Episode 4: Paying it Forward
The Show Notes

Full Transcript

Hello, I'm Natalie. Welcome to my IBS story, I'm here to tell you my story of living with IBS for 14 years and how I eventually became free from the IBS no symptoms, no pain, no flare-ups…and I hope to be the light at the end of the tunnel for anyone living with IBS. Your symptoms can be alleviated at the very least, so I am sharing my story so you can do it too.

Hello, welcome to episode seven, and in this episode you are going to learn about the evidence, the proof whether hypnosis helps IBS, or not…and I think this is a super important episode because if you're anything like me I was a massive sceptic about this and I think it's really important to actually know the facts because this will help you make an informed decision, an informed choice whether you have hypnotherapy for IBS or not.

So first things first, what actually is hypnotherapy?

Well hypnotherapy uses hypnosis to treat various conditions and also to change habits as well. So hypnosis is actually totally natural, everyone has been hypnotized probably thousands of times in their life, maybe without even realizing…and when we go to sleep we pass through the hypnotic state and when we wake up in the morning too or when we wake up depends when we wake up, right? So when when we wake up we're also coming out of the hypnotic state. So I think at this point it's important to stress that you are fully in control when you are in hypnosis and you do not have to act on anything the hypnotherapist suggests if you don't want to, it's totally your choice and your control.

So the key thing here with hypnotherapy and IBS particularly is we are teaching the mind…the hypnotherapist is teaching the mind, working with the mind, to get the mind to control the gut…because you might have come across information about the gut-brain connection, the gut-brain axis. This is why hypnotherapy is quite potent…quite potent for people with IBS because there's a miscommunication going on between the gut-brain axis.

So now I move on to what is the proof that hypnotherapy helps IBS?

Okay, so hypnotherapy is recognized by the National Institute for health and Care Excellence and for short that's called NICE. So hypnotherapy is recognized by NICE as one of the treatments to help IBS symptoms and I’m going to quote here “referral for psychological interventions (cognitive behavioural therapy, hypnotherapy and or psychological therapy) should be considered for people with IBS who DO NOT respond to pharmacological treatments (that's medicine) after 12 months and who develop a continuing symptom profile” (that essentially means in my understanding of that is…you still got IBS, you still got the symptoms, not much has changed).

So then you might ask why is hypnotherapy for IBS recommended as a treatment then?

Well Professor Peter Whorwell, who is a Professor of Medicine and Gastroenterology at the University of Manchester here in England, has dedicated much of his life investigating the use of hypnotherapy in managing and treating IBS…since the 1980s! So he's been doing this for a long time and his forward-thinking research demonstrates that at least 60 %, so 60 and over…yeah that's right…so that's over 60 % of people with IBS who have had hypnotherapy see a long-term improvement in the IBS and even symptoms completely disappear! That's what happened with me!

So Professor Peter Whorwell has carried out many studies clinical studies, scientific medical studies around hypnotherapy and IBS. And I think the most important one you could argue is that he conducted the first controlled trial of hypnotherapy and IBS which was actually one of the first controlled controlled trials in the whole field of hypnotherapy to try and actually demonstrate actually hypnotherapy…there's something going on here that's actually really beneficial for patients or clients!

And his continuing research over the decades has confirmed the effectiveness of hypnotherapy treatment in IBS and actually other functional gastrointestinal disorders too. So it is largely thanks to Peter Whorwell why hypnotherapy is now acknowledged within the medical profession as an evidence-based, scientifically proven therapy that can give relief from IBS symptoms!

Hence the National Institute for health and Care Excellence, NICE, has endorsed and actually recommended hypnotherapy as one of the treatments for irritable bowel syndrome!

And if you're wondering who NICE are?

Why is Natalie telling, talking about NICE and you know putting them on a pedestal?

Well they provide national guidance and advice to improve health and social care in the UK. And I used to work in public health, I was using NICE all the time because they recommend many things and essentially NICE is what I’ve said really…it provides national guidance and advice on how to improve condition X, Y, Z and it's used by doctors so GPs or physicians if you're American and various health professionals and many, many more actually…there's lots of people that use the NICE guidance…but in terms of IBS…they're probably the more likely people to be using them.

So in conclusion, hypnotherapy is one of several approaches to treating irritable bowel syndrome.

Okay, so if you feel ruled by the IBS, you feel like you've tried pretty much everything to help the IBS, maybe you've lost count of how many times you've been to the doctor, you've cut out dairy, gluten, all of the forbidden FODMAPs, you've done probiotics, maybe even prebiotics, maybe you tried natural remedies as well, and of course, you've taken the medication that has been prescribed. And you've done all of this, maybe you've done lots more watching YouTube gone to Dr Google… best not do that!

But yeah, you've had your own journey trying to work out what the heck is going on and how to help yourself and maybe nothing has worked. But I want you to know that there is another way and this is scientifically proven. I don't know why it's not more widely spoken about when you go to the GP…I don't know, but it is scientifically proven, it's medically proven and is medically recommended to have hypnotherapy, CBT or psychological therapies.

So I would highly recommend that you take this route if you haven't yet and you've been suffering with IBS for maybe years. It doesn't need to be this way, trust me it doesn't need to be this way! It hasn't been this way for me and I had been living with IBS for 14 years at least, so I just really want you to know that you don't have to live with this, you don't have to suffer like you might be suffering.

Got a bit passionate about that sorry! I’m not sorry actually! I’m very passionate about this!

Okay, so one thing just before I go…hypnotherapist, hypnotherapy does not allow the hypnotherapist to take control of you, that is a misconception. You're kind of always present, even when you're in hypnosis and if someone asks you to do something that might be silly or embarrassing, you just wouldn't do it, your morals, your values are still there, filtering. You know “do I want to do that? Do I not? You know, you…you would…you'd be able to have control of that, absolutely and so after talking to your therapist to establish whatever the right techniques are for you, you will be guided into hypnosis, you'll be guided to relax, to feel safe and you'll be guided through some visualizations and other techniques that basically suit you and your needs.

So if you want to know more about hypnotherapy, how it works I suggest you visit my website where you will find lots more information and there's also an FAQs page which stands for frequently asked questions so that if if there's anything I haven't answered here then you might find the answer there.

But even if you don't have any further questions I’d recommend maybe go have a look on there to see if this is right for you…having hypnotherapy is right for you and I would encourage you to book a free, no obligation consultation call just have a chat with me. Just to see if it's right for you. It's totally free, there's no cost to you, just some of your time will be lost…if you see it as a loss and you can ask me any question, we would talk about the IBS, how it's affecting you or if you're not comfortable with having a call then you can by all means send me a message. There's an option to send me a message at the bottom of my website, just type in there and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

So before I sign off, I just want to say help is available to you, it doesn't need to be this way, it doesn't need to be a struggle, it doesn't need to be difficult. You just need to take the first steps into transformation…into change and maybe I’m not the right person for you to work with, by all means go online, have a look at other hypnotherapists that specialize in IBS.

I would just be happy for you to live without the IBS or at least have just alleviation of the IBS symptoms because I know how it sucks!

So that's enough from me, thank you for listening, I hope you found this interesting and actually helpful and I wish you all the best in your journey of getting relief from the IBS!

Bye!

So that's all for today's episode, thanks for listening and if you could write a review, subscribe, rate and spread the word about this podcast to anyone you know that has IBS that would be great! :)