Understanding IBS
Clear, practical articles to help you understand IBS, its symptoms, why symptoms can persist, and the role of communication between the gut and brain.
blog-posts
Clear, practical articles to help you understand IBS, its symptoms, why symptoms can persist, and the role of communication between the gut and brain.
IBS is real. Explore how the gut’s own nervous system and the gut-brain axis help explain IBS symptoms such as pain, bloating, urgency, diarrhoea and constipation. Discover how gut-directed hypnotherapy can help reset gut-brain communication, calm digestive threat responses and rebuild trust in the body again over time, safely.
For IBS Awareness Month, I’ve written a new article on a pattern I see often, but which is rarely explained clearly:
The loop between digestive worries, IBS-specific anxiety, and anticipatory anxiety.
Many people with IBS are not only dealing with symptoms.
They are also dealing with:
fear of being caught out
fear of urgency, bloating, or pain at the wrong time
fear of the anxiety that symptoms can trigger
If your IBS shows up when you need to be sharp, it can feel like your body is sabotaging you. This post unpacks what is really happening in the gut-brain axis when pressure turns into threat, and why digestion gets downgraded in survival mode.
If you’re struggling with IBS, you’re probably not “managing” it. You’re organising your life around it.
IBS is a gut–brain disorder — so progress often comes from resetting gut–brain communication, not adding more rules.
In this post I share the 4As of IBS Relief I use with clients:
Which “A” are you stuck in right now?
This article explains gut-directed hypnotherapy for IBS in clear, practical terms — without mystique or hype. It explores IBS as a disorder of gut–brain interaction, why insight alone often isn’t enough, and how nervous system learning helps explain lasting change. Written for people who want understanding, not vague reassurance.
Research suggests that IBS could be the manifestation of a problem within our gut- heart - head - communication cycle. Poorly coordinated signals between the head brain and the gut brain can cause our body to overreact to changes that normally occur in the digestive process, resulting in pain, diarrhoea or constipation.
When you have a sound understanding of how your gut works, and how IBS affects it, you are in a strong position to ask questions of your healthcare provider. You’re also better placed to challenge their decisions regarding your treatment (if you have doubts) and to make your own decisions about your treatment.
Being diagnosed with IBS by a doctor or medical specialist can lead some people into taking on an unhelpful identity, that of IBS sufferer. But you are NOT the IBS.
Stress is the number one cause of digestive disorders so it pays to know what stress is and where it comes from.
With an understanding of what stress is and how we come to experience it, we are better placed to acquire the skills and tools we need to prevent and to manage our stress to best effect.
Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) is a great way to take time out, be in the present moment, and release tension in your body (and mind).
No. But it’s not purely biological either. It’s a bio-psycho-social condition — one that asks for a whole-person, personalised approach.
You don’t have to resign yourself to living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Experience lasting relief from IBS with evidence-based hypnotherapy designed to reset your gut-brain axis. Our specialized IBS hypnotherapy program helps reduce chronic digestive symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and constipation—without relying on restrictive diets or medications. Discover how targeted gut-directed hypnotherapy can transform your IBS experience today.