Hypnotherapy

When we’re ill, we usually know that whatever it is will run its course and we’ll get over things in time. And how much of a relief is it when we finally start to feel like ourselves again?

You’ll also know that when you’re living with long term health conditions, you don’t always have that luxury of moving closer towards the former, fit and well you again. In fact, the former you can seem well and truly lost somewhere.

Whatever you are living with, remember this: you are more than a diagnosis. So much more.

• If you had blue eyes before your diagnosis, you still have blue eyes.
• If you had a favourite song before your diagnosis, you probably still have that favourite song.
• If you used to like fish and chips before your diagnosis, you probably still like fish and chips.
• If you used to like watching a match before your diagnosis, you probably still like watching a match.
• If you were a talented artist before your diagnosis, you probably still are a talented artist.

The logistics of life may be more challenging now. Singing might seem frivolous for some reason. Your taste buds might be a bit off, or your tum can’t quite cope with the same foods nowadays. Travelling to the match might be uncomfortable or seemingly impossible. You might not have the patience to sit painting for too long.

But those things are part of you – what makes you, you – and have been for longer than that diagnosis. And you have the right to reclaim a little bit of you. To live in harmony with your diagnosis. And to even ease certain aspects of living with it.

Hypnotherapy cannot cure chronic health conditions and to say differently would be untrue and unethical of course. Hypnotherapy is a complementary therapy that works alongside traditional, clinical care. What it may help with, is easing the anxiety around living with your condition. Reduced anxiety can lead to a reduction in stress-inducing chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, both of which are linked to increased inflammation in the body. And reduced anxiety can also lead to increased levels of chemicals, such as serotonin and dopamine, that stimulate feelings of positivity, comfort and happiness in us.

You might be looking for a list of possible conditions to see if you are eligible in some way to find support here. Remember though, you are more than a diagnosis – and so there isn’t really a definitive list of ‘eligibility’.

Hypnotherapy for IBS has been recommended by the UK National Health Service’s NICE Guidelines as a valid option in working with this condition, though you might find that this is only a part of what you are dealing with and perhaps your main concern is something else entirely. The impact of living with your diagnosis might be so overwhelming that you don’t really know where to start.

And that really is OK. You don’t need to know every tiny detail of what needs to change. Knowing that you want change is a wonderful starting point.

Pain. It can stop you in your tracks.

A new injury can take time to heal and a significant injury can turn your life upside down, even if you know you’re meant to be getting better.

At first, people may be sympathetic to a new injury or a new condition, though as time goes on, we can begin to worry that we’re becoming a nuisance or that others think we’re putting it on.

Worse still, we can end up carrying around the idea of pain being ‘all in our head’ and that we should just ‘get a grip’ and deal with it. In short, we can feel like we’re losing control.

Let’s think about the mechanics of pain – and bear with me on this – because once we realise how pain is processed, we can begin to appreciate that there are things that can be done to manage the pain using hypnotherapy.

Pain is processed in the brain, even though the source of the pain might be far away, like in a leg, or the back.

Generally, pain signals are sent up to the brain to be interpreted: think of that brain as an old-fashioned telephone exchange that works out what kind of pain is rocking up, because there are a few different kinds of sensations that it needs to make sense of.

There are some important sets of fibres that send different messages to the brain:

1. C Fibres.

These fibres chug away slowly, taking the pain messages of chronic (long term) pain to the brain, for example, messages about long term back pain. (Think ‘C’ for ‘Chronic’.) Often (but not always), chronic pain is nagging, aching, dull and rather spread out.

2. A Fibres.

These fibres are fast and speedily take the pain messages of acute (new) pain to the brain. They have to be fast to tell us there is a current danger and it enables us to remove ourselves from the cause, such as standing on a pin. When those A fibres kick in, we’d forget about our back pain, because the new injury takes priority. So, here’s an example of the brain overriding and suppressing the chronic pain. (Think ‘A’ for ‘Acute’.) Often, acute pain is sharp, pointed, burning and is in a fairly specific place.

3. A Delta Fibres.

These fibres are super-fast and whizz messages up to the brain. Only, these messages are not necessarily for pain, but for the sensations that we might feel if we rub our skin, such as rubbing our foot after standing on that pin. And because these fibres are faster than the simple A fibres, their messages get to the brain quicker, blocking out the pain that we would feel from the injury – and from that back ache.

Contact me to see how we can work together.

So, we can see that certain natural responses can intercept chronic pain. We know too, that we can also override and suppress pain with the production of natural endorphins that we generate when we exercise. Soldiers in battle may not initially feel injuries because the dramatic fight or flight response outweighs the need to recognise the pain at that point. And of course, we can also interrupt pain signals when we have those sunshine neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, flowing around.

Interestingly, those chronic pain messages are processed in a part of the brain that’s also responsible for the fight, fight or freeze reflex. So when we are struggling with ongoing pain, it’s understandable that our mood might be affected as a result, as that same area is in overdrive!

And how then, can Hypnotherapy help me with my pain?

New, undiagnosed pain (acute) needs to be reviewed by a doctor, as does ongoing, undiagnosed (chronic) pain.

We know that new pain has a purpose: to alert you to a new threat to your body, so that you can do something about it. Generally though, in the case of chronic pain, we already know what the problem is, and the presence of pain tends not to serve a useful purpose (of course, worsening of the pain may mean that further medical support is required).

Hypnotherapy can support us to cope with the ongoing impact of pain on our lives.

Pain should not define who you are. You are far more than a diagnosis. We work with you, as a whole person, rather than just seeing you as a condition or injury.

As with all Solution Focused Hypnotherapy, we work together to consider and reclaim your future, to express and work towards the new future that you want. In addition to this, we also use specific strategies that help you to manage the pain. Our work together deals naturally with overriding those pain fibres and offering you a more comfortable, peaceful and fulfilling future.

Contact me to see how we can work together.

So, last month we focused on women’s health – and in particular, supporting people with endometriosis.

You may have heard that March is Endometriosis Action Month.

I like this title because it’s not just an ‘Awareness’ month: it’s an ‘Action’ month. The focus being, getting things done.

Endometriosis UK is leading some of the action in the UK. In Endometriosis Action Month, there is an enormous range of powerful activities that we can get involved in, such as:

• Sharing your story – whether you are an endo (or adenomyosis) sufferer, or you are supporting someone who is.
• Writing to your MP – lobby the heart of government for better services.
• Raise funds and awareness, through Tea for Endo / The 1 in 10 Challenge / Go Yellow / Donating.
• Attend virtual and in-person events involving politicians and guest speakers from Westminster, Scotland and Wales.
• Attend an Endo march in either Leeds, Glasgow or Cardiff.* (Details to be confirmed.)

And this is not just a UK event – it’s a global affair.

If you can’t make an event in person, why not attend The Worldwide Virtual Endo March on Saturday, March 25^th ?

And then that leaves us with how to cope on a day-to-day level.

Of course, the big events are so important, but what happens to help us deal with:

• Feelings of guilt, embarrassment or not being believed?
• Diagnosis and navigating the medical world?
• Pain?
• Facing surgery?
• The surgery itself?
• Recovering from surgery?
• Life after surgery?

Who can we turn to?

In our hypnotherapy work together, we can address:

• Recognition of how much you are really going through – with compassion, support and total trust.
• Reclaiming who we are – because we are so much more than a diagnosis.
• Coping with diagnosis and having confidence when navigating officialdom, as well as dealing with life as a whole.
• Pain management.
• Ways forward when living with endo and adenomyosis.
• Preparation for surgery.
• Strategies for post-op recovery and healing.

Contact me to see how we can work together.

And now. Let’s talk about women’s health.

Gents – you’re soooo invited to listen in as well.

After all, for every chap we have out there, we have a mum, a nan, a sister, an auntie, a daughter, a granddaughter… You are so very important in their care.

I know, you might be saying: but there’s a lot of attention on women’s health just at the moment.

Good! Exactly as it should be.

And we need more!

What exactly is ‘Women’s Health?

First off then, what do we mean exactly when we say: ‘Women’s Health’?

Well, we can mean those messy, painful periods that crop up each month. Ever since we were little girls. Imagine that. Children as young as 10 years old coping with the embarrassment of bleeding every single month, worrying about leaking through underwear or clothes. Or the pain of heavy, heavy periods that sometimes mean you can’t even stand up because it’s so excruciating. And these little girls are often told that it’s just their body adjusting – only for many of them, those little girls grow up to become women who are still in pain, still haemorrhaging each month (and more often for many) and worrying about how it affects their life.

• 🌻Pain from periods is not acceptable.
• 🌻Since when did we accept that pain is OK?
• 🌻Since when did we say that our girls and women should just put up with it?

Those monthly periods are the body’s way of getting rid of tissue (endometrial cells) that has built up inside the uterus in preparation for a possible pregnancy, so that the fertilised embryo has a place to grow. But this pain can also be a sign that other,  more sinister, things are going on.

Endometriosis

For reasons that are not yet understood (because of limited research), that tissue from the uterus can be deposited on all sorts of other places in a woman, such as the outside of the uterus, the ovaries, the bowel and the bladder. This is Endometriosis. It can even get into the chest or brain. Although they shouldn’t be there, those cells still behave as they would do inside the uterus: they swell, causing even more pain, and fill with blood, but the blood has nowhere to go – so it’s stuck there, causing more problems. The severity of this disease can vary, but the impact on the other structures can be devastating. Ovarian cysts might develop – sometimes, huge ones – and things get twisted and stuck together. Fertility can certainly be compromised. An ugly, miserable, agonising mess of a once beautiful structure.

• 🌻1 in 10 women worldwide suffer with Endometriosis.
• 🌻That’s about 176 million of our girls and women.
• 🌻It can take an enormous 7-8 years before diagnosis.

And the pain? Well, that’s more than a bit of abdominal cramping. Or a bit of back ache.

Hot water bottles and paracetamol do nothing.

Depending on the severity of Endometriosis, this pain can be crippling, excruciating, burning, twisting, dagger-like, poker-like, vice-like, like being wrapped in barbed wire, like being sawn in half… the horrendous descriptions go on and on.

Alongside everything else, women might also seek comfort by shifting positions, such as being curled in a ball or getting on all fours – as a former A+E nurse, we associated this position with the terrible colic-style pain of kidney stones, generally considered to be one of the worst kinds of pain to experience, in a man or woman.

To ease this terrible condition, women might have surgery to remove the Endometriosis deposits, though all too often this has to be repeated because they’ve grown back there or elsewhere. Each surgery raises the risk of adhesions, where layers of tissues stick together, add to the pain and reduce function.

… And then, since no cure or definitive treatment is available, some women – young women – resort to hysterectomy. Not just removal of the uterus, but removal of the fallopian tubes and ovaries as well. And it might help to ease the pain, but only if every single tiny deposit of endometriosis has been removed at the same time.

So, you must be cured now. Off you pop! But hang on – any help out there as you play a very slow catch up with your life and watch everyone else nurture the little family that you are now denied? Hmmm.

It’s not just Endometriosis of course.

That tissue we’ve been talking about can infiltrate the muscle inside the uterus and cause adenomyosis.

More pain. More fertility issues.

And what about Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), Fibroids, Prolapsed Uterus, not to mention our dear friend, the Menopause? And how about the mental health concerns that accompany all of these conditions?

It can all sound so grim.

Recent surveys suggest that 84% of women do not feel listened to regarding their feminine health and that medical specialists admit that “Health services miss opportunities to ask the right questions, prevent illness and ensure the best outcomes for girls and women.[1]

And sadly, only 8% of women feel they have enough access to information about gynae issues.[2]

So – Question:

What else can be done to support:

• Women who are struggling with gynae conditions?
• Women who are likely to face gynae surgery or gynae procedures?
• Women who are recovering from gynae surgery or gynae procedures?
• People who are supporting loved ones through this process?

Answer:

Let me share some reasons why hypnotherapy can do so much for you!

• It helps you to understand what is happening in your mind and your body – and to learn how the mind DIRECTLY influences how your body works.
• It allows you to accept that you are not a fraud, that you’re not weak, that you don’t need to just pull yourself together, thank you very much.
• It helps you take back control from that bossy brain and its effects on your body – yes, really! It’s a thing.
• It offers you calmness and peace.
• It can help create a joyful little rewiring of your brain (neuroplasticity) so that it becomes more positive and helpful to you.
• It can help lower the release of angry chemicals (the boo hiss neurotransmitters) in your body – and these are the ones that increase your perception of pain.
• It can help raise the release of lovely, happy chemicals (the sunshine neurotransmitters) in your body that make you feel brighter.
• And when you feel brighter, these sunshine neurotransmitters have a significant role in healing and recovery.

If you or someone you love is suffering, don’t struggle alone.

There is help, compassion and love out there. Contact me or head over to my lovely Blossom Club on Facebook for more support.

The Blossom Club: hypnotherapy support for women’s gynae health | Facebook

Contact me to see how we can work together.

[1] Better for Women – Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, December 2019:

[2] Women’s Health – Let’s Talk Survey – published Dec 2021

So – off it went, just like that. 2022. Ta-ra cocker. See ya. I bid you adieu.

And now it’s time to wish you a very happy New Year!

I know, it’s a bit of a cliché isn’t it, thrown around casually and liberally at a time when we may have had enough of the Christmas madness. But this really is the most genuine and warmest wish of happiness for the New Year. Because every single one of us is entitled to a bit of happiness. No matter who we are.

It’s true that some of us feel we don’t really deserve to be happy: we may not feel good enough, caring enough, clever enough, attractive enough, rich enough, successful enough, famous enough, that we’ve struggled enough, that we’ve not struggled enough … the list goes on.

We might even compare ourselves to others who look sooo much happier than we do, doomscrolling those shiny, happy people on Insta and Tik Tok. Result? It makes us more miserable.

But – whoever we are, happiness is our right. We don’t need to justify it. Ever.

Remember those lovely neurotransmitters from our last blog? Well, we have a more abundant source of these when we are happy. We are sick less often and, when we are, we heal faster. Confidence levels increase and we are likely to be more energetic, logical, creative and productive.

So what might make us happier? Maybe we think getting rid of things might do it.

If only we weren’t so anxious; if only we weren’t so unfit; if only we weren’t in a rubbish job.

Look again. What we’re actually wishing for is a list of things that focuses on the problems.

Let’s flip this, so that we focus on the solutions.

If only we felt confident; if only we felt fitter; if only we were in a better job.

Brilliant! Now we can start making a difference – because we know what we want, not what we don’t want!

And so the next step is to work out how.

What little steps can we make to work towards that wonderful goal that you’ve identified?

Let’s work together and walk together in little steps towards a truly happy New Year.

You deserve it.

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.” —Helen Keller

Contact me to see how we can work together.

Fa-la-la-la-laa-la-la-la-la.

At this very festive time of year, my dear Yuletide friends, it’s good to know that we can set about all manner of Christmas merriment: put our feet up in those lovely, oversized and bobbly socks with the wobbly-eyed reindeer, quaff a cheeky cup or two of something very merry indeed, scoff more than our bodyweight in mince pies and melt down to watch a curiously heated World Cup or failing that, ‘Love Actually’ on repeat – or better still, ‘Nativity’.

But we all know that said Christmas rituals might be a bit trickier this year, for all the reasons we could all reel off – and for reasons that you might hold personal to you.

Yet, something we can all do, and that makes most of us feel a little better, is to have a good read of, or even a good listen to, a story. A nice Christmas story at that.

Our brain really, really likes pleasant diversions, such as stories, chatting and laughter. They generate those warm and fuzzy feelgood juices such as serotonin and dopamine. Snuggling up alongside someone special as we do this gives us a nice extra helping of our very own love potion, oxytocin. (Actually, if we’re being technical, they’re all just chemicals in our bodies, called neurotransmitters, and they are brilliant at promoting mentally healthy behaviour and staving off anxieties and worries.)

You know how it works. Yes, you do, honestly. You know when you’re sore, or worried about something, or really tired and you go and put something really funny on the telly, or you happen to laugh at a silly joke – you don’t feel sore, or worried, or really tired at the same time. Thank your lucky, lovely neurotransmitters, that’s what I say.

So, alongside the Eggnog, why not stock up on the feelgood juices? Have a little read of something. Have a little watch of something. Have a little listen to something.

And for those of us who think – hang on, it’s just time wasted when I could be ticking things off the festive to-do list, remember that brain of ours need down time. It really does need it. It’s brainy maintenance time when it posts little brainy post-it notes about what needs to be done. In fact, when we are resting, parts of our brain are more active than if we were working on complex mathematical problems.

Go on, give it a rest.

Contact me to see how we can work together.

Be strong, they say. Man up, they say.

Look strong. Look after the family. Look forward to the future.

Look like we’ve got this life business in the bag.

But the truth is, we don’t all have this life business in the bag. In fact, for some of us, the bag’s a bit ripped. Actually, for some of us, there’s a huge hole in that bag and life is spilling out all over the place. What’s more, we’re really good at making do and mending that bag, scooping up the mess and stuffing it back inside. We’re so very good at it, that people might not notice the huge efforts we’re going to, to a) repeatedly stuff things back in the bag and b) to cover up what we’re doing. Eventually, that bag just seems beyond repair and everything comes tumbling and rumbling out:  keeping control of our life becomes too much and the whole thing seems impossible.

Life for too many of us became too much in 2021: in England and Wales, 5,224 people were registered as having taken their own lives. Suicides in England and Wales – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

I prefer not to say ‘suicide’ because the ‘cide’ bit, like in ‘homicide’ or ‘regicide’, has unhelpful, archaic connections with murder and the ‘sui’ bit means ‘oneself’ – as if it’s still a crime against oneself, when in fact, it is the last act of someone who believes there are no obvious other choices left available to them. That flimsy bag just could not hold their life together anymore.

And we may already know that ending one’s own life is the biggest cause of death in men under the age of 50. Indeed, around three quarters of people who take their own lives are men. It’s a dark and insidious pattern that has persisted since the mid 1990s.  Every single one of the stories of these people is a terrible tragedy. But let’s think about that again. Three quarters are men. Men. Men with partners, children, siblings, friends, stories, roles in society; men with bad jokes, favourite football teams, favourite pizzas, favourite jumpers, feelings, histories – and interrupted futures.

And even though we live in a world where traditional social and family roles are evolving, there is still a sense that men may feel that they cannot be weak (whatever ‘weak’ is), cannot show weakness, cannot speak out, cannot be seen to be losing control. In April 2022, the Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, who knows the utter desperation of losing a brother who ended his own life, ran a national consultation, inviting the public to contribute to a discussion around mental health and how to improve its services: tellingly, at one point, just 19% of respondents were male. Men urged to talk about mental health to prevent suicide – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Whilst men, like any of us, will experience challenges in life, their response strategies may be different.

Men keep quiet. Men try and sort things themselves, rather than access support. Maybe because of the expectations of society. It’s worth noting that only 36% of referrals to talking therapies are for men. Men and mental health | Mental Health Foundation

But men may also give out little signs that things aren’t OK. Quieter than usual. Rattier than usual. More impulsive. More explosive. Or the other way: gone off food. Gone off sex. Gone off sport. Changes matter.

There is help. I’ll repeat that. There is help. Help that’s available to us all, whatever gender.

And that help is there for when things seem just a bit tricky early on. When the little rip starts to show in that bag.

It’s also there when things are tumbling out of that bag uncontrollably – but why wait until then?

September 10^th marks World Suicide Prevention Day – led by The World Health Organisation, with their declaration of “Creating Hope through Action”.

If you are struggling with your mental wellbeing, or if you think someone else is struggling, please – seek help and seek it early.

Create hope through action.

Samaritan’s – World Suicide Prevention Day

World Health Organisation -World Suicide Prevention Day

Samaritans: 116 123

James’ Place: Text SHOUT to 85258

Papyrus: 0800 068 4141

CALM: 0800 58 58 58

If U Care Share: 0191 387 5661

Men’s Sheds: 0300 772 9626

Contact me to see how we can work together.

Hello and the warmest of welcomes to Phil Noone Hypnotherapy.

Firstly, let’s be clear that my website, my blog and my work is about you. Not me. Not my interests. Not my favourite jolly hols or footy team. You. And I’ll say it again because you are so important: it’s all about you.

Chances are, you’re here because you’re a bit curious about what hypnotherapy is. You might be here because you’re looking for a way to work on certain areas of your life. Or you might be considering how you can help members of your team or workforce. And it’s right to do your homework about this exciting and life changing work.

So, let’s put things in perspective. You are seeking ways to do some maintenance on nature’s finest feat of engineering: the human mind. Well, that sounds like a big ask.

But, when you think about it, we don’t hesitate to book the car into the garage to fill up, sort out the tyres or even pencil it in for a cheeky valet. So, we’re happy to look after the hardware.

When you think about it, we don’t necessarily hesitate too much to book ourselves in for a new hairdo – perhaps add that perfect colour, maybe splash out on those luscious lashes, big up the brows and glitz up those nails? So, we’re happy to look after the outer-ware.

When you think about it, we might find ourselves planning perfect meals, counting calories and devouring Tik Tok diets and recipes so that we look after the inner-ware.

And then, the obvious question is: if we are prepared to look after so many other areas of our life, why do we delay in looking after Wellbeing Central? Our brain. Our mind. Nature’s finest feat of engineering …

And another question is: when we do look after our cars, looks, diet – what’s the return on that investment? Short lived explosion of happiness or long term contentment?

We all know Wellbeing Central matters. You matter. Come on in and let me help guide you to a new and exciting future.

Click here to learn more about the lovely, positive influence of my Solution Focused Hypnotherapy.

Contact me for a chat about how we can move forward together.

Contact me to see how we can work together.