Anxiety and IBS Anyone Out There?

[Stanlee14]

Hello all

Ive suffered from IBS most my life due to an unrelated condition. I’ve also been a long time anxiety sufferer and recently read an article about a link between IBS and anxiety. In recent months my anxiety has been up and down, however during the ‘ups’ I noticed quite a flare up of my IBS symptoms.

This doesn’t really surprise me, however I wanted to know who else out there has similar problems, either living with medically diagnosed IBS or just anxiety and stomach problems.

I wanted to create this thread as it is a anxiety symptom that quite often gets overlooked but personally I find quite debilitating.

Cheers Stan

[Guest5643]

Hi stan

Oh the fun of ibs. Your absoltely right about the link with anxiety although some professionals dont believe the link. Im assuming its hereditary too cause my mum had it bad. Ibs sufferers are a secret group that has too many being in public unfortunate stories. I certainly wont talk about them here but we all have at least one. One thing that helps me enormously is the in fridge ethical nutrients ibs support taken every day. Massive reduce in symptoms.

Lynne

[Stanlee14]

Hey Lynne

Thanks for your contribution.

I find it strange that a lot of professionals don’t believe in the link, after all the gut is a major part of the nervous system. It only makes sense that it, like everything else in the nervous system would be affected.

Also that’s a really interesting comment you made about it potentially being hereditary, I’ve never heard that before. It is certainly a really fascinating idea. I wonder if anyone has ever looked into it? Its not all that far fetched when you consider we inherit things like anxiety and depression as well.

Best wishes Stan

[Guest_9467]

Hi Stanlee.

It is strange that many doctors dont see the connection but lets face it many doctors ( GP) have very little clue to any mental health problems , They are very basically trained in it and also do not have the time needed to sort such a complex problem in a short consultation.
Most brain chemicals start their life in the gut, so of course it plays a part . Its also like this belief that mental health is all in the head and has nothing to do with the physical body . They are both connected.

I was on meds for close on 25 years and i can point to problems they caused with my gut but more so since i have stopped in the last two years i have had a increase is gut symptoms which i never had before . I have been informed that this is simply my gut trying to rebuild itself . Its all very interesting.

Its not all that far fetched when you consider we inherit things like anxiety and depression as well.

Not sure if this is the true case , its not that its inherited but that you may have a predisposition to it. The learned behavior from a parent that raised us plays a larger part into things. I have a history of depression in my family but was not raised by them so never learned the behavior of depression . Hard to explain .

Anxiety is 100% learned behavior because everyone has it but it is only some that have it out of control . This is because we had learned poor ways to react to normal anxiety which in turn built into a disorder . When we find a better way , often different than we were taught then it gets better . It often the job of a counselor to help us see the abnormal in what we think is normal .

cheers kev

[Stanlee14]

Hey Kev, thanks for the reply.

You said you’d been on meds for 25 years, may I ask weather they were for IBS or anxiety/depression? It’s funny how sometimes the meds they put us on can also make us crook.

In regards to my comment about anxiety being inherited, you are right it’s not inherited but learned my apologies, I worded it wrong (it was late). My family has a quite extensive history of mental health conditions. Both my mother and father suffered from depression, my grandfather attempted to take his life a few years ago ( he is alright) and my cousin has schizophrenia so I guess you could say I’ve learned a lot. I find living with IBS just makes the symptoms of anxiety twice as dibilatating.

Regards Stan

[Samyol]

I suffer from IBS and anxiety as a whole, I noticed when I started my first job I could almost never work without needing to use a toilet moments before my start. It made it very had, eating was almost non-optional as I it would just things more difficult for me and I'd be unable to perform at my job.

I've had IBS my whole life and my anxiety has only exaggerated the symptoms a lot. It sucks a lot, I can barely ever eat without being in the comfort of my home, a pain to say the least.

Hope only the best for you and dealing with IBS.

[therising]

Hi Stanlee14

There's an amazing episode regarding the show 'Catalyst'. This episode is called 'Gut Revolution: Victoria's Story'. It focuses on a woman with overwhelming anxiety. The story conveys how a significant imbalance of the gut microbiome can impact mental well being. As long as there is a happy balance between all the diverse microbes that live in our gut, all is good. Once things start to get out of balance, for a variety of reasons, some of those little fellas that we need for overall health can be overwhelmed by an overgrowth of others. It kind of makes one cringe to think that these microbes rely on us to feed them (a variety of certain foods), so as to live and thrive in harmony.

The Mood and Food Centre at Deakin University has done and is still doing a lot of fantastic research into the link between gut health and mental well being.

🙂

[Guest_9467]

Hi Stan
You said you’d been on meds for 25 years, may I ask weather they were for IBS or anxiety/depression? It’s funny how sometimes the meds they put us on can also make us crook.
For nothing believe it or not.

I was placed on anti depressants because i feel ill and they thought it would help .Ended up being a unknown virus. They never did much and in fact gave me other problems . This was back in the days when they were worse than these days at handing things out like lollies .
I was never told about them , warned of side effects , withdrawals or assessed in any way . I never had depression but as no one every really asked me and they kept giving me a script i took them . Believe it or not in 15 years not one person ever asked me if i felt depressed .

I did this on and off for 15 odd years. I know now they caused some problems . IBS , migranes , sleep problems but never saw it then.

[Courage2020]

Hi EveryOne

I'm new to here.Just join here today.I'm also have anxiety sufferer (been 3 yrs on and off,recently happening again) & have IBS issue since start of this year.But last few month I've been using this Medicine made by Blackmores "Digestive Aid".It helped me alot to manage IBS issue.You can bought it from local chemist.

[ShyLizard]

Hi, I suffer from anxiety too, and although I've never been diagnosed or thought of myself as having IBS, I've definitely always had stomach upsets related to my anxiety. In fact this is probably my most debilitating anxiety symptom.

Back when I had a job it was absolute torture. I would be on the toilet emptying my bowels until I had to leave for work. I worked at a day spa and would be stuck in a room with a client for at least an hour at a time. It was awful because I couldn’t just leave at any time and rush to the toilet. I’d just have to somehow hold it in and try to relax.

These days it often hits me when I’m in the supermarket and I can’t just leave and find a toilet with half a trolley full of groceries. I often feel like I don’t know how I’m going to get through my shopping list without losing control of my bowels. (It has never actually gone that far yet, though I feel I’ve come close). For me it definitely gets triggered by situations where I’m not able to easily get to a toilet for some reason.