What is hypnotherapy for IBS?
What is IBS?
IBS is a syndrome with a group of symptoms. This means that your IBS is a syndrome with a group of symptoms. This means that your experience of IBS might be very different to someone else who also has IBS. It is a disorder of the gut-brain interaction, which means it is caused by miscommunication between the gut and the brain.
IBS isn't something that can be seen in an examination or found through a test. There are no tests that show someone has IBS. It's what doctors call a "negative diagnosis". First, you get tested for other diseases such as coeliac disease, colitis or inflammatory bowel disease. If these are not present and your symptoms fit the criteria, you will be diagnosed with IBS.
What causes IBS?
There is no single cause of IBS but rather a variety of factors that contribute to its development. The technical term for this is a 'multifactorial disorder.'
These factors include; genetic predisposition, oversensitivity of the gut and muscular overactivity of the gut. Abnormal processing of pain signals from the gut by the brain, disturbance of the balance of the bacteria in the gut, diet and psychological influences can also play a role.
How does IBS affect you?
Symptoms can occur in any part of your GI tract. You may feel IBS in your:
Oesophagus. That is the muscular tube that connects your mouth to your stomach. Spasms in your oesophagus can make it hard to swallow or feel like you have a lump in your throat.
Stomach. This muscular organ has three main functions: temporary storage of food, breaking it down and digesting food. Here, indigestion can cause belly pain, bloating, nausea, a heartburn sensation, burping, or regurgitation.
Biliary system. Your biliary system makes a fluid called bile to help your intestines digest food, especially fat. If motility problems affect your biliary system—including your gallbladder and bile ducts—it can feel like a gallbladder attack. You may have bloating, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain.
Small intestine. As part of the digestive system, it helps to further digest food coming from the stomach. It also absorbs nutrients and water so they can be used by the body. Spasms in your small intestine can cause gas and bloating.
Large intestine (colon). This is the long, tube-like organ that is connected to the small intestine and the anus. It absorbs water and salts from what has not been digested as food and eliminates any waste. IBS symptoms in your colon vary depending on how motility is affected.
If food runs too quickly through your large intestine, you can have diarrhoea. That's because food residues aren't staying long enough in your intestine for water to be absorbed in your body. If food moves too slowly through your large intestine, the opposite problem can occur: you get constipated.
Control of the gastrointestinal activity is highly coordinated and controlled by the combined action of muscles, nerves and hormones with the brain fine-tuning these responses.
What is the gut-brain connection, and how do they communicate?
The gut and the brain are in constant communication with each other through something called the gut-brain axis. The vagus nerve is a long nerve hardwired between the two, carrying messages both ways like high-speed fibre broadband. Then there's the gut microbiota and other chemical messengers that are more like a wireless network. If you have IBS, there's a problem somewhere in this system. This miscommunication causes hyperreactivity in your enteric nervous system, also known as the second brain.
Your gut has two types of nerve cells: motor neurons which move food through the gut and crush and mix the food, and sensory neurons, which work out what's in your gut and relay the perception of pain from the gut to the brain. When these nerves become hyper-reactive and hypersensitive, three things happen.
You may be able to feel the activity of your gut, like food and gas bubbles moving along. As a result, you are more likely to focus on these gut sensations and worry more about your digestion. This is called "visceral hypersensitivity". You are hypersensitive to sensations in your gut.
These neurons become hyperreactive to both food and stress. Foods that are actually ok are wrongly perceived as a threat and are rushed through the gut, creating changes in stools and bowel movements.
The hypersensitivity of the sensory neurons activates pain signals even when there is no danger to the gut. Pain receptors are usually triggered when we ingest something harmful or have an infection. In their hypersensitive state, they send the wrong signals. Experiencing digestive discomfort and pain causes worry, stress, and anxiety, aggravating the problem further and creating a vicious cycle.
Now that you understand what is happening in your body, let's move on to control your symptoms.
How can gut-directed hypnotherapy help?
Gut-directed hypnosis tackles the miscommunication between your brain and your gut. Unlike what you see in the movies, you stay fully aware of your surroundings and in control the whole time. You will feel deeply relaxed and focused at the same time. Gut-directed hypnotherapy uses suggestions, visualisation and relaxation techniques to calm the digestive system and control your anxiety. More than 30 studies have shown the effectiveness of the treatment.
What are the benefits?
In contrast to medication, gut-directed hypnotherapy can be directed at particular problems of IBS sufferers. IBS has many different symptoms that vary from person to person and can be addressed via different hypnotherapy techniques. If traditional IBS treatments haven't worked, hypnosis is a good option. It is also non-invasive and safe.
If you suffer from IBS and would like to learn more about gut-directed hypnotherapy, follow me on Instagram, where I regularly share tips and insights into your gut health.