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Pain

Pain Management

EFT Relieves Post-Operative Pain for a 90-Year-Old Woman

Important Note: This article was written prior to 2010 and is now outdated. Please use my newest advancement, Optimal EFT. It is more efficient, more powerful and clearly explained in my free e-book, The Unseen Therapist™.  Best wishes, Gary

There are many insights in this article by Therese Baumgart. She handles her 90 year old aunt's post-operative pain in a rapport-friendly way and gives us common sense ways to notice results. For example, she says, "At this point Aunt Rita began to talk about topics unrelated to her surgery. After a few minutes she said she wanted to show me a gift she had received of some art books, which were in another room. Suddenly she got up and, forgetting her cane, walked naturally into the other room to get the books. I followed her there and for the next fifteen minutes she discussed the books, chatted normally, walked around, and appeared to have forgotten about pain and surgery. She showed no signs of discomfort nor did she mentioned her health (and neither did I!). When I left a few minutes later Aunt Rita walked me to the door-- still no cane (and apparently no pain)."


by Therese Baumgart, Certified Hypnotherapist

Hi Gary, as I told you some weeks ago, it seems that I eat, drink and sleep EFT. And I continue to use it to benefit myself, clients, friends, and family. Nobody escapes, including my 90-year old aunt! In the following case study, my Aunt "Rita" was extremely receptive to EFT and received great benefit for post-operative pain and emotional distress. As you will see, I wove our EFT session into an informal visit.

My Aunt Rita is a warm-hearted, fun-loving woman who is a joy to be around. But when I went to visit her at her assisted living apartment one recent Sunday afternoon I found her seated on the couch, still in her robe, and in obvious physical and emotional pain. Aunt Rita's face appeared drawn and her eyes were dull. Speaking in a lifeless whisper she said she had had surgery for melanoma a few days before and was in pain sitting down and in more pain standing. Aunt Rita had been told by her doctors to walk around, but it was too painful, so she stayed on the couch.

She showed me bandages through her clothes-- on her groin, abdomen and thigh. She also said that since her surgery she had not gotten dressed and had taken her meals in her room instead of going to the dining room to eat meals with her friends.

My aunt and I are close but she had not mentioned the surgery to me before it happened. (I could have done some EFT preparation with her.) In our family, medical procedures are considered private matters. And operations, in particular, are equivalent to government secrets, so we often don't find out about them until they're over, as in this case.

Previously I had done successful EFT with her, which I called energy healing, for an emotional issue. So when I suggested another energy healing session with her, she agreed.

When we began, her 0-10 level for physical pain was a 7.

My usual method of doing EFT is to tap on myself while the EFT recipient taps on herself. But Aunt Rita seemed a little disoriented and was having trouble mirroring my tapping, so I decided to tap on her in the manner that you do (Gary). I found this to be extremely effective and a very intimate experience, with Aunt Rita's face looking up at me very trusting and child-like.

These were the phrases I used.

Even though:

I'm in pain, and I recently had surgery, and it still hurts....

This pain, it's in my groin, it's on my thigh, it's on my abdomen....

I'm in pain, I'm not feeling like myself, I don't feel well from this surgery....

After a few rounds I asked her if there was any change in her pain. At this point Aunt Rita was not able to give a specific level of pain intensity, but she gave me a clue that the pain had decreased and that she had switched aspects because she said, "But it really hurts when I stand up."

GC COMMENT: Very insightful. Clients will tell you what is happening at a subconscious level if you listen carefully.

I told her that she did not need to stand up, and to just stay seated on her couch.

Then she started talking about her health situation, and I continued tapping on her as she talked. This is the Talking While Tapping technique, related to the Tell the Story Technique.

Aunt Rita said, "You know, I have melanoma, it's very serious."

We then tapped a few rounds on:

Even though:

I have melanoma, and it's very serious....

Then she said, "The doctor said, 'It's fifty-fifty, there's a fifty-fifty chance.'"

I asked her what that meant. And she said she didn't know.

We tapped on these phrases:

I have melanoma, it's very serious.

It's fifty-fifty, there's a fifty-fifty chance.

I'm worried about my health, I'm still recovering.

After these last rounds the color came back into Aunt Rita's face, the sparkle came back into her eyes, her voice was stronger, and her sitting posture improved.

I asked her how she felt and she said, "Well, it still hurts." She looked at me as if to say, You know, this can't possibly be working.

So I stopped tapping for a while and we talked about other things.

Then we did some more tapping.

Even though:

I had an operation, I can heal, and I deeply...

My body is ready to heal and I'm healing.

It's time to feel better, it's time to feel well.

I'm ready to heal, I'm ready to feel well, I'm healing now.

At this point Aunt Rita began to talk about topics unrelated to her surgery. After a few minutes she said she wanted to show me a gift she had received of some art books, which were in another room. Suddenly she got up and, forgetting her cane, walked naturally into the other room to get the books. I followed her there and for the next fifteen minutes she discussed the books, chatted normally, walked around, and appeared to have forgotten about pain and surgery. She showed no signs of discomfort nor did she mentioned her health (and neither did I!). When I left a few minutes later Aunt Rita walked me to the door-- still no cane (and apparently no pain).

The next day when I called her she sounded like her cheerful self. She said that in the afternoon following our EFT session she felt so much better that she got dressed and went to the dining room for dinner with her friends, and intended to continue to do so.

Worth noting is that we got a one-session success with basic EFT-- no need to craft metaphoric language or search for deep emotions or core issues. EFT did it again! And it's great to know that a 90-year-old is open-minded and receptive to EFT.

Very Best wishes!

Therese Baumgart, Certified Hypnotherapist

More articles on Pain Management and Pain Relief

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