my stomach: -likes to wake me up in the middle of the night whenever I eat a weird amount of food with a stomachache -doesn't do anything but just ache for a while -works with my brain to make irrational vomiting-phobia -works with brain to not let me go back to sleep even when i know i'll be fine because FEAR and wHAT IF BECOME WORSE? -forces me to do nonsense slowly-drink-water ritual to convince both stomach and brain that it's okay to stop hurting -sometimes continues to hurt through sheer brainpower, nothing actually wrong with stomach I don't know if I really need advice, I'm just tired and it's 6 am and I've gotten three hours of sleep and I'm probably going to be up another 30-45 minutes because I have a brain that likes to continue to hallucinate stomachaches after the problem should be gone. so like. help, i have an average to weak digestive system and an intense fear of throwing up. what do. how make stop.
the worst is when it actually hurts and i actually alkjfaldkjasflkkk feel naseous like rn i haaaate it it's like the worst panic ugh ugh ugh whyyy i wanna stop feeling this
is it heartburn (dull, not stab-sharp, but think sunburn, and kind of irradiating widely) or some other kind of pain? because chronic heartburn is a thing, exacerbated by things like sugar, chocolate and acidic stuff and tomatoes and also things like stress, thouhg it also happens because fuck the police sometimes, but it's also a thing that's easily manageable with pills. is it worse when you lie down? (it is for heartburn because the stomach acid has an easier time seeping back out of the stomach. if it's cramps, it wouldn't change much, i think.) if it is hearburn, try to lie on your left side, so the stomach opening is turned toward the ceiling (it's a sideways shape) so the acid can't escape as much. it works better to prevent an eruption than once it's in full swing already; if you're in the middle of an attack you should try to sleep reclining in a seat or against pillows so you're not flat on your back. if it's not heartburn i don't have a clue though. sorry.
Is it specifically a "stomach" pain or is it more intestinal? If it is heartburn/acid reflux/horrible intestinal cramps from hell you might also try (In addition to what reiyal suggested) try eating dinner earlier and/or in smaller portions so you have time to digest. I had something similar, and I ended up cutting back on how much I ate, it wasn't a "cure" per se but it seemed to help a little?
This time was probably a combination of stomach/intestinal yuckiness, plus cramps because period. I hadn't thought of heartburn? It's generally a middle to lower stomach ache/nausea feeling. Also my mouth gets really dry, though I thiiink that's a fear response. Last night we had a christmas party so I was eating various appetizers and cookies throughout the evening, and a few last cookies not long before bed, and I could pretty much feel that I was gonna wake up nauseous when I went to bed. I also have been known to hallucinate stomach pain. Like, if I think about stomach pain, I'll get some, and if I think about it too much, I'll get a fear response because intense fear/maybe actual phobia of vomiting, and that fear response makes my stomach more upset, and I generally need to sit in the bathroom and distract myself with the computer and/or slowly drink water for 30-90 minutes to make it go away. That's generally my method for any stomach pain, because the focus is not making the pain go all the way away, it's making my brain accept that this couldn't lead to vomiting.
huh, i see. yeah, likely not heartburn, the feel of it is pretty recognizable and usually it's felt in the point right under the ribs. it sucks that your stomach responds to your moods that fast :( i mean if this were a 100% physical problem pills might fix it, but "yeah so try to be less anxious" is kinda useless as treatment goes.
i'm not a certified herbalist but chamomile tea before bed helps you sleep plus calms down upset stomachs otherwise fennel tea is good against stomach and intestinal pains. source: tons of books on the topic + my own childhood
yeah, chamomile's a good help to me usually, I should try and keep a better stock of it in reach for the strange nerve times =.= it becomes a problem in waves, I had a bunch of stomach trouble in 8th grade, and again this last summer. Not as bad right now, thankfully.
maybe it could help to do it as a bed time ritual? sort of preventive and could make your brain think 'we did a thing that makes vomiting unlikely all is well we can sleep'?
hmm, maybe o3o i dont have the wake-up-with-stomach-bleh problem tooooo often, tbh, tho i am worried about tonight, cause my body can get in a habit with it (I woke up at normal time, but with a stomachache that stayed for an hour, every morning for two or three weeks this last summer). So I'll try that for tonight
