Stress Center Peer Support

I would like to know how to make myself eat. I am so overcome with stress that I went from a mere 113lbs to 94lbs. My doctor did an ekg and found that I have an irregular heart beat due to muscle loss, because my heart is a muscle and is also suffering. This is adding to my stress. even when I get hungry, just thinking about the fact that I HAVE to eat adds more stress. She did a blood panel and I have been waiting for the results for 3 days now. She said hospitalazation is not out of the question. I have 4 kids, and a husband who works 2 jobs. how can I go into the hospital now?

Hi Justeen,

Stress can absolutley affect your weight, making it go up or down, neither of which is good for your body. I suppose everyone reacts differently to stress - some can't eat, like you describe; some eat too much, like me. My weight has always been linked to the way I manage (or don't) my stress. Has this always been an issue for you too or is this something new?

Just wanted to say I can relate - except I haven't been told I have to go to the hospital. I lost about 15-20 pounds since March and have undergone a battery of diagnostic tests. They did find a benign tumor on my liver and some possible food allergies, but nothing specific or worrisome. I am still having GI symptoms, but am getting better. Next week I am supposed to do a food challenge to see if I am really allergic to corn. I eat small frequent meals and use the tools to calm myself when I start getting anxious when I eat. Sure, I still am anxious when I introduce a food back into my diet and I do still have nausea, gas, and burning, but I am much better than I was. The small frequent meals and breathing and calming techniques really help.

Justeen62-

Why hasn't your doctor prescribed an anit-anxiety medication like Xanax or Ativan to help you with the stress? You seem totally stressed out, cannot eat but did not mention anything about meds.? There are also meds that stimulate your appetite. Are there other medical things going on or have you been diagnosed with anxiety/depression? Something you can eat (actually drink) are Ensure or Boost drinks. They come in many different flavors and are full of minerals and vitamins and the vanilla one is pretty good over ice. You can also try protein bars like Zone Perfect bars (chocalate peanut butter is very good) or Pria bars. I also find plain white rice (Minute Rice) with some veggie's is something I can eat even when I am feeling sick. One thing I am curious about(b/c you didn't mention) is what is the issue with food/eating? Why is it such a struggle? Are you just too nervous to eat?

Silvana

i can relate. i'm dealing with the same thing. i'm thin to begin with and loose my appitiate when stressed (which is 24/7). i'm doing better now that im on prozac and remedon (sp?). but the idea of what to eat and how i'll feel makes me anxious. just want to say i understand.

I have lost over 60 lbs in the last year. I had alot of testing done and nothing was found to be causing the weight loss other than the anxiety. I just didn't feel like eating and the more weight I lost the more I felt I needed to eat. But then the thought of needing to eat made me more anxious. I know how you feel. Then we went on vacation for 2 weeks. My anxiety felt better since we were away from home and stresses. I started to eat, plus we were in France and Italy... and all that new, great food. I began to realize that I could be interested in food when I wasn't anxious. I ate so much in those 2 weeks I gained a few lbs. When we got home I started to eat foods that I liked, not foods that were the usual things. I ate out more, even though we couldn't afford it. I began to just eat what I thought I could be interested in. also, I stopped panicking about needing to gain weight by telling myself that I would eat and eat what I could, but not think about needing to gain weight. Just thinking about eating 3 meals a day to take care of myself. ....not to gain weight. You have to take that pressure off.

I don't take meds at all, because I don't tolerate them. I have now gone from 106 lbs. to 112 in the last 2 months. I am maintaining my weight.

also, another thing that helped is exercise. I walk daily for 20 minutes. It makes you hungier.

Keep working on the program. Learn to manage the anxiety and your appetite will come back. Manage body symptoms right away and don't let them build. Eat what sounds good, and treat yourself nice. We will get over this......I feel for you and hope you feel better.

I know what you mean, I went from almost 140lbs and eating a lot down to 126lbs now and barely eating. I haven't weighed this much in years, but I know it's just from my anxiety/depression.

Hi I just want to add to the forum how i can definately relate to you all and justeen. I lost so much weight within the past month. I am thin to begin with so i stress out so much. I hate to mention my weight, but i was from 97lb to 84lb. So i'm so stress that i get extremely scared as to how to gain my weight back. Since i do have difficulty eating and when i do try to eat i have sucha bad stomach pain. i'm still trying to work through it all and going through tests. but i hope everyone is finding some positive and feeling better soon.

In the months before my "breakdown" I lost 60 pounds without even realizing what was going on. I did not realize that I was not eating at all. I kept wearing the same old clothes day after day, just had a big safetly pin to hold up my pants ! I had no idea what was going on and I did not understand I was heading down the road to a complete psychological breakdown. My friends at work would ask me what I was doing to lose weight, and I just said I was just eating less food. I was obese when all of this loosing weight happened, so I actually got down to a weight that was acceptable to my body size and height. When I was admitted to the hospital I found that I just could not put food into my mouth at all. Other people there were suffering from all kinds of psychological problems and THEY could eat !

I kept that weight off for a while but now since I have had steriod injections in my hip and shoulder, my weight is going up again ( which is not good either, since I used to be obese).

Eating problems are absolutely related to anxiety.

See a doctor immediately if you are experiencing rapid weight loss or rapid weight gain.

L.L.

I went through the same type of thing except I cut all sugar out of my diet and ate organic. I lost 15lbs and am pretty thin now. When i am having a bad week or couple of days, or even if i get sick my friends and family all say you are loosing too much, or you are starting to look guant. I am not trying but when having anxiety episodes, i feel nauseated and have trouble keeping food down. When people say stuff like that it makes me think I am ill, or there is another reason why I am loosing weight.