# After 20 years of research, this is what worked for me - My IBS Journey



## cookies4marilyn

To encourage others and for those willing to wade through these next paragraphs.... Be well...







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 fellow BB IBS sufferer Shawn Eric, who was the first on this BB 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 â€" 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 â€" not my mind â€" or so I thought. I fought all the way â€" writing emails to Mike in England, how this wasnâ€™t working, and that I was relapsing, etc. I was a nightmare patient! An IBS â€œposter child.â€ 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 â€" one on my foot, a gallbladder removal (which the doctor misdiagnosed as IBS pain), and removal of repositioned entangled ovaries. While the hypnotherapy program wasnâ€™t 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 â€" once resolved â€" I re-listened to the program yet again â€" and my IBS began to improve. Very gradually at first, but one day, I realized, I hadnâ€™t had severe pain and urgency as often as I used to.As the time passed, the urgency and diarrhea diminished substantially â€" in fact, as time went on, I later realized that at the first hint of urgency, I â€œautomaticallyâ€ had what I would call an â€œunspokenâ€ inner thought â€" that â€œsaidâ€, in effect, â€œI donâ€™t have time to deal with this now,â€ or â€œI donâ€™t want this now, go awayâ€ and the urgency and impending diarrhea would subside within almost seconds. It was an automatic response â€" I didnâ€™t think it through. Just as in the past, my â€œgutâ€ 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 â€" 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 â€" and that the IBS was dealt with last in my case â€" 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, the attacks would come out of the blue. I am now able to function â€" if I do get an attack, most of the time it will subside within minutes, if not seconds â€" 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! www.IBSCDS.com - Link to Mike's IBS Audio Program 100


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## Vishatrove

Great program !!

And thanks for share.


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## luminousowl

I have also had success in healing from diverticulitis. After being given antibiotics all my youth my intestinal tract has had one problem after another. While I was pregnant in my 20's we had a pecan tree in our yard. I ate lots of pecans. This is when the diverticulitis began I think.

I always became sick after eating wheat. Sometimes I would feel almost comatose. I kept telling my husband and my doctor that I felt I was allergic to wheat. They both actually laughed at me saying "No one is allergic to wheat." That was 40 years ago. Now many people know better.

I had terrible pains from the diverticulitis but learned to avoid the foods that made it worse; nuts, fats, salads, wheat. Eventually I developed IBS as well, then appendicitis. By that time I had been studying Ayurveda for some years and began to understand how to heal myself. I followed the ayurvedic protocol for appendicitis and, after 4 weeks, healed from that and kept my appendix. I do not recommend anyone else to do this as it can burst and you'll be very ill or die. My position was that I'd rather die than be operated on by a hospital. My husband prepared the tea and juices and cared for me. (the most important thing to do if you have appendicitis is to quit eating!) Only drink liquids.

I healed from all of my intestinal problems over a couple of years time by taking organic triphala every day. I found it at curanderahealing dot com. I can now eat nuts! I'm a vegetarian so this is very important to me. I was told it was impossible to heal from diverticulitis. The doctors were wrong again.


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