# suggestions



## trbell (Nov 1, 2000)

Mike, i've tried the tapes a couple of times and given up but want to try something again. While I am aware that this might be due to my not trying hard enough i don't really want to go through this blaming the patient scenario again and know that you wouldn't be tempted to take that route. As we discussed in a previousm post here part of the problem could be that I myself am a hypnotherapist and too much conscious knowledge is not always helpful in hypnosis. Another aspect might be thst males tend to be poorer responders to hypnosis than females because we want immediate results. Still another factor might be that the tapes were developed basically on your experiences with younger womed who are largely IBS-D. Research is beginning to show, I think from my reading of it that there might well be a slightly dofferent physiological mechanism involved (5HT4 rather tah 5ht3) ad possibly different hormonal or protein elements (e.g., CCK). i don't pretend to be an expert on this and don't expect that you have been able to keep up with the research literature. I only bring all this up as a basis for my question which is have you given these issues any thought since my last question and do you have any new suggestions.tom


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## Michael Mahoney (Oct 11, 2001)

Hi Tom,Sorry for the delay in replying.Listening to the tapes and not trying hard enough does not come into it. As you know if someone tries to hard they are defeating the object.I think being a hypnotherapist yourself will leave you open to influences that perhaps others will not have, ie you will do therapy and suggestions different perhaps so there may be something about that might influence you.Males tend to be poor initial responders but once they get the understanding they are then often open to the fact of listening and working with therapy. Although there is an element in some males I find, that the matcho bit kicks in and self limiting issues come to play. Not all since we are all individuals. I would be interested to hear your finding with patients on this.The tapes were based on a balanced mix of findings from all IBS varient patients over the 100 days and beyond. However patients were not as forthcoming to be monitored for the times after the 100 days. So to get some balance we showed and worked only with those you were prepared to commit to the additional monitoring.We have been monitoring patients additionally for some time, for additional information and feed back. It is interesting to see from preliminary feedback, although this won't be finalised for another 3-4 months that there is a definate difference in expectation between those with D & those with C. The D's seem more willing to working with the suggestions because they want something to stop, The C' seem to be less able for a variety of reasons to stay with the program because they are wanting someting to start. The figures compared to those having stopped the program and re started are 3-1 for C type. Less D types stop the program and restart than C'sI find this interesting and some of this has been knitted into additional work I am doing on the psychological elements of IBS with patients in my rooms.As always this is takes resources and may be sometime before it is completed, but it will be, in time. I would be interested in any comments you have about patients you see.I hope you are keeping well,Best RegardsMike


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## trbell (Nov 1, 2000)

thanks for the reply, Mike. Glad you are back. Hope you are feeling better. your comments on males and Cs are helpful. i suspect that what you see as 'macho' is perhaps more of a control issue - they often go hand in hand in the sense that those who have control issues tend to try to overcompensate by being macho macho. from what I've seen with Cs you might have put your finger on the problem - there isn't a short-term payoff but also I'm starting to wonder if IBS-C might in some way be an entirely different process, at least in some cases. in my case, for example, I tried zelmac for a period and it did help with the pain but led to symptoms like IBS-D so right now I have both. I'm hoping you are going to be publishing some of your work soon?tom


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