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View Full Version : Stomach, bowel and back pain.



Cococj
11-07-08, 17:35
Well the title is a little misleading as I'll be covering everything in the bottom half of the body. I was diagnosed with IBS a few years ago and there's no doubt it's worse when I'm anxious and there's no doubt I'm anxious at the moment but I have to say my stomach and bowels haven't had this much of a prolonged problem for a while and I'm wondering if anyone else suffers this badly when they're in the darker stages of their anxiety.

A quick list of the specific symptoms I'm talking about:

Pain/discomfort down the left and right side of the body, from ribs to hips.
Pain/discomfort in the stomach area of the abdomen.
Back pain running across the spine about half way up the back.
Back pain running down and parallel to the spine about an inch to the right of the spine. (possible tendon problem?)
Lower back and hip pain, worse when after sleeping mostly.
Weakness in the external abdominal muscles, spasming.
Excess acid, reflux, burning sensations across the upper body.
Problems swallowing.
Spasms in the oesophagus when tensing the abdominal muscles. (eg when rising from laying to standing)
Muscles in lower body feel heavy, especially when sitting, like I'm being pushed into into my chair.

Now at one time or another I've had most of these symptoms and I've had problems swallowing for over a year in the past which resolved itself. The excess acid and reflux I can sometimes control through diet and the use of Lansoprazole and Gaviscon. I'm somewhat used to that but the concerns I have specifically are:
Lower back and hip pain, worse when after sleeping mostly.
Weakness in the external abdominal muscles, spasming.
Spasms in the oesophagus when tensing the abdominal muscles.

It feels like the muscles down there (both external and internal) have a mind of their own. I'm actually asking for some reasurrance here more than anything. Do any of you get things like this that affects the internal and external muscles. Could the external muscles be tied to my back pain (which at times is severe). The pain on the spine feels like someone's tied a rope around it and is twisting, it feels squeezed. It's around the height of where my diaphragm would be when I breathe out. And it does increse the pressure on it when I breathe depening on the position. The pain running parallel to the spine and down my back is slightly to the right of the spine and bothers me more when I'm bent over or in bed on my side with my legs curled up.

I'm wondering if anyone here gets these interrelated problemsm, sufferers of back pain and IBS and anyone else with a theory please add your thoughts :)

pageste
14-07-08, 23:17
I was very interested to read your comments, I have had some serious illness in the last couple of years plus several issues that have pushed my anxiety levels sky high. I have in the past been diagnosed with IBS , I also have heart issues. The point is I suffer from so many and various symptoms that I hardly ever go to my GP with them because I think I know that they are almost certainly caused by my heightened anxiety levels. Recently I have had incredibly pain in my abdomen, Ive had really excessive acid in my stomache and as I write this I am in a lot of pain all around my upper chest and back. The problem I have is that by the time I get an appointment the symptoms have changed and I never seem to be able to trace a root cause. If I go along to the GP with a long list of different issues he just says "anxiety", the problem is I dont know how to change the situation, am I anxious because I dont feel well or do I not feel well because I am anxious ?
I have also had the strange muscle feelings and bouts of being dizzy, unable to focus properly, constipation followed by diahrea etc etc.
So no your defintely not alone in suffering a multitude of problems but as to answers I have none at this moment in time.
As an aside I am on about 5 different perscription drugs and all of the above are listed amongst them as possible side affects. Hmmmmmm

JoT
15-07-08, 00:37
I think that when we are anxious, pains and discomforts which have always been there become a massive big issue, you feel it so much worse and focus in on the pain in your mind, intensifying it and then becoming anxious about it, then it becomes a viscious circle of pain and constant analysing of how the pain feels. Does that make sense?


The reason I think this is because I have always had lot of visual disturbances, lights in front of my eyes etc. When I am not anxious i see them but I don't really think too much about them, but when I am anxious they become an issue, and then I think they are a precurser to something sinister.

I have a tiny lump in my upper arm under the skin and it's been there about a year - I saw the doc about it when I first noticed it and he said it's harmless but if it changes shape, blah blah blah (you know the drill). When I am not anxious it is just that, a tiny lump under the skin, today I have been experiencing shooting pains in my arm, and I am focusing in on it, thinking ooh, maybe it has got bigger and that it could be a tumour of some sort.

It's the nature of our beast....

Cococj
15-07-08, 01:20
Hi JoT!

Good to see you in another one of my threads and thanks for your comments the other night.

Actually I do know where you're coming from as in the past I've had chronic back pain which lasted months before and there was nothing physically wrong with my back per se.

The reason I asked this time over before is I think it's the combination of all these symptoms at once. I've had the majority of them at one time or another and individually they don't bother me.

Unfortunately my anxiety is mainly health related and although this isn't always the case things do manifest themself in the areas of my body where I think a problem exists. For example for the last month I've convinced myself I have an aortic aneurysm despite the fact that at my age (30) and with no trauma or predisposing factors it is exceptionally rare it is nevertheless a recurring thought. Though I do my best to banish it from my mind it recurs.

Now at the moment the combination of pains and discomfort in my back stomach and general abdominal area have all combined at once which is what's made me especially anxious.

Also unlike before I think I've actually done something to my back muscles, through probably bad posture and too much tension. So I'm trying to gently stretch and exercise and this helps somewhat, not necessarily immediately but it does. But I need to distinguish between what is referred pain from my stomach/IBS and what is actually muscular before I think I can get past this idea I'm about to die of some rare vascular event :)

What isn't helping with that at the moment is my legs as my feet are permanently cold but I'm fairly sure that's the way I sit in this stupid chair infront of my computer so I can rationalise that. Would that I could do that all the time I'd not have such a problem with my anxiety :)

JoT
15-07-08, 09:50
Hi Cocoj,

I think most of us on here are blessed with vivid imaginations and are great at catastrophising everything - maybe we should write a book :D

Yes posture plays a big part in general body discomforts, how about trying pilates or yoga? Might help relax you a little too.

I've got a Wii fit and it's really good for making sure you do the exercises correctly - so you don't do yourself an injury.

Jo x

Slogan
28-11-08, 10:19
Im suffering all thuis at the moment tut tut been a long term P.A. G.A sufferer in to year 10 now gulp......Always ok with older symptoms it the new ones that freak u out xxxx:shades: