Can Anxiety Lead To Gastric Issues?

Posted on Tue, 20 Oct 2015

Question: Hi, started some general anxiety issues around the end of August. First week of August i have done general physical with my GP. Everything was normal. Started to have some digestive issues (lots of gas and discomfort) . My gastro dr. suggested citrucel and pepsid. Pepsid did not help. Citrucel is ok, taking 2 at night, 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Started digestive enzymes with probiotics yesterday due to indigestion. No gas, just full feeling. Supposed to take 1 after each meal. Just took 2 sofar.It helped. Am I overdoing? Going to the bathroom a bit more today. Normal stuff but increased frequency.

Answered by Dr. Amit Jain (40 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Medicines you are taking have minimal side effects so you may continue them

Detailed Answer:
Hello! Thanks for putting your query in HCM. Iam Dr.Amit Jain (DM, Gastroenterologist).
First of all I will like to inform that stress and anxiety both lead to increase gastric issue as both brain and gastrointestinal tract are interrelated and this relation is known as Gut-Brain axis, so I will advise to keep calm and cool as far as possible.

Instead of pepcid since it is not helping you, I will advise you to take Ilaprazole which I found very useful in my patients with acidity

The medicines which you have mentioned above have very minimal side effects or no side effect so it is not overdosing and you may continue them especially when you are feeling better with them

Increased stool frequency as long as it is formed without any alarming feature like weight loss, loss of apetite etc is of no concern, it all may be due to increase intake of fibres only, so if really bothering you , you may decrease the dose of citrucel, may take only night dose. You should also discuss with your doctor about this

I hope I have answered your query. If you have any further query I will be happy to answer that too. Wish you a good health

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Neel Kudchadkar

Follow up: Dr. Amit Jain (6 hours later)

I actually have some loss of appetite and minimal weight loss ( 3 lbs in 2 months) from 103.8 to 100.8 thoug I eat at regular hours regardless. I attributed this to anxiety and 5 mile walks everyday without eating the diet I used to eat because of digestive issues. I actually had my endoscopy and colonoscopy in 2013 at age 55 as part of my check-up. Everything was normal at the time.

My GP has just prescribed Lexapro to my disappointment, since I hate taking these meds. She wants to see if Lexapro will take care of all of the above issues. How long should I give time to digestive problems to go away before going through another colonoscopy. I have no bload in my stool and stool sample is negative for everyting incl. parasites.

Answered by Dr. Amit Jain (3 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Response to medicine will decide the the time

Detailed Answer:
Welcome back. Sorry for delay. I wouldn't be able to guess the time. It will depend on the response to medicine and the response varies individually. You have to be in regular touch with your doctor. Lexapro will also help in keeping you cool and calm.

This much weight loss is insignificant.

Wish you a good health.

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad