Hypnosis and Sustainable Weight Loss – How it Works
2 August 2017
Hypnosis can reach those parts of you other approaches may not.
14 August 2017
Tammy came to see me for help with relieving the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes pain and inflammation of the joints and other parts of the body. The inflammation causes affected parts to become painful, hot and swollen and restricts movement; stiff joints is common, especially in the morning,.
The condition can occur at any age, but usually appears between the ages of 35 to 64 and is more prevalent amongst women than men. An estimated 57 per cent of people with rheumatoid arthritis are women and it is the second most common form of arthritis, affecting nearly half a million Australians.
Tammy was in the target group for age and gender and also had a history of severe asthma since the age of two, having experienced attacks so serious they required CPR by her family. She had also recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia.
There is no known “cause” or “cure” for autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia and the conventional treatment is managing the pain and inflammation with medication.
Clearly Tammy was looking for another way forward when she came to see me.
Because a history of high stress levels is a common feature of people with autoimmune conditions, I started by teaching Tammy how to regulate her nervous system with TRE, Tension Stress and Trauma Release Exercises. This is a way of accessing her body’s innate stress and tension release mechanism via a form of neurogenic movement that often presents as tremoring or shaking.
I also worked hypnotically with Tammy, using the Rewind Technique to reset the brain’s response to past traumatic events and to teach her brain how to process information in a more positive, future oriented way.
I’ll hand over to Tammy now to tell her story:
“Over the last 5 years I have been finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a “normal” life and I knew that I had to do something. I felt there was a relationship between the birth of my second child and the start of the rheumatoid arthritis that never showed up in my blood in the whole 14 years since the birth. I didn’t want to keep increasing the medication as I was taking so much and I felt that it was hindering my healing, not helping.
A GP I saw in 2016 recommended that I read a book called Rewire your Anxious Brain. This lead me to understand the relationship between the body and the brain and more about how our nervous systems work, particularly with autoimmune conditions. After reading this book I investigated alternative methods of therapy including TRE, Tension Stress and Trauma Release Exercises.
I started working with Lee in May 2017 and learnt the TRE exercises. This gave me an insight into how past events were stuck in my nervous system. Lee also used hypnotherapy.
In the short time I’ve been working with Lee I’ve experienced significant improvements. I rarely have the RA pain and when it does appear I’ve learned to “be with” it instead of wanting it to go away, this really helps. And what’s more, I’ve been able to significantly reduce the medication.
I have not experienced this level of improvement in my health since I was on the highest dose of Methotrexate (which is not a great medication to be on). I am learning to manage my pain differently and respect the things my body is trying to tell me however, there are times when I get stuck and can’t move forward. A hypnotherapy session with Lee helps me move my system through this.
I have addressed so many traumatic events that were stuck in my body from earlier in my life and I never imagined I could have the improvements in my health and the pain levels (or lack of) that I have since I’ve been working with Lee. I am really fortunate that my GP did recommend the book to me to get my thinking started down this path and that my family is really supportive of anything that can help me without more medication.