Can Anxiety cause acid reflux?

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henda11

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hi

everytime my anxiety comes on i feel a burning sensation in my stomach almost like when you go a while without food or have no food on a morning.

can anxiety cause acid reflux?
 
It sure agravates my reflux. Greg... have GAD (generalized anxiety disorder) and GERD.
 
I just wrote a long post on this, but I get the exact same thing right before an anxiety attack. I get a burning sensation in my stomach that moves up my esophogus. Do you have Nausea all the time also? How frequently does this occur?
 
I have been told that anixety in and of itself does not CAUSE GERD--it can cause the excess acid in the stomach, but to have it move it the esophagus is related more to the LES (sphincter/valve) not functioning properly (due to repeated acid!!! or other reasons) which results in the GERD/ACID REFLUX or burning sensation many people get.

For me, I think that anxiety played a big role in my GERD getting out of control to the point that I needed regular medication. Most dr.'s will disagree although I have talked to one or two that agree that it can definitely aggravate it. I suppose it's true--it's like headaches and other ailments....everyone has stress to one degree or another and some get headaches, some get IBS, some get TMJ, some get GERD. So that is why they can't say "for sure" that anxiety causes GERD (or else everyone would have it) and I get that. Even now, 2.5 years later, I can be symptom free, but if I get really stressed, what I feel is the GERD acting up. I think it hits the weak spot in your body and looking back (like way back, into childhood) whenever I was nervous, I felt it in my stomach. So I suppose it's no big surprise that I have GERD now as an adult.

If anxiety is a trigger, then, in a strange way, it makes it somewhat easier to "treat", unlike many others on this site who cannot figure out a trigger. Yes, easier said than done, but we all know that there are lots of "treatments" for anxiety, including medication, exercise, relaxation techniques, etc. Then of course there is the best way--treat the underlying issues or cause. That is the best thing to do with anything. Our medical society is too quick to put a band-aid on and treat the symptoms and not the underlying cause.

For me, this has taken years of my own research and looking "inward" at what I need to do. Again, easier said than done, but despite the GERD, I am a much wiser happier person with concrete goals, compared to what I was when I first started dealing with this GERD many years ago. A silver lining to every cloud!

Good luck with it all!!!!
 
You put it well. Does it cause GERD, not likely. Does it aggravate GERD , Yes definitely (in my opinion at least). Greg
 
I was doing 99% ok. After losing my job I have been under extreme stress, I cannot even swallow now. The prescription prilosec was working perfectly when I didn't have strees now it does nothing. Hopefully my stress will let up soon and my reflux will die down. Is stress the cause of reflux, no it didn't make it happen but it makes it go out of control. No stress, I can control my reflux.
 
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