Gastrointestinal Complaint to be dealt Psychologically

According to researchers in Norway should not lookout the psychological side when patients present with gastrointestinal complaints. Nausea is a tricky symptom to investigate. It is unpleasant for the patient and physical exams which can be invasive often reveal no apparent problem. Before packing the patient off to the gastroenterologist's office, doctors might consider whether anxiety and depression lie at the root of the nausea, say researchers at the Haukeland University Hospital in Norway.

They have surveyed 50,000 people in Norway and find nearly half had suffered at least one gastrointestinal problem, including nausea, constipation and heartburn, in the previous year. And 35 per cent of those complaining of nausea suffered from an anxiety disorder and 20 per cent were clinically depressed. In fact, those with nausea were nearly three times more likely to suffer anxiety and one and a half times more likely to have depression compared to the general population.