Hey everyone, I haven’t been on here for a long time, but I feel like I need some help.
Previously, in one of my posts, I briefly mentioned that when I’m eating in public, I experience what are probably anxiety symptoms, like a fast heart rate, shakiness, stomachache, cold sweats, and occasionally feeling like vomiting.
I’d like to touch on this topic more because I feel like it has gotten worse.
It occurs both at home and in public. When it happens at home (which isn’t very often), I’m not as concerned, even though I do have a fear of puking. I don’t mind vomiting at home, if you get what I mean, it’s like a sense of comfort because I’m at home.
But it happens much more in public, and it’s been happening quite a lot lately. I don’t know why.
I’ll be eating in public with my friend(s), and all of a sudden, I feel like I’m about to puke, as if I’ve eaten too much. Along with my fear of puking, my heart rate increases, I feel a little shaky, my stomach might start to hurt, and I get cold sweats.
Because of that, I’ll start to clear my throat or even cough (I don’t know why, but I feel the need to clear my throat and cough EVERY TIME when I’m nervous, it almost feels like something is stuck in my throat). Then, I’ll try to stop clearing my throat or coughing because it makes me feel like puking even more.
When all that happens, I feel the need to distract myself. I’ll stop eating or start shifting my food around on my plate to distract myself. I might look around, trying to think about other things, or I’ll just end up using my phone until the feeling goes away (but sometimes it comes back anyway 
). I also shut out conversations because I feel like those conversations make me stress.
I’ve realized that my appetite has decreased significantly. With my fear of puking and everything I’ve mentioned above, I order much less food. It takes me much longer to finish a meal. I used to finish a meal in 15-20 minutes, but now it takes me up to an hour or 1.5 hours to finish, even though I’ve reduced the amount of food I order compared to before.
Sometimes, my stomach feels full, but I’m still hungry. I can feel the physical discomfort, but I stop eating because I feel that if I continue, it might increase my chances of actually puking.
I try to take deep breaths to relax and distract myself, but it often feels like I can’t get enough air. So, I intentionally yawn to get more air, as it feels like it allows for a much deeper breath, but sometimes even that doesn’t work.
It has gotten to the point where I sometimes hesitate to eat with friends in public. Now it’s almost as if I would expect to go through such feelings whenever I eat.
I don’t know why this is happening 
feeling like vomiting for no reason? and also the need to clear my throat or cough, as if something was stuck.
Anyway, I have never once puked despite going through all these feelings…I don’t have a problem with eating. I love eating, but of course i don’t overeat. but it’s kinda sad that my appetite had significantly decreased, it sounds ridiculous but i start to feel full when i literally only ate 3 spoons of my rice
