Arrgh! Will ths never go away... - Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Message Board

pandora-k · 09-20-2007, 03:23 PM

... I know it's a stupid question really, but recently I'd really begun to believe it was stress related (mostly) and seemed to have successfully relaxed - the symptoms hadn't gone away but was coping really well. The following is a quote from another thread:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bellyblues
The biggest problem I have with the dreadful "syndrome" is that once the gut starts acting up, it's hard to keep the brain from going into alarm mode. When the brain gets worked up, it disturbs the gut. So it's this cycle that only seems to break if we experience some relief from the physical symptoms. For me, if I have a good day or two, I relax completely, resume life in a normal way, go out and about, enjoy myself and forget I even have a bad belly. But once I am into a series of bad days, I can't seem to disengage from the thoughts and fears that I will never feel good again. Sound familiar?"
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Ths seems to put in a nutshell how I feel - I'm on antidepressants after two breakdowns. Am back at work - just had a lovely long holiday - changes at work have helped me and when I returned to work last week after the hol I felt great. But have had some stressful situations with 19 year old son so was pleased I coped well.

So, last Monday evening left work with headache - up during the night with D, cramps, shivers etc - off work from Tues - now exhausted and constipated!! Feel dreadful! Where does it come from - I know there's a connection with stress/brain etc but I thought I felt fine. Now I feel I'll never be free of it which adds to the exhaustion - viscious circle

Does anyone else find it comes from nowhere? Or is it just me?

bellyblues · 09-21-2007, 12:00 AM

It's not just you. I probably think that same thought 1,000 times a week. Tonight, I was folded in half on the couch with the heating pad, trying to figure out why my belly just decided to stop moving in the last week. I had a few good days a week ago which I took full advantage of but I I've been through this for enough years to know that even a few good days "under the belt" means nothing in the big scheme of things. I HAVE DONE NOTHING DIFFERENT in the last week to suddenly cause all activity to cease. NOTHING. And yet, I am now completely F.O.S.!

I read a great book a few months back called "The Second Brain" by Dr. Michael Gershon. All I can say is thank God for this man because he really "gets" it and has spent his entire life as a researcher studying bowel disorders (what fun, huh?). He has been working for years to help the medical community understand the concept that the gut has a brain of it's own, independent of the head brain. He makes the case that people who are in coma or a "vegetative" state still have functioning bowels, even without the input from the head brain. This is also the case with people who have spinal cord injuries where the connection between the brain and the gut has been severed. It's a very interesting exploration of something we all know on the "gut" level (pun intended): even when we do EVERYTHING "right", the gut will eventually have it's own way, for whatever reason.

pandora-k · 09-21-2007, 06:28 AM

Thank you so much for answering - just got to keep smiling I suppose