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Many Using Hypnosis to Treat Hot Flashes

May 25, 2005, 4:42 PM

Most women going through menopause experience hot flashes. Hormone replacement therapy helps, but many women have abandoned the treatment because of the risk of breast cancer. Few women go through the symptoms of menopause twice in their life, but Kay Dolzel has. First when she was just 36 and had a hysterectomy, then just recently, after treatment for breast cancer. The anti-cancer drugs she took caused sudden and severe hot flashes.

Kay Dolzel, hypnosis patient: "The hot flashes just come in wave after wave after wave, just usually from the center, building up and going down."

Kay was desperate to fight the flashes, so she turned to a government study looking at the effectiveness of hypnosis for hot flashes.

Gary Elkins, PHD, mind-body researcher: "D uring the session, that patient is instructed in entering a very deeply-relaxed state, and then we use mental images for coolness to counteract the effects of hot flashes."

Kay went to 5 hypnotherapy sessions and kept a daily log. She went from having nearly 60 hot flashes a week to just four. T he technique seems to be working for others in the study, too.

Gary Elkins: "We found a 58% decrease in the frequency of hot flashes, and also very importantly, 76% decrease in the severity of hot flashes."

For Kay, hot flashes no longer control her life. Whenever she feels 1 coming on, she simply conjures up images of cool, mountain breezes. Right now the study is only taking place in Texas. Doctor Elkins hopes to soon expand the study to menopausal and post-menopausal women without breast cancer.

 

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