Who comes first? Stress or Crohn?

[Nemesia]

Hi there,

Do you believe that there is a correlation between stress and IBD?

Every time that I have a bad Crohn day, my mom asks me what is stressing me? She believes that what makes my Crohn worse is that I don't know how to efficiently manage the stress in my life. Ouch! It hurts!

The thing is that I believe that Crohn causes me stress. I'm going to work in a few minutes and the pain is terrible. It causes stress. I have to make it through my day. Without the pain, I bet the stress level would be way lower.

Most of my stress comes from the fact that I have to live with my Crohn. To me, Crohn causes stress.

 

[Crohn's 35]

Yes I do! Stresses in your in your life can cause your Crohns to flare. Many people take mild antidepressants because dealing with life and a disease is hard enough. Not that I recommend this. 3 Major big stresses are, moving, divorce or custody problems, and a death. All other stresses are depending on your way of dealing with things. If you find little things bother you, you could need to see a counsellor. I rememember in my early diagnosis it was recommended.

Your mom is trying to help you, she doesn't want to see you sick either. This disease can be controlled but it is up to you how you live it. We are here for ya. :smile:

 

[LOSTnut]

For me a major stress factor was my previous job. I had my Crohn's pretty decently under control but I hated the boss at work, who was completely unreasonable in a lot areas. I hated getting up in the morning and a lot of times I just thought of quitting, despite the bad economy.
Anyhow, ended up in the hospital and had an ostomy.
What was really weird was that every time I thought I am ready to go back to work something happened and the recovery took a dive.
To make a long story short, I now work with a company I absolutely love and have (knock on wood!) no health problems at all.

 

[kiny]

Yes I believe there is a correlation, a body under stress has less time to focus on infections / inflammations / healing of mucosa.

Crohn's causing stress in itself is likely aslo true.

The goal is to get out of the circle of stress, yoga, meditation, etc, many of those help for me.

 

[muppet]

Stress in your life can DEFINITELY cause your Crohn's to flare, and badly, but it is NOT the only cause. Do NOT go around thinking that your flares are your fault for not effectively managing your life. That's nuts.

 

[Emily]

Yep stress & Crohn's go hand in hand for me. Either one can cause the other but there is 100% a correlation in my opinion. My GI tells me this all the time and I see lots of people on here feel the same.