Fear & Anxiety Can Cause IBS Symptoms

Sometimes, problems snowball until they appear to be something completely different.

Take the case I recently read about: A man had a serious bout with a stomach virus about 2 years ago. Even when it appeared to have passed, he began experiencing headaches, fatigue, stomach cramps, nausea, bloating, gas, loss of appetite, serious weight loss and more.

All this worried him, so he began going to doctors and undergoing one test after another. Everything else looks normal, so the doctors diagnosed Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Because of his fear of vomiting, the man has almost stopped eating, and has dropped 75 pounds - although he was not overweight to begin with.

Now, because he eats irregularly, his intestines react irregularly too - so he experiences even more of the discomforting symptoms that started the whole problem. It's a problem that has taken on a life of its own.

This gentleman was advised to take anti-anxiety medication, but refuses to do so because he fears the side effects of pharmaceuticals even more than he fears his present condition.

I wish I could meet him. I'd suggest Bach Flower Essences, starting with the Feel5ive formula for stress. Had he been taking it two years ago when all this started, his original stomach virus would likely be a distant memory.

If you suffer from stress, try it before the anxiety begins to affect your physical health as well as your emotional well-being. Bach Flower Essences are natural - there are no harmful narcotics or pharmaceuticals of any kind. There are no side effects - only beneficial changes in your body as it begins to heal.

If you're unfamiliar with them, go to the FeelBach! website and read about Dr. Bach and the Flower Essences. They could be just what you need - and a bonus is that they cost nothing compared to prescription medication.

Stress relief: How to let go of anger or guilt

Do you have something on your mind that you just can't let go of - or you feel like it just won't let go of you?

Say there's someone who is annoying you so much that you can hardly keep your mouth closed. But you know if you say anything you'll do damage to a relationship you treasure.

Say you've done something you feel ashamed of - a big thing or a little thing, but it keeps eating at you.

Say you're completely angry with someone you dearly love - so angry that if you try to talk about it you know you'll say more than you mean and really hurt that person.

Say you're just mad at the world and yourself because you've taken on too many holiday projects and you feel worn out and unappreciated. You're doing what everyone else wants done and none of what you want to do, but you're committed because you said yes one too many times.

Here's a simple solution that you won't believe until you try it. It's called "Write and Burn."

Go into a room by yourself and write it all down. Holler, yell, curse, say every nasty thing you want to say - to yourself or to them. Write down how you really feel about the situation and don't leave anything out. Keep writing until you feel like you've said it all.

Then, stick the letter and a book of matches in your pocket and go somewhere that you can burn the thing. And burn it.

You will be amazed at the relief you'll feel. It's as if the burden lifts - you've said it all, gotten it all out in the open, and you can think about other things again.

If you live where you can't possibly burn the letter, there's an alternative that works almost as well.

Say it all in an email. After you write it, read it one more time, and then delete the whole thing. Be sure not to put a name in the send line - you wouldn't want to accidentally send these private thoughts out into cyberspace!

Bach Flowers and the mind-body connection

For a long time now doctors have been talking about stress and high blood pressure - but they usually talk about type A executives, driving themselves beyond their endurance to succeed more and more.

Well, the rest of us have stress too. It just isn't quite so visible.

And finally, doctors are realizing that stress can do more to our bodies than cause high blood pressure. It can cause an overall degeneration of many body parts, because after all, those parts are all connected!

Bach Flower Essences can help rebalance our energies to remove that stress and make the ups and downs in our lives easier to manage.

Dr. Bach, of course, talked about how our spiritual self affects our physical self. He believed there could be no true physical healing without emotional and vibrational healing. I personally believe that's why some people who "should" be well continue to be ill, while others with challenging injuries can heal quickly.

Bach Flowers can be preventative medicine - treating emotional upheaval before it takes a toll on our bodies. And they can be healing medicine, working in concert with traditional medicine to allow bodies to recover. Either way, because it's both inexpensive and totally harmless, I think using Bach Flower Essences is an intelligent approach to health care.

If you're interested in trying this natural approach to wellness, here's another book that could help you understand and choose the correct essences: Illustrated Handbook of the Bach Flower Remedies


You'll find Bach Flower Essences in many places around the web, but for fast service and the best prices I've seen, I recommend Feel Bach! More important, they use the same formula that Dr. Bach perfected back in the 30's, while many other manufacturers have chosen to use a cheaper method.

Note: For a selection of books that cover everything from using Bach Flowers for stress to treating pets, just type "bach flower remedies" into the Buy.com search box at the top of this page.

Yours for stress-free, joyful holidays,
Marte

Tomorrow: Meditation