You’ve done all the elimination diets. You’ve followed up with multiple gastroenterologists, you’ve even tried some of those older antidepressants like Nortriptyline. And you’re still in the bathroom at 6 am, wondering if this is just life now. Having a brain-gut issue that isn’t responding
Why treating functional GI disorders requires a whole-system approach. Imagine two physicians sit in adjacent offices. One treats the mind — anxiety, stress, the relentless hum of a nervous system that never quite switches off. The other treats the body—bloating, cramping, the unpredictable rhythms of a bowel that follows no
Understanding IBS after colon cancer surgery — and what to do about it If your bowel habits have completely changed since your colon cancer surgery, you’re not imagining it. You’re not overreacting. And you are not alone. The urgency. The cramping that wakes you at 3am. The way you
Most of us have felt it: a stressful week that brings on a stomachache, a bout of anxiety that makes eating feel impossible, or a prolonged, difficult period that somehow leaves us both emotionally drained and digestively wrecked. We tend to dismiss these as coincidences—stress affects the mind, and
If you live with IBS, reflux, functional dyspepsia, or ongoing GI symptoms with “normal” tests, you’ve likely been told some version of this: “It’s just stress.” Which is both true — and wildly incomplete. Stress isn’t new. We’ve known for decades that stress affects digestion. What’s
This Thursday, I’m hosting an Instagram Live on something we don’t talk about enough in psychiatry: Side effects. Not in the rushed, checkbox way. Not in the “well everything has side effects” way. But in the real, nuanced, human way. Because here’s what I see over and
Last November, I had the opportunity to present on a topic that’s both essential and too often overlooked in mental health care: sexual side effects from psychiatric medications. These side effects are incredibly common—yet many patients don’t bring them up, and many clinicians aren’t taught how
Most people assume gut–brain problems come from big things: the wrong food, the wrong medication, the wrong diagnosis. In reality, the gut–brain axis is shaped far more by small, repeated signals sent to the nervous system every day. Signals of safety. Signals of threat. Signals of steadiness—or
I've been seeing so much frustration out there lately on how gaslit patients feel when the medical system doesn't reflect what they're feeling. Often, people feel that seeing a psychiatrist means "giving up" or that their medical team doesn't believe
I was thrilled in November to share with my colleagues how biofeedback can be used in the outpatient setting for Disorders of the Gut–Brain Interaction (DGBI). The energy in the room was palpable, and I was genuinely moved by how many psychiatrists approached me afterward to learn more about
