Health Anxiety - Eating, but still having a hard time keeping my weight up

Hey Everyone!

I thought I should now put in a request to see what other people who understand health anxiety might be able to give me.

I'm a 26 year old female who has suffered from health anxiety from a young age. I've probably had about 4 crazy-anxiety episodes in my lifetime, with the 4th being within the last month. I'm currently in the process of talking to my psychiatrist to see what medication will help me get through (prior I'm usually off because I'm fine) Anyways, here I go.

It started when my period came about 2 weeks early, I didn't think too much about it but my OBGYN asked me to come in just to check. She found that my prolactin level with slightly elevated and requested an MRI. Anytime I get a phone call about blood results or anything I usually tend to freak out. I got my MRI today so hopefully everything is okay, within that span of time my prolactin has gone down to the normal levels because my primary care doctor also recently did blood work to see if my thyroid was alright. My thyroid levels were okay, but they did find one nodule at 1.3cm x .9cm, which also got me a little freaked out. I think the thing that is freaking me out the most is my inability to keep on weight through all of this. Before my 2 week early period even started and I had anxiety I noticed that I wasn't able to keep on weight (I'm 5'4 and around 116 pounds). I find that everyday I have to frequently go to the bathroom which is not helping me keep on weight, but is scaring me because sometimes I'm worried I may have something more serious. I understand that I might be having a bought of IBS because of my anxiety which is reversing everything I eat. Has this happened to anyone before? I'm having a hard time telling myself it's just my nerves if this was happening before I was beginning to freak out.

Just want to get better since this is the longest amount of time that I've been stuck in a health anxiety rabbit hole.

Thanks!
Britt

Thanks for your response! It really helps to talk to people that "get" it.

The rational part of my mind has been telling myself the same thing as well, as I know IBS and anxiety go hand-in-hand. I think the little bug that keeps wrecking on my nerves is that I noticed the weight change before my full fledge anxiety hit, of course, this could have been due to me being a teacher, stress, and recently getting into a long distance relationship. I don't thrive apart from my loved ones, and I'm currently by myself during an anxiety episode (for the first time ever since my last one was in high school).

That, and there was a week where I lacked anxiety and had my appetite back for a bit, but still did not manage to gain much. I think I just need to be more aware of how much I eat because any teacher will tell you we often skip meals!

I bought some pepto bismol because I've had no appetite and have been on a strict diet of soup/liquid meals because solids make me want to vomit, something that I've also read on the forums is caused by anxiety.

I drink "Breakfast Essentials" because I think Ensure is a little too rich for me and often makes me feel ill. I'm not sure if they are helping, but at least I know I am bottling down nutrients.

I think once I see some weight start to stick that my mind will start to settle down, but how long does it take for your body to recover if your mind has or has at least begun to?

hi B! Welcome to the forum!

I'm sorry you're having some anxiety and wacky health issues. I don't have any specific advice on those issues, but I just want to say I think you're doing a great job getting things checked out by the doctor.

One suggestion I did have would be to consider talking to a counselor. They can help you with coping skills and positive self talk to cope with this stressful time. Just something to consider.

In the mean time, I wish you much peace waiting for the test results! Give yourself an extra dessert a few times this week! :D