Have suddenly developed a little bit of an eating disorder
Discussion
Long story short in April I was down in London for a couple of days before hopping on the Eurostar to Belgium for a few days for a short break. On the first evening there I was suddenly overcome with extreme anxiety when we were out for dinner and I ran off the underground train as I suddenly felt sick. It ended up taking 4 hours to get from Belgravia to our hotel in Shoreditch as I felt unable to be on the underground.
The rest of the holiday including trains, planes, automobiles etc went without a hitch so I put it behind me. I know it may appear that i'm claustrophobic however i'm not and never have been.
Upon returning home the anxiety sporadically returned and I started to struggle to leave the house which then graduated on to struggling to even be in the shower which graduated to being unable to sit even for a haircut to ultimately struggling to eat and drink. Nothing unexpected or traumatic has happened recently to cause it. Other half insisted I go to the doctor and get some CBT. Doctor prescribed sertraline and propanolol. The sertraline made me very nauseous so stopped straight away as the propanolol seemed to help. On top of this I found a therapist for a bit of CBT which again helped so feel like i'm progressing.
The most frustrating thing however is i'm really struggling to eat or even drink sometimes especially in the evening and it's becoming a problem. When I have food in my mouth I struggle to swallow it because I either suddenly feel really sick or that i'm going to start choking on it. I sometimes even struggle to swallow my saliva throughout the day. My weight is starting to drop and i'm starting to panic a little. I enjoy going out to restaurants etc but now feel like it's impossible.
Has anyone ever experienced similar? I'm supposed to be going to Rome in September and I don't want this to ruin it so looking to tap into the hive mind to see if anyone has any sage advice.
The rest of the holiday including trains, planes, automobiles etc went without a hitch so I put it behind me. I know it may appear that i'm claustrophobic however i'm not and never have been.
Upon returning home the anxiety sporadically returned and I started to struggle to leave the house which then graduated on to struggling to even be in the shower which graduated to being unable to sit even for a haircut to ultimately struggling to eat and drink. Nothing unexpected or traumatic has happened recently to cause it. Other half insisted I go to the doctor and get some CBT. Doctor prescribed sertraline and propanolol. The sertraline made me very nauseous so stopped straight away as the propanolol seemed to help. On top of this I found a therapist for a bit of CBT which again helped so feel like i'm progressing.
The most frustrating thing however is i'm really struggling to eat or even drink sometimes especially in the evening and it's becoming a problem. When I have food in my mouth I struggle to swallow it because I either suddenly feel really sick or that i'm going to start choking on it. I sometimes even struggle to swallow my saliva throughout the day. My weight is starting to drop and i'm starting to panic a little. I enjoy going out to restaurants etc but now feel like it's impossible.
Has anyone ever experienced similar? I'm supposed to be going to Rome in September and I don't want this to ruin it so looking to tap into the hive mind to see if anyone has any sage advice.
The mental and physical behaviours that you are experiencing are almost exactly the same as those that my oldest son started exhibiting some 6 years back (he was 24 at the time). He insisted on brushing off all advice to seek help of any kind, and he ended up in a period of massive depression and paranoia. He'd witnessed me live in denial of my own (very different) mental health problems for many years, luckily I eventually managed to talk him into not being an arrogant idiot that thinks he can handle it (like I had been).
You're doing precisely the right thing in seeking help, particularly counselling, but even a chat with mates or close family will help. It can be hard, but keep at it, it's vital. It can take you to dark places on occasion, too, but it's worth it.
Medication can make a massive difference, but it's very much hit and miss which particular medicines will work best for you. Once you find a treatment that you feel works for you, let the doc(s) know and stick with it.
All the best
You're doing precisely the right thing in seeking help, particularly counselling, but even a chat with mates or close family will help. It can be hard, but keep at it, it's vital. It can take you to dark places on occasion, too, but it's worth it.
Medication can make a massive difference, but it's very much hit and miss which particular medicines will work best for you. Once you find a treatment that you feel works for you, let the doc(s) know and stick with it.
All the best
See if you can get something more in-depth than CBT. There's an underlying reason why you're exhibiting this behaviour. The first step is acknowledging there's an issue. The next step is finding the right help to overcome it. You might find some kind of counselling/therapy will help. You want to be able to get to a point where it's no longer an issue, not something that means you're always relying on whichever you go for.
I'm going to respectfully disagree with hoofy here.
I had exactly the same issue as you. My first panic attack was in a restaurant and it took me 10 years before I was able to force down that first McD burger in public without throwing up.
It took me that long because just like Brown Eared Dog's son I thought I could figure it out myself. It was completely illogical and irrational to be feeling like I did. If only I could identify the root cause and fix that, then I could fix myself. That's a logical way through all of this right?
It's not Hollywood. There is no root cause. Anxiety is as fundamental a human sensation as feeling hungry or needing the loo. Everybody feels it. Your primeval brain is hardwired to experience it. It saves your life.
Once you can accept that you're not weird and it's just a thing that happens as a human, you can stop fearing it, stop trying to solve it and begin learning how to manage it. It will stop you spiralling like you are at the moment.
30 years after my first attack, my son had his. Like you and I, he was in pieces. But by accepting it for what it is (perfectly natural), talking about it and with the support of his doctor he managed to sit his A Levels two months later and has spent the past year travelling around the world on his own.
You can and will get through this. Speak to professionals and importantly people who have lived experience of it. You say the propanol helps. This is good. If it works then there is a way out of this; light at the end of the tunnel.
I had exactly the same issue as you. My first panic attack was in a restaurant and it took me 10 years before I was able to force down that first McD burger in public without throwing up.
It took me that long because just like Brown Eared Dog's son I thought I could figure it out myself. It was completely illogical and irrational to be feeling like I did. If only I could identify the root cause and fix that, then I could fix myself. That's a logical way through all of this right?
It's not Hollywood. There is no root cause. Anxiety is as fundamental a human sensation as feeling hungry or needing the loo. Everybody feels it. Your primeval brain is hardwired to experience it. It saves your life.
Once you can accept that you're not weird and it's just a thing that happens as a human, you can stop fearing it, stop trying to solve it and begin learning how to manage it. It will stop you spiralling like you are at the moment.
30 years after my first attack, my son had his. Like you and I, he was in pieces. But by accepting it for what it is (perfectly natural), talking about it and with the support of his doctor he managed to sit his A Levels two months later and has spent the past year travelling around the world on his own.
You can and will get through this. Speak to professionals and importantly people who have lived experience of it. You say the propanol helps. This is good. If it works then there is a way out of this; light at the end of the tunnel.
ben5575 said:
I'm going to respectfully disagree with hoofy here.
I had exactly the same issue as you. My first panic attack was in a restaurant and it took me 10 years before I was able to force down that first McD burger in public without throwing up.
It took me that long because just like Brown Eared Dog's son I thought I could figure it out myself. It was completely illogical and irrational to be feeling like I did. If only I could identify the root cause and fix that, then I could fix myself. That's a logical way through all of this right?
It's not Hollywood. There is no root cause. Anxiety is as fundamental a human sensation as feeling hungry or needing the loo. Everybody feels it. Your primeval brain is hardwired to experience it. It saves your life.
Once you can accept that you're not weird and it's just a thing that happens as a human, you can stop fearing it, stop trying to solve it and begin learning how to manage it. It will stop you spiralling like you are at the moment.
30 years after my first attack, my son had his. Like you and I, he was in pieces. But by accepting it for what it is (perfectly natural), talking about it and with the support of his doctor he managed to sit his A Levels two months later and has spent the past year travelling around the world on his own.
You can and will get through this. Speak to professionals and importantly people who have lived experience of it. You say the propanol helps. This is good. If it works then there is a way out of this; light at the end of the tunnel.
Anxiety attacks are unpleasant -panic attacks are something far different (far worse ime)I had exactly the same issue as you. My first panic attack was in a restaurant and it took me 10 years before I was able to force down that first McD burger in public without throwing up.
It took me that long because just like Brown Eared Dog's son I thought I could figure it out myself. It was completely illogical and irrational to be feeling like I did. If only I could identify the root cause and fix that, then I could fix myself. That's a logical way through all of this right?
It's not Hollywood. There is no root cause. Anxiety is as fundamental a human sensation as feeling hungry or needing the loo. Everybody feels it. Your primeval brain is hardwired to experience it. It saves your life.
Once you can accept that you're not weird and it's just a thing that happens as a human, you can stop fearing it, stop trying to solve it and begin learning how to manage it. It will stop you spiralling like you are at the moment.
30 years after my first attack, my son had his. Like you and I, he was in pieces. But by accepting it for what it is (perfectly natural), talking about it and with the support of his doctor he managed to sit his A Levels two months later and has spent the past year travelling around the world on his own.
You can and will get through this. Speak to professionals and importantly people who have lived experience of it. You say the propanol helps. This is good. If it works then there is a way out of this; light at the end of the tunnel.
I had my first panic attack circa '97 - which was a proper 'event' - chest pains, leg/arms numb, acute 'anxiety' and massive palpitations. A proper 'I'm in cardiac arrest' mode.
In the short term afterwards I felt 'anxious' which varied but never like/as intense as the initial feeling.
Several attacks later -one notably just before a trans Atlantic flight it really affected work...
Work insisted I had some tests done due to lack of attendance/performance (which was absolutely fair enough)
Dietary tests showed various issues - way too much caffeine, sugar spikes, alcohol spikes etc together with a lack of quality sleep.
After reviewing all of that and balancing lifestyle choices it all got better.
ben5575 said:
I'm going to respectfully disagree with hoofy here.
I had exactly the same issue as you. My first panic attack was in a restaurant and it took me 10 years before I was able to force down that first McD burger in public without throwing up.
It took me that long because just like Brown Eared Dog's son I thought I could figure it out myself. It was completely illogical and irrational to be feeling like I did. If only I could identify the root cause and fix that, then I could fix myself. That's a logical way through all of this right?
It's not Hollywood. There is no root cause. Anxiety is as fundamental a human sensation as feeling hungry or needing the loo. Everybody feels it. Your primeval brain is hardwired to experience it. It saves your life.
Once you can accept that you're not weird and it's just a thing that happens as a human, you can stop fearing it, stop trying to solve it and begin learning how to manage it. It will stop you spiralling like you are at the moment.
30 years after my first attack, my son had his. Like you and I, he was in pieces. But by accepting it for what it is (perfectly natural), talking about it and with the support of his doctor he managed to sit his A Levels two months later and has spent the past year travelling around the world on his own.
You can and will get through this. Speak to professionals and importantly people who have lived experience of it. You say the propanol helps. This is good. If it works then there is a way out of this; light at the end of the tunnel.
I can only go on my training. There may well be a root cause. Working with a professional can find that. Of course, acceptance is a route if there is no specific underlying reason. Acceptance ultimately is the route even if there is an underlying reason - acceptance of that reason.I had exactly the same issue as you. My first panic attack was in a restaurant and it took me 10 years before I was able to force down that first McD burger in public without throwing up.
It took me that long because just like Brown Eared Dog's son I thought I could figure it out myself. It was completely illogical and irrational to be feeling like I did. If only I could identify the root cause and fix that, then I could fix myself. That's a logical way through all of this right?
It's not Hollywood. There is no root cause. Anxiety is as fundamental a human sensation as feeling hungry or needing the loo. Everybody feels it. Your primeval brain is hardwired to experience it. It saves your life.
Once you can accept that you're not weird and it's just a thing that happens as a human, you can stop fearing it, stop trying to solve it and begin learning how to manage it. It will stop you spiralling like you are at the moment.
30 years after my first attack, my son had his. Like you and I, he was in pieces. But by accepting it for what it is (perfectly natural), talking about it and with the support of his doctor he managed to sit his A Levels two months later and has spent the past year travelling around the world on his own.
You can and will get through this. Speak to professionals and importantly people who have lived experience of it. You say the propanol helps. This is good. If it works then there is a way out of this; light at the end of the tunnel.
jules_s said:
Anxiety attacks are unpleasant -panic attacks are something far different (far worse ime)
I had my first panic attack circa '97 - which was a proper 'event' - chest pains, leg/arms numb, acute 'anxiety' and massive palpitations. A proper 'I'm in cardiac arrest' mode.
In the short term afterwards I felt 'anxious' which varied but never like/as intense as the initial feeling.
Several attacks later -one notably just before a trans Atlantic flight it really affected work...
Work insisted I had some tests done due to lack of attendance/performance (which was absolutely fair enough)
Dietary tests showed various issues - way too much caffeine, sugar spikes, alcohol spikes etc together with a lack of quality sleep.
After reviewing all of that and balancing lifestyle choices it all got better.
Sadly I’m acutely aware of the impact of panic attacks (as I’ve documented on ph before albeit many years ago). I had my first panic attack circa '97 - which was a proper 'event' - chest pains, leg/arms numb, acute 'anxiety' and massive palpitations. A proper 'I'm in cardiac arrest' mode.
In the short term afterwards I felt 'anxious' which varied but never like/as intense as the initial feeling.
Several attacks later -one notably just before a trans Atlantic flight it really affected work...
Work insisted I had some tests done due to lack of attendance/performance (which was absolutely fair enough)
Dietary tests showed various issues - way too much caffeine, sugar spikes, alcohol spikes etc together with a lack of quality sleep.
After reviewing all of that and balancing lifestyle choices it all got better.
I’m also very conscious of how vulnerable people are to suggestion and subsequent spiralling. So I decided to focus on how, when it happened to my son last year, we managed to work through it. And that’s the key message for OP. You can work through it.
The reason OP is having panic attacks is because at he moment his system is over reacting to a perfectly normal mental and bodily action.
I’ll trot out the sabre tooth tiger analogy. As cavemen we developed fight or flight to deal with sabre toothed tigers. Biologically we still have that fight or flight response. It’s just in 2025 we don’t have sabre toothed tigers to run away from, so we don’t burn the energy, we get no release.
We do however experience pressures from all different directions. These may not individually trigger the ff response, but they all affect us and build up. If you don’t use up that nervous energy, it can end up manifesting as panic attacks.
My point of saying all that is to reassure OP that what he is experiencing is actually an extreme response to an otherwise normal and fundamental human function. He is not going mad. And actually, if you accept that and then learn how to manage it, you can get it back under control.
And it’s control or rather the apparent lack of control that is so scary and can lead to it spiralling downwards. I’m just saying that you can get it under control.
g3org3y said:
Did your GP do any bloodwork (or physical examination) to exclude any underlying organic causes for your symptoms?
I'd be wanting to do that given the new symptoms (and presumably lack of previous history of anxiety/mental health issues).
No when I originally went I just wanted some immediate short term relief however I know I should get this done and am planning to do it somewhere private possibly for the purposes of speed.I'd be wanting to do that given the new symptoms (and presumably lack of previous history of anxiety/mental health issues).
Your symptoms sound a lot like Dysphagia.
It's commonly linked to early onset Dementia, but not always. My Mother in Law is 2 years into a diagnosis into Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's. She started with Dysphagia about 4 months ago. It's been cured now (Dysphagia, not the Dementia), and is easily cured thought the use of some dissolvable anti-anxiety medication you put under your tongue before eating until your body remembers it can swallow.
I'm not saying it is BTW, but worth mentioning to the GP, as they had never heard of it when we took my MiL, it was only the Dementia Clinic that suggested it then diagnosed it.
It's commonly linked to early onset Dementia, but not always. My Mother in Law is 2 years into a diagnosis into Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer's. She started with Dysphagia about 4 months ago. It's been cured now (Dysphagia, not the Dementia), and is easily cured thought the use of some dissolvable anti-anxiety medication you put under your tongue before eating until your body remembers it can swallow.
I'm not saying it is BTW, but worth mentioning to the GP, as they had never heard of it when we took my MiL, it was only the Dementia Clinic that suggested it then diagnosed it.
g3org3y said:
Did your GP do any bloodwork (or physical examination) to exclude any underlying organic causes for your symptoms?
I'd be wanting to do that given the new symptoms (and presumably lack of previous history of anxiety/mental health issues).
I was going to ask the same - OP don't dismiss, out of hand, that this could be something biological. Even some straightforward vitamin deficiencies can cause an odd range of symptoms. I'd be wanting to do that given the new symptoms (and presumably lack of previous history of anxiety/mental health issues).
Id like to chip in and say I have had something similar,, but not exactly related to eating.
Random feelings of complete 'doom' with no other obvious cause. Sometimes after eating, sometimes when I lay down at night. Sometimes it affects my breathing. Once ended up in a full on panic, heart racing, numbness, obvious and fast pulse. I was about 6 months into a new job, but one I really like and am good at when it started. Also was about to have baby number two which didn't bother me or worry me. Its been probably a year now and although its been less severe when it does happen its still worrying.
Im not someone that had ever experienced it before so the fist time It hit me hard I went to A+E. Id borrowed my dads BP machine and was over 150. I got triaged to the hospital GP and he kinda dismissed it. Went to GPs a month or so later and they swabbed my throat as Id mentioned difficulty breathing. That came back negative. No other tests offered, no meds.
Just this morning I was on the motorway and I got the chills and sweats for no reason.
Its tiring as sometimes little stuff sets me off, like a loud bang, or a bit of mild road-rage (you know saying to yourself "what a faking tosser")
Random feelings of complete 'doom' with no other obvious cause. Sometimes after eating, sometimes when I lay down at night. Sometimes it affects my breathing. Once ended up in a full on panic, heart racing, numbness, obvious and fast pulse. I was about 6 months into a new job, but one I really like and am good at when it started. Also was about to have baby number two which didn't bother me or worry me. Its been probably a year now and although its been less severe when it does happen its still worrying.
Im not someone that had ever experienced it before so the fist time It hit me hard I went to A+E. Id borrowed my dads BP machine and was over 150. I got triaged to the hospital GP and he kinda dismissed it. Went to GPs a month or so later and they swabbed my throat as Id mentioned difficulty breathing. That came back negative. No other tests offered, no meds.
Just this morning I was on the motorway and I got the chills and sweats for no reason.
Its tiring as sometimes little stuff sets me off, like a loud bang, or a bit of mild road-rage (you know saying to yourself "what a faking tosser")
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