Can anxiety and stress cause stomach symptoms such as Gas, bloating/fullness etc?
IBS is strongly associated with stress and I suspect that your doctor is right. The classic prescribed treatment is Colpermin, concentrated peppermint. Does it work? In my view not very well I am afraid! 50% of IBS sufferers do improve with a high fibre diet, bad news the other 50% get worse. This sub group actually do improve on a low fibre diet. Unfortunately this is unhelpful medically, producing other bowel symptoms and increasing bowel cancer risks. Antispasmodics definitely help reduce cramps, but do little else. The drug I found most useful in practice was amitriptylline, an old tricyclic antidepressant used in very low dose, 10-20 mgs daily. This may work by affecting the smooth muscle off the bowel. Though not within the drug licence there have been many papers over the past 30 years confirming its usefulness. You might also get some benefit from supportive psychotherapy or CBT.
