Not all gastrointestinal diseases have a purely organic cause. It so happens that a person undergoes various examinations, but the doctors declare that everything is in order with him. However, the person suffers from abdominal pain and digestive problems. Often, the culprit of this condition is intestinal neurosis caused by psychosomatic reasons.
Intestinal neurosis, which is commonly called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), is a very common disease that usually does not have organic causes. Against the background of the constantly present IBS, physiological disorders can gradually develop, affecting not only the gastrointestinal tract, but this is a consequence, not a cause. Intestinal neurosis can and should be attributed to the number of psychosomatic diseases, because it has certain non-physiological reasons for the formation, it is exacerbated in certain situations.
Psychological causes of IBS
The main reason that affects the work of the intestines is the stressful effect that is constantly present in a person's life. Either short-term, but very strong stress, any critical situation that triggers psychosomatic developmental mechanisms.
People who are naturally very impressionable, emotional, have increased anxiety, they often worry about trifles, and remember offenses for a long time, are especially prone to the occurrence of intestinal neurosis. Suspicious people, individuals with a hypochondriacal disposition also often face irritable bowel syndrome. As a rule, the disease can begin to make itself felt already in childhood. For example, a child who really does not want to go to kindergarten for various reasons may suddenly start complaining of abdominal discomfort and often run to the toilet. At the same time, the condition is not affected in any way by the food that the child eats. As a rule, with intestinal neurosis, if it is expressed by frequent diarrhea and regular urge to defecate, foods that strengthen the stool do not really help. Conventional medicines can also be powerless.
Regardless of the patient's age, intestinal neurosis is exacerbated in any stressful situations, even those that, it would seem, the person himself does not attach much importance to. Feeling unwell, affecting plans, a quarrel in the work team, a short-term conflict at home, or just an unpleasant conversation on the Internet can provoke an exacerbation of the condition. Positive experiences - pleasant excitement - can also dramatically worsen your well-being.
Internal psychosomatic grounds for the development of the condition are as follows:
- if a person has IBS manifested by diarrhea or irregular bowel movements with undigested food, this indicates an inability to accept and digest any current situation in life; a person, for some reason, does not want to assimilate the unpleasant experience he has received, to accept the current state of affairs, is not ready to let any changes into his life;
- if the intestinal neurosis is accompanied by frequent constipation, this can be regarded as an internal reluctance to part with something; experts in the field of psychosomatics often associate constipation with irritable bowel syndrome with a tendency to frugality; such people are often very stingy and greedy, they tend to keep even unnecessary things at home, it is very difficult to part with money; for such individuals, any changes when it is necessary to get rid of something become painful;
- IBS can act as an excuse not to go somewhere, so as not to do something; when the reluctance is very great, it affects the work of the intestines, shows itself as symptoms of neurosis; such people, as it were, “run away into illness,” hide behind it, so as not to take responsibility, not to be active; in some cases, when a person does not know how to refuse, he is very afraid of offending his environment, irritable bowel syndrome becomes a kind of explanation, as if removing the blame for the refusal from the person;
- symptoms of intestinal neurosis can occur when a person finds himself in a similar situation in which previously IBS initially declared itself; for example, if a person first encountered digestive problems at the time when it was necessary to speak in public, then in most cases subsequent similar situations, even speaking in front of friends at a holiday, will become a reason for the return of an unpleasant state;
- the alternation of diarrhea and constipation with IBS is characteristic of fearful people who are trying to change the situation in life, change their view on any issues, but this does not work for them either due to the lack of a true inner desire, or due to any other - not always conscious - reasons.
IBS is very often combined with depression, anxiety disorders and other neuroses. External factors - unhealthy diet, excessive consumption of alcohol or coffee, smoking, abnormal lifestyle - can aggravate the condition.
Symptoms of the disease
In calm living conditions, IBS may not remind of itself in any way, even if a person's diet is far from ideal. However, at the slightest irritant, the symptoms return.
For intestinal neurosis, not the most characteristic pains are typical. As a rule, they concentrate around the navel and radiate to the sides in the lower abdomen. The pain can be burning, cramping, throbbing. In some cases, it moves in waves along the body, then touching the stomach and passing into the chest, then going down to the very bottom of the abdomen and spreading down the back. Usually, pain disappears after gas or after bowel movement. Pain often appears immediately after eating any food or even in the process.
Along with soreness, intestinal neurosis manifests itself:
- nausea, which occurs both from hunger and after eating; nausea may appear after going to the toilet or before passing gas;
- heartburn, belching;
- a lump in the throat, throat and chest cramps;
- increased gas formation; flatulence occurs even in a situation where there are no foods in the diet that are prone to fermentation in the intestines;
- disturbed stools; urge to go to the toilet can be "idle" and frequent; most often they manifest themselves in the morning and afternoon, however, at night, with strong excitement and anxiety, the urge may be present;
- feeling of constant heaviness in the abdomen even after a bowel movement;
- bloating, bubbling, rumbling;
- a patient with an intestinal neurosis can literally feel how food moves through the digestive tract, in some cases these sensations are outright scary;
- chills, tremors, increased sweating, mood swings, a tendency to tears, headaches and dizziness, tinnitus and ringing in the ears, feeling of a "cotton head" and clouded consciousness, drowsiness may occur against the background of IBS;
- often irritable bowel syndrome is accompanied by insomnia, loss of strength, anxiety and fears;
- against the background of IBS, a person may experience nervous hunger.
As a rule, when taking sedatives, even of a natural type, the condition quickly returns to normal. However, it is also impossible to constantly treat yourself with herbs or medicinal sedatives, this is fraught with unpleasant consequences. Therefore, it is important to understand the root cause of the condition, to work out those emotions that cause intestinal neurosis.
