Would You Try Hypnosis for Anxiety?

Anxiety is a stressful, debilitating condition. Fortunately, there are many non-pharmaceutical ways to manage and reduce anxiety. For example, according to Gerard V. Sunnen, MD, hypnosis is a potent anti-anxiety tool. Dr. Sunnen is a physician and psychiatrist who regularly incorporates medical hypnotherapy into patient care.

Hypnosis and Anxiety                  

When you are anxious, your brain sends you unbidden and stressful messages, such as "everyone is looking at me." Hypnotherapy helps you change these anxiety-producing messages. It may also help you understand the root of your anxiety.

Hypnosis.org defines hypnosis as a heightened state of suggestibility, such that you accept suggestions from your hypnotist as true, and the suggestions effect your beliefs, habits, perceptions, and behaviors in varying degrees, according to how deeply you are hypnotized.

Hypnotic induced relaxation uses wording and imagery to reduce anxiety. During relaxation, your breathing slows, your blood pressure drops, and you have a sense of calm and well being. You focus and concentrate intensely so you minimize your awareness of peripheral activity around you. At the same time, you still feel your presence and are aware of your interactions with your hypnotist. While therapeutic hypnotists typically perform hypnosis, you can also hypnotize yourself with similar counting methods, progressive relaxation activities, or purposeful imagery.

Despite what you see in performance hypnotisms, which aim to entertain, you do not lose control while under hypnosis and you won't do anything you wouldn't be comfortable doing in your normal state.

A hypnotic session begins with a hypnotic induction, or ritual, that helps you formalize the transition to a more focused state of consciousness. The induction organizes and structures the hypnotic process so you can use the trance state most efficiently.

Brain imaging studies that compare the brains of people under hypnosis to their normal state show altered activity in the brain area associated with emotion and cognition in those individuals who respond to suggestions. Imaging also shows lowered activity in the brain associated with resting, daydream, or letting the mind wander.

Hypnosis can help reduced both generalized anxiety and situation-specific anxiety. For example, the results of a study of self-hypnotic relaxation in an outpatient clinical setting (subjects were women undergoing breast biopsy) were consistent with other studies. Eighty nine percent of the surgical patients benefited from adding hypnosis. Furthermore, they found that most patients can be hypnotized enough to benefit clinically. In anxiety-producing medical situations, hypnosis offers a safe, drug-free, and low- (or no) cost way to reduce pain and anxiety.

Understand the Different Types of Breast Cancer

We can categorize types of breast cancers in several ways: By where they originate, by whether the cancer cells are isolated to one area or have spread, and by the tumor's hormonal status.

Origins of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer typically begins in the lobes, lobules, or ducts of the breast. When patients have abnormal cells in the milk duct, which have not spread, they are diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). DCIS is the most common type of breast cancer, although there is controversy about whether DCIS is really cancer and whether physicians should continue to treat it aggressively.

Lobular carcinoma (cancer) begins in the breast lobes or lobules and affects both breasts about 30 percent of the time. Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) is not really cancer, but a condition that raises your risk of developing cancer.

Approximately 25 percent of women with LCIS will develop breast cancer at some point in their lives. LCIS is not visible on a mammogram; physicians typically find it during a biopsy for some other reason.

Cancer can also form in the muscles, fat, or blood vessels of the breast. The tissue type where cancer originates determines how a cancer will behave and influences treatment decisions.

Breast Cancer's Spread

Non-invasive cancer means cancer cells remain in their place of origin and not spread. DCIS and LCIS are both non-invasive cancers. In patients with invasive cancer, the cells have spread (metastasized) beyond the membrane that lines the ducts or lobules where the tumor originated. Invasive breast cancer is generally very serious.

Hormone Status of Breast Cancer

Some breast cancers need hormones to grow. These tumors have receptors for estrogen, progesterone, or both. If they have more receptors than normal, the cancer may grow quickly.

• Estrogen receptor (ER) positive cancer is sensitive to estrogen.
• progesterone receptor (PG) positive cancer is sensitive to progesterone.
• hormone receptor (HR) negative doesn't have hormone receptors so treatments that block hormones have no effect.

If you have ER or PG positive breast cancers, your oncologist may recommend hormone therapy, which removes hormones or blocks their action and stops cancer cells from growing.

Breast Cancer Treatment

Because there are so many types of breast cancers, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment. Each woman's oncologist recommends an individual course of treatment, which may include surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or hormone therapy-alone or in combination.

Sources:

National Cancer Institute. "Breast Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)." Web. 22 March 2012.http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/treatment/breast/Patient

National Cancer Institute. "What You Need To Know About Breast Cancer." Web. 15 October 2009. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/wyntk/breast

Mayo Clinic. "Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)." Web. 23 June 2011. 
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dcis/DS00983

Mayo Clinic. "Breast cancer types: What your type means." Web. 9 February 2012.http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer/HQ00348

Nelson, Roxanne. "Problems With DCIS Misdiagnosis: When Cancer Is Not Cancer."Medscape Medical News. Web. 29 July 2010. 
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/726040

Stanford Medicine. "Lobular Carcinoma in situ (LCIS)." Web.
http://cancer.stanford.edu/breastcancer/lcis.html

Yeast Infections: Not Just a Woman's Problem

Though more typically thought of as a female issue, men can also acquire yeast infections. Both oral yeast infections (called thrush) that contaminate the mouth and genital yeast infections are caused by an overgrowth of Candida albicans—the most common form of yeast that grows normally in the body.

Men can—and do—occasionally contract yeast infections from having intercourse with a yeast-infected woman. Using a condom can diminish the chances of becoming infected. Other causes of male yeast infection include:

• The Overuse of Antibiotics. These drugs can diminish the bacteria that normally control the yeast creating a perfect environment for the opportunistic yeast to flourish.
• Diabetes. Elevated sugar in the urine attracts yeast.
• Compromised Immune Systems. People with HIV, for example, have difficulty fighting off infections.

In women, yeast infections are fairly easy to detect. Symptoms include: vaginal itching, vaginal irritation, the telltale thick, white, curd-like discharge, redness cracking in the vulvar skin, burning during urination, pain during intercourse, and itching of the rectal opening.

In men, symptoms are less obvious or may be all together lacking. However, the New York Times reports some men experience a reddish, temporary rash on the genitals and a burning feeling at the tip of the penis. Dry, itchy skin on the penis and a white discharge has also been reported.

Since yeast infections are so common in women (over 70 percent develop at least one yeast infection during their lives) and over 40 percent have been infected multiple times, it's a good idea to be aware of the problem especially if you engage in unprotected sex. Yeast can be passed back and forth between partners, so avoiding sexual contact until all signs and symptoms of the infection are gone is generally recommended.

In addition to the culprits that cause the problem in men, women can get yeast infections from oral contraceptives, repeated intercourse over a short period of time, high carbohydrate intake especially from refined sugars and alcohol, wearing non-ventilating clothing in hot weather (synthetic fabric increases warmth and moisture fostering fungal growth), and irritants such as soap, powder, or new detergent.

The itchy, red bumps associated with genital herpes have also been known to be caused by yeast. A study published in the British Journal of Medicine (and posted on the National Institute of Health's website) found an association between genital yeast infections and STDs and advises patients with genital yeast infections—who are sexually active—to also be screened for other STDs. Meet with your medical provider to rule out sexually-transmitted diseases that are more serious if you suspect a problem.

Applying an over-the-counter antifungal treatment directly to the affected skin twice daily for a week is an effective treatment for male yeast infections which are a nuisance to deal with but aren't associated with any serious health risks.