Claire Brandon
What No One Tells You About Getting Better
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
Your Brain and Your Gut Are Not Separate Patients
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
When Your Gut Doesn’t Feel Like Yours Anymore
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
When Stress Breaks Down Your Gut — And Your Mood Pays the Price
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
Why Your Gut Isn’t Broken — It’s Guarded
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
Psych Medications: The Conversation Beyond ‘Is It Working?’
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
“Yes, We Should Talk About Sex (Especially in GI Psychiatry)”
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
Daily Habits That Help — and Harm — Your Gut–Brain Axis
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
When Tests Are Normal, but Symptoms Aren’t...
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