Recently, I've been having a lot of difficulty with agoraphobia. Specifically, I had a real bad panic attack at work on Monday, and since then, I've been struggling to go to work. I know better than to avoid it, so I force myself to go to work. So far, I've been able to do so, and as the week wears on, I'm finding it slightly easier each day to convince myself there's no danger here.
The problem is that one of my physical symptoms of anxiety is loss of appetite. I can't eat. I've barely had a decent meal all week. Not having enough calories is causing other problems, like weight loss, lightheadedness, etc... I just have such a hard time eating. I find it so stressful to take each bite, especially in the mornings.
Being faced with the task of eating a meal has caused panic attacks for me in the past. I'm wondering if anyone else has this problem. I've always heard that anxiety and depression causes people to seek comfort through excessive eating and they gain weight. I am the opposite. Unfortunately, I've struggled with low body weight all my life (I'm 6'2" and weigh 155 lbs), so eating enough is very important to me, because I don't want to get any skinnier.
