Manage Pain & Improve Comfort and Control
There is a well-established link between your mind and your body. Your mental attitude is very important in everything that you do. This is even more important when dealing with chronic pain and health challenges. We encourage you to begin to look at your pain in a different way. First of all, we call it “discomfort” as a way of lessening some of the negativity that surrounds the word pain.
Pain is generally classified into two categories based on the duration of the experience.
Acute Pain or short-term pain typically is triggered by an accidental injury or temporary illness. It can also be associated with surgery and post-surgery healing.
Chronic Pain or long-term pain may be associated with a medical condition or maybe experienced with no obvious physical cause.
For acute discomfort, I usually suggest using it as a signal that your body is healing. Additional blood flow and positive intention have been shown to speed up healing. When you feel that signal, focus on sending positive and healing thoughts to that area of your body. This will increase blood flow and promote healing. We will create affirmations that help you focus on your health getting better and how you will feel once you are healed. You will receive a copy of my book and journal, The Power In Affirmations, to write your affirmations daily.
Hypnotherapy can also be beneficial when preparing for surgery. Clients focus on the expected positive outcome and we craft affirmations that encourage that. “My leg is completely healed.” “My heart works well 24 hours a day.”
For example, when I had shoulder surgery, I used the signal of discomfort to send healing thoughts and light to that portion of my body. I healed much faster than the doctor was expecting. The same thing happened when I had thumb surgery. My doctors were quite surprised.
When patients are having surgery and are ready to go under anesthesia, many anesthesiologists now suggest that the patient goes to their happy place. They have learned that when a patient is in a good place when they enter anesthesia, they also come out of anesthesia in a good place. My clients have a very easy time getting to their happy place and can have better surgical outcomes.
Chronic discomfort can also be lessened with positive and healing thoughts. In Hypnotherapy, we explore the origins of the discomfort and help you to imagine living healthy and happy. Where is it? When did it begin? What makes it better or worse? We help you to imagine and visualize living healthy and happy. You will receive a way of anchoring the positive feeling you feel in hypnosis so that you can achieve it on your own.
There are other techniques that can help with discomfort as well. One is the “Control Room” technique where you imagine that you are in a control room and you have a dial to move from more to less discomfort at will. We can also help you to imagine that your hand is a glove of ice and you can put it over the discomfort to make it feel better.
Some long-term medical conditions that can require a pain management plan include:
Arthritis
Cancers
Migraine Headaches
Endometriosis
Fibromyalgia
Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
Sciatica and Back Pain
Chronic pain can range in intensity from mild to unbearable. Hypnotherapy, as an adjunct therapy to a medical pain management plan, can help you learn to better manage chronic pain.
Note: Pain can be a signal that something is seriously wrong medically. Before working on pain management with your hypnotherapist, consult with your doctor to make sure hypnotherapy is not contraindicated.
Hypnotherapy can help you to manage pain and improve your comfort and control as you deal with surgery or chronic medical conditions.