Strange feeling in stomach anxiety

Overview, Causes, And How To Get Rid Of It

Content

Overview
What causes the anxious feeling in your stomach?
Could the relationship between your anxiety and stomach issues be the other way around?
How can you get rid of these symptoms?
Dietary changes
Traditional medications
Psychological approaches
Exercise
Herbs and spices
Gut-directed hypnotherapy
The lowdown

At some point in your life, you have likely experienced some level of anxiety about a stressful situation. You might have also noticed that sometimes, anxious symptoms appear in your stomach.

Feeling anxious in your stomach can include having what feels like “butterflies” or “knots.” These usually subside relatively quickly once the stressful situation, such as a job interview, is removed.

However, anxiety can also cause more unpleasant and painful symptoms in your stomach. These could include:

These symptoms may be more persistent, remaining even after what’s causing your anxiety is gone. If you experience this regularly, it is important to try and get on top of it as soon as possible, as it can lead to conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome.

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The gut-brain connection

There is a very strong connection between our brain and our gut. The thoughts and emotions we experience mentally in our brains, such as stress and anxiety, can be related to our gut,¹ which is we experience anxiety-related symptoms in our stomach.

This happens because we have a long nerve called the vagus nerve,² connecting our brain to our gut. Our gut has over 200 million nerve cells and is controlled by its own nervous system, known as the enteric nervous system. This can respond to signals and hormones from our brain and our central nervous system.

When our brain detects a stressful situation or a threat, it automatically reacts by going into a “fight or flight”³ mode, a response designed to help us survive. Chemical messengers and hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, are released. One of their roles is to send less blood to the stomach and slow down digestion. This can cause the symptoms in the stomach that we associate with anxiety.

The release of chemicals and hormones in the body allows more blood and energy to go to organs crucial for survival, like the heart and lungs.

However, our brain can see situations that are not life-threatening as stressful, such as an upcoming presentation or interview or even relationship issues. Since our body perceives this stressor as a threat, it still activates the fight or flight response.

In chronically stressed or anxious people, this response can remain permanently ‘switched on,’ and cause ongoing anxiety-related stomach symptoms.

Stress

Stress can also affect the balance of gut bacteria.

We have about 100 trillion microbes in our digestive tract. Most are bacteria and are important for keeping our gut healthy, regulating our gut-brain connection, and breaking down substances that we cannot digest, such as dietary fiber. It is vital for there to be a healthy balance and diversity of the gut microbiome.

Because of their importance in regulating the gut-brain connection, these microbes also contribute to anxiety-like behavior⁴ in situations where we experience real or perceived stress.

The chemical messengers released when we are stressed or anxious can create an imbalance of our gut microbiome, even if this stress is short-term. This can also cause symptoms related to anxiety in our stomach, such as nausea.

Just like how our brain can communicate with our gut, our gut can communicate with our brain. Evidence⁵ has shown that your stomach pain or other gastrointestinal symptoms may be contributing to your feelings of anxiety.

It is believed that gut bacteria can impact the parts of our brain that manage stress and emotional behavior. So, an imbalance of our microbiome can influence stress-related behaviors such as anxiety. This can then begin a vicious cycle where anxiety about stomach pain causes the stomach pain to stick around as a symptom of anxiety.

To get rid of the anxious feeling in your stomach, there are different approaches you can take. This could involve managing the stomach issues or treating anxiety as the root cause of the stomach pain. This can help improve stomach pain and even prevent it from occurring in the future.

Although these suggestions are practical and evidence-based, it is important to understand that everyone has different experiences, so some approaches may not be effective for you.

If you cannot manage your symptoms through these strategies, or they last for longer than a few days, you should see your doctor for an evaluation. They will be able to rule out other causes and physical conditions, provide you with mental health support or refer you to a specialist, such as a therapist, psychologist, or gastroenterologist.

Caffeine

Avoid caffeine. This can be helpful for two reasons:

Caffeine can cause gastrointestinal problems.
Caffeine can worsen anxiety-related symptoms because it increases molecules associated with the fight or flight response, such as adrenaline and cortisol, and blocks a molecule called adenosine, which aids relaxation.

Improve your gut health

Diet is an important modifier of the microbiota-gut-brain connection. Gut health can be improved by:

Consuming probiotics. These are microorganisms that can contribute to our gut bacteria and help to create a healthy balance. In turn, this can help promote a balance of hormones and neurotransmitters. Also, early studies in mice⁶have suggested that a probiotic effectively reduces anxiety and related gut symptoms by activating the vagus nerve. Probiotics are in foods like yogurt, kombucha, pickled vegetables, and sauerkraut.
Increasing fiber intake. We cannot digest fiber, but it acts as the “food” for probiotics and helps promote a healthy balance of gut bacteria. You can find good sources of fiber in whole grains, legumes, and many different fruits and vegetables.

Traditional medications can help treat your stomach pain directly or help manage the anxiety causing your stomach issues.

Common medications for anxiety include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), beta-blockers, or sedatives.

Your doctor must prescribe these medications after a consultation to ensure they will be safe and effective for you.

You could also try over-the-counter medications for stomach issues available at your pharmacy. However, it is still a good idea to consult with a doctor.

Usually, medications for anxiety are only prescribed as a short-term solution and used in conjunction with therapy so that you can work on treating the psychological aspect of your anxiety.

Psychological treatments, such as therapy, reduce the anxiety responsible for your stomach issues. Even though this approach may not directly target your physical symptoms, they are effective since your gut is so directly connected to brain functioning.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)

CBT has been shown to help reduce anxiety and associated gastrointestinal symptoms. This form of therapy teaches you how to manage the interactions between your feelings, thoughts, and behavior. It can involve deep breathing and muscle relaxation to reduce the stress response.

Relaxation therapy

Relaxation therapy involves learning various techniques to feel more relaxed and have a less intense reaction to stressful situations. These techniques involve progressive muscle relaxation, visualizing relaxing scenes, and listening to peaceful music. It is best for treating gastrointestinal disorders associated with anxiety when used alongside CBT.

13 Science-backed Methods That Can Help Relieve Your Anxious Mind And Body

Diaphragmatic breathing

Diaphragmatic breathing is an exercise that modulates the functioning of the nervous system and can influence the brain and gastrointestinal system. This means it can help manage stomach pain associated with anxiety.

It can:

Decrease muscle tension, such as in the smooth muscle of the stomach.
Activate the body’s relaxation response⁷ and lower the ‘fight or flight’ response by stimulating the vagus nerve.

Try to repeat the following process for ten to fifteen minutes.

Find a comfortable place where you can sit or lie down. Relax your muscles.
With your eyes closed, place one hand on your chest and your other hand on your stomach.
Inhale through your nose for six seconds. Allow your belly to expand, but try to keep your chest as still as possible.
Hold your breath for two seconds.
Slowly exhale through your mouth for six seconds.

Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness meditation is a mental training practice where you learn to focus your attention on the present moment and accept your thoughts and feelings. It is believed to be effective because we often feel anxious and experience symptoms when looking to the past or the future.

A study⁸ in people with IBS and anxiety showed that mindfulness meditation reduced their gastrointestinal symptoms and anxious thoughts, and improved their overall quality of life.

A Guide To Meditating For Anxiety

Any type of exercise improves hormonal balance and stimulates the release of endorphins that improve mood and decrease stress — in turn reducing the anxiety that can ease your symptoms.

In particular, yoga is beneficial for improving physical gastrointestinal symptoms and anxiety, including GI-specific anxiety.

Yoga is believed to influence the brain-gut connection, reduce the activity of the sympathetic nervous system that is associated with stress and the “fight or flight” response, and increase the relaxation response.

These are more of a quick fix to help an anxious stomach, so they will not address your underlying anxiety.

However, science-backed suggestions to ease stomach issues include:

Ginger

Commonly used to relieve stomach aches.

Peppermint oil

This is an “antispasmodic,” which means it can relax the muscles in the gut. It can relieve IBS symptoms, abdominal pain,⁹ cramping and bloating in the stomach, and nausea.

Iberogast

Iberogast is a combination of nine medicinal plants. Some studies have shown it to reduce gastrointestinal symptoms and treat irritable stomach symptoms such as nausea and cramps.

Gut-directed hypnotherapy is a form of hypnosis, a therapeutic technique that can help manage anxiety or pain. It is a guided process where you learn how to relax, focus, and concentrate on achieving a heightened state of consciousness, which is meant to alter your state of awareness.

When relaxed in this state, your mind is open to prompts or suggestions for imaginative experiences. Your therapist guides you with metaphors and suggestions directed towards your gut. Suggestions could be made for your stomach pain and symptoms to subside and for a healthy connection to grow between the brain and gut. This type of hypnotherapy aims to prevent you from focusing too much on the discomfort that you feel in your stomach due to your anxiety.

Scientists don’t know exactly why, but studies have shown gut-directed hypnotherapy to be effective in reducing abdominal pain¹⁰ in adults by 70-80%, as well as having psychological benefits. It also appears to be beneficial for children, with long-term positive outcomes. ¹¹

An anxious stomach can be uncomfortable and prevent you from living your life to the fullest. Fortunately, by treating the stomach pain directly and also managing the root of your anxiety, you can take steps to reduce, get rid of, and even prevent these anxiety-related symptoms in your stomach.

How to Calm an Anxious Stomach: The Brain-Gut

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Heart alarm - For a healthy lifestyle! - Articles - Center of Modern Cardiology

Very often people complain of pain in the heart, but it turns out that the stomach hurts, suffers from osteochondrosis or stress has led to the development of depression. And the development of a heart attack is not recognized, they are attributed to the same stomach, osteochondrosis or even toothache. How to figure it out? Let's try to help.

angina pectoris. That was the name in the old days of the disease that we now call angina pectoris. A heart attack usually begins with a pressing or burning pain in the center of the chest (doctors say "behind the sternum") during exercise or stress, although it can develop at rest.

The pain is quite intense, can radiate to the lower jaw, shoulders and arms (more often to the left, but possibly both), to the neck, throat and back. Sometimes it disguises itself as bursting pains in the same areas or pains in the stomach (upper abdomen - epigastrium), simulating an intestinal disorder. The pain disappears at rest in a few minutes, and if you put a nitroglycerin tablet under the tongue (or spray a spray containing nitroglycerin) - almost instantly.

If such pain lasts longer than 20-30 minutes and its intensity increases, the development of a heart attack is not excluded. Timely assistance significantly reduces the risk of dying from a heart attack, so you need to call an ambulance team as soon as possible. Recording an ECG in a heart attack almost always helps to make a diagnosis.

Heart attack cancelled. Very often, young women come to the doctor with complaints of pain in the heart. How could it be otherwise, because through the heart we pass all our troubles, worries and joys. In this case, there is usually no cause for alarm.

In young women, "heart pain" is often functional, meaning it is not caused by angina pectoris. Female sex hormones protect blood vessels from the formation of atherosclerotic plaques. And if you look, “heart” pains bother women not in the area where “angina pectoris” likes to settle, but in the left half of the chest, in the armpit or under the left breast. They are, as a rule, in the nature of discomfort, stabbing or aching pain, and can last from half an hour to several hours or even days.

These feelings arise for various reasons. Stress, sleep deprivation, overwork, premenstrual periods…and, as a result, an anxiety or depressive disorder. The skeletal muscles are tense, on the shoulders they are compacted into painful lumps - “lumps of nerves”! Sometimes it is enough to have a short, but good rest, pleasant emotions.

In more serious cases, one has to seek help from a neurologist , a psychotherapist. Remember: the longer the depression lasts, the more difficult it is for the doctor to completely relieve you of discomfort, sleep disturbances and bad mood. However, in addition to stress, other reasons can lead to pain in the “heart area”.

"Bouquet of diseases". Osteochondrosis, a disease of sedentary people, leads to pinching of the nerve roots and the development of pain. If the thoracic spine is involved, then it is the heart that falls under the patient's suspicion - it pricks and pierces, lies on the chest with a lump or stone, catches with inhalations and sharp turns of the body, and aches for hours.

If such sensations occur during strong excitement, then the full impression of a heart attack can be formed. But the true cause of the pain in this case is the tension of the muscles of the neck and back. Unlike an attack of angina, which is quickly relieved by nitroglycerin, pain medications, massage, kneading the back with hydromassage jets can help, shock wave therapy. During examination, changes in the vertebrae can be found on an x-ray of the spine. But the ECG, even at the time of the most intense neuralgic pain, will be normal.

Chest pain may occur during a cold if it is complicated by bronchitis. Coughing can add discomfort, since already on the second day of a hacking cough, in addition to the bronchi, pectoral muscles will add to the pain. If the cold is complicated by pneumonia and pleurisy, then with a deep breath and exhalation, changes in pain can be noticed. The pain increases with inhalation, when the lungs straighten and “rub” against the inflamed pleura, and decreases with exhalation.

The doctor will recommend an X-ray of the lungs, listen with a phonendoscope for wheezing in the lungs.

Do not forget about the stomach, pancreas and gallbladder. A common cause of chest pain is intercostal neuralgia, herpes zoster, and in women - mastopathy. Regular palpations of the mammary glands must be carried out by women after 30-35 years, and if there is pain or induration, consult a doctor who will most likely refer you to an ultrasound of the mammary glands and mammography.

Gender matters, because it is in women that “heart pain” during examination turns out to be a mask of other diseases, and in men over 40 any “gastritis, osteochondrosis attack or sore tooth” may turn out to be a first-time developed heart attack. A timely visit to the doctor is necessary if the heart is at risk.

On the other hand, all the pains in the chest should not be blamed on the poor heart either.

Let's try to figure it out, analyze our feelings and try to distinguish between an attack that can threaten health and functional pain.
- Stitching or aching pain in the left side of the chest, which does not give anywhere?
- The pain begins and goes away gradually, lasts a long time, for hours, and even days, if you are stressed?
- Physical activity does not cause or increase discomfort in the heart area, and sometimes even relieves it?
- The pain does not go away after taking nitroglycerin, but subsides with sedatives?

If you answered “yes” to most of the questions, you probably don't have to worry about your heart. If so, complete the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the CES-D questionnaire. Perhaps the stresses in your life have led to the development of depression and the consultation of a psychotherapist will relieve your "heart anxiety".

treatment, how to get rid of anxiety, how to deal with anxiety for no reason

Anxiety is a negatively colored mood with feelings of worry, tension, and fear. In moderation, such emotions are useful: they help to mobilize forces and find a way out of extreme situations. But there must be grounds for concern, and normally it lasts a limited period of time.

If a person constantly experiences a feeling of anxiety and anxiety for no reason, this may indicate the presence of a mental disorder. In the absence of help, constant tension wears out the nervous system and the body as a whole, which leads to a breakdown in adaptation mechanisms and the development of chronic diseases.

If you notice that you cannot relax for a long time, then you should think about visiting a specialist.

In pathological cases, a state of anxiety and restlessness without a cause manifests itself both mentally and physically.

Mental symptoms:

constant feeling of fear and excitement for no reason,
poor concentration and attention,
sleep disorders,
emotional lability, irritability, tearfulness,
inability to relax and fully engage in daily activities or communication,
the need to reassure others that everything is okay. At the same time, words of support do not bring relief.

Physical symptoms:

rapid breathing and heartbeat,
headaches, pain in the abdomen and in the region of the heart,
excessive sweating,
eating disorders: increased or loss of appetite,
weakness,
shivering, chills,
stool disorders: frequent urge, constipation,
feeling short of breath,
nausea,
muscle spasms and pain.

Unreasonable anxiety and anxiety increase or smooth out from time to time. Exacerbations often accompany stress: conflicts, important events, illness. Normally, a person recovers quickly after the situation is resolved, but when upset, negative emotions do not go away.

The intensity of anxiety varies from mild to severe. The extreme is panic. If you ignore an anxiety state for a long time for no reason, then panic attacks can join it. They overtake unexpectedly and sometimes without a good enough reason, but after this episode, a person begins to avoid situations similar to the one in which it happened: public transport, an elevator, or just a crowd of people. This greatly reduces the quality of life and can lead to social isolation.

Causes of causeless anxiety and anxiety

The occurrence of anxiety disorder is influenced by heredity. It has been found that certain brain structures and features of biological processes play an important role in the emergence of fear and anxiety. Personal characteristics, somatic health problems, lifestyle and various types of addictions also matter. Sometimes there is no cause for causeless anxiety and worry. Negative feelings usually have a trigger - an event or thought that causes an anxious response. However, most people are not aware of their triggers and believe that their emotions are groundless. In this case, only a specialist will help to understand why excitement arises for no reason.

There are a number of diseases, the symptoms of which are constant anxiety. With causeless fear and anxiety, the reasons may be as follows:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder: Constant nervousness and worry about small things that are usually visible to others and last 6 or more months. It starts in adolescence and intensifies with age.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder: obsessive thoughts and fears that are accompanied by obsessive actions that do not bring relief. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is distinguished - a person is indomitably haunted by memories that reproduce a traumatic situation.
Phobias: irrational fear of any, even mundane, things. Accompanied by uncontrolled panic and physical manifestations.
Panic attack is an excruciating and sudden attack of panic, which is accompanied by a fear of death and vivid somatic symptoms. The regular occurrence of panic attacks means the development of a panic disorder.
Post-traumatic stress disorder: occurs after a severe traumatic situation and is accompanied by high levels of anxiety, avoidance and flashbacks.

These are the most common examples, but pathological anxiety can be a symptom of other disorders or the result of a failed stress management. If you want to understand why there is a feeling of anxiety for no reason, you should consult a doctor. Without clarifying the main factor and working on it, it is impossible to restore health and peace of mind.

What to do with causeless anxiety and anxiety

It is difficult to live in constant stress. If you experience causeless anxiety and fear of what to do, the following list will tell you:

Talk to someone you trust. This could be a relative, a close friend, a therapist, or a helpline employee. People are social creatures, so communication is a good way to relieve internal tension.
Find a way to calm down quickly. There is not always a person with whom you can share. Therefore, it is important to find a suitable method that will help you relax: breathing techniques, soothing music, aromatherapy, self-massage, and more. If you cannot independently choose a technique that quickly helps with anxiety for no reason, a specialist will tell you what to do.
Add physical activity to your life. It is a natural and effective remedy for anxiety. Moderate sport relieves stress, lowers stress hormones, and strengthens the nervous system. Get at least 30 minutes of physical exercise a day.
Normalization of lifestyle. Get enough sleep, eat well, give up bad habits. This stabilizes physical performance and neurotransmitter levels, which helps maintain emotional balance.
Start keeping a diary. Notes help identify patterns of anxiety flare-ups, understand the causes, and notice early signs of their occurrence. Also, thanks to this, you will begin to focus more on positive events that you might not have noticed before.

With excitement for no reason, everyone who regularly encounters this wants to know what to do. There is no universal method, however, the 5 steps listed above are recommended for every person with increased anxiety. This may be enough to alleviate symptoms. But if self-help techniques do not give the desired effect, then with a regularly occurring feeling of anxiety for no reason, you need to find out from a specialist what to do.

Treatment of causeless feelings of anxiety and restlessness

Regardless of the cause of pathological anxiety, professional help is the only complete method to eliminate the problem. If you have constant excitement and anxiety for no reason, you can quickly and effectively learn from a psychiatrist or psychotherapist how to get rid of this condition.

Due to the diversity of anxiety disorders, their therapy must be adapted to the individual clinical picture and diagnosis. Therefore, only a highly qualified specialist who has experience working with different types of anxiety conditions can tell you how to get rid of an anxiety state for no reason. For example, the therapy algorithm for a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is different from the help for panic attacks.

For a state of anxiety and anxiety without a cause, treatment includes the following approaches:

Psychotherapy. The most promising direction, which not only eliminates the symptom, but identifies the cause and fights it. Therapy teaches when feeling anxiety for no reason, how to get rid of acute attacks of anxiety, relax, look at life situations differently. The doctor will help to uncover the main causes of your fears and work them out. The patient receives the tools to overcome anxiety and uses them successfully. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is usually used: in the course of treatment, the patient encounters an object of concern and gradually gains confidence that he can control the situation.
Medical therapy. Depending on the type of anxiety and the presence of associated mental or physical health problems, antidepressants, sedatives, sleeping pills, and other drugs may be prescribed. When anxiety is felt without a cause, drug treatment will alleviate the symptoms and improve the quality of life of the patient during his psychotherapeutic work on the underlying cause. Uncontrolled medication leads to dangerous side effects and withdrawal syndrome, so they can only be used according to the individual course prescribed by the doctor.

It is recommended to use a combination of psychotherapeutic and drug treatment, but sometimes only the first one is enough.

You should not put off visiting a doctor if you feel that experiences are preventing you from living. Over time, the symptoms worsen and other severe mental illnesses join: depression, neurotic disorders, and more. If the normalization of lifestyle does not help, it means that you will understand how to get rid of unreasonable anxiety only from a psychotherapist.

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