Sick of dealing with anxiety and pain
The last few days have been miserable. I was doing ok had about a 2 week stretch of minimal flare ups and not to much pain. Then I ate something and it’s been horrible for the last 4-5 days. I don’t know how to keep myself calm and just deal with my ibs. I know exactly what is going on and the usual routine of the flare ups and bathroom trips. But every single time my anxiety gets the better of me. It’s to the point when I’m at work sometimes and can feel trapped gas or that annoying pressure deep inside start to build up I go into full blown panic attack and have to stop working to deal with my stomach.
This morning I was getting ready to go to work doing my normal everyday stuff, actually felt good for a change, then out of no where that dreaded gas pain deep inside that felt like something was trying to rip out of me from the inside. So now I’m in a full blown panic attack feel like I’m about to pass out, seeing stars, heartbeat crazy, shaking so I get to the fan and blast it on high in my face to cool me down and get my heart and breath under control and feel better just to have it happen again 5 min later. So I rush to the bathroom and get some relief but not a full satisfaction. And suffered the whole ride to work.
I’m over it. I’m sick of this ruling my life. I don’t want to panic every time I leave the house to go somewhere. I know the exact spots and time in between each place I could stop to use the bathroom on my route to work if needed.
- Thanks for sharing so openly here. Based on the reactions at the bottom of your post, at least 2 people know how you feel. What you're experiencing sounds so hard to manage. I hope you had a better day today. Take care. - Chris, IrritableBowelSyndrome.net Team Once you've had a few close calls trying to get to a toilet in time, stress and panic kick in automatically. Your job then is to activate your soothing inner voice to reassure yourself that bathrooms are nearby and that you are completely calm and really don't need one. If necessary you can leave the class, mtg, appt w/o penalty. This works for me. Learning to turn off panic requires practice, patience and longer and longer pds of incident-free health. Each new event re-starts the timing, unfortunately, but I can think of no other practical approach.
I do understand because when symptoms rush in again out of the blue when I am starting to feel steadier, fill me with anxiety too. The symptom/anxiety/worse symptom rollercoaster is a scary thing to go through. And there is definitely a vicious circle effect with IBS.
I was convincing myself I was terminally-ill today and had been mis-diagnosed. I couldn't help those dark thoughts even though I knew they were almost 100% unfounded. My lower gut was churning, felt like a mouse running around inside.
But later after I'd eaten (oddly!) it settled and things got a bit easier, and my dark, dark mood started to lift. I just needed some grounding perhaps. And some rest.
Knowing there is a bathroom nearby will help for sure.My kindest thoughts and wishes for you
