I need a distraction. Anyone available to talk?

DO SOME SIT UPS. THEY WORK THE STOMACH MUSCLES WHICH THEN PUSHES AIR THROUGH YOUR COLON HELPING YOU RELEASE GAS OR GO NUMBER 2...SOMETIMES BOTH. GAS PAINS CAN BE PAINFUL BUT THE THE BEST THING TO DO IS MOVE AROUND TO GET YOUR COLON AND BOWELS MOVING

You could also try slowing drinking warm liquids.

I know how you feel, Gas is one of the biggest triggers for my anxiety. It sucks because I know exactly what is causing it but that doesn't matter I still freak out and think something else is going on. I am a recovering addict so my doctor has me on Suboxone, and that stuff is notorious for causing back ups and horrible constipation which leads to insane amounts of trapped gas. Sometimes it will wake me up out of a deep sleep and I'll already be in full panic mode. One thing that helps me is I sit on the toilet and take a cold water bottle, shampoo bottle, anything round that is colder and set it on my lap and lean over to press my stomach down on it or roll it up and down my stomach. It beats the times I end up laying on the bedroom floor in the fetal position flopping around trying to get it to move. I also get on YouTube and find a meditation for anxiety to listen to with headphones to try and drown out my own thoughts. One good on is called "Guided Mindfullness Meditation on Overcoming Fear and Anxiety" by MindfulPeace. Don't know if any of this will help but good luck.

I am here Forestflower. Hard for me to tell whether your panic has begun to

resolve as I don't know the time frame

of your post so let me know if you are still experiencing your problem and need distraction.

In the meantime you don't need to characterize your quite natural panicky reaction to "trapped gas" as silly. Acute gas pains can be excruciating as anyone who has had them knows, and an ongoing buildup of gas is very distressing also.

I need distraction right now myself. Maybe my current need will distract you. If it doesn't distract you or calm you a little

by thinking about another kind of

problem, or worse, make you feel sicker or more panicky, just say so and we'll discuss

anything you like--other than gas pains or my situation.

While I wouldn't call how I'm feeling as panic exactly, I would have to say I am

feeling afraid.

My fifty-four-year old son who lives with me went out on Monday and never came back.

He was not feeling too well and c/o feeling short of breath. He decided to go over to the urgent care office a few blocks away.

Neither he nor I drive so he was walking the short distance.

When several hours had passed I called the urgent care to ask if he was still there. They said they hadn't treated anyone with his name that day.

Shortly after this I received two rings from St Mary's Hospital, also quite close to us.

Just two rings, nothing more. I thought,

oh, he must have decided to go to the ER

instead and be using a phone there to let me know.

Worst case scenario, maybe they discovered something and were

keeping him for observation which would

explain why he wasn't using his own phone or perhaps his phone had run out of charge.

Not knowing exactly from where in that large complex the call had originated , I just returned the two ring call and reached the operator. I asked for the

emergency room thinking it the most

logical place to start.

The person who answered said there

was no one in the ER with that name. Before I could thank her and hang up she said, "Oh, just a minute. We do have someone here with no ID. Can you describe your son?" I did and she questioned me further asking me about any tattoos or scars of which he has none.

I was thinking they might be refusing treatment because of the lack of ID, not

an especially logical conclusion on my part,

I know.

I finally asked with some impatience, "Can't this person speak to you?!

The answer was, "No he's unconscious."

They asked me to call my son's phone

number, which I did. No one answered so I called the ER back to ask if the phone they had there had rung. Yes it had.

So I knew it was my unconscious son

who was their patient without ID and I told them I would be there as quickly as I could get there.

I was asked to wait a minute for the

doctor to speak to me. She began by telling me she had never had this conversation over the phone before and asked if I had anyone with me. I replied with dawning foreboding that I didn't and could we not talk any longer as I wanted to be on my way to the hospital to see my son.

She told me not to rush there unsafely.

I got it then, and asked her if this person

was alive.

The answer was " No,I'm sorry, he died."

I called friend who drove me and my service (guide ) dog to the hospital to be with my son, and I realized later to identify him because he had already been made a coroner's case having been found down and transported, already dead,

to the ER by the paramedics.

A person dying outside of the hospital with no ID on his person is automatically considered a coroner's case. I was fortunate to find him and be able to see him and hug him one last time, as upsetting as it was, before he was sent to the coroner's facility some distance away in Los Angeles. Had I been required to go there to identify him I would have been shown only his picture on a screen, not his actual self. For this I am grateful.

As I said this happened on Monday and it is

early (very) Thursday. I have been unable to do anything but sob most of the time since this happened. It doesn't seem as though the pain it has caused will ever go away.

While I was writing this (what with continually making corrections, even though it is pretty much just a chronological stream of conscious recital of what happened, it has taken quite a goodly amount of time to write) , I notice

that some of the pain I've been feeling nonstop has lessened. Although I've no doubt I will do more crying, right now I'm no longer sobbing even though I am by myself at three in the morning.

I thank you for the opportunity to distract myself and hope I can distract you as well

if you continue to hurt and feel bad.

This site came up on my phone somehow by itself when I was searching for information I needed in another email.

I wracked my brain to remember how I could already have been a member which

I was told I am.

Then I recalled that a long time ago I sought information regarding

ankle injuries when I was trying to decide

whether to seek treatment for a badly

turned ankle which was causing me an unholy amount of pain. I couldn't bear any weight on the ankle so seeking treatment would have involved more problems and expense than I really could afford. I did the RICE* treatment along with "wait and see".

I'm happy to say my pain lessoned substantially with the *Rest,Ice,Compression and Elevation. While the complete cure took some time, after the greatest amount of swelling went down I bought and wore for weeks an "air boot" which enabled me to walk much sooner than I would have without it. Today my ankle feels

as strong as it did before the injury, thanks to

the information I found on this site.

I'm afraid I've not only distracted you by now, Forestflower, but may be on my way to seriously trying your patience. For that, I'm sorry.

Please write.

nyahsnana