Anxiety might be alleviated by regulating gut bacteria | Hacker News Reader

Anxiety might be alleviated by regulating gut bacteria

sciencedaily.com

59 pointslaurex13 comments

Considering SSRIs are prescribed for IBS (the gut has a lot of serotonin in it) and anxiety disorders (the brain also uses serotonin), I could see this being related.

Anecdotally, absolutely true .

I can add another anecdata point for that one.

say more - suggestions welcome - acendata based on supplements or diet?

I would be interested to hear what has worked / not worked.

As someone who distroyed his microbiome with antibiotics and spent the last year and a half trying to rebuild.

Probiotics can work by changing acid levels/etc not by populating that specific strain. Prebiotics give you the biggest bang.

Diarrhea seems to bring anxiety. Constipation depression.

There was a recent small scale study[1] that suggested taking probiotics could increase the time for the gut microbiota to return to normal. The biggest bang might have been a fecal transplant of cultures taken from your own gut before you started on antibiotics. The study is more suggestive than conclusive because of limited sample size.

[1]https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/09/180906141640.h...

For me personally, anxiety would cause me to have gut issues (i.e. bloating, feeling sick, diarrhea, etc). After a while, the reverse started happening too, things like feeling bloated triggered my anxiety.

Just changing me diet to include a lot more fibre and cutting back a lot of processed carbs helped reduce the stomach problems which resulted in less anxiety.

This! I had the same issues during high school. First it started with unnerving belly issues, bloating and so on. It turned out to be some virus, what the doctor concluded. It just took me to recover a bit, it stopped gradually. But that really impacted my self-esteem, all the noises my stomach made and the constant thinking how will it be today, and a few episodes of severe lightheadedness. I started getting psychosomatic symptoms after everything cleared, when I would start thinking of it, basically the reverse.

Today I have some residues, I think. Bursts of hypochondria here and there, psychotherapy helps me keep it under control. Although a lot more things went into developing that one :-)

What is your method?

Same here

The article mention non-probiotic methods are more effective. I could not find what these were beyond "diet". Anyone have an idea?

Fecal transplant maybe?

It could mean a “pre”biotic diet (which feeds your good gut bacteria). Generally, that means:

- Increase fiber intake - especially vegetables, beans, lentils, and complex grains like oatmeal

- Avoid added sugar and processed carbs

- Avoid excess caffeine, which has a diuretic effect and can increase anxiety

Easy to say - hard to do :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com