Chronic pain gone but IBS and recurring nausea debilitating me

Hi all,

Hope your summer is starting out well. I’ve been busy doing many things that give me joy - mainly gardening, working, and being with my grandkids - however, the symptom imperative has hit me but good. I’ve always had issues with my bowels and pelvic pain after the birth of my last child 21 years ago. It seemed when I kicked the chronic pain, it too left, but for a short stint. Now with menopause in full swing, TMS has taken advantage and run wild on my bowels. Every few weeks for a few days, I start getting nausea, loose bowels, abdominal pain, and even pelvic pain. When it hits, I am miserable. I try to do it anyway, which has become my motto, but the nausea is the worst. I never throw up, although I feel like it. My work suffers when this happens because it’s hard to focus on it when I constantly feel sick. I thought this was due to anxiety, but it seems to come on randomly without rhyme or reason and it’s really bothering me. I know it’s TMS because there are other days, I’m just fine yet have stress.

It also seems to hit in the morning and if I didn’t know any better, you’d think I was pregnant but alas, no way. I was on estrogen for about a month which helped the symptoms but made my nausea worse so I stopped it. I won’t lie. I do fear some of the symptoms especially the nausea because I have a fear of throwing up and will do ANYTHING to stop it. The menopause symptoms just seem to aggravate it, but menopause isn’t TMS so I feel there’s an overlap which sometimes confused me.

I have been going to therapy for nearly 5 years now and at summer’s end, I will be winding that down, however, I need to get to the bottom of this IBS so it doesn’t continue wreaking havoc. I’m wondering if hypnosis would help, as I have read that people get good results from it. They tackle the emotional and pyschological components of it which is what I need.

Have any of you tried something like this for TMS? I have to do something so I can continue to work and feel good. I feel like this is the last hurdle I need to jump but is the hardest. Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated. @JanAtheCPA @Alan Gordon LCSW @plum @Time2be @Steve Ozanich

 

@Jules A couple of things. Yes, hypnotherapy (and NLP, which I related) can work for TMS. I used to be a psychotherapist and used NLP and hypnotherapy to help psychologically-induced symptoms. I managed to help a young woman cure her Endometriosis, for example, because it started after an incident in her childhood, which I could clearly see linked up with what she had. And she was cured after just two sessions when we worked with the childhood incident. I wish I could use my own techniques on myself, but I have been brain-foggy for 5 years now and only just discovered why I have symptoms a month ago.

I am going to work with an NLP Practitioner when I can get myself a little less foggy so I can actually do the processes needed. But, but, but! I think it is very important that we learn big lessons from our symptoms if we are to grow as people. So, I am not going to ask the practitioner to just "take it away", which I know is possible. I am actively making cognitive and behavioural changes on my own because I want to take ownership of this problem. Although I know the triggering events that caused this in the first place, it is here to teach me a lesson about being much kinder to myself, not ignoring my needs etc. So, I am doing work on that before I see anyone.

And if you are going to go that route, you need to work with someone who won't just "get rid" of the present problem - because eventually it will only show up in another way - but will help you conquer some of the things that made you develop symptoms in the first place. It sounds like you have done a lot of work on yourself already, so maybe you are ready to do just that. But do make sure you work on the "right" problem, if you know what I mean, and take ownership of the process too. Some days, I would love a hypnotherapist to just "knock me out" and get rid of it. But I'm not going to do that, because I need to learn the lesson my body is giving me too. It is much more empowering that way.

And if you need some quick relief for nausea, you can get Prochlorperazine. In the UK, you can get tablets on prescription, or you can get something over-the-counter called Buccastem, which is a dissolvable tablet you stick between your lip and gum and it works very quickly. It has no side effects as far as I am aware, so I have no problem using it if the nausea doesn't pass quickly. I don't know if you can get the same over-the-counter where you are, but if you do, be sure to say it's for nausea from a migraine - that is what I have to tell the chemist. Otherwise, maybe your Dr will prescribe tablets, although they don't work as quickly as the dissolvable ones.

 

Hi Jules!
I remember that you got very much better last year. Sorry to hear that menopause is difficult for you. Some react to estrogen like you did. I also had nausea for some weeks until I stopped taking it.
The perspective one has on menopause might be important. Some women experience this as a loss of identity. They are not fertile anymore and they feel like they lose attractiveness. But this is not necessarily the case. Today women in the age of 50 have a very busy and engaged life, including sex. So, maybe you think about your perspective on menopause and what that means to you.
I didn’t take pills for the nausea, I found that apple juice helps a bit ..
Regarding psycho therapy: I really don’t know. I see a psychotherapist once a month or every second month. That keeps me on track. But I don’t think there are any traumas buried deep inside. So, if you think it helps, you could try. I am not sure about hypnosis.
You might look back to the way you had success last time and see what you can learn from that.
Take care!

 

Hi Jules,

@Time2be you have a good point there: the way you think about menopause can be a ‘thing’
It sure is to me but in a lot of ways
The whole psysical rollacoster menopause is big for me so the mind follows.. for me my ibs flared hard
And nausea is common sideaffecr of ibs but in menopause in general
To me the whole question lately if stuff is menopause related or tns is so
Difficult. I read here some woman try to approach menopause as tms and maybe that is s way: but still i feel
menopause is a big reality besides that
I read digestion during menipause will
really change and can be affected
enormous.
I know this is not tms thinking but
i am not sure
if menopause is to ‘fix’ that way
Thinking about hrt myself because
It is so hard in so many ways

Hypnotherapy is a thing for ibs i read too. Had 2 sessions once because of
stuff had to stop. But thinking about a new appointment too