Hypnosis Medical Specialty

AN iD CLIENT who was a recovering heroin addict needed considerable oral surgery but didn’t want to take medication to block the pain. With regular practice of self-hypnosis, he was able to avoid all medication and anesthesia for the surgery. His dentist, who was initially quite wary about the approach, was amazed at his incredible success.

ANOTHER iD CLIENT needed surgery to remove sinus polyps caused by allergies. After this procedure, the surgeon normally packs the patient’s nose with cotton “plugs” that absorb draining fluids. Removing the plugs can be quite uncomfortable.

Using iD’s self-hypnosis training, the client focused on imagining her blood becoming thick to reduce bleeding, thereby avoiding the need to be packed. While she waited for the surgery to begin, she visualized a single blood cell that grew larger each time she breathed. She imagined that cell becoming too big to fit into her imaginary field of view, then brought another blood cell in and concentrated on its increasing size, and so on.

Greatly calmed by her changed focus, the client had a successful surgery, and to her delight was able to avoid being packed. At the first post-surgical appointment, her doctor noted that while her surgery was perfectly normal in every other way, he was very surprised that she didn’t bleed more in some parts of the procedure.

The client healed quickly, and her sense of smell, which had diminished, regained its acuteness.

ANOTHER CLIENT was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after an exploratory laparotomy, which included a complete hysterectomy. The recovery was difficult, due in part to the side effects of anesthesia. Surgery was followed by six cycles of chemotherapy at three-week intervals. The client developed severe anemia and had multiple transfusions, lost all her hair, and experienced significant pain and nausea with each treatment.

Shortly after finishing her treatments, she had a follow-up CAT scan that showed a suspicious area in the lower abdomen. The client wanted to explore alternatives to avoid another grueling exploratory procedure and in particular to consider a laparoscopy, a less-invasive surgery that would allow the doctors to biopsy the suspicious area yet avoid a long and painful recovery. However, her fear made making a clear decision about this approach difficult.

Three sessions with Nancy Good allowed her to put her fear aside enough to listen to and trust her inner voice. She also practiced self-hypnosis twice a day and developed confidence about her decision to have the laparoscopy and so reduce her hospitalization from six days to one. During her sessions with Nancy, the client worked on getting through the surgery and anesthesia as comfortably as possible, reducing nausea and increasing healing.

After the procedure, the client experienced rapid healing with no nausea and was diagnosed by her doctor as being cancer free.