Can stress really have such an impact on the digestive system?

[Suchafrabjousday]

I know the answers is most probably yes but I find myself in such a difficult position that I’m slowly going crazy trying to find the solution to all my current woes.

I’ve got quite a lot going on and this is most probably having a negative impact on my body but I genuinely no longer know what to do.

I’ve had IBS for 26 years, it arrived without warning one day following a very stressful few years and it has never left me. It has waxed and waned over the years but I’ve always had a very sensitive digestive system since that day in 1998.

Once I hit the age of 45 however, the turbo button seemed to go full throttle and my digestive system from stomach to bum hole (sorry 🙈) has given me grief on an almost daily basis.

Despite endless gastro tests (endoscopies, colonoscopies, stool tests, scans etc) all ok, except for a positive test for small intestinal bacteria overgrowth which does not surprise me due to the very restricted low fodmap diet I’ve eaten for years in the hope of getting better, I’ve ended up buggering up my micro biome.

I was also diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis a few months ago but my gynaecologist says it won’t be causing the gut issues?!

So, as I say, these last 6 years have been just dreadful. Mornings are awful and unpredictable. My guts gurgle all the time, I pass super soft stool (sometimes diarrhoea which can be anytime and unpredictable), acid indigestion and pain, excessive burping, daily nausea, bloating in the evenings with gas and pain. I can even be woken by the excessive gurgling.

I have tried literally every everything recommended for IBS and nothing helps long term. I live the healthiest life of anyone I know yet feel like crap every day.

BUT I won’t lie, I am an extremely anxious person and my stress levels have been sky high these last 6 years. I don’t know why I can’t handle stress but I just can’t, maybe it all goes to my digestive system? Over these last 6 years I’ve had the following stressful situations to deal with (could these all be the instigators to my gut issues?),

ds had 5 years of school anxiety and refused to go to school most mornings. This was so stressful

My MIL passed away from bowel cancer

My beloved dog had to be pts due to cancer (he was my shadow, my best mate and 2 years on I’m still missing him)

My own dear mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 6 years ago. I help care for her and it’s honestly a journey to hell, it’s never ending and my mum is turning into a toddler child, it breaks my heart every day. And last month she was also diagnosed with breast cancer ffs!

My gastro seems to think my stress is causing my gut issues but from
my point of view it’s the gut symptoms (fear of soiling myself etc or worrying it’s something serious) which is driving the anxiety. It is a vicious cycle I can’t seem to break no matter who much yoga or meditation etc I do!

How can I find a way to calm
my anxiety and gut issues? I’ve literally become scared to leave the house at times. I just can’t find a solution.

Stress certainly affects the gut, if I get stressed the exact opposite happens to me, I can't have a BM to save my life.. during a really stressful time like my first few weeks at a new job I will not poo because I get so anxious

I really sympathise as I started with IBS around age 16. It was always problematic but in a fairy manageable way.

My IBS got so bad a couple of years ago that my hair fell out due to malabsorption. At the same time I felt increasingly anxious - viscous cycle really when you're constantly worried about shitting yourself. After I had a few hot flushes and night sweats I twigged that I'd started peri menopause at 40.

Within days of starting HRT (Mirena and gel) it drastically improved. It now only flares up at certain times of the month and very rare random occasions.

Might be worth looking in to if you're not taking HRT.

I also found psyllium husk helpful, and I still take mebeverine which helps to slow things down and relieve the frames when needed.

I always stick to low fodmap servings and don’t stack either. A low fodmap serving of green beans is 15 and tbh I’d probably onky have around 6 (I only eat small portions of food as have a small appetite). I used carrots and green beans as an example but I probably only have green beans once a week or so.

I have to be so careful with sorbitol, it’s one of my biggest triggers. I once ate a chocolate bar that I’d eaten many times before. Unknowingly to me, the recipe had changed and sorbitol had been added, I didn’t realise. I was poorly for days and days.

I have seen a few people mention FODZYME on the FB support groups I follow but have been apprehensive to try as it’s so expensive and I have a cupboard full to the brime of products which have not helped. I would purchase it in a heartbeat if I thought it would help but everything is so hit and miss with IBS. In all honesty I just don’t have the money anymore to keep spending on expensive products.

I tested positive for hydrogen SIBO last year. I joined several support groups and took the Rifaximin but it didn’t help. I know most people have to do several rounds to really kill off the bacteria but it’s £200 for a private prescription. SIBO is such a very difficult condition to treat not only because there are so many claiming to help with completely differing opinions but also because the products used to treat it are so expensive and also because the NHS often doesn’t recognise it. My NHS gastro has told me to ignore my positive breath test as they are highly unreliable tests and says most people involved with SIBO ‘cures’ are often financially involved with the products. This makes things so very difficult when you are the patient with these issues and don’t have money to throw at this thing. I do wish I’d never tested positive tbh.

Pepto bismol was my absolute saviour for years and I am gutted that it is no longer available in the U.K. I did contact the manufacturers a couple of years ago, they assured me it would be back on the shelves by last year but that’s obviously not happening. Boots used to do their own version but that is no longer available either. I am loathe to purchase any medicines from eBay as my sister ended up in hospital after buying a medication on eBay. If there were any way to purchase Pepto directly from a reputable source I would absolutely do that but I am apprehensive purchasing off eBay after my sister’s experience.

I have researched extensively over the years for foods, diets, products, therapies etc, anything which may help ease my digestive woes. I’ll be honest, I haven’t considered or really come across much about sulphur and its effects on the gut. I will definitely look into that, thank you.

Gemz1010 it’s strange how our bodies react to stresses so differently. My sister has IBS and like you, as soon as she is anxious about anything her digestive system just switches to off mode where’s mine goes in turbo mode!

Shittybobbins I truly believe that peri has pressed the accelerator on my gut issues. I was all set to take hrt but now I have been diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis I’ve been advised by the endo specialist not to take hrt as the oestrogen may increase the growth of the endo patches. Thanks to the NHS waiting times I have at least a year’s wait for a laparoscopy and excision surgery so have been advised to try the mini pill in the meantime.

The mebeverine definitely helps with the excessive stomach gurglings and I’m going to get some psyllium husk tomorrow and start taking that too in the hope it will help ‘bulk’ everything out a bit!

Have you had a Sehcat test?

You may be interested in looking up articles which discuss the beneficial effects of Magnesium and other supplements on IBS, op, especially if you think stress may be at the root of it. I only suggest this, as I started taking Magnesium L-Threonate for anxiety and sleep-related issues, and I’m as sure as I can be that it has helped significantly. I’ve not got IBS, but am very familiar with feeling the effects of stress and anxiety on my gut, and some weeks after starting to take a supplement, I am sleeping better and not feeling the generalised anxiety I used to feel on waking. I take a Vit D3 (with K2) supplement as well, which I noticed has also been linked with improvement of IBS.

katystar yes, I had a seCHAT scan last year, came back as normal.

maudelovesharold I have wanted to try magnesium for some time as I know it helps anxiety and aching muscles (which I also suffer from) but have been hesitant to try as everyone I know has taken magnesium to relieve their constipation and my friend (also an ibs-d sufferer) ended up with horrendous diarrhoea after taking magnesium although it was the citrate version and I’ve read bisglycinate is better on the guts but it does concern me a little.