Are you experiencing some bathroom issues, or do you have some abdominal pain? Doctors have limited options for treating IBS, including the low FODMAP diet that helps get rid of IBS triggers (polyols, disaccharides, fermentable oligosaccharides, and monosaccharides). Hypnosis for IBS can be used to treat the condition. For instance, hypnotherapy helps to improve the wellbeing of various conditions and remedy health issues. It is used in clinical hypnosis to act on the brain-gut axis and treat IBS.
How can hypnotherapy help to deal with gastrointestinal disorders such as IBS?
Hypnosis Downloads
If you want a practical hypnosis session for dealing with IBS, Hypnosis Downloads Ease Irritable Bowel Syndrome audio is ideal. The audio is prepared by a team of qualified hypnotherapists and psychologists, ensuring it is high-quality and effective.
The hypnosis audio helps to reduce your stress levels and helps your digestive system to heal. As you relax and listen to the hypnosis session, you realize that:
- You start feeling more relaxed about life in general
- You relax deeper and faster every time you listen to the audio
- You will come up with creative ways of tackling your stressors
- You get more comfortable using various visualization techniques to heal
- Enjoy life more
What Is IBS?
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) refers to a gastrointestinal disorder. Some symptoms of the disorder include abdominal pain, bloating, and constipation. It is quite a challenge treating (IBS) irritable bowel syndrome as there is no cure. The IBS treatment tries to reduce IBS symptoms.
The condition differs from other gastrointestinal disorders that are causes of abdominal pain as there are no abdominal issues with the gut.
You can choose either hypnotherapy or the low FODMAP diet when you want to treat IBS, as both options are likely to help you deal with the issue. The choice between the two will depend on various factors, including the availability of hypnotherapists in your locality, budget, and dietary preferences.
What Is Clinical Hypnosis?
If you want to treat irritable bowel syndrome, clinical hypnosis is an effective method that you can use. The hypnotherapist will help you get into a psychological state that involves deepened relaxation and highly-focused attention during the process.
Once in the deep relaxation state, the psychologist will help you gain control of your physiological symptoms and responses that are not under conscious control.
The therapist can employ several techniques, including guided imagery, muscle relaxation, and suggestive images and metaphors.
It is worthwhile to note that you don’t lose control during the whole hypnosis process. Instead, you allow the clinical hypnotherapist to alter your inner experience using positive suggestions while still in control.
What Is Gut Hypnotherapy?
Functional gastrointestinal disorders are complex, and they have varying causes. Other factors such as sensitive nerve endings in the gut and visceral hypersensitivity make patients with gastrointestinal disorders experience more pain.
Gut-directed hypnosis helps to address the miscommunication that occurs between your brain and the gut. A trained therapist will guide you into a mental state of deep relaxation. The technique creates a therapeutic effect by using techniques such as imagery, suggestion, and relaxation.
The technique uses positive suggestions to help you avoid focusing on the discomforts in your body due to IBS. The suggestions are also aimed at creating a calming effect in your digestive tract.
How Can You Prepare for Gut Hypnosis?
Before you can start the gut-directed hypnosis session, it’ll be best to allow your imagination to be free and as vivid as possible. Allow your imagination to think about how various things look, how they feel and sound, and then immerse yourself in things that your hypnotherapist suggests. The relaxation will help you think about your gut as being healthy.
It is helpful to know that you are learning a new skill and that it is alright for your mind to wander. It will also be beneficial to find out the truth about hypnotherapy. For instance, dealing with the misconception that you are not in control when you get hypnotized. You will remain in complete control of your mind and body, and the hypnosis will help you get into a deep level of relaxation with targeted positive suggestions to enhance the functions of the digestive tract.
How Do You Cope With Irritable Bowel Syndrome?
Irritable bowel syndrome results in changes in your bowel movement patterns, abdominal discomfort, and gas. You may also experience constipation and diarrhea. There are various triggers for IBS that can include stress, certain foods, and hormonal changes though the triggers can vary.
Coping with the condition will help you regain control of your life. The following are steps you can take to deal with IBS:
Change Your Diet
Making small changes in your diet can offer relief from the IBS symptoms. There is no particular diet for IBS, and what works for one person may not work for the other. The changes you make to your diet depend on your reaction to particular foods and the symptoms you experience.
You can have a food diary that will help you determine the foods that enhance or minimize your symptoms. Some of the foods that can worsen the symptoms include:
- Alcoholic drinks
- Caffeine
- Milk products
- High-fat foods
- Cabbage, beans, and other gas-causing foods
Increase Your Physical Activities
Increasing your physical activities can also help offer some relief from IBS. Exercising helps to reduce stress and stimulate the normal contractions of your intestines which helps relieve some symptoms. Engaging in moderate to vigorous exercises for 20 to 30 minutes, four to five times a week helps improve your quality of life and alleviates stool issues.
Being physically active also prevents severe irritable bowel syndrome symptoms. If you have not engaged in physical activity for a while, you should start slowly and build up the frequency and duration.
Reduce Stress
Psychological and physical stressors can exacerbate IBS symptoms. The stressors can include changing your job, a bowel infection which results in an interruption in the communication between the digestive system and the brain.
If you start applying some relaxation techniques, you may realize that you enjoy enhanced wellbeing and symptom relief. You can set some minutes each day for some relaxation techniques that will make you feel more in control of your symptoms.
Some of the relaxation techniques you can apply include progressive muscle relaxation, abdominal breathing, and visualization.
The methods have various health benefits that include:
- Enhanced memory and concentration
- Reduced anxiety
- Decreased fatigue
- Improved sleep
- Increased energy levels and productivity
- Reduced muscle tension
Practicing relaxation techniques helps you take steps towards addressing your IBS symptoms. The methods will also enable you to tackle other stressors that come in the future. You can also manage your stress levels by getting enough sleep, getting support and counseling, meditation, and engaging in regular exercises.
Fiber
Increasing your uptake of foods with high fiber content can help deal with symptoms of constipation caused by IBS. Such foods contain vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and wheat. For adults, it is recommended you take 22 to 34 grams of fiber daily.
As you add more fiber to your food, improve the amount by 2 to 3 grams per day. Adding too much fiber to your diet at once can have effects such as bloating and gas which will cause more abdominal discomfort.
Before settling on an IBS treatment, you should first consult a doctor to confirm the diagnosis. Some of the pros and cons of each option include:
Low-FODMAP Diet
Pros
- It empowers the patient as the focus is on food and diet
- It is a well-researched method
- The method helps to reduce IBS in 70% of the patients
Cons
- The method is nutritionally inadequate. Some patients suffer from calcium deficiency, and there is also the concern of lack of fiber.
- The lack of prebiotic effects of FODMAPs can negatively affect the gut bacteria
- The obsessive focus on food can lead to eating disorders such as the orthorexia Nervosa
Gut-Directed Hypnotherapy
Pros
- It is effective regardless of the hypnotic status of the patient, and it minimizes the IBS symptoms in 70% of the IBS patients.
- The app-based hypnotherapy treatment is more affordable than in-person treatment
- The method is safe.
- It comes with other psychological benefits, such as the ability to deal with anxiety and depression.
- You can access using an app.
Cons
- The sessions come with a financial burden
- You need to commit time to the process
- Few hypnotherapists have the necessary training for gut-directed techniques
Conclusion
Irritable bowel syndrome refers to a gastrointestinal disorder that results in changes in your bowel movements. You can also experience other effects such as constipation and diarrhea. Living with IBS can be painful, stressful, embarrassing, and it can affect your overall quality of life.
Treating IBS using medication is tricky since the cause is not known. Medications, therefore, help to minimize the IBS symptoms. You can also try various coping mechanisms such as regular exercises, changing your diet, eating more fiber, etc. Hypnotherapy is also an effective technique for dealing with irritable bowel disorder. The hypnotherapist helps put you in a deep relaxation mode where you are ready to receive positive suggestions.