The IBS Journey - What the Irritable Bowel Syndrome sufferer may go through!
The IBS Journey.
Living with IBS is a long and often difficult journey.
It goes without saying we are all different, but we have many similarities too! Take a few minutes to read the ‘IBS Journey’ below, where are you in the journey, and how you might cut your journey down!
Before you knew what IBS was.
You knew there was a problem, usually painful and you were hoping it would pass. You tried to ignore it and it didn’t go away, but if it did, it came back again, and usually a little worse than it was previously.
People didn’t understand or you didn’t tell them about the problem you were experiencing or the worrying thoughts that just kept going through your mind. And there were the background thoughts too, those that you tried to push back deep in your mind.
You might have done some basic research and hoped that you didn’t have everything you read! You may have got impatient with people who didn’t know what you were going through.
The embarrassment was just... embarrassing!
And it just kept being a problem, and in time - perhaps after a lot of time - you just knew you were going to have to do something about it, because you noticed that your moods were changing too, not only were you having to deal with the physical pain, discomfort or whatever else you were coping with; you were finding your thoughts were changing, and your confidence might be a little less than it was, and also your self-esteem perhaps was waning, your sleep pattern might be affected and lots of other things you noticed too, but weren’t sure if you were imagining it, or if you were just overtired.
After all, you have been coping for quite a while now. You had to go and get it checked, finally, reluctantly you listened to that little inner voice which you had been ignoring hoping it and the symptoms would go away.
On the day you visited the doctor.
Tense, worried, looking for excuses to cancel the appointment, and perhaps thinking at the same time, that you just had to get it sorted, and you decided there was no option really, you couldn’t bear to think about living like that for the rest of your life.
Get a pill or medicine and that will be it you tell yourself. The doctor will have heard it a thousand times before, but you were still anxious but were brave and strong, and just wanted to get it sorted.
And, you were right the doctor had heard your worries before, from the many like-minded sufferers before you.
Perhaps the symptoms vanished that day of the appointment, should you really go now? Is it starting to get better by itself? Perhaps just a bit more time is needed? But then you remind yourself that lots of time has passed since this started, perhaps it is even a haze as to when it did start, were you always like this?
Because you can’t seem to remember when it started exactly.
Or if you do remember exactly when it started, are you recalling it right? So many thoughts but at least the doctor has heard it all before, thank goodness!
Well not quite! It could be IBS you hear, it’s a common digestive problem which affects one in 5 of the population. Irritable Bowel Syndrome - perhaps not quite sure of all you were being told, but you are booked in for some tests to make sure there was nothing to worry about, just to be on the safe side you're told. Oh well, more worry, until you get the results.
On the day you were diagnosed with IBS
Hospital visits and investigations later, with all the hassle and worry they bring, you are told all the tests come back clear, nothing to worry about, it’s nothing serious, and it was as we suspected IBS.
Yes you remember IBS, it's nothing to worry about, or so you were told, and if you asked you were told “you’re not going to die because of it, just take some exercise, these tablets and watch what you eat and all should be fine”.
If you had the presence of mind to ask further questions while you were there, well done, but many sufferers might have suppressed the urge to ask more, and simply want to get out of the door, thankful that you had been spared from the nightmare of IBS – brilliant, exercise, tablets and watch what you eat and all should be fine – those words chiming in your ears.
Had you asked a few more questions you might not have been so optimistic? However in time, you will have to find out that in reality, there is no medical cure for this condition, in fact, it often gets worse.
No magic pill – no exercise secrets – no quick food avoidance solutions. You will soon discover that the medics, the researchers, and the drug companies don’t even fully understand why IBS starts! Yes, you remember Irritable Bowel Syndrome, those words again, little did you know you would be hearing a lot more about them in the future, and understanding what they really mean.
“Take the medication and call me if there are any more problems” are optimistic and hope-filled words of your GP or GI Doc ringing in your ears as you eagerly depart from the doctor's office.
Hopes are high, a little more time and all will be well – the optimism for many is not very long-lived.
When you have suffered with IBS for 6 months
Back to the doctor again, perhaps several visits are now behind you, new medications, sympathy, knowing nods and acknowledgement that yes it isn’t easy living with IBS.
And what about your moods, your growing frustration, fear and dread?
What can the doctor do to help with the time from work you are losing due to the IBS (that more than familiar term now!), what can he/she do to help you to live more confidently and socially.
The world may well seem to be getting smaller. The change of diet hasn’t done much for you, the change of medications makes you feel fuzzy or not all quite here.
The exercise hasn’t done anything and worse of all perhaps those you love are finding it hard to understand what it is you are going through.
The kids can’t understand why you’re not as much fun, why days out are cancelled, and your partner is making other demands that you just can’t be bothered with.
The doctor is sympathetic and tries to be upbeat. And maybe you hear the answer to the question, what causes IBS? and then you hear they don’t know.
But let’s do some more tests, more medical prodding and poking and waiting and worrying, and confirmation, (again) that it is ONLY IBS. That word Only might be only to those who don’t have it, but to you, it’s starting to be a real problem.
You found it easier to tolerate in the early days because you thought there was a light at the end of the tunnel, it was something that would pass. But it isn’t, and now you expect it to be there, perhaps always there, and it isn't fair, it really isn't fair!
Well, you have to remember there is nothing really wrong with you says the doctor! No disease to worry about so that's a good thing.
Remember??
This hasn’t been said before, you would have remembered this. Nothing really wrong? So why is it so painful? what's making my life a misery, affecting my work, my family and social life you ask!
The pain and the symptoms and the lower mood are real enough.
It’s just what IBS is and does, perhaps is the reply.
‘But the good news is there is nothing sinister going on, so that’s something to be grateful for’. Sorry, it doesn’t feel that way!
Let me know if it gets worse – the upbeat, optimistic hopeful tones of the doctor are now strained, or simply have vanished. The reality is the doctor often feels helpless for his or her IBS patients. Are you going to become a ‘heart sink’ patient?
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When you have lived with IBS for 12 months
Several more visits to the doctor have passed. Now you may be greeted with a resigned look of understanding, and you realize that the medical arsenal for IBS is drying up. You have visited the doctor more this last 12 months than in the previous 12 years!
How many more Christmas and New Year celebrations are you going to miss or tolerate? How many memorial weekends, Labor day and independence day celebrations will be robbed from you? Its been 12 months, you're now in repeat mode, familiar territory, and you begin to look back on this journey with unease.
The moods and faltering confidence are now just accepted. The physical symptoms are being tolerated, you’re coping but other things are getting away from you.
Social life may now be less than it was, family are coming to terms with the fact you have an ongoing problem, they are finding it more difficult to understand, but they are trying but sometimes careless words are spoken and are hurtful to you.
Your concentration is not as good as it was; the IBS seems to be draining you physically and mentally. You do your best to try to remain positive, but it’s not easy.
The doctor might have suggested antidepressants – you don’t feel depressed – but the doctor didn’t have time to explain that often antidepressants help to calm the nerves in the stomach. You leave feeling you’re on the slippery emotional slope.
When you have lived with IBS for 5 years
It has been a long five years. You have decided you are on your own. Over the last five years, you have been doing your own research, spent a fortune on all sorts of over the counter medicines, and taken the advice of your friends on other products and none were right for you.
The IBS is an unwelcome part of your life, your quality of life is now much less than it was, and yet you have got into new routines. Hopefully not lost your job, or change hours to make it easier for you.
The mornings are definitely the worst for many people, and yet you have heard from others it’s the afternoons and evening times that are difficult.
You are well aware of your change in your wardrobe, the elasticated waistbands help cope with the stomach distension. You have spent lots of time and energy trying to find the solution to this problem. You hear of alternative treatment methods but you decide they are not for you, and your search continues.
Perhaps there have been more tests but nothing different to report. The hope is well and truly dashed - it’s still ONLY IBS!
There are days better than others but the overall quality of your life is significantly lower than it was. You feel tired still, resigned to the fact that IBS is with you forever. But then there are other days when you feel a little stronger and more determined to carry on with the fight. It’s not easy, but no one has told you anything different.
You acknowledge the fight has to go on. You remain strong and determined but underneath the stoic veneer there is a growing sense of the emotional equivalent of treading water, you know a long term solution is needed, but what?
When you have lived with IBS for 10 years
Lots of money has been spent searching for a solution, people around you acknowledge you have your ‘off days, and you are not happy very often.
Little do they know the pain and the problems continue! There may have been other tests done again just to be sure.
More ‘helpful’ advice from friends, doctors and acquaintances and you try them all out of desperation.
How can this be, in this day and age, how come there is still no medical answer to this? The doctors are frustrated as you are. They want to help but their arsenal or medication is as depleted as their once hopeful tones and assurances you are on your own.
Maybe you are just resigned to putting up with it, perhaps there is still some fight in you. There are days when you can cope better than others, but your quality of life is perhaps a shadow of how it was before the days of IBS. But you keep going, you see adverts for ‘amazing cures for IBS.
‘Cured in days’, new alternative treatments and you are tempted to try them all, but you have been disappointed many times before. Perhaps this is how it is meant to be, but you know deep down inside this isn't how it is meant to be, there has to be an answer somewhere.
When you have lived with IBS for 15 years
All those years, all that expense, all that hope, all those disappointments! How time flies, perhaps you now think you’re too old to change, perhaps this is your lot and you just have to get on with it. IBS, that cruel shadow in your life which has affected you so deeply, for so long.
And how you have had to adjust your life, the days out you have missed, the work pattern changed or worse, the socializing circle is much smaller than it was, going out remains problematic, needing great planning by you and understanding by others.
Nothing you can say now that has not been said before, so you keep quiet, and put up with it. But your thoughts are with you, the hope that there may be just one thing you find that can help, perhaps tomorrow is that day?
When you have lived with IBS for 20+ years
(About the length of time it took to build the great pyramid of Giza!)
You have heard it all, you have tried it all, you have spent a fortune, you have little confidence in the doctors, you’ve had other tests over the years but all come back as IBS, and you know that your life has been affected significantly with the IBS, and yet you can still acknowledge there are days when things are better, it hasn’t all been bad you tell yourself sometimes more convincingly than others!
There have been easier days and there have been difficult ones too, but you have survived and you can be pleased with that.
All those years, you have been looking and searching and pondering and trying the occasional new treatment or idea. You are still looking forward to that one day that you might just stumble across something that just might help, but there again you have heard it all before.
But have you?
The day you hoped for arrives - TODAY!
Have you heard of the IBS Audio Program 100?
Perhaps not, and if not, you will wonder why not, because thousands of people have used the IBS Audio Program 100 before you, people in 46 countries in fact, and it's all been happening since 1998!
In a nutshell, The IBS Audio Program 100 is a home-use audio program developed specifically for IBS sufferers.
No false promises, you have to work with the program to get benefit from it.
No monthly fees, either. Why would you?
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It has helped people early in their IBS journey and those who have had IBS for many years; this program has a track history of helping many thousands of people, even when everything else has been tried and failed.
This program was developed for the physical and emotional aspects of IBS; including pain, bloating, nausea, confidence, anxiety, and many other symptoms. It is for all ages over 13 years of age. For men and women of any age.
IBS-D, IBS-A, IBS-C
Since 1998 this program has been helping IBS sufferers. With users in 46 countries, it has proven the test of time.
Of course, there is no panacea, but for many IBS sufferers over the years, even those who used it as a last resort – many wished they had tried it sooner.
It took five years of research and development with three years of patient piloting before it was released in 1998.
How can simply listening to someone talking be useful you might ask? The program helps you to understand the mind-body connection, and how every thought, whether it is conscious or subconscious creates a physical response.
You, like many thousands before you can hear how to speed up or slow down your digestive system. You can understand how to reduce pain differently, how to reduce it and control it. None of this has to be difficult, really it doesn't!
Using simple yet effective imagery and suggestion you can take part in your own healing. A structured suggested listening schedule is provided to optimize your listening experience.
With 24 years of symptom management history and many years of testimonials from grateful users, it has to be worth a look at least? What have you to lose?
No matter how long you have suffered from IBS, no matter how many other things you have tried, consider our IBS Audio Program 100 for adults.
From a company that cares, a therapist who really understands, and a program with 24 years of in-situ history.
Our testimonials come from folk who were often sceptical, desperate or resigned to trying anything. Many others however tried it because of word of mouth and reading of its success. Maybe their medical professional suggested it? It doesn't really matter, you have found us now!
So take a look at the IBS Audio Program 100, it is available on MP3 download, and streamed versions are available.
Click here for the IBS Audio Program 100 information page.
The IBS Audio Program 100, developed for adults with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, don’t wait any longer to get your life back. Give yourself the gift of good health – starting today, just a few clicks away.
All our programs are researched and developed by Michael Mahoney, a clinical hypnotherapist with 34 years of practice experience, winner of several innovations and research awards for his work, which earned him an invitation to attend the Queens Garden Party at Buckingham Palace in 2011 in recognition of his innovative health solutions.
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Alternatively Want to work 1-2-1 with Michael Mahoney click here for information