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In the last month and a half I have been under stress. (My mother in the hospital, daughter divorcing and moving back home, my retinal tear, etc). I thought I was handling it well because I was feeling good, eating the right foods, normal normans once a day, etc). But, in the last few days I have begun to experience stomach gurgling, burping, pain/indigestion in the middle of my ribcage and various aches and pains in arms/legs along with tingling in face and fingers. All this seems to point to anxiety and gastritis. So, my question to one and all is: can stress/anxiety alone cause MC to begin to show signs of a flare? My diet is still perfect, so I know that food is not a factor. How do you all handle a stress/anxiety flare? Would it be okay to take an acid reducer such as Pepcid AC for just a little while to get things under control? How about the tinyest bit of Xanax? (And I do mean tiny). Would any of these drugs aggravate MC? My anxiety/stress situation is just starting to lessen (Mom out of hospital, my eye is doing better, same with daughter) so I think I can start to calm down now. However, I want to nip this reaction ASAP. Any and all advice would be appreciated! Thank you!
Mandy
Help!
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Mandy,
Yes, I believe that stress can cause an MC relapse, but some of your symptoms don't seem appropriate, especially tingling in your face and fingers. Are you taking any medications for the eye issue? Those symptoms could be due to an allergic reaction. A B-12 deficiency can cause paresthesis, also, but I was under the impression that you take a lot of supplements.
I've never had any experience with those antacid meds, so I don't know if they would help or not.
Tex
Yes, I believe that stress can cause an MC relapse, but some of your symptoms don't seem appropriate, especially tingling in your face and fingers. Are you taking any medications for the eye issue? Those symptoms could be due to an allergic reaction. A B-12 deficiency can cause paresthesis, also, but I was under the impression that you take a lot of supplements.
I've never had any experience with those antacid meds, so I don't know if they would help or not.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Tex, I don't think it is a B12 issue, and I am going in for another round of blood tests tomorrow. I research anxiety (along with hormonal imbalance, think perimenopause) and tingling is a symptom. Sigh. I know for a fact that my hormones tests fluctuate a lot, so that my bio identicals are always changing monthly in strength, so maybe that is a problem? My dysfunctional gallbladder hasn't been giving me any trouble since November so I don't think that is the problem either. Only drops I have been taking for my eyes is Systane. Could that be the problem? Pepcid AC is famotidine and I would much rather take that than Prilosec! Any advice on Xanax? I loathe to take them and would only take 1/4 of 1/2 of a .5 (as you can see very small!) if I knew it didn't aggravate MC.
Mandy
Mandy
Hi Mandy,
I can report that I had three incidents last summer during flare when I had increasing levels of anxiety, tingling that ran up my arms, inability to do math all day that responded to HRT. i.e. 3 hours after taking HRT tingling was gone. Then when I stopped taking oral HRT b/c of stomach issues and was off of it for about a month---did this several times---the anxiety, tingling and inability to do math kicked in. Again if I put on an HRT patch the tingling would go away in about 3 hours. So....maybe look further with your bioidenticals. This was all during 3 month flare prior to diagnosis. In my case HRT did not cause MC. The MC definitely came first. In the big picture I was never really sure if this was an MC thing or periomenopause. Or one made worse by the other. Just thought I'd share my experience. Brandy
I can report that I had three incidents last summer during flare when I had increasing levels of anxiety, tingling that ran up my arms, inability to do math all day that responded to HRT. i.e. 3 hours after taking HRT tingling was gone. Then when I stopped taking oral HRT b/c of stomach issues and was off of it for about a month---did this several times---the anxiety, tingling and inability to do math kicked in. Again if I put on an HRT patch the tingling would go away in about 3 hours. So....maybe look further with your bioidenticals. This was all during 3 month flare prior to diagnosis. In my case HRT did not cause MC. The MC definitely came first. In the big picture I was never really sure if this was an MC thing or periomenopause. Or one made worse by the other. Just thought I'd share my experience. Brandy
I don't know what's in them, but I would think that they could certainly cause an allergic reaction. A couple of years ago, I had an ear fungus removed, and the doc gave me a script for a combo corticosteroid/antibiotic drops to use a couple of times a day. After about the second day, I noticed that my vision was becoming blurry, especially on the side next to the treated ear, and there was pain in my ear. I stopped using the drops, and the symptoms slowly went away.
The eye drops shouldn't cause any problems. I'm not much of an authority on Pepsid, or Xanax, unfortunately.
Tex
The eye drops shouldn't cause any problems. I'm not much of an authority on Pepsid, or Xanax, unfortunately.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.