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Ways of Treating IBS

936 views 30 replies 6 participants last post by  trbell 
#1 ·
It seems to be as a patient that some ways of treating IBS (like the new medications and dietary approaches)are advancing in that they are beoming more specific ub what they do. Others,like the stuff you see advertised on the internet and hypnosis are still in thedark ages in the sense they make claims based on old research or a few small studies that they cure IBS rather than do more specific things like speed up motility, etc. i would be interestd in hearing patients' views on this. That is I'm not interested in what doctor says this or what study shows that.tom
 
#3 ·
Seriouly Tom, you don't have a clue and statements like your making here are inaccurate and not helpful in the slightest. You just don't get it.I had to post to this, its so inaccurate its not even funny.
 
#2 ·
Seriouly Tom, you don't have a clue and statements like your making here are inaccurate and not helpful in the slightest. You just don't get it.I had to post to this, its so inaccurate its not even funny.
 
#7 ·
This is one of the reasons I left this forum. You have said your an expert on Hypnotherapy. Yet you don't have any idea in regardds to IBS. No one said cure, twenty years of research and they are still ressearching it, now for fucntional dyspepsia. Even in its basic form its a stress reduction, also you think you would unnderstand pain gates and the way the brain is working in IBS and wwhat levels of HT work on this. Dark ages, are words that just do harm and keep people in the dark.This saddens me deeply see more to see threads like this and I have been battling inaccurate info like this for way to long. I just don't get this.
 
#6 ·
This is one of the reasons I left this forum. You have said your an expert on Hypnotherapy. Yet you don't have any idea in regardds to IBS. No one said cure, twenty years of research and they are still ressearching it, now for fucntional dyspepsia. Even in its basic form its a stress reduction, also you think you would unnderstand pain gates and the way the brain is working in IBS and wwhat levels of HT work on this. Dark ages, are words that just do harm and keep people in the dark.This saddens me deeply see more to see threads like this and I have been battling inaccurate info like this for way to long. I just don't get this.
 
#9 ·
Hypnosis is not dangerous by a qualified HT specialist for IBS , its safe and works on IBS for the majority of people.with permisson.The Effects of Hypnosis On Gastrointestinal Problems Olafur S. Palsson, Psy. D. Research Associate, UNC-CHAPEL Hill Department of Medicines Hypnosis is a treatment method, which still carries an aura of mystery,that unfortunately continues to be promoted by misrepresentations in movies and stage shows for entertainment. In reality, there is little mysterious about hypnosis anymore. It is a well-researched clinical technique which was formally accepted as a treatment method by the American Medical Association and the American psychological Association over thirty years ago. Clinical hypnosis is currently used by thousands of clinicians in the U.S. to treat both psychological and medical problems. Until recently, the possibilities of using hypnosis to treat gastrointestinal problems had received little attention. In the last 15 years, however, research has shown that hypnosis can influence gastrointestinal functioning in powerful ways, and that in particular, it is effective in helping patients with irritable bowel syndrome and to control nausea and vomiting. How Hypnosis Works: Hypnosis is a special mental state in which a person's focus of attention becomes narrow and intense like the beam of a bright flashlight in a dark room. This state is usually created with the aid of a hypnotist,who guides the person systematically to relax, focus only on one thing, and to allow things to happen by themselves. Whatever the mind focuses on while in this special mental state of hypnosis holds the entire attention. Therefore, people tend to experience things they think of, imagine or remember, more vividly and clearly than under usual circumstances. This is why people can sometimes recall things from their distant past under hypnosis even though unable to do so in the normal waking state (research has shown, however, that such hypnotically enhanced recall can be highly contaminated by the person's imagination). The narrow hyperfocus of this mental state is also why therapists using hypnosis are frequently able to help people make strong positive changes in their emotions and physical functioning. Hypnosis can work like a magnifying glass on the mind's effects on the body and emotion. Clinical hypnosis relies on suggestions, imagery, and relaxation to produce its therapeutic effects. Hypnotic suggestions are things that the hypnotist verbally suggests may happen while the person is under hypnosis. Due to the focused and receptive state of the hypnotized person, these suggestions happen almost automatically and without conscious decision or effort. If you, for example, receive the suggestion under hypnosis that your arm may be getting heavy, you will very likely feel it becoming heavy, without trying to do anything to make it happen. This "automaticity", the feeling of things happening by themselves, is by some considered the hallmark of hypnosis, and is often surprising to people experiencing hypnosis for the first time. Hypnotic imagery consists of picturing mentally events or situation or place in a way that has a desired positive physical or mental effect. For example, patients undergoing surgical or dental procedures are sometimes taught to enter a hypnotic state and go to a pleasant place in their mind. When successfully applied, the person gets completely engrossed in the vivid enjoyable imagery and is therefore happily unaware of the unpleasantness of the procedure. The hypnotic state is naturally accompanied by relaxation, and the physical relaxing effects are often deliberately strengthened further by clinicians through suggestions and relaxing imagery. Some of the benefits that come from hypnosis treatment are likely to result partly or entirely from the fact that hypnosis is a powerful relaxation method. Over decades of research and clinical experience, hypnosis has proven to have many valuable therapeutic uses. In psychotherapy, hypnotic techniques can speed the therapy process in various ways - for example by facilitating patients' self-understanding, extinguishing unfortunate habits, uncovering repressed or forgotten memories, reducing anxiety and phobias, and helping people to adopt a new and more adaptive outlook. In medicine and health psychology, hypnosis is used to reduce pain and discomfort associated with medical procedures such as childbirth, treatment of burns, and surgery where chemical anesthesia cannot be used effectively. It is also used to treat chronic pain and psychosomatic problems and counter unhealthy habits that contribute to illness. In dentistry, hypnotic analgesia is an effective needle-less alternative to topical anesthetic drugs, reduces bleeding and discomfort in oral surgery, and is used to treat teeth grinding and temporomandibular disorder. In recent years, the effects of gastrointestinal functioning and GI symptoms have been studied extensively. The Effects of Hypnosis on Gastrointestinal Functioning: The hypnotic state itself, without any particular suggestions, seems to slow down the gut, and clear-cut and specific changes in GI functioning can be induced in individuals by directing thinking or inducing specific emotional states under hypnosis. For example, one study(1) found that when healthy volunteers were hypnotized and simply instructed to relax, the orocaecal transit time (the time it takes material to pass through the GI tract from the mouth to the first part of the colon) was lengthened from 93 to 133 minutes. Another study(2) found that being in a hypnotic state decreases muscle movements in the stomach. The same study demonstrated that the emotional state of happiness, created under hypnosis, suppresses gastric muscle activity but anger and excitement increase muscle movement in the stomach . A pair of other studies(3) showed that when volunteers were guided to use imagery of eating a delicious meal while they were under hypnosis, gastric acid secretion was increased by 89%, and that acid production of the stomach could also be deliberately decreased during hypnosis using hypnotic instructions. Close to fifty published studies have reported on the therapeutic effects of hypnosis on nausea and vomiting problems related to chemotherapy, after surgery, and during pregnancy. Overall, this substantial body of literature indicates that hypnosis can be a powerful aid in controlling nausea and vomiting. Hypnosis may also be helpful in preventing gastrointestinal problems from recurring after they have been treated with medication: One study(4) of thirty patients with relapsing duodenal ulcers who had been successfully treated with a course of medication, found that only 53% of the patients who received preventive hypnosis treatment had a relapse within one year. In contrast everybody (100%) in a comparison group receiving no hypnosis relapsed in the same period of time. In 1984, researchers in Manchester in England published a study(5 )report in the journal Lancet, showing that hypnosis treatment dramatically improved the symptoms of IBS patients who had failed to benefit from other treatment. The researchers had randomly divided patients with severe IBS problems into two groups. Fifteen patients were treated with seven hypnosis sessions. Fifteen comparison patients were treated with seven sessions of psychotherapy, and those patients also received placebo pills (pills with no medically active ingredients) which they were told were a new research medication for IBS symptoms. Every patient in the hypnosis group improved, and that group showed substantial improvement in all central symptoms of IBS. The control group showed only very modest improvement in symptoms. Partly due to these dramatic results with treatment-refractory patients, a dozen other studies have followed, including three U.S. studies. The general conclusions from most of these studies are that hypnosis seems to improve the symptoms of 80% or more of all treated patients who have well-defined "classic" IBS problems, especially if they do not have complicating factors such as psychiatric disorders. The improvement is in many cases maintained at least for a year after the end of treatment. What is particularly remarkable is that this high rate of positive treatment response is seen even in studies where the participating patients all have failed to improve from regular medical care. The dramatic response of IBS patients to hypnosis treatment raises the question of exactly how this kind of treatment influences the symptoms in such a beneficial way. Four studies to date, two in England and two in the U.S., have tried to discover how hypnosis treatment affects the body of IBS patients. Since it is well known that many people with IBS have unusual pain sensitivity in their intestines, which is thought to be related to the clinical pain they experience, much of the focus of these studies has been on assessing the impact of this kind of treatment on intestinal pain thresholds. The two English studies both measured intestinal pain sensitivity with balloon inflation tests. The second study also measured muscle tone, to see if hypnosis relaxes the smooth muscles of the GI tract. No overall changes in pain sensitivity were detected, and gut muscle tension was also unchanged after treatment (except a subgroup of unusually pain-sensitive patients had lessened pain sensitivity in the second study(7). . In 1995-1996, during my post-doctoral fellowship in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at UNC-Chapel Hill, we conducted the first U.S. study(8) on hypnosis for IBS under the direction of Dr. Whitehead. We evaluated the effects of a highly standardized treatment protocol, delivered verbatim following written scripts, on rectal pain thresholds and muscle tone. Seventeen out of the 18 patients we treated with hypnosis showed significant improvement in their clinical symptoms. However, we found, like the English researchers, that gut pain thresholds and muscle tension were unchanged after treatment. In a second study(9,) which I conducted with co-investigators at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, we used the same treatment protocol but this time measured autonomic nervous system functioning and blood levels of a gut hormone called vasoactive intestinal peptide. These are regulators of GI functioning in the human body, and the aim was to see if they would change due to treatment. Again, we found no changes in our physical measures after treatment (with the exception of reduction in sweat gland reactivity) even though 21 out of 24 treated patients were clinically improved. It should be noted, though, that in both our studies, we found clear improvement in the psychological well-being of our patients after treatment. In summary, it is clear from our work and other research that hypnosis treatment substantially improves all the central symptoms of IBS in the majority of patients who receive such treatment (see the effects of our two studies on clinical symptoms in the Figure). What happens in the body of these patients to cause such improvement, however, remains a mystery. Future prospects: In light of the many studies which have shown hypnosis treatment to be effective for such problems as IBS and nausea and vomiting, the question may be raised why this kind of treatment is not more widely available or generally offered to patients with such GI problems. One limitation is the fact that not everybody is equally hypnotizable. Research has consistently shown that at least 15% of people are practically non-hypnotizable, and even those who are able to enter a hypnotic state vary greatly in how well they respond. Interestingly, the ability to be hypnotized is a stable mental trait. In other word, if you are highly hypnotizable now, you will most likely be so also in thirty years. Fortunately, the majority of people are sufficiently hypnotizable to have a potential for enjoying at least some of the medical and psychological benefits of clinical hypnosis. Furthermore, the idea of being hypnotized does not agree with all people. Even individuals who are sufficiently hypnotizable, may not like the idea of "letting go", may have difficulty trusting a therapist to guide them in hypnosis, or may have other concerns about the hypnosis experience. Fortunately, other forms of psychological treatment for gastrointestinal problems - in the case of IBS especially cognitive-behavioral therapy -- have also been found to be effective and are good alternatives. Finally, an obstacle which has barred many patients from receiving help for gastrointestinal disorders with hypnosis is the fact that in the U.S. the technique is more commonly used by psychologists and other mental health professionals than by physicians. Many mental health professionals who use hypnosis are not accustomed to treating gastrointestinal disorders, and therefore reluctant to take on treatment of such problems. As the reliably beneficial effects of hypnosis on gastrointestinal functioning become better known both to health professionals and the general public, this benign and comfortable form of treatment will hopefully become a more popular treatment option for GI patients - especially for those who have not received much relief from standard medical management. As far as IBS is concerned, we have been making an effort in the last two years to encourage clinicians across the country who have adequate training in hypnosis to provide such treatment for IBS. We have done this by providing them, free of charge, with the complete standardized treatment protocol which has proven effective in our research. To date, more than eighty licensed health professionals, practicing in almost all states, are started using our protocol, making it a little bit easier for patients in many geographical locations to receive help with hypnosis. References 1. Beaugerie, L., Burger A.J, Cadranel J.F, Lamy, P., Gendre J.P., & Le Quintrec, F. (1991). Modulation of orocaecal transit time by hypnosis. Gut, 32, 393-394. 2. Whorwell PJ; Houghton LA; Taylor EE; Maxton DG. Physiological effects of emotion: assessment via hypnosis. (1992). Lancet, 340, 69-72 3. Klein K.B., & Spiegel, D. (1989). Modulation of gastric acid secretion by hypnosis. Gastroenterology, 96, 1383-1387. 4. Colgan, S. M. , Faragher, E. B. , & Whorwell, P. J. (1988). Controlled Trial of Hypnotherapy in Relapse Prevention of Duodenal Ulceration. The Lancet, 1(8598), 1299-300. 5. Whorwell, P.J., Prior, A., & Faragher, E.B. (1984). Controlled trial of hypnotherapy in the treatment of severe refractory irritable bowel syndrome. Lancet, 2, 1232-1234. 6. Prior A., Colgan, S.M., Whorwell P.J. (1990). Changes in rectal sensitivity after hypnotherapy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Gut, 31, 896-898. 7. Houghton, L.A., Larder, S., Lee, R., Gonsalkorale, W.M., Whelan, V, Randles, J., Cooper, P., Cruikshanks, P., Miller, V., & Whorwell, P.J. (1999) Gut focused hypnotherapy normalises rectal hypersensitivity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Gastroenterology,116: A1009. 8. Palsson, O.S., Burnett, C.K., Meyer, K., and Whitehead, W.E. (1997). Hypnosis treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Effects on symptoms, pain threshold and muscle tone. Gastroenterology, 112, A803. 9.Palsson, O.S., Turner, M.J., & Johnson, D.A. (2000). Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: Symptom improvement and autonomic nervous system effects. Gastroenterology, 118,(4) A174.
 
#8 ·
Hypnosis is not dangerous by a qualified HT specialist for IBS , its safe and works on IBS for the majority of people.with permisson.The Effects of Hypnosis On Gastrointestinal Problems Olafur S. Palsson, Psy. D. Research Associate, UNC-CHAPEL Hill Department of Medicines Hypnosis is a treatment method, which still carries an aura of mystery,that unfortunately continues to be promoted by misrepresentations in movies and stage shows for entertainment. In reality, there is little mysterious about hypnosis anymore. It is a well-researched clinical technique which was formally accepted as a treatment method by the American Medical Association and the American psychological Association over thirty years ago. Clinical hypnosis is currently used by thousands of clinicians in the U.S. to treat both psychological and medical problems. Until recently, the possibilities of using hypnosis to treat gastrointestinal problems had received little attention. In the last 15 years, however, research has shown that hypnosis can influence gastrointestinal functioning in powerful ways, and that in particular, it is effective in helping patients with irritable bowel syndrome and to control nausea and vomiting. How Hypnosis Works: Hypnosis is a special mental state in which a person's focus of attention becomes narrow and intense like the beam of a bright flashlight in a dark room. This state is usually created with the aid of a hypnotist,who guides the person systematically to relax, focus only on one thing, and to allow things to happen by themselves. Whatever the mind focuses on while in this special mental state of hypnosis holds the entire attention. Therefore, people tend to experience things they think of, imagine or remember, more vividly and clearly than under usual circumstances. This is why people can sometimes recall things from their distant past under hypnosis even though unable to do so in the normal waking state (research has shown, however, that such hypnotically enhanced recall can be highly contaminated by the person's imagination). The narrow hyperfocus of this mental state is also why therapists using hypnosis are frequently able to help people make strong positive changes in their emotions and physical functioning. Hypnosis can work like a magnifying glass on the mind's effects on the body and emotion. Clinical hypnosis relies on suggestions, imagery, and relaxation to produce its therapeutic effects. Hypnotic suggestions are things that the hypnotist verbally suggests may happen while the person is under hypnosis. Due to the focused and receptive state of the hypnotized person, these suggestions happen almost automatically and without conscious decision or effort. If you, for example, receive the suggestion under hypnosis that your arm may be getting heavy, you will very likely feel it becoming heavy, without trying to do anything to make it happen. This "automaticity", the feeling of things happening by themselves, is by some considered the hallmark of hypnosis, and is often surprising to people experiencing hypnosis for the first time. Hypnotic imagery consists of picturing mentally events or situation or place in a way that has a desired positive physical or mental effect. For example, patients undergoing surgical or dental procedures are sometimes taught to enter a hypnotic state and go to a pleasant place in their mind. When successfully applied, the person gets completely engrossed in the vivid enjoyable imagery and is therefore happily unaware of the unpleasantness of the procedure. The hypnotic state is naturally accompanied by relaxation, and the physical relaxing effects are often deliberately strengthened further by clinicians through suggestions and relaxing imagery. Some of the benefits that come from hypnosis treatment are likely to result partly or entirely from the fact that hypnosis is a powerful relaxation method. Over decades of research and clinical experience, hypnosis has proven to have many valuable therapeutic uses. In psychotherapy, hypnotic techniques can speed the therapy process in various ways - for example by facilitating patients' self-understanding, extinguishing unfortunate habits, uncovering repressed or forgotten memories, reducing anxiety and phobias, and helping people to adopt a new and more adaptive outlook. In medicine and health psychology, hypnosis is used to reduce pain and discomfort associated with medical procedures such as childbirth, treatment of burns, and surgery where chemical anesthesia cannot be used effectively. It is also used to treat chronic pain and psychosomatic problems and counter unhealthy habits that contribute to illness. In dentistry, hypnotic analgesia is an effective needle-less alternative to topical anesthetic drugs, reduces bleeding and discomfort in oral surgery, and is used to treat teeth grinding and temporomandibular disorder. In recent years, the effects of gastrointestinal functioning and GI symptoms have been studied extensively. The Effects of Hypnosis on Gastrointestinal Functioning: The hypnotic state itself, without any particular suggestions, seems to slow down the gut, and clear-cut and specific changes in GI functioning can be induced in individuals by directing thinking or inducing specific emotional states under hypnosis. For example, one study(1) found that when healthy volunteers were hypnotized and simply instructed to relax, the orocaecal transit time (the time it takes material to pass through the GI tract from the mouth to the first part of the colon) was lengthened from 93 to 133 minutes. Another study(2) found that being in a hypnotic state decreases muscle movements in the stomach. The same study demonstrated that the emotional state of happiness, created under hypnosis, suppresses gastric muscle activity but anger and excitement increase muscle movement in the stomach . A pair of other studies(3) showed that when volunteers were guided to use imagery of eating a delicious meal while they were under hypnosis, gastric acid secretion was increased by 89%, and that acid production of the stomach could also be deliberately decreased during hypnosis using hypnotic instructions. Close to fifty published studies have reported on the therapeutic effects of hypnosis on nausea and vomiting problems related to chemotherapy, after surgery, and during pregnancy. Overall, this substantial body of literature indicates that hypnosis can be a powerful aid in controlling nausea and vomiting. Hypnosis may also be helpful in preventing gastrointestinal problems from recurring after they have been treated with medication: One study(4) of thirty patients with relapsing duodenal ulcers who had been successfully treated with a course of medication, found that only 53% of the patients who received preventive hypnosis treatment had a relapse within one year. In contrast everybody (100%) in a comparison group receiving no hypnosis relapsed in the same period of time. In 1984, researchers in Manchester in England published a study(5 )report in the journal Lancet, showing that hypnosis treatment dramatically improved the symptoms of IBS patients who had failed to benefit from other treatment. The researchers had randomly divided patients with severe IBS problems into two groups. Fifteen patients were treated with seven hypnosis sessions. Fifteen comparison patients were treated with seven sessions of psychotherapy, and those patients also received placebo pills (pills with no medically active ingredients) which they were told were a new research medication for IBS symptoms. Every patient in the hypnosis group improved, and that group showed substantial improvement in all central symptoms of IBS. The control group showed only very modest improvement in symptoms. Partly due to these dramatic results with treatment-refractory patients, a dozen other studies have followed, including three U.S. studies. The general conclusions from most of these studies are that hypnosis seems to improve the symptoms of 80% or more of all treated patients who have well-defined "classic" IBS problems, especially if they do not have complicating factors such as psychiatric disorders. The improvement is in many cases maintained at least for a year after the end of treatment. What is particularly remarkable is that this high rate of positive treatment response is seen even in studies where the participating patients all have failed to improve from regular medical care. The dramatic response of IBS patients to hypnosis treatment raises the question of exactly how this kind of treatment influences the symptoms in such a beneficial way. Four studies to date, two in England and two in the U.S., have tried to discover how hypnosis treatment affects the body of IBS patients. Since it is well known that many people with IBS have unusual pain sensitivity in their intestines, which is thought to be related to the clinical pain they experience, much of the focus of these studies has been on assessing the impact of this kind of treatment on intestinal pain thresholds. The two English studies both measured intestinal pain sensitivity with balloon inflation tests. The second study also measured muscle tone, to see if hypnosis relaxes the smooth muscles of the GI tract. No overall changes in pain sensitivity were detected, and gut muscle tension was also unchanged after treatment (except a subgroup of unusually pain-sensitive patients had lessened pain sensitivity in the second study(7). . In 1995-1996, during my post-doctoral fellowship in the Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition at UNC-Chapel Hill, we conducted the first U.S. study(8) on hypnosis for IBS under the direction of Dr. Whitehead. We evaluated the effects of a highly standardized treatment protocol, delivered verbatim following written scripts, on rectal pain thresholds and muscle tone. Seventeen out of the 18 patients we treated with hypnosis showed significant improvement in their clinical symptoms. However, we found, like the English researchers, that gut pain thresholds and muscle tension were unchanged after treatment. In a second study(9,) which I conducted with co-investigators at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, we used the same treatment protocol but this time measured autonomic nervous system functioning and blood levels of a gut hormone called vasoactive intestinal peptide. These are regulators of GI functioning in the human body, and the aim was to see if they would change due to treatment. Again, we found no changes in our physical measures after treatment (with the exception of reduction in sweat gland reactivity) even though 21 out of 24 treated patients were clinically improved. It should be noted, though, that in both our studies, we found clear improvement in the psychological well-being of our patients after treatment. In summary, it is clear from our work and other research that hypnosis treatment substantially improves all the central symptoms of IBS in the majority of patients who receive such treatment (see the effects of our two studies on clinical symptoms in the Figure). What happens in the body of these patients to cause such improvement, however, remains a mystery. Future prospects: In light of the many studies which have shown hypnosis treatment to be effective for such problems as IBS and nausea and vomiting, the question may be raised why this kind of treatment is not more widely available or generally offered to patients with such GI problems. One limitation is the fact that not everybody is equally hypnotizable. Research has consistently shown that at least 15% of people are practically non-hypnotizable, and even those who are able to enter a hypnotic state vary greatly in how well they respond. Interestingly, the ability to be hypnotized is a stable mental trait. In other word, if you are highly hypnotizable now, you will most likely be so also in thirty years. Fortunately, the majority of people are sufficiently hypnotizable to have a potential for enjoying at least some of the medical and psychological benefits of clinical hypnosis. Furthermore, the idea of being hypnotized does not agree with all people. Even individuals who are sufficiently hypnotizable, may not like the idea of "letting go", may have difficulty trusting a therapist to guide them in hypnosis, or may have other concerns about the hypnosis experience. Fortunately, other forms of psychological treatment for gastrointestinal problems - in the case of IBS especially cognitive-behavioral therapy -- have also been found to be effective and are good alternatives. Finally, an obstacle which has barred many patients from receiving help for gastrointestinal disorders with hypnosis is the fact that in the U.S. the technique is more commonly used by psychologists and other mental health professionals than by physicians. Many mental health professionals who use hypnosis are not accustomed to treating gastrointestinal disorders, and therefore reluctant to take on treatment of such problems. As the reliably beneficial effects of hypnosis on gastrointestinal functioning become better known both to health professionals and the general public, this benign and comfortable form of treatment will hopefully become a more popular treatment option for GI patients - especially for those who have not received much relief from standard medical management. As far as IBS is concerned, we have been making an effort in the last two years to encourage clinicians across the country who have adequate training in hypnosis to provide such treatment for IBS. We have done this by providing them, free of charge, with the complete standardized treatment protocol which has proven effective in our research. To date, more than eighty licensed health professionals, practicing in almost all states, are started using our protocol, making it a little bit easier for patients in many geographical locations to receive help with hypnosis. References 1. Beaugerie, L., Burger A.J, Cadranel J.F, Lamy, P., Gendre J.P., & Le Quintrec, F. (1991). Modulation of orocaecal transit time by hypnosis. Gut, 32, 393-394. 2. Whorwell PJ; Houghton LA; Taylor EE; Maxton DG. Physiological effects of emotion: assessment via hypnosis. (1992). Lancet, 340, 69-72 3. Klein K.B., & Spiegel, D. (1989). Modulation of gastric acid secretion by hypnosis. Gastroenterology, 96, 1383-1387. 4. Colgan, S. M. , Faragher, E. B. , & Whorwell, P. J. (1988). Controlled Trial of Hypnotherapy in Relapse Prevention of Duodenal Ulceration. The Lancet, 1(8598), 1299-300. 5. Whorwell, P.J., Prior, A., & Faragher, E.B. (1984). Controlled trial of hypnotherapy in the treatment of severe refractory irritable bowel syndrome. Lancet, 2, 1232-1234. 6. Prior A., Colgan, S.M., Whorwell P.J. (1990). Changes in rectal sensitivity after hypnotherapy in patients with irritable bowel syndrome. Gut, 31, 896-898. 7. Houghton, L.A., Larder, S., Lee, R., Gonsalkorale, W.M., Whelan, V, Randles, J., Cooper, P., Cruikshanks, P., Miller, V., & Whorwell, P.J. (1999) Gut focused hypnotherapy normalises rectal hypersensitivity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Gastroenterology,116: A1009. 8. Palsson, O.S., Burnett, C.K., Meyer, K., and Whitehead, W.E. (1997). Hypnosis treatment for irritable bowel syndrome. Effects on symptoms, pain threshold and muscle tone. Gastroenterology, 112, A803. 9.Palsson, O.S., Turner, M.J., & Johnson, D.A. (2000). Hypnotherapy for irritable bowel syndrome: Symptom improvement and autonomic nervous system effects. Gastroenterology, 118,(4) A174.
 
#11 ·
Tom, what are you drinking so early in the morning? It must be some pretty potent moonshine.Anyone who researches the major medical websites will see hypnosis mentioned as one way to manage IBS. I've never seen a site that claims to cure IBS. Also, much of the research on hypnotherapy is recent.Tom, you know all this. You have a habit of throwing out statements that are incoherant, just to get people started. It's a real shame.To anyone reading this: Do your own research. Spend time on the major sites reading up on IBS, what helps, and what the latest news is. Read up on the clinical trials. The issue speaks for itself.JeanG
 
#10 ·
Tom, what are you drinking so early in the morning? It must be some pretty potent moonshine.Anyone who researches the major medical websites will see hypnosis mentioned as one way to manage IBS. I've never seen a site that claims to cure IBS. Also, much of the research on hypnotherapy is recent.Tom, you know all this. You have a habit of throwing out statements that are incoherant, just to get people started. It's a real shame.To anyone reading this: Do your own research. Spend time on the major sites reading up on IBS, what helps, and what the latest news is. Read up on the clinical trials. The issue speaks for itself.JeanG
 
#12 ·
No offence Tom, but some of the stuff i have seen you write doesn't make sense to me. Sometimes i get the feeling that you only write things to cause a stir?I am not well read on the current research, studies, drugs etc to do with IBS, but before i make comments about things i make sure i KNOW what it is that i am talking about. I don't like to look like an idiot in front of 10 000 people round the world.
 
#13 ·
No offence Tom, but some of the stuff i have seen you write doesn't make sense to me. Sometimes i get the feeling that you only write things to cause a stir?I am not well read on the current research, studies, drugs etc to do with IBS, but before i make comments about things i make sure i KNOW what it is that i am talking about. I don't like to look like an idiot in front of 10 000 people round the world.
 
#16 ·
Tom, I don't think that that was an attack. But i do think it was Eric alerting you to the innaccuracies in your post. Its important that certain things are straightened out because otherwise people can get wrong information.All that anyone ever wants here is to find out how to help themselves. That is all that Eric has ever done too.
 
#17 ·
Tom, I don't think that that was an attack. But i do think it was Eric alerting you to the innaccuracies in your post. Its important that certain things are straightened out because otherwise people can get wrong information.All that anyone ever wants here is to find out how to help themselves. That is all that Eric has ever done too.
 
#19 ·
I don't think what I said was inaccurate:"are still in thedark ages in the sense they make claims based on old research or a few small studies that they cure IBS rather than do more specific things like speed up motility, etc. i would be interestd in hearing patients' views on this. That is I'm not interested in what doctor says this or what study shows that."there is a lot of research that needs to be done on hypnosis. there is a lot of research that shows iyt can help people with IBS-D. But there isn't any that shows it can help with IBS-C. This research has not been done. I'd like to hear from people who have IBS-C that have been helped by hynosis. i would like to hear from the people and not from experts.tom
 
#18 ·
I don't think what I said was inaccurate:"are still in thedark ages in the sense they make claims based on old research or a few small studies that they cure IBS rather than do more specific things like speed up motility, etc. i would be interestd in hearing patients' views on this. That is I'm not interested in what doctor says this or what study shows that."there is a lot of research that needs to be done on hypnosis. there is a lot of research that shows iyt can help people with IBS-D. But there isn't any that shows it can help with IBS-C. This research has not been done. I'd like to hear from people who have IBS-C that have been helped by hynosis. i would like to hear from the people and not from experts.tom
 
#20 ·
Its the choice of wording Tom, and although I am in retirement, I will post to these threads that are just a joke. As a therapist you should now about these things, relaxation techniques and how they apply to IBS. Hell, a lot of the symptoms in IBS are generated by stress and emotions, no matteer what causes it.When I see a post like this that is inaccurate and will effect new people, yes I will post and I am attacking because this is getting so old. You been here for a long time and you have read a lot on this. Go to the library and read the whole hypnosis abstracts for IBS.They don't know much about meds for IBS yet and they certainly have not gotten far with foods other then then they are triggers. They are getting it down better, but have a ways to go yet.Interesting also that these meds work on serotonin and so does Hypnotherapy!!!I don't just think of myself wwhen I post but all others reading this bb and when you mention darkk ages and hypnotherapy I am gonna call you on that, because its bull and HT is effective for IBS.
 
#21 ·
Its the choice of wording Tom, and although I am in retirement, I will post to these threads that are just a joke. As a therapist you should now about these things, relaxation techniques and how they apply to IBS. Hell, a lot of the symptoms in IBS are generated by stress and emotions, no matteer what causes it.When I see a post like this that is inaccurate and will effect new people, yes I will post and I am attacking because this is getting so old. You been here for a long time and you have read a lot on this. Go to the library and read the whole hypnosis abstracts for IBS.They don't know much about meds for IBS yet and they certainly have not gotten far with foods other then then they are triggers. They are getting it down better, but have a ways to go yet.Interesting also that these meds work on serotonin and so does Hypnotherapy!!!I don't just think of myself wwhen I post but all others reading this bb and when you mention darkk ages and hypnotherapy I am gonna call you on that, because its bull and HT is effective for IBS.
 
#23 ·
You see the difference between what you wrote and what DR Palsson wrote, who is an expert on IBS and HT."What can be done to improve Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)? By Olafur S. Palsson, Psy.D. Last updated: April 2001 Traditionally, physicians have had a great deal of difficulty coming up with adequate medical treatments for IBS. Medications used to treat the disorder have generally been aimed at treating single symptoms (such as pain or diarrhea) of this complex syndrome, and have often proven limited in effectiveness even on those symptoms. Among medications with most consistent effectiveness on IBS symptoms (Camilleri, 1999) are Loperamide and antidepressants (the latter help not only symptoms of depression in depressed IBS patients, but also improve pain and diarrhea in some individuals). Overall, the response of the syndrome to medication interventions has been inconsistent and disappointing, leaving a substantial proportion of patients with little or no lasting relief. Dr. Grant Thompson, one of the world's authorities on IBS, concluded in his review of pharmacologic management of IBS: �The sheer number and variety of drugs sold � for IBS treatment are testimony to their collective uselessness" (Thompson, 1994). Experts in the field had hoped that this pessimistic picture might be changing as new classes of medications emerged which might better address this disorder. The first among the drugs, Lotronex, was introduced with much fanfare in the Fall of 1999, but was was pulled voluntarily off the market less than a year later by Glaxo-Wellcome due to concerns about several deaths which may have been attributable to the effects of this medication (see link to CNN story below). Some regret the loss of this only medication specifically designed for IBS treatment.However, it was clear that apart from safety concerns, Lotronex could at best have a marginal positive impact on the problem of IBS in general: It was only effective in women and only those women with diarrhea-predominant type of IBS -- and even among this subgroup it only helped approximately half of the patients to any degree. The next medication on the horizon for IBS is Zelmac (Tegaserod), produced by Novartis.This medication will apparently be marketed under the name Zelnorm. It is intended to relieve constipation-type IBS problems, and has been demonstrated to have effectiveness above placebo in tests (see link to story below). It will also be prescribed only for women. FDA approval of this medication is anticipated within the next few months. Apart from medications, common methods used to attempt to control IBS include changes in diet, various alternative medicine methods, and psychological approaches. The most common symptom-inducing foods for IBS patients are spicy foods and food with high fat content. Often patients can get at least temporary relief by reducing the amount of such foods in their diet. However, such adjustments in diet rarely lead to lasting improvement in the condition. Increasing fiber in the diet, with fiber supplements of at least 12 g per day (Camilleri, 1999) helps many patients with constipation- predominent IBS. Many IBS sufferers who have not had good luck with regular medical management of their symptoms try various home remedies and alternative medicine medicine regimens. Unfortunately, they often fall prey to unwarranted claims for symptom relief from anything from herbal and homeopathic medications to colon cleansing, spending a great deal of money and may possibly suffer harm from the effects of such therapies. Among alternatives to medication, only psychological treatments and peppermint oil have the research base to back up their use in IBS. Among psychological treatments tested for the disorder, hypnosis treatment has shown the highest success rate in replicated studies, with studies commonly showing an astounding 80-95% of patients improving and improvement lasting for at least a couple of years. The other effective psychological treatment for IBS is cognitive therapy. Brief psychodynamic psychotherapy has also shown some success, but less research has been done on that form of IBS treatment to date than on hypnosis." http://www.ibshypnosis.com/IBStreatments.html I am going back to retirement now, because I really can't stand this anymore.
 
#22 ·
You see the difference between what you wrote and what DR Palsson wrote, who is an expert on IBS and HT."What can be done to improve Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)? By Olafur S. Palsson, Psy.D. Last updated: April 2001 Traditionally, physicians have had a great deal of difficulty coming up with adequate medical treatments for IBS. Medications used to treat the disorder have generally been aimed at treating single symptoms (such as pain or diarrhea) of this complex syndrome, and have often proven limited in effectiveness even on those symptoms. Among medications with most consistent effectiveness on IBS symptoms (Camilleri, 1999) are Loperamide and antidepressants (the latter help not only symptoms of depression in depressed IBS patients, but also improve pain and diarrhea in some individuals). Overall, the response of the syndrome to medication interventions has been inconsistent and disappointing, leaving a substantial proportion of patients with little or no lasting relief. Dr. Grant Thompson, one of the world's authorities on IBS, concluded in his review of pharmacologic management of IBS: �The sheer number and variety of drugs sold � for IBS treatment are testimony to their collective uselessness" (Thompson, 1994). Experts in the field had hoped that this pessimistic picture might be changing as new classes of medications emerged which might better address this disorder. The first among the drugs, Lotronex, was introduced with much fanfare in the Fall of 1999, but was was pulled voluntarily off the market less than a year later by Glaxo-Wellcome due to concerns about several deaths which may have been attributable to the effects of this medication (see link to CNN story below). Some regret the loss of this only medication specifically designed for IBS treatment.However, it was clear that apart from safety concerns, Lotronex could at best have a marginal positive impact on the problem of IBS in general: It was only effective in women and only those women with diarrhea-predominant type of IBS -- and even among this subgroup it only helped approximately half of the patients to any degree. The next medication on the horizon for IBS is Zelmac (Tegaserod), produced by Novartis.This medication will apparently be marketed under the name Zelnorm. It is intended to relieve constipation-type IBS problems, and has been demonstrated to have effectiveness above placebo in tests (see link to story below). It will also be prescribed only for women. FDA approval of this medication is anticipated within the next few months. Apart from medications, common methods used to attempt to control IBS include changes in diet, various alternative medicine methods, and psychological approaches. The most common symptom-inducing foods for IBS patients are spicy foods and food with high fat content. Often patients can get at least temporary relief by reducing the amount of such foods in their diet. However, such adjustments in diet rarely lead to lasting improvement in the condition. Increasing fiber in the diet, with fiber supplements of at least 12 g per day (Camilleri, 1999) helps many patients with constipation- predominent IBS. Many IBS sufferers who have not had good luck with regular medical management of their symptoms try various home remedies and alternative medicine medicine regimens. Unfortunately, they often fall prey to unwarranted claims for symptom relief from anything from herbal and homeopathic medications to colon cleansing, spending a great deal of money and may possibly suffer harm from the effects of such therapies. Among alternatives to medication, only psychological treatments and peppermint oil have the research base to back up their use in IBS. Among psychological treatments tested for the disorder, hypnosis treatment has shown the highest success rate in replicated studies, with studies commonly showing an astounding 80-95% of patients improving and improvement lasting for at least a couple of years. The other effective psychological treatment for IBS is cognitive therapy. Brief psychodynamic psychotherapy has also shown some success, but less research has been done on that form of IBS treatment to date than on hypnosis." http://www.ibshypnosis.com/IBStreatments.html I am going back to retirement now, because I really can't stand this anymore.
 
#25 ·
Actually, I do believe that what is now considered the "dark ages" are the doctors who claim that they can treat IBS with medicine and if they can't then the problem lies in your head!I do believe that alternative medicine and hypnosis and excercise and relaxation are the here and the now.Physician heal thyself!
 
#24 ·
Actually, I do believe that what is now considered the "dark ages" are the doctors who claim that they can treat IBS with medicine and if they can't then the problem lies in your head!I do believe that alternative medicine and hypnosis and excercise and relaxation are the here and the now.Physician heal thyself!
 
#26 ·
when a doctor gives a pil that doesn't solve the problem, he can either say it's all in your head or he could look for a different pill or treatment that might work.when a HT advocate says try HT and it doesn't work he can say it's all in your head or he can change the HT so it works.tom
 
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