had this problem before my doctor suggested it might be that my birth control was androgenic (I then swapped to an anti-androgenic pill), and spearmint is known for being anti-andregenic.Still having cramps and feeling quite bad doing cardio but not getting more and more hungry and dizzy after eating.