Kate Middleton using hypnosis to manage morning sickness

by Cindy Locher   www.examiner.com  January 23  2013.

Royal or not, apparently the pregnant tummy of Kate Middleton is in a royal turmoil these days and rather than simply suffering in silence or keeping a British stiff upper lip, the Duchess of Cambridge is turning to hypnotherapy to alleviate her discomfort.

Beyond simply being very unpleasant and uncomfortable, Kate’s morning sickness presents a bit of a threat to her and the baby’s health, as she’s finding it challenging to eat. According to the Duchess’s friend Jessica Hay in an interview with Australia’s New Idea magazine.“Kate still looks at food and feels nauseous. She’s been plagued with that feeling you have when you’ve had food poisoning and your stomach’s shrunk. She finds it very hard to eat a full meal and gets full very quickly. The hypnotherapy is taking away any negative thoughts connected with food from the morning sickness, and replacing them with cravings for healthy, nutritious food.”

Kate Middleton Undergoing Hypnotherapy

Hypnosis has a solid reputation for being helpful with nausea, not only in pregnancy but as part of palliative care for cancer patients and others. And of course hypnosis is famous for being able to change people’s perceptions, whether of food or of signals from the body. Hypnosis is increasingly being used for natural childbirth, especially where fear and anxiety of the birthing process is involved. A recent British study showed that first time Moms deliveries were more likely to have complications, took longer, and the self-reported pain levels of the Moms was much higher than a group of first time Moms using hypnosis for relaxation, fear alleviation and modification of the pain signals.

The benefits of hypnosis for alleviating nausea, chronic pain and more includes the ability to have a fast-acting solution, as opposed to waiting for the effect of a pill, for example. With proper training by a qualified hypnotherapist, a person can create positive, comfort-inducing effects within minutes or even seconds. For those who would prefer or who must avoid medication, such as during pregnancy, the advantage of hypnosis as a drug-free approach is clear, and many people would prefer to avoid adding yet another chemical to their system if they can avoid it. Furthermore, when nausea is involved, an oral pill can be contraindicated if it’s likely to be regurgitated, in which case it would have no chance to give a helpful effect. While intravenous anti-nausea drugs are available, these are not commonly self-administered which severely limits the types of situations where these are useful.

For these reasons, and undoubtedly more, hypnotherapy for nausea, whether for morning sickness, a reaction to chemotherapy or radiation treatment, or other reasons, can be a superior choice and is well worth the investment in time to research whether it is the right choice for you or a loved one.