Living with the side effects of cancer treatments
Finding out you have cancer can be very distressing. No sooner have you been given the diagnosis, then you have to deal with treatment. Lots of visits to the hospital and many tests will often follow. This can lead to elevated stress levels, while juggling your normal daily commitments.
Hypnotherapy can help you to cope better with the stresses placed on you when you receive a cancer diagnosis. However, hypnotherapy can also help with depression, anxiety and insomnia. These symptoms are often made worse by a cancer diagnosis. A review found that anxiety and distress could be reduced in both adults and children with hypnosis. There is also some evidence to support hypnosis in the treatment of side effects, such as nausea and pain.
Radiotherapy is often a highly effective treatment for cancer. The University of New Mexico School of Medicine found that hypnotherapy was as effective as pharmaceutical medication in reducing the symptoms of an overactive bladder. This comprehensive 3-year study confirmed that there were no side effects from using hypnosis compared to traditional medicine. The lack of side effects could be very important to you while you’re having to contend with so many other strong medications. You might prefer not to take additional medication to offset these side effects.
Depending on which hypnotherapy approach you choose, the length of your session could vary from 30 – 90 minutes. An initial consultation will generally be held prior to your hypnotherapy sessions starting. This is to agree the aims and goals of your treatment, to discuss your symptoms and to give you a guide as to the number of sessions required. This will vary from client to client, the approach used and the severity of the side effects. As a rough guide for long term results, you can expect to need 8-10 hypnotherapy sessions.
Real experiences: See what clients are saying
Understanding the side effects of chemotherapy & radiotherapy
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are very strong treatment options for cancer. They are used to kill the cancer cells in your body. Unfortunately, they can cause a number of distressing side effects that can be uncomfortable and difficult to handle. You might prefer not to take any additional medication to offset these side effects.
Pain and nausea are the most frequently mentioned symptoms of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. It is likely you will be offered medication to help with these issues, but hypnotherapy may be a viable alternative. Tiredness and fatigue are also common symptoms of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Hypnotherapy can help your body to relax fully and encourage it to heal.
If radiotherapy is carried out on the pelvic area, it is important that you have a full bladder. This helps to protect your lower intestine from long term damage. However, if you suffer with bladder problems, you might find it difficult to maintain a full bladder. Often referred to as a nervous or overactive bladder, you will often feel you need the toilet long before your bladder is full. This can cause huge delays within the radiotherapy department for you and other patients. What feels like an overfilled bladder can also be very distressing to you as the patient. Despite the importance of staying perfectly still during the radiotherapy treatment, you might struggle to do so.
Common side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy
- Fatigue: The most common side effect of both chemotherapy and radiation.
- Nausea and vomiting: Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) is a common side effect of chemotherapy.
- Skin changes: Skin irritation, itchiness, dryness, redness, and swelling can occur.
- Hair loss: Hair loss is a common side effect of radiation therapy.
- Mouth problems: Mouth, gum, and throat sores can occur.
- Anemia: Chemotherapy can reduce red blood cell count, leading to anemia.
- Peripheral neuropathy: Nerve pain that can cause tingling, numbness, and unusual burning sensations in the hands and feet.
- Bladder problems: Chemotherapy and radiation can scar the bladder wall, leading to frequent urination, blood in the urine, and bladder spasms.
- Infection: There is an increased risk of infection, with signs including headaches, aching muscles, a cough, a sore throat, pain passing urine, or feeling cold and shivery.
- Other side effects include:
- Weight changes
- Kidney and bladder problems
- Blood clotting problems
- Neutropenia
- Taste changes
- Throat problems
- Less active thyroid gland
If you are diagnosed with a serious condition such as cancer, this can be extremely stressful. This is compounded if you have young children or other commitments that mean you’re unable to take time away to look after yourself. Hypnotherapy has been shown to help reduce symptoms of anxiety and stress. It is also a very relaxing therapy and, once you relax, your body no longer feels in danger. This causes a drop in your cortisol level, a stress hormone. Cortisol lowers your pain threshold, causing you to feel pain more acutely. Hypnotherapy has been shown to help with pain. Tiredness and fatigue are common side effects of cancer treatment and it can negatively impact your sleep. Hypnotherapy can be very effective in helping you to sleep better.
When you are in a trance state, you will be in a state of focused attention. Different brain waves become more prevalent, and you are more likely to be able to see things from a different perspective, altering your perception of your situation. The change in brain waves will also make it easier for you to take on new ideas and new ways of thinking. Most hypnotherapists use an element of talking therapy these days. This supports the trance session by helping you to evaluate your current behaviour and the way you think.
- Your oncology nurse should always be your first port of call when struggling with the symptoms of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. They will often have access to a range of medications to alleviate your symptoms.
- A number of different complementary therapies can be useful in alleviating the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy including acupuncture and reflexology.
- Hypnotherapy has been shown to help people with the side effects of traditional cancer treatment. Hypnosis is classed as a relaxation therapy, but many hypnotherapists often use a form of talking therapy alongside it.
- Attending a support group where other people are struggling with the side effects of the cancer treatment can help you feel that you’re not on your own.
- There are over 3 million people living with cancer.
- An average of 390,000 people are diagnosed each year – one every 90 seconds.
- Almost 340,000 people received their first cancer treatment between April 2023 and March 2024.
- 50% of cancer sufferers survive 10 or more years and survival rates have doubled in the last 50 years.
It is always important to contact your medical team about your radiotherapy and chemotherapy side effects before seeing a hypnotherapist. This is because the danger of further infection is very real.
Helpful Resources
Cancer Hypnotherapy FAQs
Hypnotherapy works in two ways. Most hypnotherapy approaches use a blend of talking therapy plus trance. You might explore your current behaviours or thought patterns that are getting in the way of getting the most out of your cancer treatment. The talking element might be some form of counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or a Solution Focused (SF) approach. The aim is to help give you a better understanding of how to handle what is a very distressing situation.
This will then be followed by a trance session where the therapist will use hypnosis to relax you into a trance state. This is a natural state of focused attention where you will be able to let go of any tension and relax fully. When you are in a trance state the predominant brain waves change from Beta to Alpha and Theta, these allow you to change the way you think and to problem solve more effectively.
Hypnotherapy will also help to improve your sleep, increase your pain threshold and help you to digest your food more easily.
Even before lockdown many hypnotherapists were running online hypnotherapy sessions to reduce the side effects of chemoradiation. The good news is that there is now evidence to support the effectiveness of online hypnotherapy sessions for a range of conditions. All you would need to take part in an online hypnotherapy session is a laptop, tablet or smartphone, access to the internet and somewhere quiet where you can relax.
You can expect to see some slight improvement in your general wellbeing after the first hypnotherapy session. However, everyone is different and much will depend on what other symptoms you display along with your commitment to the hypnotherapy process. You might feel more relaxed and have more energy. Your sleep pattern might improve a little, particularly if listening to an MP3 download every night. However, you’ll probably need a few sessions before your friends and family start to notice any changes. After around 8 sessions, you should be consistently sleeping better, feeling less nauseous, less anxious and more relaxed.
As hypnotherapy is considered to be a complementary therapy in the UK, we are not allowed to publish success rates for any condition. Your commitment to the hypnotherapy process is also very important. If you engage with your hypnotherapist and follow their advice, such as listening to an MP3 download every night, then your treatment will be more effective than if you don’t. However, all that said, a number of research studies have shown hypnotherapy to be effective for offsetting the side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The number of sessions you will need to reduce your chemotherapy and radiotherapy side effects will vary from person to person. The questions your hypnotherapist will ask to help calculate the number of sessions you need might include, “How severe are your side effects?” or “What other medication are you on?” Another factor to consider is your level of commitment. You will see results much more quickly if you do the things your hypnotherapist suggests. You might be expected to listen to an MP3 download every night or to perform some other task between sessions.
The cost of hypnotherapy to help reduce the side effects of cancer treatment can vary between therapists. This will depend on your location and the qualifications and experience your hypnotherapist has. To give you a rough guide, prices can vary from £40-£150 per hour.
Unfortunately, you will probably be unable to access hypnotherapy to reduce the side effects of your cancer treatment through the NHS. This is despite the British Medical Association’s assertion, in their submission of evidence in 2000 to the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, that ‘Hypnotherapy and counselling may be considered as orthodox treatments’. Your GP might suggest hypnotherapy as an option for your addiction, but it will be up to you to source and fund your treatment.
Self-hypnosis can help to reduce the side effects of cancer treatment, as all hypnosis is technically self-hypnosis. This is because it is your brain doing the work, with the hypnotherapist as the facilitator. However, it can be difficult to achieve on your own and therefore finding a qualified hypnotherapist to help you initially is the best solution. Once you have experienced going into a trance state a few times with their help, you will find it much easier to go into that same state on your own. It is worth pointing out that the counselling or psychotherapy element of the hypnotherapy session would be missing from any self-help approach and research has suggested that hypnosis is more effective alongside it.
Researchers reviewed several studies relating to children with cancer. They found that hypnosis appeared to reduce pain and upset from medical procedures or the condition itself. Hypnotherapy is a gentle treatment that can help children cope better with chemoradiation. In fact, children often find it much easier to go into a trance state than their adult counterparts. This is thought to be because children are more open to trying new things than many adults.
The side effects from hypnotherapy are generally positive. The deep relaxation you will experience during a hypnotherapy session can sometimes mean you feel dozy immediately afterwards. This is because the trance state is a natural state that we all go into everyday whenever we are focusing on something. Hypnosis can cause us to be temporarily less aware of the outside world. However, a walk in the fresh air will soon bring you back to normal.
Where can I find the best hypnotherapist?
Start out with the basics, Search for “hypnotherapy for chemo” in Google or Bing. The results will contain a map with local hypnotherapy businesses. Start looking through their reviews either in the search engine or on their social (Facebook) pages.
The best hypnotherapists will be registered with a professional association and with organisations that are accredited by the professional standards authority. There are only two in the UK and they are the Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council (CNHC) and the National Hypnotherapy Society.
Clinical Hypnotherapy in Stafford
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