A couple of years back I got diagnosed with a few health issues over the course of a few months. The biggest ones are anxiety &amp; GERD/IBS. I learned quickly digestive issues go hand in hand with anxiety, which is awful when your anxiety is really health oriented.  


For almost a full year, I had trouble eating food because I was terrified I would choke on it. Whenever I ate, it felt like my throat was the size of a pen cap and nothing would go down. Which, was terrible for GERD, because the less I ate, the worse it got and I'd start getting your normal heart-burn chest pains. I'd find myself eating plain pasta, rice or eggs in my room away from people because I was terrified of choking in front of someone (I know it doesn't make sense choking would be safer around others).  


I was put on some medications for GERD, anxiety &amp; adhd to try to get things under control. After nearly a year I was able to eat around people at home and not long after I was going to restaurants and almost back to my normal self. There were still times where I'd be anxious or something would go down the wrong pipe and I'd get a little bad, maybe lose my appetite and want to leave wherever I was at, but was mostly in control for 2 years.   


Recently though, I've had some major life events, losing people I care about and some of who would help me through these things. I have a weekend long trip with friends for the holiday and I've been very worked up and anxious about it. I find myself falling back into the trap of googling nearby hospitals in case I choke then being worried that its 40 minutes away. Being terrified to eat because my throat feels like a pen cap again and working myself up all for nothing.  


I'm seeing someone for my anxiety and working on combating these thoughts with exercises to challenge them which is a start, but seems to only last a couple minutes before I'm out of control worrying again. I'm just curious if anyone has similar experiences or worries and what exercises, distractions or anything else they use to challenge, overcome or minimize the issues.