Try Hypnosis and Counseling for IBS and Crohn's

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"You're tapping into people's sense of control over symptoms that have made them feel helpless," says Jeffrey Lackner, director of the Behavioral Medicine Clinic at the University at Buffalo School of Medicine, who led the National Institutes of Health-funded trial. Earlier this month, Lackner announced that he'd received an $8.5 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases to fund a seven-year clinical trial to study his program in nearly 500 IBS patients at a number of sites. A program that emphasizes self-management, such as that practiced by the most successful group, could be a boon to patients: Insurers may refuse to cover what they consider psychological rather than medical treatments.

After a dozen years suffering with upset stomachs and painful diarrhea that left her taking Imodium "like candy," Melissa Brunner of Buffalo, 35, signed up for Lackner's study in 2006. She learned to identify the connection between her symptoms and stressful events and to use deep breathing and other relaxation skills to reduce her anxiety and give up the need for control. "You realize what you're stressing about and ask yourself whether you have any control over it," she says. "If you don't, there's no need to stress about it." Brunner still avoids fast food, but more than two years later, she pronounces herself "80 percent better."

It may take some time before the average GI doctor offers hypnosis. But if you're one of the millions of people unable to celebrate Thanksgiving with gusto, you might want to do some digging to find relief.