I think the link between abdominal pain as a child and anxiety has more to do with the feeling of powerlessness than anything else. Having been a child that had severe abdominal pain (later my doctors said this was I.B.S.) I felt very powerless. My pain took much of the joy out of living. I hadn't pinned down what the cause was so I never knew what was going to make it go crazy. The pain was horrible. I'm 50 years old now. I've had broken bones, abdominal surgeries, and a absolute plethora of other things that caused me pain, not the least of which was childbirth, and I can say that those long ago "attacks" were as bad a pain as I have ever experienced. The pain was bad enough that on several occasions I passed out. I felt a lot of anxiety!
I would also like to mention that for me there are two foods that will make me very sick, to this day, those being eggs and avocado. I can usually tolerate eggs in something else but avocado will kill me every time.
