Chronic, excessive anxiety and gut issues

[Thewholeshackshimmy]

I have suffered from very bad, debilitating anxiety since childhood.
When I was 25 I was diagnosed with IBS. Since then I seem to have gotten myself into a constant, vicious cycle of anxiety/bad gut symptoms and anxiety over the symptoms and so on.
I have tried so many things in the last 23 years of suffering but nothing helps long term.
Since hitting my mid 40’s things have ramped up and gotten much worse (daily symptoms now in upper and lower guts and anxiety and panic so very bad) I have had endless tests and seen 6 gastroenterologists, the last one was last week. They all insist it’s simply IBS but I have become so obsessed mentally with this that it’s driving me to absolute distraction. I am aware of my guts from morning to bedtime and sometimes even get woken by my growling/gurgle tummy. My digestive system seems hyper active.
I have become obsessed with a fear of urgently needing the loo whilst out or vomiting.
I have tried counselling, cbt, I listen to gut directed hypnotherapy, I am low fodmap, dairy free, nothings has helped much so far.
I start EMDR tomorrow to try to overcome the trauma of having a toilet ‘accident’ whilst at work when this first happened 23 years ago.
Does anyone else suffer from awful anxiety? Does it also have an impact on your gut?
I can’t break this cycle, I feel this will be my life forever.

I'm so sorry you're suffering. I've had anxiety (still rears it's head from time to time) and I have chronic pain symptoms. I'm discovering so much at the moment about the mind body connections. A lot of the work is based on the work of Dr John Sarno, who pioneered this work in the seventies, and it's been expanded upon with loads of new discoveries in brain science.

I would really really recommend watching some of Nicole Sachs' YouTube videos/checking out her podcast

There is also an amazing app called curable, it's for chronic pain, but so many people find relief for many many other chronic symptoms, including anxiety and IBS.

I'm in no way affiliated with any of these things, am just finding them so helpful after years of suffering myself. Wishing you well

Just to add, all of these techniques really focus on getting out of the state of fear and calming the nervous system, which is so so important when dealing with conditions like this x

misskatamari thank you, I will check that out.

OP, please also check Dr Tracey Marks on YouTube. She has several short, informative videos about gut health/anxiety. I have found her an excellent resource during anxious times.

Phyllis321 thank you, I definitely will.

I've heard good things of the Nerva app and found a few reviews just by googling.

https://www.theirritablevegan.com/full-review-nerva-app-for-ibs/

The only person I know who is trying it has stopped complaining about it, I have no idea whether that's because they rate it or just because they committed to doing six weeks worth.

Don't want to jinx it by asking.

Hope you find what you need.

FinallyHere thank you. I was one of the people who first trialled Nerva when it came out. It is lovely and relaxing but sadly didn’t help my gut or anxiety issues but I do know from my IBS support groups that it helps many.