Can anxiety cause someone to become sensitive to the smell of spicy food?if it can what can I do about it?

[sense_12]

I choked on a sweet in February.although I didn't manage to cough out the sweet the choking went away and I'm fine.A few months later I ate some spicy food and my stomach swelled up really big,my heart was beating fast,and I was struggling to breathe,the paramedics came but they didn't have to do anything because the symptoms went away.Now for the first time in my life I can't be in the same room as spicy food as I feel like I can't breathe and my heart starts beating really fast and I cannot be in the same room around string smells like washing up liquid and string perfumes (I do have asthma).The symptoms I have around spicy food are strange because my mum has cooked for Me all my life and I have never had s problem with spicy food.when I say spicy food I mean food that has seasoned with curry Powder,all purpose seasoning etc not meals with a crazy amount of spice like a vindaloo or a really hot curry.The doctors have told me they believe I have high stomach acid and that my anxiety is causing me to be sensitive to spicy food.I was wondering if people agree with this and I was wondering what I could do about this

[Agora1]

I definitely agree with you in regards to developing an intolerance to a certain food or spice.Once we have been hit by a negative experience while eating, it tends to leave an indelible mark on our taste buds as well as our subconscious mind.

It could be the smell, a thought or even seeing an advertisement for it, to bring back those

moments of distress that we felt.

All Purpose Seasoning may contain MSG which can cause the symptoms you experienced.

I had that happen to me 20 min after eating a vegetable burger which unbeknownst to me

had MSG in it. The minute I discovered the cause, I flush my system out with glasses of water and felt fine fairly quickly. That's physically felt fine, as for the mental state of what

happened, it took longer to get over that fear.

I've had other instances over time but they don't seem to be long lasting anymore since

I understand how the Mind/Body connection works. Hopefully this will go away for you

in time. Feel better xx

[hypercat54]

Yes. Spicy food is the worst thing to eat if you have any gastric issues. It will just set them off. This can happen at any time but if you are older your systems are less efficient and thus can't cope in the way they did when you were young. I am fortunate as even though I am retired I can still eat virtually anything I like. But I now do get chronic indigestion and take omezaprole to control it. The only thing I have found is that certain fruits will give me the runs if I eat too much of them ad pears are the worst.

As for the sweet thing we have all choked on things like this before and it does make you more wary. The best thing to do to take control of your fear is to make a plan of action. I have read of people choking and on their own and they have dislodged the item by leaning backwards on a chair thus pushing the diaphragm up. That gives me great comfort coz I know I can do this if it happens to me.