Hi, I just got home from the doctor and he had suggested hypnosis. Has anyone tried this or know anyone that did? Does it work?

Hi Coerley!!
I was hoping that someone who had tried hypnosis would have replied to you by now. I have read several articles including the mention in the following link:
http://www.nationalpainfoundation.or...plementary.asp

This does indicate that hypnosis could be beneficial for some people with RSD. Have you tried any other means such as biofeedback?? I understand how desirous we all are to do whatever possible in order to gain relief from the pain and full use of our limbs again. If you choose to go ahead with any alternative treatments, please let us know how you do! Best wishes to you!!

This is something like everything else any of us has tired: What works for one of us may not work for anyone else...yet could also work for some...........best thing to do is jut give it a whirl, & let us know if it was successful for you.

DebbyV

One of my co-workers teaches hypnosis as a sideline. He goes all over the world teaching hypnotists. I really don't know why he works where I work, as he makes a lot of money being a hypnotist. Even more teaching other hypnotists. For an example, he does a two hour stop smoking hypnosis session - it is $695. For TWO one-hour sessions! YIKES! He says it will only work if the person really wants to quit, so he is really careful to pre-screen people ahead of time, and only takes people he thinks are ready to quit anyway. That keeps his success rate up.

I asked him about hypnosis for RSD. He said it sometimes works for people in pain, but you would have to go to someone who really specialized in pain hypnosis, and there are very few hypnotists who are really good at that. He said they would be really expensive - probably $500 or more an hour and insurance rarely covers hypnosis. He suggested meditation instead, which I already do. He also suggested accupuncture. I have read some horror stories about accupuncture and RSD though, so I am to chicken to try that. His conclusion is that someone with the severe pain of RSD would probably not get any real relief from hypnosis.

Just throwing this out there for what it is worth. Perhaps your Dr. knows someone in particular that might help you. I doubt it could hurt to try it....

I haven't tried Hypnosis before although it was suggested for me by my Pain Management Doctor when I was initially diagnosed with RSD. He said that it might try and "relax" me as I was (and still am) very tense and all of my muscles were extremely tight!!

We later learnt though that my RSD was "Independantly (sp?) Maintained" and was in my brain and my PM said that he didn't think it would be worth it in my case as it only seems to work best on people with Sympathetically Maintained Pain! I'm not sure how true that is but I did a bit of research and couldn't really find anything that was related to it!!

I agree with what the others have said, unfortunately what works for one person doesn't work for another as I am sure you already know! It really is a matter of trial and error and experemting with different treatment options to see which work best for you!

I wish you the very best of luck and please keep us updated when you can!

Not to hijack this thread or anything, BUT

Ali,
How did they determine it was Independently Maintained vs Sympathetically Maintained? What test did they do?

DebbyV

Hi Debby,

Unfortunately there is no test to determine if RSD pain is Independently Maintained or Sympathetically Maintained however my Pain Management Doctor and Neurologist said that mine was because the nerve blocks didn't work and made me worse instead of better and the medications haven't worked for me so far at all yet!

During Physical Therapy, my PT's were also noticing some "strange" symptoms and said that the RSD was in my Brain and Central Nervous System which is why non of the medications or treatments had worked! Not many people have RSD in the brain so I have been told but they can usually test you to see how you walk, if you fall a lot, how you talk etc etc and it was found that my results came back pretty abnormal!!!

I've been told that Doctors usually determine whether you have SMP (Sympathetically Maintained Pain) or IMP (Independently Maintained Pain) by whether or not the medications or treatments work for you - in my case, non of the medications that we had tried after a period of time worked and nor did the nerve blocks which is why my PM and Neurologist said I had IMP. You usually tend to find that if you have IMP that nothing really works for you, even though you may have tried lots of drugs and if you have SMP, you usually find something that works, even though it might take a bit of time!

I hope that made sense and that I wasn't rambling - if you have anymore questions, please let me know!

there are some books in libraries about how to learn hypnotism and teach yourself - self hypnosis.

There are some videos on hypnosis websites and self hypnosis , and meditation videos online.

Some are done nicely and some are blahhh..
for free - you might find one you like.

a link if your interested
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...+for+pain&aq=f