Hypnosis for nerve pain: It helps

Nerve pain can occur in many places in your body and has many causes. It is incredibly annoying and especially if you don't want or can't take painkillers you want to do something about it. In that case hypnosis for nerve pain can be a solution

Pain is actually quite useful. For example, it prevents you from getting badly burned when your hand accidentally gets too close to the stove when it's on.

But when you suffer from nerve pain, you can experience this kind of pain while nothing is going on. This is incredibly inconvenient. Especially since sometimes your nerves also don't transmit pain when they should[1]. Therefore, check your body regularly for injuries you haven't noticed.

Neuropathic pain

Neuropathic pain is another name for nerve pain. If you suffer from this, a certain health condition causes the nerves that communicate feeling to your brain to become damaged.

That damage causes you to experience pain. This often feels like a burning or stinging sensation. It can even feel like an electric shock. The symptoms are usually worst at night.

Nerve pain is mild for one person and more severe for another.

Neuropathic pain allows you to become more sensitive all over your body, so lying under a blanket can even become painful.

Sometimes nerve pain can cause you to lose your balance, making it easier to fall.

In addition, some people become so desperate from nerve pain that they become suicidal.

Neuropathic pain is a condition that can worsen. It is therefore important to seek treatment to stop and perhaps even reverse the progression.

Causes of nerve pain

Nerve pain is often a result of diabetes, a vitamin B12 deficiency, or damage to the brain, spine, or a specific nerve.

A vitamin B12 deficiency can occur in alcoholics or vegans.

A herniated disc in your spine can be the cause of nerve pain.

In addition, diseases such as HIV and cancer can also cause nerve pain[2]. In the case of cancer, for example, a tumor may press on a nerve, causing you to experience pain.

Shingles can also cause nerve pain. This version of neuropathic pain often causes sudden severe pain.

Lyme disease can also cause nerve pain.

In some cases, there is just no obvious cause to be found for neuropathic pain.

Treatment of nerve pain

It is always helpful to see a doctor if you have nerve pain, as it can be a symptom of an illness[3].

Depending on where you have nerve pain, you can usually get medication or surgery to reduce the pain. For example, do you have this in your ankle? Then surgery will be considered, but only after other management techniques have failed[4].

In general, nerve pain is treated with pain relievers, exercise, acupuncture, or relaxation techniques[5]. Sometimes the use of ibuprofen or pain-relieving creams is recommended.

If you are deficient in vitamin B12, taking vitamin B12 supplements is the most logical treatment in that case.

But sometimes antidepressants or medication for epilepsy are used instead to reduce nerve pain[6].

Sometimes, lifestyle changes are encouraged, such as regular exercise, maintaining or achieving a healthy weight, and eating a healthy diet[7].

Added to this is the problem that medication for nerve pain often only provides a solution in half the cases[8].

Hypnosis for nerve pain

Do you have a form of nerve pain that is unexplained, prefer not to take painkillers? Then hypnosis can help you still numb the pain or simply suffer less.

The effect of hypnosis on pain has been studied for decades. Anesthesiologists are already trained in hypnosis in some countries, and hypnosis is also considered a good method for reducing chronic pain.

This is partly because the nervous system responds well to hypnosis[9].

Hypnosis has been used on someone for whom other treatments failed to reduce pain for 5 years. For her, VR hypnosis helped reduce pain, but she had to return regularly to maintain this effect[10].

Self-hypnosis has been studied in people with HIV for reducing nerve pain. This study found that nerve pain was reduced by half by self-hypnosis regardless of whether or not one was taking pain medication. This was the case in nearly 80% of the participants[11].

This is a percentage roughly equivalent to the amount of people who are easily or averagely hypnotizable. Should you consider what can happen when a hypnotherapist helps you instead of depending on yourself and self-hypnosis.

A case study of a 67-year-old man with neuropathic pain due to diabetes shows that hypnosis can also help well with nerve pain. In his case, he used individual hypnosis sessions, group hypnosis sessions and self-hypnosis to reduce pain. This improved his quality of life and also caused him to use fewer painkillers[12].

Changing your perception of pain is achieved through hypnotic suggestions. First, hypnosis is induced so that you can more easily accept the suggestions given by the hypnotist. Next, your imagination and visualisation skills are used to numb the pain. For example, through a guided visualization of an ice pack that takes the pain away or a kind of magical liquid that cleanses your body and frees it from pain.

In people with chronic pain, these types of suggestions help reduce pain[13].

Are you looking for someone who can help you with nerve pain? Then click here to find a hypnotherapist near you.

Would you like to learn more about hypnosis and how you can use it to help others? Then join the free online hypnosis masterclass.

Would you like to learn right away how to help yourself or others with hypnosis? Then sign up for one of the courses offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands. These are taught online and, when possible, in a classroom setting.

A professional studio is used for the online classes to make the lessons as clear as possible.

Also pin this handy infographic as a reminder:

[1] https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/ss/slideshow-neuropathy

[2] https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/treating-nerve-pain-caused-cancer-hiv#1

[3] https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/treating-nerve-pain-caused-cancer-hiv#2

[4] https://europepmc.org/article/med/32017749

[5] https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/nerve-pain#:~:text=Nerve%20pain%2C%20also%20called%20neuralgia,from%20other%20kinds%20of%20pain.

[6] https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/ss/slideshow-neuropathy ( slide 12)

[7] https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/ss/slideshow-neuropathy (slide 14)

[8] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2020.1742087

[9] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207149608416066

[10] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207140802255534

[11] https://academic.oup.com/painmedicine/article/14/7/1048/1805531

[12] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00029157.2020.1742087

[13] https://journals.lww.com/pain/Citation/2009/12050/Hypnosis_for_chronic_pain_management__A_new_hope.6.aspx