Jenks Hypnosis and Training Center, LLC
805 N. Fir, Jenks, OK 74037 (918)
298-6884
Located in Jenks, America, near the heart of south Tulsa
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
This is a messy-catch-all-can-of-worms. Why do some people have it and not others? Well, that is a little like asking why some of us are blonde and some are red heads. (Of course, some of us get it from a bottle!) The whys of IBS are unknown. It has many symptoms, just as many causes and very few ways to deal with it. IBS can completely take over your life. Going out can be iffy. You never knew what's going to happen. Even staying home is sometimes dicy. Finding a solution can be costly, time consuming and frustrating. And in the end, can only address the symptoms - since cause and cure are not even on the radar screen. So what are your options?
Well, you could stick close to home (the john and whatever medications you have accumulated). You could put up with the upset stomachs, cramping, diarrhea, bloating, constipation, limited food choices and everything else IBS does to you. Or - you could seek the basic reason for the problem.
What does cause this nasty problem? Again, there are as many root causes are there are people who have IBS. Since IBS is not a disease, it has no basic underlying cause. Every one is different. What may cause IBS in one person is a non issue in another. But, whatever the cause, the problem is very real!
Have I worked with people complaining of IBS - yes. Have I had success in dealing with their problems. Yes!
From my perspective, which may not be the same as a medical professional's perspective, IBS is the result of emotions stuffed into the body - specifically into the digestive tract. When the body gets full of problems, it rebels. And one of the ways it rebels, is IBS.
I had a young woman come to me complaining of being unable to eat with her family. Holidays were a particularly stressful time, but even simple family gatherings such as Sunday lunch, were just as big a problem. When I worked with her, we uncovered a time when her sister's boyfriend tried to molest her. All the fear of being raped; all the anxiety and apprehension that it may happen again were shoved into her stomach (the part of her that was most affected the first time). So, when the family gathered, the fears, anxiety and apprehensions kicked in - no food for her!
In trance we confronted the boyfriend and she was able to speak her mind, to tell him what his actions had done to her, she began to feel better. When she forgave him, she felt fantastic!
Why forgive the jerk? He doesn't deserve that kind of compassion. Ah, that is were you are mistaken. Forgiveness is a very important component when dealing with any emotional issues. You need to understand that forgiveness is not for the person it is given to but for the person who is giving it. Failing to forgive is essentially handing your power over to someone else and allowing them to rule you from a distance. Do they know of your emotions? Probably not. If they did, would they care? No. Old emotions such as fear, anxiety, etc. have power only as long as you hang onto the emotion. Think of holding a hot coal (your negative emotions) in your hand. Who is the one being hurt here? The jerk who gave them to you? Absolutely not! YOU are being hurt. And you are the only one who can make the change.
By the way, my young client reported to me that the next day - Sunday - she had dinner with the family. NO PROBLEMS!
Another client I worked was similar only in that the root cause was in the family mix. However, this young woman chose to internalize all the problems of everyone else. Her parents, who spoke to each other only through her. Her brother and his girlfriend, who bickered constantly. The suicide of a friend she was very close to. All of these became her problems. She stuffed them into her intestinal tract and was miserable every time she had to attend family functions. Her body rebelled at being the caretaker and keeper of all the problems and it dealt with them the only way it knew how, by trying to eliminate them - hence, upset stomach, cramps and diarrhea. She was never far from a bathroom.
Once she recognized and understood what she was doing, she made the conscious decision to stop accepting the troubles of her family as her own. She chose to be in control. She chose to understand and embrace the fact that she could not control situations or other people, what they thought, said, did or felt. She could control only herself and how she chose to react to the events. She chose to release those things she could not change. She couldn't change - or in any way affect - the bitterness of her parents. She stopped being their go between. She couldn't change or affect the relationship between her brother and his girlfriend. She stopped trying to change two people she had no ability to change. She chose to release her guilt as the cause of her friend's suicide understanding and accepting that his decision was not caused by her. She held no control over his decisions.
You see, it is never what happens around us that is so important, but how we chose to react to it. And that choice is always ours. We can choose to allow others to park their problems with us making us their caretaker. Or we can refuse to accept their problems - making them responsible for their own problems.
IBS is a real can of worms. But it is a can that you have the ability to close!