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 get nauseous for many reasons, such as an unpleasant smell or experiencing something horrible. But also by things that should be fun or help you get better, such as pregnancy or the treatment of a serious illness. To see if hypnosis can do something about this, I will look at the research and case studies that are known about this.
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.
Through hypnosis, pregnant women can be helped against nausea. For example, there is a case where the hypnotherapist asked the woman, what do you usually have in your hand? In her case, this was a pen. She then received therapy from him that ensured that if she had a pen in her hand, she would not be nauseated. This 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, many studies are also being conducted to help pregnant women with hypnosis and that not only for nausea, but also for relaxation during childbirth and to have less pain.
Nausea due to medical treatment
Serious illnesses often have treatments that involve major interventions in the body, such as surgery or chemotherapy. These two treatments often cause patients to experience nausea and may induce 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 phenomenon depending on when the last cigarette was smoked. Scientists do not yet know what ingredient in the cigarette causes this, but smoking is so bad for you that just to prevent vomiting after surgery (which by no means happens to everyone) is not the 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 proven to reduce anxiety before surgery, and in 2007 a six-year-old child was given the treatment to imagine that there is a button in his head that can turn nausea and vomiting on and off as he would undergo multiple surgeries. Sisters were also instructed not to anticipate vomiting, that is, not to grab a bowl in which to vomit ahead of time. His symptoms decreased significantly as a result.
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 given you certain beliefs in your subconscious that can make you nauseous even after chemotherapy. About 10 to 25 percent of people who have had chemotherapy suffer from this after chemotherapy. This makes it difficult to resume your "old" life. It is difficult to work and social events are also less fun because the wrong tart with, say, lemon smell can suddenly make you nauseous again.
There is a case of a woman who continued to experience nausea after her chemotherapy treatment from certain triggers, such as odors from certain foods and also when she had to go to the hospital. Actually, it was a kind of anticipatory nausea. Her body expected to get nauseous and so it got nauseous. Something had happened in the subconscious that made the body nauseous even without chemotherapy from the things that also made her nauseous during chemotherapy and from the hospital itself, of course.
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.
Want to learn more about hypnosis and how you can help yourself and others? Then check out the Hypnosis Institute Netherlands' events and trainings.
Sources:
www.fairmountassociates.com/articles/The-Possibilities-in-Hypnosis.pdf
