# What's Next?



## 21723 (Aug 19, 2005)

O.K. just finished Mikeâ€™s tapes but unfortunately they were not effective for me. I definitely believe there is a psychological component of this disease. Just the mere thought of not having access to a bathroom or being â€œtrappedâ€ triggers my symptoms. Personally I was rather disappointed with the content of the tapes. They are nothing more than general relaxation techniques with some mention of IBS thrown in here and there.Does anyone know of any other cognitive behavioral programs? What about actual one on one hypnosis? Is it possible to actually block certain thought patterns or is all this stuff pretty much bunk? On a positive note I like to listen to the tapes to unwind before falling asleep at night. They do help me relax.


----------



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Pooman, do you live in the US and in what state if you do or do you live in the UK?Its important to realize sometimes they don't work for some people the first time around and sometimes the second time they work or even for avery very few some the third, depending on how well you respond and how embedded the IBS is in a person. This is a different kind of therapy.However, this might be a factor and I will try to explain part of it.?"They are nothing more than general relaxation techniques with some mention of IBS thrown in here and there."Have you ever done HT before?I go over some of this and answer some of your questions here.As well as try to explain what is happening when you have this problem."Just the mere thought of not having access to a bathroom or being â€œtrappedâ€ triggers my symptoms. I will go over this but wondering first if you have done HT before?


----------



## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Hi Pooman,Email me and I can get some info to you from Mike that might be helpful to you.The content of the program to the "conscious" mind might not seem to be powerful in an of itself, but it is. Not everyone is helped by the program, but many are, and it took me three tries as my IBS was so hard-wired.Mike has options to help if you are interested, and if not, I know that Kath had good success with CBT. But don't write off the hypno program just yet.Take care.


----------



## 21723 (Aug 19, 2005)

> quote:Originally posted by ericooman, do you live in the US and in what state if you do or do you live in the UK?Its important to realize sometimes they don't work for some people the first time around and sometimes the second time they work or even for avery very few some the third, depending on how well you respond and how embedded the IBS is in a person. This is a different kind of therapy.However, this might be a factor and I will try to explain part of it.?"They are nothing more than general relaxation techniques with some mention of IBS thrown in here and there."Have you ever done HT before?I go over some of this and answer some of your questions here.As well as try to explain what is happening when you have this problem."Just the mere thought of not having access to a bathroom or being â€œtrappedâ€ triggers my symptoms. I will go over this but wondering first if you have done HT before?


Thanks for the response Eric. I live in N.W. New Jersey USA. I have had my IBS D for about 13 years. My mom also has it so there must be a genetic link. Believe it or not my dad is normal and takes supplements for constipation! Go figure just my luck to take after mom. I never had any type of HT or psychological counseling. I have created a definite â€œphobiaâ€ about the disease. If I sit on my couch at home 20 feet from the bathroom my symptoms are virtually non-existent. The only time I have trouble is after eating an unfriendly meal. Outside of the house I am close to dysfunctional. I have to get up 2 hrs early to have time for the 3 or more toilet visits. Usually have to come back in the house several times. Cannot travel in a car without a porta-john. Sometimes I take 4-6 Imodium a day and still have trouble. I do not engage in any social activities. Gave up a good medical professional job for a menial low paying one with lots of bathrooms and limited exposure to people. They are trying to move me up in the company but that thought just triggers the IBS because it involves more human interactions. I could never sit in a meeting or travel with someone. I see groups of people getting on a bus or in a car together and just the thought of me doing that pulls the trigger. I am now getting to the point where I cant have a conversation with someone without problems.So as you can see I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I believed I was going to respond beautifully to the tapes and started the program with such high expectations. I am not going to give up on it. Being a medical professional I have tried most of the traditional therapies but feel itâ€™s time to get into my head. I guess I was thinking it was going to be like stage hypnosis. A snap of a finger and viola, I wake up with constipation. I would appreciate any advice you can give me. I donâ€™t want to end up disabled.


----------



## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Until Eric replies - Your fear is EXACTLY the way I was - I could not leave the house for fear of an "accident" and I had such an ingrained problem that it did take me 3 times at it.I could not work either - the hypno was very very gradual - and I did not think it would help me, nothing else prior to that did - so my IBS was very similar in nature to yours.You do know that you can contact Mike and his staff if you are having difficulty - that is part of your purchase price. I hope you consider that as it may give you just the impetus needed to carry on.Take care and know that there is still hope.


----------



## 21723 (Aug 19, 2005)

> quote:Originally posted by cookies4marilyn:Until Eric replies - Your fear is EXACTLY the way I was - I could not leave the house for fear of an "accident" and I had such an ingrained problem that it did take me 3 times at it.I could not work either - the hypno was very very gradual - and I did not think it would help me, nothing else prior to that did - so my IBS was very similar in nature to yours.You do know that you can contact Mike and his staff if you are having difficulty - that is part of your purchase price. I hope you consider that as it may give you just the impetus needed to carry on.Take care and know that there is still hope.


Thanks for the response Marilyn. I guess IBS sounds like a broken record at times. I sent you an email as you requested. I will take any help you can offer. Thanks again.Pooman


----------



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

This is going to take a bit.Firstly I am glad to hear your not going to give up on it yet, because I believe it can still help for you.I also want to state this right off the bat, IBS is a physical problem and they have now found abnormalities in IBS.If you have any questions about anything I post here ask away and I will try to answer them for you.First however, this is important to morning symptoms. By the way I use to be in the same boat as you in the mornings and although I alternate, I was mainly d in the mornings and would have to go 5 to ten times and never felt evacuated and would still have the "Urge" feeling to go. So I had some of the same problems you do as well as my wife who also has IBS, although it didn't become a phobia to me to the point of not leaving my house.Mornings can be problematic for IBS because of the stress hormone Cortisol. This chemical helps the body wake up in the mornings and helps the gut wake up in the mornings and become more active, in IBS it can become overly active."Cortisol has many functions. It helps the body break down food for energy (metabolism), and it helps the body manage stress. Cortisol levels can be affected by many conditions, such as physical or emotional stress, strenuous activity, infection, or injury.Normally, cortisol levels rise during the early morning hours and are highest in midmorning (about 7 a.m.). They drop very low in the evening and during the early phase of sleep. However, if you sleep during the day and are up at night, this pattern may be reversed."So cortisol is a stress hormone. But remember stress doesn't cause IBS its a trigger."But how does stress wreak such havoc? Most experts point to the hormone cortisol, which gives us a jump-start in times of stress. "When we were cavemen, for instance, and a saber-toothed tiger jumped out of the bushes, we had cortisol to help us get up and get out of there," said Dr. Shawn Talbott.Now our stress is more chronic, so our cortisol stays high for weeks, months, or even years."It's when the system gets turned on and stays on for long periods of time that the body doesn't have a chance to relax and recover, it's then that these hormones begin to do the bad things," McEwen said."Next the meat and potatoes of a reaction in all humans, that is particularly a problem in IBS, especially in d predominate IBS, but in IBS in general.It is called the fight or flight responce.http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/Educa...nter/fight.htmlPerhaps you have heard of it?I will say some more on this for you, but read that first.


----------



## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Just to let you know, I replied to your email - if I hear anything further, I will let you know.Hang in there... and take care.Marilyn


----------



## Lauralee (Jan 4, 2002)

pooman - Mike's tapes did wonders for me but it wasn't immediate. It did take awhile after I was finished doing the 100 days to see the bulk of my improvement. I went from needing a bathroom multiple times every day after lunch, to being as regular as clockwork (unless I am having a flare, which still happens occasionally, usually in response to stress). You asked if it was possible to block certain thought patterns. I think the idea is not to block them, but to change them to something more positive (please correct me if I'm wrong Marilyn or eric). I know in CBT, the idea is to change the negative thought ("Oh, no, I'm more than 20 feet from the bathroom, I'd better get close to one quick!") to a positive one ("My stomach may do a little rumbling today, but I will be ok."). Changing a thought that has become a habit will take some time and a LOT of practice. It took me awhile to realize that I could actually be away from home at lunchtime. Even after I stopped having problems, I still felt I had to be home, "just in case". It was a gradual process to change that pattern and I have to admit that it sometimes still crosses my mind that I need to be home after lunch. Then, I simply remind myself, that I am ok, I will be ok, and I go do whatever it is I want to do.I certainly wish you the best. I like to think of our minds as untrained puppies. Until we give them the proper training, they will contine to pee (or poo







) all over the floor!


----------



## 21723 (Aug 19, 2005)

> quote:Originally posted by eric:This is going to take a bit.Firstly I am glad to hear your not going to give up on it yet, because I believe it can still help for you.I also want to state this right off the bat, IBS is a physical problem and they have now found abnormalities in IBS.If you have any questions about anything I post here ask away and I will try to answer them for you.First however, this is important to morning symptoms. By the way I use to be in the same boat as you in the mornings and although I alternate, I was mainly d in the mornings and would have to go 5 to ten times and never felt evacuated and would still have the "Urge" feeling to go. So I had some of the same problems you do as well as my wife who also has IBS, although it didn't become a phobia to me to the point of not leaving my house.Mornings can be problematic for IBS because of the stress hormone Cortisol. This chemical helps the body wake up in the mornings and helps the gut wake up in the mornings and become more active, in IBS it can become overly active."Cortisol has many functions. It helps the body break down food for energy (metabolism), and it helps the body manage stress. Cortisol levels can be affected by many conditions, such as physical or emotional stress, strenuous activity, infection, or injury.Normally, cortisol levels rise during the early morning hours and are highest in midmorning (about 7 a.m.). They drop very low in the evening and during the early phase of sleep. However, if you sleep during the day and are up at night, this pattern may be reversed."So cortisol is a stress hormone. But remember stress doesn't cause IBS its a trigger."But how does stress wreak such havoc? Most experts point to the hormone cortisol, which gives us a jump-start in times of stress. "When we were cavemen, for instance, and a saber-toothed tiger jumped out of the bushes, we had cortisol to help us get up and get out of there," said Dr. Shawn Talbott.Now our stress is more chronic, so our cortisol stays high for weeks, months, or even years."It's when the system gets turned on and stays on for long periods of time that the body doesn't have a chance to relax and recover, it's then that these hormones begin to do the bad things," McEwen said."Next the meat and potatoes of a reaction in all humans, that is particularly a problem in IBS, especially in d predominate IBS, but in IBS in general.It is called the fight or flight responce.http://www.thebodysoulconnection.com/Educa...nter/fight.htmlPerhaps you have heard of it?I will say some more on this for you, but read that first.


Thanks Eric for the info. I am quite familiar with the fight or flight response. I am a licensed Physical Therapist who studied it in anatomy and physiology classes. Another way I describe it as related to IBS is scaring the s**t out of you. Your link article was very interesting and amazingly describes some techniques I am now using. I have read a couple of IBS books including IBS the mind body connection. I also did a lot of biofeedback work when a P.T. student. I stumbled across an old biofeedback machine in the back of a hospital closet. The staff knew nothing about it and said I could borrow it. I did a lot of research and made biofeedback my clinical in-service topic for two years in over a dozen hospitals. It is amazing how much tension a person carries in their muscles without knowing it. I also have an idea to develop a machine where a sensor can be placed in the bowel and a person can train themselves to relax and shut off the hyper-mobility of it. I often use the expression â€œsmooth slack sagâ€ when visualizing the bowl. It sounds sick but lately I have been visualizing a cadaver bowel just lying dead on a table and place it in my body. The problem with all this is finding a way to make it automatic. You really canâ€™t put it to use when traveling in a car or bus having a conversation with someone. If I have a quiet place to be alone with my thoughts I can come close to shutting off my bowel in 15 min or so. I am not sure how far I can go with all this as my wife reminds me â€œYou canâ€™t will away cancer or a heart attack.â€ True I say but IBS has no identifiable disease. It cannot harm me and I can live a long healthy life with it. I saw my mom live with it all her life and I am not going to let it beat me. The most amazing part of the disease is looking back 15 years and seeing how it has turned my life around. I used to get in an airplane the size of a small car with four other guys, climb to 10,000 ft. and jump out several times every weekend! Today I couldnâ€™t even get to the airport! I guess some disease must be present to explain such a drastic change. Well thanks again for you support and help. I am completely open to any suggestions or techniques you may have.


----------



## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Pooman, that is good you know about the fight or flight. Its in part there where when you leave your house and "get nervous" the d is triggered.Do you by any chance get panic attacks even if you didn't have IBS? Or is that driven by the IBS itself."I am not sure how far I can go with all this as my wife reminds me â€œYou canâ€™t will away cancer or a heart attack.â€ True I say but IBS has no identifiable disease."Unlike cancer or a heart attack, IBS is a brain gut axis condition, so there is a strong brain gut conection to it. A psycophysiogical connection to it. So its not willing it away, but recognizing and changing some responces to it."True I say but IBS has no identifiable disease."This is actually not entirely true anymore.They have now found abnormalities in IBS. Two important ones are the regulation of serotonin in the gut released from 5ht3 cells. The other important cell and its directtly connected to that fight or flight responce the mast cell.Have you read this yet, these are very respected experts in IBS.The serotonin helps explain the d and c and d/c seen in IBS.The 5ht 3 receptor is abnormally functioning.http://ibsgroup.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/71210261/m/369100861There is more on the causes here.http://ibsgroup.org/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/43110261/m/596105671There is more on"The Neurobiology of Stress and EmotionsBy: Emeran A. Mayer, M.D., UCLA Mind Body Collaborative Research Center, UCLA School of Medicine, California We often hear the term "stress" associated with functional gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Many patients experience a worsening of symptoms during times of severely stressful life events. But what is stress? How often does it occur? How does our body respond to stress? This article explores the mechanisms that link stress and emotions to responses that have evolved to ensure survival and that, in the modern world, affect healthâ€"including gastrointestinal function. ""What does this have to do with IBS Converging evidence from different laboratories and research groups are consistent with the concept of an "enhanced stress responsiveness" as a major vulnerability factor in many IBS patients. As outlined above, such an enhanced stress responsiveness may not be obvious to the affected individual, until he or she is exposed to a period of sustained threatening stressors (financial or employment problems, divorce, aftermath of a major disaster with consequences on daily life), repeated mild to moderate stressors, or a one time severe (life threatening) type stressor (robbery or physical assault). Under these circumstances the mechanisms that normally turn off the stress response are overwhelmed, and attempts of the nervous system at adaptation or habituation fail. Many of the vulnerability factors for such enhanced stress responsiveness have been identified and many of them occur in a particular vulnerable period of the developing brain (before age 10). Some of the best-studied factors include loss of the primary care giver, distant mother-child relationship, emotional neglect, and physical and verbal or sexual abuse. In order to understand how a chronically enhanced stress response can produce the cardinal symptoms of IBS (abdominal pain and discomfort associated with altered bowel habits) we have to go back to the earlier section on the emotional motor system: activation of the stress system will stimulate contractions and secretion in the sigmoid colon and rectum. Depending on the specific emotional context (fear vs. anger), the upper GI tract will be either inhibited (fear) or stimulated (anger). In addition, recent research in animals has demonstrated a phenomenon referred to as stress-induced visceral hyperalgesia. What this means is that in vulnerable animals, exposure to an acute moderate stressor will make the colon more sensitive to distension (and the perception of discomfort or pain)."http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/stress.htmlThe relaxation responce of course is opposite of the fight or flight responce and why "If I have a quiet place to be alone with my thoughts I can come close to shutting off my bowel in 15 min or so.:







There is still some more for me to post for you, but that is a lot to absorb.


----------

