is there a relation between anxiety and indigestion
anxiety and indigestion, are they linked?
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there must be because a large number of people I know that have anxiety have an indigestion issue, acid reflux, IBS, etc. Because your so anxious and your nerves are on edge your stomach can be all tight and turn on you.
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YES! Anxiety stops your digestion totally, which is why some people feel sick. Its from our fight or flight. Our body prepares for a physical fight when we get anxious and therefore stops digestion so that resources can be sent to areas on the body where its needed, like legs which is where we get the urge to run away from situations
I hope this in-depth reply makes some sort of sense, I'm just trying to remember what I was told in CBT -
its one of if not the biggest part of it for me
its the big symptom of my agoraphobia and i have ibs and from time to time get that hot knife in the gut feeling.
got that bad once i spent a night in A+E with the pain and the panic -
This is a very good question. I think that there are a couple of different answers. Adrenalin does shut the digestive system down during a panic attack or times of extreme anxiety. So yes it can be caused by anxiety/panic.
For me its is the opposite. Eating almost always triggers a panic attack. There is new research being done on CCK ( Cholecystokinin) Its a peptic hormone that is secreted when we eat to contract the gall bladder and to tell the pancreas to secrete digestive enzymes.
Research for new anti panic and anxiety medication uses CCK injected into people (who do not suffer with these) to create panic attacks. If you wiki CCK it will go into more detail.
Recently I found out that I have a spastic gall bladder. I have suffered with GERD for almost a third of my life long before I got panic attacks (but I have always suffered with anxiety) The GERD in my case is caused from bile reflux My body produces to much CCK and at the wrong times. CCK reacts with prolactin which reacts with DHEA which then elevates cortisol levels causing a panic attack. Thats the theory currently theory anyway. So it can be the chicken and egg thing-what comes first the anxiety or the digestive distress?
