Hypnosis

[Stinky1953]

Has anyone tried hypnosis to control their AF. I was talking to a hypnotherapist this evening who tells me its possible to control heart rhythm with hypnosis.

[Hidden]

Never, but as I have Vagally mediated Lone AF I wouldn't rule it out. I know hypnosis from the right professional could help as I nearly set off an AF episode simply by revisiting a place where I had a bad episode before I had been diagnosed. Personally, I think I would only go there if all other lifestyle matters had been addressed and I felt it was only my mind holding me back.

[Stinky1953 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you.

[Hidden]

Hi, yes I have used hypnosis for various things over the last 10 years. It helped me enormously during and after chemotherapy to come to terms with what was happening to me. So when I was diagnosed with A/F 15 months ago I again had a few sessions. It enabled me to accept what was happening and calm my fears. Which in turn calmed down my symptoms. I would have no hesitation recommending it but please find a really good therapist who you can trust. I still return to it at times via phone apps. anything that calms you down such as meditation, mindfull ness will help. Anxiety and fear make everything worse.

Hope this had helped hope your feeling a bit better soon

Sue x

[Stinky1953 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Sue. I'm generally not anxious about my AF these days thanks to all the advice on here, but I may well give it a try. I'm 17 days post ablation and my HR is 95 whereas it should be about 50 so waiting patiently for it to settle down.

[Hidden in reply to Stinky1953]

Hi , I can't comment re Ablation as I haven't had to have one yet. We can only try to make life better for ourselves and in my book anything not drug related can only be good. I absolutely hate being on medication. I hate the side affects of always being tired. Split and peeling nails and a battle with weight that I never used to have.

If you do decide to have a go please let me know how you get on. As others have said it's not for everyone, it suited me and I was very receptive, but I always feel in control.

Good luck and keep well

Sue

[Thomps95]

It might help triggers like stress or panic attacks. But atrial fibrillation is thought to be a physical abnormality in the function of the heart, rather than psychogenic in origin. Hypnosis is unlikely to benefit things like: (a) catecholamine excess, (b) hemodynamic stress, (c) atrial ischemia, (d) atrial inflammation, (e) neurohumoral cascade activation - and other factors thought to underlie AF. But I could see it helping to reduce psychological- emotional triggers.

The only caveat is that very few people are capable of being hypnotized. It takes exceptional cognitive control and imagination to be hypnotized - the rare individuals who have the skill to be hypnotised are referred to as "virtuosi" in the literature (Sue above?). They seem to have a natural and exceptional capacity to use their imaginations to work with a hypnotist, so together they achieve outcomes. I've tried it, and I'm just not very susceptible and nor are most people. So you might end up just sitting there feeling a bit bored and relaxed.

[rosyG in reply to Thomps95]

While I agree it's not a normal function of the heart, AF occurs in perfectly normal heart structures- best not to let everyone believe they have an abnormal heart structure because they have AF??

[Thomps95 in reply to rosyG]

Thanks Rosy! Yes I agree. Best to use less alarming terms (have adjusted). Now, on the one hand, if there was nothing in the heart to "correct", ablation wouldn't work. On the other, AF is just one end of a continuum of normal heart function, and everyone has a threshold for going into AF. Our thresholds are just lower. For those without major co-morbidities - I still see it as a non-optimal balance between electrical pathways and heart structure, but I guess there are different ways to conceptualize the problem

[Stinky1953 in reply to Thomps95]

Thomps thanks for your reply. You've had me searching Google to understand some of it which is no bad thing. I'll let you know how I get on.

[MarkSewell in reply to Thomps95]

I disagree with the statement that very few people are capable of being hypnotized. The studies done only indicate that very few could be hypnotized, with that method, that particular track, that particular induction, on that particular day. These were all done with hypnosis tracks (I understand why, to standardize the outcome - but hypnosis work is very individual). In my experience, it is more like a bell curve and the hypnotist needs to be able to calibrate the client and adjust accordingly. 20% seem to go into hypnosis very quickly, 60% take a bit of time, and 20% take multiple sessions to be able to achieve any kind of workable depth. Going into hypnosis is a skill that you get better at with practice (this was the case with me; I was in that 20% very difficult but got better with practice, even though I had little problem getting others into trance).

As far as hypnosis working for afib, I don't know. I know that I have seen some crazy things that I had no idea would work. I can't see the harm in trying it with someone who is experienced. If you can tell me what part of the country you are in @stinky1953 then I will see if I can refer you to someone well qualified. Of course, any ethical hypnotist will ask for your physician to sign off on such a treatment prior to any sessions. This is for your protection as well as theirs.

[Thomps95 in reply to MarkSewell]

Great point, and as you imply it depends on level of susceptibility. If you're talking about observable behavioural responses accompanied by an experience that your responses to hypnotic suggestion are involuntary - it's really rare and resistant to training. But there are "lenient" tests, like when you're told you're getting sleepy and you eventually decide to close your eyes, or when you hold out two arms & it's suggested one "seems" heavier, and you agree. Lots of people have those minor levels of suggestibility. But for a select few, hypnosis can result in deep, experientially involuntary actions and perceptual consequences. For example, it might be suggested there is a "stranger" in the mirror; when the subject looks in the mirror they literally don't recognise their own reflection! Such hypnotic responses are very rare, but the benefits of hypnosis for AF might not require such deep, experientially involuntary states.

[Hidden]

If you think it might work, it may well do. If it doesn't, nothing lost except a few quid.

If they can induce calm and relaxation into your head, this must be beneficial. But I don't think you should regard it as overriding all the physical things you need to avoid and do, i.e. because you have been hyptnotised you can go drink a bottle of wine and have a large meal followed by chocolate pudding 😁.

Like Thomps, I don't think I can be hypnotised as I tried it when I was young and nothing happened.

Do let us know how you get on.

Koll

[Stinky1953 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Koll. I've never tried hypnotism so have no idea if I'm susceptible or not. I'll let you know how I get on.

[sleeksheep]

I have had great success with hypnosis for anxiety which has helped relieve the stress of AFIB but as Thomps95 has pointed out you have to be susceptible to hypnotic suggestion .

It may slow the heart but doubtful I would be able to control rhythm.

I am a lucid dreamer (top 5% for hypnosis en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid... ) and only needed two sessions before I could control my anxiety - in fact I fell asleep before my last cardioversion by using auto suggestion before the anesthetist arrived.

It cant change any physical response (ie.alcohol ,food sensitivity ) but it does allow the conscious mind to relate/interact with the subconscious and through the power of suggestion by the conscious mind you can over ride debilitating subconscious thoughts.

[momist]

Ahh. Thomps just explained _why_ I'm a sceptic when it comes to hypnotism. What a pity. It is probably not the best test, but a stage hypnotist gave up on me right at the beginning of his show when he asked me to play a musical instrument, and I couldn't 'go along' with it, as I thought all the others on the stage were doing.

However, my AF I believe, so far, is triggered by mental stress coupled to physical exertion. I have no recognition of anything else listed by Koll acting as a trigger in my case. I tend to anxious about everything these days. Maybe I should reconsider and give hypnotism a try?

Please let us know how you get on with it Stinky1953.

[horseblister]

I had hypnotism for Asthma back in 1969 while I was in hospital. It was thought that through the hypnosis I would forget all the stressful things that had brought on really bad Asthma attacks, but all it did do was eliminate part of the problem and I forgot a lot of things that I did not want to forget. The Asthma did not improve and I was put on steroids which I am still taking to the annoyance of some drs. I hope you have better luck.

[JuliaJa]

I've helped myself with hypnosis. I bought the book called, Hypnotize yourself AsYou Read. You read a script from the book, or write your own script. It only takes about 15 minutes. I did the script, Stop Stressing Out, and my AFib events decreased. I also bought his book called, More Instant Self Hypnosis. I think Amazon sells it and there are reviews. It's worth a try.

[Thomps95]

Keep up the great work goldie! And it is a good point that hypnotizability is definitely not a sign of "weakness" or that you are "easily suckered" - quite the opposite, it is a valuable and enviable skill. Many who are highly susceptible to hypnosis are extremely intelligent, and have powerful skills of imagination that they employ strategically during their transition into a hypnotic state.