# Are you cured or just feeling better



## jb2 (Jan 6, 2002)

Yes I am using THAT word cured "said in hushed tones"For the folks who have been cured or made a lot better if you prefer with the HT.After you finished the tapes/CD's on day 100 or whenever how soon were you symptom free. I am also wondering what criteria people use when they say they are improved / better is it being completely symptom free or better by degrees (For example "I no longer have the runs or my gut pains have completely gone or I had D but that has gone although I still get stomach cramps").My measurement of success with HT will be when I am completely symptom free and cured, and can lead a normal life again and not take any meds or anything at all.Is that a tall order, am I expecting too much ?I hope not.Regards


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## Nikki (Jul 11, 2000)

Nothing will "cure" you. That is why we don't normally use that word. But you _should_ see substantial improvements from whati have heard.


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

jb, This has been asked many times over the last two years. There are many success stories threads. Also, regarding a "cure" here is what Mike has to say on that:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"People often say there is no cure to IBS, I have my own thoughts on that, but what I do know through experience is that if caught early enough, the story can be so much better.One of my secretary's daughters did not go to school for 2 years, work was sent home, all the clincal psychiatrists had tried.She came to me as a referral form the senior clincal pediatrician. The same girl is now in college, she went back to school, in her last year she got lots of A's. She is studying for a profession and no going back. A young girl of 11 had IBS for 2 years, for the last 5 years totally clear. Through exams, physical development, no reoccurance. I believe that IBS and (other conditions) imprint a behavioural pattern and expectation / anticipation of events into the nerves and neural pathways. Since these are learned processes, we can learn to do something different. Therefore if we encourage new learnings, the residue of expectation in the old neural pathways can be circumvented, creating new patterns of learning , leading to changes in expectation and behavioural patterns.This is perhaps not the right thread for this posting, and I will perhaps one day elaborate, but I believe that the expectation that IBS is not curable is flawed.The problem lies as much in the individuals expectation. If we do not expect to totally get well, we are denying ourselves.After all, the 4 minute mile was at one stage " An impossible feat - beyond human capacity" Then Bannister came along and broke that belief!! But much more importantly, within a short time afterwards many others beat his time!! The self limiting belief and limited expectations were shattered. The mentalilty " If he can do it so can I" shattered the 4 minutes mile limit for ever.But - How did Bannister get over his limits? Everyone said it could not be done. He believed in himself, and the capability of his body. Therefore what /who is to say that we can't all get through the finishing tape Its just a thought, but thats all Bannister had to start with too Best RegardsMike~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Many here on the BB have literally "walked away" from IBS completely. We know that IBS is a condition that "waxes and wanes" but Mike does have clinical trials showing all levels of improvement continuing after 2 or more years of completion of the processes. The level of mitigation is greater than that of traditional medical treatment alone; that is RXs and OTCs, and yes, even surgery, which for IBS is unwarranted.So to say complete cure; some have known this, yes. Others have a level of improvement beyond what they experienced from other management therapies/medications. Also, medications for IBS serve only to address symptoms, and gradually lose effectiveness over time; whereas hypnotherapy shows continued and greater improvement over time. There are many factors involved in determining rate of "cure" or improvement. How long the person has had IBS, if it is the ONLY medical factor in their life, if having IBS produces secondary gains, as mentioned in a recent thread, if there were tramatic events in the person's life, and of course level of expectation and placebo effect.You can do a search on this forum for individuals success/improvement stories, as well as the direct links from Mike's site. Suffice it to say, the program at its "worst" has provided relief to some level in terms of added relaxation and stress reduction. To date, (and Mike will correct me if I am wrong), no one has come away saying they had absoluitely NO benefits whatsoever. As in every scenario whether it is the utilization of drug therapy, surgery, or other therapy methods, there is always a statistical curve of success rate; but clinical hypnotherapy has shown the highest percentage of IBS patients who were helped, and the highest percentage of symptom improvement/mitigation. You may view the summaries of these studies as links on both Mike's and Shawn's websites.I am sure Norb will come in here and help you out! One thing to bear in mind, many who have been helped by this program who are virtually IBS "free" are no longer in need of this BB.... some are still here to support. Some may say that you always "have" IBS, even if you have no more symptoms, or it is in remission, so to speak. But there are others who might say that they no longer have IBS and are free of it! I think that is the thought to bear in mind, and not set up any preconceived ideas that you cannot be IBS free! Shoot for that goal! (I hesitate to say it, but even if you fall short, you are still BETTER than you were before you started.) And be patient. AZ mom started improving 6 months after program completion. You can find her story on this BB also.As far as rating symptoms, etc. if you look in your booklet, you will see a listing of symptoms. The problem with this is that the improvement is subtle and gradual to where you no longer are thinking about IBS anymore, and it no longer is an issue. When you go in to rate things, you are bringing the IBS thoughts back into the concsious level! But suffice it to say, there is data for each symptom, and yes, there are those who are now medication and symptom free.If I can I will post some links for ya!Hope this was helpful and answered your questions!Take care!


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Here you go; Success threads: I also bumped them: http://www.ibsgroup.org/cgi-local/ubbcgi/u...t=000017#000036 and http://www.ibsgroup.org/cgi-local/ubbcgi/u...=11&t=000433&p=


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## LTL (Dec 18, 2001)

JB2,Thanks for bringing this up. I was hesitant to do so myself, but was wondering along the same lines. I have never once believed that this thing is here forever & I intend to be freed from it someday. It may very well be that whether you believe you can be cured, or if you believe that you can't be cured, you're right either way.


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## jb2 (Jan 6, 2002)

LTLA very interesting observation, which leads on to the following.Is this saying that a cure depends on the individuals attitude to the programme, if we believe that we are going to be cured than we will be but, if our expectations are low and perhaps just thinking that some or all of our symptoms will improve than that is what will happen.We then need to ask what is the measurement of success with the programme. Cure, or a help towards symptomatic relief.One of Mikes comments in his posts is..."People say there is no cure for IBS, I have my own thoughts on that".What does that statement say to you ? and what does Mike mean by that?Truly a fascinating subject and topic for debate._______________________________________________Marylin.Thanks for the info. You're a star.


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## LTL (Dec 18, 2001)

JB,It says to me that Mike believes that it can be cured, but doesn't want to get into an age-old argument that would be pointless.He brings up the case of the 4 minute mile - no one thought it was possible 'till someone did it, then it became common. Same thing happened with certain weights in powerlifting - no one could lift them 'till someone did, then lots of people could.I intend to be cured, regardless of what the popular opinion might be.


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

I think I had one conversation with Mike that said when he first started, the patients were desperate, and after trying every other treatment out there (I can count myself in that category), they didn't have their hopes up to high for HT to work either. Therefore, their expectation was low, because of their poor track record thus far. Mike says he still remembers those first patients and their faces of gratefulness, when, after believing nothing could be done, they were now much or fully improved. So this tells us that expectation of a "cure" may be a helpful outlook to have, but it appears to be independent of the outcome of HT; that is, HT CAN be a successful form of treatment, even if the individual doesn't think it will. So, that in itself is hopeful! We could go round and round with it; but as Mike knows, his program has helped the hopeless, so there is no point in belaboring the obvious! It does help IBS where other treatments have fallen short!







Encouraging isn't it? Hang in there, jb!!! And you are a star, too! In C-L, ~


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## JeanG (Oct 20, 1999)

I can say that I am at least 95% better. My IBS rarely bothers me. To much alcohol will cause things to flair up for a day or two, as will antibiotics that I have to take now and then for diverticulitis. Other than that, I'm fine.JeanG


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Both Mike and I have a lot to say on this subject, but I won't go in depth to much on it yet.However, if anything can "Cure IBS" at this time without knowing the total reasons behind the cause even, its mind over matter over a physical problem and here HT excells in a specific way where other things do not. Specifically in what they do really know now about mmalfunctions in IBS and how HT works on those specifics.Its also is not likely that whatever the malfunction is will ever be cured or reversed anytime soon, although hopefully in the future I am sure they will be able to do some fanstatic things and hopefully fix IBS is one them. But even though the underlying disorder may still exist, if you have no symptoms you can say remission or cure. Saying cure to yourself may just add the extra positive attitude to accomplish this, but at the same time if your not cured and hope to be may set up some disappointment and that in itself may aggravate symptoms.Most people are thrilled to just feel better and hope for remission. But no one should discount there own positiveness to feel they are cured. There is a lot of power in the brain and its influence over the gut brain and IBS and if you can learn to tap into it and are successful anything can happen.With that said no one can say HT is a cure for IBS as that would not be right or accurate, but it does provide a good shoot at it.


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## AZMom (Oct 13, 1999)

I think one reason it is said that IBS cannot be cured is that it is a syndrome, not a disease. It tends to have multiple symptoms, for instance, I have IBS, fibromyalgia, and panic disorder.However, I personally hesitate to use the word "cured" because I don't want to jinx my progress. Very silly, I know...it's like if I say I'm cured, my gut will show me that it's just not so. Also, I think that to say hypnotherapy cured my IBS would cause more doubt and trepidation in patients that are considering Mike's tapes. As if it is too good to be true.Truthfully, I don't have trouble with IBS anymore. It is on my mind only because I continue to come here to try to help other people, and I run an IBS Support Group in my area.I visit here less frequently because frankly, I don't need the help anymore, but I try to continue to spread the word of Mike's tapes.I guess it doesn't matter if I'm cured. My fibro is much better due to low doses of Zoloft, but I still have flare-ups at times. If I am particularly stressed or eat and drink without much regard to my gut, I may have a bout of D. The difference is, I don't let it affect me. I think, OK, I deserved that. It no longer ruins my day, my week, or my life. I certainly no longer have daily bouts of D, in fact my BMs are regular and quite normal. Also, I don't have the anxiety that accompanied my IBS. It surprises me at times to notice I've been doing things that used to cause me to have severe panic attacks and physical symptoms of panic.Am I cured? Probably. I still consider that I have IBS. I've had it for so long, it is a part of who I am. Now it's a part of me that enables me to help others. The time frame differs for each individual. As Marilyn mentioned, it took me a long time, 6 months to notice change. I did the tapes twice in that time. I researched hypno and learned how successful it can be, how it works, and why it works. I guess I believed strongly enough to keep going with it. It's been two years now since I finished the tapes. My life is totally different now, I actually have one.







Change is slow and continues over time. I am far better now than I was a year ago.I don't think you are expecting too much. Just give it time. Don't give up if it doesn't happen as quickly as you may like. If you don't have the thought, the goal, how will it ever come true? AZ


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Bump


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