You are walking down the street like any other day, immersed in your worries, intrusive thoughts and bodily discomfort. Suddenly, you begin to feel discomfort in your body and persistent nausea that, no matter how hard you try, does not go away. By not being able to find a solution that gives you some calm in the face of high levels of stress, desperation begins to increase. Although this is a fictitious situation, many people have experienced one of these episodes in their lives when anxiety has overwhelmed them. In these cases, anxiety seems like something uncontrollable that prevents you from carrying out activities that you had planned. However, there are some treatments that can reduce symptoms considerably.
In this Psychology-Online article, we will provide you with information about what nausea due to anxiety is like and how to relieve it.
What is nausea due to anxiety like?
Nausea due to anxiety corresponds to the feeling of vomiting as a result of situations that produce high levels of stress due to everyday discomforts. For this reason, these physical manifestations occur at specific moments of greater intensity, alternating with periods of temporary relief.
More specifically, its origin must be found in thoughts, behaviors and emotions that are unpleasant for the person who lives with this problem. Some of the main symptoms of nausea due to anxiety are:
- Shortness of breath.
- Respiratory difficulty.
- Abdominal pain.
- Chest discomfort.
- Excessive sweating.
- Body tremors.
- Muscle tension.
- Palpitations.
Likewise, these symptoms appear in specific moments of anxiety or as a consequence of fear of uncertainty and the future. In the following article you will find more information about the .
Diagnostic criteria for anxiety nausea
In the presence of any of these symptoms that cause considerable severity, it is advisable see a mental health professional so that the person is evaluated and appropriate treatment is established according to their needs.
In order to diagnose anxiety nausea, the following conditions must be met:
- Presence of at least five or more symptoms for a period of 30 minutes or more.
- The causes are linked to stressful situations and not to organic factors.
- Disappearance of symptoms when anxiety situations subside.
- The symptoms cannot be explained by the presence of any other mental disorder and/or the ingestion of toxic or medicinal substances.
How to relieve nausea due to anxiety
Despite the negative consequences caused by nausea due to anxiety, there are some ways to alleviate this problem and improve the person’s quality of life. We explain them to you below:
- Identify anxiety situations: Recognizing the triggering factors is a great help to combat this condition. First of all, taking into account what causes nausea due to anxiety will allow you to adopt other alternatives to avoid negative consequences. On the other hand, it will give you the possibility of evaluating whether it is necessary to face these situations or, on the contrary, avoid them.
- Improve eating habits: Eating a balanced and healthy diet will reduce stress levels that impact the digestive system. When the central nervous system relaxes, anxiety nausea may subside.
- Psychological therapy: If the symptoms cause serious difficulties in coping with everyday life situations, it is advisable to start psychological treatment. Psychological therapy will provide you with personalized tools to face moments of anxiety in a more pleasant way.
- Practice meditation: This methodology consists of inhaling and exhaling air from the person’s conscious and full breathing, which will generate both physical and mental relaxation. After doing this exercise for a while, it will be possible to put aside those negative thoughts that cause nausea due to anxiety. Here you will find some.
How to prevent nausea due to anxiety
To detect the indicators of anxiety nausea, you need to know how to anticipate it. For this same purpose, below we explain some ways to prevent nausea due to anxiety:
- Write your concerns: One way to relieve anxiety lies in putting into words those thoughts that cause anxiety. This way you can avoid nausea caused by this condition and better manage this problem. To achieve this, write down the thoughts that make you uncomfortable on a piece of paper or on your cell phone and try to find solutions to them.
- Take relaxing infusions: There are various medicinal herbs that relax the central nervous system and can help prevent nausea due to anxiety. Among the best known are chamomile, valerian, lavender or passionflower tea, among others.
- Deep breathing: practice sustained inhalation and exhalation of air in a relaxed environment. After a few minutes doing the anxiety symptoms will decrease.
This article is merely informative, at Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
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Bibliography
- Martínez Mallen, M., López Garza, DN (2011). Anxiety disorders. Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry Magazine, 44 (5), 101-107.
- Rodríguez-Velázquez, AL, Martínez-Basurto AE, Lozano-Arrazola, A., Alvarado-Aguilar, S. (2010). Anticipatory nausea, vomiting and anxiety, a behavioral explanation. GAMO Magazine, 9 (1), 25-29.