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| (C) The Forest of an Open Mind |
For
years, we have known an extraordinary number of us with fibromyalgia also live
with one or more frequently co-occurring, comorbid, conditions. One of those is
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). I have vocalized my own experiences with IBS, interviewed Dr
Stephen Wangen,
board certified, licensed physician in naturopathic medicine and co-founder and
Medical Director of the IBS Treatment Center, and I have written about it in
what our readers call “The Big Book”.
Quintessential
Fibro-mate: Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
If
you have IBS, you know the drum-like tightness and resonance caused by belly
bloat. When not in an attack, I can explain it like this; I am in a canoe that
is lazily floating through my gut. There I am with my feet up, hands behind my
head relaxing in a tranquil gently moving environment. Then suddenly, I am
holding on for dear life. My canoe ricochets from side to side like a ball hitting
the bumpers of a pinball machine, threatening to throw me into a toxic abyss.
If you have FM and IBS, you know.
What
you may not know is that during an attack I practice creative visualization. I
envision my bowel being coated and cloaked with a calming gel that clings to
the walls of my intestines. The gooey colorful substance protects the lining
against caustic toxins. As I control my breath, I call on my reserves to
translate what is happening differently, without judgment. I have not mastered
the technique enough to prevent an attack, but it does ease my minds
interpretation of the event. In the past, things like creative visualization
were not seen as valuable tools by traditional medicine. But, could times be
changing?
Fibro-mate:
Gastro-esophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)?
A
stronger connection has been made between fibromyalgia and GERD, as reported in an article I
wrote for ProHealth.
What’s interesting about this connection is that all three; FM, IBS, and GERD
share two things
1.
Relationship
to the immune system
2.
Relationship
to brain, centralization
What’s
even more interesting is that traditional medicine, thanks to neuroscience, is
now embracing the things my co-author, Jeff Miller, PhD, and I have written
about in our books.
Hypnosis—
Really?
According
to Medscape, a continuing education website for physicians and registered
nurses, hypnotherapy for
IBS,
GERD and
inflammatory bowel disease looks promising.
Did I ever think conventional medicine would look outside the box? Yes, but when
we wrote our book on
integrative therapies
for fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, and chronic myofascial pain I would not have
predicted the robust acceptance or the change taking place in traditional
medical paradigms.
Hypnotherapy,
as I can personally attest, gives us a sense of control and like my reported
experience with creative visualization; it exposes our internal dialogue to
change. As a qualified
hypnotherapist
makes suggestions, we gain power over autonomic body dysfunction, such as IBS
and GERD. Biological changes, i.e. temperature, pulse, and blood pressure occur
in response to our thoughts as evidenced by biofeedback.
There
is a well-documented bidirectional pathway between the brain and gut, and I
believe integrative therapies, such as creative visualization, hypnosis, and
biofeedback have a positive effect because fibromyalgia, IBS and GERD share a
brain-body connection, centralization and the autonomic nervous system.
Articles
of interest:
In
healing,,Celeste
"Adversity is
only an obstacle if we fail to see opportunity."
~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~
Celeste Cooper, RN
Learn
more about Celeste’s books at her website or find
links here on Celeste's
blog.
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