Mental Health & IBD

Hi all,

Just wondering what everyone’s thoughts are about the relationship between mental health and IBD?

Not sure if I’ve clicked on something on google/ Facebook and now I’m being targeted, or it’s just the ‘new’ thing, but everywhere I look lately there seems to be some dr or another talking about the connection between mental health and chronic illnesses, especially auto immune conditions. I’ve seen different versions of this along the lines of - living in fear/ not with love and abundance/ not being true to yourself or listening to your soul/ not being open with your true feelings etc. along with the usual mental health issues that are apparently, according to these drs, causing our bodies to turn on us.

I’ve never considered myself to have mental health problems. I’ve experienced anxiety when I’m worried about pooping my pants in public, but wouldn’t say I’m an anxious person. Pred makes me moody but thankfully I’ve not suffered with depression. I did loose my mam as a teenager which messed me up for a while and I admit decades later I still have a few hang ups from that time & may fall into the category of ‘not being open with my emotions’, but do you think something like could be a contributing factor to why we got this disease?

My gp is into holistic medicine and has briefly spoken to me about the gut/brain axis and I’ve been asked to complete several surveys over the years through the teaching hospital I see my gi through, which usually delve deeply into mental health questions, but I rarely see anyone on here talking about mental health and it’s effect of our disease, despite many trying other holistic approaches to manage their symptoms. I don’t think my gi has ever asked after my mental health either.

Just curious to everyone thoughts on this?

I think the prospect of a lifelong illness wears on many of us, as time goes on. If it was a one time sprint, I think anyone could make it through it with their self intact. But over the decades, it just gets frustrating and we have little control over the random flares and other issues that pop up (joint aches, fatigue, etc).

Whether their's a physical reason (chemical, hormonal, etc) or just the emotional-scars that build up over time, I dunno. Certainly more of us have issues with anxiety and depression then the average population. You do what you can to enjoy the good and try and stay hopeful, some days that's easier than others.

iPoop said...
I think the prospect of a lifelong illness wears on many of us, as time goes on. If it was a one time sprint, I think anyone could make it through it with their self intact. But over the decades, it just gets frustrating and we have little control over the random flares and other issues that pop up (joint aches, fatigue, etc).

Whether their's a physical reason (chemical, hormonal, etc) or just the emotional-scars that build up over time, I dunno. Certainly more of us have issues with anxiety and depression then the average population. You do what you can to enjoy the good and try and stay hopeful, some days that's easier than others.

Thanks for your reply. Yes I agree that any sane person would be ground down mentally by this awful disease. Of course your going to feel anxiety if you can’t leave the house without the real risk of pooping yourself! I have just been wondering if it’s mental health problems contributing to this disease, or if it’s the disease contributing to the mental health problems. I think your right & it is the latter

My first flare was preceded by several months of anxiety. I even began to develop claustrophobia. It seemed to come out of nowhere. Never experienced anything like it before.

There is a lot of research regarding mental health and the microbiome going on now and I'll be interested to see what comes out of it. I've read our guts are like a second brain.

Before my diagnosis with UC, I was a hopeless-optimist and very happy in my life. I had gotten married a few months before my diagnosis and still in that honeymoon bliss state of mind. So I wouldn't say my bad state of mind started my UC. Maybe the gods looked down on me and said "This idiot is too happy and that deeply annoys us, lets smite him with pestilence for our own amusement, ha! Take that!"

No fan of blame the victim. If only you'd not done X or Y then you would've never gotten this disease. It's total B.S. as nobody knows the cause or cure.

While it might be a nice life goal to be less stressful/depressed, have a healthier lifestyle/diet, or be more in-tune with nature or spirits, it doesn't undo the damage that opening the Pandora's box of UC did to us.

Hmm, I know before I was dx'd with crohns I was a highly functional person. I did not have problems with depression or anxiety. I had other chronic health problems but I was able to manage those & live life.

I had a long history of gi issues but never once did the word crohns ever get mentioned. In 2002, 7 weeks after having my gallbladder taken out we were on vacation in Mexico. I got really sick on day 2, day 3, I was in an ER & eventually told it was appendix. They took it out to find that wasn't the problem. I got lucky, the surgeon opened me up again to find an abscess & complete blockage in the small bowel. Had a resection & finally made it home. I thought that I was fixed & 4 gi's claimed I was cured. I wasn't & it took 2 yrs & a 5th gi to get treatment.

Those 2 years of no treatment did a number on me not only physically, but mentally. I decided everything was in my head, after all these 4 gi's said I was cured. I had a melt down & ended up getting professional help with meds & a great psychologist for almost 2 yrs.

I got so tired of hearing from some family members if I changed my diet, exercised, tried yoga, I would be so much better off. In their minds I was making myself sick, lol. Having no control over your bowels is not a laughing matter. I had accidents in public, pretty much a daily thing. That one will make your head spin.

To blame an IBD on mental issues is a crock as far as I am concerned. It's a good thing no dr ever said that to me too.