Phobia of stomach discomfort...Does anyone else have this?

Post Reply New Topic

Okay, now I guess the question of what´s considered appropriate has been answered.

One of the symptoms of anxiety is stomach discomfort... I can sort of understand. I tend to not want to go outside or do anything when I'm stomach sick. I doubt it's a serious fear wtih me though.

I have seen that there is a whole literature on alexithymia and abdominal pain.

The essence of it is that people with alexithymia (which some people with autistic spectrum disorder have) may have difficulty identifying feelings and bodily sensations. There is a decrease in the speed of stomach emptying and bowel transport, with an increased level of gastric reflux, functional gastrointestinal disorder and functional abdominal pain. "Functional" means that symptoms (like pain, constipation and diarrhoea) are present, but there is no identifiable disease or cause.

Treatment for anxiety and tricyclic antidepressants (which have a side-effect of calming some nerve sensations) may help. There is an overview at http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/rep ... 1/2134.pdf

I'm the same, any uncomfortable sensation in my stomach or bowels/intestine area sends me into a panic or at least very anxious. It stems from a lifelong phobia I have of being sick, or emetophobia. But that's grown to include a phobia of catching illness in general and now even feeling something unusual in my body like stomach aches or headaches or just general tiredness/lethargy. I can barely go out nowadays without getting scared, and even when I've eaten something I'll be in a tizz afterwards because I'm afraid that any sensation that follows would result in my bringing everything back up. And I'm aware that anxiety causes stomach aches and headaches, but when I'm in the middle of an anxiety attack rationalising my situation isn't the easiest thing.
I think what's happening to me is similar to what StuartN posted about not being able to identify sensations, I'm already like that with many mixed emotions I have. So it would make sense that I can't make sense of physical sensations. My mum tells me the symptoms I often describe are actually part of normal digestion or just a normal twinge and it doesn't mean I'm going to come down with severe sickness and diarrhoea, especially if I was well enough to eat a sandwich only 2 minutes before.

I went out today with a friend I haven't seen in ages, we went on the bus to the city centre. It's actually my target at CBT to go out on the bus and start going places I used to enjoy. My real goal is to go alone again, but I guess going on the bus with my friend is still really good. The psychologist will be pleased. I was dreading it before though because I was getting stomach sensations again (probably a sign of fear this time) but I fought against it and went. I'm glad I did go because I bought some nice things, it felt good to be going to the city centre again.

Awesome job! I have a phobia of leaving home and leaving the house and straying from my comfort zone is a scary thought. I was involved in similar therapy, for OCD and anxiety, but my case was so severe that I wasn't responding well to it. I'm on an SSRI and symptoms improved slightly. I'd like to give it another try, with a new doctor. Now the problem is...how do I get myself out of the house? lol

Interesting....I never heard of "emetophobia", but I obviously have it! I just googled it on the internet, and read all about it. I never realized this was so common, I thought I was just a strange person. (Well, I am that too. )

Apparently, they have therapies to help this, but I question whether that would work for me. It was written, in one of the sites I looked at, that "most likely the fear is not of actual vomit, but of the fear of losing control, the fear of being seen, etc." However, in my case, the fear I have is an actual fear of the sensation of vomiting; I know I don´t want to experience it- it´s like a sensory thing. How can one get rid of that fear?

I also become terrified when I´ve been exposed to a stomach virus. (Not so if I´ve been exposed to a cold or flu, I don´t mind about that). I saw someone on Friday morning, who then was sick all night on Friday- (though she seemed okay when I saw her in the morning). Since then, I´ve had a terror of getting whatever it is she had, and I´m constantly analyzing the sensations in my stomach, wondering if I´ll get it. I even become nervous about eating, even though I may feel fine; I just worry about what might happen later.

It may be possible that all the stomach upset I went through before I discovered I had celiac disease has made me more paranoid, however, I know I also had this fear even before that.