Dear Dee:

Welcome back. You shared that a week ago you experienced “some very intense abdominal pain”. You took some over the counter pain medications that didn’t alleviate the pain much; you endured the pain, “being a trooper.. a tough gal”, until you had a day off work.

On your day off you went to urgent care. There it was suggested to you to go to the emergency room. In the E.R., you were given morphine for your pain, your vitals were taken, as well as blood and urine samples, and you had an ultrasound and a CT scan. Nothing was found to explain your intense abdominal pain, and more was added to your$7,000 medical debt. A week after the E.R. visit, you are still hurting. You’ve been reading online about what may be wrong with your body, and you are thinking that there may be something wrong with your reproductive system, or something along an autoimmune disorder.

My input today: the fact that nothing wrong was found after blood and urine samples, the ultrasound and the CT were analyzed is very encouraging, in my mind; it would have comforted me, if I was in your shoes because that means that you are not suffering from infection, inflammation, abnormal growths (tumors) and/ or obstructions. Yet I hope you do make an appointment with your primary doctor, like you are planning to do.

The mayo clinic website, mclinic. com/ anxiety/ symptoms/ abdominal pain reads: “if you’ve seen a doctor and there does not appear to be a medical cause, you may want to speak with a specialist and consider that your anxiety could be to blame… The gut and abdomen are highly affected by stress and anxiety.. Some possible reasons for abdominal pain from anxiety include: * Muscle Tension.. Muscle tension can cause a great deal of physical pain, cramping, and other discomfort..* Adjustments.. because of that muscle tension (or because of the way that you sit/ stand when you have anxiety), it’s not uncommon for those with anxiety to adjust their posture in a way that in unnatural. Over time, that posture change can cause the muscles in your trunk to cramp up or experience pain, * Bloating and Stomach Pains.. Anxiousness has a tendency to affect digestion.. This can lead to gas, bloating, indigestion.. ”

If you spend a lot of time sitting, I suggest that once in a while shift your focus to your body, check your posture, and if you notice that it is unusual, or not natural- correct it. Also, you can practice the Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) technique, moving your attention to your forehead, tensing and relaxing your forehead muscles, then go down to your jaw, do the same, then your arms and hands etc., all the way to your feet. Check out very well mind. com/ how to practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation, for step to step instructions.

Having read your previous threads, you shared that as a kid, you were “about the easiest kid ever to have”, not wanting your parents to worry about you, not wanting to “inconvenience anyone else”, so you pretended to be a “no bad days, always smile on face” kind of girl. Late last year, you endured being with a boyfriend you really didn’t want to be with simply because you were afraid of confronting him and ending the relationship, hoping that he will somehow notice that you were miserable and end the relationship for you: “I just want out.. I am terrified of the confrontation….I want him to end this.. I’m ready to end it once again and don’t want to wait for him to confront me first.. I want to do the right thing and end this for good so badly”.

To be afraid to take care of yourself in fear of inconveniencing others causes anxiety, lots of anxiety. I wonder if you are currently in the relationship you shared about late last year (?)

anita