About anxiety
#307421 - 05/16/07 01:38 PM
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EmilyM
Reged: 05/13/07
Posts: 53
Loc: Chicago, IL
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I've seen various references about stress and anxiety affecting people's IBS symptoms, but I'm not sure exactly how this works. I know our stress level can weaken our immune system, but how can it change something like our BMs? I am sure that it's true but as a biology major I just like to know how things work. Currently I'm a 2nd year law student and I feel like stress is unavoidable, so I don't know if I'm just doomed to have tummy issues until I retire...any thoughts?
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I'm no scientist but I think it has something to do with the brain-gut connection (on which there have been lots of studies). My doc told me that the reason SSRIs often help with IBS is b/c seratonin somehow has an impact on the digestive system. Why don't you try the hypno to help with how you handle your stress in law school? The stress won't go away but how you approach it and how much you let it affect you can be altered. Stress still gets my tummy rumbling, but I am sooo much better able to work through it now (for me a combo of hypno, lexapro, the diet, and exercise all impact how I control it). Hope that helps.
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Originally IBS-D for a million years!
Then IBS-A, Now a transformed slightly C
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Hi!
I am a medical student, and I know way too well the effects of anxiety on the gut. When we are stressed, nerves that travel from our brain to the rest of our body are activated. The hormones and neurotransmitters that are released from those nerves cause your gut to either slow down, cramp or malfunction - depending on who you are (back in the day when our stress response was for survival, we didn't want to be digesting when it was time to run from a tiger). In addition, our gut has its own nervous system that releases hormones in relation to stress. This is a very simple explanation, but I hope it works! I hope that you feel better! Good luck in law school. Danielle
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Oooh, science time! Take a peek at this web page Neuroscience for kids and this one That little voice in your stomach.
Basically your body in general and your gut in particular has a "fight or flight" mode and a "rest and digest" mode. Anxiety means you are in the former...note that you're not digesting there!
Heather has a fair amount of info about the brain-gut connection here on her website and in the IBS Research Library on these discussion boards. One of the coolest things I've learned recently here is that nearly all of your serotonin is generated in your gut - no wonder your mood and your belly are so closely connected!
--AC
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Second brain
#307473 - 05/17/07 09:36 AM
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Syl
Reged: 03/13/05
Posts: 5499
Loc: SK, CANADA
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The gut is often referred to as the body's second brain. It is intimately connected to our brain/mind via neurotransmitters and hormones.
Here is an interesting article that was published in the New York Times (2005) The other brain also deals with many woes
There is a neat audio presentation from a moment in science on The creature with the extra brain in its gut
Here is an exerpt from Dr. Gershon excellent book The second brain:The Scientific Basis of Gut Instinct and a Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine
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STABLE: ♂, IBS-D 50+ years - Science of IBS
The FODMAP Approach to Managing IBS Symptoms
Evidence-based Dietary Management of Functional GI Symptoms: The FODMAP Approach
FODMAP Chart & Cheatsheet
The Role of Food & Dietary Intervention in IBS
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Thanks for all the replies! I will have to read these articles, but that definitely makes sense. I probably learned that somewhere in college biology classes, but it's been a little while...
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