Anxiety During Illness May Trigger IBS

(WebMD) People who are overly anxious or refuse to slow down during a bout of food poisoning or other infection-related gastrointestinal illness may be prone to developing irritable bowel syndrome, according to a new
study.

The findings reinforce the view that emotional factors like stress and
anxiety contribute to the chronic bowel condition. But they also suggest that the way a person deals with acute illness plays a role.

Researchers found that people who pushed themselves too hard when they had bacterial gastroenteritis developed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) more often than people who took it easy.

Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the digestive tract that can result from a viral, bacterial, or parasitic infection.

"Instead of resting up, these driven people kept going until they collapsed in a heap," study co-author Rona Moss-Morris, PhD, tells WebMD. "The gastroenteritis triggered the symptoms, but this 'all-or-nothing' behavior may have helped prolong them."

For the rest of this article, including learning how to slow down, click here.