Why can’t I believe this isn’t crohns

[Elen]

IBS and other gastro issues (GERD etc.) can be attributed to diet. My wife and I follow the FODMAP diet. It's really helped.

In addition to a PPI we take, we follow this as close as possible. Also, when you start, keep a food diary (for a month or so) so you can determine which foods aggravate your problem.

Positive thoughts

Jonny this advice has ben gven to you on numerous posts, perhaps time to seriously look into it

[Noworryjonny]

Hi I went to a really nice restaurant in London yesterday and had a Italian tapas style meal, I had sausage with beans and lentils, carbonara which was very rich, chicken wrapped in pancetta, about 2 hours after this I had to rush to toilet and had diarrhoea and stomach pains, no blood or anything, is this normal for ibs? I’ve had blood tests and poo sample tests which all came back normal


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[mill6tee7]

Hiya bud, I'm going through this right now, I wouldn't worry about it too much, worry is what feeds it and can go round in circles if you dwell upon on it, it will pass, you will learn that's it's just your negative thoughts that's causing it

[Angelai]

I don't know if it's normal, but you have described perfectly the feeling I get sometimes

[Midnight-mouse]

Hi, I have been told I have ibs, is having a weird feeling at the pit of your stomach like a nervous feeling before a exam and like the urge to poo normal with ibs?

The more I think about it the worse I get




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Oh yes! This is how my anxiety mainly expresses itself these days. It’s not pleasant at all that’s for sure. More worry will only make the sensation worse.

Positive vibes

Mouse


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[Noworryjonny]

Hi guys I’ve been struggling with health anxiety for 15 years, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy!

My doctor has told me about somatic symptom disorder, and this is so me!

Basically the minute I get a physical sensation ie foot pain I google it see that it could be one of many things but then latch onto the most sinister.... I worry about spine problems etc so within a day my back starts to really hurt, my pelvis area aches, my heels really hurt so before you know it I have a spine problem! Or so I think!!

I’ve had numerous docs tell me is stress and anxiety and I am 6ft 3 so expected to get the odd pain in my back and I’m a retail manager on my feet 10 hours a day too, I’ve also had a MRI which came back clear!

So what I’m saying is our minds can literally give us symptoms of what we think we might have, I used to be worried about MS and I started losing my vision, dropping things, tripping over... this was 12 years ago and haven’t had any problems since so I’m safe to say i can rule MS out!

So at the moment my back is my main worry along with me aching feet but in a months time I know it will be a new worry...

Anxiety is so draining :(


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[ankietyjoe]

I have a slight issue with giving health anxiety a name like this, as it takes the responsibility away from the person suffering with the health anxiety. You/we are not the victims of a disorder, but merely suffer with self induced anxiety because of bad behavioural choices. As you mentioned in this post, you focus on a sensation and then you google it. That is the core issue, not an abstract 'disorder'.

I'm not critisising at all, I've done it myself. But we have it within ourselves to step away from the HA 100% simply by making a few simple (but difficult to implement) changes.

[MyNameIsTerry]

The thing that stands out to me here is you are in the UK and the doctor is using a classification from the US APA's DSM system, which we don't use since we use the WHO ICD instead. This disorder is known by a different name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somati...ealth_Problems

If you look at the DSM you would see:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

Somatic symptom disorders used to be recognized as Somatoform disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the American Psychiatric Association. The following^[ were conditions under the term Somatoform Disorders:

• Conversion disorder: A somatic symptom disorder involving the actual loss of bodily function such as blindness, paralysis, and numbness due to excessive anxiety
• Somatization disorder
• Hypochondriasis
• Body dysmorphic disorder: wherein the afflicted individual is concerned with body image, and is manifested as excessive concern about and preoccupation with a perceived defect of their physical appearance.
• Pain disorder
• Undifferentiated somatic symptom disorder – only one unexplained symptom is required for at least six months.

In the newest version of DSM-5 (2013) somatic symptom disorders are recognized under the term Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders:

• Somatic symptom disorder: Will take over many of what was formerly known as somatization disorders and hypochondriasis
• Factitious disorder: Can be either imposed on oneself, or to someone else (formally known as factitious disorder by proxy).
• Illness anxiety disorder: A somatic symptom disorder involving persistent and excessive worry about developing a serious illness. This disorder has recently gone under review and has been altered into three different classifications.
• Somatoform disorder not otherwise specified (NOS

WHO classify conversion disorder as Dissociative Disorder, these have their own category. They also have a Somatoform Disorder section that contains the others such as the typical view of Hypochondriasis.

But then what you described could also fall into OCD too.

He may mean he believes you to be more in the Somatoform Disorders category, as would be someone diagnosed with something like Hypochondriasis or Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), so it's still relevant even though older terms or terms from revised manuals and it may be getting you closer to the real disorder rather than a vague HA label. It can be helpful to know what you have and plan accordingly although there is likely a lot of crossover in treatment. It might just be the name differs between US & WHO standards and it can be helpful to know so they get the right Googling back of them rather than end up confused between categorisations.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I have a slight issue with giving health anxiety a name like this, as it takes the responsibility away from the person suffering with the health anxiety. You/we are not the victims of a disorder, but merely suffer with self induced anxiety because of bad behavioural choices. As you mentioned in this post, you focus on a sensation and then you google it. That is the core issue, not an abstract 'disorder'.

I'm not critisising at all, I've done it myself. But we have it within ourselves to step away from the HA 100% simply by making a few simple (but difficult to implement) changes.

From my understanding it doesn't do this other than when it comes to Dissociative Disorders. The Somatoform Disorders map quite closely to what we see in OCD. With the DD's though it's closer to DP/DR hence less of that feeling you are not contributing to it (other than reinforcement, adding our behaviour on top of it and triggering it as usual for all of us) as there may be trauma involved, which I know you know a lot about from what you've said on here. Within the SD's you get a load of other codes such as Hypochondriasis, something many say they have but may not as the medical classification isn't the same as the one we most likely known from a dictionary or popular culture.

I think the problem can be that sufferers talk about HA whereas doctors talk about medical terms. Our HA straddles their terms hence we are less specific about what we are diagnosed with. Many on here likely have OCD and this makes HA merely a "theme" or "flavour" as they often called just as ROCD, HOCD, POCD, etc all are. Treating that HA may not treat the OCD enough in those cases which takes us back to what you are saying about choice and core issues in behaviour.

[ankietyjoe]

I think the word trauma is overused when it comes to anxiety disorders. Actually I know it is (from Europe's leading trauma/dissociation expert).

I think what happens a lot of the time is that the American medical machine has to classify things in order to treat them. The way the American medical machine works is that if a person comes to their Doctor complaining of head pain, but spends 20 minutes smashing their own head against the wall every morning, the American medical machine has to invent a disorder to start the invoices going out to the insurance companies.

A British Doctor might (for example) suggest the patient stops smashing their own head against the wall and send them off with some aspirin until they do.

A true trauma based mental health disorder has very, very little to do with an anxiety disorder. There is just no comparison.