April 2006 Archives

And yes, they're all real (with a bit of poetic licence thrown in...)

Number one: "I have IBS. Please send me a list of the foods that I can eat."

Number two: "I have diarrhea and am in a lot of pain but I haven't seen the doctor. Do you think this sounds like IBS?"

Number three: "I have a new product that will cure your IBS. It works by realigning the spatial energy of your digestive field and reigniting your molecular goblins. Please tell all your members about it as this is a genuine IBS breakthrough that the drug companies are trying to suppress."

Number four: "I read about digestive enzymes on your site. I live in a small town in Alaska - where is my nearest stockist?"

Number five: "I have a new product that will cure your IBS. There's no scientific evidence that it works and we haven't done any trials to make sure it's safe, but please tell all your members about it because it's a genuine breakthrough that doctors don't want you to know about. Oh, and here's a glowing testimonial written by my elderly aunt."

I thought it might be useful to do a quick post just summarising the treatment I have been using recently - and which, after six weeks, continues to work perfectly. Yep, that's right, I haven't had the slightest touch of IBS for six weeks now, and while half my brain can't believe that it's gonna continue like this, the other half is getting quite happy.

So what did I do? Basically, I visited the therapist Michael Franklin. He tested me using two types of test. One was a stool analysis test, to look for friendly and unfriendly bacteria and the state of my general digestion, and the other was an ELISA food intolerance test to check for, well, food intolerance.

When the results were in, I had low levels of friendly bacteria and a very high reaction to cow's milk, plus a middling reaction to some other foods such as eggs. I cut out the bad foods from my diet and started taking probiotics, digestive enzymes and a couple of herbal supplements.

And now, six weeks after implementing all elements of the program, I feel great. I really haven't had any problems for that entire time. Like I say, I'm still waiting for the massive bout of agony that'll put an end to my joy, but on the other hand, maybe we're actually on to something...

Number one - the Agoniser

This is the absolute worst kind of IBS pain because, well, it's the absolute worst kind of any kind of pain I have ever had the privilege to feel.

The Agoniser tends to last for around an hour all told. It starts slowly, with a few stomach cramps and gurgles, but within about 10 minutes will have transformed itself into gripping, stabbing stomach pains. After about 15 minutes of me rolling around the floor in agony I'll have to go to the bathroom and sit on the loo for another perhaps 20 minutes of agony. And then it'll wear off.

After I've been through an Agoniser session I'm usually thrilled to be alive for about an hour, and then depressed for about three days.

Number two - the War of Attrition

Although the War of Attrition pain is not as bad as the Agoniser, it comes in a close second because it is just so relentless. It basically involves day after day after day of a cramp in my right-hand side that won't go away for love nor money. It often gets worse if I'm constipated or my stomach is just generally burbling, and so if I haven't been to the loo for a few days it can get pretty damn bad just by itself.

But the real problem with War of Attrition pain is the fact that it just goes on and on and on, steady as a rock, grinding you down and sapping you of energy. Whatever you have to do in life, be it work or seeing friends or posting a letter, the War of Attrition pain comes with you, always there.

Number three - the Balloon Experiment

This form of pain feels like someone is trying to inflate a balloon inside my intestines, just to see what would happen. It comes in at number three on the pain scale because it only tends to last for about 20 minutes, and I get short breaks for relief during this time before the cramps set back in.

Balloon pain is quite mysterious because it never seems to be connected to diarrhea or constipation, or even any other form of symptom - it just comes out of nowhere and goes right back into nowhere, like a thief in the night or a mole in my lower colon.

Out of all the treatments available for IBS, perhaps the most consistently successful treatment in terms of clinical trials is hypnotherapy. There have been at least 10 trials which show that hypnotherapy can be a useful treatment for IBS, and I've heard many personal stories from people who have been helped by this treatment.

This, of course, is great news - the only problem with it is that it does occasionally contribute to the "IBS is in your mind" argument (well, argument is a bit of a strong word for it - assumption would be more appropriate).

When people who don't know much about IBS hear that hypnotherapy can be successful, they tend to assume that it's because the hypno reduces stress, and that what is really doing the work is some airy-fairy "go to your happy place" kind of talk which calms the over-worked minds of us poor, anxiety-ridden sufferers.

The reality, in fact, is that no-one really knows why hypnotherapy works. There have been various studies to try to find out exactly how it affects the brain, but this work is still at an early stage. What we do know, however, is that it is a far more powerful treatment than just a stress-buster.

And how do we know this? Well, I don't about you, but I wouldn't want to undergo surgery with only hypnotherapy for anesthesia, but a program recently shown in the UK proved that this was entirely possible, with the patient feeling no pain at all, and indeed hypnosis is widely used in surgery in some countries (eg: Belgium).

Clearly, hypnotherapy is capable of deeply affecting our perception of pain, and maybe this is one of the key reasons why it helps with IBS. Whatever the reason behind it, don't let people tell you that the efficacy of hypnosis for IBS patients is down to basic stress-relief - it's far more complex than that.

Some of the most striking research done on IBS in the past few years has focused on the idea of Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). The basic idea behind this theory is that IBS symptoms are caused by an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. The bacteria produce high levels of hydrogen or methane gas, and these gases in turn produce the symptoms of IBS.

This particular theory is so promising because not only is there an easy way to tesy for bacterial overgrowth (a lactulose breath test), there is also an easy way to treat it (antibiotics). Clinical studies have already shown that IBS sufferers often produce abnormal breath test results, but even more significantly they have shown that when the breath results can be returned to normal, through the use of antibiotics, the IBS symptoms usually disappear as well.

The only slight problem with this theory is that, as with any new theory on IBS, it's a bit controversial at the moment - but I for one think that it's got some real potential.

If you want to get hold of more info about this research then I'd highly recommend getting a copy of Dr Mark Pimentel's book, A New IBS Solution, which thoroughly explains how the theory was developed and gives advice about what to do if you would like to take a breath test.

I think I should probably stop insulting doctors for a while, because as fun as it is it's not very positive, and in fact it doesn't really fit with my own health at the moment and my current, sympathetic nutritionist. For about the past two and a half weeks I have been distinctly, eerily well. I had an odd little episode this morning but was fine again within about 10 minutes, so I don't really count that.

The silly thing is of course that I don't actually need to be perfectly healthy, I just need to be better than I was. As much as I hate that old phrase "You'll just have to learn to live with it" that relatives and friends (and, yes, doctors - sorry, just can't help myself) love to throw at us at every opportunity, it does make some sense. IBS is a long-term condition for many people, and most of us have to accept that and make some adjustments in our lives.

The only thing I really object to is the fact that so many IBS sufferers are told to "learn to live with it" approximately 3.2 seconds after they have been diagnosed with IBS. At this stage they're probably suffering with terrible diarrhea or alarming stomach pains or intransigent constipation, and people all around them are telling them that that's the best it's gonna get? Nope, I don't buy it.

Yes, we have to learn to adjust, but we also need to learn to educate ourselves about IBS and look hard for some sources of improvement. Because I don't know about you, but when my IBS is at its absolute worst it's unutterably depressing - and that's not really living at all.

Wait - I've gone negative again. Sorry about that. But the main point of this entry is to say that I feel good right now, and the only reason I feel good is that I looked for some help and found it. God knows whether it will last, but at least I'm trying not to learn to live with.