Caused by stress?

[dandelion99]

Hi, I'm eighteen years old and just finished my first semester of college. I worked a lot this summer in a very high-stress environment, and my school is also very demanding. I've been in almost perfect health until last summer when I fainted after slamming my finger in a cash register, and vomiting the next day (it had been about eight years since I last got sick). Since then I've had several cases of nausea, especially after I moved to my new school, which is in a place approx. 7000 ft in elevation (I lived in sea level all my life.) I was always tired and nauseous my first week of school but I assumed that was caused by altitude sickness. I was fine for a while, but in November or so I had my first recent episode of extreme nausea and took some marijuana to settle my stomach. The next week I had on-and-off episodes of nausea and panic attacks, caused by a pregnancy scare. After recovering, I was fine for a while but soon after I had another couple of days when the nausea hit again, and again I took marijuana. The third chunk of episodes was during my period in mid-December, and while I had never experienced severe menstration effects, I was so tired and 'out of it' that I skipped two days of class. I recovered after a while, and several days after I came home, I had another hit of nausea, which happened again a few days later. Now I am menstrating again and still have the same symptomes: nausea, chills, fatigue, shivering. Due to my family's financial situation I haven't been to the doctor in more than eight years. I also have an irrational fear of vomiting, and try to prevent it as much as I can, relying on remedies (such as marijuana). I am not a regular smoker. During these episodes, I feel almost as if I am high, feeling very light-headed and disoriented.

I was told that this might be caused by stress, and definately not aided by my paranoia, but I'm not quite convinced. Has anyone experineced anything similar? Does anyone know what it is or what it was caused by, and what I can do to cure this? Thanks.

[KatEyes]

Most communities have clinics where medical care is based on income. While it is likely your symptoms could be from anxiety, if you were my daughter I'd want the doctor to rule out any other possible causes like low blood sugar or anemia, or even some digestive system problem. In the meantime, do those things you can to be good to yourself. Exercise is a great stress reliever. Adequate sleep and proper nutrition help too.

[atticus565]

It sounds like stress /anxiety to me, dandelion. I've also noticed that over the past year and a half, I've developed this horrific fear of vomiting. Then, this past April, I had a panic attack that caused the room to spin and I became extremely nauseous. Since then, I've felt spaced out and lightheaded, like sometimes, I'm not really there, like I'm seeing the whole world through a scrim or screen. It gets really bad sometimes, to the point where I feel like I'm going to black out or go into a seizure.
            You mentioned that your family has financial limitations which doesn't permit you regular medical care. But I strongly advise you to get a checkup just to eliminate any other possibilities. I had every test in the book done before I figured out that I was suffering from anxiety symptoms. If it's possible, at least have some bloodwork done and check with the doctor. Once you've been given a clean bill of health, consider therapy. And if that's not an option, just make sure to stay healthy. Keep the pot-smoking to a minimum. For myself, I know that whenever I smoke pot these days, it brings on panic attacks like yourself. If you don't already, exercise regularly, eat as healthy as you can, and get plenty of sleep. I find that staying busy helps me a lot. Nurture whatever hobbies you have and keep talking on these forums. If you do decide to treat these symptoms as anxiety, consider posting in the anxiety forum on this website. You'll be amazed by how many people you find who have the same symptoms as you do. Good luck.