Ask a therapist > Stress > I am experiencing aerophagia, associated with anxiety. Will therapy possibly help bring relief?

I am experiencing aerophagia, associated with anxiety. Will therapy possibly help bring relief?

I never experienced symptoms of anxiety up until roughly 6 months ago. The mortgage industry took a turn for the worse, this greatly affected my income, and changes at the company affected my daily mood and behaviors. Lots more anger and stress from work ensued and relationship problems after that added another level. I was working for the past 1.5 years every day 12+ hour days in a high stress environment, even though I work from home. My stomach began to bother me more and more as the market got worse and things got more tense with my girlfriend.

Essentially my anxiety causes aerophagia. The swallowing of air. This ends up reducing my quality of life to a severe degree as I am not able to release the air back out comfortably.

The stress eventually got so great and anger so bad that my girlfriend moved back to Missouri.

I am going to specialists, and have changed some of my diet and behaviors, however, I believe I might need another layer of assistance such as therapy. I need improvement, and quickly. It is agonizing trying to eat while dry heaving due to a stomach full of air.

I want to know if this is some thing anyone has dealt with in the past, and if anyone has seen relief through therapy.
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Asked by Richard
Stress
Anxiety
Answered
10/04/2022

Hello,

So, first of all anxiety and stress can have many physical effects on a person and the swallowing of air can certainly be one, although it is a relatively uncommon stress presentation and probably has some biological component as well as mental and emotional. You have noted that you have been seen by specialists (I am assuming Medical) and have changed some of your diet and behaviors and still feel that there is some treatment component missing from your current protocol. I am a firm believer that there is value in saying things out loud to a reflective listener, and I would be happy to provide that support to you to help you decrease your anxiety level and potentially resolve your aerophagia or at least the component that is primarily stress related. Are you currently taking any medication for either your anxiety or aerophagia?

You can begin to decrease your anxiety immediately by participating in some stress relieving activities such as taking a walk, listening to music, engaging in meditation and/or some other form of relaxation activities. Decreasing your stress response is also helpful in regulating your anger and increasing your positive interactions with others, as the two responses are tied very closely in your biological system to your limbic or emotional system in the brain. The way this works is you have a thought or experience that triggers the body to experience stress and your brain responds to the "dangerous" stress and resulting anxiety by releasing the stress hormone cortisol into your brain which triggers a high alert situation where the reasoning center of your brain (the frontal lobe) shuts down and the fight, flight, or freeze portion of your survival brain becomes activated and this triggers aggression (not always physical) and anger which can overwhelm you and anyone around you. This unfortunately sounds like what has happened with your girlfriend who decided that she needed to create some safe distance between the two of you and moved back to Missouri. I wonder if your girlfriend moving back to Missouri may be another source of stress and anxiety, as you regret your anger reactivity and yet are finding it very difficult to manage effectively.

Warmly,

Dianna