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April 10, 2006

Anxiety & holding steady at 164

I’m holding steady at 164 this week. My eating didn’t improve in the slightest. I’ve been suffering such severe anxiety, at times I feel like I’m going to have a heart attack. I get light headed and dizzy and overwhelmed in crowds. It’s kind of odd that I crave the mall all the time.

I’ve dealt with high anxiety my whole life. I’ve had plenty of panic attacks and the whole shebang. For the most part I’ve learned to cope and it’s never impacted my job or ability to be social. The real toll has been on my body. Many times I’ve opted to medicate with food. Food literally acts like a sedative during the most anxious episodes.

Lately I’ve been so constantly anxious that I have a persistent pain in my chest. While this is all mental it will have long term physical consequences if I don’t nip this in the bud.

Yesterday I picked up a book from the mall that teaches natural methods to battle anxiety. What caught my eye is that hypoglycemia can cause symptoms that resemble or heighten feelings of anxiety. A while back my doctor has informed me that I have reactive hypoglycemia. I never really learned much about it other than her instructions to eat a spoonful of peanut butter when I feel shaky and dizzy, never candy.

So along with trying once again to cut out caffeine (a well known aggravator of anxiety) I am going to learn to quell my anxiety naturally. Hopefully I’ll be able to stop turning to food when it feels at its worst.

I much prefer when my tactics go beyond my weight and eating which I know are a symptom of other things I’m just not addressing properly.

Posted by hopeful @ April 10, 2006 8:25 AM