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struggling eating

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 955

Great suggestion moginie!

Thanks for the recipe!

Sarah, Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1

Try a Tryptophan whammy smoothie

I'm just at the beginning of my treatment for this round of what I now realise is years of panic attacks alongside my diagnosed depression, so now I have a name for all those times I struggled to eat. Today I am trying porridge with pears (it's winter here) after a few days of not being able to eat breakfast because of gagging and not being able to swallow. And when I'm well I'm a foodie!

So the smoothie - the ingredients include types of food which encourage either processes around tryptophan, and/or a wee endorphin kick- you've all had smoothies like this, but maybe never thought about what they might be helping your brain to do:

1 Banana

Cup Soy milk

1 egg (I know - potential ewww factor but it is good for you)

Teaspoon hot chocolate mix (I really recommend the Trade Aid variety - it's a dark variety - see, the foodie breaks through, not too much though as you may not need the caffeine hit)

1 big teaspoon honey (I use a manuka/tea tree variety - full of antioxidants)

and if its around - 1 teaspoon of wheat germ.

Blend it, sip it, take it slow.

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 955

Thanks for sharing your experience here Don!

Massage therapy can have a number of benefits for one's well-being and state of mind. Members, what has your experience been with massage therapy? How has it helped you cope with your anxiety? What are the benefits you have experienced from this? Please share your thoughts!

Sarah, Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 39

Ha, Ha, Sorry my post meant medication, not meditation, but meditation is something I want to try to practise more often too:) I've been taking Clonazapam for 1.5 years which as helped me alot with my gagging and anxiety in general. I have cut back about 50% from when I started though and hope to slowly keep decreasing the dose as I'm able. So far, so good. By the way, has anyone tried massage purely for generalized anxiety? Is it a short-term thing, or does it have longer-term relaxation and anti-anxiety benefits? Just wondering as it's pretty expensive and ironically creates anxiety for me as I haven't tried it before and wonder if I'll be able to relax during it.

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 823

Great suggestions folks!

Practicing relaxation techniques truly is key to helping lessen the anxiety and the muscles that may cause these symptoms. As suggested, these include meditation, massage, deep breathing, exercise and others.

Hope you are feeling better Karla...........keep us posted on your progress.

Faryal, Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 39

Hi, just to know you're not alone. I have had a really horrible time with gagging when I'm really anxious and can't eat at all. You know the feeling when the doctor puts the tongue depressor at the back of your thoat and the gag reflex kicks in? I had that severely for quite some time. It felt like a tourniquet around my neck. I tried to hide myself so people wouldn't hear me gagging. But what seems to have helped is not focusing on the gagging or anticipating it. The more I did, the more likely it would happen and the anxiety would get even greater which would make me gag all the more. Vicious circle. But my mediation seems to have helped, and I'm cutting back on it now, as well as increasing my exercise to four times a week for 40 minutes daily. It's reduced my blood pressure too by an amazing amount. I am also trying herbal relaxation supplements and am going for a relaxation massage this week. The latter is causing me a ton of anxiety anticipating it, but i think in time if I stick with it, it might help me to relax me more. When I relax more, the gagging stops, and my appetite gets back to normal. Putting on weight for me has been a lifelong struggle.

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 2

I constantly deal with this after a panic attack. I try to eat anything i feel like eating til my appetite comes back.

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 538

I found eating small portions of easily digestable foods often is what helped me the most too. That and taking the time to breathe in between bites like Joe said!

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 77

Hi there,

I had this a lot when I was ' ill '. My sister who has also suffered from a similar disorder, who is a nurse used to encourage me to just eat very small amounts of anything that was easily digestable, yoghurt, custard, almost like a diet that you would use if you were recovering from an illness, and I found this helped a lot. I dropped three stone when I wasn't so good, and it became a real issue for me, but very slowly by doing this I managed to put some weight back on. For me it wasn't so much that I felt my throat restrict but that my stomach was in knots all the time, and the thought of food was horrendous.

I know you posted this a little while ago, but thought I'd reply as it was something I could SO relate to, Hope you're improving, it does take time, good luck.

Sue