A philosophical thread

[Esdaile]

I should like to add a slightly more philosophical thread if I may.
In my opinion there are two essential elements or dimensions at work in creating health or ill health: they are the spirtual and the physical. The debate between alternative and orthodox medicine is about this. There are extremists of two positions-those who say that it is "all in the mind" and those who say it is "all in the body". In my opinion the truth lies somewhere in the middle: ill health, including IBS syndroim, is about a spiritual weakness which then strikes at the weakest point -in the case of IBS sufferers the intestines/stomach. I have had IBS for about ten years and I am quite sure that its ultimate origins lie in psychological problems, which is not for a moment to say that it doesn't matter what food I eat, but the material is only one aspect of a two sided problem-the spiritual is buried deeper and harder to find, but in most cases I am sure it is there. In my case apart from a diorrhea which I have had almost every day for 5 years, I occasionally have bloating attacks when I look as though I am pregnant (excepot I am a man) and feel pretty awful. The immediate physical solution is a hot bath or a warm water bottle (the bath solves the problem almost instantaneously) but I mostly get an attack of bloating when I am agitated-going to see someone, or especially when I talk about my early childhood. Apart from having IBS I also have rosacea and psoriasis-a mild form on my legs and worse on my feet. These symptoms, in my opinion, are related to the IBS directly physically and also psychologically.

That may all not be a great help except I would suggets that some of you pay more attention to the non material possible causes of your IBS- changing a job from one they hate to one they enjoy would do more for many people to cure their IBS than a whole battery of pills-that's certainly true in my case.

Iam not sure I should mention this but I do wonder to what extent IBS is related to a poor sex life. During the time I had a good sex life there was no sign of IBS.

I did do a Rieke course which helped somewhat but I simply couldn't afford it (the equivalent of 90$ a session) and I dont believe it could offer a complete solution -in some ways I thought Rieke treatment was fraudulent (up to a point I still believe it is) but reading the postings here I think that most people are forgetting the spiritual aspect to good health-in my opinion they lean too much in the direction of "it's all in the body". Discarding a lot of pyschological baggage from the past helps the digestion, no question; another aspect of the intertwining of the spiritual and the physical is that when you are unhappy you tend to do the very things which are likely to intensify the IBS-for example eating the worng things, not sleeping, eating too much etc.

I would like to hear others' comments on this.