question about anxiety?

ok...i know several people here have quite a bit of experience with anxiety so here goes....
while i have always been easily stressed and get anxious when put in stressful situations, i've never been diagnosed with any kind of mental disorder, nor have i needed to take what i like to call "head meds" aka, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety meds, etc.
anywho, something is going on with me lately and i don't get it at all so i thought i'd throw it out there and see if anyone has any words of wisdom for me.
so when i was working on my ALS project, i had MAJOR bouts of anxiety, to where i probably should have taken something because i was a total basketcase. my doc suggested i take paxil for 2 months only but i didn't think it would do any good...sometimes it takes that long for it to kick in and what's the point of then getting off of it but she did not think i should take it for more than 2 months.
being anxious under those circumstances--being around people who are dying of a horrible terminal illness for which there is no treatment, no cure, and no known cause--makes sense, that would make many people anxious, i think, so i was not alarmed.
but lately, i have been feeling "odd" for lack of a better term. ok, tmi warning--my stomach is very upset and i'm finding myself spending an awful lot of time lately with the porcelain god and it's getting to where i'm afraid to go out and about hence i should need it, kwim? here's the thing--i'm a bit worried about the possibility of Crohn's Disease, to which Jewish people are particularly prone, or so i've read...i've gone to a number of charity functions for Crohn's/Colitis and found that EVERY speaker (who had the disease) was Jewish and googled the symptoms/risks and every website says that Jews are especially prone. this disease is not deadly but it's no fun and i surely don't want it.
here's the thing--the main symptoms are diahrrea and stomach pain in the form of cramps...my stomach feels like it's in knots...i DO feel anxious but idk why. you all know i just went thru a major cancer scare with my cat but she is fine now, thank God. last week, i *thought* this anxious feeling was because of all that was going on with her but now that's over and i assumed this would all go away but it hasn't.
can anxiety happen for no reason at all? everything in my life is going well right now and i do mean everything, there is no reason at all for me to be stressed or anxious. my friends think it's just anxiety and that i just haven't gotten over it as fast as it really is over (if that makes sense) but i'm not convinced.
the other thing is that i was in really bad rollerblading accident last week where my whole body was really jarred and i'm wondering if that shook up my digestive system enough to cause this degree of lingering upset? my body still hurts from the accident but idk if the stomach issues are related.
here's the thing--the pain in my stomach is making me feel anxious, in other words, it totally feels like anxiety...it's that butterflies in the stomach kind of pain and it has me all weirded out and every little thing that happens kind of makes me edgy and jumpy. i'm also feeling mildly nauseated all the time and i am so not a puker. is it possible that it's just lingering anxiety over all that just took place? also, my appetite has changed--last night i had sushi which i normally love but could barely stomach it for some reason. food in general does not appeal to me so much these days and yes, for that reason i am losing weight which is a small bonus but not if i have to go around feeling like this in my stomach.
this morning, i woke up particularly messed up in the stomach so i took some pepto-bismol that i found (that was expired four years ago ) and had sex (sorry tmi) and then i felt better temporarily so idk which of the two did the trick, or if it was a combo of the two. but now i'm feeling yucky again...and it's not so much diahrrea today, it's more of a knotty, nervous, icky feeling in the stomach, almost like indigestion, like i ate something i shouldn't have but this has literally gone on for days, close to a week i think.
anyone with experience/knowledge of anxiety or digestive probs have any opinions on what this could be?
thanks, sorry for the long explanation....

yup, thats what I have been going through for the last 2-3 months. My stomach is the cause ad the effect of my anxiety, meaning that any stomachache, neausea, diarrhea, extra BM;s cause me to be anxious (because I am really afraid of stomach viruses) and then the anxiety causes my stomach to feel like butterflies and upset. I constantly felt like it was the first day of school ....you know that nervous stomach ache.

anyway, I take anxiety meds and I see a therapist.

I get that way too, I call it nervous gut. I get knots, and butterflies, and loose my appetite, then I get the "runs" .
I got the # of a therapist from my Dr, but I have decided to try journaling first. I do think it has gotten better since I started DTD more. (sorry, TMI)

That witch Dr I was seeing was telling me that its due to all the toxins that are in the food I was eating, and the way my body reacts to them, causing my adrenal glands to be over/under reactive. (I don't remember which) There might be something to that. I don't know. I figure that if it is interfering with your normal daily life then it is time to do something about it.

oh, Tara, you ain't kidding, the sex helped a lot but it was only temporary relief, for about 2 hours and i'd love to have sex every 2 hours from here on out but it's not very practical or realistic, lol.
tbh, i'm thinking it may just be gastroenteritis because i just don't see how stress/anxiety could cause this much pain/discomfort/attachment to the toilet, etc. but i am still a bit worried about Crohn's disease.
anywho, for those of you who are handling anxiety, just wondering what works best because even if this isn't anxiety, i'm curious for the future as i do tend to get anxious when something is bothering me and would love to find a good way to handle it so that i'm not a witch (with a b ) on wheels when it happens next.

oh, Tara, you ain't kidding, the sex helped a lot but it was only temporary relief, for about 2 hours and i'd love to have sex every 2 hours from here on out but it's not very practical or realistic, lol.
tbh, i'm thinking it may just be gastroenteritis because i just don't see how stress/anxiety could cause this much pain/discomfort/attachment to the toilet, etc. but i am still a bit worried about Crohn's disease.
anywho, for those of you who are handling anxiety, just wondering what works best because even if this isn't anxiety, i'm curious for the future as i do tend to get anxious when something is bothering me and would love to find a good way to handle it so that i'm not a witch (with a b ) on wheels when it happens next.

Stress/Anxiety can do really crazy things to your body. WORRYING that you may have something like Crohns maybe enough to make your body mimic the symptoms. (Not saying that you shouldn't see a doctor to make sure) But my point is that you're worrying about something being PHYSICALLY wrong not mentally, that worry coupled w/just the added stress of your kitty could be enough to propetuate (sp??) the cycle. KWIM?

Make an appointment. All it can do is ease your mind about the Crohn's one way or another, or get you back on track from a bout of anxiety. BTW, that's totally physical too, so I wouldn't just rule that out...

People experience different degrees of stress, for me, it IS enough to keep me glued to the toilet, with cramping and all that. I know its stress tho, because it always happen after I get one of my "twinges" where I get a Jolt of adrenaline, and stomach butterflies. It doesn't have to be over anything major either. 99% of my stress is over stupid stuff. Like one night I freaked out because of global warming, and that Alexis would be the last living generation on the planet, and that she wouldn't be able to have children... it went on and snowballed. I was near tears and in the bathroom all evening. My brain knew that I was being ridiculous, but my body was reacting anyway.

its possible that you may have other health issues too, It probably wouldn't hurt to get a check up. Why are you co scared about crohns? does it run in your family or something? Maybe you could try changing your diet a little and see if that helps?

no, Crohn's doesn't run in my family at all, in fact, i asked my mom last night and she said no one has had it, going back all the generations she can think of. it's just awful and it starts like this too, with gi problems and i am a bit of a hypochondriac i think so it just snowballs from there.
my doc has been out for 2 weeks so she is slammed today and can't fit me in but they will probably call in a prescription for something to make this go away...if it doesn't work or this keeps coming back, then i'll really have reason to worry about Crohn's.
i should work on getting the stress under control but at this moment, nothing is really bothering me. my major stressor is over...but i wonder if the body goes into aftershock...?

Crohn's normally exhibits earlier in life (though not always). Stress can and will cause all of your symptoms and you've been under some stress lately. Anxiety is the body's natural reaction to stress. Everyone suffers from anxiety on some level. Most people are able to control anxiety with logical thought and action, but not all people can do this, and in some cases the trying only builds more anxiety, thereby making each next step all the more anxious and terrifying to take. This isn't simply a mind over matter thing. There are organic chemical changes that take place in the brain that determine one's ability to handle (or not) stress. I think you definitely need to see a physician and follow through with both the physical and mental possible causes of your discomfort.

BTW- I forgot to add, since my stomach causes me so much anxiety I went to see a GI doc. My therapist told me to go just to get checked out so we can see if we were dealing with anxiety induced stomach aches or not. the doc did tons of tests and I haven't gotten the results but he does thing I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Maybe that is something that you may have too?

well, i called the doc today and she thinks it's gastroenteritis, so she put me on cipro, which is the same drug they give for people with anthrax! anyway, she said that if it doesn't go away in a couple days then it's time to consider what else it may be.
i usually am not up for experimentation with various prescription drugs but at this point i'll take any snake oil to make this pain/discomfort go away!
that's interesting how your anxiety works though, if you don't mind my asking, have the meds helped? i mean, of course they should help some but i mean do you see a major difference in the way you feel now that you're on them?
because if this IS anxiety related, i may just change my mind about my aversion to taking anxiety/depression/emotional disorder drugs.
thanks for your input, btw, it's nice to know i'm not the only one who feels like this.

We all have had this in the last 2 months...Will, myself and my DH. And it was almost exactly like what you're describing. It lasted us each about a week, week and half.
Hope you get to feeling better soon!!

well, i called the doc today and she thinks it's gastroenteritis, so she put me on cipro, which is the same drug they give for people with anthrax! anyway, she said that if it doesn't go away in a couple days then it's time to consider what else it may be.
i usually am not up for experimentation with various prescription drugs but at this point i'll take any snake oil to make this pain/discomfort go away!
that's interesting how your anxiety works though, if you don't mind my asking, have the meds helped? i mean, of course they should help some but i mean do you see a major difference in the way you feel now that you're on them?
because if this IS anxiety related, i may just change my mind about my aversion to taking anxiety/depression/emotional disorder drugs.
thanks for your input, btw, it's nice to know i'm not the only one who feels like this.

yes, the meds have helped. I take prozac, klonopin, and remeron. My psychiatrist said that the Remeron will help the GI symptoms of my anxiety. I take the Remeron before bed because it makes me soooo tired. I take the klonopin 3 times a day for now and when I go back to see the doc, he may decrease that.

I have seen a difference in my anxiety level since I started meds. It has helped a lot.