Hi C-Doll,
I'm always so late to join in.
I could talk for hours about anxiety. I won't though! I have an (diagnosed) anxiety disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and what a monkey wrench that can throw into getting sick, or being sick. "I know it's a brain tumor!" (lol). I found that if a person has an anxiety disorder, he or she is not exempt from the other types - sort of like Crohn's. I have OCD, but I will get panic attacks, or generalized anxiety, and some times episodes that are similar to PTSD.
What works for me like a charm is a supplement called 5-HTP which is a synthesized amino acid (protein) building block that acts a lot like an SSRI anti-depressant. I came across it searching for relief of my migraines. Didn't work for the migraines, but it miraculously helped with OCD episodes, and it helps with anxiety, too. You can order the stuff online from Vitamin World (probably in Canada - but in Euro I heard you need a script). The supplement is low on side-effects and not nearly as hazardous or habit-forming as benzodiazepam (valium, clonapin, Xanax). But there is a possiblility of nausea or bowel symptoms - at least that's what's been noted in research. It never effected me in that way, and I've been taking it for about 4 years. Note that I did stop it during this flare to see if it had any bowel side-effects - and there has been no changes since stopping (other than a slightly higher level of irritability - that is MENTAL irritability)
I tend to get anxious over bad news. My flare gets worse when my girlfriend is hurting or upset. So I've experienced heighted symptoms when I worry or get upset from anxiety. That's just how it is when you have an anxiety disorder - I can't help it. It's hard for "normal" people to accept that I don't have this conscious "light switch" that I can flip on or off that controls anxiety. "Stop worrying so much" - well sure OK, I'll stop, but maybe somebody can go shout up there at whatever of the 40 brain receptors is responsible for this, and maybe "he'll" listen too! It's like shouting at a diabetic kidney - "Hey you! Better get working more efficeintly - you'll feel much better."
OK aside from the 5-HTP, the other methods suggested above like music and meditation are helpful. I lean towards "mathematic solutions" - for some reason my mind can accept an equasion quicker than it can sane reasoning. So for anxiety, there is some "math" that I use. It's like a "substitution" thing, and I can actually "change my mind" from worry or anxiety to their distant positive "cousin": excitement.
The math goes this way. When opportunity "knocks" or becomes available, I want to be (mentally) available to grab it. I can't be available if I'm "drunk" or "high", so I take away (minus) chemical forms of "recreational therapy". I miss the opportunity if I'm buzzed out. Also there is a peculiar "property" of opportunity that I've found. The more CALM I can be, it's like opportunities of all different types become "visible". Opportunity seems to reveal itself more often or more clearly when I'm calm. So I do the math in my mind sort of backwards.
If I'm anxious, then I'm not calm. If I'm not calm, then there's a good chance I'm not going to see opportunity. I've begun to realize that in nearly every single circumstance, if not all circumstances, there is opportunity - opportunity to find or harvest a benefit, or opportunity to grow emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. I hate to say this, but I like getting benefits. I get a rush when something cool, unusual, or miraculous, or seemingly impossible happens. I get goose bumps, and I smile, or "the light goes on" in my head when I say "Aha!" and understand something that's been eluding me.
In other words, for me to become healthier, wealthier, and wiser, I have to be prepared to seek and find an opportunity somewhere within the parameters of my conscious living and breathing. The calmer I am, the more opportunities become visible to me. So my DESIRE becomes to always want to find and grab ahold of an opportunity because opportunity always has something good in it for me - a benefit - often a tangible benefit. That gets me excited. For someone like me, excitment works in my mind in almost the same way as anxiety does.
The trick for me is making the choice to be calm so that I can eventually become excited, instead of going for the immediate gratification of anxiety and then miss the opportunity which will give me a benefit.
Your meeting with your GI doctor has opportunity written all over it. I can see it from Cleveland! If you are calm, you WILL find probably more than one opportunity.
It also helps to "trick" your subconscious mind. If I say to myself "Stop worrying", that's negative reinforcement. The only thing my subconscious hears is "worry". So that's what happens - my mind takes there. That's how people with anxiety disorders are. So instead of thinking "you have nothing to worry about" I substitute a positive affirmation: "I'll gain if I stay calm." Then the only message my subconscious mind hears is "stay calm" and that's where my mind will take me. Two very different sides of the same coin, maybe?
I believe you can overcome your worries and anxieties, Doll. I say this often. If a bona-fide clinically anxious nut-job like me can overcome anxiety, then ANYONE can. Is it easy? Heck no. How? Doing things I don't want to do, and practicing doing things I don't want to do a whole lot of times. Eventually it gives my "intellect" more power than my "feelings" or "emotions".
I also heard it put this way.
"Don't worry. They're ONLY thoughts." (its the actions that matter)
