Hypnosis And Pain Relief

Pain is a way for your body to let you know something is wrong. If you accidentally touch a hot iron, you feel pain. This pain prompts you to pull your hand away, which protects you from a nasty burn and a potentially fatal infection. Pain protects us, in other words, by acting as a warning signal.

What about the person with chronic pain, however? If you have arthritis, for instance, you don't need a warning signal to inform you that something is wrong. You already know something is wrong. The incessant pain you feel no longer serves to protect you. Instead, it robs you of your energy and vitality, and can even suck the joy out of your life.

Hypnosis and Pain Relief

Chronic pain sufferers usually turn to medications first. Unfortunately, many of these pain medications have frightening side effects. One of the worst side effects of pain medication is addiction. If you have survived a car crash, undergone extensive surgery, lived with cluster headaches or endured intense, chronic back pain, you're probably already familiar with strong pain medications. Used wisely, they are a life saver. Used for too long, they are potentially very addictive. Unfortunately, the line between wise usage and over-usage is quite fuzzy. Even trained medical doctors often do not know when to reduce their patients' use of pain medicines.

Hypnosis has been used as a form of healthy pain reduction for hundreds of years. For chronic pain sufferers, regular hypnosis, meditation and deep breathing should become a daily part of their health care regimen. Used as a substitute or a supplement to pain medications, hypnosis can help decrease the body's natural response to its pain receptors in a healthy, non-habit forming way.