[http://cbs3.com/health/local_story_092164335.html]
Apr 2, 2007
Health: Pain Management
Stephanie Stahl Reporting
(CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA Imagine your child in constant pain and being powerless to
stop it. It is a terribly difficult situation, but Medical reporter Stephanie Stahl has the
story about how some kids are stopping pain with the power of their minds.
Rachel Lopez is learning to hypnotize herself to ease terrible pain.
Rachel suffers with chronic pain that started with the skin condition eczema, but the pain
syndrome continues to make her feel like her skin is on fire.
"It felt like someone was putting a lighter to my skin and holding it there," said 11-yearold Rachel Lopez.
"People will be experiencing pain even where there's not necessarily a clear injury or
reason for them to be having it, said Dr. Gary Walco of Hackensack University Medical
Center.
There are some medications and other treatments but they often don't work for the
mysterious chronic pain syndrome.
So Rachael is learning to make the pain go away herself, by transferring the pain.
Hypnosis also worked for Kelsey Plaskon, 16, who sprained her ankle during a soccer
game. After months of agony, she was finally cured.
"I walked in there with crutches and like the big black boot. And I walked out of there
with just a sneaker on," Plaskon said. There's always a chance the chronic pain will return
or the hypnosis will stop working.
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