The Case: Amanda is dealing with digestive issues, brain fog, fatigue, and weight gain.She was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but doctors said there was nothing to be done besides get used to it.She tried changing her diet, which helped, but it left her obsessing over food. The InvestigationWhen I met Amanda, I knew there were underlying issues. Her doctors told her it was in her head, and I suspected they were r...
The Case:
- Amanda is dealing with digestive issues, brain fog, fatigue, and weight gain.
- She was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome but doctors said there was nothing to be done besides get used to it.
- She tried changing her diet, which helped, but it left her obsessing over food.
The Investigation
When I met Amanda, I knew there were underlying issues. Her doctors told her it was in her head, and I suspected they were right but not in the way they meant. I wanted to explore the gut-brain connection and find out if it was having an impact on Amanda’s digestive issues.
Digestive Health and Hypnotherapy
Mention hypnotherapy and most people will think of the Hollywood version of it where an audience member is hypnotized and made to cluck like a chicken. This is not the practical application of hypnotherapy, as my guest, Angela Privin explains in this episode.
Angela had her own journey with IBS in her 20s and 30s. She was able to improve her digestive health naturally, but years later when she was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, her old symptoms started to return.
That’s when she started to look into the brain/gut connection, internalized stress responses, trauma, and how the unconscious mind works on all of these. In doing the mindbody work, she was able to lower her Hashimoto antibodies.
This led Angela to explore hypnotherapy and now she uses rapid transformational therapy as part of her digestive health coaching to help her clients let go of the limiting beliefs, past traumas, and stories that may be causing the body to have an inflammatory response.
The Role the Autonomic Nervous System Plays
The autonomic nervous system provides the connection between the brain and the gut. The main nerve providing this connection is the vagus nerve which is attached to the digestive organs and regulates breathing, motility, and blood pressure. This all happens unconsciously - we don’t have to do anything to make it work. However, when the nervous system is dysfunctional, it stops sending the proper messages to the organs and problems arise. This can even be triggered by our subconscious thoughts and our stress.
The Conscious and Subconscious Mind
Most people know that we have conscious thoughts and subconscious thoughts but what most people don’t realize is that our conscious thoughts are not the dominant thoughts. Our conscious thoughts include logic and our ability to analyze but these intentional thoughts that we are very aware of, are only 10-20% of our mind, according to Angela.
The subconscious mind is the emotional mind. It is also where we store our memories and experiences. And this subconscious mind is what drives our behavior. The subconscious mind is “running the show” and we aren’t even aware of it.
For someone who has a history of illness or of dealing with an issue, this can sometimes lead to that person’s subconscious mind believing that the body is broken or that it will never be well. This subconscious thought triggers a stress response which sends signals to the nervous system and immune system, creating a negative loop that can keep someone in a state of illness.
Where do Subconscious Thoughts and Beliefs Come From?
There are many ways that beliefs and ideas get locked into the subconscious mind. For many, it comes from a childhood experience. These experiences do not need to be extreme or dramatic for them to lock in for a long time. It could be something as simple as the belief that a certain food or diet is dangerous or unhealthy. The subconscious mind locks that in without the conscious mind realizing it.
Unlocking Harmful Subconscious Thoughts
Some of these thoughts around food, can have the body believing a fear so deeply that it triggers that immune or nervous system response - which perpetuates the belief. All of this is happening without the brain realizing it. So, how do you get rid of these powerful thoughts or beliefs if you don’t even know you have them?
Angela says the first step is to slow down. She recommends meditation or spending time in a meditative state (this is essentially what hypnosis is). She also says that journaling or engaging in free-flow speaking are other ways to get in touch with the subconscious mind.
How does Hypnosis Work for Someone with IBS or Digestive Issues?
The key is to track down the subconscious thoughts that are triggering the nervous system and rewire those thoughts. Angela does this through hypnosis by helping someone relax to the point where their brainwaves change from beta brainwaves (which we experience in the conscious mind) to alpha or theta brainwaves. You experience this shift naturally when you are, for example, in a flow state or hyper-focused but you may not be aware of it. So, hypnosis guides you into that state. Once in this state, Angela will help you find the triggering thoughts and then create affirmations that counter those thoughts. It’s kind of like a negative belief antidote.
She says that her clients then slip into a meditative state and listen to a recording of these affirmations daily to unlock the critical subconscious thoughts. In this suggestive, susceptible state, the subconscious rewrites the negative thought into a positive.
She also encourages people to use visualization of the positive outcome to help the brain see the optimal outcome as a reality.
Next Steps for Amanda
I knew that restricting Amanda’s diet even further was not going to be the answer. My conversation with Angela reaffirms what I believe. The nervous system controls everything so when physical solutions are not enough, we need to figure out what feelings, thoughts, and emotions might be triggering a response.
With Amanda, we did that with various mind-body techniques utilizing the MindBody Code, EMDR principles, coaching aspects, releasing the past exercises, as well as self-hypnosis.
Happy Ending
In just two short months it was amazing how much things shifted for Amanda. She felt lighter, more inspired, and much more in control of her body.
As she started to feel better we then looked more into her biochemistry. We tested her stool and organic acids. We discovered that her gut had an overgrowth of bacteria (dysbiosis).
We addressed that with antimicrobials and then re-populated the gut with probiotics. Next, we supported it with short chain fatty acids.
Her organic acids test showed that her mitochondria was not properly supported so we used a formula called Mitochondrial NRG as well as Molecular Hydrogen to provide the needed support.
These supplements were not a replacement for the mindbody work of course but worked in tandem as she continued with her practices.
Once we had these areas supported, we needed to get curious and investigate her diet. I had her journal on her symptoms at the end of each day and we were able to figure out the foods that made her feel better and ones that made her feel worse.
Then, instead of specifi...
