Lauren Bell was stressed and starting her first job out of college in New York City when she realized a bout of food poisoning wasn’t going to go away after weeks.
A doctor’s appointment revealed that she had irritable bowel syndrome, a surprising diagnosis—until she learned more about the link between mental health It is gut healthas well as the prevalence of digestive problems among women.
“Working in a pretty intense environment, living in the city and being an adult for the first time took a toll on my body,” the 27-year-old said of her diagnosis five years ago.
Every few months, a new TikTok about digestive issues goes viral — the taboo topic often raised by women suggesting tips to reduce bloating or ease pain. Experts say it’s unclear whether there is a rise in the number of people experiencing digestive problems or whether online chatter is leading to more consultations and diagnoses.
But doctors are seeing a pattern of more and more younger people wanting to address their gastrointestinal issues, and they suspect that anxiety related to increased isolation during the pandemic is playing a role in the increase in visits.
“I definitely have a lot of young women in my practice,” says Chicago-based gastroenterologist Dr. Nina Gupta, “but in recent years I’ve also been seeing more younger men.”
Making connections and sharing tips online can help, experts say, but they also want people to be careful because what may seem like advice can be more like advertising if influencers are being paid to convince people to buy a product.
It’s not clear what causes irritable bowel syndrome. Food sensitivities and gut microbes may play a role, and research indicates that problems with the nervous system can cause discomfort in the digestive process. Research indicates it can also be a two-way street: When your stomach is upset, it can affect your mental health.
And mental health, especially for Gen Z and young millennials, is a huge concern. Although the pandemic has affected people of all ages, researchesI found these age groups reported higher levels of stress and anxiety than other generations during and after the pandemic.
One 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveying US high school students during the pandemic showed that teenage girls’ mental health was severely affected, with nearly a third reporting that they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the previous year.
Anxiety in college-age adults, especially young women, has skyrocketed “through the roof” since the early 2010s, said Jean Twenge, a Gen Z mental health expert at San Diego State University. For high school students, experts say anxiety is likely the result of two things: increased isolation during the formative years and reliance on social media to feel connected.
While dietary changes can improve IBS symptoms, Gupta said a big part of managing her patients’ conditions is getting them to “recognize that there is a connection between stress, mental health or anxiety and symptoms.”
Nadya Okamoto hadn’t pooped in four days.
“I’m really bloated,” she said while participating in a Zoom interview from her home in New York City.
Okamoto, who has more than 4 million followers on TikTok, built his platform by publicly addressing sensitive topics. The 26-year-old is the founder of August, a menstrual products company, and frequently posts about her own menstrual cycle.
Some of her most popular posts over the past three years, however, are about her experiences with irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS. Okamoto seems to share his experiences with everything – collecting fecal samples for colon cancer, constipation and bloating.
“It wasn’t until I started dating and having intimate relationships and talking about it with my family that I realized… it wasn’t normal to poop three times a month,” Okamoto told the Associated Press.
Seeing the hashtag “IBS” on TikTok led her to the doctor and a diagnosis. She took three different medications to treat her IBS. None worked.
“From a young age, small talk is not appropriate, especially for girls,” she said. “We’re not encouraged to be open about it, which means we know less about our bodies.”
The downside to more people talking about gut health online is the increase in misinformation. Some of the most popular TikTok posts about IBS are from people who claim to have cured it or found a home remedy that has miraculously stopped some symptoms. Others recommend unproven supplements.
A quick scroll through these influencers’ accounts reveals a litany of sponsorships from probiotic companies or other health food companies. Gupta said viewers should be skeptical when people who are not professionals start offering medical advice.
Okamoto and Bell, who has a master’s degree in public health in nutrition, continue to talk about their own experiences.
Both emphasized that one of the best things about online conversation is making information more accessible. That said, in December 2023, Bell posted a TikTok video in response to someone asking if they could self-diagnose their IBS with this advice: “I will always recommend that you see a medical professional.”
Bell, who is black, fills a specific void on social media.
“I felt like there weren’t a lot of people who looked like me making this type of content,” she said. “It’s not just white women who are hot with IBS.”
Bell, who occasionally takes over-the-counter medications to treat her symptoms, began posting on Instagram about her struggle with IBS — how isolating it was and how she felt like she was having to reorganize her life and diet around her food sensitivities — and sharing your diagnosis with your friends.
“It seemed like a secret issue that suddenly everyone in my life had struggled with, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it,” she said.
Bell sees her role as helping Black women figure out how to start having these uncomfortable conversations about their gut health.
“Gut health spans gender, age, race and ethnicity,” she said.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content.
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