# Gasgirl



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

I see you on the forum and just wondering how things are going for you?


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

Eric,You caught me!







...







Well, regarding the tapes, sorry to say I haven't seen any improvement in my symptoms since finishing them several weeks ago.







I am still relying on Zofran to control the D, nausea and malaise, and Bentyl as needed for pain. The Zofran gives me more pain than I used to have, but I find that far more tolerable and manageable than unrelenting D. The tapes have continued to be useful for putting me to sleep; I still listen to Side 4 or 6 on occasion for that.I probably will do the tapes again at some point after the summer, when my schedule is a bit more predictable and I won't be away on vacation, etc.As you probably know, my family is going through a rough time right now. My gut hasn't reacted/gotten worse, at least not yet (knock on wood). I'm not thrilled about the prospect of flying, which I will have to do soon. That will be a challenge.I wish the key(s) to getting better were as simple as when this illness first reared its ugly head 25 years ago, when eating a bran muffin every morning and seeing a therapist completely eradicated my excruciating bouts of pain and D within a few weeks. Apparently it is far more entrenched now.That's the long and short of it, for now. Thanks for asking.


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## JeanG (Oct 20, 1999)

Hi gasgirl:I'm sorry you haven't been feeling well. At least things haven't gotton worse for you through all your stress. It is possible that, little-by-little, things will improve.Hang in there! I'm sure Eric will have some good suggestions for you.







JeanG


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Gasgirl, sorry it rough right now with the family.keep doing them once in a while and I think when your more settled you should do them again, I really feel in part when you weere taking new drugs, it effected the neurotransmitters and when they are settled you should add the tapes from the begining back into the regiment. Your probably right about entrenched thoughts and the drugs and the HT will help get you out of that, but it does take some time and might not always hit it the first time, but probably the second time. Keep plugging away at breaking the cycles and the walls down and they will. Keep me posted and have fun on your vacation.


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

Eric,I don't forsee any change in the drugs I am using to keep myself functional, so I don't know exactly what you mean by the neurotransmitters becoming "settled". I've been taking all of them for months now.







I don't know why the drugs would interfere; my understanding is the HT is supposed to work in its own right, and every other piece of advise I've seen from you and Mike has been that it's OK to keep taking your medications while doing the tapes. Is my case different somehow?I can't see doing the tapes again if the medications are a problem.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Gasgirl, no there is no need to do anything different with the drugs so you know.The chemicals that HT and the drugs are working on are some of the same chemicals in the body. So yes by now the drugs have settled to do what they need to do, it was more doing both at the same time at that time when you were switching medication and doses etc.. That temporarily messes with the serotonin system until the body adjusts to the drugs, thats all I meant. I think I maybe confusing you more. However, by all means continue with them and then just add the HT back in in a while and that should work really well for you and I believe then you will make that much more progress with both.Also, I was on the meeting place for the first time in a while. and just want to add my


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

Thanks, Eric (for both your reply and sentiment).I would think the drugs (even if just started) and the HT would reinforce each other since they are influencing the same system in the same direction, but who knows.







I may just be one of that small minority whose symptoms don't respond to the HT--somebody has to be it! This isn't a negative thought process, BTW, just a realistic one. I do truly believe that the tapes should help me; they just haven't yet in the way that I'd hoped.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Gasgirl, I understand.The drugs block chemicals at the receptors and also usally take a while two weeks to a month to kick in, during which time there maybe side effects from them. Because they maybe causing side effects, a person may think the HT is not working because they may have d from the drug side effects. The HT works more by balancing the chemicals in the body to circulate between the brain and the gut and to stop stress responces and thoughts that add to the chemicals being produced in the first place., not really stop them at the receptors. You may also be right that you may just not respond to HT and that could be totally true, but I would rather see you try again, now that you have worked the drugs and dosing out, to make sure its because your not responding to HT and not because chemicals were being manipulted via drugs for a short period while you first attemped the HT. It won't hurt anything to do this and because the drugs can lower anxiety levels and things it may make the brain more receptive to the HT with less to work on and out. If it does nothing the second time around, then your probably right you may not be responding to it in whichh case I would think about CBT for IBS on a concious level. But to be sure perhaps the second time around things will improve when you keep reinforcing and breaking down any blocks the subconcious has to making the changes.Hope that helps some. It also maybe and I have seen this quite a few times the combination of things that are the most effective, the drugs, diet and HT or CBT or some other mind therapy.


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## carolauren (Mar 14, 2002)

Just to clarify the drug stuff, eric, in relation to your first paragraph above--I had already been taking Celexa for awhile before starting the tapes, and the 'side effect' adjustment period was already done with. Zofran was the drug I started close to the end of doing the tapes. It's an anti-emetic, and as you probably know, although it affects the 5HT3 receptors, it is gut-specific. The constipation side effect is why I'm taking it. It works immediately, unlike the anti-depressant, which the brain has to adjust to the first few weeks. I did adjust the dose on that, but only by 10mg, for the mood lift. It doesn't appear to affect my digestion one way or the other, and I noticed no side effects when I upped the dose.When I said that I thought the IBS was more entrenched, I was meaning that physiologically. Not that psychological methods can't affect that because they are intertwined, but that the HT might not be "strong" enough, for lack of a better term, to ameliorate my symptoms.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Understood Gasgirl.


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