Dr Oz: Nervous Stomach + How Emotions Affect Your Gut

Dr Oz: Butterflies In Your Stomach?

If you’ve ever gotten really nervous before a big event, you may know what butterflies in you stomach feels like. It isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for one woman, she says her nervous stomach is ruining her life. She shared that she constantly feels like she has butterflies in her belly. She gets a knot in her stomach and sometimes the pain is so bad that she has to run to the bathroom. She knows that it has to do with a lot of stress and anxiety, because she’s constantly worrying about her kids and the finances.

She doesn’t go out as much as she used to, because she’ll sometimes feel anxious. She’s tried medications and meditation, but tends to focus more on the negative rather than the positive.

Dr Oz: Is Your Sensitive Stomach In Overdrive?

Dr Oz was joined by the woman who shared that she has suffered from her stomach issues for a long time and even remembered having to run out of her PSATs because of her stomach. She saw a couple doctors but still hasn’t found a solution. She said she can sometimes get it under control, but it’s still debilitating.

Dr Oz explained that treating a nervous stomach can be difficult because typical medications are temporary. He said the real things you have to treat are what’s going on around the stomach like the stress. He asked gastroenterologist Dr Roshini Raj, who explained that sometimes your brain-gut access can go into overdrive. She said the woman is likely too sensitive to what’s going on in the brain and how it affects the digestive system.

Dr Raj said as women, we are very sensitive and intuitive, but if we are too sensitive or worried all the time, it can affect your life in a negative way.

Dr Oz: How Emotions Can Affect Your Gut

Dr Oz then wanted to walk them through the different ways your emotions can affect your gut. Dr Raj started with diarrhea, explaining that when you’re stressed, it can cause your intestines to contract, moving things through way too fast. As for constipation, sometimes stress can cause your intestines to go into shock. Finally, anxiety and stress can cause your stomach to not empty as quickly as it should, which can cause nausea.

The woman admitted she suffered from diarrhea, and Dr Oz wanted to find two other women who suffer from constipation and nausea. Dr Oz talked to another mother who said she constantly worries about her kids as well as work, so she suffers from constipation that is so bad that she goes to the bathroom once a week. Another woman named Deborah admitted she overthinks things a lot and will feel anxious, which leads to nausea.

Do you suffer from a nervous stomach or butterflies that just won’t go away? Dr Raj offered stomach solutions.