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can a flare creep up from stress?

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 1/4/2019 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on Remicade for 5 years and have been symptom free since then smile but these last few weeks have been really stressful for me and when I went to the bathroom this morning there was blood. My stomach isn't really hurting and I am not having any urgency either. Can a flare be brought on by stress?
Posted 1/4/2019 3:35 PM (GMT 0)
Good question. I think so. The brain and the bowels seems to be tightly interconnected! I remember I had a neighbor who had U.C., and she told me she flared up right during the time of her wedding, and it settled back down once the stress was over.
Posted 1/4/2019 3:52 PM (GMT 0)
Anecdotally, many say long term stress (lasting for months) can be a contributing factor to a flare (or a risk factor). As when we're stressed we tend to sleep worse, eat worse, drink more bad things, etc etc. Prolonged stress causes hormonal changes within our bodies that could contribute to immune responses and/or bacterial changes within our guts. There's at least some sort of mind-to-gut connection, and it is possible that it contributes.

Given, some of us have gone through stressful periods of our lives and not flared at all. So not guaranteed.
Posted 1/4/2019 7:05 PM (GMT 0)
Distress and continual stress seems to be a factor....but keep in mind that with any autoimmune disease, it will flare.
With stress, adrenaline can keep things on an even keel until the stressful situation or event diminishes..then the calm after the storm hits.

Stress can be good until it becomes distress. But it affects us subjectively depending on how our body reacts and when it's had enough. This includes emotional, mental and physical such as extreme exercise or other illness.

Did you go through a bout of constipation?

It could be a hemmie or a fissure.....was the blood on the tp and or around the stool?

q
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