Testimonials

“I would like to leave a testimonial regarding my experience with Dr Partridge and her hypnosis and visualisation treatment.

After receiving wonderful treatment for cancer on my tongue from the team at Charing Cross Hospital. I was discussing some of the side effects of the radiotherapy, one of them being the destruction of the saliva glands and how this can have a serious impact on your teeth. My problem was an absolute terror of going to the dentist, something I have suffered from since childhood. I needed to go to the dentist for check ups but just couldn’t, even thinking about it got me very anxious. When I discussed this with Dr Partridge, she asked me if I would be willing to try a technique to try and reduce my anxiety, to which I replied absolutely!!

I won’t go through what we discussed but lets just say it was extremely interesting and in some parts, quite funny. At the end of the session, which lasted about 20-30 minutes every time I thought of the dentist I couldn’t help but smile. I arranged a visit a couple of weeks later and it went really well. I have subsequently had 3 more appointments and not had one problem.

You have no idea how much of a change this has brought about in my life, after more than 50 years of being terrified to even think of going to a dentist I now have check ups every 3-4 months. All I can say is thank you Dr Partridge and good luck with your program, it absolutely deserves to be successful.”

PJ

I was referred to Dr Partridge for radiotherapy treatment for thyroid eye disease. At the time I was in a very bleak place psychologically as well as physically from this condition. I could not shut my left eye at all, I had severe eyelid retraction and had to apply thick lanolin cream every 20 minutes all day to prevent the surface of my eye drying out. As a result I had no meaningful vision in that eye and I was experiencing intolerable deep orbital/ eye pain that was refractory to any type of pain relief.

At my first consultation, Dr Partridge asked me if would like to try hypnotherapy alongside the conventional radiotherapy. I agreed immediately as I was willing to try anything that my help but was, to be honest, sceptical as to how this might work. 20 minutes later I came out of a light trance-state with my hypnotherapy session taped on my phone so that I could play it later. In that time I had been in a place of deep relaxation and had visualised a “mind control room” where I could adjust any variety of settings- for me it was a dial for pain control and, crucially, a lever that I visualised was “cranking down” my left eyelid to close it.

I saw Dr Partridge 2 weeks later at the end of my daily radiotherapy treatment. I remember asking her to watch my left eyelid as I visualised that mental crank winding down my eyelid and, suddenly, my eyelid moved!

Over the coming weeks I listened to my tape daily and my visualisation of the mental crank changed to that of a smooth lever as I got more control of my left eyelid movement. I could never close my eye completely and did need permanent eyelid lowering surgery, but the self hypnotherapy gave me an element of control over my illness that I had not possessed before.

TL

On 04/09/2018 I was diagnosed with a Squamous Cell Carcinoma cancer on my tongue and was subsequently seen by Dr Sarah Partridge, Consultant Oncologist at Charing Cross Hospital who then arranged my treatment of Chemotherapy and Radiology on my neck and face.

Several weeks into the course, my neck and inside my mouth became severely blistered as a result of the treatment preventing me to eat. I already had a Balloon Retained Gastrostomy feeding tube fitted into my stomach in anticipation of this and then used it to take nutrient liquids. I generally felt lousy with horrible side effects. As well as medication, Dr Partridge introduced me to her Clinical Hypnosis.

Her expertise in this field presents an opportunity to integrate this with other conventional treatments to reduce side effects. Dr Partridge has an alluring and captivating voice which one can listen too over and over again depending whatever situation one is going through which has been a tremendous help to me in my personal life.

It resulted me in feeling more relaxed, more focused, refreshed and calm. My eating habits improved and wasn’t too long before I was back on solids and the blisters slowly subsided. I highly recommend giving Clinical Hypnosis a try with Dr Partridge.

RL

K. has stopped cracking her knuckles as much as before. And continues to not bite her nails. She still fiddles with her hands but nothing to warrant concern

/Mother of a child with nail biting/

I am in a much better place. I slept very well. Most of the time my pain is gone or I am not focusing on the pain.

I feel like I’ve been able to face a lot more problems in my life.

M.C. /EDS patient after learning and practising self-hypnosis for 3 weeks./

Dear Dr. Peynovska,

Thank you so much for the extra time you gave me at our last session, I really appreciate that, and the extraordinary tools you have provided, which on a daily basis are helping me to lighten the pain levels in my body.

The ‘tourniquet’ gripping around my gut has not returned, for which I am most grateful as it challenges even the sitting position, at times making anything other than lying down impossible.  At present I am on a bit of a ‘see-saw’ with regard to my rear, saddle and thighs, with over-activity increasing pain there. The relief and joy in feeling better makes it hard not to do more!  I have also noticed a more active brain, a better memory, and have a brightness of heart that is so welcome!  It has been 3 weeks and 4 days since our first session.

P.R. (patient with chronic pain)

Hypnosis makes me feel, like I have more control of my situation and I can do something specific to help myself.

It makes me feel more positive afterwards, and also more relaxed after a session, which I think is in part due to the fact that I am totally relaxing my body during the process and so helping with the muscle tension and pain.

Generally speaking, I have found the sessions a great help, and although I still have quite a lot of work to do to keep improving, I have some really useful tools, both for the anxiety and also for the pain associated with my EDS.

K.T. (EDS patient)

It was so beneficial for me to find out about self hypnosis at the time of the test results, I was so overwhelmed by the news of the cancer spreading and my mind was completely taken over worrying thoughts. Self hypnosis helped me empty my mind from these tiring thoughts and get my stress level down.

The 1-10 counting is now my little routine before bedtime and it works so well! It allows me to properly switch off before bedtime and I do fall into a peaceful sleep.

Thank you again for sharing it with me.

I found the workshop was a positive and informative experience which definitely went a long way to helping me get through the radiotherapy.

The setting was calm, friendly and relaxing which helped greatly. It was also really nice and supportive to speak to others during coffee break and during the workshop itself as there is a mutual understanding of the difficulties we face going through treatments etc.

It also made a huge difference to know that you doctors care about our general well-being and want the best outcome for us and that you are willing to go the extra mile. (nhs at its finest)

Suggestions:
It would be helpful if there is a website we could go to which has a voice/music to help guide us through practice at home, as I found it difficult to then practice at home based on the memory of a single workshop.
During the workshop there was a woman there who couldn’t hear properly during practice it would be helpful if people are sat in a position that would help them.

Finally, I found the experience very positive and extremely helpful which did aid me through what was probably the most difficult, emotional and challenging time in my life.
Thank you so much

IG : post Maggie’s Workshop

Thank you so much for the session at Maggie’s yesterday. The work that you are doing is wonderful and it was so enlightening to see hypnosis embraced by two so very senior and experienced medical doctors.

It was particularly interesting to get the medical angle on the changes in physiology and you both have wonderful hypnotic voices.

LP

The first month I listened to the recording every day and it was useful in terms of relaxation, also with my constipation even if often I had to take some supplements to help it. After that, I got used to the mind practice and somehow it started to lose its effectiveness for me, so I stopped listening to it daily.

These days I do it once a week and it’s like a little break I give myself.

I am sure it helped with improving my condition and even though I still have IBS constipation, the symptoms are somehow less intrusive.

Learning to relax the body is an important part of healing for me and I feel that this recording is doing exactly that.

P.V. (patient with IBS)

I found the session extremely helpful, and I slept so well afterwards-first time in ages!

H.B. /patient with anxiety/

Dear Dr Peynovska, I am writing to give you a follow up.

First of all I want to thank you- you really have helped me and I feel I have moved on a step.

Although you gave me three journeys to follow, for some reason I end up using the one with the healing pool of water and enjoy picking and burning all the dead leaves of my problems including my diffuse pain.

So I will carry on as I am knowing I can come back to you in the future some time for reinforcement if needed

E.S. (EDS patient with chronic pain)

Hypnotherapy gave me a way to influence what was in my control about the surgery, namely my own attitude, and the healing power of my body and mind. This gave me a focus onto something positive and empowering, and helped reduce the fear of surgery.

I went into surgery relaxed, and woke up from surgery peacefully. My pain was manageable. I am sure that being peaceful with a challenge such as major surgery improves the speed and quality of one’s recovery from it.

For me, one of the most effective visualisations which I learned during hypnotherapy was the dimmer switch visualisation to lessen pain and nausea. I use it to this day in various other situations, for example, if I find myself in a trying situation and want to lower the emotional intensity of it.

M.C. (patient who underwent a major surgery)