Wow there you go. The problem for me is I have been that way all my life. Quite difficult to just turn it off. Relaxation techniques were given to me. Ivtry to practice deep breath exercises along with working on irrational responses that I think is actually the truth and false perception leads to anxiety and goes straight to where the sun dont shine. What a battle

It's hard isn't it when you know what you do but there is no way you can change it even though you try. I know my stress goes straight to my bowel so I try and breath I too meditate I do yoga I actually do love myself and like my life....does any of this make a difference...heck no....I think there are some of us whose enteric brains are just more switched on and as the enteric brain functions at the instinctive level no amount of logic meditation or analysing can change it....although I'm interested in hypnotherapy which claims to be able to bypass it.

Exactly reaction based on instinct instead of reality. My neurologist calls that the brains false sense of reality. We take in images as we see them then the brain processes it as either flight or fight as it always appears to be one or the other. Most of the time I see it as a defensive scene so the brains reaction is to fight. No wonder all my relationships with others have been destroyed due to this way of visualization of the false sense of reality but to me its as real as the sun in the sky and automatically effects my brain wich in
Turn effects my central nervous system which controla muscle movements hence anall sphincter tone .

It's strange isn't it, my brain is very logical I try and see the best in any situation even really bad ones but obviously my enteric brain just responds to the stress and cannot analyse any situation let alone find the good in it. I know that my sphincter tone went through the roof in 2015 I knew the situation was bad but I tried to see the good....I think there is a lot of sense in going with your gut instinct if I had I may never have got in this state. Lesson learned just way too late unfortunately

Agreed gut instincts should always be listened to. Whats amazing is that my pain levels right are barely there compared to this morning and overnight. My brain knows I have no stressful anxious situations at this time. That allows my body to be in a state of calmness at least for now . Lets see how long that lasts

Glad your pain is decreasing hope it stays that way, this modern day world is so not what our bodies were designed for. I'm grateful that most of my pain only comes from a BM just the stress causes the BM but at least I know when it's going to happen. I just hope I can manage 1 singular BM a day or every other day that would be like winning the lottery lol

Staying calm and maintaing water fiber diet intake keeping things moving and moving around hopefully one day will clear me of this

It's funny because in physiological terms, our reaction is entirely evolutionary. Like when an antelope is chased by a tiger - the antelope is undergoing a typical flight response - it's whole body works to protect it. Blood vessels in the extremities constrict to fuel more blood to the internal organs (including the gut!) so that if they get their tail bitten off or whatever there will be less immediate damage and more chance of escape. Also, muscles in the gut will contract, often causing defecation, maybe to help deter predators or make the animal lighter to help escape (several theories on why this is - but the matter of the fact is the body's flight response causes a hormonal cascade that acts directly on the gut).

It's funny to me because my father and I are typical "flight" type individuals - high anxiety, with many physical reactions to stress. Not only have I had ibs, but also full body burning rashes that every doctor I saw said was due to stress. Unlike us, my mother is completely "fight" type - she tackles every problem head on and has an iron stomach. Nothing phases her.

It can also come back to the idea of whether we have a dominant parasympathetic or sympathetic autonomic nervous systems - if the sympathetic (flight!) nervous system is in overdrive, we can have these types of physical reactions from seemingly everyday stressors.

Anyways sorry for the rant, just thought I'd chip in my neuroscience knowledge

I'm doing a counselling degree, and find it interesting that my logical mind is happy to face any problem/issue in fact I prefer to confront things as soon as possible. I don't get anxious or feel the flight response...I'm confident that I can handle myself calmly and get my point across....my issues come from dealing with people who cannot handle conflict and play the guilt trip...that frustrates me and bang straight to my stomach so as no counsellor or psychologist has been able to help....do any of you guys have any tips on what I do when faced with these people....mother, sister and husband....obviously I meet lots of these people in everyday life but it's only those close to me that set me off these are the situations that set my IBS off something terrible.
Any advice would be amazing as meds help my crohns sometimes but nothing helps my IBS

Do you actually feel guilt in response mpb? Because guilt is actually a major part of my anxiety - in fact the year I spent in therapy focused mainly on that. I felt guilty saying no to friends and family for ex, but then if I went out and did something with them I'd feel guilty I wasn't working or doing school work, or even doing the dishes or whatever for goodness sake.