Psychosomatic Reactions To Stress, Anyone?

[Deleted member 28403]

Generally asking for advice on that, and other peoples stories.

I've had psychosomatic reactions to stresd for about 5-6 years. Whenever I'm stressed, I get diarrhea, which means that 80% of time I get diarrhea. It lead to me sometimes avoiding eating to not have to poop, but never went to anorexic... I have disordered eating, either eating nothing or overeating due to stress :(

I'm asking for advice how to manage disordered eating, and if there is any way to stop psychosomatic reactions.

Thank you for reading

 

[ms spock]

I do at @otakujome.

I have disordered eating as well. I am struggling with it. It is getting better. But I still struggle with it. No advice just wanted to say that I do, and it is not easy.

 

[shimmerz]

Brief background. I don't feel hunger, I don't feel full. Therefore I have an eating disorder that generally comes up as 'not eating' but can come up as not knowing when to stop eating. .
@otakujome , many of the things that I struggle with I make into intellectual processes. If we can assume that the PTSD is affecting your digestion based on this statement

Whenever I'm stressed, I get diarrhea,

Then I have the following experience (and many more) to share.
What I have learned is that when I don't eat I trigger more easily. Trigger = bad therefore eating is a must.
So, if I can intellectually tell myself that I must eat to avoid triggering, that is a different story. I can't connect to the need that most people have to eat (hunger) but for me I can connect to not wanting to trigger. This ties the physiological need to eat to an emotion. The idea of therapy is to get to the emotion but I use intellectual process (because that is what comes naturally to me) to bring into my sight the emotion behind the process.
Not sure if anyone but me gets what I am saying here. :confused:
So for you diarrhea = bad
Therefore eating = bad
Can you manage the diarrhea = bad by eating more 'binding' foods like cheese, dairy etc? Can you eat at a time that diarrhea is not so inconvenient? Is there anything that you can think through that will make the bad less bad which will allow you freedom to eat?

I'm asking for advice how to manage disordered eating,

I hope the above text addresses this question.
I am of no help at all to you for this

if there is any way to stop psychosomatic reactions.

 

[Ronin]

@shimmerz in many ways ditto.

@otakujome, work at finding what you *can* eat that will give you lesser diarrhoea or none if possible. Don't avoid food altogether even if it's tempting. You can't get healthier with no input, by no food you're adding physical stress not lessening it. You don't have to *like* eating and it may be downright painful for a while, but do it despite the pain, disgust, and discomfort.

 

[Melody coates]

I have diarreah on and off. it sucks and have had it most of my life

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I have IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) closely linked to my stress levels. Also, painful muscles from locking them constantly.
I find that in case of keeping energy locked up in your body, physical exercise is the best thing you could do. Even if it's just going for a walk.

Completely agree with Kaia. If I eat too little (like this morning... urgh) I get more nervous and jumpy, and so things stress me out way more.

 

[Elsa23]

As Radise says it sounds like you have some IBS. The disordered eating doen't help - but I'm guilty of it too. A lot of the time when stressed I have nausea which makes me not want to eat. Trying to eat little and often does help your stomach though. IBS isn;t something you can get rid of but you can manage it. I tend to get it from stress like you, other people might get it from certain foods. Things like managing stress (yes, that great advice that everyone gives :-/ ) does help. Certain foods can make it worse - personally I find dairy, but everyone is different. Peppermint tea helps me and ginger tea for nausea. Have a look on the internet, there is a lot of advice. If you have a particularly bad flare up your doctor might be able to prescribe tablets for a short period. Mostly I manage mine naturally, but recently I had exams and it just got completely out of control so I had to get tablets to prevent me vomitting. The more you know about IBS the better you can manange it. Oh and Ii find if I'm not getting enough sleep it definitely tends to flare up. Sleep and good natural foods and reducing stress are generally the best way to manage it naturally. Hope that helps! :-)

 

[Anarchy]

I know this has a great big YUK! factor, but I have come across anecdotes of people with bowel, allergy and auto-imune problems having good results from giving a home to some parasitic intestinal worms.

I'm not going to recommend it, but will go as far as saying that when I lived in a house with a lot of animals, we had global worming sessions several times a year. I've spent the past few years working on a livestock farm, and have made a point of not taking any worming drugs myself in that time. If I have a few, so be it. So long as my personal hygeine is ok, I won't be spreading them to anyone else.

One of the other things tied in with working with animals (and shit) - Britain had big trouble a few years back with people dying of kidney failure following infection with some strains of e-coli (a common class of gut bacteria), some of those who didn't die, spent a long time receiving dialysis. No livestock farmer / farm worker, or worker in a slaughter plant, has yet become seriously ill with those strains of e-coli. They get exposed to more benign strains (and perhaps some bad strains) every day.