# IBS & Phobic Anxiety



## Guest (Jan 16, 2004)

http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/c...stract/63/6/959


> quote: OBJECTIVE: Disease severity in the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is highly influenced by psychiatric comorbidity. The mechanism of this influence is generally unknown, even if the brain-gut axis seems to be involved. Recent research has indicated that IBS patients have aberrant perception of visceral stimuli in the CNS. We compared IBS patients with and without comorbid phobic anxiety to see if the comorbid disorder influenced brain information processing of auditory stimuli, and looked for possible consequences with respect to visceral sensitivity thresholds and disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests an association between information processing in the frontal brain and visceral sensitivity characteristics in IBS patients, and indicates that subjective disease-related symptomatology is predicted by brain perceptual characteristics. The findings indicate that an interaction between IBS-related and anxiety-related hyperreactivity in the frontal brain may constitute a psychophysiological mechanism for the contribution of psychiatric comorbidity to severity and duration of the irritable bowel syndrome.


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## Tummy Trouble TB (Nov 10, 2001)

I know anxiety causes my IBS. My clearest memory is being scared to death to take my 8th grade English final exam, and the entire time I was taking the test, my gut was rumbling, gurgling, burning, hurting...everything.All it takes is one anxiety attack and I have the IBS flare up. I think if I could process nerve-wracking situations a bit better, I wouldn't have IBS at all.


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## Darrell Jones (Nov 30, 2003)

I suffer from the same problem. My anxiety attacks cauise my stomach to go mad, it rumbles so loudly it can be heard from the other side of the room. I fearful of all quiet situations, I`m scared of exam rooms, meetings in work because i know my stomach will start to make the noises. Its taking over my life and I don`t know what do about it !


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2004)

Hi Darrell... boy can I ever identify with you and your symptoms... and you as well, Tummy.In all honesty, I have finally arrived at a point where I don't suffer as much from the anxiety-related IBS symptoms....HOWEVER... it took me years to get to this point and it was with great pains (literally).The answers can be complicated and are probably very individual. The good news is that when research makes more such discoveries, better treatments evolve whether they be medications, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, relaxation therapies such as hypnotherapy, biofeedback, yoga, meditation, exercise, or even retraining our brains to think depending on our diagnoses.For me, the answer has been all of the above...with emphasis on medications, hypnotherapy and more recently.... brain retraining... something that wasn't possible for me for many years until I hit upon the right meds.So there definitely IS hope....







These interrelated illnesses/dysfunctions CAN be controlled...or at the very least tempered to the point of being tolerable.Darrell, if your symptoms are interfering greatly with your activities of daily living, you may want to consider a visit to your doctor to see if there is something they may be able to do to help you with the anxiety. It can be paralyzing... and I do understand.All the best,Evie


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## January128 (Feb 20, 2003)

I'M HOME!!!! LMAO







I don't mean to rejoice in your agony but it feels good to know that I'm not alone.I've suffered from anxiety for as long as I can remember and IBS for about 10 yrs. I too was taking a math exam and suddenly my body went to work. Grumbling, churning, you name it! In the past few months I just realized that my anxiety was causing my physical problems.I'm doing an anxiety program now after trying meds that didn't work for me. I'm trying to face my fears (meetings, school-any place where anyone can hear my stomach at work). It's hard, but I'm feeling positive. It's funny but when I first signed up to this board I never came into this topic b/c I figured it had nothing to do with me. But now that I realize what it is and that it can be "fixed" I feel better, like a weight has been lifted.I wish you all the best b/c I feel your pain...and frustrations...and confusion..and everyting else that's involved in these disorders. I hope to speak to some of you again b/c like I said, it helps to know that someone else can relate to your problems.


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## IBSsuffer (Jan 12, 1999)

This has been causing me anxiety as well. Nice to know that I am not alone.


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## matrixd (Jul 31, 2003)

hi guysyes i'm the same. i reckon anxiety causes 70-80% of my ibs symptoms. it could even be the root cause. i dread situations like anything performance related, like a fear of been humilated or failure. i think this is what they call social phobia. this causes we to get panic attacks for no apparent reason i.e. palpalations, sweaty palms, lump in throut, shakes etc. full blown anxiety attacks, this in turn cause my ibs-d symptoms. the thing that annoys me the most is that i get this anxiety in pretty trival situations like going out to a nightclub, going on a date, going for a job interview, or doing an exam, or doing a presentation in front of people. another disturbing fact is that i feel my anxiety has changed and gotten worse over the 10 years or so, i fear to god that this will not lead to depression. this anxiety has caused mre to experience sexual dysfunction lately also, so much so i've been avoiding relationships. i feel i've been avoiding the life i wanna live for years now thru this inner fear. i've decided to put a stop to it in anyway i can.i believe success might be achieved through hypnotherapy and anti-anxiety meds. so that is my next option. this irrational fear is holding me back in life so its time to rid myself of it for once and for all. i take a beta-blocker at the moment which helps me cover up alot of the visual anxiety, but does nothing to help my gut going crazy. do these ssri calm the gut down as well as external symptoms? tried one session of hypno before also and it was amazing. think i would need a couple os sessions thou.p.s. glad i'm not alone in the world with this problem because during my daily life it can feel very lonely like i'm going crazy wondering how come no-one else around me seems to suffer this anxiety in the same situations i'm encountering.


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## Sarah Akerman (Dec 21, 2003)

i completely get what everyone is talkin about and its SO nice to know im not alone


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## Skunkabilly (Mar 30, 2004)

I'm the same way. I don't know how I made it through college. I ran to the bathroom during exams (even barfed in the hallway once but IIRC I had been sick so I didn't think it was IBS-related).


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## LD1 (Jan 20, 2004)

I too understand how all of you feel. My severe IBS-D began three months ago on a trip to Florida after I had an anxiety attack and ended up in the emergency room. After the trip, my IBS and anxiety became uncontrollable. I started Zoloft immediately after I got back because I knew I could not control this. Matrixd-SSRIs don't help me as far as my gut goes. The only thing that helps that is things like xanax or valium. I don't go out much lately and had to drop out of college. I've found the only way for me to make it through social situations is to take these meds.


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