have you ever been hypnotized or had acupuncture?

[RainDog]

if you don't mind saying...

for what -
did you think it was successful?
would you do it again?


have you ever tried self-hypnosis?
did you think it was successful?

I'm just gonna assume that people don't do self-accupuncture, but what would I know.
but if so, do you use safety pins or pierced earring?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. ?

:rofl:

:wtf:

:kick:

[RainDog]

11. whaaa?

okay, thumb tacks?

[suninvited]

2. I have had acupuncture with very good results

:hi:

[NMDemDist2]

3. both

for smoking, neither worked

however, the acupuncture worked extremely well on allergies and a back injury

[KitchenWitch]

4. Yes and Yes

I was hypnotized to help me quit smoking - it worked, I have not smoked for almost 18 years. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I have had acupuncture on several occasions for extremely bad lower back pain and sciatica. It gave me a great deal of relief.

[Bennyboy]

5. Hypnotism.....

Both times to quit smoking. 20 years apart, same bypnotist.

[SPKrazy]

6. Yes...

I've also been trained in clinical hypnosis

I've had acupuncture as well done to me

I've been hypnotized

hypnosis is not a great mystery

we all spend parts of our day in trances of various sorts.

A state of mind where one's critical thinking is bypassed and ideas pass it to the subconscious is in general what happens with hypnosis.

There are so many ways to attain the state of hypnosis. People are hypnotizable to varying degrees, with a small percentage who are unable to be hypnotized, and a small percentage who are very easy to hypnotize.

The rest of us, are in that in between range, and at different times may be more so than others.

I've found it most useful as something to teach people to do to themselves since all hypnosis is really self hypnosis. No one can do to you what you don't allow to happen. The best uses I know of are for relaxation and sleep. There is also a surprising body of evidence that hypnosis can remove warts. (strange) Smoking cessation, meh, for some it is great. Pain management, for some it is helpful. People in acute pain are more hypnotizable than those with chronic pain usually because the intense pain makes for a natural dissociated state. Chronic pain is harder to manage. One never wants to take away all of a person's pain because pain is there for a reason.

There are as many uses for hypnosis as there are problems and what works for one person may not for another. It is really not a well understood phenomenon despite the amount of research and interest.

Acupuncture, is on the other hand a method of using an alternative circulatory system, one of chi energy, and using acupuncture needles and access points to stimulate the flow of chi energy. Whether chi energy exists is speculation, although there is 5000 years of Chinese medicine behind the art of acupuncture, the science is weaker. That doesn't mean that it might not be helpful.

[RainDog]

10. ooh! can I call you and get hypnotized over the phone?

I have had soooo much anxiety lately that it's interfering with my life... as in making me feel like my brain doesn't work, that I can't concentrate on something even tho I want to deal with it, and depressed even, b/c things seem so... overwhelming so then I get all existential on myself and say... why should I even give a shite - what reason do I have to really care about life. so then I go from existentialist to nihilist.. which is not motivating at all... then plan b becomes... procrastinate. (which I've been doing here waaay too much.)

(Yeah, I know I should be doing some cognitive huh? exercises to put things in perspective...)

and I'm gonna be moving and I'm looking for a job, and my older son, with asperger's, will be here and he is really, really, really not socially aware about things that I don't want to go into right now, but I want to scream b/c he does things that I do not understand, as in... he KNOWS this or that, but apparently he is not aware that this or that is going on (for his privacy, I don't want to be more specific.) All to say that I am so worried about his ability to live on his own (he's gonna be living in a dorm). He doesn't have many friends.. ppl he calls friends never hang out with him... they're ppl he's known since he was a kid and they sort of tolerate him, or are nice to him but he doesn't have the social skills/awareness.

And he's sooo naive that I'm worried someone will take advantage of him. He's all mom, apple pie and baseball (baseball is his obsessive/compulsive interest... all aspies I've met have them) And... I don't know if this makes things better or worse, but he's a Red Sox and Patriots fan. (okay, this doesn't make me exactly anxious. But he has these games he plays in his head, and out loud (he wanted to play baseball so badly but, again his a.s. made that impossible after little league.)

And the asperger's makes his gait strange... autistics sometimes do something called "toe walking" and his is a sort of modified version and I've seen him walking across the U. campus by himself talking semi-out loud to himself, which doesn't really help you make friends...

And some ppl are just plain mean, esp. when someone is vulnerable. Some kids at his h.s. did very mean things to him that he didn't even tell me about until later. This was beyond the regular, some kids are assholes. Yet he didn't seem to carry a grudge or anything.

He probably didn't tell me b/c he knew I'd take names and talk to their mommas. :)

******

if you're willing, pm me with your phone number and we'll figure out a time. I can pay you with books, if you'd like that. Think you might be up for it?

[SPKrazy]

24. I could do that

no payment necessary

I will grab some of my books on it tomorrow as I am a little rusty at it.

Over the phone hypnosis is sometimes hard since I can't see what is happening to you, so we might try relaxation exercises first to see how you respond to that.

Okay?

[RainDog]

28. sweeeet

you could just assume that I'm in a sort of day-dreamy waking sleep. Like always.

[trof]

29. OK. I MAY be in.

Smoking cessation.
I don't want to quit.
But I do wish I'd never started.
So I wouldn't have to QUIT now.
Dumb, I know.

But I'm 67 and hooked.
For about 50-something years.

Been to mass 'guaranteed quit smoking' ma$$ hypnosis seminar.
Bull. Shit.
I don't think you can change my mind or habit.

[AlCzervik]

7. both to try and stop smoking, neither time worked.

i think i was ot open to quitting even though i thought i was.

[bridgit]

8. Um, hypnotized, yes. It was at an actors workshop w/other peeps and designed...

to enhance access to the subconsciouses, and precognitive visualization stuff like that :smoke:

[RainDog]

13. hmmm... why the heh-heh smilie?

precognitive... so you all rolled around in diapers or naked?

[bridgit]

37. What a dear thing you are truly...

What "heh-heh smilie"?

[Connonym]

9. I had accupuncture for chronic back pain

I had 2 herniated disks in my lower spine. I only had it done twice and I felt better afterwards but it wasn't a lasting relief and the treatments were sort of expensive and not at all covered by insurance. I kind of figure that it must stimulate an endorphine response or something and that's why it feels good right after you have it done. Ended up having to have steroid injections into my spine to quiet down the back pain and that has generally been very effective in the long term.

[RainDog]

12. For smoking and pain

I wonder why hypnosis has worked for some and not others. The person? The motivation? Just not the right day/year/time?

The pain thing with accu. can understand b/c the effects wouldn't be long lasting. Sort of like a chiropractor - if the physical circumstances that made the pain aren't changed, the pain would likely return.

I think I would be easy to hypnotize since I'm already sort of walking around in a fog. :)

[pitohui]

14. hypnotized for oral surgery, it worked fine

i would do it again but doubt any modern dentist or surgeon would risk it now, the 70s were another time and another world

self hypnosis doesn't seem to be markedly better than the placebo effect if it does anything at all, it no longer even works to put me to sleep :shrug:

[LiberalEsto]

15. Both, and yes it was

The acu helped my lower back pain immensely. I also lost 26 pounds with acu two years ago and have kept almost all of it off since then.

Got a post-hypnotic suggestion for relaxation maybe 25 years ago. I use it at the dentist, getting shots, etc. and it still works.

[RainDog]

23. How does accupuncture work to lose weight?

...and do you think safety pins would work? :)

[LiberalEsto]

39. Safety pins would not work

An acupuncturist has to study for years to learn all the body's meridian lines, which are the pathways for ch'i energy. Acupuncturists insert tiny needles at specific spots for specific results. These needles help open up blocked energy paths and allow the ch'i energy to flow freely throughout the body. According to this view of medicine and health -- which is thousands of years older than our medicine -- illness is caused by blocked ch'i energy.

I took a book on acupuncture out of the library years ago, thinking I would pick up some easy tips on how to treat myself. I was so wrong. Believe me, it would take years of study and memorization to learn what's necessary.

As for weight loss, acupuncturists can insert these needles at specific points to unblock energy and facilitate weight loss. I was amazed at how well it worked. Once I can save up enough to afford it, I'm going to go back and try to lose some more weight.

[Blue-Jay]

16. A college roommate poked me in the neck with a needle when I was asleep.

Is that the same thing?

[RainDog]

22. hunny bunny

:spank:

[Xipe Totec]

17. My nickname in High School was Mandrake

because I taught myself to hypnotize other people.

Strangely enough, I've never been hypnotized myself; I'm too paranoid to give that much control away.

[RainDog]

25. But you don't lose control, right Mandrake?

hey, you know about mandrake roots, right? Those witches and those wanton orgies... maybe that's where the name came from? Tho witches all glassy-eyed with blisssss.

:)

[Xipe Totec]

32. Mandragora officinarum

The mandrake, Mandragora officinarum, is a plant called by the Arabs luffâh, or beid el-jinn ("djinn's eggs").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandrake_(plant)

[DS1]

18. no, but I have woken up with needles in my eyes before

[RainDog]

26. are you sure it wasn't an anal probe?

I thought aliens did stuff like that... or install satellite dishes in upper rectomia.

btw, you do know that aliens are evolved cats, don't you? just look at that face.

[BlueIris]

19. I had some *exxxxxcellent* energy healing done this year and last.

It was very helpful to me. While I have no proof that it was related to the healing, a condition I have had for 5 years disappeared a few months after the first session (not serious, but also not diagnosable and therefore not treatable and a major irritation for me). So HELL, yes I would and will get more work done if necessary. It may not be, though, ever. My healer is quite skilled at what she does.

[RainDog]

27. what is energy healing?

like releasing pent up body stuff? was it hypno or accu?

[BlueIris]

35. The work I had done was kinda like a high octane type of Reiki.

Which is kinda like acupuncture without the needles...kinda. Hopefully some Reiki people here can explain the difference between Reiki and acupuncture.

[RainDog]

36. I know reiki

I've had a reiki massage before. it was a while ago, tho. and also an accu-pressure massage. They were both great. I didn't associate them with healing, beyond sore muscles and stress.

[graywarrior]

20. Mr. Gray is a hypnotherapist

I've seen amazing result with some of his clients

[RainDog]

21. does he work over the phone?

actually, is that even possible?

[graywarrior]

30. Yes, he does.

With good success.

[nuxvomica]

31. I had an odd experience with self-hypnosis many years ago

My dentist scheduled me to have a back molar removed because it was beyond repair. I had been experimenting with self-hypnosis and for two weeks before the extraction I hypnotized myself and visualized the tooth "getting better" because I wasn't happy about losing it. The extraction happened anyway but the dentist was surprised that the tooth had started growing another root that hadn't appeared on the x-ray.

[RainDog]

33. wow.

that is wild. and wonderful.

I had a friend long ago who worked in the ICU of the hospital where they have to let everyone get treatment and when it was slow... well, a couple of times I went there and she hooked me up to an ekg and I could make my heart speed up or slow down with visualizing stuff. but that's about all I can think of that was like that.

[nuxvomica]

34. I can't claim that hypnosis somehow urged the tooth to grow

because it may have just been a coincidence. But the whole mind-body dynamic is worthy of study. The book that served as my guide is an old one by Leslie LeCron called "Self Hypnotism".

[qb]

38. I tried acupuncture once but I don't think the woman knew what she was doing...

Every needle hurt. She said that sensation was the "chi". Yeah right. It didn't help me, but I don't knock those who have had good results.

[dembotoz]

40. some experience with hypnosis

first wife had leukemia.
With leukemia you get bone marrow aspirations which are extremely painful.
Due to reduced lung capacity(long story), my Barbara was unable to be snowed for the bone marrow.
I used to have to hold her hand while she screamed when they did it. (Remains the worse days of my life and I have had a number of really bad days)
Eventually they tried hypnosis. Worked amazingly well. Got written up in some medical journal.
Alas, my Barbara died, but the hypnosis worked.

[LynzM]

41. I have had accupuncture but never hypnosis

Accupuncture was for anxiety and treating GI upset after too much wine. Worked well in both cases (I have a friend at work who is trained in it, so she did them for me at work, lucky me!)

[arthritisR_US]

42. I have used self-hypnosis to eradicate pain and there is nothing else

that even remotely compared to it in effectiveness (for me anyway), Self-hypnosis, in essence is meditation and I cannot overstate what a boon it has been for me. I have also used acupuncture both for myself and my pet to great success. Never done self-acupuncture. (Note: my experience has been if you want to get pain down to a tolerable level use pain medications but if one wants to eradicate pain use meditation and/or acupuncture.)