Article: "Depression, anxiety increase with inflammatory bowel disease"

Active IBD is so unpleasant in terms of quality of life, that I think discovering this association belongs in the "duuuuh" category. Granted, there is a brain-gut connection, but when it comes to IBD and anxiety/depression, I think i t is mostly gut problems causing the anxity/depression and noit the other way around.

I agree that there is a brain/gut connection but I have to disagree with you, Probiotic, that it only works one way.  Anxiety can cause so many physical symptoms and stomach problems are one of the worst and longest-lasting of many anxiety problems.  

When I was in a bad flare last spring, before I was diagnosed with UC and therefore had no benefit of any medications, out of desparation (and on the recommendation of my anxiety counsellor) I took some time off work every day and started a program of deep relaxation every morning.  It didn't totally put me into remission but there was noticable improvement every day.  The bleeding and D stopped and after a week I was able to go back to work full time. 

I don't believe tht anxiety would cause UC, but I do believe, at least in my case, there was definately a connection in stress and flaring.

I'm with Probiotic--this falls into the "duh" category. There's nothing exciting and fun about having a pooping disease. However, it would be really interesting to see if depression/anxiety could be an enviornmental trigger for IBD (that's what I think my trigger was).

Interesting article. I've never understood those doctors who say that stress/anxiety doesn't affect or play a part in one's UC.

Let's see, is it any coincidence that I first got UC the summer going off to college and looking back at all the fear, anxiety, and concerns I had? That the worst flare I've ever had was 6 weeks postpartum right after my newborn DD started having health issues. I was beside myself about my DD and my UC spiraled out of control that I didn't know it was capable of doing. Here I am pregnant again today. I SAILED through my first trimester taking my 6MP and Colazal finding it ironic that I felt better pregnant during my entire first trimester than I had in two years since my flare after DD. Now, I'm in my second trimester when supposedly UC gets even better in pregnancy, but for me I'm starting to have some UC symptoms. Is it a coincidence that my second trimester started at the end of September when the financial markets started to tank. I work in the financial industry and have never experienced stress from my job like the stress I have endured the past two months and have noticed my UC starting to flare again. So for me, I don't care what any research or doctor says, but when there are stressful events in my life it does affect my UC and health. What I'm working on is recognizing the stress before it gets out of control and finding ways to alleviate it.

Thanks guys for your opinions - these are the REAL insider experiences...


Mbx5 - I laughed where you write, "My UC has a sense of humor....and it's not funny."
I think we can all relate.....