[Lookin'foraLife]

I hate it when people (pretty much everybody now adays) tell me my IBS-C is psychosomatic and that I myself am pretty much causing it. I suffer greatly with it daily.However, something bizarre happened today that made me finally believe that I do have a tendency to somatizise my feelings, even if I don't fully understand how the process works:I had to give an important workshop today in front of many professionals, so of course I was naturally experiencing some stress. Nothing I couldn't handle though. However, the minute I began the lecture, my ears became seriously plugged and I could barely hear myself!I've noticed this sometimes happens when I become stressed, but this time it remained for the entire duration of the workshop: over 7 hours!This makes me conclude that I tend to somatizise my feelings and this is causing my IBS.Now for the big question: HOW THE HECK DO I TREAT THIS?!

 

[Kathleen M.]

Have you tried setting aside some time during the day to express your emotions outwardly so they don't go in? Some people write in a journal, some people meditate and let the thoughts and emotions go by and just notice them and release them. You could get a CBT workbook (self help kind of book) and see if any of the exercises help.Some people do physical things like an exercise to burn off that emotional energy.Everyone does this to some degree, but if you are more prone to it making sure you manage the emotions rather than stuffing them may be helpful. A therapist can help with that as well if you can't do it on your own.*googles*http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/somatization-disorder/overview.html discusses this and modern theory is it is just some people have their mental or emotional stress show up as a body symptom rather than feeling it as much. So a really good stress reduction program may help a lot. May need to do a couple of different things (like exercise and meditation) and may need medications (usually antidepressants as they tend to ramp down inappropriate signals--like turning down the volume so the noise isn't so loud on a radio when not on a station--from the body).It isn't really that you make your self sick because you just need to be sick, but stress goes somewhere, and some people have it show up in the body rather than building up until they have a nervous breakdown or something like that. Some people get a lot of symptoms at low stress levels and that may be a good thing as it means you have to deal with it rather than be able to ignore it for a few decades just to drop dead of a heart attack or stroke in middle age.Sometimes I think having a sensitive body is why I'm better off at my age. I always had to get enough sleep and feed my body well so I don't have to try to repair the damage from too much hard living in my 20's because pulling all nighters all the time and eating poorly and taking too many recreational beverages (or other things) eventually catches up with everyone. I just had to grow up and live clean earlier than a lot of other people do.A lot of wellness center types of places can teach stress reduction techniques so you can find which ones work best for you.

 

[Lookin'foraLife]

Hi Kathleen, thanks for your answer!The strange thing is that I'm a very expressive person, and I do verbalize my emotions often. Perhaps I just feel emotions very strongly to begin with. Too strongly. I hate physical exercise and am weak from the IBS so that's out.I've been to a therapist who thought it was emotional but she didn't succeed in actually helping me.Stress reduction techniques might work, but I don't usually even feel stressed before the IBS attacks.Anti-ds interest me but I'm highly sensitive to their side effects.Do you think canabis might work?

 

[Kathleen M.]

Can't say much about cannabis as there isn't a lot of good research.You might see if you can tolerate some yoga or t'ai chi or qi gong exercise. Sometimes people can do some of those things when they can't do something more vigorous.I'm one that really only knows I'm stressed out because it shows up in the body more than in my emotional state. Finally figured out that stress shows up in the body first and only when I'm really bad do I feel nervous or stressed, or can't sleep for thinking about something, etc. Sometimes even expressing it, if you don't feel heard or don't do it with the intention of letting it go doesn't really get it out. For some people writing it down or specifically talking to let it go (rather than talking about it to be talking about it, if that makes any sense, or having someone who actually listens and makes sure we know they heard what we had to say) helps. Sometimes if I just talk to talk and the other person mostly tunes out and doesn't seem to really hear what I said doesn't do as much as when someone takes the time to listen and makes sure I know they really heard me and I wasn't just background noise for awhile.

 

[Lookin'foraLife]

That's really interesting food for thought.Thanks!