Stress and UC

if i had a dollar for everyone who came here saying stress triggered their flare i'd be a rich woman right now. Very rich indeed.

So what is the deal?? looking back at all my flares, they all happened at a time when i was under a 'certain' type of stress -namely stress where i feel like "I'm NOT in COntrol" -yes that's it, i finally admit it. That kind of stress does affect me big time.

But how the heck can stress make you poop blood? That i don't understand!!!!

I wonder if any studies were done to put UCers on antianxiety pills?? I know ive read some studies that did CBT and stuff and the result was that it does not affect the UC flare ups/remissions.

Anyone here got UC while they were NOT under stress?

stress suppresses immune system.

the link is more complicated.

I take something for stress. Maybe I need more. I don't think is causes my flare. I think it exasperates it. Anxiety I find hard to control.Just the idea of flaring gives me anxiety. Better stop thinking about it now!!!!!

I think its more so ridiculous how people assume stress cannot cause any UC symptoms/flares.

If a stress can cause a heart attack, an ulcer, and your stomach to drop/have butterflies in the moment, then hmm...

Michelejc said...
Stress has caused all my flares. Foods only trigger them.

What an oddly phrased statement. How is this different from:

"stress and food together seem to trigger my flares", or

"foods seem to trigger, but stress has preceded each of my flares", or

what is the semantic difference between <i>trigger/> and <i>cause</i>? ... what exactly doe this ood phrasing say?

Unfortunately you won't make any money off of me. lol Stress doesn't effect my UC. I've had some really stressful life events over the course of the last few years when I was in remission with no meds. It did nothing to my gut.

The only time stress effects me is when I get anxiety about leaving the house when I'm flaring. As soon as I left the house, I'd have to turn around and go back home to poop. I started taking a very tiny dose of Xanax to get over this anxiety and it re-trained me to be able to leave the house. I still take Xanax from time to time like if I'm going on a long car ride or carpooling but it's more of just insurance for me (along with some Immodium) that I won't have an accident. It just helps my brain relax.

My UC causes me stress but life events don't cause my UC.

     SO TRUE!!!!  I always suffered from IBS, even from childhood.  The year 1995 - 1996 was a big stress year for me....lost my dad, youngest daughter graduated and went away to college,  oldest daughter's wedding, ill mother moved in with us, we had to sell mom's house, car accident , and mom passing 11 months after dad.  I know I am leaving other items out, but they are the ones which pop into my mind at the moment.  I wasn't diagnosed with IBD until 1998!  Thank GOD I didn't suffer with it when I went through that stressful period.  Maybe I had a delayed reaction.

     After being diagnosed in 98, I enjoyed a two year remission, flared again in 2000 for two months and then another few years remission.  When my condition really took a nose dive...2003, our oldest daughter was going through a nasty divorce, her husband stole money from their account and left her almost destitute.  We helped financially as much as possible so she could keep the home.  But, during this period my conditiion really deteriorated.  I just couldn't get into a long term remission and had sugery in 2010, which saved my life.

     Thank GOD, there is light at the end of the tunnel.  My daughter eventually found a wonderful man who treats the kids great, she married him last July. She also was able to obtain a good position with the federal government (where she worked when she met her first husband) and makes a good living. 

     Things are now calm, but my colon is bye byes .

The very first symptoms I had were when I was about 18/19. I had diarrhea out of nowhere with no discernable reason, a few times I noticed mucus. Its only now that I can look back and see that I probably had uc even back then. At that time it just stopped as soon as it started. I was under a small amount of stress with family life and college but nothing really dramatic. FF to my mid twenties, add 3 kids, living in a foreign country and a LOT of stress in my personal life... and I mean a LOT and I started cramping like I was dying. I had one poop that was pretty much diarrhea and oil/grease. That was after eating a chinese meal and when I was living in a refuge facing the breakdown of my marriage (my marriage is fully recovered). From there my symptoms got worse and worse until I started noticing a little bit of blood, severe cramping started up again and the explosiveness of my bowel movements increased in intensity over the coarse of a year. Not a lot of stress during that year, but this was not very long after those very stressful years. The bleeding and d got worse and around christmas (when I was consuming a lot of sugary home baked goods, chocolate, etc.) I decided I needed to get a dr to take me seriously bc I couldnt get the bleeding/explosive D under control. I had been to the dr but was always told it was probably hemmies (never checked tho ). Every time Ive been in the hospital bc of pain associated with uc was during the weeks running up to christmas, one year it was when we were planning for my mother to come and stay from america, AND it was the weeks running up to christmas.

I can see a link between stress and diet as linked to my uc.

I'm a firm believer in the stress connection. My symptoms started in the summer, after losing my job at the end of June. My colleagues (school library technicians/librarians) and I had spent months lobbying against cuts to school funding which threatened the jobs of library staff, educational assistants, administrative assistants, teachers, etc. Over a two-month span we were told a) there would be massive, unspecified job cuts b) all library staff would lose their jobs c) the library cuts might not happen and finally d) about 50% of library staff were losing their jobs. So yeah, just a little bit of stress in my life. Started having problems in July with frequent BMs and gas, then in the fall the full-blown symptoms hit -- just as I was beginning my campaign running for a seat in a municipal election (i.e. more stress). For me it seems that stress can sometimes cause an immediate intestinal reaction: last week I was at my son's first basketball game playing at the junior high level, worrying as I watched him play against boys three years older, 1-2 feet taller and 100+ pounds heavier (he's small for his age) and my abdomen started churning. A couple of times I thought I would have to run for the bathroom but it passed and once the game was over, I was fine.

Another case for the stress-immune system connection: I have had eczema on my hands for years. It would flare up for a few weeks now and then, then subside. In June 2011 when our school board was going through a previous round of budget cuts and I ended up displaced out of my job, and having to displace someone else out of her job, the eczema flared up and it has never, ever cleared up since.

So yes, I'm a believer.

(P.S. for those of you who were counting, yep, that's three times in less than 12 months that I was told, by the same employer, that my job was gone. Gotta love the education system).

Michelejc said...
DBwithUC: Stress causes my flares and in my opinion, caused me to get this disease. IF flaring, foods are triggers to my flare, making them worse.

Michelejc, curious what kind of stressors were you dealing with onset of disease? And today?

Stress without a DOUBT caused me to flare. Stress without a DOUBT caused my mom to flare.

I replied in my post, but Zoloft changed my mom's life completely. She can finally handle stress. Little things would send her rushing to the toilet. I mean tiny. She could not handle even a minute piece of stress.

With me, I had a ton of stress back before April and flared (before I knew what a flare was...I got that one under control on my own with a crap ton of pepto bismal and altering my diet) and then this past flare I was SUPER stressed. I took on too much. New marriage, searching for a job, bought a house, moved, family problems, starting a brand new job as a 4th grade math teacher/4th grade GT teacher/and a UIL sponser, working my second job as a photographer....yeah. My body finally gave in on me. I will be trying out Zoloft myself at some point. I don't consider myself depressed at all, I just get so stinking anxious and can't turn my brain off.

I am trying to SLOW DOWN. I have been trying out Yoga..I am ADD so sometimes I just feel ridiculous but it does help with sleep. I have started working out to combat Prednisone weight gain which should help with stress. And honestly, just finding out I have UC helped my stress some. I had no idea what was going on with my body. Now I do so I can move in the right direction.

If there is a trigger that is stressing me, I have tried to take care of it ASAP to get rid of it. That way it is gone. I have some social anxiety though and little things will stress me out, so those I am just trying to deal with when I can. I have had to tell my husband not to talk to me at ALL about certain things that stress me out until I feel like I can deal with it. Recently, that involved a skiing vacation we want to go on at the end of this month. Planning a vacation is STRESSFUL. When I was ready to deal with it, I did. But when it brought it up it was during my flare and I just had to tell him not to even mention it to me.

stress makes many people (sick healthy) have loose bowels etc. Often times, before exams, students will experience some minor trouble with their bowels, u always hear about it, it's normal. What's not normal is inflammation of the bowel, I'm pretty sure that stress has little to do with that.

Stereofidelic89:   I got diagnosed with proctitis/mild colitis when I was 49.  I am 54 years old today.  As a teenager, I always had stomach issues and stress. 

Since being diagnosed, I have had approximately 2 flares, due to extremely abusive situations at work.  My flare that started in March was bad. I felt sick, couldn't really eat my normal diet, and was achy.   I went to my GI.  He doubled up my medications.  I left the bad situation at work and went into a much better situation at work.  I was getting better.  Then, Hurricane Sandy hit.  I started flaring again.  This flare was different.  I could eat, was not achy and felt fine.  I am still in a mild flare.  GI started me on Anucort, along with my Lialda.  I also just started taking Enzymes, both food and systemic. 

Somedude:  VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!