Is my anxiety the cause of the stomach upset I am suffering from for the past two years?

Question

Hi doctor,

I had a tragic event happen two and a half years ago. My girlfriend overdosed and passed away in my bed while I slept. But I got a bad detective and I am being investigated for causing the death. I have never been in trouble before. My main medical problem is major depression and anxiety, but I am seeing a good psychiatrist and psychologist for those. My question involves the upset stomach I have had since my friend died. I had a colonoscopy two years ago and mentioned diarrhea, and the doctor said he thought it was from the fear involving my case. I mentioned it to my PCP, and he did not say much. Diarrhea lasts most of the day. Surely this could be contributing to the lack of energy I have. Is there anything I should do? I suspect there are other things that it hurts. It cannot be good not to be able to keep any food on your stomach. Two and a half years with rarely a solid stool also, sometimes blood is in my stool.

I am under the following medications:

1) Nardil.

2) Modafinil.

3) Xanax.

4) Propranolol.

5) Prasozin.

6) Thyroid medication.

7) Abilify.

8) Prilosec.

Kindly help me.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome you to icliniq.com.

That is very painful and frightening. It is not uncommon to have gut upset when you have that level of anxiety, depression, plus medications use for that depression. I think your symptoms seem to be due to depression itself and partly due to the side effects of your medications, such as Modafinil. We call it functional GI (gastrointestinal) disorders, meaning disturbance in the function of the gut secondary to various hormones and neurotransmitters. I suggest you take tablet Colofac (Mebeverine) 135 mg thrice daily half an hour before meals. You can switch to capsule Esomeprazole from Prilosec (Omeprazole). The former is a good acid suppressant than later. If you think the sleep is still disturbed and not achievable with Xanax (Alprazolam), you can switch to tablet Clonazepam (benzodiazepam) 0.5 mg once at night. Use these medications for two weeks, and let me know the results. I hope this was helpful.