A
female
age
36-40,
anonymous
writes:For over 10 years i thought i suffered from panic attacks. I had all the symtoms. I was stressed. I'd get hot and panicy. I'd have serious chest pain that would not leave me for hours. I couldn't always breath and calm myself down. I was told it was panic attacks and given pills to help combat the panic attacks, but it didn't helt. Eventually i just sort of grew out of them.Then 18 months ago they started again as I had some major stress introduced into my life.During one of these painful panic attacks which had lasted 8 hours (at that point) I accidentally threw up trying to take a pain killer. I'd last ate 9 hours earlier (a whole packet of biscuits)and threw up all the biscults i'd had practically undigested. As soon as i was sick, the panic attack pain lifted. The pressure was gone. The tightness was gone. I was able to unwind and calm down.In that moment is occurred to me that maybe my panic attack pain had been food related all along. I was a stress eatter admittedly. If i am upset, bored, lonely, stressed then food is my comfort. When thinking back i realised i'd never had a panic attack outside, because i eat more freely at home in large amounts. I also realised that some times i'd get a panic attack out of the blue when i wasn't worried at all or one would wake me up at 3am.When i next had another panic attack i tested out this theory .... i made myself sick. WHen i have "panic attacks" they normally last about 5 - 10 hours. Making myself sick the pain went in five minutes.I realised i'm over eatting and that is the cause of my pain. But its hard to stop when i'd used it as a stress reliever for so long. So for the last 6 months whenever i have had a "panic attack" i've thrown up which has been about 25 times. The problem is i can't go on like this. I don't want to delovop any serious side effects with my health. I need to control the comfort eatting because now i know how to stop my pain, i can't handle just leaving myself in pain, i have to get the pain out.I'm going to talk to my doctor next week. But i am unsure if they can even offer me any help. I'm not bulimic - i just can't cope with the over eatting pain. Its physical, not pyschological in that sense. Could they help me? Offer me support to learn to control my ways of dealing with things so i'm not reaching for food 24/7? It is an eatting disorder to a point but its the over eatting that is the problem, once i tackle that i won't be in pain and if i'm not in pain i won't be making myself sick.Can they help me? What would you do? What would you recommend to help me to find a new way of dealing with food and stress? I know you are not medical people but maybe someone has been through this two and knows in which direct to point me. Reply to this Question
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Fancy yourself as an agony aunt? Add your answer to this question! A
female
reader, Blonde68 +, writes (14 March 2012):
When you go and see your GP, ask if they can refer you to a Dietitan. I know they have them in the Health Centres as I used to work for the NHS.
It may help you to keep a daily diary of what you eat and what symptoms occur and take that with you.
Good luck!
A
male
reader, Jmtmj  +, writes (14 March 2012):
 See your doctor ASAP... they've got all the links to the professionals in every area you can think of- should they identify that you need it. But be as honest as you can otherwise they can't help you. Print out what you've written here if that makes things easier for you.
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A
female
reader, LovelyLemon  +, writes (14 March 2012):
 You are going to have to develop a new relationship with food. Not as comfort, but as fuel to nourish your body and help you function normally. Food is essential and should be enjoyed, but not abused. As with any drug, abuse of the use of food can really harm your health.
Your doctor would be the one to really help you overcome this with proper medical treatment, but my advice is to find something else that is comforting. Try exercise. It may not sound fun, but letting out the panic through movement will probably be more effective than vomiting.
I used to be bulimic, so I understand the release of purging, even if it's for different reasons. It will always have a hold over you, though, if you do not take charge and find another outlet for this stress. It's going to be difficult at first, but you will feel so much better. Try exercise. Meditation. Yoga. Relaxation breathing.
Much love and Best wishes
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