Recently I've been experiencing stomach pain and assumed it was related to my food. My doc ran a few tests and found nothing. Then I tried a lactose free diet and didn't notice improvement. Finally, I decided to see a GI doc and guess what....he decided the cause was stress! It's a common joke that docs blame everything on stress and I must say, I did not believe him at first. I was convinced that the pain was directly related to the food I eat. The doc didn't believe me and was convinced it was stress. I mentioned that come to think of it, I had experienced a few stressful situations recently and he had that "aha...I was right" look on his face. The docs formula for stress was: 3 fruits/day, 3 veggies/day, 8 glasses of water and exercise at least 4 times a week.

A few days after seeing the doc I was having a discussion with someone and the person shared news about something that really upset me. Almost immediately after I started experiencing stomach pain and my shoulder started aching (which often happens when I'm under distress). At that moment I realized the doc was right - it was stress that was causing my stomach pain. After reflecting further, I remembered that I almost always get this pain when I'm traveling alone with my kids (very stressful!).

It feels good to know the cause of my problem but the downside is, it's difficult to fix "stress" since stress is a part of life. The doc said that while I cannot necessarily eliminate stress from my life, I could learn how to manage it buy eating right and blowing off steam regularly through exercise. I'm thankful to have a doc who took the time to really understand me and what I have been going through rather than medicate me as a quick fix.

I am still supposed to go in for further testing since my doc wants to make sure that nothing else is wrong. In the meantime, I will try to follow the docs orders. I hope that those of you reading this will gain some insight on the potential negative effects stress can have on an individual. I never imagined stress could be related to my stomach pain and completed denied it at first - I wasn't stressed...I was just fine! Lesson learned...don't underestimate the effects of stress and take a break once in a while to take care of myself and my body....do more yoga, get a massage, meditate...whatever it takes to relax.