6th sense i need your help i see your posts everywhere, which tells me you have been suffering from ibs for a long time or you know alot about the topic. You see im right now doing colonics, taking donnatal- (in result of this med. im now taking miralax) and amitriptyline. Im starting school in a week and i feel like i have no control over my ibs-d, i dont have dia. as much as i use to b/c of the donnatal, but b/c im taking this med it causes me to get constipated so i take miralax, but my main problem is my pain! Im on donnatal which i was told has a sedative in it and im on amitriptyline- which is a med for my nerves(hypersensativity). My gastro has given me these meds for my pain, but its still there every single day- some worse than others and when i have a bad spasm attack its horrible-pain overload. My doc is sending me to ucla to figure if it something else and thats great, but like i said school starts in a week! My colonist, who suffers from ibs-c, says it has alot to do with nerves in your body and stress and since i have the pain all the time in the same spot 95% of the time- she says its b/c of my nerves. Well okay, but my whole life i have always been happy and never one of those stressful people that have to get massages or anything, so i dont know how to relax or even what to do to help me calm down.*Im writing you this so you can hopefully give me some simple easy ideas that you know work,but are easy on the body(hopefully no more meds). Please if you have any simple ideas that may help alot, please reply. I really need your help with this and im hoping you have some ideas. Desperate for some help and relief- KIRA

Hi Kira,

You are right, when you say that I've had IBS for a long time. I have my own techniques of controlling pain... which are probably different from what you've seen elsewhere. Have the patience to read this entire post.

There are often new people on this board. So, I have to ask if you've seen my website. The ideas on the website are a temporary means to help yourself. I couldn't write the entire site here. Since we are not allowed to post sites, I will post a small extract from my site and you can try finding it (my name: Raju is also on the site, so you will have no trouble identifying it was written by me ;)

Pick a time when you are relaxed somewhere and have about five free minutes. Imagine something that makes you angry for 10 - 20 seconds (don't have to time this). Now imagine other feelings, which you regularly have, one by one that you wish to control in similar 15 - 25 second cycles. Work on this for about 2-3 minutes and leave yourself some time to relax afterwards. (I am aware of why this works, but I won't explain here - its too long). Some feelings you might want to explore are apathy, depression, fear and sadness (you want to explore plenty of this). Make sure that you completely free your mind of the previous feeling before exploring the new feeling. So give yourself some time at the near the end of your cycle to relax and clear the mind completely. Do not time yourself - this increases stress to finish on time.

The technique should help a lot with controlling your stress to a certain extent. If you find my website you will understand that I was at one point under the impression that IBS had physical causes, and I was trying to chase that down. My views on IBS have changed drastically since then, and the site needs a major re-write. Nevertheless, it has a lot of techniques you can use.

Quote: "Give a man a fish to eat and he'll live another day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll live a lifetime." The problem that I face is somewhat akin to giving a fish, and teaching to fish. My site hands people visual techniques to solve specific problems, but doesn't explain how to come up with your own solutions and effectively rid yourself of IBS on your own. It is because that explanation involves complex images and I would have to post audio clips as well.

If you ever feel desperate - I would be willing to freely contribute my time to tutor you or anyone for that matter on my techniques. The techniques only work if you can get relief no matter how few a couple of days or even if your symptoms obviously change due to your usage of the techniques. These are indicative signs that the problem may not be a physical one.

Here is the lowdown on what I know about IBS: IBS is caused by stresses that are not evident to 99.99% of the population. It is not in fact a physical disorder but a mental disorder which can be controlled through an intimate knowledge of how the disorder is caused, and practice reversing the cause. It would take a relatively short time to explain, but many months of practice to overcome IBS. For anyone who is desperate, it is a pittance compared to going through a lifetime of suffering. I feel that way, because the difference between being "normal" and going through all the meds, the pains and the bowel inconsistencies is huge.

As for your pain, well if you've either read my site and now need more help, or if the visual techniques on my site are not enough: I will need to know a couple of things about the pain you suffer. Can you describe where you suffer the pain? Can you describe how the pain feels? - eg: compare it to something that people commonly suffer from. Can you describe what times of day you suffer from the pains - eg: perhaps it happens at a specific time on the clock, or maybe it happens with relation to some meal you've had, or maybe you can tell if you did something, the pain was consistently there, or perhaps it was related to your biological clock for women. Can you describe how you sleep at night - do you favour a side or do you toss and turn? Do you have long hair or short hair and how thick is it? Is it curly or straight? Do you have trouble managing it or is it typically very soft? Do you need glasses? If not, does your eyes blur in the morning? Do you suffer from allergies of any sort?

Well, the list of questions goes on and on... I hope that if I can't help you that you'll be able to find help from UCLA, or wherever else you choose to look. Ok, good luck Kira - and keep that faith of yours going.

Cheers, Raju.