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Question about dealing with stress and preventing flares

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/11/2016 10:20 AM (GMT 0)
I get stressed bad from time time. My doctor seems to think stress affects UC a lot and everytime I go see him he makes fun of me saying I must have a heartache. Anyways, I was kind of having problems with a friend of mine the other day, I was very, very nervous and sad. The same day, I pooped a lot, the next day I started bleeding a little. This happens everytime when I get too nervous, it's so quick and it was happening even when I was on prednisone. So stress seems to be a triggering factor for me without a doubt. I'm wondering if there are others like me? Do you use anything at all for a quick relief to prevent a flare up? Anything fast acting I can get from a pharmacy that I can use for situations like this? I don't want to use antidepressants TBH.
I dont smoke or take alcohol.
Posted 10/11/2016 12:17 PM (GMT 0)
An unavoidable part of life is dealing with stress, whether it's money, relationships, school, work, or many other things. As IBD patients, stress can make our symptoms a bit worse and possibly flare. Best you can do is try to mitigate and limit your life's stress factors whenever possible, and change your response to them. Are there certain people and situations that make your stress levels an 11/10? Then avoid them whenever possible. Certain people are just to high drama and maintenance to be around, when literally everything is a crisis with them lol. Some try to live simpler lives, in less stressful occupations with less competition and without overtime and long hours. Sure you may not have the impressive house on the hill and fancy cars, but you also don't have the crazy payments to stress over haha.

However, we cannot avoid all stress. Certainly mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and many relaxation techniques can help you cope with stress in those situations. You want to let stress go, not brood and dwell on it whenever you can. Certainly a challenge for us all, and there's absolutely no easy button.
Posted 10/11/2016 12:35 PM (GMT 0)
Whatever stress you can eliminate, do it. If that means kicking some people to the curb, do it for your own well being and health. It's not them that will be bleeding out of their butts, it will be you.
Posted 10/11/2016 12:42 PM (GMT 0)
The whole thing was actually my fault, if it was someone else's, I'd just get him/her out of my life and be done with it. I'm not known to be merciful when it comes to other people annoying me without reason but I'm kinda, you know, stuck with myself lol.I only get stressed(and sometimes even become obsessed) over my own faults not other people's. That's the reason I look for a different kind of relief, like a sedative, I dunno.
Posted 10/11/2016 1:10 PM (GMT 0)
You could go the natural route with regard to sedatives. Valerian is a herb that is a good sedative.
Posted 10/11/2016 1:51 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, we're stuck with ourselves and all of our own nerves, anxieties and faults. However, we've got a lifetime to improve upon them, to worry less, to enjoy things and live more fully from it. And certainly nobody's perfect, especially me and I don't let it bother me lol (and that's an important thing to admit and let go of). Some of us are naturally more anxious than others are and have greater challenges. Having an escape from your anxieties, outlets to vent our frustrations and distract ourselves from them helps greatly. Invest in hobbies, on daily exercise routines (a jog, spin routine, or other things help us relax, feel good, and help us forget/zone out), getting lost in a book series, music, etc are some examples. You cannot worry about your health, or anything 24/7 and expect to remain sane, outlets are therefore essential.

And if your anxieties are overwhelming (and sometimes life throws everything at us all at once) then it's good to seek out counseling or anti-anxiety medications. Some of us have and it helps greatly.
Posted 10/11/2016 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
How we react to stressors is a big factor though. Take this morning as an example. By all measure, I should be a a great big glowing ball of negative energy right now. Left home later than I should, had to stop unexpectedly at a gas station and poop (thanks uc), and ran into unexpected traffic jam that set me even further behind.

Then and now, I'm very mellow and relaxed. There's certain things that aren't worth loosing/worsening your colon for. We can choose to make things worse than needed by letting them get under our skin and stew over. We're better off to choose to improve our odds by not doing so. Best to laugh it off rather than get mad. It's not easy, takes practice and patience. I'm certainly high strung and it's taken a lot of time to improve. It's very easy to say I'll just worry and stess less, but much harder to actually live by it.

Post Edited (iPoop) : 10/11/2016 8:09:50 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/11/2016 2:09 PM (GMT 0)
Stress should affect symptoms 1st. It will affect motility. To ramp up inflammation, it should take a few days or more. For occasional symptoms during stressful times, I used (and my GI knew) 1/2 Immodium Extra (took care of D, cramping, gas ...)

maybe this would work for you.

I also can worry and obsess. I have not had great success in past with anti-depressants. But I tried a low dose of an anti-anxiety, and it seemed to help me a lot. Just 5mg daily of generic Lexapro.

maybe this too can help.

good luck
Posted 10/11/2016 2:13 PM (GMT 0)
"I dont smoke or take alcohol "


hmmm, maybe you should wink

do you get plenty of sun & exercise - those two things are the key to my mental well being - oh, and a happy colon helps too turn
Posted 10/11/2016 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
You could ask for xanax. I take it sometimes. I would not suggest antidepressants to anyone. Horrible side effects, and when I tried one years ago, it made my colitis flare-up.
Posted 10/11/2016 4:34 PM (GMT 0)
I have major anxiety issues that definitely contribute to feeling extra crappy on a flare.

For me finding a new church and my spirituality helped exponentially. I joined an all women's bible group where we just lean on each other and share everything and its been so great!

I would recommend maybe therapy or meditation as well. There are tons of meditation apps that you can download to your phone that are guided while you go to sleep or whenever.
Also diet and exercise can do wonders. Obviously in the middle of a flare its easier said than done. Cutting all caffeine if you havent would probably help too
Posted 10/11/2016 5:17 PM (GMT 0)
There's good stress and bad stress. You need to find the balance for you.

Your situation seems too fragile regarding flare...are you on meds at this time?
q
Posted 10/12/2016 11:14 PM (GMT 0)
I'm also prone to overanalyze myself and I can beat myself up over stupid things that I say or do. For me, exercise is key. I have a much more positive outlook when I am active. I also ask my doctor to prescribe me canasa even when I don't need it, so I have it on hand. I will use canasa and double my lialda at the first signs of the smallest of gut issues. In my mind, I am getting ahead of the flare with this method and it puts me at ease that I am actively doing something to fight the flare.
Posted 10/13/2016 6:52 AM (GMT 0)
@quincy, I'm on Imuran and Salofalk meds. Doc wants me to do another 8 week Pred taper but I've had enough of that, I'm trying to manage without. I can just take a 15 mg dose right now and it would decrease the symptoms very quickly but it started to make my mental state worse so I don't want to depend on it.

@Uniform Charlie I've been exercising for the last couple of months but around 3 weeks ago, I kinda lost my motivation. Because I have trouble with my appetite and I can't make gains as big as I should. On top of that, I worked for months, then I took a break of 3 weeks and I seem to have lost a lot of strength in that time. It kinda made me think all the effort didn't do squat.
Posted 10/13/2016 9:17 AM (GMT 0)
If you make a strong commitment to change, then even if you don't know how you will do it or what you will do, learn, explore, let go of, experience, etc., you will be on the path of self-transformation.

You don't experience reality, you experience your judgements, ideas, thoughts and so on about what you perceive as "reality". These responses are something you are creating. Because you are creating them, and you are an organism with the ability (in fact, necessity) to be in flux, change and growth, you can change these responses. There are many ways in to doing that, some of which have already been mentioned and include philosophy, meditation, therapy, practices such as acting and dance ... again, if you make a commitment that you will be changing this over time, then you will find your own way as you go along. Professional coaches, therapists and mentors could help but are usually costly. If you can spare the money and you want the change then this would be worth it.
Posted 10/13/2016 11:52 AM (GMT 0)
Great post by chicken wings. If you haven't read "How to win friends and influence people" I would highly recommend it. It gets into a lot of what cw was saying.


Somebody said...
@Uniform Charlie I've been exercising for the last couple of months but around 3 weeks ago, I kinda lost my motivation. Because I have trouble with my appetite and I can't make gains as big as I should. On top of that, I worked for months, then I took a break of 3 weeks and I seem to have lost a lot of strength in that time. It kinda made me think all the effort didn't do squat.

Speaking of "squat," try doing squats...fun and challenging.

You said you can't make gains, compared to who? I think you are doing exactly what you said that you do, focusing on your faults. You are you, not somebody else. Don't compare yourself to other people. I guarantee you that your ideas of how much strength/muscle you can gain in a given period of time and how you look are warped by bs health magazine pictures, people on steroids, or faceless internet braggers. Just get back to it, you will make up what you lost. Don't look for excuses to quit.
Posted 10/14/2016 12:55 AM (GMT 0)
Hey, Soli! I am a very skilled meditator (ex-Zen nun). Were you anxious and depressed even before Prednisone? My anxiety was one of the first symptoms I noticed and it came before my first flare. I knew they had to be related, but the other thing is I also went hypothyroid. I believe the depression/anxiety and the IBD are secondary to a misfiring in the adrenal axis (hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenals). AND that when you take Prednisone, whatever is misfiring can really go hay-wired. At least it did for me. I fell into a pit of depression and fatigue and was convinced my body was dying.

I didn't want to take an anti-depressant but finally found one that worked fairly well. My M.D. explained that over 90% of our serotonin is produced in the colon. At least I was able to drag my carcass around....a low dose anti-anxiety would also help but my suggestion is to have your thyroid tests done and not just the TSH, we know now that the best range for TSH is .3-3.0, but many labs won't flag low until .03 and highs until (sometimes) 6 which is unacceptable.

I agree meditation can help with your response to stress but it does little if anything for the dis-ease itself. I think this is a thyroid issue, at least in my case.

Two helpful things to practice are: (1) DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK. (2)TREAT YOUR THOUGHTS AS THOUGH YOUR MIND IS A HOUSE WITH AN open ENTRANCE AND EXIT. WELCOME YOUR GUESTS, JUST DON'T SERVE THEM TEA then observe them as they exit. This basically means watching your thoughts with out any kind of commentary or disapproval. Just watch 'em die. Same is true for emotions.

Best of health hang in there.
Posted 10/14/2016 2:17 AM (GMT 0)
I have downloaded apps to my phone I really like. It seriously takes practice and you have to make yourself do it, but I have some for self hypnosis, sleep, meditation, and one supposedly has sounds to effect certain activities...think it's called brainwave. Learning abdominal breathing helped too.
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