stomach issues and anxiety

[Jkse]

Hello all wonderful people out there. Hope your new years is going well. I need help understanding my stomach issue and anxiety. So every morning i wake up with moderate anxiety. As the day goes by i start feeling bloated and lot of burping. At the same time i fee my anxiety. I am not able to understand if it is my stomach issues causing anxiety or my anxiety causing my stomach issues. Please advice. Also, how to cope with this throughout the day. I am taking paroxetine and buspirone to help with anxiety and depression. My biggest problem is anxiety episodes. How long does it take for buspirone to work 100 percent. I am taking 10mg twice a day and it has definitely helped me but not 100 percent there yet. Today is my 14th day on buspirone.

[Coolgreys]

hi Jkse, I also take Buspirone 10mg 1-2 times a day. I had been at 15mg 3 times a day and I don’t think it ever really took away my anxiety completely. It may for you, I hope. In my experience, there hasn’t been a magic pill that fixed my anxiety and depression but they’ve helped me enough that I can function again and work through my issues one by one with a therapist. I’m still on this long road to mental wellness. I wish you the best.

[Jkse in reply to Coolgreys]

Thank you for your reply. Hope things get better soon.

[PadThaiNoodles]

Have you been on the paroxetine longer, or also for 14 days? It can take months for an SSRI to come up to full effect.

I don't know much about buspirone, though, as my anxiety is secondary to my depression (so I'm on escitalopram and lamotrigine). And like Coolgreys I don't find them a complete fix, but they help me greatly.

[Jkse in reply to PadThaiNoodles]

Thank you for your reply. I have been on paroxetine for 2 months and 10 days.

[PadThaiNoodles in reply to Jkse]

Huh, that seems a reasonable time period. You might want to talk to your doctor about trying a different SSRI (though they might want to give the paroxetine a bit longer).

Have you tried CBT? I also found that helpful for anxiety.

[Jkse in reply to PadThaiNoodles]

No i havent tried CBT. Any thoughts about where to find info on CBT?

[PadThaiNoodles in reply to Jkse]

I was referred to someone by my GP. Most psychologists have training in it, but there are also certified therapists (at least in Ireland) that aren't full psychologists. It's one of the more common "talk therapies", so I'd think it would be widely available where you are too.

General info (from the NHS): nhs.uk/mental-health/talkin...

[Jkse in reply to PadThaiNoodles]

Thank you for your support. I will look into it.

[Luna0988]

I cant help you but i do understand you and question myself the same questions if the issues is from anxiety or anxiety is from having issues stomach etc.you are not alone just try to calm down and if this dont go away speak with doctor my issues come and goes

[Jkse in reply to Luna0988]

Thank you Luna0988 for your reply. I have the same problem. Some days i will be free from anxiety and far more relaxed and some days it is opposite. I also look for the triggers but dont seem to find anything.

[linuxusr]

Hello Jkse: HU Members: Please correct me if you think my opinion is incorrect. Jkse: I'm sorry for your suffering. Members here can offer sympathy and they may relate situations similar to yours but the bottom line is that your suffering cannot be resolved here. It can only be resolved with professional intervention. Here is my advice: You can confirm with a psychiatrist that I am correct when I say that your first step is to rule out physical causes of your symptoms. I recommend that you see a physician, internal medicine. That physician may recommend a follow-up with a gastroenterologist. When you have the results of the physical evaluation, you then turn over those results to your psychiatrist and proceed to evaluate the problem psychiatrically. Hope this helps.

[Jkse in reply to linuxusr]

Thank you for your advice. I have been to gastroenterologist and did all the blood work. Everything was fine. Dr prescribed me PPI and which i am currently on.

[linuxusr in reply to Jkse]

Very cool, Jkse! The good old proton pump inhibitor! Well, now you know, the problem is psychiatric. But that does not mean that the body is not involved. That's obvious. Psychiatric: Mind/Body. But it's the psychiatrist (also an M.D.) who will sort this and not the gastroenterologist. So, a step forward.

[jjpeabody]

Hi Jkse, I like the fact that you are using combination therapy as I have personally never had an SSRI work completely by itself. Plus people are different and the response and time to response can vary among people. Buspirone could take 6 weeks or more like any of these meds. Also, your expectation of 100% from any of these medications may not happen. The only thing I've tried that works well for anxiety is Clonazepam and that is like Xanax for short term use etc, check with your doc if like. Good luck

[Metal13]

I am not sure about the medication because I am apparently allergic to ssri’s. At least that’s what my doctor said after trying many of them and I couldn’t stand them.

About the stomach issue, you may want to ask a regular doctor about GERD. I have been diagnosed with it and it causes bloating and indigestion. I had to start sleeping on an elevated foam thing under my pillows I also take protonix for it but it doesn’t help much. Dexilant is an excellent gerd medication that works but I have not found an insurance company yet that covers it. There is also gaviscon which is an over the counter tablet you can eat. It works really well but taste like what I would expect a vanilla piece of chalk or crayon would taste like.