Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Nonsense versus Horse Sense...

How many people here think IBS is a diagnoses of exclusion?

Why is that important and it is very important? Talk about something driving anxiety!

There are also new people and older BB memebers, some new might not know anything at all about IBS, while other might know quite a bit.

"I feel like I have very little power or control over this condition"

This is a pretty common issue and statement from IBSers.

Some of the information being posted when you try to understand it some, and granted it takes time and at first can be overwelming, gives you more power and control over the condition, a better understanding of your condition/s and that in itself makes a big difference to actual symptoms and new treatments to try and the reasons to try them through evidence based medicine.

There is a direct link to emotions and suffering in IBS, fear, antispatory anxiety, anxiety and even frustration, blame and many others. So how can you make that better, so it causes less symptoms?????

from the experts.

"psychophysiological arousal is the core of treating functional gi disorders. There is so much distress, anxiety, antisipatory anxiety, and negative reaction to symptoms, that calming the mind and body often makes a significant difference to symptoms."

These aren't "cures" but tools. The above is not "all in the head" it how the whole person physically works, both at the gut level and brain, both react. There are chemical reasons behind this and even structural cell issues in the gut.

These are as important as foods in IBS and actually trigger some of the same cells in the gut foods can as well as other bodily processes.

IBS and Post Infectious IBS are and have been demonstrated to be brain gut axis disorders for at least five years now and the brain-gut axis is a critical component in IBS.

Why is that and what does it mean to anyone who has IBS and to treatments?

One is "point out that therapeutic options for patients with IBS should focus on treating both the hypersensitive gut and the hypersensitive CNS"

If a GI doctor recommends you see a psychologist and try CBT or HT or therpay for IBS for example, it doesn't mean IBS is not real or "all in your head" that is a major misconception.

ask the experts
Why see a Psychologist when the Diagnosis is IBS? - S. Weinland

Many people experience distress and anxiety when their doctor makes a recommendation that they see a psychologist.
This reaction often comes from the belief that a referral to a psychologist carries with it assumptions about symptoms
being "all in your head" or the result of "mental illness". These are two of the biggest misconceptions about the
practice of psychology in a medical setting, and they can often stand in the way of patients achieving a meaningful
reduction in symptoms. In this column, I hope to dispel some of these misconceptions around psychology in a medical
setting, and in doing so communicate a few of the benefits you might be able to achieve in working with a psychologist
to address your symptoms of IBS.
First things first, your physical problems are real! If your doctor gives you a recommendation to meet with a psychologist it does not mean that the symptoms are "all in your head" or the result of "mental illness."

http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/psychandIBS.pdf

Many people are not getting ALL the help they need and can use because of IBS misconceptions and bad IBS information. I don't mean from Heathers BB, but in life in general.

The fact they don't know the exact causes or cause, doesn't mean they know absolutely nothing about it. They have been researching it for a long time now and have found a lot of things wrong and not working right, especially in the last ten years and ways to improve the condition.

small study and there are important issues here however.

Development of an educational intervention for patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) � a pilot study

"Results
Twelve IBS patients were included. The patients were overall satisfied with the IBS school. In line with this, the gastrointestinal symptoms, HRQOL, and perceived knowledge about IBS improved significantly after the education.

Conclusion
An IBS school seems to be a proper method to meet the patients' need of information about IBS and also to improve the patients' gastrointestinal symptoms, HRQOL, and knowledge about IBS. Further controlled studies are now needed in larger numbers of patients to confirm these preliminary results in order to implement this intervention in clinical practice."

There symptoms improved significantly.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-230X/9/10

The above is not the only study to show improvement in symptoms from education.

also

Before pulling out your prescription pad, experts say, the best way to treat a patient with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is to first view him or her as a whole person.

http://www.acpinternist.org/archives/2009/11/ibs.htm

The above sounds holitic to me, more so then some alternative practioners that call IBS "any gi symptom" and infections and diagnose people with issues aren't IBS. Again there are very specific clustering of symptoms to diagnose IBS. From that they rarely find an organic underlying reason, 5% or less and they check back long term to see if the diagnoses stays the same years later.

These can also help you talk to your doctor better and establish a better doctor pateint relationship and better treatments or that your doctor isn't helping and to find a new doctor.

Frygirl, I am trying to explain somethings to you that will quite possibly help you with your IBS or anyone with IBS.

Here is a study that will help kids for example. This isn't technical, the reasons behind it are however.

"In the group that used guided imagery, the children reported that the CDs were easy and enjoyable to use. In that group, 73.3 percent reported that their abdominal pain was reduced by half or more by the end of the treatment course. Only 26.7 percent in the standard medical care only group achieved the same level of improvement. This increased to 58.3 percent when guided imagery treatment was offered later to the standard medical care only group. In both groups combined, these benefits persisted for six months in 62.5 percent of the children.

The study concluded that guided imagery treatment plus medical care was superior to standard medical care alone for the treatment of functional abdominal pain, and that treatment effects were sustained over a long period."

http://www.med.unc.edu/medicine/fgidc/tilburg_in_the_news.htm

73.3 percent reported that their abdominal pain was reduced by half or more. That is a good thing for children is it not? I wish someone knew this and told me this some 39 years ago. If you quite a drug it quites working on your symptoms,if you eat the wrong things the symptoms can be triggered, but it really means something if after your done with a treatment it is sustained for longer periods of time. That means something and is important.

Treatments work better when you understand why they work and what they are working on or why they are even suggested for a person to try. Another example are antideppressants which they may give at a low does for IBS to work at the gut level, not because your doctor thinks your crazy and its all in your head, but because it can help regulate serotonin at the gut level-improve symptoms- and at the same time decrease anxiety in the brain that also triggers the gut. The gut can trigger the brain distress and the brain can trigger the guts distress.

This is actually what they call the "vicious cycle" in IBS.

There is also mild, moderate and severe IBS. IN mild IBS they might not need to know about it as much or do as much for it, as it goes to moderate treatments change and even more so to severe.

What is the actual reason behind eating small meals in IBS? What happens to gut physilogy in IBS when you eat big meals? What triggers the symptoms and why does eating smaller ones actually help symptoms as opposed to big meals?

Not everyone knows the reason for the above issue and knowing it can help your symptoms.

These are practical information aspect for IBSers they can physically use to decrease the symptoms.

Many people suffer more IBS symptoms, because they don't understand IBS to begin with or they can even be trying to treat the wrong problems, because they don't understand the basics in the first place and heance spend tons of money on all kinds of things with little help to the symptoms.

I have seen people complain, not here so much, they know nothing about IBS. IBS is every gi symptom and a "garbage diagnoses" and complain and then do nothing to try to understand what they do already know about it. Go to doctor after doctor to "find the cause", then go alternative routes where they will usally diagnose you with something or another and call it IBS, worry more it may lead to cancer or get worse, call it things it is not, not take the research seriously and have seen people understand more and apply the information to treating the symptoms get better, through multiple treatment options.

I have has severe IBS for 39 years from dysentary from Mexico and helped thousands of IBSers. I understand how bad this condition is and certainly can sympathize GREATLY with the frustrations about it all. Heather's book first year IBS also helps explain a lot of these complex issues. Eating for IBS helps people understand diet and IBS.

Were all here to help and share experinces, but the research and recent advancements in it, is also important and can personally help peoples symptoms.

I think personally there is more to it then just telling each other our symptoms and giving sympathy, although that is important too. But that gets old as well.

again how many people know there is a "brain in the gut" and what that means to IBS.

The Surprising Link Between Mood and Digestion

http://www.ahealthyme.com/article/primer/101186767

I was trying to point out something here that can directly help IBS.

"The stress alarm

Whatever messages may be passing back and forth, they can easily become garbled in times of stress. When the brain senses a threat, real or imagined, it sounds the alarm by flooding the body with adrenaline and another hormone called CRF (short for corticotropin-releasing factor). These hormones trigger the "fight or flight" response -- helpful back in the days when humans had to run from lions, but a potential liability when we lose a job or go through a divorce.

If you suffer from frequent emotional distress -- perhaps because of extreme stress, depression, or anxiety -- the unrelenting flood of adrenaline and CRF will take a toll on your digestive system. For one thing, the hormones can make the cells in the stomach and intestines extra-sensitive to pain. As a result, normal contractions and movements can become excruciating. The new signals can also disrupt the motion of the intestines, causing bouts of constipation or diarrhea."

When you feel pain come on or d come on or symptoms, your brain senses that as a "threat" via the "fight or flight" response. Most people are totally unawre of this reaction, in fact its hard wired to the brain for saftey of the organism in all animals. This is differnt then most people understanding of stress and how it all works.

But everyone can do something physically about the reaction and this physically helps the symptoms, especially d and pain. It is also one reason why some people feel nausea when under an IBS attack.

I wish all this information could be summed up into a small paragraph everyone could understand right away and use the information on their symptoms, but that is not reality, its all too complex. However its well known the more you know about your condition the better you can treat it and understand it and work with your doctor and cause less worry, anxiety and fear and heance less symptoms, from understanding diet, to stressors, both mental and physical, to hormones, inflammation, gut bacteria and all of the factors in IBS being researched from every angle and multiple professions and from some seriously smart, caring and understanding researchers, who are working very hard to find answers and really care about everyone.

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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com

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