From Stomach Aches to SVT Heart Symptoms: How Unexpressed Emotions Move Through the Body Over Time

As a child, I struggled with constant digestive issues—stomach aches, nausea for “no reason,” swings between constipation and loose stools, and occasional cramping and gas pains  that left me curled up on the couch and afraid. At the time, no one connected these symptoms to stress or emotions. They were chalked up to being “sensitive,” having a “nervous stomach,” or being prone to digestive trouble. The advice we received from doctors (and the one time I was rushed to the ER) was to avoid “greasy foods”.

But now, with decades of personal experience, coaching, and integrative study behind me, I understand something important:

My childhood stomach aches were not random or solely related to certain foods I ate, but rather they were unexpressed emotions—stored, held, and unprocessed—manifesting physically….

And I believe the same when it comes to SVT…

 I also believe that many children experience similar things. As such, one of the steps I do in my Heal SVT Naturally Approach Protocol (Book and course coming soon in 2026) , is share the benefits of taking your own Health inventory which includes remembering childhood illness and symptoms as part of your whole health picture. Doing a comprehensive health inventory allows us to see how childhood emotions, life events, unexpressed feelings, beliefs and experiences correspond with nearly all health issues, and especially in the development or worsening of SVT. This is great exercise to explore SVT from a more whole-body perspective and connect its origins, especially from when we were kids.

Why Children Feel Emotions in Their Stomachs

Children don’t yet have the emotional vocabulary, coping tools, or sense of safety needed to express stress, fear, frustration, or sadness. So their bodies speak for them.

There is strong evidence for this:

1. The Gut–Brain Axis

The gut and the brain communicate constantly through the vagus nerve. When a child feels fear, anxiety, or overwhelm, the digestive system reacts instantly.

This can show up as:

• • • stomach aches
    • nausea
    • constipation or loose stools
    • appetite changes
    • abdominal tension
      

Pediatric research confirms that many “mystery stomach aches” are stress-related.

2. Somatic Stress Patterns

Children process emotions physically because their verbal and emotional regulation systems are still developing. They literally feel their feelings in their bodies—especially in the gut.

3. Highly Sensitive Children Feel More

Children who are intuitive, empathetic, or energetically sensitive often somatize emotions more deeply. Their bodies absorb what they cannot yet express. I find all of my SVT clients fall into this highly sensitive category, just like me. 

What Happens When We Grow Up? The Shift From Gut to Heart

This is the part I’m most passionate about sharing:

As adults, many of us no longer get stomach aches from stress as our main symptom… instead, the emotional load shifts upward—to the heart.

For some, this looks like:

• • palpitations
  • a racing heart
  • chest tightness
  • shortness of breath
  •  heightened nervous-system reactivity
  • anxiety
  • or conditions like SVT that appear alongside emotional triggers
    

I don’t believe this transition is random.

When emotions go unexpressed or suppressed for years:

• • • the nervous system becomes hyper-reactive
    • the vagus nerve becomes sensitive
    • the heart becomes the next place the body communicates distress or emotional overload
      

In this way, SVT can and should NOT  be viewed  just as an electrical event, but as a messenger.
A signal. A Symptom. A call inward.

Just as childhood stomach aches were your body asking you to pay attention, and served as an outlet, your adult heart symptoms of SVT may be doing the same—only louder, now that the stakes feel greater and the responsibilities heavier.

SVT as the Adult Version of Childhood Emotional Overwhelm

While SVT has a structural component (like an accessory pathway), the timing of episodes often correlates with:

• • • emotional stress
    • inner conflict
    • self-abandonment
    • unspoken truth
    • grief
    • depletion
    • or pushing yourself beyond your limits
      

From a holistic perspective, I see a pattern:

Childhood emotions → stored in the gut
Adult emotions → surface through the heart

This doesn’t exactly mean emotions cause SVT, although I believe they can.
It means the nervous system acts as the bridge between emotional stress and physical expression.

And for many highly sensitive people, that bridge leads straight to the heart.

Why This Matters for Healing

When you view SVT through an emotional and intuitive lens, everything begins to change.

Instead of fearing episodes, you can start asking:

• • • What is my heart trying to tell me?
    • Where am I holding stress?
    • What emotions have I swallowed instead of expressing?
    • Where am I out of alignment with my truth?
    • What did my inner child learn about safety, expression, or conflict?
    • How can I support myself to process and express my suffering, stress, anger and frustration in healthy ways?

This mindset and way of viewing SVT is about self-empowerment.

Because when SVT becomes our messenger rather than our enemy, you gain the ability to respond with tools like:

• • • emotional processing
    • journaling
      
    • nervous-system support
    • self-care
    • boundaries
    •  intuition
    • nourishment
    •  hydration
    • magnesium, B vitamins
    • homeopathy to calm the Nervous system
    • and spiritual alignment
      

Your heart symptoms become a pathway to deeper clarity and overall healing. And maybe even the pathway to your inner child which is trapped, without the tools we all have available today, waiting for us to support them, as only WE can.

A New Way to Understand Your Body’s Messages

Here’s my integrative belief:

Children feel unexpressed emotions in their stomachs.
Adults feel unexpressed emotions in their hearts.
SVT is the heart’s way of saying:
“Something needs your attention.”

This perspective doesn’t replace medical care—
it adds a layer of meaning and connection that supports true healing.

Your body has always spoken to you.
First through your gut…
now through your heart.

The invitation is simply to listen, be gentle and compassionate with your inner child, seek nourishing support from practitioners you trust,  and use empowering self-healing tools to support your journey. This healing pathway is what can bring actual relief unlike pharmaceuticals which can be a band-aid and not actually helping your body on emotional and energetic levels. 

Here are some of my tools to help:

Try Journaling…

I cannot share emphatically enough how much I love the benefits of journaling.

Journaling is a FREE, efficient and powerful way to self-express and really get to know yourself. Journaling is a safe place where you can start releasing lifelong pent up feelings and start connecting thoughts and behaviors to patterns, illness, and discomfort in your life. Journaling is my absolute favorite healing companion tool that I have been using my whole life and encourage all of my SVT friends to try. Connecting with your intuition is an essential part of the process and as such I created a free e-guide, “Journaling with your Intuition” to help support and guide you.

Get my FREE copy of my “Journaling with your Intuition” e-guide  HERE

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Consider working with me…

I am a Board Certified Spiritual Coach and Integrative Nutrition Health Coach who specializes in SVT. I have never been on medication or had ablation. I am trained in the Chakra Energy System, Self-Compassion, The Art of Extreme Self-Care, Journaling, Self-Expression and Leadership, and more. I recently created a new coaching offering called,  “Heal SVT Naturally From the Inside Out”. A deep integrative coaching journey. This coaching package includes 3 sessions:

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Month 1: Physical & Nutritional Foundations

Stabilize your body, nurture through nourishment, and bring your nervous system into safety.
Together, we’ll:

• Explore your SVT story and complete a detailed health inventory

• Identify your SVT triggers and prevention strategies

• Build your personalized nutrition, hydration, and supplement plan

• Begin daily sacred self-care practice and energy protection and balancing practices

• Incorporate Tracking and Journaling

🕊 Goal: Calm your body’s alarms and reduce acute SVT episodes so that deeper healing can begin.

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Month 2: Emotional & Energetic Healing

Once your body feels supported, we begin exploring the heart’s emotional landscape.
We’ll dive into:

• The heart chakra connection — and how SVT reflects emotional patterns

• Healing grief, stress, or inner child wounds linked to your heart

• Learning tools to regulate your nervous system

• Identify old energy and heart wounding and open to self-expression and freedom

• Identify why you have SVT from an emotional perspective and uncover what your heart is asking you to nurture

💞 Goal: Understand the emotional story behind your SVT and reclaim your inner peace.

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Month 3: Spiritual Integration & Heart Alignment

This is where your healing becomes transformation.
We’ll move into soul-level alignment and embodiment work:

• Deepen your intuition and reconnect with your inner wisdom

• Uncover your heart truth and soul-aligned life path

• Integrate and support your inner child and inner teen with who you are today

• Practice reparenting and balancing your masculine and feminine energies

• Design daily self-care and nurturing feminine rituals as on-going, non-negotiable practices

🌸 Goal: Embody your healing and align your outer life with your heart’s truth.

To learn more about this offering, along with the bonus session that comes with it, CLICK HERE

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Explore the SVT-Gut Connection:

If you want to start with your diet, then this is a great, comprehensive place to start:

The SVT Prevention Diet e-guide GET IT HERE

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Website: www.HealSVTNaturally.com