Dr. Herb Spiegel on Cancer

by Ron Eslinger
www.eslinger.net

During his years as a cancer surgeon, Dr. Herb Siegel realized he saw only the disease, and never saw the patient. Now Dr. Siegel does more talking than he does surgery, teaching cancer patients how to think and how to view themselves. He uses hypnosis in the form of guided imagery and he guides the patient through particular thought processes, dealing with their perceptions of the disease and their emotions. During his lectures, he discusses the miraculous changes that he sees in working with cancer patients in this manner and the successful regression of their disease.

Recently, I worked with a young lady to relieve her of headaches associated with Glioblastoma (terminal brain cancer, typically nonresponsive to chemotherapy and surgery). Glioblastoma tumors are quick and very active. Her doctor told her she had three weeks to live. Her husband insisted she try hypnosis. Over the first eight months, her MRIs and PT Scans showed that her tumor had shrunk after the hypnosis sessions. She was healthier, smiling when she came in for her sessions. She was happy and she laughed often.

Her sessions changed her whole attitude about her illness and her treatments. Hypnosis helped her developed an attitude of wellbeing. She did not report anymore headaches or pain after the second session and her edema (swelling) disappeared. In fact, her hypnosis and self hypnosis helped her successfully undergo chemotherapy, which is rare for Glioblastoma. Her three-week prognosis for death became an additional three years of life for her. Unfortunately, major stresses caused her cancer to return after three years of remission and she died.

Another woman I treated had lung cancer. By the time the cancer was diagnosed, she was already at the terminal stage. She was in terrible pain and surgery was not an option for her. Hypnosis helped control her pain and made her chemotherapy treatments easy. She never lost her hair, nor did she feel nauseous. Hypnosis helped her through the difficult stages of fighting her cancer. As her anesthetist, her mindset was essential in using hypnosis as the anesthetic.

Just a few years ago, physicians and medical professionals believed no relationship existed between the immune system and the psychological processes of the body. It was ascertained that the immune system was not connected to the endocrine system at all. Today, we understand the connection between mind and body down to the molecular level. In fact, researchers classify Psychoneuroimmunology as the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems. A great example of this is reflexology, the practice of applying pressure to specific parts of the feet to affect organs throughout the body. No one is certain how massaging feet benefits someone’s mind or any other part of the body. However, it works because everything is connected.

The nature of Psychoneuroimmunology is in a relationship between the organs of the immune system and the sympathetic nervous system. Catecholamine neurotransmitter receptors work together with the body and its organs: the thymus, the bone marrow, the spleen and lymph nodes. The resulting effect is that our thoughts make a difference. If we take those thoughts and simultaneously enter an alpha or theta brain wave frequency, we can bypass our critical state. It is how one talks to the subconscious autonomic nervous system, changing old experiences and perceptions through what is said.

The sympathetic nerve endings in the immune system’s organs make contact with lymphocytes thus, the brain is physically connected to the immune system. When I work with people that have immune system problems, I show them a 15-minute animated video of how the immune system works. Afterward, when I talk to them about bringing their immune system in to focus or bringing in armies to demolish the cancer cell, they can visualize the functions of the immune system. They visualize the cancer cell as a tiny individual cell that they have control over. They can mentally close off the blood supply to that cell, stopping its growth. The cell is visually cut off from its own lifeline and disintegrates as a result. There are many reports of successful recoveries using visualization techniques and hypnosis. I do not consider these miracles, as hypnosis does not create miracles. But certainly, I have seen miraculous things happen through the use of hypnosis.

The central nervous system is involved in the mediation of feelings. It is connected to the immune system through the brain and the mind. Think of the mind in two parts: the conscious (cognitive) mind and the subconscious (automatic) mind. The two minds must work together to create health and happiness. Stress activates both the conscious and the subconscious mind. Later, I will discuss in greater detail, the roll stress plays relative to pain and other diseases.

Cortisol is a stress fight or flight hormone designed for release in short bursts. It is an essential hormone for survival that is responsible for producing and maintaining high levels of glucose necessary for our response to stress.

Abnormally high levels of cortisol are released in response to high stress, or fight or flight reactions. These high levels of cortisol increase gluconeogenesis, resulting in the breakdown of muscle proteins, among other problems. The result contributes to numerous pain syndromes, including fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, and lupus. Often, these syndromes do not present in patients absent of other ailments. I see a great deal of individuals suffering from fibromyalgia. Patients with fibromyalgia also have other co-morbidities that can include chronic fatigue syndrome, migraine headaches, chemical sensitivities, or temporal mandibular joint (TMJ). There are always at least two other co-morbidities involved when a person is diagnosed with fibromyalgia.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease caused by an abnormal increase in the immune system that causes pain in skin, joints, muscles, kidneys and other organs. It is as though the body is fighting against itself and its own immune system. Psychoneuroimmunology demonstrates the relationship between the immune system and the psychological process. Hypnosis works well with Lupus patients because hypnosis makes it possible to communicate with the Hypothalamus to help with auto-regulation. Remember, everything is connected.

By using hypnosis to work with the Hypothalamus, we change the stress response. Hypnosis allows a focused concentration and relaxation, resulting in an increase in oxygen throughout the body’s cells. This increase in oxygen has a major influence on decreasing a patient’s pain levels. As an example, a muscle cramp is the direct result of squeezing blood and oxygen out of muscle cells. The lack of oxygen in muscle cells causes the cramping pain, just as a lack of oxygen in any cell results in pain. Replenishing cells with oxygen through hypnosis reduces pain just as stretching muscle cells increases blood flow (i.e. oxygen) and reduces pain.

“Ouch! Pain Cost Employers $80 Billion Annually”

Summarized from a Reuters Health/ABC News Story, August 21, 2002

Attack Cancer by Super Charging your Immune System a 2 CD set found at www.healthyvisions.net or
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