Irritable bowel Syndrome IBS in children

Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS is a common motility problem of the digestive system. Research often cites the number of lost working days, social impact and other examples of how IBS blights the lives of sufferers. Many report in fact the majority reports are relating to the impact of IBS in adults, but what about children who have irritable bowel syndrome, what is their story?

Some 10 years ago I released the IBS Audio Program 100 for adults, as I was one of the first to recognise the emotional impact this condition has on the IBS sufferer, now it appears others in the field of gastroenterology are more fully recognising the importance emotions play in compounding the IBS condition.

But what about IBS in our children? What about the fear and unknowing this condition brings to our children, in addition to the physical aspects of the condition? What about the missed days at school, what about the social impact and the missed days from work for parents or guardians?

In 2008 I was delighted to receive a local business innovation and research award for my work in paediatric IBS and the program I developed the IBS Audio Program 60 for children

For the ages of 8 – 13 years this audio program has interlinked sessions using imagery and suggestion to help reduce the physical symptoms and of course the emotional symptoms of this condition.

With a parental CD and listening schedule included for support, guidance and understanding this program is like its adult version, leading the way, quietly but effectively.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome IBS ~ save money

The IBS Audio Program 100 is the leading home IBS treatment program of its kind, developed for irritable bowel syndrome sufferers and has been available since 1998.

Now we have some 'nearly new stock', this is stock which has come back in from trade fairs or shows or for a number of other reasons.

IMPORTANTLY they are not seconds, they have never been used, and the packaging is intact too. We call them nearly new, because they have been out of our offices, and have been logged back into secondary stock.

To find out more click the link above or click here.

There has never been a better time to get this program. Stock is limited however.

Also on our IBS pages you will find lots of information to help you understand IBS too. Don't let this troublesome condition blight your life any longer.

Retirement phobia & bad dreams

I worked with a lovely lady recently who had a couple of problems, one of bad dreams; the other was a phobia of retiring. She has been a high flying professional business lady, self employed and had built a successful business with an equally impressive reputation. I will let Wendy Edwards tell her story.

Please click her to see and hear her story

The reason I have posted this is to show hypnotherapy is a treatment option that is often overlooked. However the types of problems it can help with is as wide and diverse as we are individuals.

People think of hypnosis for smoking and weight loss. Many people know of my work treating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) personally and through the successful IBS Audio Program 100 along with anxiety and breast cancer recover. But as Wendy attests the more unusual problems can be helped too.

Redundancy and being laid off

The news reports state more job losses, but the spin on the news is that the UK figures were not as bad as expected. This is no comfort for those who have been laid off redundant or for those who face the prospect of redundancy in the future.

In fact I was dismayed when I tried to get help from my local member of parliament (MP), who basically didn't answer any of my emails when I wanted help regarding my 'Laid Off Move On' audio set. This audio program was developed specifically to help those individuals affected deal with the emotional aspects of redundancy, the panic, anxiety, the mood swings, the lack of confidence, the feelings of guilt, self blame and much more. I simply wanted some guidance how to move on with this Audio CD set.

However not only were my emails ignored, our publicist's phone calls were not returned either. We are deciding how to respond to this, perhaps the answer is to just go to the national press and let them know about this apathy, but is there any news there given the public perception of most of our elected representatives at present?

Personally I find it beyond belief that a representative of the people is choosing to ignore the people, especially at these difficult times. There is plenty of hot air and spin on what is being done, but trying to quantify it is a different thing!

The program I developed is designed to help people to come to terms emotionally with redundancy, so they have the emotional energy and belief and drive to pull themselves up, to begin to look at CV preparation, to help them to a place where they can make good decisions regarding financial planning, to help them to be motivated to re-train and more.

All these are needed to help the individual and also society, but underpinning it all is the individuals own belief system and that is the foundation for growth, without it no matter how much the politicians want to make us belief they are helping, ignoring (or not even recognising it) this important aspect of individual growth, and thereby economic growth is folly. Not to mention the implications on other family members, economic costs and social costs.

I will continue to ask questions to those who are in a position to help me, and the many thousands who could benefit from this program, but I no longer expect any answers from the obvious areas.
However I do live in hope. And I do belief, despite the seeming apathy from some quarters, eventually I will be heard, since the message I have for the redundant jobless is too important to be ignored.

An Aid to Emotional Recovery After Breast Cancer

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought it right to give a gentle reminder of my CD program entitled ‘An Aid to Emotional Recovery After Breast Cancer’.

An Aid to Emotional Recovery after Breast Cancer© is a recording with a difference; Different because it was developed, recorded and piloted specifically for sufferers of breast cancer ~ women and men, and has helped many breast cancer patients over the years.

Having worked with cancer survivors for many years I identified a common thread of experience and often distress in my patients.

Simply, emotional support was either ill defined or explained to patients. This lack of knowledge and expectation often led patients to falter in their recovery, when they and everyone else expected it to continue. This recording explains why and how, and guides the listener back into recovery, gently and with sensitivity.

This audio recording is designed to help the individual emotionally during and following recovery. It is so often mentioned by recovering breast cancer patients that “people now just seem to think I am alright again”. Few people who have not gone through an emotional and physical trauma can understand the impact such occurrences have on the emotions of the individual. This audio program goes some way in helping in the all-important emotional healing which is needed before true recovery is felt and achieved.

As the title suggests, the CD (also on MP3 download) is an aid to emotional recovery. It is not an alternative to breast cancer treatment. The connection between mind and body is well known in medical circles, a positive mindset is acknowledged to aid both emotional and physical recovery.

The program has been reviewed and accepted as a suitable aid for breast cancer recovery by hospitals throughout England. Each hospital breast cancer team consisting of numerous physicians, oncologist nurses and specialists reviewed the CD before it was even considered to be recommended to patients.

Now, this program is not only available to patients via these hospitals, but to breast cancer survivors through my website as well.

It is my hope that this audio program is a start to providing additional resources in the area of emotional healing and support to those women who may not otherwise have had access to support of this kind previously.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome patients survey

Yesterday I made a post about an interesting study on IBS.
My commentary observations are below.

A revealing study entitled: International Survey of Patients With IBS: Symptom Features and Their Severity, Health Status, Treatments, and Risk Taking to Achieve Clinical Benefit has been published in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology: July 2009 - Volume 43 - Issue 6.

In it, it was reported that some surveyed “IBS patients would give up 25% of their remaining life, an average of 15 years, in order to receive a treatment that would make them symptom free.” This is quite an astonishing revelation. It was also reported that a combined 14% would risk a 1/100 chance of death and/or serious and disabling side effects in exchange for elimination of symptoms .

This is an astonishing finding, and is probably a fair representation of the frustration and despair felt by a good majority of refractory (resistant to treatments) IBS patients worldwide.

It was interesting to note that even with a listing of medications as well as complementary and alternative treatments, only two mind-body approaches, meditation (5%) and relaxation (5%), were reported as being tried by only 10% of the respondents.


There was absolutely no mention of the use of gut-directed or gut-specific clinical hypnotherapy reported. Yet, there has been over twenty years of its successful use in clinical trials. How astonishing it is to know that an individual would prefer to put a potentially harmful substance in their body before considering an extremely effective treatment method that is virtually free of side-effects.

It is certainly understandable why IBS patients who have already had years taken from their lives in pain and frustration, would opt for such a extreme consideration. Society is geared for instant results. Take a pill today and feel better within a few hours. Or perhaps, take a pill or two daily, and over a few weeks, feel better.

But what happens when the pills don’t result in the patient feeling better, no matter the duration of time? I have had a few people object to allowing themselves a mere ½ hour a day to relax and passively listen to a series of different guided interlinked imagery/hypnotherapy sessions for IBS over the course of a mere 80 days for a journey to feeling better. (The IBS Audio Program 100 is structured over a 100 days which includes 80 days of listening for only ½ an hour on those days).

For a few very severe refractory IBS cases, it may take a few more days, but the reality in my world, is that the vast majority of patients greatly reduce and even eliminate symptoms within the 100 days of their entire life. There is no risk of negative side effects; there is no risk of less years of life. Yet people are willing to take such risks, and they don’t have to.

The only thing standing between the IBS patient and starting to feel better and reduce symptoms is knowledge. IBS patients it seems are just not aware of all of their options. Clinical hypnotherapy, or guided imagery specifically designed for the IBS patients, such as the IBS Audio Program 100® for Adults and Teens and the IBS Audio Program 60® for Children have shown over many years that this treatment is not only safe, it is also extremely effective for the vast majority of patients.

For the IBS sufferer, there is a big difference between being willing to shorten their life by an average of 15 years in exchange for being symptom-free and a mere 100 days to take the journey to feeling better.

A big difference. Fifteen years or 5,475 days vs. 100 days.
That’s 5,375 days difference.

All rights of the report owners acknowledged.

IBS sufferers prepared to die early for relief from symptoms

In a recent study by the respected International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD) and in collaboration with the equally respected University of North Carolina (UNC) Centre for Functional GI and Motility (all rights and copyright acknowledged) it was identified that some sufferers of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) were prepared to accept a chance of death or serious and disabling side effects if offered a medication that would give them total relief of their IBS symptoms.

Respondents report on average 73 days or 20% of the year where sufferers needed to restrict their activities due to IBS. The report makes serious reading, and I welcome it, because in the report it recognises the importance of the emotional impact of IBS on the life of the sufferer as a result of years of frustration and suffering with the physical symptoms.

37% of respondents were using complementary and alternative medicine.
8% of the 1966 respondents would accept a 1 in 100 chance of death to be symptom free.
6% of the 1966 respondents would accept a 1 in 100 chance of serious and disabling side effects to be symptoms free. See the full report here

The authors have to be congratulated on the breadth and depth of the report. One of the things which pleases me most about this report is the formal recognition of the emotional importance of IBS. IBS is not simply a physical condition - it has significant emotional aspects too.

As someone who has worked with IBS patients since 1991 (and still do), I have often wondered why so many IBS patients leave their medical doctor with the feeling they have not been listened to. The IBS Audio Program 100 was designed specifically for both physical and emotional aspects of IBS, and its success for many of its users is in the structure of the program and the recognition of the emotional symptoms.

To the authors, congratulations for an excellent report which will resonate with users around the world. As a clinical hypnotherapist with more than 18 years experience of working with IBS, I hope this report will be a springboard to show at last the importance of all aspects of IBS, not just the physical impact, and for anyone willing to give up an average of 15 years of their remaining life for symptom alleviation (another statistic from the report) I would simply say it is a high price to pay, when other options may be available.