IBS SELF HELP PACKAGE
‘YOUR JOURNEY TO HEALTH’

What Users Say

We are grateful to users of the IBS Self-Help Package who happily provided their comments
for publication here. Identifying details have been omitted.

“I came to realise that desperation was good motivation! If there is a positive side to desperation then that’s it. IBS affected every part of my life, relationships, mood, freedom (or lack of it). I’m not surprised people with IBS become depressed. I certainly did. Who wouldn’t when the first question in your mind is ‘where’s the nearest loo’? But there was still a determined part of me that wasn’t going to let it beat me. I just made up my mind one day that I wasn’t going to live the rest of my life like this. The Package helped me make some important changes - for me that meant not being so people-pleasing, but to put myself first. A unique experience for me! Some people welcomed this, some didn’t seem so keen and preferred the ‘old me’. But I was the one that had to live my life. They didn’t. Making my mind up on that point was the first step - but a really momentous step for me. Before IBS I’d taken my digestion for granted. But not any more. I give it, and me, priority. Easing up in a number of areas of my life has made the world of difference. No-one appreciates freedom like those deprived of it. I know it’s a cliché but I feel I’ve got my life back”.

- Mrs J.F.

“Being quite a driven person I didn’t want to change! I just wanted my stomach to get better and, oddly enough, didn’t see it as linked to any other part of me. Before IBS I’d taken it for granted. Having IBS was a whole education. I really had to re-think how I was living my life. For me, achievement had been everything. I was a good enough person - as long as I kept on achieving. All this stemmed from childhood (which is another story). But making just a few changes made a huge difference. It didn’t mean not achieving. It just meant that I didn’t have to attach such enormous importance to it so it overrode everything else. Now less of my self-esteem is attached to trying to achieve all the time. It still feels good to achieve but I can still feel okay about myself when I don’t get an A-star every time. My IBS responded in kind and has settled down and is a big improvement on what it was. But I notice the symptoms do come back if I occasionally revert to my old pattern. Strangely enough, not relentlessly pushing myself to achieve so much I find I’m actually just as good at my job as I was before. Like I said, an education”.

- Mr G.K.

“I always worried about what other people would think. In fact, most of my life was spent worrying. What if that, or what if this. I feel ashamed to say it, but I was a real martyr. I thought this was how you should be. I’d never questioned it before. But having IBS forced me to. Not at first because I ‘didn’t want to trouble anyone’ with telling them about my symptoms. I felt it would be a ‘burden’ to them. As someone once said to me, you don’t put yourself second, you put yourself last. And it was true. I think all this built up resentment in me - but I couldn’t express it because that would have meant ‘upsetting people’. The fact I might be upset never entered into it. Learning to be more assertive was important for me - and for my IBS. It was like going back to school really, learning a lesson I should have learned years ago. But the rewards - and not just in my IBS which is now much improved - have been really good. I stand up for myself a lot more and am not nearly so scared of ‘doing the wrong thing’”.

- Mrs J.P.

“For me the pain was the worst thing about IBS. Often I would be doubled up with it. The pain would be excruciating, in my stomach, sometimes spreading to my back. At the time I was in a difficult relationship but seemed to think that, despite all the evidence to the contrary, I could make it work. Saying no (and meaning it) was incredibly hard, but I found the hardest part was doing it the first time. Once I’d done it once or twice it encouraged me to keep on. I found there were some good rewards to this and I got more respect as well. I think it’s that if you want other people to respect you, you have to respect yourself first. I still struggle with being assertive and saying no, but even making some change has noticeably lessened my IBS. The pain is mostly gone and I just feel different, not just physically but mentally as well. Following the steps in the IBS Self-Help Program was an interesting experience. Would I recommend it? Definitely. You need to work at it though if you want a real cure (as opposed to taking medication which helps a bit but mostly just covers up the problem). To quote the old saying ‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got’. How true that is. A trite thing to say perhaps, but having IBS was an opportunity in many ways. I do think it was trying to tell me something valuable about the changes I needed to make. It was a long time before I listened to my stomach but I’m glad I did in the end”.

- Ms R.T.