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At first glance, the scene unfolding around Philippa Plaisted as she lay on the operating table appeared completely in keeping with the setting. To her left stood the surgeon, masked and gowned, with his scalpel raised in the air in readiness. In front of her was the nurse, ready to swab and clean after the first incision.
And to her right, seated within touching distance, a third figure could be made out. The anaesthetist? The likely answer. But not so in this extraordinary operation.
For Charles Montagu is a hypnotherapist and Philippa his patient. For the next 40 minutes he would sit by her side. Every so often, he would talk to her in his rich, reassuring voice and use his thumb to apply pressure between her eyes.
Would you go under the knife with nothing but a hypnotist to numb the pain?
Seeded on Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:24 PM EDT
Article Source: the Mail online- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (20)
Well would you? Not sure I would although it seemed to work out really well this time. there was a story recently about a woman who was hypnotised into believing she had a gastric band fitted - i suppose this is kind of the same thing.
- 2 votes
#1 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:26 PM EDTNot only no but, HELL no!
I don't even want to be conscious when I have to get a shot. Actually I don't even want to be conscious when my kids have to get shots. I don't even like to see people getting shot on TV shows.
Obviously I am a big sissy lala that way.
- 3 votes
#2 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:40 PM EDTI've had teeth extracted under hypnotism, and it really does work! Not only did I feel no pain during the extraction, but I had far less pain and bleeding afterward than I did with Novocaine. I dunno about major surgery, though; I've had spinal surgery that lasted 12 hours, and I'm not sure how well hypnotism would hold up for that long, or for something that invasive.
- 1 vote
#3 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:51 PM EDTSure. But could they poke me a couple of times with a needle and see if I flinch before they start sawing into me? =)
It would be a good alternative for people who are allergic to anaestesia. (Even if you are not allergic, it is a very dangerous procedure to simply be put to sleep. If people knew the actual process - they would be a lot more hesitant to be put to sleep at all)
- 2 votes
#4 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:37 PM EDTThe idea of staying awake though - I mean the woman in the article went through a pretty complicated procedure....although I suppose she was hypnotised so although awake she wasn't aware of where she was. Still....don't know!
- 1 vote
Great. Now, no anesthesia for surgery.
I had a C-section with a spinal block, and let me tell you-- I knew everything that was going on, it just didn't hurt that much. However, I never ever want to be awake again while they do anything to me.
it is a very dangerous procedure to simply be put to sleep.
It may be very dangerous, but, you know? Put Me Out. If I die, well it is my time. The trauma lives forever...
Barbarians. Expensive Barbarians, but Barbarians, all the same.
- 2 votes
#5 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:52 PM EDTLOL Dowser my twin had the same with her C-section and she still swears to this day that if she could have been knocked out she would have much preferred that option!!
Not only that, but you know what else they do? They put a BIG mirror up so that you can watch yourself be eviscerated, if you so desire. Are they crazy?
I've got one word for it: Braveheart!
No, I never want to see the end of that movie again! And my husband thought it was just fascinating... I told him, once I got over my blood pressure dropping to 45/35, that I was being NOT disemboweled for his amusement. And have made a point to make sure he is NEVER with me again in any type of procedure. Pfffft!
See, the pain and suffering fades, but the trauma lives on and on... :-)
(((((((((((Soph))))))))))))
- 1 vote
Dowser: I've always wondered how in God's name women can get C-sections and still be fully conscious at the same time. There may not be much pain, but you know what they're doing to you! I don't care if there's a curtain there - if I can reach around it and touch my internal organs, I should not be conscious. It's absolutely barbaric!
- 1 vote
Yep, that is exactly what I thought! And my husband's blow-by-blow account of the action, helped not at all. I love my husband, but he sometimes needs to be thwocked. And that was one of those times.
THEN, as if that wasn't bad enough-- he went to supper with his family the next evening and gave them a blow-by-blow account of everything that happened. "And, by golly, they laid it all out on her stomach..."
My gosh, a little privacy would have been nice. (I mean, there were only about 30 people in there, watching my high risk birth-- Who is this cast of thousands?) My sister-in-laws were aghast and appalled. So was I. This was not the entertainment of the evening.
You know something? If I didn't love him, he would have been dead. D-E-A-D dead. Dead as a mackerel dead. 11.5 years later, and I'm still mad about it. Do not ever, ever/never, ask me again if I want my husband in the room with me during a "procedure". Not unless you want me to kill him... And full anesthesia is the way to go.
I think that all future fathers need a class in delivery room etiquette. I once read where a guy was annoyed, HE was annoyed, mind you, because his wife did not want him to use breast stimulation to help with her pain during labor and delivery. Only some moron could have remotely thought that one up. If that woman had asked me to help her thwock her husband, I would have gladly stood in line...
One nice thing about open heart surgery-- they do knock you out. yeeehaaa. No question.
- 1 vote
Only at gunpoint! And the person holding the gun on me had better be prepared to stand his ground, 'cause I am gonna charge him bellowing like a bull yak!
Damn the kidney stone! Full speed ahead!
- 2 votes
#6 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:37 PM EDTWould I undergo surgery with hypnosis and no pain relief? HELL to the NO! I hate general anesthesia (it turns me into a whiny crybaby from the chemicals and the pain in my throat from the tube they shove down it), but I rather like the not-feeling-my-organs-getting-sliced-apart thing.
I do wonder, though, why they don't perform more procedures with twilight anesthesia. I've had it with colonoscopies and getting a breast lump removed, and I don't remember a damn thing. And I didn't have a sore throat!
But pain relief is a very good thing.
- 1 vote
#7 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 6:59 PM EDTFascinating article.... certainly worth considering if someone doesn't tolerate anesthesia well...even Freud used hypnotherapy in his practice, but discontinued it due to the violent reaction of some of his patients during regressive therapy....personally, I really enjoy the drugs during procedures, and would not want to forgo them....except for procedures on my head - eyes, ears, teeth, about which I get nervous - I have a very high pain tolerance, and think hypnotherapy would work for me just fine....during PUC medical exams, I can meditate for 5 minutes, and reduce my BP by 20-30 points....
My ophthalmologist, who does eye surgery, sits down at a piano in the OR, and plays soothing classical music for his patients, before the surgery, to get them calmed down....same thing....he even recorded a CD of his performances in the OR, with the proceeds going to his favorite charity....
The real issue would appear to be quieting our fears....since docs are not trained, or generally inclined toward empathy, the quick and easy solution was chemical....for the docs & nurses, a sedated and passive patient is probably the easiest to deal with.....any allergic reaction to the anesthesia aside...
There was a doc in the 1880s who operated on himself, and removed his appendix, or gall bladder, if memory serves....now, THERE was a high tolerance for pain....
- 1 vote
#8 - Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:12 PM EDTHe probably had someone give him a spinal block, which allows ones arms and hands to work perfectly, while removing the pain from the abdomen area.
since docs are not trained, or generally inclined toward empathy,
you've hit the nail on the head there...
"No"
(full disclosure: this wording is actually the original work of redshadowwithgreenbackground. IMHO, it is perfect and irreducible)
- 3 votes
#10 - Sat May 1, 2010 12:30 AM EDTThree surgical rules!
You bring a sharp blade!
You bring a VERY SANITISED sharp blade!
You handcuff an anesthesologist on either side of my bed.
You tell them that the one who puts the most dope in me but doesn't let me die...well...he gets to continue his practice.
The other...well he may just end up on a sea cruise in the Bumuda Triangle.
- 1 vote
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