Story · YouTube
Individual experience, not evidence.
Ten years of IBS-D: David (IBSWithWatson) on diet, nortriptyline, therapy and hypnotherapy
IBSWithWatson on YouTube, about 10 years since diagnosis.
- What they tried
- Low FODMAP dietSays it should be done with a registered dietitian; he avoids gluten and dairy long-term and warns against ever-narrowing restriction
- Gut-directed hypnotherapyGut-directed hypnotherapy; no provider or duration given
- Cognitive behavioral therapyTalking therapy from around age 19 or 20 plus gradual exposure to avoided situations; the modality is not named
- Timeframe
- about 10 years since diagnosis
- Outcome
- Reported that no single change resolved his IBS-D; combining identified food triggers, short-term symptom medication, nortriptyline, therapy, hypnotherapy and gradually facing avoided situations left him able to work, travel and socialise, with flare-ups still occurring.
- Caveats
- Self-reported; the only diagnosis detail is that tests ruled out Crohn's and colitis. In another video he mentions having previously helped people one-to-one with IBS; this video and its description sell nothing. He also describes nortriptyline, a prescription medication; TreatIBS does not cover medications, so it is not listed as a treatment here.
Original: IBSWithWatson on YouTube
David, who posts as IBSWithWatson, was diagnosed with IBS-D in the UK while sitting his GCSEs, after his GP first attributed his cramps and diarrhoea to exam stress and tests excluded inflammatory bowel disease. He opens by saying he still has IBS and that this is not a story about finding one answer.
He describes the things he tried as rungs on a ladder, each worth a small improvement. Diet came first: he has not been able to eat gluten or dairy for ten years and credits identifying genuine triggers with giving him some control. He warns against the pattern he fell into, removing another food after every flare until he only ate at a few restaurants near known toilets, and says the low FODMAP diet should be done with a dietitian rather than alone.
Medication came next. He describes resisting it for years out of a sense that he should manage naturally, then accepting short-term symptom relief as a tool. He is on nortriptyline, prescribed off-label by a gastroenterologist for the gut-brain component, and says it has been a large benefit.
He also describes therapy from around age 19, gut-directed hypnotherapy, and deliberately expanding his world in small steps, going somewhere nearby, staying longer than felt comfortable, and tolerating the anxiety. Being open about IBS with friends, dates and an employer, including an occupational health assessment that supported working from home during flares, is the change he rates most highly.
TreatIBS is an informational site and does not provide medical advice. The research summarized here may not apply to your situation. Talk with a clinician before starting, stopping, or changing any treatment.
Individual experience, not evidence. Results are not typical and may not apply to you.
TreatIBS has no relationship with the creator and did not verify these claims.