Connect
Comment receiving replies
<p>I just had my 70th birthday. Last year I was in Palm Springs and ate some dirty dried apricots which caused a serious infection. It took several weeks to get it diagnosed. My family has a history of what they used to call colitis or IBS. I have bouts of diarrhea and constipation but the clincher is that I feel so stressed and anxious a great deal of the time. I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy last February and was diagnosed w GERD. I take no meds now but my anxiety is this really what’s wrong with me haunt me continually. We own a boat company and have had a lot of stress with it as well as my old fashioned husband thinks I should wait on him 24/7. I just feel like I can explode.I have waves of nausea, sweaty palms and feet. I think I’m either going nuts or there’s something else wrong and I’m dying. I’ve been to the ER 6 times this year, had CT’s both with contrast and without and they say nothing. I just don’t know what to do so I struggle every day to smile and say nothing but I’m going crazy inside. I just want to cry and be a child not a grown up and someone help me, please. My GP tells me I’m healthy but I don’t feel healthy at all</p>
Replies to "I just had my 70th birthday. Last year I was in Palm Springs and ate some..."
@caj we are not doctors so cannot diagnose; however, we have experience in dealing with stress. Your doctor states that you are healthy. He is probably stating a physical diagnosis. Stress may cause many problems. Also it is possible that your doctor has missed a physical problem. It is always possible to get a second opinion. As for your stress, have you thought of getting some counseling on how to deal with stress? For me I find putting things off makes my stress worse. I need to deal with something right away. Keep us informed on what is happening with you. We do care and understand what you are going through.
I cannot say enough good things about the Mayo approach to patient diagnosis and care. The collegial nature of the practice of medicine allows the evaluation of the patient through multiple lenses and disciplines, if required. I am the beneficiary of that experience over 60 years ago, and am ever grateful for parents who made sure I had the best care available. If you can, a trip to Mayo could well codify the disparate opinions you’ve been receiving and get you on a more meaningful path to stability.
Connect
@caj, You are not being a child to try to deal with your illness; rather, it sounds like you need a lot more self-care to address it than you are allowing yourself now. I think you and your husband together need to adjust the priorities that you have set for yourself, for your business, and expectations of one another to allow you to cope in a more healthy way. The *evidence* that this is harming you is there as a basis to have this conversation. Have none of the physicians you've seen given you advice on addressing the GI symptoms you are having, since you say you are not on any meds? If you can get your physical life under better control, with the needed change in your regimen to support that, then perhaps some of your anxiety will lessen, too. Extreme stress is very unhealthy.