Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | Re: Diet combined with hypnosis therapy

David, neither foods or stress cause IBS, but both can make them worse.

Stressors both mental and physical and emotions and anxiety and depression even are tied into certain abnormalities found in IBS.

I asked one of the leading authorities on IBS this question.

Since I have suffered for thirty years of IBS I wonder what role foods play in IBS. So I asked Dr Douglas Drossman at the UNC Center for Functional GI and Motility disorders and here was his response. This is not a substitute for seeking medical advise from your doctor on any specific conditions you may have, but for educational purposes only.

Dr. Drossman is a Co-director of the Center and Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at UNC-CH. He established a program of research in functional gastrointestinal disorders at UNC more than 15 years ago and has published more than 250 books, articles, and abstracts relating to epidemiology, psychosocial and quality of life assessment, design of treatment trials, and outcomes research in gastrointestinal disorders.

Dr Drossman's comments on foods for IBS Health.

Shawn,
To say that people with IBS may get symptoms from food intolerances is an acceptable possibility, since the gut will over react to stressors of all types including food (high fat or large volumes of food in particular). Futhermore, there can be specific intolerances. So if you have a lactose intolerance for example, it can exacerbate, or even mimic IBS. Other examples of food substances causing diarrhea would be high consumers of caffeine or alcohol which can stimulate intestinal secretion or with the latter, pull water into the bowel (osmotic diarrhea). The same would be true for overdoing certain poorly absorbed sugars that can cause an osmotic type of diarrhea Sorbitol, found in sugarless gum and sugar substituted foods can also produce such an osmotic diarrhea. Even more naturally, people who consume a large amount of fruits, juices or other processed foods enriched with fructose, can get diarrhea because it is not as easily absorbed by the bowel and goes to the colon where it pulls in water. So if you have IBS, all of these food items would make it worse.

However, it is important to separate factors that worsen IBS (e.g., foods as above, stress, hormonal changes, etc.) from the cause or pathophysiology of IBS. Just like stress doesn't cause IBS, (though it can make it worse), foods must be understood as aggravating rather than etiological in nature.

The cause of IBS is yet to be determined. However, modern research understands IBS as a disorder of increased reactivity of the bowel, visceral hypersensitivity and dysfunction of the brain-gut axis. There are subgroups being defined as well, including post-infectious IBS which can lead to IBS symptoms. Other work using brain imaging shows that the pain regulation center of the brain (cingulate cortex) can be impaired, as well as good evidence for there being abnormalities in motility which can at least in part explain the diarrhea and constipation. So finding a specific "cause" of IBS has grown out of general interest in place of understanding physiological subgroups that may become amenable to more specific treatments. Hope that helps.
Doug

http://www.ibshealth.com/ibs_foods_2.htm

This is something you should read.

http://hopkins-gi.nts.jhu.edu/pages/latin/templates/index.cfm?pg=disease1&organ=6&disease=43&lang_id=1

My own severe pain predominate and alternating IBS has improved around 85 percent from the last five years, do to "MIke's Tapes."

I have since done major research on IBS and HT for IBS.

One abnormalities has to do with serotonin in the gi tract and specific cells that release it, where the majority of the bodies serotonin is stored. It intiates gut contractions, but also is involved in pain transmission from the gut to the brain. Its also involved in appetite, moods, sleep and other bodily functions. They kjnow something is not working properly with the 5HT 3 gut receptor.

The other has to do with what's called mast cells in the gut, that are directly connected to stress, the HPA axis or Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal.

These cells are also connected to food allergies, but IBS is not a food allergy, although they maybe a problem in some people as well. But true food allergies are rare.

"The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis) is a major part of the neuroendocrine system that controls reactions to stress and has important functions in regulating various body processes such as digestion, the immune system and energy usage. Species from humans to the most ancient organisms share components of the HPA axis. It is the mechanism for a set of interactions among glands, hormones and parts of the mid-brain that mediate a general adaptation syndrome."

Stressors both physical and mental can degrandulated gut mast cells without a pathogen and release histimine onto the smooth muscle which can contribut to pain in IBS.

This is also worth reading.

Visceral Sensations and Brain-Gut Mechanisms
By: Emeran A. Mayer, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Psychiatry; Director, Center for Neurovisceral Sciences & Women's Health, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/VisceralSensations.html

The Neurobiology of Stress and Emotions (IBS)
By: Emeran A. Mayer, M.D., UCLA Mind Body Collaborative Research Center, UCLA School of Medicine, California

http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/stress.html

The Other Brain Also Deals With Many Woes
By Harriet Brown ' August 23, 2005

Two brains are better than one. At least that is the rationale for the close - sometimes too close - relationship between the human body's two brains, the one at the top of the spinal cord and the hidden but powerful brain in the gut known as the enteric nervous system.

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/other/articles/2005/08/23/the_other_brain_also_deals_with_many_woes/

Hypnosis Treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome By: Olafur S. Palsson, Psy.D., Research Associate, Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/HypnosisPalsson.html

Hypnotherapy for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders
By: Peter J. Whorwell, M.D., University Hospital of South Manchester, England

http://www.aboutibs.org/Publications/hypnosis.html

This is from a top IBS researcher as well and is a public website on HT for IBS.

http://www.ibshypnosis.com/

Mike is one of three top people in this field.

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My website on IBS is www.ibshealth.com

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