Hypnosis Against Nausea

February 20, 2016

Nausea is an unpleasant feeling that you can't really get rid of, and even though you think you're going to throw up, it just doesn't happen, or just happens. Nausea can have many causes, such as pregnancy, illness or treatment for a serious illness. Nausea can ruin your daily life and make you almost desperate.

Therefore, in this article, I discuss how hypnosis can help with nausea.

People can feel nauseous for all sorts of reasons, such as an unpleasant odor or experiencing something horrific. But it can also be caused by things that are supposed to be enjoyable or help you get better, such as pregnancy or the treatment of a serious illness. To see if hypnosis can help with this, I’ll discuss the research and case studies available on the subject.

Nausea due to pregnancy

What should be one of the best months of your life can, for some women, turn into the months of eating very little, always having a handkerchief with a fine fragrance on hand for when nauseating smells cannot be avoided. Morning sickness normally lasts only 3 months, but in some cases it can last the entire pregnancy. Not very convenient when you do want to get on with work or be busy decorating the baby's room.

In the process, morning sickness and vomiting can be dangerous because you can become dehydrated. If you cannot keep anything down, it is wise to see a doctor to make sure you are not suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum (HG). For example, if you are losing weight instead of gaining weight, something is not going right.

Hypnosis can help pregnant women cope with nausea. For example, there was a case where the hypnotherapist asked the woman, “What do you usually hold in your hand?” In her case, it was a pen. He then provided her with therapy that ensured that whenever she held a pen in her hand, she would not feel nauseous. It worked.

This is because hypnosis works on the subconscious mind. Hypnosis makes the body respond better to mental triggers and vice versa. In this case, holding a pen kept the body from getting nauseous. Which then caused her to do everything with pen in hand.

In addition, numerous studies are being conducted to help pregnant women use hypnosis—not only for nausea, but also for relaxation during childbirth and to reduce pain.

Nausea due to medical treatment

Serious illnesses often require treatments that significantly interfere with the body, such as surgery or chemotherapy. These two treatments often cause patients to feel nauseous and may lead to vomiting.

Nausea after surgery

Between 20 and 40 percent of all people who undergo surgery must vomit after recovering from surgery. Children are also more likely than adults; for every 10 years of life, the chance of nausea and vomiting decreases by 10 percent. Women are more likely to vomit after surgery than men, and people who also suffer from nausea while driving are more likely to do so.

The type of surgery also affects the likelihood of nausea and vomiting after recovery. Operations in the abdominal region, neck and at the ears are most likely to cause nausea after waking.

Interestingly, smokers are less likely to experience this symptom depending on the time of day their last cigarette was smoked. Scientists do not yet know which ingredient in the cigarette causes this, but smoking is so bad for you that simply preventing vomiting after surgery (which by no means happens to everyone) is not a reason to start or continue smoking. Quitting is always healthier, but now I’m getting off topic.

A friend of mine told me that she woke up after surgery and can really only remember that there were many people standing around her and she immediately asked for a tub in which to vomit. So chances are this can happen almost immediately after waking up from anesthesia.

Hypnosis has already been proven to reduce fear of surgery, and in 2007, a six-year-old child received treatment to imagine that there was a switch in his head that could turn nausea and vomiting on and off, as he was scheduled to undergo multiple surgeries. Nurses were also instructed not to anticipate vomiting—that is, not to reach for a bowl in advance for the child to vomit into. As a result, his symptoms decreased significantly.

In a larger study with 100 participants who were given a hypnosis CD with suggestions, hypnotherapy resulted in a large decrease in the number of people suffering from nausea and vomiting after surgery. Without hypnosis it was 85.7% (that is almost 9 out of 10 people) and with hypnosis it was 47.2% (that is almost 5 out of 10 people). Other studies obtained similar results and in doing so, hypnosis also had the benefit of reducing people's anxiety and pain after surgery.

Nausea during and after chemotherapy

With chemotherapy, nausea is often around the corner. Because chemotherapy can really help the chances of surviving cancer, scientists are therefore looking for ways to make the arduous therapy more bearable. Hypnotherapy is one of the ways they are trying to reduce nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy.

A meta-study shows that hypnotherapy is just as, and perhaps even more effective, as cognitive behavioral therapy for reducing chemo-induced nausea and vomiting. This meta-study also looked specifically at children who were undergoing chemotherapy. This showed that children who received hypnotherapy experienced significantly less nausea than those who did not receive hypnotherapy. Also in adults, the difference between patients who received hypnotherapy and those who did not receive hypnotherapy against nausea was significantly lower with hypnotherapy, but this difference was smaller than in the children.

Therefore, the researchers indicate that more research on the effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of hypnotherapy needs to be conducted, especially in adults.

Unfortunately, chemotherapy may have implanted certain beliefs in your subconscious that can cause you to feel nauseous even after your treatment has ended. About 10 to 25 percent of people who have undergone chemotherapy experience this after treatment. This makes it difficult to get back to your “old” life. It’s hard to work, and social events aren’t as enjoyable because the wrong kind of pastry—one with a lemon scent, for example—can suddenly make you feel nauseous again.

There is a known case of a woman who, even after her chemotherapy, still felt nauseous when exposed to certain triggers, such as the smells of certain foods and even when she had to go to the hospital. It was actually a kind of anticipatory nausea. Her body expected to feel nauseous, and so it did. Something had happened in her subconscious that caused her body to feel nauseous—even without chemotherapy—from the same things that made her nauseous during chemotherapy and, of course, from the hospital itself.

In her case, she was able to regain control through hypnosis by suggesting that the presence of those triggers could be turned softer like a thermostat sets the temperature in the room.

She was then also given suggestions that if she felt she was getting nauseous and would vomit she could remove this feeling by rubbing her throat. The aromas that made her nauseous would now become her favorite scents.

In the case study, the woman responded well to these suggestions and experienced much less nausea and vomiting from the triggers she received during her chemotherapy treatment. After only the first hypnosis session, she had significantly fewer problems and was able to eat with her family again and go to the hospital without discomfort. Two more sessions followed and she was given a CD for self-hypnosis. Three months later, she still had no more nausea.

In short

Nausea is incredibly annoying and can turn your daily life upside down. This makes it difficult to function properly and do your daily things.

Nausea and vomiting can be prolonged during pregnancy. In that case, it is always wise to seek help, especially if you are losing weight instead of gaining it.

Chemotherapy can also cause long-term nausea. This is because sometimes you become conditioned to certain triggers that have taught your body to respond with nausea and vomiting. Through hypnosis, these triggers can be eliminated.

Then you can also experience nausea after waking up from anesthesia after surgery. This particularly affects children and women, but hypnosis can incredibly lower the chances of this happening.

Would you like to learn more about hypnosis and how you can help yourself and others? Then check out the events and training programs offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.

Sources:

www.fairmountassociates.com/articles/The-Possibilities-in-Hypnosis.pdf