Does Hypnotherapy Work?

Good morning. I am so sorry you are struggling with this problem and do sympathise with how you are feeling. My husband had hypnotherapy back in 1979 to help him to stop smoking and after the one session he never wanted to smoke again and never has done! My granddaughter at the age of 17 received several sessions of hypnotherapy to help with her fear of wasps and bees and general anxiety and panic attacks. A year on this has been partially successful in that on the whole she manages her problems better but they are still there. I think it would be worth trying. I do hope your bowel problem is nothing worrying and you see someone very soon to resolve it.

I saw a hypnotherapist a few years ago as it helps some people with IBS. It didn't help me with that but it was a very pleasant relaxing experience and it was good to speak to someone who had time to listen. I found a lady who had previously been a GP so she also had medical knowledge.

My friend attended a hypnotherapist for 6 weeks to help her give up smoking. According to her husband she left his office ,went home and lit up a cigarette! I suppose it depends on the skill of the individual practitioners.

I can’t speak from experience, but I suppose it also depends on how receptive the client is and how much they actually want the hypnotherapy to work. I would imagine a ‘one off’ visit wouldn’t do much.

My late OH, a GP who had no time for alternative medicine or "airy-fairy" stuff, did a course in hypnotherapy and rated it.

When I am feeling anxious or faced with a challenging situation, I use something similar in that I do the relaxation exercises that are used in labour. I have been known to nearly fall asleep in a scanner using this method!

OP - it might be worth giving it a try in your situation but it really depends on the practitioner. There seems to be a hypnotherapy directory - www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/ Might be worth having a look at that.

I hope you find the help you need.

I am so sorry that you are having to go through all of this. I haven’t had it myself but I would like to know how you get on. Please let us know if you try it.

I wonder if you might use the money to pay for a private colonoscopy, rather than waiting for that, which is bound to make you anxious?

It’s made Paul McKenna a very rich man!
You could try one of his books, to self hypnotise.

LucyAnna my colonoscopy is on Wednesday so not long to wait now.

This is an area in which I qualified. My advice is first of all to be clear what you wish to achieve. If you want to cope with your anxiety hypnotherapy could well help. If you want to know why you have had the lifelong anxiety you might consider hypnoanalysis which can be quite challenging. I do wish you well, whatever you decide to do

Good luck for Wednesday Sillyoldbird. Will you let us know how you get on?

Thanks everyone, of course I’ll keep you posted. Least I can do when everyone has been so kind xx

I think I might have mentioned it before on here but at the risk of repeating myself I will repeat it. ( this is all on YouTube)
When you go into a panic/ stress situation your body is flooded with Adrenaline. Adrenaline is a fuel to help you fight or flight.
Unless you fight or flight that fuel has nowhere to go, you have to get rid of it.
The only way to get rid of it is to move / exercise and raise the heart rate.
On Thursday one of our volunteers went into a panic attack because some knob brought an XBully dog into the shop without a muzzle.
I went through star jumps, running on the spot, throwing our arms around etc etc. Within 10 mins the shear terror had gone.

I went through star jumps, running on the spot, throwing our arms around etc etc. Within 10 mins the shear terror had gone.

Or maybe you scared the dog off? sorry, couldn't resist!

Petra I did follow your advice and did some cardio -exercise when you last posted. I have a rebounder (mini-trampoline) that I ‘jog’ on so I used this

It did seem, to help for a while but then the panic builds up again.

SillyOldBird
Then you just have to do it again, and again. 😊
But we’ll done you for giving it a go 👏 👏

HousePlantQueen

^I went through star jumps, running on the spot, throwing our arms around etc etc. Within 10 mins the shear terror had gone^.

Or maybe you scared the dog off? sorry, couldn't resist!

That’s ok 😂 That’s the sort of thing I would say.

I've had a Colonoscopy and a laparoscopy one after the other. Beforehand I was terrified. When I got there the nurse and the doctor could see my state. He offered me sedation not fully but more like the date rape drug. He could have done anything to me I did not care.
I also got Diazepam from my GP to take the night before and during the day.
Phone your GP and see if they will prescribe a short course of Diazepam.
It does mean you cannot drive so you will need someone with you and they put you on a bed afterwards until you come around.

Hi Sillyoldbird,
I have had hypnotherapy from two different practitioners for confidence and anxiety issues. I would reinforce some of the excellent posts here. Firstly , different therapies for specific anxiety and lifelong anxiety . Secondly ,obviously , you could probably only fit in one visit before this Wednesday so possibly not ideal for it to work in time for the colonoscopy? Thirdly you do need to want it to work.Fourthly depends massively on the skill of the Practitioner. It did work albeit temporarily for me and think that even the partial success on me was impressive because I imagine that I am a massively difficult subject to hypnotise successfully . I am going to attempt to message you privately with the name of the Practitioner that treated me partly successfully( overall it helped). The other Practitioner was rubbish.
Very best of luck for Wednesday

I used art therapy techniques occasionally as part of my job and had been working with a particular person for some time. Noticing an improvement in her mood over time, her GP asked to attend a session to go through her pieces of work with us both. He made some valid comments and then surprised us both by offering her a hypnotherapy session. He was happy for me to attend as well to support her. I remember little about the session itself - I may have drifted off too!.... but her art work changed and moved on extensively afterwards, starting with a trio of pencil drawings of her experience of the hypnosis. I would certainly give it a go myself if I ever felt the need...

Sillyoldbird

LucyAnna my colonoscopy is on Wednesday so not long to wait now.

Oh, glad to hear that. Hope all goes well. Best wishes.

First I hope every goes well and you get a good result personally I would ask for light sedation I did for an endoscopy and knew nothing about it I m sure it’s better for them to have a quiet patient than a petrified one
I am unable to be hypnotised I just cannot ‘lose myself’ As much as I wanted to I tried a GP who was also a trained hypnotist and i was really up for it and thought it would be the answer to all my prayers I ‘went nowhere’
So for any of these things to work you have to be fully able to be ‘taken over’ and fully believe, I think I have too much of an enquiring brain.

i tried hypnotherapy for a needle phobia, it did not work as the person said i had too much control and could not be put under. i hope it works and helps you, i have had about 6 colonoscopies. sometimes the sedation has worked and other times not. please speak them about how anxious you are as they have people who can help and understand what you are going through.

Thanks everyone for this good advice. The hypnotherapy would be for the longer term not for the worry of the colonoscopy outcome.

I will tell them about the anxiety and have sedation on the day.

Until then I’ll just have to muddle through- which is much easier since I had th3 support on GN.