Dr Emeran Mayer in the New England Journal of Medicine reported a case study of a woman with IBS who worried that she might soil her clothes when she went out, so spent a long time in the bathroom, and felt anxious and fatiqued as a result of the things she felt she needed to do to ensure her safety. Anxiety and stress can trigger bouts of IBS so working on these worries can be very beneficial.

His report shows that getting a doctor's diagnosis of IBS is very helpful to be sure that there is no underlying disease. Once you have that diagnosis, then you know that there is no physical damage.

In these circumstances, hypnosis and cognitive behavioural therapy have been shown to work, starting on the anxiety and the worries so that you start to feel that you are in control once again. If you have been avoiding going out for fears of embarrassment as a result of IBS, then cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy is well worth a try.

Tried, tested, and successful. Recommended by NICE.

Gut directed therapy has been developed by Peter Whorwell at Manchester University.

In hypnosis, you are very sensitive to subtle suggestion. Try this: say red lorry, yellow lorry to yourself  a couple of times, silently. What was going on in your mouth? Just thinking something causes a tendency to action. So when you think about your poor painful gut as being cool and smooth and comfortable while in hypnosis, you are learning to make the mind-gut link and with a bit of practice, you will find that you can calm your gut.

It may surprise you to know that there is lots of academic research showing that hypnotherapy is very successful with IBS, and as a result, NICE, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence recommends it.