Do anxiety and stress make your symptoms worse?

[bcv513]

Pretty much everything I've read on Crohn's says it's not stress related. But I've had two bad days this week and both were on days where I had big meetings and presentations the whole day. I think I get nervous that I'm going to have to go to the bathroom and call attention to myself by leaving a meeting. I also get nervous that I won't be able to find a bathroom when I need one. This makes things worse. So is this just a coincidence or does it have a correlation with stress?

[Deleted]

Absolutely. I've noticed that any time I have strong emotions, whether they're positive or negative, I have a flair up. Negative emotions, like stress, are definitely worse, though.


FWIW: I have not been diagnosed with Crohns, though it also hasn't been ruled out yet.

[Deleted]

it's pretty fairly supported in the research literature that stress is related to Crohn's activity. stress does not cause the disease (a faulty immune system that attacks the intestines and other parts of the body is at the root of the problem) but stress can certainly exacerbate this issue and worsen symptoms.

I notice a relationship between stress and symptoms. I don't think it is a coincidence that I had a very rare disease complication (gross perforation) 6 mo after beginning graduate school.

[aimeedyan]

Absolutely, and it's pretty well known that the two are connected. Did your GI tell you that it wasn't?

All my flares have been directly connected to a major life event that was stressful. Matter of fact, when I knew something stressful was coming up (ie, a major job loss and cross country move) my GI and I would talk about how to keep the disease at bay knowing that the stress was about to send it through the roof.

The key is to find a way to deal with your stress so that you didn't spiral into a flare everytime. I'm getting better... but the first few years were awful. Course, being in grad school during that time didn't help things.

Hope things improve for you soon. I know it complicates things when you feel bad and have big things on your plate.

[anna7602]

Yes, for sure. There is a disctinct correlation between my terrible flare-ups and stressful situations I was experiencing at the same time.

[midnightrae]

Yes. Stress makes it soo much worse. I hope things get better soon.