Poll Does Spicy Food Affect Your PTSD?

[Blues in NYC]

Needing some lighthearted distraction today. So I'm posting this poll that touches a topic of interest but of only moderate import:

How many folks here with PTSD have a taste for spicy food?
How many folks here struggle with PTSD related digestive symptoms?
And how many of us would avoid the spice, PTSD or no?

 

[Dylan]

Ha, ha! Thanks, Blues.

I HAVE read that ingesting really spicy foods actually causes the body to release some pain endorphins (their chemical make up being similar to morphine - kinda like the runner's high without the effort).

I've long thought that that is a big part of my liking extremely spicy/hot foods (I put Tapatio sauce or Tabasco on just about everything - including pancakes).

-Dylan

 

[becvan]

I LOVE hot spicy foods. Unfortunately my body doesn't. My IBS makes me pay for days if I touch it. *sighs*

bec

 

[kers]

I can't take spicy foods, not fatty, rich foods. I suspect it's IBS related to PTSD, because I'm more tolerant on calm days and less so on stressed days.

 

[dust]

Hi,

I love, love, love spicy foods. Yum, yum... yes, I think the endorphine hit is part of it. Doesn't seem to make much difference to digestion.
Not good on others though - particularly wheat which makes me really hyper.

Thanks for the thread,

dust

 

[2quilt]

I can't even eat mild green chile without paying for it with diarreah. It's almost illegal for a New Mexican to have tummy problems from green chile since we have to add it to everything except coffee.

 

[Deleted member 541]

Actually the hotter the better. Italian hot peppers fried with eggs.....OMG to die for!!!!! A tad hard on the digestive track, but worth the extra time in the bathroom....LOL!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Blues in NYC]

Actually the hotter the better. Italian hot peppers fried with eggs.....OMG to die for!!!!! A tad hard on the digestive track, but worth the extra time in the bathroom....LOL!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in agreement here. But I just find it funny, in a perverse way, that since a few months before my diagnosis I've found I pay a little extra now for the hot hot... be it indian, thai, mexican or korean. But I still love the food! And when I can, make that agreement to pay my dues the next day or two.

Thanks everyone for posting your thoughts and taking the poll. Brings me a smile.

 

[cragger65]

I have loooooooved spicy foods since my twenties, when I was intoduced to the Kent Taverns infamous "5 Alarm chicken wings". I took one bite and downed half a pitcher of beer in a vain attempt to escape the pain. But it tasted SO GOOD, like nothing I had ever experienced before, and it began a love affair that absolutely enthralled me for nearly 20 years. Still love a good hot wing and spicy ethnic dishes, but the price I pay and how I feel about it has changed RADICALLY. I never even considered the connection between PTSD and my change of attitude toward hot food. It's so obvious to me now.

 

[Blues in NYC]

It's so obvious to me now.

Easy easy there! Consider the source! This is coming from my own noodle brained hypothesis! No idea if there really is a connection! Hence the basic preliminary research of this all-too-unscientific poll! *grin*

(think I used enough exclamation points, by the way?)

 

[Marlene]

I love spicy food! I grew up eating lots of hot, spicy food. I still love it. The only problem is that they don't love me any more. I used to have a cast iron stomach.

I've noticed when my symptoms are high that I don't want spicy food. I tend to crave easy, comfort foods like soup, rice, bread. I think that's because my anxiety churns my whole digestive system that anything other than mild, mild, mild is cause for more churning.

I still eat spicy and deal with the affects later. It's so worth it to me.

Lisa

 

[cragger65]

No, seriously. I've become so sensitive since my breakdown, I can no longer tolerate the upset to my stomach and bowels. The timing of this change in my tolerance coincides perfectly with my breakdown and the onset of PTSD.

I've got to learn to love the burn again!!! ;P (and grow a thicker skin ;) One day, one step in the right direction at a time.