# IBS flareup AFTER stress



## elyag (Oct 14, 2007)

Does anyone else find their IBS D gets worse or flares up a few days after a stressful event instead if during it?


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## crstar (Jun 29, 2009)

when i have stress, it gets me before, during, after & for a long time, depending how awful the stress is........but my mother, who is no longer with me, use to suffer with angina.........when something awful happened, u could set ur clock by the 3 day mark after it happened, she'd have a heart attack........i think it had something to do with the adrenals winding up from the stress & building up till it effected what she had problems with.........mainly her heart.......i don't know if this helps, but all of the hormone centers in the body r connected to one another........we don't always feel what is going on, we just notice the most troublesome........or the ones that make our lives feel the worst...........for me the adrenals have a big effect on my intestines.........


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Well I remember back in my college days, typically everyone seemed to make it through finals healthy, only to spend the whole break sick.I think sometimes stress can have a delayed reaction. Don't have time to be sick, so hold it off for a couple of days until you relax and then everything catches up with you.


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

I use to get stressed out when my IBS-D would act up.But I told myself , NOT ANYMORE !For ME , having "D" is Not something that should cause me to stress out or panic.I told myself , I will Not allow this to effect my life this way ever again.I have totally dismissed it from my thoughts , and Now , I am totally stress and panic free.Have been for months.I find if a person dwells on something , and can't get it out of their mind , and that's all they ever think about each and every day , they are going to find they just might make themselves physically ill. Even emotionally.Since I quit thinking like this , I am doing Great.I know if all of us tried really hard , we could get over all of these crazy things IBS inflicts on us.I know having "D" is not a fun pleasent thing , but if we could just toss it out of our minds , we just might improve.I know since I took on a new attitude , I have improved almost 100%.But , this is just how I view all of this.


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## elyag (Oct 14, 2007)

Thanks for your replies, crsta and Katheen.


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

I am trying to be REALLY HELPFULL Here.When a person allows their IBS to stress them out , they are going to make themselves so much more worse.You really need to totally eliminate the Stress (and Panic) from your life.Don't let your IBS be so controlling , if at all possible.I have totally eliminated these situations from my life and I am doing so much better.I know , with all my heart , if everyone else gave this a try , you would feel 100 times better.I know I sure do.You have to be a strong willed and determined person and you will get past this.Best wishes.


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## elyag (Oct 14, 2007)

Glenda said:


> I use to get stressed out when my IBS-D would act up.But I told myself , NOT ANYMORE !For ME , having "D" is Not something that should cause me to stress out or panic.I told myself , I will Not allow this to effect my life this way ever again.I have totally dismissed it from my thoughts , and Now , I am totally stress and panic free.Have been for months.I find if a person dwells on something , and can't get it out of their mind , and that's all they ever think about each and every day , they are going to find they just might make themselves physically ill. Even emotionally.Since I quit thinking like this , I am doing Great.I know if all of us tried really hard , we could get over all of these crazy things IBS inflicts on us.I know having "D" is not a fun pleasent thing , but if we could just toss it out of our minds , we just might improve.I know since I took on a new attitude , I have improved almost 100%.But , this is just how I view all of this.


 I'm glad your doing better, Glenda. It must be such a relief to be stress free. Sounds like you worked hard to get to that place.Unfortunately.... you might have to bear with the rest of us who are not at that point yet. I'm sure most of us are doing our best and trying really hard to get there. For some..the journey might take a while. Also...my question in this thread wasn't about getting stressd over having IBS D. It was if anyone experienced IBS D after going through a stressful period.


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## elyag (Oct 14, 2007)

Glenda said:


> I am trying to be REALLY HELPFULL Here.When a person allows their IBS to stress them out , they are going to make themselves so much more worse.You really need to totally eliminate the Stress (and Panic) from your life.Don't let your IBS be so controlling , if at all possible.I have totally eliminated these situations from my life and I am doing so much better.I know , with all my heart , if everyone else gave this a try , you would feel 100 times better.I know I sure do.You have to be a strong willed and determined person and you will get past this.Best wishes.


 Thank you. Glenda..I posted my other reply to you before seeing this. I agree..stress makes IBS and other chronic health problems much worse. And in my case I have several chronic health issues besides the IBS.I've started listening to the IBS audio program which I think will be helpful. And I also meditate. But it's not going to happen over night. I try to take it one day at a time and hopefully if nothing else.... I'll be able to learn how to reduce my anxiety and stress level.


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## Thai (Aug 22, 2007)

Glenda,First of all I am glad for you that by telling yourself you will not let IBS rule you...........you claim to be all but cured.However I just read another thread of yours that in the last 3 months you have been on a digestive enzyme that you claim has improved your IBS 99%.???????????????????????elyag,I totally think that there is a delayed form of reaction to stress.Many a time I know that I have been in a pressure cooker situation and dealt with it just fine.BUT when the crunch is over, the body is out of fight mode and the consequences hit.For me, with Fibromyalgia (and all the other syndromes that accompany this condition) that can mean that one or many of those conditions will rear it's ugly head....IBS being one of them.Thai


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Yeah I tend to be a 'well oiled machine' in the midst of stress and then my bod falls apart afterward. LOL But.. at least I know that... so.. what can ya do?? I just cope... ya know? I will say I have learned to not feel acute stress as easily as I used to. In the old days it wouldn't take much. Just going out anywhere could have set me off.But now...it has to be a MAJOR stressor before my bod reacts. With some things like... family emergencies... an accident.. a sudden death.. etc Those are more BIG Ticket items and ... my bod _will have_ a response once the critical incident is over no matter how good I am at trying to remain as calm as possible. So sometimes... if it is huge... despite my best efforts... I will flare.But.. there are worse things...BQ


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

I think my constant diarrhea has improved because of going on the Pancrease MT-20 and with telling myself NOT to worry about it at all anymore , this HAS IMPROVED my IBS almost 100 % damn near.I too do have another health condition , a deadly one , I have Neurofibromatosis.I have THOUSANDS of Tumors all over my body. They are riddled all over my entire spine. The Pain from this is Brutal.I lived off of Narcotics all my life. They never helped and the side effects were frightening. 10 months ago I stopped taking Pain Medication. There was No point in taking it.So I do have Alot of Pain issue's.But , I don't let this stop me from functioning on a daily basis anymore.I just get up in the morning and Push thru my day like a steam shovel.Again , we just can't let these darn conditions Destroy us.I guess maybe I am just a strong willed person.Sure I may have a bad day thrown in , but , I will get thru it. Ya gotta be Determined You Can Do It.I wish everyone one good success in over coming the hard tasks in life.


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## elyag (Oct 14, 2007)

I think being stronged willed is part of it.....but...it also depends on the chronic health issues. Some are more debilitating than others and no matter what you do it can still be life altering. I had brain surgery to remove a beign tumor in 1995 and have since suffered from neurological complications. I have a disorder of my autonomic nervous sysytem which affects my blood pressure, heart rate, digestion...etc... In my case my blood pressure is often very low which causes intense fatigue and passing out. My heart rate is often too low or too high which also casues symptoms. I had to quit work and go on disability in 2001. On many days I'm too sick to even get to the store. I consider myself a strong willed person but there are some things I have no control of and can't fix. I can do things like meditation to ease my symptoms but that's about it. Just telling myself that I'm not going to let my illness get in the way doesn't work because of the nature of my illness. So I try to do as much as I can each day and enjoy those few good days that come around every now and then.


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

Having been born with the tumor disease Neurofibromatosis , I have lived with this Progressive disease for 52 years.My body has been destroyed by Tumors inside and out. My face is disfigured from having about 300 hundred tumors all over it. My body is covered. You see more tumors then you literally see skin.They are in My Brain , my Neck and entire spine to the tail bone. I have leaking spinal fluid at every level of my spine.The Pain is so bad Not even High doses of Morphine or Fentanyl ever touched the misery. And the side effects sent me to the Er 5 times for EKG's because it felt like my heart kept exploding.I have a Plexiform tumor in my left upper thigh , (They look like a huge set of tree roots , and in 1991 it grew to the surface of the skin and ate a Hole in my leg that remained open for 16 years. It has hemmoraghed and I've lost over a pint of blood.I have huge tumors on the soles of my feet which hurt like hell to walk on. can't be removed as I risk severe nerve damage and not walking. The open hole in my leg has the ability for gangreene.I've had a Huge tumor removed off my left lung. Now there is One big one in it now. Tumors are on most organs too.So I know exactly what it is like to be sick and unable to do anything on a daily basis. I had to quit work in 1991.I have gotten to a point in my life where I just now have the attitude > Damn the torpedo's and full steam ahead.I'm going to live my life as best as I can and Not let these conditions stop me from enjoying whats left of my life that I may have.Yes you do have to be Extremely Strong Willed.Stop at nothing to get what you want.I know that all of us can over come many of these horrible situations that we endure in our daily lives.Work hard and you will succeed.All of what I am saying is with deep sincerity here.I know We can beat this , if not by ourselves , then Together we can.


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## elyag (Oct 14, 2007)

Glenda.. .I applaud you for having such a great attitude...not an easy thing to have when one's body is falling apart.I do think reaching the point where you're at is a process and doesn't happen overnight. And...some of us may never get to that point. There are lots of losses that go along with having a chronic illness, the worse your illness is or the more illnesses you have, the bigger the loss. I think it's normal for people to go through a grieving process when they have a chronic illness and that process is a cycle. A lot of us get stuck in the anger and depression part of grieving and can't seem to make it to point of acceptance.Anyhow...I'm happy for you that you're able to move on with your life despite your illness. I hope I can get to that place some day.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Elyaq Oh I agree absolutely it IS a grieving process. One grieves the loss of a "normal" GI tract... "normal" bathroom habits etc.....And it is a process.. and that takes time.I discovered the anger & frustration only made me feel worse so I think that is what motivated me to learn all I could and start trying to make management of my symptoms a goal to shoot for. And I learned I needed to stop dwelling on ALL I could no longer do and begin to be grateful for ALL I could do. I learned negative thinking leads to more negative thinking. And conversely positive thinking leads to more positive thinking.BUT all of this takes time... so be patient and gentle with yourselves... as patient and gentle as you would be with a friend who was suffering the same.BQ


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## Glenda (Aug 15, 2000)

Yes people do go thru a Grieving process at times.For me , having about 300 tumors on my entire face / head , makes me look like the Monster from the Black Lagoon.I lost what I thought was a good friend , because she came out and told me she didn't want to go out and be seen with me anymore because I look so bad , I scare people away.She wanted a boyfriend and she said when we would go out to a bar the guy's would be too freaked out to come to our table to ask her to dance.Let me tell ya , this HURT !!And yeah I felt really hurt and sad about this. Kinda like a grieving process.But I stood back and realised , why the hell should I grieve for someone like that.I ended up telling her to go to Hell and washed my hands of her.So when things come up , yes it would be natural to grieve over it.I guess this is why I feel so strongly about my various health issue's.I'll be dipped if I am going to let them bring me down.I'll trudge thru it and if I succeed that's fantastic.If I don't , then I'll start over and re-do it untill I "Get it done".I know everyone here on the board dislikes having health problems in any form , but we are strong people and by crackie , we'll beat this.So far , I have.


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