View Full Version : Tri Geminal Neuralgia
This is apparently the worst pain imagineable. I have an inquiry from a client who has suffered from this for the past 20 years and wondered if hypnosis can help. I have requested their Doctors information prior to accepting her. Has anyone helped with this type of pain management through Hypnosis? Any suggestions gratefully received.
Tacs
The Trigeminal nerve is the 5th cranial nerve. It is the largest cranial nerve, and is the sensory nerve of the face, a good portion of the scalp, teeth, mouth, nasal cavity, and the motor nerves for the muscles of mastication and some other muscles. It has three main branches, ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular.
Geeze I havent thought of this since human anatomy 30 some years ago.
Yes problems with this nerve are considered the most painful that a human can experience, and enough morphene to handle the pain is way more than needed to kill you.
And yes hypnosis can be used to help a person cope with the pain associated with it.
skip
And don't just get the doctor's information. Get a referral from the doctor, too. Most doctors will welcome help with pain since other than drugging patients into numbing dullness or doing surgery to cut nerves, standard Western medicine has had little success with treating long-term pain.
Merlin
11-22-2004, 07:29 PM
Both my colleagues give good answers :)
>Any suggestions gratefully received.
I would start by leading the person into the Esdaile state.
That way they would experience freedom from the pain and know freedom is possible.
Be aware this may take time. Once the pain is gone, people are reluctant to return to it.
Next you might want to teach self-hypnosis to Esdaile to make the painfree state available anytime.
Finally, go after the healing.
bigdog
11-22-2004, 08:42 PM
Hello Merlin:
>I would start by leading the person into the Esdaile state.
Would you explain what is Esdail State, and how it differe from somnambulism? and how do you know if your subject is in such state?
>That way they would experience freedom from the pain and know freedom is possible. Be aware this may take time. Once the pain is gone, people are reluctant to return to it.
Is there any way that by hypnosis we can find out the reason which cause the pain? Isn't pain is just a sign of something wrong?:eek:
>Next you might want to teach self-hypnosis to Esdaile to make the painfree state available anytime.
Sound good to me, would you point a direction of how to do self-hypnosis to Esdaile State?:D Thx.
Merlin
11-22-2004, 09:02 PM
Hi bigdog,
>Would you explain what is Esdail State
It's described in my FAQ.
It's basically ste state where there is anesthesia without suggestion, pioneered by Dr. Esdaile.
It's far different than somnambulism.
>Is there any way that by hypnosis we can find out the reason which cause the pain?
Yes
>Isn't pain is just a sign of something wrong?
Yes. That doesn't mean you can't heal.
>would you point a direction of how to do self-hypnosis to Esdaile State?
You can find out about the state from the book 'Hypnotherapy' by Dave Elman.
Several hypnosis schools offer training in it.
Hello Tacs,
If you decide to use the Esdaile state you will probably find it useful to take your client there once or twice before they try to reach it with self-hypnosis.
In this way you can create an anchor for the state which will enable them to achieve Esdaile in self-hypnosis, which is not easy for an inexperienced client.
Jack
I am a HypnoBirthing Practitioner and help mothers with their management of pain during labour and childbirth and all who have come to my classes have achieved and managed successfully to achieve repeatedly, total control of their discomfort. However I would assume that tri geminal neuralgia must be several degrees worse!
All you contributions are very gratefully accepted. One further request I would like to know whether any of the respondants have actually treated a client suffering from this and what were your particular findings. I would be happy if you prefer to backchannel to me on marilyn@thealternativecentre.com
Yes, I will only accept her under her Doctor's supervision!
Tacs
Merlin
11-23-2004, 08:58 AM
I agree with Jack.
You'll likely need to leed them there a few times first.
>I would start by leading the person into the Esdaile state.
That way they would experience freedom from the pain and know freedom is possible.
Be aware this may take time. Once the pain is gone, people are reluctant to return to it.
>Next you might want to teach self-hypnosis to Esdaile to make the painfree state available anytime.
Merlin
11-23-2004, 09:02 AM
Tacs,
No, I have not worked with that specific pain type.
I do work with pain as a specialty though.
I'm imagining the pain is not significantly different from burn victims.
The major difference between this and birthing is the pain already exists. The hypnosis must be done while the patient is in pain. Different from teaching no pain required for childbirth.
Neurotic1
11-23-2004, 01:17 PM
Hi
I'm aware of another method which is to induce a glove anaesthesia in trance (make the hand 'numb') and then transfer that numbness to the source of the pain by placing the hand close to the source site. Again, this might need reinforcing several times but can be very succesful. I produced marked glove anaesthesia during therapy for insertion of a canula into the hand to administer an iv. It was very succesful and the patient happy. There are plenty of potential approaches. Merlin's sounds good too.
If I may throw in my two cents worth;
You have already received excellent suggestions, the only thing I would add is:
Be aware that chronic pain is considerably different than situational. You may have a difficult time getting the focus you need to gain the depth you need. As Merlin said, be aware that it will take a while to reach the depth you need and just keep plugging away. At times, when a patient was on pain med's, I have had them take just enough to "take the edge off" to allow me to go after depth and place a suggestion for re-induction. Be sure though that you suggest that the depth is responsible for "total relief" once you get it, and not the med's she might have taken.
For the condition you speak of, often a nerve block is used to treat the pain. If she has experienced this, use that pain free state as an anchored state. Sometimes it doesn't take as much depth as you might think. Just takes a pain free time anchored well. As jack said though, don't be discouraged if it takes a few sessions to get where you want to go.
EC