probiotics helped me

[cleo101]

i started getting symptoms such as gurgle noises in my throat every time i ate food and especially when i ate a full meal or had fizzy drinks etc it would become so bad that it would be non stop for hours and hours leading to be feeling sick (but never actually sick) which then lead to me having a phobia of being sick in public, it got really bad that i would cancel to go to meals with friends and would have to carry a plastic bag with me in my hand bag where ever i went just in case and i always had to sit near a toilet or anywhere near an exit so i could escape if i wanted to be sick, which was ridiculous looking back as i was never actually sick just the anxiety made me feel that way.

On top of that i also developed a symptom of excessive swallowing when i was feeling nervous or stressed, which again caused me to feel sick as i would just keep swallowing every few seconds when i didnt need to, leading me to believe i had OCD about this as well. I remember one time in lecture i couldn't sit at the end because all the seats were taken up so i had to sit in the middle which meant it would be so hard to get out, this lead to me feeling really anxious, i couldn't concentrate, the swallowing and gurgling symptoms really worsened and my heart would start racing as i began to feel sick which brought on my fear again, it was like an on going cycle. But i knew i couldn't walk out of the room and let this beat me even though i really really wanted to. Luckily somehow i managed to make it through the lecture and i got home and calmed myself down. This is when i knew something was really wrong i completely wasn't acting myself. Before this i was never an anxious person about anything or easily stressed in the slightest. But i knew that i didn't want to go to the doctors and start taking anti anxiety medication as even though that may help with the symptoms in the short term it wasn't identifying the true cause of why i was suddenly feeling like this and experiencing these symptoms for no reason at all?

I was also reading a book at the time called 'brain maker' which explains the connection between the gut and the brain, stating that if you don't have a healthy gut this can directly affect the brain causing anxiety, depression and a whole load of problems. It also explained that sugary foods, processed food and antibiotics among other things all cause disruption to the gut bacteria meaning there is more bad than good, causing all these side effects.

This is when i had a light bulb moment and started taking probiotics every day along with a multivitamin and liquid iron (as i also found out i was anaemic). After a month or so of doing this every day i began to feel like a different person, i no longer had the OCD swallowing problem, my anxiety is a lot lot better, my emetophobia is so much better i no longer have to be sat right next to an exit all the time and my mood is generally a lot happier and more positive. I really encourage anyone going through a similar thing to research into this and the positive effects probiotics can have not only on your mental health but physical too. Don't be discouraged if you try this and you don't see a difference straight away as it takes time for the bacteria in the gut to rebalance again to a healthy state.

I really hope this helps you and let me know if it does or if you have any questions

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yeah, I've read some on the "second brain", gut-to-brain connection in the past. They are both formed from the same tissue when we develop in the womb and split leaving the vagus nerve to connect them. They know that this nerve carries information to the brain from the gut and vice versa. There have been some studies where they have severed the channel that allows the brain to talk to the gut in order to determine if anxiety can still be transmitted to the brain from the gut or whether it was only the other way around. It was in mice or rats. They found inducing anxiety to the gut caused it to communicate through this nerve to the brain and kick off the fear processes.

So, it makes total sense to watch what you eat and keep the flora in good condition. However, I don't just believe in gut flora because these healthy bacteria can be found in the mouth and anus, they are all the way through us. In women, these bacteria leave the anus and re-enter the vagina too (hence why yogurt is a home remedy in that area as explained by another member on here a while back). So, if you reduce your good bacteria in your mouth, you may get thrush because they are running amok unchecked.

You also have to look at meds. Antibiotics kill good bacteria too. Some people have ended up with anxiety due to antibiotics and NICE have made some early guidance on use of probiotics whilst taking antibiotics as long as under a doctor's supervision until they know more about them. Corticosteroids kill them too. So, if you are an asthma sufferer like me inhaling corticosteroids you end up with a risk from the inhaler itself (have to keep cleaning the mouthpiece) for thrush and then you have this problem too.

We get so many GI issues with anxiety that it's common sense to look at healthy flora. It's running all along that system and helps us to digest, convert things, etc.

[cleo101]

Thank you for your reply i found that really interesting and completely agree. There definitely needs to be more awareness about the gut-brain connection and more research into it so people can start trusting the evidences behind it. I hope doctors do start prescribing antibiotics and probiotics together for every patient which would prevent further problems developing, as many are still not aware of the importance of it as well as good nutrition/vitamin intake.