For many years the pattern of my life has been dictated by addictive behaviour and I’d reached a stage where I stood to lose much of what I’ve worked for. I sought Steve’s assistance in an effort to break the cycle and the results have been little short of miraculous.
Peter’s testimonial regarding his history of excessive sweating prior to treatment with NLP and hypnotherapy pretty much speaks for itself
Dear Steve
Just a quick email to say thank you so much and to hopefully encourage others who are suffering in their lives to have the confidence to come and see you for treatment. (I obviously expect a modest commission for each new appointment that mentions this letter!).
I had suffered from Hyperhidrosis (HH) or excessive sweating, since I was about 16 (I’m now 35!). This condition had basically been totally controlling my life (or at least I thought it was) for most of my adult years; avoiding pretty much any situation where I thought I would start sweating (which as the years went on became practically any situation). My Doctors prescribed Propanthelene Bromine tablets which provided some relief, although they came with an excessively dry mouth and eyes as a side effect which left me irritated and exhausted after taking and in some instances I felt as agitated by the dry mouth as I would have been by the sweating. I self medicated with alcohol and recreational drugs to allow myself to get so smashed that my mind would stop focusing on the sweating. (Sound insane, don’t I, but at the time this all seemed so real and completely overwhelming).
During the excessive heat of summer 2006 in London, when record temperatures of 38 where recorded, and after a couple of long periods of depression (probably not helped by the drugs and alcohol intake) I finally found I could not cope any more. I’d stopped working and had been to see my Dr who’d suggested some form of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) and signed me off work. I was drinking heavily and on a downward spiral of despair. (Interestingly I have found out since that alcohol as well as alleviating the symptoms in the short term, actually increases the amount your body sweats naturally, so on all counts it’s not the best solution for HH!). I decided I’d had enough and life was just too difficult, so in one last attempt to resolve this issue (and I make no excesses for the fact that I was fairly certain in my own mind that without some solution to this problem life at that time really wasn’t worth living).
My plan was to attack the condition from 3 fronts. Firstly I would address my physical health, the doctor had already taken the usual tests to make sure I wasn’t suffering from any underlying medical condition that may have be contributing to the excessive sweating. I booked into my local health spa for a colonic irrigation treatment in the hope that clearing all the toxins from my body would reduce the amount of sweat that my body produced.
Secondly, I decided to try to seek some kind of counselling or CBT. Unfortunately our wonderful NHS has such a long waiting list for CBT that in my area the waiting list had actually been closed! Not deterred I forced myself to investigate the options via the Internet. It was there that I found in amongst the various CBT and counselling services, www.justbewell.com (JBW), claiming to actually specialise/have experience of treating HH. Ever the sceptic, but desperate for help (trust me you don’t get a stranger to stick a pipe up your bum and fill you with water while discussing the weather unless you’re desperate), I read on. I’d had hypnosis before, and to be honest thought it was bollocks, or at least that I wasn’t receptive to it. I’d tried to remember times or events in my life in the past that may have triggered the HH but had had no success. But reading the JBW site and the description of hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming seemed to make sense to me. I’d recently watched an episode of Derren Brown and was quite taken by the power of subconscious mind and subliminal persuasion. Anyway, having read virtually every letter from ‘satisfied’ customers, thinking to myself I bet these aren’t real, what a con, I must be mad. I phoned, and after a quick chat with Steve, who sounded totally normal and not pampering or like some great mystic hippy, I felt optimistic that he could help me. An appointment was made for the next day.
Thirdly I’d decided to try to just not give a shit, life was so awful that I thought to my self, who cares, life can’t be any worse, this is me and if you don’t like it tough. Something on the JBW site mentioned changing negative thought patterns, and in a way even before the first session this seemed to reinforce my decision to just ignore the HH.
So, first session (2-3 sessions were suggested would be all that I would require) I went to Harley Street, met Steve and sat and listened to him talk for an hour, nothing mystical, no swinging pocket watches, eastern relaxation music or the smell of josticks burning. Just a man in a room talking to me while I sat with my eyes closed and listened. How the fuck can this work I thought, what a waste of money, oh well I’m here now, and Steve was making me laugh so it wasn’t all-bad.
At the end of the session I felt really good, didn’t feel like I’d been put into a trance or anything scary, just full of positivity and in a pretty good mood. So I booked another appointment for a week’s time and made my way home. On the way I felt a true feeling of hope and optimism for the first time in many years.
During the next week I continued to avoid alcohol and caffeine and stick to a healthy diet as recommended by my colonic irrigation practitioner, hoping that this would make me sweat less. I was also listening to a self hypnosis stress CD that Steve had given me (I say listening but to be honest I would simply put it on and fall asleep, I think I’ve only ever listened to it once and consciously taken in what’s been being said; it uses words and phrases like ‘Welcome fellow Pilgrims’ which still to this day make me smile and think this is daft, just before drop off to sleep). And finally I decided to continue trying to ignore the sweating (spurned on by new found confidence from the first session and I think from listening to the CD’s).
In the first week I’d started two new jobs, one as a gardener working in the blistering heat and as a cocktail barman in a hot busy bar in London. Both jobs would have absolutely filled me with terror just weeks before (I normally design websites and try to avoid heat, people, stress and physical exertion at work to try to manage the HH). Don’t get me wrong I still felt some apprehension, but I felt able and determined to throw myself into them. Something in the way I viewed what would normally be stressful and fearful, whether it be sweating, or a difficult new job now seemed so much less terrifying. So what if I sweat, everyone does. So what if I make a mistake. Who cares what people think!
So this first week was pretty amazing. Both new jobs went well, yes I felt some nerves, and yes, I sweated (it was still averaging 30o in London) but I didn’t care, for the first time in my life I felt in control, whatever happened I would cope, not just the sweating (which I now realise was just one of many ways in which my body/mind was using to try to get me out of difficult situations) but with whatever I was confronted with. I started to enjoy life, enjoying all the situations that I would usually avoid and dread. It has been a truly amazing ride and it just seems to get better and better.
It’s been 3 weeks now, and I never did go back for the second treatment (after a quick call to Steve, expecting a hard sell on the second treatment, but he was cool, and happy that I was feeling so good). I can honestly say I’VE NEVER IN MY LIFE FELT BETTER. Life now seems like an exciting challenge, I stopped smoking, drink occasionally and enjoy it without getting drunk, don’t take drugs, eat well, and have more energy than I know what to do with (not sure if the energy is entirely Steve ’s doing, have to attribute some of that to the colonic and the diet/lifestyle change).
Steve, thanks again mate, and yes, I think you are probably better than Derren Brown!
Yours Sincerely
Peter
