Does stress cause UC flares?

Hi everyone,
Well, I was actually close to remission for awhile but had some changes in my business life that caused me a ton of stress - and here I am with UC symptoms again (urgency, loose stools, slight blood, mucus, etc).. It's really scary how quickly this disease can turn on you (for better and for worse). Of course, the stress from work AND the stress from my gut acting up again caused me to eat more "restricted" foods (my comfort) which set me back even further. Vicious cycle. I am realizing that it's not only my restricted diet that keep me out of flares. Although I believe it helped me a lot, it needs to be combined with proper stress management.. In my personal case anyways....
Do you find that stress triggers flares ??
I am really trying to limit the stress /anxiety as much as I possibly can - by exercising, breathing properly, meditating (it's tough though LOL), and i recently started some CBT therapy.. Any other suggestions here of what may have worked for you?
Thanks for all the support
Love you all

When I was first diagnosed, my GI said no, stress was not a factor and I went along with that.
Now I understand that it is a major contributor to my flare patterns. Usually, its a delayed sequence though, as it seems to take a prolonged period of stress to start the breakdown.

Stress is my NUMBER ONE trigger..... absolutely....

I've been pretty healthy up until 2005 when I originally flared 2 weeks after signing a lease on an art gallery I owned for a while... I was doing all the ordering, getting the building all set up with contractors.. all that on top of my regular job doing the bookkeeping for my husband's business..

The next big flare for me was recent when I moved out of my hubby's house.. been flaring ever since but seems to be getting better now that things are settling down...

So YES.... stress is my trigger.... hope this helps.

Stress definitely plays a role with mine.

Count me in on the stress train. I've been working real hard with meditation, yoga and cbt and I will tell you it does help. My problem is that when I begin to feel good I go back to my old habits and neglect my new program and sooner or later I'm flaring again. Although I just came off of an ER visit of 5 days so I'm sticking to this pretty diligently this time.

For me...yes...

Are you on any meds at all?

q

Thanks so much for the replies everyone

Q.. I am not on any meds right now and haven't been for a few months.. All was fine until recently... I unfortunately had issues with the meds...

lild.. CBT can be done at home with a workbook or done professionally. I chose the professional route this time around because I did the books and exercises in the past but did not follow through.. Having a weekly commitment to see someone tends to keep me on track. Will see if it helps at all.

For years I swore stress had nothing to do with my flares. Then I started observing myself and my reactions in different situations. (I posted here officially "eating my words" about a year ago! I am known professionally as being "very good in a crisis" - and it seems that the "crisis" type of stress doesn't bother my UC. But long, drawn out little stressors..... maybe things I'm not in control of....? do tend to bring on symptoms. I'm still trying to figure this out.

I often flare while at my in-laws' for a week (we could make a lot of jokes - !! but in fact they're great folks) and this past year I tried to observe my stress state a lot, and found that I got that "tied in knots" feeling when I was acting as go-between, smoothing out the various family dynamics. So... I caught myself, did some deep-breathing -type "meditation moments" and I remained healthy...!
I talked with my GI some about this; I figure that the stress thing releases chemicals that are inflammatory.

Re. the delayed response some have mentioned - I remember reading 15 years ago about some study which indicated that often a flare happened 6 months after a stressor - so I guess the "flare afterward the stress" is pretty common!