[Chris_foster14]

Now, I know that IBS is a real illness. But is it possible that it could be resolved for certain people, mentally?It seems as though my cramping symptoms dissapear when I (finally) manage to put them from my mind.Any thoughts?

 

[Brockbaby]

I've thought the exact same thing! I'm fine when i'm just with my family and friends, but when my b/f comes over, my stomach acts up b/c i start getting nervous...when he calms me down i feel fine. I am trying to train my mind, and i hypnotize myself to relax. It's getting a little better, but I still freak out sometimes.

 

[Guest]

From my personal experience as well as a lot of study and professional counseling as well, I think the connection is indisputeable..though in many cases its sort of an chicken or the egg sort of thing...anxiety begets IBS, or IBS begets anxiety????...They feed off of each other. If a person was not prone to the syndrome, perhaps a single or short series of digestive phenomena might not recur if their was no propensity for clinical anxiety. Similarly, a person with a propensity for anxiety can easily start a sequence of symptoms that will self perpetuate into a syndrome of symptoms. I have always believed that anxiety "knows" what scares you and it knows how to pull your strings...it is capable of creating or simulating virtually any physical symptom and in many cases actual somatic pathology. Just my theory though....

 

[d-gasblaster]

I do know that stress is a trigger for me. When I'm upset really upset about something I can expect to have "stress D" within the next day or so. The mind is a very powerful thing. As far as some cases of IBS being totally in the mind....I don't know. But I do think my mind and enotional state can help to trigger attacks.

 

[Kathleen M.]

The nerves in your head (mood, stress, memories, and all the stuff your brain does) ARE connected to the nerves in your "second brain" AKA the Enteric Nervous System (ENS).This is a very vast neural net that exists in your abdomen that has to be functioning properly for you to be IBS-free.Now the nerves in your head TALK to the nerves in your gut. Now if the nerves in your gut were totally normal then you might not have to get the nerves in your head acting the right way to keep your digestion going normally.Basically I don't think it can be 100% just a mental "all in your head" sort of thing.It is an interaction between the ENS and the brain. Now for some people the brain input is the major cause of symptoms and for some people even when that isn't the major cause of symptoms they can use the brain input to reduce the symptoms caused by other triggers.K.

 

[eric]

kmottus summed it up pretty well.

Here is some important info for you Chris. http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/hist...aldisorders.htm http://www.ibsgroup.org/other/usnews000403.htm