The Connection between IBS and Emet?

[s0ccer_princess]

Ok guys, this is just a brewing theory of mine. Don't think I'm crazy or anything, but during my time on this site, I have noticed that there are a lot of people who claim to suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome as well as emet.

I frequently get really bad stomach aches and constant nausea, and my doctor recently diagnosed me with IBS. I'm just curious as to whether there could be a connection with IBS and emet, suggesting it isn't necessarily completely physical, it could be mental too?

Thanks for any feedback guys Edited by: s0ccer_princess

[bexcelica]

i dont know if i have it, but i wonder sometimes.. but sometimes i dont.

[pretty polly]

hi princess - I have been diagnosed with IBS in the last couple of
years. I agree it could be partly mental - in that it can be brought
about by stress - and we emets certainly endure alot of that - but I
think there is physical catalyst also. I usually get my bouts in the
middle of the night - 1 or 2 hrs after I've gone to bed - possibly from
something sugary I've eaten - and believe me, it wakes me up in the
middle of a nice slumber, so I don't think that is just my mind
messing me about!
It's really only happened since I had my daughter nearly 6 yrs ago,
so I lay some of the blame at her door also - coz I had quite strong
bowels before that!!

[s0ccer_princess]

Thanks you two

Bexcelica- I often wonder whether I do have it or whether it's in my head. You see, IBS is the last resort doctors go for if you haven't got this, that or that, then they say you have IBS. It's kind of the last resort in a process of elimination. My parents don't believe I have it. But then again they don't think I have emet- they think it's just a fancy way of saying I dislike being ill.

Pretty polly, I also agree- mine came on suddenly after 2 years at secondary school. I had been stressed, because I was worrying about the future etc. I blame the SATs and the stress it put on me . But yeah, I think there could still be a physical bit to it too. Well, if we feel pain and get other physical symptoms it must be, because while you can talk yourself into feeling sick I'm not sure if you can talk yourself into specific symptoms like constipation, stomach pains etc.

Thanks again, this is very interesting

[Babydoll]

There is a connection. One of the many possibly causes of IBS is stress and anxiety, and as emets, we have alot of that.


Sage, correct me If I'm wrong about this but I think the theory goes something like this.. we have something in our body called the fight/flight responce. It is a protective mechanism of your body. In a dangerous situation, you may need to reserve your body energy in case you need to get away from that situation, and that basically stops the unnecessary functions in your body, such as digestion. This can cause GI upset.


In emets, our little panic sets of an alarm that can trigger this responce even when its not necessary for the body to do this. Hence the wonderful IBS.

[shiva]

Actually I have been 'diagnosed' w/ IBS, but I responded NO because I don't believe in IBS. Don't get me wrong.. I understand the symptoms and that they are physical and real. I just think it's a cop out for the medical profession to not get people healthy, but to just medicate them. Thus, naming the malady IBS, they can medicate and so on.. Yes.. more of my anti medication, anti pharmaceutical compainies, anti big business propoganda!


I mean.. why can't the doctor's say... "I think you have too much stress in your life and here's how I can help you with that.." ? Instead.. here's another f***ing pill.. ugh!


don't go getting mad at me.. I'm laughing at myself while writing this. I know it's not how most of you feel and I like all of you lots.. But there might be someone out there who shares my opinion.. maybe?


HOWEVER, the symptoms of stress can be TERRIBLE on the digestive system. It sucks big time. I totally carry my stress in my tummy and I hate it. And yes, it's especially uncalming for emet's to suffer from these tummy problems because it's our worst nightmare. I think that we all spend too much time focusing on our digestive systems though, you know? I mean, where else would people be posting the color and consistency of their poo? It's relevant for us, but there is still some humor there.

[harmonygirl72]

Well, my doctor said he thinks I have IBS, but did NOT offer any meds. He just said to get more fiber!

[crystalmom]

I think I do get IBS when I am having BAD panic attacks, or if I have had CONSTANT high anxiety for a few days. I think there is a connection between the two, for sure.


My mom used to work as an EMT. Every time they got a 'call' they would have to bring something for her, b/c she would get d*, from the high adrenaline rush. It is the same with panic....panic attack=high adrenaline.


Just my thoughts.


Crystal

[japa]

If you visit ibs internet boards, you will see that the number of people with IBS is huge. And you will also see that IBS could have several causes. It was once thought to be solely anxiety based; therefore, patients sometimes felt that doctors were claiming it was all in a person's head.


I agree with shiva about IBS to the extent that I believe that a good many gastrointestinal disorders about which doctors are unsure how to categorize them get lumped together under IBS. I think some solely stress related symptoms also get called IBS, but having suffered myself from IBS from the age of 7 until approximately 29 years of age, I do believe that the sole cause of IBS is not just anxiety and stress.


There is a problem with bowel function and motion that is linked to serotonin levels, and scientists have done research to determine this. It is common knowledge for scientists that over 90% of the serotonin in a human's body is in the intestinal tract, and it regulates the motility of the intestines, so there is a definite physiological reason for IBS in this sense. However, once again, Ibelieve that probably many different intestinal problems thataren't serious and that doctors are unsure aboutget lumpedbeneath the catch-all term "IBS." So, I believe there are multiple causes at work.


In fact, I believe that many folks self medicate for IBS with either laxatives if they're constipated or immodium if it's diarrhea. Besides Zel-norm, I'm not sure that there is anything doctors ever prescribe for IBS, but maybe I am wrong.


If there is an emet-IBS link, I guess it would come about from the anxiety, but again, I don't think anxiety accounts for all or even most IBS. But I do believe that IBS breeds anxiety because when you are constantly getting diarrhea, you get very anxious about being in public places because of embarrassment. So the anxiety can often be caused by the intestinal problems themselves.

[japa]

I think that the NY Times article below copied from the IBS website is informative, and I am persuaded by the information.





August 23, 2005
The Other Brain Also Deals With Many Woes
By HARRIET BROWN

Two brains are better than one. At least that is the rationale for the close - sometimes too close - relationship between the human body's two brains, the one at the top of the spinal cord and the hidden but powerful brain in the gut known as the enteric nervous system.

For Dr. Michael D. Gershon, the author of "The Second Brain" and the chairman of the department of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia, the connection between the two can be unpleasantly clear. "Every time I call the National Institutes of Health to check on a grant proposal," Dr. Gershon said, "I become painfully aware of the influence the brain has on the gut."

In fact, anyone who has ever felt butterflies in the stomach before giving a speech, a gut feeling that flies in the face of fact or a bout of intestinal urgency the night before an examination has experienced the actions of the dual nervous systems.

The connection between the brains lies at the heart of many woes, physical and psychiatric. Ailments like anxiety, depression, irritable bowel syndrome, ulcers and Parkinson's disease manifest symptoms at the brain and the gut level.

"The majority of patients with anxiety and depression will also have alterations of their GI function," said Dr. Emeran Mayer, professor of medicine, physiology and psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles.

A study in 1902 showed changes in the movement of food through the gastrointestinal tract in cats confronted by growling dogs.

One system's symptoms - and cures - may affect the other. Antidepressants, for example, cause gastric distress in up to a quarter of the people who take them. Butterflies in the stomach are caused by a surge of stress hormones released by the body in a "fight or flight" situation. Stress can also overstimulate nerves in the esophagus, causing a feeling of choking.

Dr. Gershon, who coined the term "second brain" in 1996, is one of a number of researchers who are studying brain-gut connections in the relatively new field of neurogastroenterology. New understandings of the way the second brain works, and the interactions between the two, are helping to treat disorders like constipation, ulcers and Hirschprung's disease.

The role of the enteric nervous system is to manage every aspect of digestion, from the esophagus to the stomach, small intestine and colon. The second brain, or little brain, accomplishes all that with the same tools as the big brain, a sophisticated nearly self-contained network of neural circuitry, neurotransmitters and proteins.

The independence is a function of the enteric nervous system's complexity.

"Rather than Mother Nature's trying to pack 100 million neurons someplace in the brain or spinal cord and then sending long connections to the GI tract, the circuitry is right next to the systems that require control," said Jackie D. Wood, professor of physiology, cell biology and internal medicine at Ohio State.

Two brains may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but they make literal and evolutionary sense.

"What brains do is control behavior," Dr. Wood said. "The brain in your gut has stored within its neural networks a variety of behavioral programs, like a library. The digestive state determines which program your gut calls up from its library and runs."

When someone skips lunch, the gut is more or less silent. Eat a pastrami sandwich, and contractions all along the small intestines mix the food with enzymes and move it toward the lining for absorption to begin. If the pastrami is rotten, reverse contractions will force it - and everything else in the gut - into the stomach and back out through the esophagus at high speed.

In each situation, the gut must assess conditi

[mommyof3]

I guess I kind of have it but I try not to think about it too much. It helps me from overeating, especially at restaurants lol. It was a lot worse when I was younger, would happen a couple of times a month. Now I am ok if I make sure to eat fiber and if I don't go on the pill. For some reason when I am on the pill it is worse.


My mom has it (she is the metamucil queen and made me drink it all the time eww), my aunt (who also has krohn's sp?), my other aunt, and female cousins on that side. I also have a cousin who I am suspecting is an emet because she had a lot of the panic stomach aches like I did when she was a kid. I should talk to her about it.

[Galadriel]

Thats quite the article!


My doc told me I probably have IBS. I notice sometimes its worse than others. When I was under a lot of stress a few years back (when it started) it was really awful. Its gotten better tho thank God! I think there very well could be a connection since we deal with stress/panic/anxiety a lot, which can mess with the intestines, plus we tend to analyze gut things a lot. I think its definately connected.

[shiva]

Well said, Japa. You always have so much helpful information. The article definitely was interesting. On one hand it's cool that the medical profession at least listens to our ailments and gave us a name to call our screwed up digestive systems, but on the other hand I worry that people may have a worse problem or a pooped out thyroid and don't ever get tested because they are so quick to diagnose IBS. I guess to some people who can't even go out without crapping their pants, or who cannot sit down because of the pain, pressure and bloat on other days, would probably want to smack a doctor across the face if he suggested meditation and eating healthy

[kate1966]

I have had IBS/D for well over 20 yrs...I have been diagnosed with it. The docs want to also run tests like the endoscopy and colonoscopy which I have not done yet....i am too scared right now to do it...but will eventually...anyway my point is....i do believe IBS/EMET is stress/anxiety related. And I think certain people handle their stress/anxiety in different ways....i for one handle it by keeping everything inside and therefore it comes out in the form of ibs/emet. I don't know why this is though...why we have to have this s***. It's awful. Anyway I absolutely do believe the two are related in some form or another. It's all stress and anxiety...and that's just the way we deal with it.


The meds I take for IBS are: Digestive Advantage.....i get it at Walgreen's. It's one chewable pill a day...and it works well for me. Sometimes when I am on my period the symptoms are still there...but other than that...on a daily basis...my symptoms are very well under control. I have suffered and I do mean suffered with IBS/D for a long time...and I was ready to die than go through it forever...thank the lord they have some new meds out for it.

[s0ccer_princess]

Great to hear some more opinions

Shiva, you're right. I don't believe I have IBS, I'm not sure why. I mean I have all of the symptoms, but I have this gut instinct (unintended pun) that I really don't have it.

It does seem to be just a way for them to give you a quick answer, some medication and never see you again. I think this particularly in the case of my doctor, as he just loves to diagnose me without even examining me. I told him I constantly felt sick and always had phlegm and he instantly told me I had rhinitis. I told him I had recurring stomach aches for four months or so and after prodding my stomach slightly and asking the infamous: "In one word, what type of pain is it?" (which I hate, because how do you describe that kind of pain in one word?) he instantly said IBS. I then told him I had knee pain which came when I went down stairs and he said: "Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome".

I personally think they all were too swift diagnosises. He didn't even look down my throat before telling me I had rhinitis, didn't establish anything (apart from elimination of appendicitis, as well as a few other stomach issues) by feeling my stomach and only nudged my knee cap from side to side slightly before claiming I had PFS.

I am against tablets but that's basically due to the fact I can't swallow them, so I don't count :P . I can get by with portable heat packs and that "4head" liquid for headaches, which does really work, because it's an anaesthetic.

[s0ccer_princess]

More poll votes! *Squee*

Thanks again

[s0ccer_princess]

Interesting, 22/30 people so far are leaning towards the positive side.

Very eenteresteenk!

[s0ccer_princess]

25/37