u/D00meister

It was my first time having any, and I had about ~16 ounces of Lifeway brand kefir (yes, I know I am stupid). I had some yesterday, and a tiny glass today (maybe 4 ounces), when I immediately started to feel not so great. I'm feeling pretty nauseous, slightly feverish, and just general GI upset. My boyfriend, who is Polish (they eat fermented stuff all the time), reassured me that I shouldn't have any reaction, but he failed to understand how weak my stomach is. I have my first day of classes tomorrow!

Also to add, I have some issues with anxiety and emetophobia, so my brain often makes my symptoms worse than they actually are. I am also recovering from a slight cold at the moment, so some of what I am feeling may be caused by that.

What can I do to help myself manage this? How long should this last? I'm staying as hydrated as I can, right now.

Hello, I am not diagnosed with any anxiety disorders, but I strongly believe I struggle with some form of anxiety. Apologies if my post does not fit here, I do not mean to intrude.

I have always had a bit of anxiety when going to unfamiliar places, particularly if I am going with other people. It is the worst in restaurants or when I am going out to eat. I have a hard time swallowing if I am nervous, which makes me feel like I will choke. Sometimes I can manage it, and I will have a good time, but I often used to hide in the bathroom to calm down, sometimes for extended periods of time that made my family worried.

I got better about going out for a while; I would still feel mild discomfort, but not more than I think the average person feels going out. Part of the improvement was that I finally got glasses and could see my surroundings properly!

Most of my feelings center around gastrointestinal symptoms. If I am forcing myself to eat in a restaurant, I make myself feel queasy. I cause myself nausea that makes it difficult to actually enjoy the experience; for a long time, I would put a lot of energy into seeming normal rather than spending time with my family. I have emetophobia, and while it is not severe, I think about how my stomach feels and the foods I am eating nearly constantly. Simply feeling full from food can make me nervous, so I often prefer to not eat if I am out. Being too warm makes me feel nervous, so I have an even harder time going out in the summer.

I can sometimes cause myself to have mild gastrointestinal issues because of my nervousness, which only causes my feelings to be intense. If I am out of my house (or sometimes even at home, though rarely), I can conflate normal bodily feelings with my nervousness.

I was improving and able to go out without getting nervous, but then someone vomited in front of me at my workplace. I ended up being scared when I went to work for maybe a week or two after, and it eventually culminated in me convincing myself I was going to vomit in the middle of a busy dinner rush (am waitress). I think I had tunnel vision, and I had to go home. Ever since I saw my coworker get sick, I feel things have been worse. It is no longer nearly as acute as it was in that instance, but I am more fixated on emetophobia than I was before.

My emetophobia makes it so that I am constantly analyzing my food and surroundings (if I am out). If people look "dirty" then I am scared they will give me a stomach bug or if I eat anything they make I will get food poisoning (which is crazy judgmental, and I don't like it). I never ate ranch for years out of a combination of fear of food poisoning and assumption that I did not like it. I finally tried it again, and I really like it, but after eating it like crazy for a few weeks, I am again too scared to eat it. When I eat something that I think may have gone bad, I sometimes fixate on it and get quite scared, even when I know logically that it most likely was fine. I feel like if I don't get upset over it, the bad things that I am expecting will actually happen. Sometimes I will research stories of other people having food poisoning from the particular item of food I am eating.

I feel that my actual nervousness is not that bad, but the behavior I am showing worries me a bit. When I get into those nauseous episodes, I can talk myself through them better than I could in the past, I think. I feel a bit numbed out and fuzzy lately, so it does not feel as "sharp" as it sometimes does. For the past week or so, I have had very little appetite, and I think it is from the constant scrutiny of food and constantly making myself feel nauseous. I have been losing weight because I no longer feel properly hungry. I am also not leaving the house very much; I can manage my anxiety when I am out, but I almost never want to go out. I do not want it to escalate until I can't go out.

Feel free to tell me to fuck off if what I am describing isn't anxiety, or if I am making a big deal of nothing, or if I was insensitive. I mean no harm. If any of you have dealt with these issues surrounding food or stomach bugs and have any advice, let me know. I don't have access to psychology in any form, but maybe someday I will; if you think an assessment would help me, let me know. I don't think that this is necessarily as big of a deal as I'm making it seem, but I am a bit worried.