Parkinsons disease

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Permalink Reply by Michael Ellner on November 1, 2008 at 6:26pm

Hi Jules,

I worked as a stress management/relaxation educator/coach for 100's of people that were in various Alternative, (non-drug) study groups that were medically supervised by some of doctors who ran the Medical/Wellness Center that I was working in.

One such client, had Parkinson's. He suffered from severe hand tremors and was trying an Alternative approach at the Center. He told me that the intense "shakes" were better than the hellish side-effects of the medicines that he had tried. He was excited about trying "ozone," detoxifying and the nutritional approach he was now taking to treating his Parkinson's.

During our session - I started guiding him in and out of trances as part of teaching him self-hypnosis. I quickly noticed that his hand stopped shaking, every time he slipped into trance. I watched it for several minutes and his hand was steady as a rock when he was in trance.

I had him stay in trance and open his eyes. I matter of factly, asked him to notice that his hand had stopped shaking, the look on his face was one of total surprise -- I immediately asked him to close his eyes and to continue to enjoy being in trance....

I then suggested that as he develops mastery in relaxation, self-hypnosis, and utlitizing the amazing powers of his mind and brain he would discover that his practice has a wide range of physical benefits...

Two days later he told me that he had a 50% reduction of the shaking - That afternoon, he had an adverse reaction to his ozone treatment and didn't like the way the supervising doctor handled it. He left the study -- cutting ties with every one who worked in the Center, including me...

I mention this because - you might want to explore the possibility that states of profound relaxation can change his brain in a way that automatically stops the tremors -- and work from that angle...

Just thinking out loud...


The following snippet is from the NCCAM overview of Mind-Body Medicine. The entire document is an excellent resource and can be found at: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/backgrounds/mindbody.htm

Snip
Physiology of Expectancy (Placebo Response)

Placebo effects are believed to be mediated by both cognitive and conditioning mechanisms. Until recently, little was known about the role of these mechanisms in different circumstances. Now, research has shown that placebo responses are mediated by conditioning when unconscious physiological functions such as hormonal secretion are involved, whereas they are mediated by expectation when conscious physiological processes such as pain and motor performance come into play, even though a conditioning procedure is carried out.
Positron emission tomography (PET) scanning of the brain is providing evidence of the release of the endogenous neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain of Parkinson's disease patients in response to placebo.15 Evidence indicates that the placebo effect in these patients is powerful and is mediated through activation of the nigrostriatal dopamine system, the system that is damaged in Parkinson's disease. This result suggests that the placebo response involves the secretion of dopamine, which is known to be important in a number of other reinforcing and rewarding conditions, and that there may be mind-body strategies that could be used in patients with Parkinson's disease in lieu of or in addition to treatment with dopamine-releasing drugs.
Unsnip-

Warmest regards,

Michael E.

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Permalink Reply by Jules Leeb on November 1, 2008 at 11:06pm

Thanks,
What you have described Is exactly what I experienced in this patient . He was aware of the fact that the tremor had stopped and was delighted . I have taught him self hypnosis and the tremor stops as soon as he enters a deep trance.

I will give him suggestions to increase the dopamine levels at a subconscious level during our next session.

Regards,
Jules

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Permalink Reply by Stephen Gruber - www. ask-the-hypnotist.com on November 2, 2008 at 3:21am

Thank you Michael for this informative and excellent post.
Stephen

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Permalink Reply by Andreas Tenhagen on November 8, 2009 at 3:04am

Now the community of experienced hypnotist is now over 4000 members.

Maybe some new members, some new insights?

What do you think of a regression, might it work?

@ Jules, what are your results with hypnotical increase of the dopamin level?

I wonder how that is possible. To influence the bloodpressure or heartrate okay. But how can I hypnotically influence the substantia nigra.

Greetings

Andreas

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Ingle on November 9, 2009 at 9:50am

I have worked with a Client who Had Parkinson's Disease and with pretty successful outcomes. using Hypnosis is the ability to have your mind be able to do anything you BELIEVE it can. I started out with making the clients arms stiff and rigid because they was shaking so badly they could not even hold a glass of water up to their mouth. Then while in trance I had them open their eyes and notice how Their arms were Calm and Still.. Then I did a transfer to the other parts of the body. I also give them an Anchor to take with them so they could fire off the trigger when they started getting Stressed and began to start Shaking again. This worked for me with my Client... Each Individual is different but I know it starts with the Belief system.

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Permalink Reply by Seth-Deborah Roth on March 18, 2011 at 9:49am

In addition ......( and I do mean in addition )...I  add the practicing of looking straight ahead when walking. It takes focus but the clients I have had with Parkinson's have done well with this.

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