Anxiety and indigestion

[Slp6]

I have been under a lot of stress lately and have some pretty severe anxiety. With this anxiety I have become really focused on my eating and digestion. I seem to be having more indigestion and now I'm concerned that I have stomach cancer and that is just exasperating the symptoms. I feel like it is probably anxiety related but I don't want to blow something serious off either.

[Paxiled]

Digestive problems are a big problem for anxiety sufferers in two ways:  we tend to eat poorly to comfort ourselves and eat too fast as we're nervous so we don't chew out food thoroughly enough.  Often we are anxious because we lack certain nutrients, such as magnesium or we've had a die-off of our beneficial flora, which are very important in digestion.  The other is that the meds taken for the problem have as one of the most common side effects digestive problems.  A couple of ways to make it easier is not to eat and then lie down right away -- that causes the digestive juices to travel up instead of down.  You might have a poor diet that doesn't suit you.  You might have food allergies or intolerances you don't know about.  It might be anxious stomach, like getting butterflies when you're on a roller coaster.  There are some gentle natural remedies that can help this, including taking bifidus based probiotics, aloe vera juice, DGL, peppermint oil caps, and other things that don't cause any permanent change in your stomach's natural way of doing its job but can soothe the problem.  That won't solve your anxiety, but it can help this problem at least without having to take more drugs.  

[Paxiled]

And an easy thing to try is cutting out wheat and dairy.  They're the most common sources of food intolerances.  Again, won't solve the anxiety problem, but at least your stomach won't hurt.  And one thing I've found that helps me is doing abs -- they seem to help with the bloating and make it easier to go to the bathroom regularly.  Helps me, anyway.

[specialmom]

Hi.  I understand health anxiety.  It's hard to stay focused on reality when our brain starts going to 'what if'.  But you have to try.  Indigestion, first of all, is not listed as a sign of stomach cancer.  Heartburn can come about from what we eat, carrying too much excess weight, stomach upset from anxiety (?).  What do you do to treat your anxiety?  I think that is the key here to feeling better.  We can become hyper aware of every little thing when anxious about a particular health concern and imagine all sorts of things.  Heart burn is common, VERY common.  Cancer is unlikely and I'd talk to your doctor about reflux/gerd and anxiety as separate issues.  good luck