4 ms·
I’m not sure I have anything too enlightening to add, but my anecdotal experience with IBS resonates with this. I have gotten my IBS under control through a va
by deepsquirrelnet 3y ago
I’m not sure I have anything too enlightening to add, but my anecdotal experience with IBS resonates with this.
I have gotten my IBS under control through a variety of ways, but perhaps my first realization of this was around 15 years ago. I had not received much help from my doctor or gastroenterologist, and back then, gastroenterologists did not like to approach IBS at all, because it’s a tricky syndrome and their training at the time didn’t have much to offer.
At some point, I noticed that it was a two way street between anxiety my IBS. If I was having anxiety, then I’d often start having digestive problems. If I started having digestive problems, I’d also have increased anxiety. This was first apparent to me around traveling, because all of the hustle and bustle of getting through airports was an anxiety trigger, and I w was simultaneously disrupting my diet, causing an IBS flair every time I went somewhere.
Back then, I had been reading about the potential positive effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for IBS. So I began to practice awareness and some simple CBT, anticipated by knowing I’d be anxious about traveling.
Much to my surprise, it helped immensely in that particular scenario. It’s hard to have that level of emotional awareness all the time though.
In case it helps anyone, I’ve tried a ton of things over the years. The things that have helped me most are - probiotics (histamine degrading), soluble fiber supplementation (acacia root) and low histamine diet.
- nness 3y agoSimilar experience, IBS + anxiety combo knowing me out on the daily. CBT was also the only thing I've tried which I would say had a positive long-term and measurable improvement. (In the UK, CBT is a common treatment for IBS and free with the NHS. It was never recommended to me in Australia, and had I known, I would've sought it our far earlier in life.)
- exikyut 3y agoFascinating - "rest and digest" is after all the opposite of fight-flight. I wonder if your nervous system is the weak link, in the same sense that a cold or flu generally knocks you for a six in largely the same specific way. Sounds like it buckles under load to a statistically pathological extent (from a practical standpoint of "this is not helpful and is disproportionately slowing me down"). Mine kinda does too. Still looking into how to improve it beyond just simple anxiety management.
- albntomat0 3y agoThanks for all this info! I’ve got a different gastro issue (eosinophilic esophagitis). Who knows if it’ll work or not, but high histamine foods overlap with food triggers for my symptoms. I also noticed correlation between higher stress work events, and symptoms, but wrote it off as coincidence. Who knows if it’ll work, but it’s definitely worth a shot!