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ibs audio program
Overall rating 4/5
based on 9 reviews
The IBS Audio Program 100 is a self-hypnosis program for IBS sufferers. The 100-day program consists of three therapeutic session CDs, which contain an introduction and five different hypnotherapy sessions. Sessions vary in duration but the average session lasts 25-35 minutes.
The program also includes a bonus fourth CD (the IBS Companion) which explains IBS to non-suffering family and friends. A program booklet provides a symptom checklist, progress log, listening schedule, and essential information for IBS sufferers. The IBS Audio Program was developed by Michael Mahoney, the UK's leading specialist in gut-specific hypnotherapy for IBS.
You can read a special interview with Michael Mahoney, the creator of the Audio Program, where he explains how he came to develop it and talks about his work with IBS patients who had received very little help from their doctors.
The program is recommended for all IBS symptoms. Listeners work their way through the CDs, listening on a daily basis at a consistent time. They are also allowed to fall asleep as this will not affect the results.
REVIEWS OF THE IBS AUDIO PROGRAM
Review by Judy 
I am 76 and I finally found the IBS Audio Program a couple of years ago. I did the 100-day program and actually bought one for my GI specialist to listen to. I was almost completely clear of symptoms for about two years and could eat and drink what I wanted. Slowly this year the disorder has returned and I am wondering if I have to do the complete 100-day course again or just repeat certain parts over and over like the last session in the series.
Review by Cindy
Years ago I did Michael Mahoney's IBS self-hypnosis program every night faithfully. I had been in the bathroom about every other day for three hours at a time. I felt like I lived in the bathroom. At the time I had IBS-C and was on three medications. After doing about 60 days on the program something happened and I got amazingly better. I am now only on one Librax tablet in the morning and that's it. Self-hypnosis is amazing! It really works! Thank you Dr Mahoney!
Review by Ernie 
I was actually pretty optimistic while starting on this program due to all the positive feedback written about it here on this page and other places on the web. However, I cannot say that I have had any benefit from using it. My IBS is the same as before and my mood is actually even worse than before, because in these recordings Mike Mahoney always talks about how I am supposed to start feeling better day by day, week by week and how I am gradually learning to take control over my symptoms. He also talks about being able to live my life the way I want to live it etc...However, none of that happened to me, and all I ended up with in the end was being very sad and disappointed.
I would happily pay tens of thousands of dollars for a treatment that would actually work, but this...no further comments. I believe many of those who get anything out of this program benefit from the placebo effect, which is extremely high among IBS sufferers.
Review by S
I realize I didn't have IBS as bad as a lot of people, but it had a tremendous impact on my life. Since I finished the IBS Audio Program, I've only had two or three episodes of diarrhea and I can't even remember when the last one was now. I have days of lesser symptoms, but overall, I feel almost normal now. I think the CDs are the best thing you can do for yourself.
Review by Norbert
This program has completely rewired my brain/gut connections. The problem that bothered me most was waking up in a terror or panic with cold chills or hot flashes and have to hurry to the toilet. I never got used to that happening and it would take quite a while to go away even after waking to an alert state and realizing there was nothing bad happening!
If the CDs had only stopped that one problem they would have been worth their weight in gold to me! No more IBS, no more anxiety or depression and I look forward every night to falling asleep to my favorite session.
Mike's program has helped greatly as I'm not on any meds and my IBS diarrhea is under control right now. The cost/benefit compared to going to the doctor and the fact that they slow/stop the IBS makes them a great buy! I know they are not what some consider cheap but as in all things in life you get what you pay for and they are worth saving up for.
The fact that Mike's program is gut specific is what I attribute to the success of the program. Mike, I would like to thank you for allowing me to be medicine free and feel great after 35 years of suffering from IBS/D.
The anxiety level is very low and I've been much more relaxed lately! I still listen to side three at bedtime because it is so relaxing and lets me sleep like a baby.
Review by Anon
My pain was severe and actually made me almost dysfunctional. I have seen a tremendous reduction in that symptom. Like a consistent reduction that no medication or anything else was able to accomplish. I went through the 100-day program seeing great relief as early as 21 days into the program. I also experienced better stress management and hence stress reduction.
Greatest thing? The fact that IBS was no longer my first thought upon waking in the morning. My diarrhea/constipation symptoms weren't affected as greatly at the end of the 100 days. However I restarted the program again and saw great reductions within 30-some odd days of the start of my second go round.
Review by Anon
I tried the hypnotherapy program as a last resort because not one thing my doctor or gastroenterologist did for me brought me any relief from abdominal pain. When I began the program, I did notice benefits occurring from the start - for one I started to sleep better than I had in a long time, then eventually I began to notice that my abdominal pain seemed to be so much easier to tolerate.
Then I noticed that my entire outlook to having IBS changed, instead of sitting about thinking oh why do I have this terrible condition - I don't know if I can go out and do this and that my IBS became an issue on the peripheral of life, not the main issue anymore, and every time I had a bad day it would be like oh well - I'll probably be better tomorrow.
Because of this and not worrying about it anymore, my IBS has become so much better - I no longer suffer from constipation - although I do have diarrhea, but my worst symptom which was chronic pain has been virtually eliminated. This is not to say that I don't have the odd day when the IBS decides to play up - but now psychologically I'm much more able to cope with it and take it in my stride so I can carry on working, having a social life etc.
I have also noticed that it has made me a much more calm person, I no longer get all stressed out about tiny little things and worry myself to death.
Review by Anon
These CDs have changed my life...wait…given me my life back. It still just amazes me that doing those relaxing CDs changed me so much. I am having trouble expressing just what it means to me and how much my life has been impacted.
My attitude is different about everything. I'm not afraid to go to work or friends' houses. I don't have pain all the time. Not only do I wish there was a way I could buy everyone a set of these CDs that can't afford it but I want to get the word out to doctors and anyone that will listen. Everyone needs to at least try these. There is nothing else I have ever done that comes close to the physical and mental improvements I have seen from doing this program.
Review by Marilyn
IBS really ruined my whole life, and just like everyone here, I felt torn between being grateful I didn't have something 'serious' and guilty for feeling like I was dying anyway. People treat you differently when they know that IBS is something that isn't 'serious' as in life-threatening, but as my gastroenterologist told me that he could treat the pain of his colon cancer patients better than the IBS patients.
So we have to endure serious and life-altering pain, without the empathy we would have if what we have was terminal. Sort of ironic in a way...how many times have we all heard 'Well, at least it's not serious and you don't die from it!' You feel badly for those who do die from diseases, but yet from all the pain and embarrassment you wish you could die...such a dichotomy. That's how I felt anyway...
Well, I was officially diagnosed in 1988, after about five years of not knowing why I was having increasing severe diarrhea and abdominal pain. With the birth of my daughter that same year, I thought I better get tested, that maybe I did have some digestive disease, but several colonoscopies later, it was confirmed as IBS. Trips to the Mayo Clinic and two other gastros further confirmed that every single prescription and OTC medication had little or no effect, and only short-term, if any.
My gastro finally told me that he had exhausted his treatment options, and to go look up other treatments on the internet. In my search I found out about the use of clinical hypnotherapy for IBS, which worked for him, but in my opinion, I thought was pretty far-fetched and seemed to be absurd to me.
But I was desperate and he told me to try it, so I did as a last resort in the summer of 2000. This was the IBS Audio Program, which is a set of CDs with a specific schedule of several sessions that you listen to. That was over three years ago, and now I can actually leave the house, whereas before, I raised my children 'through the bathroom door!' I had attacks of diarrhea and pain lasting for hours on end, sometimes six hours a day, almost every day, never knowing when...even if I ate small amounts, the attacks would come out of the blue.
My IBS cost me a whole lost life...events and special celebrations for my kids, just taking them to routine doctor and dentist appointments was an ordeal, and my marriage suffered and collapsed in part because of it. I went from being able to travel and talk professionally in front of large groups of people, to being just about housebound.
This program saved my life. I now have a life! And I now help the author of the program, clinical hypnotherapist Michael Mahoney, as a result of my gratitude for getting my life back. That's what worked for me and I hope this helps someone too. Thanks for letting me share!
Do you suffer from IBS? Have you tried the IBS Audio Program? Please contact Sophie to send in your review.