Everybody worries sometimes, but some people worry all the time. Worrying is a natural human mental function that allows us to examine problems like we might a tangled ball of yarn. We turn it over and over, looking at it from all angles until we can find a thread that loosens some knots and frees the yarn. With too many people, however, worry becomes a bad mental habit, a preoccupation, and a way of wasting mental energy that could be more much more productive.

Worry can become a form of defense against difficult feelings, and an almost magical way of feeling that we can fend off undesired events. There’s a story about an old woman who would circle her house three times every day, carrying a bundle of twigs and muttering to herself. One day a new neighbor asked her what she was doing, and she replied “I’m keeping my house safe from tigers.” The neighbor said “But we’re in Indiana. There aren’t any tigers in Indiana,” to which the crone replied “See!”

Worry is a natural function of the human mind, but it can turn from a tool into a tyrant. Worrying can become a bad habit, even an addiction, because most of the things we worry about never come true. By not coming true, we are rewarded in the neurological sense of the word, we feel good, we fee; safe, we feel like we are exerting some control over the situation, so we begin to worry about other things we’d like to be able to control. It can become a full-time occupation.

The trouble with worry is that it is mentally and physically taxing, creating unnecessary stress that is exhausting for the worrier, and for the people around her (I say “her” because while worry is certainly not exclusively a female trait, the majority of people who worry themselves sick are female.) habitual worriers often develop significant illness from insomnia to anxiety disorders, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, back pain and fibromyalgia. Worriers aren’t happy, often get depressed and are more likely than the non-worrried to smoke, drink and get addicted to prescription drugs.

Worry is a function of the imagination and is probably the most common form of mental imagery. Without imagination, there would be no worries. Imagination is the mental function that more than any other separates us from other animals. With imagination we have been given the gift of planning, and of envisioning the possible future. Through imagination, humans have been given the gift of being mobile in time – we can remember that past, and learn from it, and we can envision many possible futures and have the opportunity to choose the one that is likely to work best for us. But this gift comes with a price – we can imagine so many possible futures that we can get paralyzed by them, and if our minds get hypnotized and stuck on fears, we can become immobilized by that function which can give us the greatest mobility. We need to learn to use our imaginations better, and in a way that supports our well-being, not our worries.

The good news is that learning to use our imaginations consciously can be of great help in lessening the grip of habitual worry. Through imagery many people can impact their psychological states, their heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, digestive function, sexual function and even their immune response.

Worry is a bad habit, a distorted use of imagination, and can be overcome by learning to use the imagination more effectively and skillfully. Through guided imagery you may not stop worrying, but you can learn how to worry better. Guided Imagery will help you eliminate unproductive worrying and focus on the issues that can benefit from worrying. It will teach you skills that will help you use your imagination more effectively so that you don’t have to worry all the time, and so that the worrying you do will really help you resolve the problems you have. If you use Guided Imagery, you can go from being a worry wart to a worry warrior.

To see for yourself how you can use your imagination to relax and reduce stress immediately, go to www.thehealingmind.org and download our free 12-minute “Stress Buster” audio. To learn even more about using your imagination to resolve problems instead of creating them, check out our CDs on Stress Relief, Anxiety Relief, or our unique Guided Imagery for Self-Healing program.

The irony is that not one of these patients should be given an antispasmodic of any variety. Indeed, your mother’s doctor had no business prescribing this drug to her in the first place. In the Medicines Compendium, Norgine clearly states that Spasmonal should not be given to anyone over 40. They are also not supposed to be used except for the short term and only when pain is present.

Also, anyone who has lost his appetite or lost weight recently, feels tired or has severe constipation shouldn’t use these drugs.

Instead of a drug, your mother could try peppermint oil, which naturally relaxes the gut, or try to work out the cause of her IBS. An irritable bowel is a sign of a digestive disorder. First, suspect allergies, low stomach acid or pancreatic enzymes, or parasites. See The WDDTY Guide to Good Digestion for treatments.

I had been ill for the past 35 years of my life but, obviously, had no idea that I was slowly being poisoned

My symptoms up to this year included chronic short-term memory problems (such as walking into a room and forgetting what for, forgetting peoples names, losing the thread of my thought mid-sentence), slurred speech, blurred vision, a fuzzy head, swollen tongue and throat, a metallic taste in my mouth, asthma, IBS, pain in arms and legs (for 17 years), tingling and numbness all over, leg weakness (such that I had to give up driving), food allergies, chronic fatigue and collapsing after using an escalator. I couldn’t enter a shop because clothing and carpets made me feel ill.

For the last few years of my illness, my symptoms were made worse after I had a nickel-backed crown put in. Not only did I have to give up work, but I also couldn’t wear any jewellery, especially earrings, which would make my ears itch. This year, I’ve tried wearing earrings again, and I can leave them in for as long as I like without any ill effects at all.

People are driving with fuzzy, unclear heads and not thinking straight. This may be why cars shoot across in front of you at turnings, because the driver forgot he saw a car coming. I can now look back and see how my driving had deteriorated over the years. Now that I can drive safely again, it concerns me that there are others on the road affected by the mercury in their teeth, but completely oblivious to the fact. It took me three years of special detoxification to remove all the metal from my brain and body.

The majority of doctors don’t believe people who arrive at surgery with a long list of symptoms, and many are referred to psychiatrists. When patients manage to have a mercury test, this often comes up negative as the correct procedure for such a test hasn’t been followed. – Pam Clayton, Irthlingborough, Northants

Doctors label IBS sufferers neurotic. But nutritional medicine has known for years that bowel problems are not all in the head.If you suffer from a general range of bowel problems that don’t fall under any neat category, your doctor is more than likely to pack you off to a psychiatrist. Until recently, this problem has been tagged by orthodox medicine a “psychosomatic disorder”. Indeed, some medical literature is downright scornful of the syndrome, judging from an article in a recent issue of The Lancet (2 January 1992), intended as a spoof and featuring a fictitious hapless neurotic down on his luck, who is meant to typify your average irritable bowel syndrome patient.

If this problem is psychosomatic, a term used when medicine hasn’t a clue about a particular condition, then a very great number of lunatics are on the loose. Nearly a quarter of all questionnaire respondents in Southampton, thought to be fairly representative of the general population, complained of symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of IBS. Nutritionist Kathryn Marsden argues what naturopaths have known for years: that IBS usually has a physiological cause.

In most cases, irritable bowel syndrome is a cop out classification for a number of irksome conditions with similar symptoms which (medically at least) seem difficult to diagnose and impossible to treat. Your IBS might just as easily be called spastic colon, mucous colitis or non inflammatory bowel disease. They all mean much the same thing. And although many nutritionally ignorant doctors are unable to agree on the cause of IBS, most naturopaths have had a handle on it for years.

A number of conditions have similar symptoms to IBS and can be mistaken for it. These include coeliac disease, diverticulitis, intestinal candidiasis, laxative abuse, lactose intolerance, infestation with intestinal parasites, such as giardiasis, amoebiasis or blastocystis hominis, fecal impaction, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, disturbed intestinal microflora, due to hormone, antibiotic or antacid usage, or even metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus.

The symptoms and their severity vary considerably from person to person, but can include: abdominal pain, bloating, flatulence, fatigue, mucousy stools, foul odor, bleeding, anal soreness, weight fluctuations, back pain, headache, intermittent bouts of constipation and diarrhea, teeth grinding and jaw clenching, anxiety and depression. In some people, abdominal pain may be eased after a bowel movement, but the feeling of incomplete evacuation may remain.

True IBS is most usually caused and/or aggravated by several physiological factors. Food intolerance is high on the list (the worst offenders being wheat, sugar, yeast, milk, beef, pork, corn, coffee or orange juice), followed by neurological problems (please note, neurological, not neurotic!). Poor diet and nutritional deficiencies are also common. Hyperventilation, hypochlorhydria (low levels of stomach acid), achlorhydria (no acid at all), digestive enzyme insufficiency, antibiotic and steroid drugs, infestation with intestinal parasites and, of course, excessive stress in isolation or combination may all inflict further anguish.

While stress is often a significant factor in IBS sufferers, the problem with their inner workings is rarely only “all in the mind”. Where it occurs, the most common psychological factor is that of relationship conflicts and/or an inability or reluctance to “cut the umbilical cord”. Patients whose IBS has been triggered by parent problems complain of feeling “suffocated”, “trapped”, “possessive” or “possessed” (by another person). In such cases, psychotherapy, relaxation therapy and healing, in conjunction with nutritional treatment, can nearly always solve the problem.

The usual medical solution to IBS is to prescribe an antispasmodic, such as peppermint oil (Mintec, Colpermin), mebeverine or alverine. These drugs are supposed to work by relaxing the muscles of the intestine, but in many cases, only aggravate the problem.

Peppermint oil, for instance, can cause heartburn and local irritation, and also should not be administered to patients who suffer from ulcerative colitis. If a patient hasn’t been correctly diagnosed, the drug can wreak havoc with his already delicate system.

Another category of drugs thrown at the problem is the anticholinergics, which block the effects of parasympathetic nerves controlling the rhythmic waves of contractions in the intestines. Again, they can cause problems with patients with ulcerative colitis.

Anti diarrhea drugs like Imodium (loperamide) can depress your breathing severely if taken in overdose, and can cause coma, brain damage and even death. They can also cause confusion, delirium, disorientation, impaired attention, constipation, problems in urinating, sexual dysfunction and blurred vision or glaucoma. Again they can worsen an inflamed colon. Imodium is an opioid and so shouldn’t be taken for prolonged periods.

Then there are drugs like Gaviscon, a combination of aluminum hydroxide and magnesium trisilicate (which act synergistically to help both diarrhea and constipation) used to temporarily relieve heartburn. If taken over time, this drug can cause kidney stones, irregular heartbeat, mental changes, difficult or painful urination, swelling of the extremities, muscle weakness, bone pain, nausea, stomach cramps, diarrhea in short, some of the problems you’re trying to resolve in the first place.

Carol is a typical IBS victim of medical mayhem. When she went to her GP complaining of watery stools and conspitation, he told her, as most do, to eat more fibre. When she did so, her symptoms worsened to the point where she was passing blood.

Her GP then prescribed Colpermin. However, the peppermint oil burned her stomach and caused so much indigestion that she returned to her doctor, who this time offered mebeverine. When that also didn’t do the trick, he prescribed Gaviscon, a reflex suppressant, which is supposed to soothe the gut, but only made her more ill.

It was at that point that I first saw her. I took her off wheat and milk and suggested she return to her GP and ask to be taken off the drug.

When she finally mentioned her itchy nose and anus and very red blood in her stools, I was able to isolate the probable culprit: an intestinal parasite. I recommended that she take Biocidin and Biodophilus. She again returned to her GP and told him what I’d said. He gave her a drug for the parasites in the form of Pripsen, a four sachet course of strawberry tasting powder usually given to children. For six weeks it made her feel better, after which all her symptoms returned.

She then agreed to continue with the course we’d outlined, and after two months all her symptoms disappeared. Nevertheless, when she reported the success of this approach to her GP, he managed to persuade her that the naturopathic approach was a waste of time.

When doctors do take IBS seriously, they invariably tell their patients to eat more bran which usually means coarse wheat bran. I question whether or not IBS was so prevalent before the advent of string and sawdust breakfast cereals. I see many patients who are puzzled by their condition because they eat lots and lots of fibre. Careful questioning all too often reveals an almost paranoiac tendency for “wheat with everything”. Bran cereal (drowned in cows’ milk another IBS agent) to start the day, biscuits (made from wheat, of course) for elevenses, sandwiches for lunch (bread wheat), cakes or sticky buns for tea. On top of all that, wheat flour can be found in gravies, soups, sauces, pastry, pies and a veritable multitude of processed, packeted and tinned foods. Many of these items also contain yeast and/or sugar, which only exacerbates the irritation, causes more gas and bloating, and gobbles up nutrients.

Although lack of dietary fibre is often blamed for IBS symptoms, the wrong kind of fibre is a much more likely culprit. Wheat is rough, coarse and irritating. One reason for its effectiveness as a bowel mover may be because it irritates the gut so much, the body can’t wait to get rid of it, and in doing so, passes out waste products as well.

Although everyone knows that fibre is good for them, not many people understand why it is needed or how many different kinds there are. Indeed, high fibre food often appears extremely unfibrous. Depending upon size, a banana, for example, can contain from 4g to 6g of fibre (one third of the officially recommended minimum daily intake). Avocado pear, creamy as it is, nevertheless contains worthwhile amounts, and a kiwi fruit has four times the fibre of a stick of celery.

Fiber works by bulking the stool and giving the bowel muscles something to push against. Transit time is hastened and waste products don’t get a chance to hang around and toxify the system.

Once the IBS sufferer moves away from copious quantities of bran and towards more fruit and vegetables, oats, brown rice, linseeds and pulses, his condition is likely to improve almost immediately. Where symptoms are particularly severe, fibre supplements such as Fibrina or those which contain psyllium husks (available from chemists and health food stores) are recommended.

Laxatives are the last thing anyone with an irritable bowel should take. Whether bulking agents, fecal softeners, osmotics, lubricants or stimulants, bought by prescription or over the counter, laxatives treat only the symptom of constipation and do nothing for the cause. In many cases, they make matters much worse by encouraging bowel laziness.

An increase in fibre demands an increase in fluid. IBS can be helped considerably if tea, coffee and cola are replaced by filtered water, herbal teas and dandelion coffee.

Twelve hours is considered by most nutritional practitioners to be a healthy transit time of food from mouth to anus. Unfortunately, our western diet and stressful lifestyle generally extends this to 24, 48, 72 or more hours. Partially decomposed and putrefying food waste lying around in an already irascible intestine will serve only to make it even more irate.

However, although more fluid and more fibre can certainly help, it is also important to respect your bowel’s individual behavior pattern and to understand its needs. Many people think that they have IBS just because they open their bowels two or three times a day instead of the accepted norm of once. It is always likely that a second or third motion is going to be softer or looser than the first, but this does not necessarily mean that your bowel is in IBS mode. Given the transit time already discussed, more than one passing per day is actually very healthy. It’s only when your bowel habit becomes abnormal for you and your visits to the loo either increase or decrease significantly that you should be alerted to a possible problem.

Although bleeding is a common occurrence in IBS, it is always wise to ask for a medical examination. Very red blood is indicative of blood loss nearer to the rectum as a result of colitis, anal fissures or hemorrhoids. Bleeding farther up the tube, in the stomach for example, will darken the stools. Jet black and tarry wastes may signal a more serious disorder and should be investigated at once.

Overactivity of the nerves which control bowel function is another problem in IBS which may be inherited or brought on by long term nutrient deficiency and aggravated by stress. Whatever the reason, patients frequently misunderstand the messages which their gut tries to send them. It is a common misconception that any rush for the loo which occurs immediately after a meal involves the passing of the food just eaten. Not so. As the stomach fills up, messages are transmitted to the pelvic floor which relax the bowel and encourage it to empty, so that it will be able to accommodate the meal you are just beginning to eat. Where the messages are mixed up, bowel emptying may be more frequent than is necessary or not frequent enough.

It is useful for anyone with any kind of bowel or digestive disorder to learn to respond to their gut intelligence. For example, the need to open the bowels first thing in the morning is frequently ignored.

Try to avoid yeast, yeasty foods, sugar, beef and pork products, corn, coffee and orange juice.Learn to live without cow’s milk. Soya milk (a processed food) is not a sensible option given its large and difficult to digest molecules and poorly absorbed nutrients. Drink lots of other fluid.

Learn to relax. Take up yoga, transcendental meditation or autogenic training. Breathe more deeply. Go for long brisk walks.

If you have an itchy nose or anal irritation, suspect parasites and deal with them accordingly. Giardia infestation usually responds to the antibiotic metronidazole (Flagyl), but do make sure that probiotics are used to restore the friendly gut flora after treatment. You can also be treated with Biocidin capsules or Paracidin liquid (antiparasitic supplements based on grapefruit seed extract) with food together with odorous (not odourless) garlic and Artemesia complex. Many homoeopaths report success in treating threadworm, roundworm and pinworms with homoeopathic Cina 6C or Teucrium 6C (2 four times daily away from mealtimes).

Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifido bacterium probiotics are extremely helpful in regulating peristalsis and reducing flatulence. Unfortunately, however, independent tests demonstrate that few such products are really effective. A recent report by Professor Howard Slater of the University of Cardiff highlighted Biodophilus from BioCare, Acidophilus Bifidus from Blackmores and Superdophilus from Natren as the most active.

Feed an overactive nervous system with B complex (50mg daily), magnesium phosphoserine and either evening primrose oil or GLA complex.

See a naturopath or doctor who is familiar with nutritional treatment. Ask to be tested for allergies and treated for any underlying digestive disorders.

The same meal only adds to the already long list of IBS triggers.

An advisory panel to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the American drug regulator, is recommending the reintroduction of Lotronex (alosetron hydrochloride), manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline.

The panel says that there should be restrictions on who can prescribe it, and patients need to be carefully followed up. The FDA may not endorse the panel’s recommendations, but it is likely to do so.

Lotronex was withdrawn in November 2000 – just nine months after it received a licence – following reports of five deaths and 70 cases of serious adverse reactions. These reactions included ischaemic colitis (fever and gut pain caused by an insufficient blood supply) and severe constipation.

Peter Traber, chief medical officer of the drug company, described the panel’s recommendation as ‘a very positive step forward for patients who need this drug’. This view was countered by Sidney Wolfe, of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, a medical watchdog group in the States, who said the decision would ‘lead to more cases of ischaemic colitis and more deaths’.

Lotronex was the first drug required to come with a full treatment guide under ‘patient-power’ regulation. The guide warned that the principal side-effect revealed in trials was constipation.

Hailed as ‘a promising aid for irritable bowel syndrome’ (Drug Infoline, December 1999), a 12-week trial of 370 IBS sufferers found that the drug was effective in women compared with a placebo.

As well as being a drug intended only for women, it was also only supposed to treat the diarrhoea form of IBS.

However, the trial didn’t pick up the serious adverse reactions with Lotronex that were soon reported to the FDA. These included cases of intestinal damage due to a reduced blood flow, and severely obstructed or ruptured bowels as a complication of severe constipation.

Within four months of its launch, six women needed hospital treatment and three of those underwent surgery after taking the drug.

By the time GlaxoWellcome agreed to withdraw it, 34 patients had been treated in hospital, 10 others had undergone surgery and three had died (Lancet, 2002; 359: 1491-2).

The drug was approved for use in America by the drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), on the basis of two 12-week trials that involved 1273 women. Overall, the drug was found to be far more effective than a placebo (sugar pill).

However, researchers had noted that four cases of colitis were reported during the trials, but each case was short-lasting, mild and reversible once the drug treatment was stopped.

But soon after the drug was approved in February 2000, the FDA started receiving reports of more serious reactions of intestinal damage and ruptured bowels. The first cases were received within weeks of the approval being granted and, by November, the FDA had 70 cases of serious adverse events, including three deaths.

It’s interesting to note that even faced with this overwhelming evidence, the FDA did not withdraw the drug’s licence. The drug’s manufacturer, however, decided to withdraw the drug from the market as the possibility of lawsuits started to loom.

* I have an irritable bowel, and I’ve tried all kinds of pills and diets without success. But today, for the second time, I’ve dragged myself into my weekly Pilates session after a bad night due to IBS and, lo and behold, the exercises have relaxed me sufficiently to ease the problem. I told the teachers what was wrong and they suggested which exercises to try first, avoiding those that pulled on my abdominal muscles for the first 15 minutes or so, then I was just on to the usual routine. Has anyone else had a similar experience? – F.H., via e-mail

* A friend of mine was diagnosed to take the birth-control pill a year ago after she was told her hormones were out of balance. She has not had a period for seven months. Now she wants to stop the Pill and find another hormone solution. Can anyone help? – J.M. via e-mail