Does stress worsen our symptoms?

I was wondering if it's just me, or it's true that when we are under a lot of stress our symptoms go wild...  Let me give you an example.  Last night I was in so much pain, you know the feeling like you want to use the bathroom and nothing comes out, sharp pains etc...  I was so stressed all weekend about many things, anyway I decided to visit my sister just to get out of the house.  So I went to her house, we listened to some nice music, lit up some candles, and discussed various (non-Crohns) things, like our marriages, our kids, we laughed, we hugged, we did some joga (she is a joga teacher).  When I left two hours later, I felt so much better, not 100%, but a lot better.  Is it just a coinsidence, or do our guts really connect with our minds and when we stress they tend to have spasms?  That's what my sister believes anyway, that our mind is the most powerful part of our body, and it can affect all the other parts....

Christina

Oh yeah!! Stress will really do a number on me. As soon as the stress hits I immediately get nauseous and diarrhea. I take Xanax for those bad days, and it really helps to quiet things down for me. Good luck!

Simply put, yes.

Yes, it does. Quite significantly for me. My worst flare up to date was when I moved home from Chicago, had to stop going to college, switch doctors, dealt with drug toxicity from Imuran, found out I had near-osteopenia, found out my mother had breast cancer, and my my insurance company kept calling me asking if I had a living will. I KNOW stress really messed me up. That was also the worst point of my (relatively short) life.

My doctor's kept telling me that I needed to stop being depressed and that would help my symptoms. I was like "Hello! I'm not depressed, I'm responding to the suck of life right now!" How was I supposed to not be depressed?

Anyway, yes, it does. It makes sense too because stress affects everyone's immune systems so much. The more stress people have in their lives, the more often they get colds and the like. I've also noticed there is usually a couple days delay in the Crohn's-stress response.

Fo me, YES!

You bet. Stress free is the way to go,,,,Yeah,,,right,,,like thats going to happen...

I've been thinking about this a lot - as a mom with a full-time job & 2 grade school kids, there isn't a possibility of "stress free." I have noticed over my years of school/work/marriage that acute stress absolutely gives me a stomach ache and usually diarrhea, but that ends as soon as the acute stress is gone. It was the last 18 months of my life that showed me how chronic stress can do damage, too.

We had a house fire in March '09 and from then until last month we were rebuilding our house and recovering our property (still not done with that part). It was extremely stressful, and not a short-term issue. Around 6 months into it I realized I was going to suffer in ways my DH and kids would not, and I asked my DH to consider my health when also considering the cost of our rebuild, the quality of our home, etc. It was an impossible situation. In March of '10 my knee started hurting, then that went to my hands, elbows, hips, back...add in heartburn, irregular bowels...but it wasn't until August that the crap really hit the fan, with diarrheal, mucous, weight loss, belly pain etc. I didn't change my med regimen except to make sure I got my whole Pentasa dose by splitting my midday pills into my morning and night pillbox so I wouldn't forget to take them.

So we moved into our house in early August, the kids started school, things are getting more normal. My knee only hurts a bit now, my hands feel much better. I haven't had heartburn in weeks, and I have even had regular BMs most of the past few days. the pain under my ribs is almost gone.  I think I'm over the worst of it.

This I think is how stress can really make you sick, by slowly degrading your health. Everyone handles stress differently, and finds different coping mechanisms helpful. If I were to do this again, I don't know that I could or would change anything, except maybe asking my GI for entocort when my knee started hurting - that might have staved off the worst of the gut issues. I don't know.

Stress is the enemy! I try to avoid it whenever possible!