Weird food-related panic. Does anyone else experience this?
I’m 43. For a couple of years or so, something weird started happening to me. I’ve had anxiety for years (I’ve been on therapy multiple times and I’m on sertraline) but very often, if I go out to dinner, I quickly begin to panic that I’m going to be sick.
What happens is I will eat a little, then as my stomach fills up, I start convincing myself that I will be sick or throw up. So I have to stop eating - but even then, I still feel uneasy.
In a couple of occasions I actually had to go to the bathroom because I felt I was going to be sick. Usually, when I go to the bathroom and I put some cold water on my face, I feel better, also because I am reassured that should I feel nauseous I am near a toilet / not on sight.
These episodes feel like panic attacks, and I don’t know how to make myself not spiral in this way.
Fyi - I have never had an eating disorder (beyond body anxiety typical of a woman who grew up in the90s /2000s)
Has anyone ever experienced anything similar? Do you have any advice for me?