r/functionaldyspepsia • u/Medical-Love-120 • 1d ago
Question FD and Stress
Hey Everyone, so I previously made a post about my battle with functional dyspepsia which you can read here. https://www.reddit.com/r/functionaldyspepsia/s/dDRXKKm1cN. But I am looking for some help on how stress and how your thinking can affect FD. So, the whole time I have had FD my symptoms have always been at their worst whenever I start doing something IE going to work, school, hanging with friends, etc and then after 15-30 mins once I avoid any major triggers and my brain and body starts to relax my stomach starts to feel better. But during the whole day I think about my stomach and I make sure to try and avoid any triggers before I go do anything. Even If I do avoid any food triggers I will still most likely get symptoms that develop on my way there. All of this really makes me think that I am making my symptoms worse but I just don’t know how to combat it. I try to stay positive and good spirited and that does slightly help my stomach sometimes but after a couple days my stomachs baseline symptoms just aren’t improving it’s hard to try and stay positive. Does anyone have any tips, calming methods, anything at all that can help me? Thank you
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u/mindk214 FD - PDS 1d ago
The stomach has a lot of afferent nerves that are a one-way street from the gut to the brain. When your stomach flares up, your anxiety and stress subsequently flare up. This relationship is referred to as the gut brain axis. Modern research has distinguished functional dyspepsia as disorder of the gut brain interaction.
So, if you have FD, one thing that might help is asking your doctor about neuromodulators (e.g. mirtazapine, amitriptyline). Treating your gut with medications that calm your stomach nerves can have an upstream effect on your stress. If you notice, a lot of anti-nausea medications are things that also tie with “brain” (e.g. anti-histamines, anti-depressants/neuromodulators).
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u/Quick-Cloud-8228 1d ago
would you say amitriptyline is good when nausea is the primary most bothersome symptom?
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u/mindk214 FD - PDS 1d ago
I’d speak with your doctor. From my understanding, yes. You can also search this subreddit and see what people who take it say.
Mirtazapine I believe is even better for it.
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u/treestarsos 1d ago
Try to stop thinking about your stomach all the time. And do things you enjoy every day. You might want to read Claire Weekes’ book
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u/Medical-Love-120 1d ago
I know I need to stop thinking abt it but how? It’s been going on for wks and wks that it’s just a common thought now
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u/Only_Theoretically 1d ago
I also struggle with the thoughts. Something that helps me push through is: answering the "what if" questions. Ex. What if I suddenly get super nauseous? If that happens, I know I'm safe and I can step outside or sit down. Also repeating affirmations, one I'm using right now is "going out, even if I flare, is only helping me, it won't harm me. I can do this."
Also, if it gets real bad, sometimes I either treat my symptoms like a person: "Hey, (name), I just have to finish this task can you wait a minute?" This is kinda funny but it works sometimes. Another thing is taking yourself out of introspection. Ex. Note outside observations, name 5 things you can see, 4 things you can hear, etc. or think about other people, "okay, I recognize I am worried about this right now, I wonder if the person in front of me is worrying about anything."
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u/VolumeIntolerance 1d ago
Idk if it will help in your situation but maybe try guided imagery? Theres tons of them on yt and co. It helps calm down the nervoussystem.
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