[thislittlebluebird]

I've been struggling with chronic on/off digestive issues for the last few years and gotten the broad diagnosis of IBS. I know at least a part of my symptoms are anxiety induced, since I am often in a "fight or flight" mode and socially anxious.

I was wondering if this could be connected to personality type, since INFJs are very sensitive and tend to find the wolrd overwhelming at times.

If anyone else is dealing with similar issues I'd love to hear your story and how you manage your symptoms Thanks and everyone have a good day!

 

[Privy]

I have dealt with GI problems in the past. A doctor tried diagnosing me with "possible" IBS a while back.
I don't trust any medical diagnosis lacking a viable cause, concrete signs and symptoms, and no known treatment or cure. It is a pretentious shrug.

This is what helped me:
- Magnesium supplementation; Magnesium is also required for the proper function of nerves, muscles, and many other parts of the body. In the stomach, magnesium helps neutralize stomach acid and moves stools through the intestine. I take magnesium chelate, a highly bioavailable form sold for around 8 bucks at vitamin shoppe.

- bananas; they have a high concentration of dopamine, which is critical for contraction/ movement of intestinal walls. The highest concentration is found in the peels, which can be cleaned and blended well into a milkshake. Texture is a bit unusual, but nothing so offputting that it outweighs the health benefits.

- Fiber; (which is also a benefit of the bananas lol) simply put, it grants the intestinal walls traction to aid movement.

- avoiding processed starches and/or gluten.

- hydration....

- activated charcoal; if there is an over production of bile acid this will absorb it safely, as well as gently abrade any possible yeast overgrowth that may have occurred in the intestines after a course of antibiotics. I think this particularly was a huge contributing factor to the problems I had suffered.

As far as this being connected to personality type, I had read something in the past about there being a prevalence of digestive disorders and heart disease in feelers, while thinkers suffer more commonly from stroke.

Apologies if this is a bit of an over share, but I hope it helps and that you find resolution soon.

 

[Librarian]

I've heard about INFJs having those problems before; I can't recall if it was an article or simply a roundtable social discussion type thing, but I definitely hear it connecting, anxiety causing physical pain and such.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this issue, each of my sisters have a variation of anxiety issue, probably quite different though, I'm not trying to rudely compare 2 sorts of anxiety related issues, I know there are so many intricacies in each case. I think its something genetic, since we each have, or seem to, a different anxiety "type" if I may use that term. The INFJ has physical sensations a bit like yourself. Both are affected, I guess you could say, regularly by their problems, but please don't think its some terrible thing, its not like that at all.

Now for me, I probably got off the best, though what I experience when my stress finally does reach a jump off point, are Panic Attacks. Interestingly, I hear many ISTJs experience stress boiling points in much the same manner. Maybe its weird, but that fact is oddly reassuring; for those rare times I lose full control can be quite embarrassing for me.

So, as another person (sorry, not INFJ, but others are probably answering as I type!) who has been affected to a noticeable extent by stress in some way, first I should say its good to talk about your problems, including your medical IBS problems because its really not as rare an occurrence as some might think, stress affecting your health that is. I think there's an unneeded stigma to talking about anxiety in any way, but that's silly to me. We all experience stress, including the most in control individuals.

Its also nice to talk to members in threads on PerC I've noticed, can be relaxing in itself. And as I said, meeting other ISTJs who had anxiety was a relief to me, so I know the words shared here from your fellow INFJs will be of the utmost value too.

As this affects your internal health, you probably need no one telling you to "follow doctors orders" (which you should), but I learn more about my health issues to get even more tips. Allergies are an issue for me, for example, and I just killed a sinus infection, so research helped me in this.

Of course, family/friend support is a must for many reasons, they can offer emotional and practical support.

And do keep your positive outlook. It can be a medication almost, choosing not to focus on the negative.

Take care :heart:

 

[thislittlebluebird]

I have dealt with GI problems in the past. A doctor tried diagnosing me with "possible" IBS a while back.
I don't trust any medical diagnosis lacking a viable cause, concrete signs and symptoms, and no known treatment or cure. It is a pretentious shrug.

This is what helped me:
- Magnesium supplementation; Magnesium is also required for the proper function of nerves, muscles, and many other parts of the body. In the stomach, magnesium helps neutralize stomach acid and moves stools through the intestine. I take magnesium chelate, a highly bioavailable form sold for around 8 bucks at vitamin shoppe.

- bananas; they have a high concentration of dopamine, which is critical for contraction/ movement of intestinal walls. The highest concentration is found in the peels, which can be cleaned and blended well into a milkshake. Texture is a bit unusual, but nothing so offputting that it outweighs the health benefits.

- Fiber; (which is also a benefit of the bananas lol) simply put, it grants the intestinal walls traction to aid movement.

- avoiding processed starches and/or gluten.

- hydration....

- activated charcoal; if there is an over production of bile acid this will absorb it safely, as well as gently abrade any possible yeast overgrowth that may have occurred in the intestines after a course of antibiotics. I think this particularly was a huge contributing factor to the problems I had suffered.

As far as this being connected to personality type, I had read something in the past about there being a prevalence of digestive disorders and heart disease in feelers, while thinkers suffer more commonly from stroke.

Apologies if this is a bit of an over share, but I hope it helps and that you find resolution soon.

Thank you for your detailed and thought out response I've noticed magnesium does help to calm down the nerves and anxiety, but it's good to hear that it works for others, I'll definitely check out the activated charcoal too! I already eat paleo/gluten free, but I could cut down my processed food still I think. It's worth skipping the junk food if I can have peace of mind and no GI- issues

 

[thislittlebluebird]

I've heard about INFJs having those problems before; I can't recall if it was an article or simply a roundtable social discussion type thing, but I definitely hear it connecting, anxiety causing physical pain and such.

I'm sorry you have to deal with this issue, each of my sisters have a variation of anxiety issue, probably quite different though, I'm not trying to rudely compare 2 sorts of anxiety related issues, I know there are so many intricacies in each case. I think its something genetic, since we each have, or seem to, a different anxiety "type" if I may use that term. The INFJ has physical sensations a bit like yourself. Both are affected, I guess you could say, regularly by their problems, but please don't think its some terrible thing, its not like that at all.

Now for me, I probably got off the best, though what I experience when my stress finally does reach a jump off point, are Panic Attacks. Interestingly, I hear many ISTJs experience stress boiling points in much the same manner. Maybe its weird, but that fact is oddly reassuring; for those rare times I lose full control can be quite embarrassing for me.

So, as another person (sorry, not INFJ, but others are probably answering as I type!) who has been affected to a noticeable extent by stress in some way, first I should say its good to talk about your problems, including your medical IBS problems because its really not as rare an occurrence as some might think, stress affecting your health that is. I think there's an unneeded stigma to talking about anxiety in any way, but that's silly to me. We all experience stress, including the most in control individuals.

Its also nice to talk to members in threads on PerC I've noticed, can be relaxing in itself. And as I said, meeting other ISTJs who had anxiety was a relief to me, so I know the words shared here from your fellow INFJs will be of the utmost value too.

As this affects your internal health, you probably need no one telling you to "follow doctors orders" (which you should), but I learn more about my health issues to get even more tips. Allergies are an issue for me, for example, and I just killed a sinus infection, so research helped me in this.

Of course, family/friend support is a must for many reasons, they can offer emotional and practical support.

And do keep your positive outlook. It can be a medication almost, choosing not to focus on the negative.

Take care :heart:

Thanks for taking the time to respond!

I am definitely one of those people who are always in a bit of a "fight or flight" state and never seem to be able to fully relax. I feel probably many IXXJ type have similar struggles, since the outside world can seem to be kind of a lot at times.

I've been looking into meditation and relaxation techniques and think those might be helpful if I got a hang of them. I'm sure it's all connected, the physical pain causes anxiety and vice versa. Better to attack the anxiety from both ends and try to learn to chill

 

[Red Panda]

I have dealt with GI problems in the past. A doctor tried diagnosing me with "possible" IBS a while back.
I don't trust any medical diagnosis lacking a viable cause, concrete signs and symptoms, and no known treatment or cure. It is a pretentious shrug.

That's because you may be misinformed about IBS, it's not an illness, think of it as increased sensitivity, mostly to pain signals in the intestine.

@thislittlebluebird
I'm INFP and I have IBS, I'm also a dietitian so I'm familiar with it from a professional perspective
It's very related to stress and I've had it probably since very young (I remember hurting easily since middle school), it didn't get unbearable until I got into some very stressful situations in my early-mid 20s. The pain was excruciating at times and I could barely eat anything other than light meat and rice or pasta, maybe a banana, fiber killed me since I had the diarrhea type, it was quite debilitating for a few months. I don't drink milk anymore because it was one of the high triggers and have to be careful with onions and garlic, which are the most common irritants.

here are some resources

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/incontinence-bowel/documents/NICE guidelines IBS.pdf

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesse...-tract/irritable-bowel-syndrome-ibs#treatment


You could try doing a FODMAP diet to identify which foods irritate you more, it works on many people, though not everyone (stress is no 1 factor)

http://cart.gesa.org.au/membes/files/Consumer Information/Low FODMAP Diet.pdf

 

[Haba Aba Daba Aba]

I don't know how it is for other people but for me it seems I'm literally unable to experience a thought or an intuitive image without there being a concomitant contraction somewhere in my guts/root chakra. It took me a while to acquire the sensitivity to see clearly this relationship between my brain and my gut.

It's possible for my attention be held captive by a succession of intuitive images while innervations in my gut are going unnoticed. Too much of that gives me gut problems. Introverted sensation would perceive the innervations but not the intuitive imagery associated with the innervations.

Because this is my experience I have some strong intuitive notions about why Ashkenazi Jews have both high intelligence and high incidence of colorectal cancer.

Some things that helped me:

1. Find out if there are food triggers. Gluten, dairy, legumes, etc.

2. Bodyweight squats. Yoga for root chakra (I like Adriene's root chakra exercises on Youtube). Tadasana. Mula bandha. One of the ideas here being to develop the attention to be sensitive to all the subtle movements and contractions which occur in the gut and also to be able to ground oneself firmly to the Earth.

3. If you have money to burn you could get a stool test done to check for parasites. Make sure whoever does it is using PCR testing. My experience with doctors is that they will generally rule out parasites as a possibility but I know of two people who had IBS which turned out to be caused by intestinal parasites.

4. Self-help or see a professional to get help with the anxiety. The anxiety has to be alleviated by self-knowledge. Not pills. If you're constantly afraid and anxious your gut performance will be effected by it.

5. Homemade kefir had a profound beneficial effect on my gut health. I had been taking all kinds of different probiotics and eating yogurt and store-bought kefir for years before I tried homemade kefir. The difference was night and day. HOMEMADE KEFIR. Not store-bought. None of the probiotics I bought were anywhere near as effective as homemade kefir.

 

[Daiz]

I've had anxiety-induced IBS for most of my life but it didn't get debilitating until high school. I don't even have to be in a stressful situation for it to kick in; I just have to be thinking of a specific trigger and that will be enough. I can eat fine but I'll suddenly be in pain and have to urgently go to the bathroom multiple times.

Usually, I can hold it at bay for a while by doing deep breathing. I inhale while counting to 4, hold for 7 counts, then exhale for 8 counts. It's uncomfortable at first and feels like it's doing nothing but if I stick with it, by the time I've done it 10 times, I'm feeling better. Sometimes, that doesn't work though.

This year, I've started doing meditation each morning. I'm not great at it but I think it IS helping me a tiny bit. I encourage you to look into it more.

I'm also just straight up trying not to put myself in situations that make me that stressed. I don't completely avoid things that stress me out but I do consciously limit my time with/exposure to them and I find them much more tolerable that way. I used to try and ignore my anxiety and just push through it. It didn't work. Life has gotten so much better since I learned to work with it rather than against it.

Also, this is very common for INFJs. The only time IBS is mentioned on this page is in the INFJ bit! Other types get it, of course, but it does seem to be more common with us.

 

[Multimir]

Psychosomatic symptoms so oftern occurs to INFJ, a it was mentined to our natural sensitivity.

Magnesium supplementation is good but on cellular level, wich means e.g. 1,5 g of magnesium citrate twice a day for about 1 month. That level of magnesium can be measured in hair completely differs to magnesium level in blood.

And most important regularlly taken "natural magnesium"

To get stronger in general - breathing meditation. Lie down, loose muscles of all body part by part, to calm down concious mind count bacword from 100 to 50 or farther. Then let Your body to breathe in its own rythm and just.....observe floving air with gladness that Your inner self (subsconcious) is takeing good care of You. Just observe wyitout any thinking, when toths come back notice that inerruption and get back to breath obserwation. Proper breathing is ONLY with Yor belly not chest. All 20-30 min or more.

Simple way of "grounding" for immediate use with anxiety, all slow an meanigly (focussing only on this):
Find 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and one thing you can taste