Anxiety effects on bowels

Mental health
1

Hi, I’m new to the forum & looking to see if anyone has experienced similar symptoms to what I’m currently going through.

I’m late 40’s (M) & have suffered from health anxiety for many years.

I’ve had an acidic stomach for the past yr (treated successfully with omeprozole). Haven’t had an endoscopy due to covid.

Since Sept I have felt occasional discomfort under both armpits. Doc has run bloods & examined me & reassured me I have no swollen lymph nodes.

Early Dec I noticed a very slightly swollen vein in my right abdomen, stretching over my ribs. Doc asked me questions about bowel movements etc. From my compulsive reading on medical conditions I recognised the questions related to my pancreas. He told me he wasn’t overly concerned & ran more bloods (all fine bar a tiny raised amount of a pancreatic enzyme).

My anxiety spiralled & I began struggling to eat, waking in a panic etc. I booked a private ultrasound which all looked fine (albeit the tail of the pancreas was obscured by bowel gas). Sonographer had no concerns at all though.

For the past 9 days (since the night before my ultrasound) I have suffered badly from tenesmus (incomplete bowel movements, feeling like I need to go throughout the day but barely able to pass anything, tiny, thin stools, clear liquid amongst stools). This has sent my mind into overdrive. The rational part of me is saying if it was something terrible such a rapid escalation would be unlikely. These symptoms have exacerbated my anxiety to the point I can barely eat.

I have a GP appointment tomorrow which will take care of itself but I’m curious to know if anyone else has experienced similar bowel related symptoms to mine and attributed them to anxiety.

Thanks for reading this & any comment would be much appreciated.

2

anxiety plays a huge role in bowel intestinal issues.it can cause irritable bowel, colitis, constipation and so on. I’ve had anxiety for over 30 years and I’ve had it all! I was once extremely constipated four weeks. When I was in college I was highly stressed out and I would get intestinal cramping, diarrhea to the point where I almost passed out. I’ve had these things on and off throughout the years. More recently I have had severe gastritis due to stress and anxiety which was confirmed by endoscopy .
so just trust the testing that you get.
Don’t overthink this because the odds are greatly in your favor that it’s nothing serious. Gastrointestinal non-serious issues are very common! your doctor doesn’t seem too concerned and they see these things every day in their office so I’m sure he or she would have been more concerned if anything serious was suspected.
be aware that when we have anxiety, our mind tends to go to the negative and then fear takes over and then we worry all the more. those thoughts are not based on fact or reality but only fear. definitely listen to the rational part of your thinking! Trust in your rational judgment. feel better soon.

3

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I’m trying to remain calm and my immediate goal is to find relief from these horrible bowel issues I’m currently suffering.

Hopefully all will prove ok & I can then focus on strategies to control my anxiety long term.

Stay well, D

4

Its ironic, people tend to suffer symptoms of anxiety when they worry about having anxiety. If you want to effects to have less control over you, then i think you should put your mind at ease. Health is good when we look after it. If you start believing you are okay, the anxiety symptoms will have less control over you.