Unexplained Indigestion and Anxiety

[anI3l3m4n]

So, this is not directly related to BFS I think, but potentially to anxiety (?). I have been having indigestion - nausea, feeling of fullness, excessive burping, discomfort when pressing in upper abdomen off and on (mostly on, worse in the morning, gets better later in the day) for 2-3 weeks now. No acid taste or anything like that. Maalox doesn't really seem to help all that much. And I cut out caffeine, anything delicious like fats or chocolate, and while the indigestion is a bit better, it's still there (it did go away for a few days, but resumed as I ate some better tasting foods again, hasn't disappeared since despite a bland diet). I have had a lot of stress lately...so I am thinking gastritis? But of course I am wondering if I should get checked out for stomach cancer I am so exhausted with my health anxiety...

 

[anI3l3m4n]

Not sure what I am asking, but wondering if people had similar experiences (since we are all mostly anxious people here)? Thanks!

 

[anI3l3m4n]

I know I have health anxiety...But jumping from indigestion to stomach cancer is no worse than jumping from twitching to ALS, which a lot of people here do...Dr Google lists those symptoms for stomach cancer after all. And I can't go on anxiety meds as I am still breastfeeding.

 

[ftheatre]

I had this one. In fact I suffer from gerd for 3 years but this year, in april, I had all the symptoms you are talking about. It lasted for a full month, and jusr like you my mind went to thinking about stomach cancer. I had a gastroscopy which was normal. Then stress decreased and symptoms vanished... That was before my twitching started, but I always had some health anxiety while it's getting worse these last year...

 

[Gracer]

most probably due to previous anxiety you gulp alot of air when breating and eating. That usually causes fullness, burping etc. I personally never had nausea related to anxiety but I have read that many people do have it as part of anxiety disorder. Anxious people can not digest the food in right way and often had diarroeas and constipation in alternating way and that is devastating (my granny had it along with dreadful pains in the bowels for 20 years so I know the subject).I also ahve and had GERD whic is a common thing among us anxious people ))but in case of burping, fulness etc. maalox would nto be a right stuff I think, also it can increase your twitches if you are prone to them.As for symptomes which Dr Google lists... I can tell you only that those symptomes are not specifc for cancer. Specific cancer symptom is in fact a presense of malignant leison. Nausea, flatulence, burping, stool troubles can accompany 100 other diseases including anxiety. You may have gastroscopy to be sure therer is nothing malignant inside (probably the only way to be sure) or try to eat in a frequent schedule by small portins with slow chewing first for a week or two and see if your condition would be improved or not.Hugs and regardsYulia

 

[ftheatre]

These kind of symptoms are even worse than BFS. At the time I experienced them, I was "aware" it was my anxiety. I knew I was causing the symptoms, so I tried to be patient, waited for the gastroscopy... I even tried some meds for anxiety, but nothing helped. I remember, after gastroscopy I could still feel the fullness, not apetite, I was asking myself what I had since the doc say all clear and I was still not good. It tooks about 3 more days for the symptoms to vanish. This clearly means that even if you are aware of your anxiety, aware that you are causing symptoms, it doesn't mean you can stop it, which is very frustrating.

 

[Gracer]

to ftheatre: awareness is only a part of our strategy. Even being aware, you may not relax, and body needs some time torepair the damages (we seldom feel what is the lag between starting of anxiety and having related symptomes, and some are rather quick followers, like hoarse voice for example, and some come later and need more time to vanish). It is always useful to be aware of anxiety but we also need to work on bad thoughts etc...Just this week I missed 3 days of in fact INTENSE anxiety just because I was used to an idea that I can be anxious for my daughter (significanlty decreased), for my health (significantly decreased), but the fact that political issues can make me really mad and anxious...hahaha! never thought about that and was again pretty badly surprised having jelly muscles etc.That is our life... the brain searches for any source to get into the state it is used to... and brain structures responsible for emotional control are weak... and hop!we have to be always alert ))) in this or that way! LOL!

 

[anI3l3m4n]

THanks Julia, and especially Christo (it's good to know I am not alone in this)! I had a very bad day Thursday, but also a lot of stress, much better since, still on a blandish diet...And yeah, I agree in many ways it's worse than BFS, at least BFS doesn't really stop me from doing anything I like (like eating good food). Only good thing is that I've eliminated caffeine to help with the gastritis, and it has in fact reduced my twitching somewhat (I am still twitching loads however).