I have been watching a rather disgusting programme recently called ‘Know your sxxx’ on Channel 4. The premise of the show is that they help people with various gut related problems to get to the bottom (sorry!) of what is actually happening inside their digestive systems.

People coming on to the show bravely present with all sorts of problems such as stinky burps, runny poos, constipation, loud farts – sorry if you are eating while reading this! They are then asked to discuss lifestyle and diet issues with a resident nutritionist and also their poo is examined to check if there are any sinister bugs residing in it.

The latest episode involved exploring the connection between the gut and the brain which many people are unaware of. There is a large nerve called the vagus nerve which runs from the brain to the gut and what this means is that there is a very strong symbiosis between the two organs. If you have a healthy gut it tends to mean that you are going to be feeling mentally and emotionally healthy too. The signals also go in the other direction, with the result that an anxious and stressed person may feel this angst in their digestive system. This is sometimes referred to as irritable bowel syndrome or IBS.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends hypnotherapy for treating IBS symptoms, although sadly GPS do not always pass this information on to patients. Instead patients are given medication which could be indigestion remedies and/or anti-depressants.

I was therefore so pleased when a chap who appeared on the show was given a course of gut directed hypnotherapy, with amazing results. He was a tradesman and regularly travelled with a bucket and toilet paper in his van, although strangely he had never had to use it. This behaviour seemed to indicate that he had talked himself into having gut problems, when in actual fact things were not as bad as he thought they were. He was, however, highly stressed and anxious so it was wonderful that these symptoms as well as his perceived gut problems were cured with the hypnotherapy treatment.

If you have been diagnosed with IBS, I would urge you to consider a course of hypnotherapy, you will end up feeling so much better.

I am going to be off for about a month or so due to having surgery, but I am booking appointments from mid March onwards. Oh, it will nearly be spring then, yay!

Warmest wishes everyone,

Wendy xx