I first want to start by saying that I’m so glad I found this sub. It has helped me cope knowing that I’m not alone with my issues. 

I simply wanted to write this post to share my issues and see if anyone else has my same issue. I’m going to see a CBT psychologist in May and currently at 112.6 mg on Effexor. Upped by dose recently. It has worked wonders in the past. 

My issue is that I experience anxiety before eating. It consumes my thoughts all day until my last meal at dinner. It all started when I was young and was a hypochondriac. I got sick and lost my appetite from it. That loss of appetite ended up giving me a lot of anxiety to the point where I was repulsed by food and couldn’t eat. And of course because anxiety causes loss of appetite, it was one vicious cycle. I will very ill for a long time from this. It was a traumatic time in my childhood but I eventually got over it.

Every now and then when I go through huge changes in my adult life, this food-related anxiety is triggered. I am no where near as bad as when I was young and I do eat, however it becomes an obsession. It’s all I think about; whether or not I will be able to finish a meal without being sick to my stomach. It is the first thing I think about in the morning until I finish my last meal at night and can finally relax and go to bed. It’s unfortunate because I love foood! But when I get stuck in this state, I no longer enjoy it. I simply see it as just survival. 

I feel like I have a whole gambit of issues from PTSD, OCD, and anxiety disorder. It is terrible and I’m tired of living like this. I thought I would have outgrown this issue by now. 

Anyone else experience this and if so, what has helped you cope?