Triggers for Irritable Bowel Syndrome can range from pressure on your intestines to certain foods, medications or emotions. In fact, if you’re like most people with IBS, you probably find that symptoms are worse or more frequent during stressful events, such as a change in your daily routine or family arguments. But while stress may aggravate symptoms, it doesn’t cause them.
IBS conditions generally comprise certain proportions of both dietary and psychological factors so the most effective solution should comprise both approaches.
If you are experiencing bowel discomfort, you should first of all visit your doctor for a diagnosis. Ask yourself if the discomfort seems to follow any pattern and, if your doctor agrees, experiment with cutting certain foods like citrus, dairy, yeast, wheat, or other grains out of your diet and taking supplements of friendly bacteria such as the acidophilus bacteria.
Evidence is overwhelming that IBS symptoms do respond to hypnosis. In addition to this, hypnotherapy routinely produces positive results in over 80% of IBS sufferers who use it. It has been so overwhelmingly successful for IBS symptom-alleviation that Adriane Fug-Berman, MD, chair of the National Women’s Health Network in Washington, DC, says that hypnosis should be the treatment of choice for IBS cases that have not responded to conventional therapy. Please see your G.P for a diagnosis before requesting this therapy.