I was, quite literally, at the end of myrope.  For six years, I had been inextreme pain in my right foot, trying to find anything that would work toreduce the nerve pain that stemmed initially from a ruptured disk at L 4/5 –physical therapy, chiropractic, yoga, acupuncture, meditation, dry-needling,cupping, eastern massage, moxibustion therapy, hot stone treatment, westernmassage, more exercise, less exercise . . . You name it, if someone suggestedit and it sounded legitimate, I researched it, then I tried it.  But nothing that I tried would help to easethe pain, other than temporarily.  Aftertwo microdiscectomies and a spinal fusion at L 4/5, the spinal fusion surgerywas successful in that it finally fixed the structural issues, but the nervepain continued, primarily in the foot, and it was daily.  My two surgeons - one for the microdiscectomieson Cape Cod, the other for the spinal fusion at a major Boston hospital – eachseparately told me that, if the pain caused by nerve damage didn’t stop 18months subsequent to the surgery, “it will likely never go away”.  Basically, I’d just have to deal with it.

The most debilitating part of the cycle ofpain was that I could not stop thinking about my right foot.  I’d wake upin the morning thinking about it, and go to bed thinking about it.  When Iwoke up, my first thought was how much pain I am feeling in it.  Will I beable to exercise today, or will I be in too much pain?  At night, I wonderedif I’d be in pain before I go to sleep.  I could not seem to stop thisbehavior as the center of my focus during the day – all day, every day.  Thiscaused me added stress, possibly resulting in experiencing more pain from thatstress, but I couldn’t seem to stop it.  It was almost reflexive.  Ireally needed to figure out how to stop this disabling mental barrier. Duringthe day, I worried about whether gardening or weeding would cause me more pain.  And will I be able to drive, becausethis also caused me a lot of pain?  Butflying in an airplane, which I did several times a year, was the worst in termsof the pain I experienced.  Would I haveto stop?  

Saying “I can’t” was the most frustrating ofall because my husband and I were very active before the surgeries. Especiallywith respect to seeing our grandkids, or traveling, or exercising.   I can’ttell you how many times I used that phrase in the past six years.  And that KILLED ME.  

But I hadn’t tried hypnosis.

I remembered that a good friend and former neighborin Boston started his own hypnosis business several years prior.  I emailed him and told him my story.  He said his specialty centered on treating addictions,but he had a friend that specialized in treating pain, and he lived in Norway. So,I got in touch with Joergen at Provocative Hypnosis via email, and we begantreatment sessions via Skype a few months ago. My goal was to reduce the pain I was experiencing by at least 70%, andhad no preconceived notions about solving my disabling mental barrier atall.  Just please, help me with the pain.

Amazingly, by the end of my first sessionwith Joergen, I had almost no pain in my right foot! I was truly amazed,thankful, and blown away by his approach to healing pain. But truly the best partof all was that, through his first session and the subsequent sessions, hetaught me to heal myself.  That, truly,was a breakthrough.  I was able to purge“I can’t” from my vocabulary.  And, bythe end of the fifth session with Joergen, I was able to disassociate my brainfrom my foot pain.  Now, I no longer wakeup and go to bed thinking about my right foot. Which, for me, is transformational. When I was at the end of my rope, Joergen was able to teach me to pullmyself up from the abyss. I now have a new lease on life, and am living it the fullest!  I can’t Joergen enough for teaching me howto overcome my chronic, debilitating, and long-standing pain issues. He istruly a life saver!

Marie Bigelow