You can tell something is wrong without knowing it
Nerves can cause you stomach pain – That is something most of us can attest to. Also it fits in well with the predominant dogma of: The brain coordinates our body. However there is growing evidence that it also works the other way around – meaning that your gut can tell you if something is wrong, even if you don’t know it! – and that is what I certainly found to be true for myself.
This long-term study followed up on 800 people – some had only psychological issues in the beginning others only gut problems. After 2-3 years they checked-in with these patients again, and they found evidence for not one- but a bi-directional relationship between the brain and gut (1).
Brain -to- Gut: Patients with psychological co-morbidities later often show symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease
Gut -to- Brain: Patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease are likely to develop abnormal anxiety.
For practitioners that means in the future they might not have to solely relay on a drug based intervention plan to treat inflammatory bowel disease. Patients could also benefit from additional psychological support.
It was 100% true for me – For years and years I have suffers from severe and chronic stomach pains that sadly never caused the necessary physiological or biochemical changes to gain a diagnosis. However, when I put in the work to heal my mind and spirit, my stomach was getting better, too. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to take the bi-directional Bain-gut relationship very seriously and scrutinize you mental health thoroughly before you dismiss it.
Can you also relate? Do you suffer from stomach pains or psychological struggles or are you already dealing with both?
