About a year ago my Mum was diagnosed and treated for HP after experiencing heart palpitations and digestive problems.
She recently began experiencing the same HP symptoms and has also suddenly developed acute anxiety. She has no history of anxiety disorder (she's always been a very happy-go-lucky person), so it's sudden onset has us scratching our heads. Aside from the HP, she has always had excellent health.
I'm curious if there is a possible link between HP and anxiety. It occurred to me that the old thinking was that ulcers were caused by stress/anxiety and I wondered if the corollary might have some basis.
I've found these papers that seem to suggest a possible link:
- http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/co ... 1.abstract
http://jech.bmj.com/content/63/12/1016.abstract
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/38/3/21.2.full
So, my question if there is a potential link:
is treatment for HP likely to be effective on the anxiety (ie: is HP directly causing the anxiety through some biological affect), or is it a secondary effect (perhaps due to malabsorption of a key nutritional factor [eg: zinc, B6/12, etc.])?
I've noticed a few websites claiming HP causes nutritional malabsorption and that this can affect mental health. I'd love your opinion on whether this is quackery or worth pursuing.
Thanks
Rachel