05/02/2021
Just a few weeks ago, we had this patient who was also due for chemo. Hours prior to his first chemotherapy, he was constantly vomiting despite the help from the nurses. It was pretty bad because this patient had vomited 3 times in an hour. This was a huge concern for us nurses because if the other sick patients hear him vomiting, they may end up having the urge to vomit as well. I’m pretty sure we all have been there ourselves, the sound of it can sometimes be extremely contagious.
At that time, I was extremely busy with other patients and this particular patient wasn’t directly under my care, but my colleague’s. Because of how severe things were, I've decided to step in help. I asked if the patient have heard of hypnotherapy and he quickly replied “yes”. Since he already knows what hypnotherapy and hypnosis roughly is, I offered him a quick 5-minute session to control his vomiting temporarily.
Without hesitation I jumped right into the routine, put him in a relaxed state, and gave him the necessary suggestions verbally that will help him control his vomiting for the time being. Right after, I went back to attend to the other patients (it was one of the most hectic days, it was crazy!)
After everything was under control on my side, I took a couple of minutes to check up on the patient I've attended to earlier with hypnotherapy. To my relief, he was already eating the food his wife had brought him. Still find it pretty cool till this day though, considering how quickly his vomiting was brought under control. Even the medications given to him did not suppress his vomiting, and all it took was 5-6 minutes of hypnotherapy to keep things under control.
He went on to have his chemotherapy later and experienced mild side effects such as bloating and apparently, my colleagues told me he didn’t feel discomfort out of the ordinary. Til’ this day, he’s still under treatment and thankfully, doing well.
The point of my message? Hypnotherapy is not something scary like the ones you see in the movies. It’s a proven therapy that will help with real medical conditions. In fact, Hypnotherapy has the exact same goal as counseling, psychiatric treatment and all other psychotherapy treatments, and that is to help the patients overcome their mental challenges.
