The news recently came to my attention that a woman with endometriosis did not qualify for disability benefits, even though her symptoms were incredibly severe and she even had to use morphine to reduce the pain. No fun and therefore understandable that she was dissatisfied with the announcement that she could work despite her "women's disease."
But what is endometriosis now and can hypnosis help stop the symptoms?
What is endometriosis?
In a way, doctors were right that endometriosis is a woman's ailment, but it's really different from an ailment like hot flashes during menopause or having a lot of trouble with your period.
With endometriosis, you get uterine lining outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes or ovaries. In some cases, however, it goes beyond the organs in the pelvis. This is very annoying because this mucous membrane is under the influence of hormones. It grows between periods and it also shrinks when you have your period. The growth, shrinking and bleeding of this membrane can be incredibly painful. This is because it can irritate organs and tissues it's attached to, which can then become inflamed. This is why many women with this condition are given painkillers and anti-inflammatories.
There are many causes of endometriosis, such as when a discharge from menstruation goes the wrong way and attaches itself in the fallopian tube. In some cases, the cells can move through the limbic system to other parts of the body.
Sometimes the immune system suffers from a disorder that causes endometriosis.
You have a higher risk of endometriosis if you have a short cycle, such as shorter than 27 days, it is more common in your family and if you have high estrogen levels. Women who never get pregnant or are late to menopause also have a higher risk of developing endometriosis.
Symptoms of endometriosis
With endometriosis, you may experience pain, especially during your period. This can begin as early as a week before your period with pain in the abdomen and cramping. The lower back may also be painful.
- Sex can be painful.
- Going to the bathroom (#1 and #2) can be painful, especially if you have your period.
- You can lose a lot of blood when you have your period and between periods.
- Infertility.
- Fatigue.
- Diarrhea.
- Constipation.
- Nausea.
- Suffering from bloating.
The amount of pain has no correlation with the severity of endometriosis. Some women who have hardly any endometrium outside the uterus experience a lot of pain. While women who, on the contrary, have a lot of endometrium outside the uterus suffer little pain. So you cannot lump all people with endometriosis together to say whether or not it is a disease that makes normal life impossible.
It also increases the risk of uterine cancer.
Treatment of endometriosis
Endometriosis is usually treated with medication and sometimes surgery. Surgery is often a last resort.
Initially, it is recommended to take painkillers that you can simply get at the drugstore, such as a paracetamol or ibuprofen. When the maximum doses of these medications do not work, stronger painkillers are often looked at, which can thus eventually lead to the use of morphine.
Hormone therapy is also used to reduce hormonal fluctuations so that the endometrium is less likely to grow. This can already be done with "the pill," for example.
In addition, hormone suppressants and other hormones can be used.
Surgical procedures are a last resort. They are mainly used to enable pregnancy by removing endometrium in the wrong place. Sometimes IVF is recommended to get pregnant faster.
In severe cases, the entire uterus can also be removed along with the ovaries. Just removing the uterus is not enough because the ovaries then still produce hormones that can still affect leftover endometrium, causing the pain to remain.
Lena Dunham, a well-known English comedienne, recently underwent this surgery because she was suffering tremendously from endometriosis.
Complementary treatments for endometriosis
To avoid having to remove your uterus and ovaries, and to be able to live a normal life as much as possible despite the symptoms of endometriosis, more mental or alternative treatments are often given in addition to medical treatment.
Often cognitive behavioral therapy and other alternative care is given to reduce coping with pain and other symptoms. Cognitive behavioral therapy can also be done very well under hypnosis, and studies even show that you get results faster that way.
Hypnosis puts you in a kind of trance that allows your suggestions to be accepted faster by your subconscious. As a result, you can change beliefs about how the pain of endometriosis affects your life, allowing you to live a freer life or making you more satisfied with the life you have now.
In addition, pain is often a subjective feeling. This is also why people have different pain thresholds. In women, this is extra obvious because the pain threshold shifts after childbirth, most women can suddenly feel a lot more pain.
Because this is a (partially) subjective feeling, hypnosis can also do much to change the perception of pain. This can be done with several techniques, such as by changing beliefs about pain with hypnotic suggestions and to stop catastrophic thought processes (in which you make the problem bigger and bigger).
A practical hypnosis technique against pain is the one where you change your perception of pain through visualizations. There are 3 types of visualizations for this.
- The volume button
- The Warm Hands
- The Fine Place
The volume button
The volume button is a visualization where you will very practically control pain. You may need to practice this visualization several times, with a hypnotherapist if necessary, before it works for you.
In any case, you visualize a kind of volume knob that allows you to turn the pain up or down, just like the volume on a stereo.
With the knob, so to speak, you turn the pain down and gently "off."
First, you need to get into the hypnotic state. So you sit or lie down in a comfortable place and focus on your breathing. You relax your muscles and close your eyes. Then you imagine a volume knob that you gently turn to the left which also slowly makes the pain less intense. When this has succeeded you relax a bit more and then continue your day with your new pain.
The Warm Hands
This technique is also used with people with irritable bowel syndrome. After all, pain or cramping in the abdomen is incredibly annoying. In this "visualization" you place your hands on your belly or on the place where you have pain. You feel how the warmth of your hands makes your abdomen warmer and how that helps your muscles relax. The more relaxed the muscles are, the less pain you have.
It is also important to be relaxed and in a hypnotic state before using this technique.
The Fine Place
Sometimes you also just want to get distracted from the symptoms of endometriosis. Fine spot visualization is a form of hypnosis that promotes relaxation, which can also be very helpful against the pain symptoms of endometriosis.
For the visualization, you first relax and focus on your breathing. Then you close your eyes and visualize being in a nice place. This can be a place where you once felt totally chill, such as on vacation or just a place you always imagine as a relaxing place in a book or something from a movie.
You visualize yourself walking there, feeling the sand/grass, under your feet and being nice. The sun warms your face and maybe even your whole body. There is a nice breeze, of just the right temperature. You feel relaxed and nice and can lie down in the tall grass/soft sand. Your muscles relax piece by piece and even your tongue no longer presses against your palate, you didn't even realize you were doing that. Lovely relaxing in the sun, with a breeze and perhaps the finest music or twittering birds around you.
In addition to these visualizations, there are other hypnosis techniques to reduce the symptoms of endometriosis. This cannot replace medical treatment, however, it does make you less dependent on pain medication than you might otherwise be.
Are you struggling with these types of visualizations and want more than this? Then make an appointment with a hypnotherapist.
Want to learn more about hypnosis and maybe even just help other people? Then come to a playshop at the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands or check out the training courses and register.
Sources:
http://www.jpagonline.org/article/S1083-3188(03)00064-0/abstract
http://www.celebitchy.com/566463/lena_dunham_underwent_a_total_hysterectomy_after_years_of_endometriosis_struggles/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/endometriosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354656
