Can Anxiety Cause Stomach Pain

How To Calm Your Anxious Stomach

Is stress upsetting your stomach? With a worldwide pandemic causing massive disruption to our normal way of life , its not surprising that stress-induced anxiety levels are higher than ever. In order to help you combat unwanted gastric side effects, weve gathered several tips for how to relax an upset stomach when stress is inevitable, and how to know when you should consult a gastroenterologist.

Here Are Six Signs Your Abdominal Pain Could Be Physical

Many triggers of abdominal pain are situational, James Marion, M.D., a gastroenterologist and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, tells SELF. Unfortunately, sometimes the situation in question is a nasty bout of foodborne illness.

Something as seemingly harmless as trying a new dish at a restaurant could leave your stomach feeling wonky. So can making these food safety mistakes when youre cooking at home.

Foodborne illness can set in hours to days after eating something contaminated, though sometimes it might even take weeks, according to the Mayo Clinic. In any case, food poisoning can cause symptoms such as abdominal pain and cramping, nausea, vomiting, watery or bloody diarrhea, and a fever.

While it can seem like gas is only about burping and farting, pain is also a common symptom.

You can also burp, fart, have abdominal pain, and experience other gas symptoms due to things like swallowing too much air as you chew or drinking a lot of carbonated beverages. And sometimes gas is a symptom of a condition like irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease, in which case youll experience other signs that something is physically wrong, like bloody diarrhea and constant exhaustion.

While its not always true that specific abdominal issues come with specific kinds of pain, certain conditions do tend to have characteristic types of discomfort that potentially make them easier to identify.

Can Anxiety Cause High Blood Pressure

No, but it can cause a temporary spike in your blood pressure.

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is a condition in which your blood pressure is chronically higher than it should be. This places extra force on the walls of your blood vessels and, over time, can lead to several health conditions, including:

• Heart attack
• Metabolic disease

General anxiety can cause a temporary, significant increase in your blood pressure, but the effects typically don’t linger long enough to have a lasting impact on your health or cause long-term high blood pressure.

However, if you regularly experience blood pressure spikes due to chronic anxiety issues, your blood vessels can be affected in ways similar to high blood pressure.

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Treatment For Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are very common, affecting 18% of the population. The most common treatment for anxiety disorders is cognitive-behavioural therapy, which can be used alone or in conjunction with medication.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is a form of psychotherapy that treats anxiety by changing a persons thought patterns and behaviours. It has been shown to be effective at treating anxiety disorders. CBT becomes more effective when it is used in conjunction with lifestyle changes like exercise and improved sleep habits.

So, can anxiety cause stomach pain? Absolutely, but there are ways to combat this! For a short-term fix, try something like meditation or breath work to reduce the immediate symptoms.

In the long-term, therapy such as CBT may be helpful for you too.

You may also want to discuss any long-term gut health issues with our nutritional therapy expert Anna. She offers free discovery calls which you can book in here.

Further Reading…

How To Stop These Pains

Most of these aches and pains are treatable with the very same treatments you would use if you had these problems in the absence anxiety. For example, over the counter painkillers are a popular treatment and appropriate stretching or exercise may reduce some of the discomforts. Furthermore, by taking steps to treat the underlying anxiety, rather than simply the pain that you feel, youre more likely to be able to avoid aches and pains happening in the first place.

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What Causes Anxiety Related Upset Stomach

Scientists have many different theories about why anxiety causes an upset stomach. One of the key beliefs is that anxiety causes changes in neurotransmitter function, particularly serotonin. There are serotonin receptors in the gut, and so when your body is experiencing anxiety, it’s likely receiving chemicals that tell it to respond with that upset feeling.

Other causes include:

• Adrenaline Body Changes Adrenaline works with cortisol, the stress hormone, to allow the body to respond to danger quickly. These hormones may change the general physiological traits of the gut. Further, the ratio of good versus bad bacteria in the GI system may be altered by these hormones.
• Slowed Digestion Anxiety activates the fight or flight system. Studies have shown that the speed of digestion decreases as a result of the fight or flight system, and this may cause discomfort in the stomach and intestines as a result.
• Stomach Tension Anxiety also puts a great deal of pressure on the stomach muscles, and these, in turn, put pressure on the stomach. Any stomach pressure has the potential to change the way that your stomach feels during periods of stress.

All of these are potential issues that lead to problems with your stomach during periods of stress.

Can Stress Cause Stomach Issues

Over the short term, stress can causestomachaches, nausea, and diarrhea. In the long term, prolongedstresscan aggravate chronic diseases such asirritable bowelsyndrome and heartburn.

Furthermore, can stress and anxiety cause stomach problems?

People feel the effects of stress and anxietyinmany ways. Anxiety can worsen symptoms ofabdominalcramps and pain and make you literally feel sick toyourstomach. But when is it more than just anupsetstomach? Millions suffer from gastrointestinalproblems,including irritable bowel syndrome.

Likewise, can stress and anxiety cause gas and bloating? People with irritable bowel syndrome arefamiliarwith the bloating, gas, diarrhea andabdominalpain that accompany it. But there is also aconnection toanxiety. When overgrowth of harmful bacteriaoccurs in thesmall intestine, it leads to IBS a gut off-balancetriggersanxiety and stress.

Also asked, can Stomach pain be caused by stress?

Abdominal pain and stress are relatedinmany ways. Having abdominal pain can causestress,especially when it leads to missed school or otheractivities. Butmore often, stress causes abdominal pain, ormakes it worse.These nerves respond to the same stresshormones andneurotransmitters that our brainsdo.

What can anxiety do to your stomach?

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Can Anxiety Cause Shortness Of Breath

Certain anxiety disorders can cause feelings of shortness of breath.

General anxiety increases your respiration rate, causing you to breathe more rapidly than usual. This faster breathing, also called hyperventilation, isn’t the same as shortness of breath, however.

Shortness of breath feels like a tightening in your chest and often comes with trouble breathing. It’s not a common symptom of general anxiety.

However, similar to feelings of chest pain, shortness of breath is associated with panic attacks and panic disorder, a specific type of anxiety disorder.

Since it can be a sign of heart attack or another life-threatening condition, unexplained shortness of breath is a medical emergency. Whether you have a history of panic attacks or not, you should go to the emergency room if you’re experiencing sudden and/or severe shortness of breath.

How To Stop Stomach Cramps From Stress

Heat. Heat can help to relax your stomach muscles.

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How To Control Your Anxiety Upset Stomach

Stomach upset can really put a damper on your ability to live a happy life. Ideally, you’ll need to treat your anxiety to experience a calmer stomach.

Even though anxiety is causing your stomach to feel sick, many of the symptoms can be reduced with various medications. You should always consult with a doctor before taking medication and do not want to rely on medication to cure your upset stomach. However, many people have had success with basic medications that calm the stomach. Common examples include:

• Tums
• Pepto-Bismol
• Rolaids

Eating healthier can also help. Remember that your anxiety is affecting your gut, but it’s not causing the symptoms all on its own. What’s in your stomach has an effect on the severity of the symptoms as well. Eating healthier – especially on days you expect to experience anxiety – can be very helpful. Drinking water may also be useful since water is gentle on the stomach.

You may also try distracting yourself. While your upset stomach may be severe, anxiety causes a tendency to focus on the experience, which causes further anxiety and exacerbates the severity of the stomach pain. A positive distraction, like a funny TV show, can actually make a big difference in the way you experience your upset stomach.

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How To Calm A Nervous Stomach

Given the importance of the psychological process in IBS, it is unsurprising that psychological therapies are an effective treatment option. Several psychotherapies are effective in reducing gastrointestinal distress:

• Gut-directed hypnosis . This hypnosis involves the patient visualizing their gut as a set of slimy tubes and other gut-related imagery. This helps to restore the gut-brain communication to reduce symptoms of IBS. Smartphone-based versions such as Nerva have recently become available, and offer convenient access to hypnotherapy.
• Cognitive-behavioral therapy . This skill-based therapy teaches control over negative thought patterns and modifies patterns of behavior. Relaxation techniques help to control the stress response, and cognitive restructuring allows the patient to avoid catastrophizing. These techniques help to reduce the symptoms of IBS.
• Mindfulness-based therapies. This practice involves attending to the present moment and cultivating non-judgemental attitudes. Mindfulness therapies reduce levels of stress and sensitivity to pain, a key symptom of IBS. The effects have been shown to last over three months , although these therapies can be less effective than GDH and CBT.

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Techniques For Calming Down

Here are some of the techniques clinicians teach anxious children, adapted from CBT and mindfulness training:

Deep breathing: Drawing in air by expanding the belly, sometimes called belly breathing, helps kids relax by slowing breathing, and reducing the heart rate, blood pressure and stress hormones. It can also help relax tense stomach muscles.Mindfulness exercises: Techniques such as focusing on whats around them, what they see and hear, can help pull children away from the anxiety and ground them in the moment.Coping statements: Children are taught to talk back to their worries, Ms. Greenspan explains. They can say, Im feeling scared and I can handle it. Or something along the lines of, Im bigger than my anxiety.Coping ahead: Children are taught that when you have to do something that makes you nervous, it helps to anticipate that you might have some discomfort, and plan what you can do to counteract it, knowing that if you can push through it, it will get easier.Acceptance: This involves acknowledging the discomfort without fighting it. Instead of trying to push the feeling away and get rid of it, Dr. Domingues explains, we ask you to hold onto it and tolerate it and get through it.

What Is The Anatomy Of The Lower Back

To comprehend various sources of lower back pain, it is very important to value the typical layout of the tissues of this location of the body. Essential structures of the lower back that can be associated with signs and symptoms in this area include the bony lumbar spine , discs between the vertebrae, tendons around the spine and discs, spine as well as nerves, muscle mass of the lower back, interior organs of the hips and abdominal area, as well as the skin covering the back area. Can Stress Cause Lower Back And Abdominal Pain

The bony lumbar spine is made so that vertebrae piled with each other can provide a movable support structure while also securing the spinal cord from injury. The spinal cord is composed of worried cells that extends down the spinal column from the brain. Can Stress Cause Lower Back And Abdominal Pain

Each vertebra has a spinous procedure, a bony prominence behind the spinal cord, which guards the cords worried tissue from influence injury. Vertebrae additionally have a solid bony body before the spinal cord to give a platform appropriate for weight bearing of all cells above the butts. The lumbar vertebrae pile quickly atop the sacrum bone that is located in between the butts.On each side, the sacrum meets the iliac bone of the hips to form the sacroiliac joints of the butts.

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Eat Properly To Help Your Digestion

It’s very easy to spend our working lives eating on the move or at our desks, gulping down food between meetings and then crashing out in front of the TV with a takeaway in the evenings.

But eating this way can play havoc with our digestive system.

Follow some basic rules to prevent problems:

• Do not rush your food. Take the time to eat slowly. Try putting your fork down between bites and chew each mouthful well.
• Do not overeat. Reduce the size of your portions at mealtimes, or try eating 4 to 5 small meals instead of 3 large ones.
• Eat regularly and try not to skip meals.
• Avoid eating a big meal just before you go to bed. Eat your last meal at least 2 to 3 hours before lying down.
• Make sure you have plenty of water to drink.

How To Stop Anxiety From Causing Further Back Pain

Under the assumption that your back pain is caused by anxiety, treating that back pain does require a focus on the pain itself. Unfortunately, while treating anxiety can reduce your back pain in the long term , breaking the cycle of back pain depends in large part on your ability to also fight the back pain itself. Consider the following tips:

These are all traditional ways to deal with back pain unrelated to anxiety, but they’re still effective because once back pain starts, it needs to be stopped using traditional methods.

But of course, controlling your back pain is only step one. You will still need to learn ways to cope with anxiety so that you can stop your anxiety back pain from occurring again.

SUMMARY:

Anxiety causes muscle tension, inactivity, changes in posture, and other changes that can all lead to back pain. The pain is real, so over the counter painkillers, stretching, and similar treatments might be needed to eliminate the pain. In the long term, it becomes important to stop the anxiety.

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Anxiety And Acute Stress Reaction

The anxiety and acute stress reaction can be triggered by a variety of stimuli. These reactions are caused by the release of adrenaline in the human body.

Stress is an inevitable part of life, but it becomes dangerous when its a chronic problem. It can lead to mental and physical health problems, such as high blood pressure or digestive issues. Anxiety is often the root cause of prolonged stress because it causes people to worry about events they cannot control or anticipate.

Symptoms Of Abdominal Pain

Abdominal pain can range from mild to severe. Depending on how you deal with stress, stomach pain may be the only obvious symptoms, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. By internalizing the stress manifests itself despite their efforts to hide it. Abdominal pain can also lead to side effects such as lack of concentration and irritability.

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Your Upset Stomach May Be Cause By Stress

An upset stomach is one of the most common symptoms of stress and anxiety. This can come from a single stressful moment like public speaking or a bad breakup or chronic worry over time from work or a global pandemic.

If your stomach hurts without any obvious cause, such as food illness, its possible that feelings of stress or anxiety could be the trigger. In addition to stomachaches, stress can also cause other digestive problems:

• indigestion
• hunger
• heartburn

While these symptoms may stem from stress or anxiety, they can also become a source of stress. For example, someone who experiences diarrhea or urgency with bowel movements may fear having an accident in public this can prevent them from leaving their home or limit the places they go.

Coping Techniques And Resources To Help Kids Thrive

With functional abdominal pain, there isnt necessarily a definite treatment or medication that will cure kids discomfort.

Its more about helping these kids learn coping techniques and identify the triggers that exacerbate their symptoms, said Pattamanuch. Children may need more screening for depression or anxiety from a mental health professional. There are helpful clinics at Seattle Childrens for this.

Some kids may be referred to the Biofeedback Clinic, where they can learn relaxation techniques to decrease the intensity of their pain. They may also be referred to the Pain Medicine Clinic where they could undergo an in-depth assessment to help manage their pain.

Aside from these resources, Pattamanuch often works with kids on simple techniques they can practice at home and implement into their daily lives to alleviate their recurring abdominal pain and discomfort. These include:

While all kids have unique needs, some may require medication to help with their symptoms. However, Pattamanuch says theres careful consideration when offering this treatment.

When needed, we have some medications we can prescribe to help relax the gastrointestinal tract, but often they arent useful because theyre not addressing the root cause of the issue, said Pattamanuch. Its most beneficial for kids to learn how to get in-tune with their psychological triggers and try to address those issues first and foremost.

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