stress and diarrhea

[Elizabeth74]

stress and diarrhea

Hi - I've been struggling with diarrhea all day, and would love to hear people's thoughts on whether this is stress/anxiety related, or something else.

I have generalized anxiety, and occasional panic attacks. My anxiety always manifests in my stomach and intestines: nausea, diarrhea, giant butterflies and stomach jumpiness and tension, tight throat. I also have a severe phobia of vomiting, which obviously makes this that much more difficult to handle.

Last weekend was the one-year anniversary of my father's death. He died very suddenly and unexpectedly. Four months later, my mother also died very suddenly and unexpectedly. I've been preparing her condominium (which was also my childhood home) for rental for the past several months, and I just handed over the keys to my first tenants on Monday. I'm getting married in Italy in less than 2 weeks, and while I'm very much looking forward to the trip and wedding, there is also a lot of stress involved with it, including fear of flying, fear of being sick during the trip, and the emotional impact of getting married without either of my parents to witness it. I also have a stressful job that I'm hating right now.

I was surprised at how well I'd been doing this past week, given all the stress, but now it seems to have caught up with me. I haven't been getting much sleep, and today I've had moderate diarrhea all day, and am feeling generally panicky, shaky, jittery. Am I actually sick, or could all of this be stress/anxiety-related?

Thanks for any feedback. And best wishes to everyone else dealing with anxiety issues today.

[JulyJuniper]

First of all, Congratulations on your wedding!
I'm not a doctor, but I would say that diarrhea is definitely a sympom of stress. Have you ever been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome? That's what it sounds like.
When I get diarrhea I take Immodium and it usually helps. But if you have it for more than a couple days you should see a doctor, especially before your trip. Also, diarrhea can happen when you're dehydrated so perhaps with the stress of everything you're not drinking enough water?
The other thing that I've found to help with stomach issues is drinking chamomile tea. It's decaffeinated so it won't worsen your anxiety and I've read that it calms your intenstines.

I hope that helps. Good Luck with your wedding and all the things you need to do for your trip!

[Brad72]

Hi ELizabeth74,

I think what you are feeling at the moment would be normal for anyone in your situation, whether you had GAD or not. Personally I think you should congratulate yourslef for everything you have achieved lately. I don't think you would find anyone who didn't get nervous before their wedding, before travelling overseas, or having a job that caused them stress. Remember also that sadness is a perfectly normal human emotion so don't feel bad that your are feeling this way with regards to your parents not being at your special day. I am sure they will be watching over you with much pride and love.

Diarrhea can certainly be caused by anxiety. I used to get it all the time before I got control of my anxiety. I used a few different tactics. Fisrtly if I knew I had a function where diarrhea could be a problem I took an "imodium" diarrhea tablet as recommended by my doctor. This included my wedding day because I was pretty nervous, but all that dissapeared when my beautiful wife walked down the isle. I also noticed the triggers and thoughts that came with the diarrhea and once i shifted those negative thoughts for postive ones everything improved.

Fear of vomitting. Mmmmm, that sounds familiar. Till a few years that was a big one for me then I reallised that the stories anxiety had been telling me about me vomitting were completely false. I am 39 and the last time i vomitted was when I was 15. So what was the likelyhood that I will vomit? Well, very rare. I also asked myself if i do vomit what is the worse that can happen. I have watched my wife and kids vomit many times. Nothing bad hapenned to them, in fact it usually made them feel better.

I thing the same approach can be used for your fear of getting sick on your holiday. Ask yourself a few questions. What is the likelyhood of getting ill. Where is the evidence that you will get ill. If you did get ill what is the worse that could happen based on your previous experiences of getting ill. We can spend a lot of time and enery worrying about things that are out of control and that have not even happened yet.

I wish you all the best and am sure that you will have a wonderful wedding and holiday.