# My IBS Journey - After Almost 20 Years



## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Taken from My IBS Journey...IBS really ruined my whole life, and just like everyone here, I felt torn between being grateful I didn't have something "serious" and guilty for feeling like I was dying anyway. People treat you differently when they know that IBS is something that isn't "serious" as in life-threatening, but even my gastroenterologist told me that he could treat the pain of his colon cancer patients better than his IBS patients. I was officially diagnosed in 1988, after about five years (1983) of not knowing why I was having increasingly severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. With the birth of my daughter that same year, I thought I better get tested, that maybe I did have some digestive disease, but several colonoscopies later, (four total over the years) it was confirmed as IBS. Trips to the Mayo Clinic and two other gastroenterologists further confirmed that every single prescription and OTC medication had little or no effect, and only short-term, if any: Over the next 12 years or so, I was prescribed various IBS medications by my gastroenterologists and internal medicine physicians - some examples: every antispasmodic including Hyoscyamine (Levbid/Levsin, and Levsin SL), Dicyclomine (Bentyl), as well as Donnatal, Tincture of Belladonna, etc., several diets and diet modifications/food eliminations, fiber, the anti-depressant Amitriptyline (Elavil), various SSRIs (Prozac, Effexor and others), Codeine, Colpermin (enteric coated peppermint capsules), various other Antidiarrheal and/or Antiperistaltic prescriptions or OTC medications, as well as non-label use of prescriptions such as Seldane, which has a side-effect of constipation to combat my extreme diarrhea. There were other medications, and herbals as well.My gastroenterologist finally told me that he had exhausted his treatment options, and to go look up other treatments on the internet. In my search, I found out about the use of clinical hypnotherapy for IBS through a fellow BB IBS sufferer who was one of the first to use this method successfully in 1999, but I thought this method was pretty far-fetched and seemed to be absurd to me.But at this point I was desperate, now almost housebound with severe urgent diarrhea, painful cramping, and nothing helping, so I tried this treatment method as a last resort in the summer of 2000. This treatment program is known as the IBS Audio Program 100. It consists of a set of audio CDs containing clinically researched therapeutic sessions with a very specific listening schedule. (Michael Mahoney of Cheshire England is the author of this program. He came to the IBS Group BB in 1998, when his program became available to the public as a result of patient demand. Mike has many publications about him and by him and is one of the leading clinical hypnotherapists in England who works alongside gastroenterologists in his medical centre.)Even though the program had been helping thousands of IBS patients, even prior to its availability to the public in 1998, I felt that this would not work for me, that I was a hopeless case, having been diagnosed as severe refractory IBS, and I doubted that anything of this sort would have any real helpful effects on my symptoms.I was of a very negative, depressed mind-set from the beginning and throughout listening to the program. I had very little belief in it or the method. In fact, I thought it was rather bogus, and misleading to think anything of a brain-gut approach would help me. After all, the problem was in my gut, not my mind. I fought all the way writing emails to Mike in England, how this was not working, and that I was relapsing, etc. I was a nightmare patient! An IBS poster child.During the course of listening to the hypnotherapy sessions, I not only had to deal with IBS, but my marriage dissolved in part, due to IBS, and I had several various surgeries - one being gallbladder removal (which the doctor misdiagnosed as IBS pain), and removal of repositioned entangled ovaries. While the hypnotherapy program was not initially dealing with my IBS, I found out it helped me cope with the many other stressors and health issues in my life first, as these were the most pressing. Once resolved, I re-listened to the program yet again and my IBS began to improve. Very gradually at first, but one day, I realized, I had not had severe pain and urgency as often as I used to.As the time passed, the urgency and diarrhea diminished substantially. In fact, as time went on, I later realized that at the first hint of urgency, I automatically had what I would call an unspoken inner thought that said, in effect, I dont have time to deal with this now, or I dont want this now, go away... and the urgency and impending diarrhea would subside within almost seconds. It was an automatic response and I didnt think it through. Just as in the past, my gut previously reacted as an automatic response to go into pain, cramps and urgency and severe diarrhea.Due to the severity of my severe refractory IBS, as well as several non related surgeries, I listened to the entire program 3 times. Each time I saw better improvement. I was the worst case scenario. Mike told me that the hypnotherapy program worked first on those health issues and stressors in my life that were most pressing to my overall health and that the IBS was dealt with last in my case but I persevered, and my symptoms greatly reduced. That was several years ago, and now I can actually leave the house, whereas before, I raised my children "through the bathroom door!" I had attacks of diarrhea and pain lasting for hours on end, sometimes six hours a day, almost every day, never knowing when...even if I ate small amounts, or even nothing, the attacks would come out of the blue. I am now able to function and if I do get an attack, most of the time it will subside within minutes, if not seconds. IBS is no longer the severe issue that it was, and though not a cure, for me, it was the best thing I could have done to treat my IBS on a holistic level.My IBS cost me a whole lost life...events and special celebrations for my kids, just taking them to routine doctor and dentist appointments was an ordeal, and my marriage suffered and collapsed in part because of it. I went from being able to travel and talk professionally in front of large groups of people, to being just about housebound. This program saved my life. And that is why I am still here helping on the BB and why I now help the author of the program, Michael Mahoney, as a result of my gratitude for getting my life back. As one of the slowest persons to respond, and with very severe symptoms, I feel that I do need to pass on what was given to me and encourage others to not lose hope. That's what worked for me and I hope this helps someone too. Thanks for letting me share!


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## peaches41 (Nov 26, 2008)

So interesting. Thanks for telling us your story, and how you learned to cope with ibs.When I had cancer 10 years ago my McMillan nurse used to say "Listen to your body", and I found this to be very good advice for coping with the effects of chemo. But after I started with ibs 4 years ago I realised the in this case it wasn't at all helpful to listen to your body as it was telling me to run to the bathroom so many times a day. So I worked out that I would do my utmost to ignore the urges and try to concentrate hard on something (anything!) that would take my mind off my body. Along with calcium treatment and the occasional Immodium I have found this works quite well. I just knew that after having had a bowel movement it was wrong to almost immediately need another one, and then another one etc. Also to feel the urge to go while getting ready to go out somewhere even though my bowels were empty. So I do feel that although there well may be some medical reason for our ibs, our minds are almost definitely connected.Just my two pennorth!


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## tummyrumbles (Aug 14, 2005)

Hello Peaches41, sorry to hear you had cancer. Are you over it now? I think there's a lot to be said for listening to your body. A lot of people talk about the "feeling" of incomplete evacuation as though it's imaginary, and some people say just get up after your first BM. The trouble with that is that for some people, 5 or 10 BMs is normal, and if they don't do all of them, that leads to bad gas later on. While the mind and the colon work together, I don't believe IBS is "in the mind". Colic pain, cramping, gas etc are all "real". A lot of us seem to have an over-sensitive colon or sphincter, or maybe both. I don't often get cramping, but when I do, it's real - because the colon sensitivity is very real. For some people too much fibre the previous day causes colonic spasms which seem to just move the stool back and forth, which means even longer on the loo. This is real and if we had the right equipment, we could show movies of this to our doctors. There's only so much stuff in there. Some people can move it all with one almighty shove. One of my kids can do this in 5 minutes, the other takes up to an hour sometimes. Same genes, just different motors. So I don't know how much therapy can do. We have to remember IBS means "irritable bowel" and the colon genuinely gets irritated easily. We have to try to work around that as best we can.


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Peaches - thank you for your story and I hope you are free of cancer! Yes there is a strong brain-gut connection in IBS - this is a physical thing, not at all anything to do with 'it's all in your mind" - the brain controls the functions of the body and can be used to help treat the conditon, along with 'body' approaches. You have given some great insights - thank you for sharing!Tummy - yes, I can certainly relate to your story also!Yes the pain and sensitivity are both absolutely real. Nothing imaginary about it at all - these things can be measured in the clinic! Motility issues are real. The cause for pain should always be investigated and gastrointestinal disorders can and do cause pain. And it has been researched, showing areas of the brain that reflect differences in IBS patients. The pain is registered from the "little brain" in the gut. For some people, medications and other treatments can greatly assist with this pain. Clinical trials and research since 1984 show that there is a strong brain-gut connection in the IBS condition. Medications, drugs, diets, etc. can help, but for a holistic approach, for some folks, a mind-gut approach can be quite useful either alongside other treatments, or as a last-resort when all else has failed. This applies to not only addressing pain, but balancing and correcting motility issues (IBS D, C or A) as well. For those who are at the stage of using a last resort, the vast majority seem to be helped with this method of hypnotherapy and it does result in physical changes - reducing or eliminating pain and motility issues as well as anxiety issues. Just as for example, if you heard a loud noise, your heart beat would increase, you might jump or twinge involuntarily, etc. These are physical changes as a result of your brain responding to an outside stimulus. The rate of motility can be changed using hypnotherapy - it does indeed sound like something unlikely, but the rate of contractions in the intestines can be regulated using the subconscious mind. It seems absurd, because we think that diet, supplements, meds and such would do it - and for some people it does. But when all other causes for IBS have been ruled out and nothing else is effective, this seems to be the thing that helps for most! I speak with many people and there is enough research and feedback to show that this is a viable help for people. I have pages of research studies showing this, as well as pages of feedback from people being helped! Not all are helped, just as with other treatments (after all there would be no support group if something worked for everyone everytime!) but most are, even after everything else failed. Just takes perseverance and committment - 1/2 hour a day while relaxing, which anyone could use anyway!


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