Hypnosis = Treats Unexplained Chest Pain

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Hypnosis Treats Unexplained Chest = Pain

Salynn Boyles

WebMD Health News 2006. =A9 2006 WebMD Inc.

April 20, 2006 - Severe chest pain is a serious symptom of = heart=20 disease that should never be ignored, but not all chest pain has a = cardiac=20 cause.

In up to almost a third of cases when heart disease is = suspected, no=20 obvious coronary artery disease of the heart can be found to = explain=20 frequent chest pain. Noncardiac chest pain is poorly understood = and=20 difficult to treat, but new research shows that an unconventional = therapy=20 can help patients feel better.

In the small study, patients with unexplained chest pain = improved=20 significantly when treated with hypnosis. All of the patients had = been=20 evaluated for their chest pain with coronary angiograms and were = found to=20 have no evidence of coronary artery disease.

Fifteen patients received 12 sessions of hypnotherapy over 17 = weeks,=20 while 13 others got supportive therapy with no hypnosis. A total = of 80% of=20 the hypnosis patients reported significant pain relief following=20 treatment, compared with 23% of the supportive-care patients.

The hypnotherapy patients had the same number of chest pain = episodes as=20 they did before treatment, but they reported being bothered less = by the=20 pain and having an improved overall sense of well-being. They also = took=20 less medication to control their pain.

The findings appear today in an online issue of the journal=20 Gut.

"Hypnotherapy didn't abolish the pain, it just reduced it and = made it=20 less of an issue in these people's daily lives," researcher Peter = J.=20 Whorwell, MD, tells WebMD.

Few Treatment Options

Whorwell and colleagues from Wythenshawe Hospital in the U.K. = were the=20 first to use hypnosis to treat another poorly understood and = hard-to-treat=20 condition -- irritable bowel syndrome -- more than two decades = ago.

The researchers decided to try the therapy for noncardiac chest = pain=20 because patients with the condition have few treatment = options.

Chest pain symptoms among patients with acid reflux disease = often=20 improve when they are treated with acid-reducing medications (such = as=20 Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix, and Nexium), but no obvious cause = can be=20 found for most patients with noncardiac chest pain.

"These patients often fall through the cracks in terms of = treatment,"=20 he says. "Once a cardiac cause has been ruled out the cardiologist = loses=20 interest. Patients are told there is nothing to worry about, but = the chest=20 pain can be severely incapacitating."

Are Heart Symptoms Missed in Women?

But cardiologist Nieca Goldberg, MD, warns that ruling out a = cardiac=20 cause, especially among women, is easier said than done.

Women are more likely than men to have noncardiac chest pain. = But they=20 are also more likely to have heart disease-related chest pain that = is not=20 picked up by conventional diagnostic tests.

A coronary angiogram can miss a potentially life-threatening = disorder=20 called microvascular disease. In that disorder smaller arteries = that=20 supply blood to the heart may have plaque deposits that are spread = out=20 rather than form a major blockage.

As many as 3 million American women may be at high risk for = heart=20 attacks without knowing it because they have microvascular = disease, a=20 study funded by the National Institutes of Health revealed last=20 January.

"Before we can say for sure that someone's chest discomfort is=20 noncardiac in nature, we need to do a thorough investigation," = Goldberg=20 says.

She is chief of women's cardiac care at Manhattan's Lenox Hill = Hospital=20 and the author of the book Women's Healthy Heart Program - = Lifesaving=20 Strategies for Preventing and Healing Heart Disease. She is = also a=20 spokeswoman for the American Heart Association.

Goldberg stresses that because heart disease is often missed in = women,=20 pursuing a diagnosis is especially important.

"The danger in a study like this one is that women with chest = pain may=20 give up looking for a cause too quickly, and focus, instead, only = on=20 making the pain go away," she says.

SOURCES: Jones, H. Gut, online = edition. Peter J.=20 Whorwell, MD, professor of medicine and gastroenterology, = Wythenshawe=20 Hospital, Wythenshawe, Manchester, U.K. Nieca Goldberg, MD, chief = of=20 women's cardiac care, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; = spokeswoman,=20 American Heart Association. WISE study findings, National = Institute of=20 Health News, Jan. 31, 2006.

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