*sigh* I may have figured out my nausea/wobbly issues

[ouroborous 519]

I had a bit of a realization about my ongoing issues of wobbly feelings and mild nausea (as well as some flushing) today.

This weekend, I noticed that whenever I leave home, it flares up. I was assuming I wasn't keeping good enough care of my nutrition and Water needs. And the truth is, I'm still not perfect with eating regularly and drinking regularly, but I'm honestly not malnourished or dehydrated. As far as we can tell, there's no medical reason for the "wobbly" feelings.

Also, the feelings go away when I exercise.

I did the math today, and realized that I'm most likely dealing with an old "friend": anxiety. I've had a lot of issues with anxiety in the past, and I recognize the pattern: it gets worse when I leave the house (because I'm away from all of my "safe" places and things, and which is the root of true agoraphobia), and exercise makes it go away.

See, I think here's what's happened. I'm very nervous about my body just "conking out" some day. I think it stemmed from seeing my otherwise healthy-seeming dad have a massive heart attack when I was about 6, but knowing the cause doesn't make it go away... I've always had this fear that some day, with no warning, I'll just keel over. I've had therapy -- no use. I've taken antidepressants -- some benefit, but the side effects are too onerous. The only thing that seems to help is self-talk and taking care of myself (enough sleep, lots of good exercise, and so on).

So, I'm going to work on that and see how things go. I absolutely refuse to allow anxiety to run my life in any form.

Figured I'd update anyone who's paid attention to my ongoing saga of wobbly/nauseous feelings.

Edit: forgot to add that I sometimes eat to soothe my anxiety. Somehow it feels like giving my body fuel will help it not keel over. I don't eat junk food, but I overeat. So that's a crutch that VSG has taken away. Which is good, I think, but I'll have to watch out for it.

Edited June 7, 2010 by ouroborous

[stcyt 15]

Well, it sounds like you know the root cause and your meeting it head on. I was going to ask why you thought the onset was right after surgery, but you addressed that.... Of course you were feeling a bit fragile right after surgery, but your coping mechanism (eating) was gone. I'm sure you've tried this stuff, but this may be a great time to introduce some new coping strategies like hot baths, music that you love, writing, throwing pottery, graffiti.... whatever. The more completely you can get absorbed into something, the better.

You have the right attitude.... you identified the issue and you have a plan for its management.

You probably know this but exerise absolutly helps manage some of the neurotransmitters associated with anxiety.

Hang in there

thanks for sharing

Stacey

[Jachut 487]

Do you think it will help at all that you've recognised it?

I know DH was REALLY hard to live with for a while there, stressed out beyond belief, and I'm thinking "what on earth are you so stressed about". I mean, he has a good job, we're doing OK, life was ticking along and he seemed to have this death wish by insisting it would all go wrong. Then he started having chest pains and weird shaky episodes, we're assuming heart trouble as he was about 70lb overweight at the time.

We had a fair few fights over it because I"m probably the most infuriatingly optimistic and practical person around, I have very little tolerance for things like anxiety and much as I know its wrong, I'm the kind likely to tell a depressed person to pull their socks up and snap out of it. Much of that stemmed from ignorance and the sheer luck of never having experienced it myself, I'm a little more understanding these days.

It suddenly struck me one day whilst googling that DH was having anxiety attacks. I sent him an email, because it was a hard thing to say to him. It was quite miraculous but once could assign a "condition" it disappeared (so I obviously hit the nail ont he head). I mean he had his anxieties still, the root cause of the issue didnt change but he didnt get so darn panicked every time he felt a flutter, he could self calm once he knew how.

Do you think you might benefit now knowing that that's what happens and be able to talk yourself out of it to some degree?

[ouroborous 519]

Yes, absolutely. In fact, just knowing that it's anxiety, and being able to separate that out from all the post-VSG "what-if's" is already helping.

I think that I may be suffering from a mild case of the post-surgery blues. I know it's very, very common, and, as embarrassing as it is to admit it, I'm prone to anxiety and depression. Also, I just bought a new motorcycle (which is a good thing, but also a little stressful, what with all the financial stuff and selling the old one), and I'm turning 40 in a week. So, lots of stuff going on.

I don't really have panic attacks anymore (I had them in my 20's, and trust me -- a little bit of anxiety is nothing like a panic attack -- it's like the difference in pain between a hangnail and, say, giving birth). But the anxiety is likely to be a constant companion. It produces all kinds of "weird" symptoms -- feeling wobbly (but not really being wobbly -- I don't have any real dizziness or anything), feeling nauseous (but never to the point of vomiting), and of course the generic feeling of impending doom.

It's unpleasant, but manageable. Not denying it (at least to myself) is very important, because it's when you try to pretend that "everything's okay" that things get out of control and you escalate into full blown panic attacks. In short, I'll be okay -- I know how to separate out real feelings of hunger or dehydration from simple anxiety.

The main point of me posting was to let any other anxiety-prone sleevers know that anxiety (which always goes hand-in-hand with depression) is probably very common post-sleeve, and to be able to look out for it.

Oh, and thank you for your kind words and concern. Again, I'll be okay -- anxiety is an old, old friend (I've been dealing with it, mostly successfully, for almost 20 years), but your kind thoughts definitely help!

[Oregondaisy 2,021]

I've been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. Exercise is the only thing that really helps for me.

When I don't exercise every day, I start to feel very anxious.

[ouroborous 519]

I've been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. Exercise is the only thing that really helps for me.

When I don't exercise every day, I start to feel very anxious.

Yup, for me it's likely genetic, since 3 or my 4 surviving family members have some kind of issue on the depression/anxiety axis.

And exercise truly is the single best cure for anxiety known to man. If you're like me, and your anxiety hinges around your body failing you, nothing will remind you better than getting your blood pumping and sweat flowing, that your body is doing Just Fine, Thank You. Add to that all of the natural endorphins and antidepressants that exercises, and yeah -- everyone with any kind of depression or anxiety should be exercising regularly.

It's that important.

[Snoop101 0]

:frown1: Bummer that you've got it but that positivity and determination to tackle it is brilliant :lol0:.

Keep up the exercise and we'll all go through the pain barrier together

[Mommydog14 1]

I think for a lot of us, we coped with our lives by turning to food for comfort. When the food goes away, we have to figure out other ways to comfort ourselves. I was in a couple of food 12 step programs and they always say that we "push down" our emotions with food, and without the food, everything just comes bubbling to the top and we need to learn to deal with our lives without feeding ourselves, or turning to a different addiction (for me it's shopping...)