Chronic Abdominal Pain and Mental Health: Is There a Connection?

Yeah… some docs are working off a bias that it’s only “in our head”, others acknowledge the vicious cycle of Chronic Pain leads to stress leads to pain leads to stress leads to pain leads to str…. Unfortunately even those that acknowledge the cycle still don’t promote holistic treatment plans and also rarely communicate it in a way that doesn’t feel like more gaslighting.

Yep, that has been suggested to me many times. I’ve done therapy and been on antidepressants, all that. What helped me was finding a PT who massages my abdomen. It drastically reduced my pain! I also get injections into my abdomen about once a month. My pain is mostly muscular and nerve related with gynecologic roots. If you have any questions feel free to message me and I can go into more detail about my treatments!

Okay, wow. A little shocked there aren't any comments on this because I know this happens a lot in doctors offices. I saw a couple doctors who completely ignored my pain. Another doctor had said that my pain could stem from stress and other mentally tolling things, which I know is true. But, it was much more than that. If anything, the pain and the consistent health problems being ignored and not taken seriously is what cause the anxiety to flare up this badly to begin with. It's extremely upsetting when you aren't helped in any way shape or form and told it is in your head when you absolutely know it is not. I had tried multiple forms of pain relief for years and nothing really helped, including Cannabis. It took the edge off. It wasn't until (AFTER 5 and a half YEARS) I moved and got a pcp who listened to me and understood that I was in pain and she just didn't know why, that I was able to get on medications to start trying. I was finally referred to a pain management specialist who would ultimately prescribe me medications and safe my life. I was unable to move or function for an extremely long time. Now I am able to walk through a grocery store. It's not much to other people but that's huge to me. I hope that you get the help you desire and need. I hope you're still on this app to receive this notification.