Why does anxiety make me want to throw up?

Ah, the delightful experience of feeling like you’re about to puke your guts out every time you have an anxiety attack. It’s as if your stomach is having a volcanic eruption that has no end in sight. So, why does this happen? Buckle up (and grab a barf bag just in case), because we’re about to dive deep into the world of anxiety and our digestive system.

The connection between anxiety and our gut

Did you know that our gastrointestinal tract is often referred to as the “second brain”? That’s right; it turns out that there’s a direct line of communication between our nervous system and GI tract (mind blown). This phenomenon is known as the enteric nervous system, which contains more than 100 million nerve cells.

When we get hit with intense feelings of stress or fear, it triggers our “fight or flight” response, causing adrenaline levels to rise significantly (cue pounding heart and sweaty palms). In turn, this increased level of stress hormones interferes with how food moves through our digestive track leading towards some not-so-pleasant symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, bloating (Excuse me while I run for the bathroom) and sometimes vomiting.

How Your Body Reacts During Anxiety Attack

The sympathetic nervous system takes control when your body senses danger during stressful situations like presentations or even when someone cuts across lanes ahead of us on busy highways without warning lights. As humans evolved over millions of years with natural instincts tuned towards survival mechanisms against predators available in wild nature like saber-toothed tigers (- at least nowadays) etc., keeping under near constant high alertness was automatic behavior for them so their bodies will react accordingly – releasing hormones like adrenaline and cortisol into circulation system putting everything else on hold from digestion [Time-out: Digestion not happening here folks! Keep running until senses detect otherwise!]

Fight or Flight Response and its impact on digestion

Now let us talk about the downside of our adaptive mechanism. The fight-or-flight response (our very own superhero) allows our body to either prepare to face an imminent threat (fight) or evade it (flight). This reaction results in a shift of blood flow from digestive system, increasing muscles’ and other organs like heart rate etc. capacity while inhibiting non-essential systems like digestion.

As a result, your stomach will stop breaking down food as efficiently as it would normally do during an anxiety attack, making you feel nauseous and eventually leading to vomiting if these feelings of distress continue for hours prolonging into days [you read that right folks..days! Yikes…sign me up said no one ever]

Hormonal Component – Cortisol makes matters worse!

During stressful times cortisol levels can skyrocket causing inflammation in gut regions which cause abdominal pain / bloating sensations just common symptoms seen here after bouts with stress adversity unfortunately.

Cortisol is responsible for suppressing immune function especially when we’re stress state / exhausted therefore prolonged daily exposure creates wear & tear affecting overall health by wreaking havoc under skin layers through leveraging chemical pathogenic processes cascading throughout entire organism experiencing damage galore!!

When does Anxiety related nausea require Medical Attention?

In most instances, anxiety-related vomiting isn’t something they wouldn’t land you straight into emergency care but persistent instances may have more underlying problems than simple emotions since plenty other reasons might be acting in tandem or behind scenes.

If episodes last 4-6 weeks then fecal analysis must occur pinpointing biological/chemical imbalances along intestinal tracks fully identifying origin/scope any possible further complications warrant exploring treatment options available [ Pro Tip: rather safe than sorry folks pay attention at earlier stages so save time/spare future inconveniences] ]

Besides those pesky microbes that bring misery into our lives, it’s always worth considering current dietary regimen including how often you eat or what types of food consumed daily, specifically if might be too high in sugar-laden craft bullcrap laden with low-quality fillers most of fast-food chains just throwing away heart attack waiting on canvas.

Aside from giving your gastrointestinal tract a run for its money and potentially contributing to anxiety-related nausea– given an adrenal gland overstimulated that causes inflammation are best avoided altogether.

Conclusion

Anxiety is not a fun ride for anyone (and I mean nobody). It can bring some pretty nasty physical symptoms like making us feel ill and queasy leading towards unpleasant vomiting sessions [Easy there tiger!] owing to the decreased efficiency in digestion caused by fight or flight response blocking regular blood flow causing digestive blockage skids off road all along!

Next time your stomach starts feeling (like some superstar wrestler ready to fly outta ring) understand why calming feels almost god-given fixing agonies plaguing guts into turning systems back their water slides aka restoring digestion track quickly resolving those household/family/office issues like rock stars using newfound energy pepped right up willing rejuvenate tasks/solve complex problems without temptation take short naps during meetings…oh wait (still saving excuse come up with plausible reason—having “corporate” nightmares)

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