Anxiety Advice

Hi,

I am a 20 year old male suffering badly from nausea (caused by anxiety) looking for some advice, I will give you the full (very long) back story in brief. Issues first began in April 1997 when I had a panic attack whilst on holiday during a fire alarm and was sick in public. I believe this was the beginning of my problems. In January 2000, whilst suffering from gastroenteritis I was sick in front of my class at school, after months of being ill, along with anxiety issues and having missed much school, I was diagnosed with M.E. in August 2000. From then (as well as dealing with M.E.) my anxiety has been severe and for many years I struggled to leave the house without being sick in public. Over the years I have received play therapy, CBT, hypnotherapy etc etc. Although the nausea in new/public situations never completely disappeared, by September 2007 I began A Levels and my life started to become more 'normal'. In 2009, I left home and started university and the next year I travelled to America, Holland and Germany independently. Obviously over the decade, despite my anxiety having not disappeared I dealt with it better and could go places without panicking and being sick. Unfortunately my anxiety is very bad again and I shall explain recent events. I had exams in January and became very stressed and anxious over them, I was prescribed beta-blockers and this did help. However my M.E. was also causing me problems and when I tried to return to university, I was exhausted so I took 3 weeks off. When I returned to uni, which was 2 weeks ago I had a massive panic attack in my first lecture (I think probably as I had not been in a while) and was sick, this happened over the next couple of days and it was just too much to deal with so I have returned home again and this is where my current issues began. My anxiety/nausea is now the worst it has ever been, I can hardly go anywhere without feeling so sick to the point of retching/vomiting. I have been to the doctors and I am back on beta-blockers and anti-nausea tablets which are having no affect at all. My nausea is now so severe it is stopping me doing things and I sometimes I can't even sit down in my house without feeling like I am going to throw up, never mind going into town or to lectures. I am falling behind at uni, I am missing out on my social life and I really don't know what to do now, it is unmanageable.

Can anyone offer any advice/have you been through anything similar?

Many thanks!

Hi, psych90! Are the beta-blockers not working now, even though they worked before? Tell the doc who put you on them about it, they have to try other meds. It's possible to find something that works, even if it takes a while.
Maybe you need to see a doctor and check if there is something wrong with your stomach or have some other tests done. Are you having therapy too?

Hello there, thank you so much for your reply!

I had an anti-emetic for the nausea but I've stopped that now as I've been sick everyday since Sunday, so it's obviously not helping! I went to a first aid course on Sunday and had to leave the room to vomit, I think it was too familiar to a lecture-setting for me and brought it all back. That was the start of my latest relapse really, went into town with a friend for lunch on Monday and that was too much for me. Then on Tuesday, I really pushed myself and I shouldn't have, I tried to go on a night out in my University city but I had to leave the club after under half an hour, made the mistake of leaving alone and had a massive anxiety attack in the street, somehow (I'm actually proud of myself!) I managed to get in a taxi and get home, was in bed by 12, but despite all of this...was not sick, so I can look at it from that positive angle. I travelled back home (30 min train journey) yesterday, had three trips to the toilet! Unusually with my anxiety, the other symptoms were more prevalent than the nausea, I had no control over my breathing, my palms were freezing, I hated being in front of people and just felt completely out of control. It was almost as if the nausea was there because I was thinking it should be! Anyway, last night was horrible...I didn't feel very sick but I felt so, so low which is something quite rare for me. Yes, the anxiety can get me down but I'm a very chirpy and positive person so that was a horrible feeling and I had real difficulty sleeping.

I woke up this morning and went to the doctors, I have been referred for emotional support - most probably CBT I would imagine. I have felt so, so sick all of today and because of that I have not been able to eat properly, so I have not been able to take my medication properly. It's upsetting that I have been feeling this anxiety nausea when I've just been sat in my home, but part of it was probably that I haven't been able to eat a proper meal since Tuesday! However, despite being sick three times today and feeling rubbish, I have been my normal perky and happy self. And as I said to my little Brother "I'd rather be sick and smiley than sad and shaky", which he cringed at...embarrassing big brother!

Anyway, I have been told to up my dose of propranolol, I was just on 60mg per day and have been told to go to 120mg but as I've not been eating properly, I have been doing that gradually and I have only taken 20mg before some soup this afternoon and 30mg tonight before eating a little something. Hopefully after a good night's sleep tonight I will feel better in the morning, can eat more regularly and boost my dose up to maybe 90mg. The doctor hopes if I can stop the anxiety, the nausea (caused by anxiety) will stop too. I really think I need to have some techniques to use to calm myself along with the beta-blockers though, but minimum 3 week wait for emotional support appointment!

Has anyone any tips so I can stop feeling so sick and anxious? Maybe someone who has been through treatment successfully for similar issues? Anyone else been on propranolol to reduce anxiety? Any help really welcome! Definitely not pushing myself to go do anything like going to a club again soon! On another plus note, before my Sunday relapse I went back to work on Saturday and I was absolutely fine - really calm, very minimal nausea might venture to a friend's house tomorrow evening if feeling better!

Thanks for any replies, feels like it helps just to have people listening!

Do you try breathing very deeply and concentrating on your breath? You could do that, turn everything else "off" and focus on deep breaths for a few minutes. And also talk to someone who calms you or think about something pleasant and calming. You can make more threads about this, if you want, by the way and you can also post in other subforums.

Thank you very much

Hopefully I will get there eventually, baby steps! I'm remaining positive, so that's a good thing. I just need to try get out of the house and not get trapped in my comfort zone. Also I have the CBT to look towards, even though I shouldn't rely on that much as it is a long-term solution. Leaving the house shouldn't really be an issue! I'm going to go to the doctors again towards the end of the week if there is still no improvement. Any suggestions for medicines that have helped people with anxiety/panic attacks in public (fear of vomiting) and severe anxiety? Because I'll try anything! Also, I think that trying to leave the house more and more is the best thing to do, build up to 'normal' life again...do you think this is the best way to deal with it?

Thanks

Yah, you have to make yourself try to have a more normal life. Your doc can probably give you the best advice about anxiety medication. Don't worry, baby steps are how everyone does it

Thanks to the wonderful NHS, I have an appointment for an over-the-telephone assessment on 4th May. So that's just great. I'll stay in the house until then and then be miraculously cured after that. I have no idea where this has left me, I have no idea what to do. The beta-blockers are doing nothing and I can't even access and emotional support.

Ohhhhhhh, what are you supposed to do until then? Try to talk here and with anyone who cares and is understanding, at least.

Have you ever tried going on a gluten free diet? This worked for me. I first tried it when I had chronic anxiety, it only took a few days for the anxiety to lift after starting the gluten free diet. Be careful to read the labels and ensure you eat no gluten though. Gluten is anything derived from wheat, barley, rye and oats. It can be found in hydrolysed vegetable protein, starch etc etc. You can probably get info online re what contains gluten. I've been gluten free for over twenty years and everytime I've eaten it I've become more emotional, unbalanced and often had a major stress attack. Eating gluten also affects my bowel, giving me heaps of offensive wind. I'm so glad I found out gluten was the problem.
Shazah

Hey guys
Thank you so much for your input
I went back to the doctors today, had a massive anxiety attack on the way there, got to skip the queue and rushed in to see the doctor straight away (!) he basically said there was nothing more he could do for me and I needed CBT and that was in the mental health team's hands. I explained I can't even get a telephone call to assess me until May 4th. I've been taken off beta-blockers as they did nothing at all and have been put onto amitriptyline, which I took many years ago and made me depressed (!) and 3 members of my family have also been on it and it made them very ill. So it's all going great and getting a lot of support from the NHS. Thinking about paying privately for CBT.