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How I dealt with Anxiety Through These Years

I am writing this to talk about how I was able to overcome something that I thought was impossible for so many years. Perhaps in a past life, I would have been unable to leave my own house.

Tips for nausea related anxiety:

Three fingers down from your wrist up is an anti-nausea accupressure point. There are acutally PSI bands made for this, so research the area properly and press down that spot very hard.

Do not overeat, being too full can trigger it.

Make sure if you are lactose intolerant, do not have anything that has milk in it (ice cream, milk, cakes, cheese and even some breads)

Take ginger often, and have it near you all the times. It can provide the fastest relief.

Talk about it to people around and make sure people understand you. If you get rid of pressure, it will really help you.

Practice breathing, make sure you breathe slow and learn how to relax.

Some foods may trigger certain feelings of nausea. For me, sometimes breads or very cold foods does it. If you know you are sensitive to certain types of foods, avoid them.

Take inositol tablets. They can be bought from vitamin shops.

Have funny things that makes you laugh. They really help a lot when you’re in an intense mood.

Be hopeful! Do not ever believe that you are destined to live your entire life with anxiety. I was at one stage, but now my life has changed so much and I hardly could believe it. If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

My Story of Anxiety

I decided to write about it now because this has been the best time ever. I wouldn’t believe I even had it ever!

In the past 10 years, anxiety has been an evil ghost. I call it that because it likes to haunt people and then go away, then only come back to do more. Perhaps all those things live in a ghost town.

There has been times so good that I wouldn’t notice it was there. However, the bad times were that I couldn’t leave the house, couldn’t see movies, concerts or even take a 10 minute car ride. I’ve had anxiety attacks or panic attacks at school, home, work, friend’s houses and anything else you can name.

A little history for my anxiety.

My anxiety affects mostly my stomach, so I get nauseous and lose my appetite. I start eating less and going out less. I also get racing heart sometimes, sweating and other common symptoms. But my most severe one is nausea.

The first time I experienced anxiety was when I switched from primary school to high school. It was a huge change in my life and was too much for me. The first time I experienced symptoms I actually recognised was in class, I would suddenly feel very nauseous. After a while, it go away on its own. The worst thing was, I would get that exact same feeling every day, almost. I remember trying everything I could to get rid of it. I tried drinking things (which only made it worse). I got so anxious sometimes that I felt I was on the verge of being sick, which is the worst thing in the world to me (I have emetophobia, an irrational fear of being sick).

Back then, I was only 13. I had no idea what it was, except I just thought I was crazy.

I always thought I was the only person who experienced that. I didn’t even know it was a condition, let alone it had a name.

This went on for a while, until I really settled in and started getting used to the new school.

During the periods that I’ve had high anxiety, I really lost my appetite and started to eat less and less. Sometimes, even eating a few pieces of watermelon was difficult. I was afraid I’d develop an eating disorder as well.

One day, I remember reading an Australian magazine, probably something like Girlfriend or Dolly where people would write letters in and get advice. I remember someone describing symptoms exactly the same as what I was getting. I was so shocked that someone else had the same problem. That was the first time I felt that I wasn’t alone.

During the years, I’ve had anxiety on and off.

I will never forget the first time I had what I think was a panic attack. I had a friend over that time and we were watching a movie/show. Suddenly, I felt I had to leave the room so I locked myself in the bathroom and felt the nauseousness get stronger. It got to the point where I would be 1 step away from being sick, except that nothing came out. My heart would be racing and I wouldn’t be able to move, feeling weak everywhere. I really felt like I was dying or something. It was so scary that I was afraid of even having people around.

Another time that was clear to me was in a movie theater, where I suddenly felt sick and had to leave.

I’ve had other times like that, such as during assemblies, speeches, car trips and other similar events.

So, I’ve lived with anxiety coming and going.

On good days, I could go months without feeling sick at all.

I had bad ones in the train when I had a near-sick moment. I was so afraid of even going on public transport for a long time.

In 2007, around the time I went to China in May was one of the worst times of anxiety. I was extremely afraid of being sick, and any story about eating the wrong types of foods would scare the crap out of me. If we went to anyone’s house and they said someone was sick, I would freak out and want to leave straight away. If someone talked about it, I would be so afraid of “catching” it and would want to be away from them.

Sometimes, I felt so selfish by feeling that way. I wish I was able to be more concerned about them, rather than trying to escape.

This actually made me realise that when I was younger, I was told I always had troubles eating after I was separated from my grandparents. Though I can’t be sure, I am certain it has to do with anxiety.

So anyway, back to the trip of China – I heard some crazy story about sushi going bad in China and I was so petrified I would have random panics that were out of control.

That time, I got so nervous when it was dinner time, that as soon as my mum called “dinner”, I would immediately feel nauseous and was unable to eat the meal. It was partially due to pressure, because my family would be sitting beside me and expecting me to eat, so that pressure made it impossible to eat. I then talked to them about not getting the pressure, so I wouldn’t have to eat while they were. I would eat it in my own time or eat more at lunch time and not worry about dinner.

I was seriously scared about eating then, thinking I’d eventually starve to death.

But, what can I do? I wasn’t hungry. Nausea took away all of the hunger feelings I’ve ever had.

I had the same problem in China, with not feeling up to eating. Also at that time, I was drinking a herb alled Dong Quai (Dang Gui/Angelica Root), and for some reason, it really helped me with my appetite and made me want to eat. It felt so great to be hungry for once!

I looked up some information and realised that Angelica Root helps with eating.

After this incident, it slowly went away again. I started getting less anxiety, but it would always come back again.

Once, I got a bad attack when I came back from a friend’s place for dinner, I must have had too much cheesecake (I’m also lactose intolerant, so things with milk will always make me feel a bit sick). Also, the worst thing was that I left my bag at the friend’s house, and that’s when the anxiety started. It spiraled out of control and all I wanted to do was be back home. I would count the seconds it would take to get there, and the more I thought of it, the more the car trip would make me feel sick.

At work, it was also terrible. I remember one day when I was actually alone at work (boss went out) and I remember trying to lie in certain positions, holding my stomach trying to remove the feelings. It’s like nothing worked at all.

I got to the point where I was determined to find a solution. My major symptom was nausea, so I thought of medicine that might be able to relieve nausea.

I looked up things on the internet and came across pills to take to prevent motion sickness. I decided to buy some. I also came across things like liquids that relieve nausea.

For some reason, and with a lot of luck, I stumbled upon ginger. This magical herb that really has saved my life so many times, over and over.

GINGER helps nausea! I couldn’t believe it. It really gets rid of those queasy feelings. I absolutely love this life-saving herb. I had it with me all the time! I sometimes would take many and it worked fast too. I only wish I fount out about this sooner, it would have saved me so many times.

However, just because I had the ginger, it didn’t mean it went away.

Some days, I would still get it pretty bad and need like 8 ginger pieces. I remember being at a friend’s place and had some cold salad, soon that sick feeling came and I had to lock him out of his own room while I tried to calm myself and feel better.

Something else I was taught later on was breathing strategies. The key was to breathe in and out deeply and count 1 to 5.

The ginger and everything else really helped me with my anxiety. After I discovered ginger (pill format bought from vitamin chops and pharmacies/chemists if you’re Australian, not the large ones you chop up and cook with).

I also started taking inositol after I was recommended. I felt that it has really helped me!

Right now, I am living in the US and all my anxiety symptoms are practically gone! I guess it’s simply persevering through all the times, with ginger, I feel much safer – like there is a backup. I’m also with one of the most kindest and understanding person ever, which absolutely takes off all stresses away.

Of course, sometimes I do randomly get anxious and still need a few ginger, but that lasts a night, instead of spiraling out of control for months straight.

I still have other issues, like social anxiety (being afraid to talk to people) which I have to work on, but without this anxiety, life has been so much easier.

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