Hi all,

I'm just wondering how many of you notice that your digestive issues/symptoms get worse when you're stressed or anxious. Prior to Feb. of this year, I never had a stomach issue in my life. But my stress would come out in other ways-- facial tingling and numbness, frequent colds. Now I can't help but wonder how much of my recent stomach troubles are due to stress. Not that I've ever felt acutely stressed (I work for the County, for gosh sakes, and in case you didn't know, government jobs can be pretty laid back), but I have dealt with job satisfaction for the past two years, and perhaps I never realized how much I was internalizing my dissatisfaction-- causing it to come out in other ways. I guess not having a diagnosis for all of my problems after 5 months (other than possible gallstones) has also ADDED to the stress!

Anyway, as a girlfriend and I were discussing the other night, our stomach problems are legitimate physical problems, but stress definitely seems to make it worse. I've been taking herbs, seeing an acupuncturist, therapist, trying to de-stress my life, but I wonder at what point, or if, it will make much difference regarding my symptoms or overall prognosis.

Just curious to see how many of you can relate to what I'm talking about. I hate it when people say, "Oh, it's just stress", because that belittles the problem. But I do have to wonder how much they are related, as I often feel better on weekends than during the week days at work.....

Stress is definitely a factor for me, in terms of bringing on and making symptons worse.

This I can understand. What annoys me to no end is occassionally I still get symptons when "stress-free".

Stress is definitely a factor for me, in terms of bringing on and making symptons worse.

This I can understand. What annoys me to no end is occassionally I still get symptons when "stress-free".

I know what you mean...a lot of times you don't feel stressed, but the stomach acts up anyway. It's definitely a mystery. And it's frustrating when you think you're actually minimizing your stress, but nothing changes symptom-wise. I often believe that it's like a switch that gets tripped-- once you've experienced some type of stress that results in stomach troubles, the problems continue to plague you for a while-- despite all attempts to make sure it doesn't happen! Glad you can relate!

I agree, even stress free our stomach can tell us otherwise, but stress can be put on you body when you drink coffee, smoke, and eat badly. That causes physical stress, then since we are woman, there is also the emotional stress, thinking we are not good enough having our periods.. also adds to the stress. for me having my period means time off work or I'm a mess for weeks

I agree, even stress free our stomach can tell us otherwise, but stress can be put on you body when you drink coffee, smoke, and eat badly. That causes physical stress, then since we are woman, there is also the emotional stress, thinking we are not good enough having our periods.. also adds to the stress. for me having my period means time off work or I'm a mess for weeks

Yes, things seems to get worse for me around the time of my period. I think hormones make my stomach troubles worse! And like you said, as females, we have emotional stress and pressures that males don't have. :) And while I'm not a huge coffee drinker, I do smoke, which I know doesn't help. But I've smoked for years without a hint of a stomach problem. I've wanted to quit to see if it would help my stomach, but I just don't know.....

the number one reason most people smoke Is to put a mask on the stress, it is a quick fix and easy stress release. I don’t think Just quitting smoking will help your stomach, but fighting the reason behind smoking. But we all know how much better our health would be over all if we quit smoking, everyone knows if you don’t have problems from it now, it could come later. because of all the tar and crappy stuff in it.

the number one reason most people smoke Is to put a mask on the stress, it is a quick fix and easy stress release. I don’t think Just quitting smoking will help your stomach, but fighting the reason behind smoking. But we all know how much better our health would be over all if we quit smoking, everyone knows if you don’t have problems from it now, it could come later. because of all the tar and crappy stuff in it.

You are totally right-- smoking is a way of coping with stress and anxiety (obviously it's a poor coping mechanism at that). the thing is, I have been on anti-depressants for a long time, and I'm in therapy. So I'm trying to work out the issues I've had. I know some of it is just getting older-- watching my friends get married and having families, which is something I desperately want but often feel like it will never happen. And I've dealt with job satisfaction for the past two years. In fact, at one point I quit smoking for a year, but started up again when I started a new job-- which made me nervous and stressed. How all of this relates to my stomach, I don't know for sure. But I was given a diagnosis of "nonulcer dyspepsia" by the first GI doc I saw, and while it irritated me at the time because it seemed like a cop out diagnosis, I have to wonder if maybe there's something to it. Except that if that's what I have, there's really no treatment-- other than to de-stress your life. Sigh...the longer this goes on, the more stressed I get, so it's almost like a catch 22! :)

yeah me too, I have a really hard time dealing with stress, sometimes I have jsut no idea where it is comming form. I look at my life and I can see it, but I have not clue what I can change? I think my whole life has been filled with stress since I was a child, and I never delt with it properly, only pushed it down someplace. that is something we all need to learn from our parents, but most of our parents don't even know.

now that I'm an adult, and full of stress, but don't even reconize it, I think just like you. how can stress affect my stomach? and where did this depression come from? I feel very lucky I am in a relationship. becasue I don't have any friends. so he is my best friend, and keeps me happy most of the time. and I am starting to learn lots of positive thinking. and stopping to smell the flowers. but if you are not in a relationship, it is important that you have a good relationship with some girlfriends. you need days that you can say, "wow, I had so much fun today... and I feel really happy about our friendship" but if you are just working everyday just to pay the bills. eat and sleep.. its like you are living the same day over and over. and you feel like one day your life will be over. I can totally relate. I have been there, and I fall back so fast. but I keep making an effort to do fun exciting things.

"wow, I had so much fun today... and I feel really happy about our friendship" but if you are just working everyday just to pay the bills. eat and sleep.. its like you are living the same day over and over. and you feel like one day your life will be over. I can totally relate. I have been there, and I fall back so fast. but I keep making an effort to do fun exciting things.

How do you do the 'quote thing' by the way? I just cut and paste this. Anyway, that statement was so powerful for me. That is exactly how I feel. Work, eat, sleep, no social life and what's going to become of me. For me, when I got in my forties, I find myself thinking more about what I'm doing and what I'm not doing and what I want to do; becoming increasingly aware (consciously or unconsciously) of how limited my time is here and how fast life goes by. Knowing that you need to do something and make changes and sometimes not even having the energy or enthusiasm to do it.

"wow, I had so much fun today... and I feel really happy about our friendship" but if you are just working everyday just to pay the bills. eat and sleep.. its like you are living the same day over and over. and you feel like one day your life will be over. I can totally relate. I have been there, and I fall back so fast. but I keep making an effort to do fun exciting things.

How do you do the 'quote thing' by the way? I just cut and paste this. Anyway, that statement was so powerful for me. That is exactly how I feel. Work, eat, sleep, no social life and what's going to become of me. For me, when I got in my forties, I find myself thinking more about what I'm doing and what I'm not doing and what I want to do; becoming increasingly aware (consciously or unconsciously) of how limited my time is here and how fast life goes by. Knowing that you need to do something and make changes and sometimes not even having the energy or enthusiasm to do it.

Yeah, a lot of my life feels so routine, regimented, undirected, etc. I try to do fun things as much as possible. My social life is good, I have a lot of friends, and I am often busy. But it's by no means perfect. I'm still striving to make deeper connections with friends and often feel lonely. I'm still striving to find more meaning in my career, and I'm still striving to resolve insecurity issues that have plagued me for years. Finding that balance between the fun and addressing deeper issues is tough. That's why stress is so sneaky-- we think we're doing well, having fun, etc., but there are alway underlying issues that pop up in the form of things like digestive problems, back pain, etc. It's really unfortunate....