Manage your stress

The strong link between the digestive system and the body’s natural mechanisms to deal with stress is clearly, for most of us, a key factor in bringing on bouts of IBS. To combat this you need to find outlets to reduce your stress, whether it is exercise, better planning, alternative therapies or specific “me” time.

There are many alternative therapies that help you relax and could be worth trying. We have some suspicion about the direct healing capability of these techniques but definitely applaud any method that helps us de-stress. There is some specific research on Gut Targeted Hypnosis (carried out by M. Vidakovic-Vukic in Amsterdam and published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, Vol 34, Suppl. 230, 1999 page 49-51) that does appear to suggest that it can help you manage the symptoms.

‘Hypnotherapy in the Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome’

Abstract:

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is frequently observed, but its etiology and pathogenesis are still unknown. However, it is clear that individual perception plays an important part in pathogenesis (hypersensitive, hyper-reactive gut). There is no easy medical treatment of IBS. However, in recent years, hypnotherapy (HT) has been shown to be successful in the treatment of IBS. Methods: Recently we started treating IBS patients using hypnotherapy. All our patients remained symptomatic, despite medical therapy. We applied the gut-targeted method, adding to it the view that the therapy should be tailored to the individual, in accordance with each person's unique representational style. Results: So far, 27 patients have been treated, with good results, comparable to results elsewhere. Of these patients two stopped the therapy prematurely, and one remained symptomatic. All other patients experienced clear improvement: pain and flatulence was reduced or completely disappeared, and bowel habits normalized. Conclusion: Based on data from the literature and supported by our own experience, we conclude that hypnotherapy is a valuable addition to the conventional treatment of IBS. To improve our knowledge of sensitivity to hypnotherapy, further research is necessary to recognize cases with more hypersensitivity and those dominated by hyper-vigilance. More generally, we need a theoretical model of hypnotherapy as applied to treating physiological disorders.

In another study this time on weight loss carried out at the University of Minnesota in 2005, in which 1000 patients were examined it was found that exercise was the most important factor in reducing IBS symptoms.