Pain can be controlled through hypnosis. Not just headaches, but real surgeries can be performed, all with only hypnosis. The reason it works is the brain/mind is the hub of the central nervous system – our bodies system for detecting sensation. When we learn to slow our minds down and shut off those receptors, we find that we can mitigate pain.
Recently, I had a LOT of pain in my stomach for no reason. Well, no other reason than I ate a Chili / Cheese / Slaw dog at the Varsity. The pain was intense! I was sweating. I couldn’t sit or stand. I utilized my hypnosis training and was able to lessen the pain somewhat. After 6 hours, I couldn’t take it anymore. The pain wouldn’t go away. I had to go to the emergency room.
As a side note, the funny thing about the emergency room is, to the nurses and doctors, if you aren’t dying in the next minute, you are not an emergency. After another hour of waiting – the pain was terrifyingly horrific – the triage nurse took my blood pressure, etc., and said, “Sounds like your gallbladder.” Of course I said, “Whatever … STOP THE PAIN!”
After another 45 minutes of waiting, I get a room and a lovely IV which they inject some drug into and it makes all the pain go away. After several hours of tests, the ER Physician comes in and tells me that I have gastritis. He gives me a prescription for pepcid and sends me home.
I slept wonderfully at home for about 3 hours. Then I woke up … IN PAIN!!!
I called them and told a nurse the issue. She said to come on back in. Because I have no insurance, I thought, “She must be crazy!” “What are my other options?” I said. “You could go to a gastroenterologist.” The woman replied.
Since it was 5am, I started my hypnosis techniques for pain, which took about 75% of the pain away. As I was lying there, I couldn’t understand why an upset stomach was causing so much pain. About 9am, I get a call from the hospital radiology department. They finished reviewing my test results. My gallbladder had stones in it. That “might” be causing the pain.
So I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist that day and went at the first available appointment time 2 days later. The gastroenterologist said it sounded like my gallbladder. He told me I needed to get a HIDA scan done. After I asked how much it would cost, and he replied, “somewhere around $5,000,” I almost fainted. I said, “I don’t have insurance!” “Oh, well, you could get an ultrasound.” He says. “How much is that?” “About $150.” “Yes, I’ll get an ultrasound.”
I had to wait 3 days to get in for the ultrasound. All in all, it took from Saturday night, to Friday morning before I got the ultrasound.
This whole week, I was able to mitigate the pain through hypnosis techniques. When I asked the gastroenterologist for pain killers, he flat out refused; which was RUDE in my opinion – when someone is in pain you would think a doctor would help them out. But I think he is overly cautious about drugs and thinks everyone is a drug addict. A problem my surgeon didn’t have however, because he gave me 100 pain killers, and I only took 4. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
In the middle of the ultrasound, with the nice lady pressing on my gallbladder, I wasn’t able to take the pain any longer. I had to go to the emergency room. They said that was wise, but to wait until the radiologist could type up an explanation of the test results.
Again, at the emergency room, they acted like I was just visiting, until I started asking them to PLEASE HELP ME! I think the profuse sweating along with my insistence quickened their pace and got me into the pediatric ward and a doctor who could see me now.
Long story short, my gallbladder was gangrenous and had become attached to my liver and rib cage. It was falling apart and had to be taken out immediately. After a two hour surgery, I awoke in a recovery room and got to spend the next 2 weeks recuperating.
I have had many, many people ask me about the effectiveness of hypnosis for pain. I have proven over and over again to myself that hypnosis is amazingly effective for pain – but in certain situations.
If you are dangerously ill internally, hypnosis will not completely take away the pain. This type of pain is so constant and intense that it is a real test to try to sit still and calm the body in the first place. It can be done, I’ve done it. But I also must admit that there are times when you simply cannot mitigate that kind of pain.
So why does hypnosis work so well for surgeries like dental procedures? Simple. From a normal pain-free state you can relax the body and mind and prepare for the procedure. From a state of pain, you must be able to completely sit still, and then relax the body and mind. That is a much more difficult undertaking.
A headache, backache, or a nagging ache in a joint may be constant, but the pain level does not compare to a gangrenous gallbladder, or kidney stones. The only thing that can take that pain away is to remove the problem.
Still, hypnosis can remove most of the pain that we have in our lives. We can not only soothe ourselves and relax the pain away, we can also reframe the pain to ourselves. This makes the pain sensations feel differently.
What we cannot do, is mask pain that is so severe that we need to seek urgent medical attention.
