{"id":4011,"date":"2024-09-22T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-22T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/?p=4011"},"modified":"2023-03-28T08:54:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T08:54:56","slug":"the-lipoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/22\/4011\/","title":{"rendered":"The Lipoma"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many years ago I had a small round bulge on my thigh, which I ignored for around 18 months. Then I happened to be visiting my GP, and asked him what it was. \u201cIt\u2019s a lipoma,\u201d he answered, \u201ca fatty lump. Keep an eye on it. If it doesn\u2019t change it can stay, but if it grows it will have to come out.\u201d I kept a close eye on the lipoma, and it started to grow, for the first time in 18 months. I went back to the GP, who removed it surgically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years later I told someone this story in order to highlight the fact that noticing something makes it grow; a small problem can turn into a large one if you pay it a lot of attention. I don\u2019t know whether it was because of this conversation, but two weeks later the lipoma reappeared, at the same spot where a scar indicated that its predecessor had been removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the lipoma can grow by suggestion, it can also shrink by suggestion,\u201d I thought. I remembered the wart charmer\u2019s old folk remedy; \u201cRub the wart with spit three times every morning and every evening, using a different finger each time, and repeat three times; \u2018Wart, wart, rub away.\u2019\u201d I wondered to myself whether the same would work for a lipoma, and decided to try. The lipoma had disappeared after three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
https:\/\/pixabay.com\/de\/photos\/h%c3%a4nde-finger-positiv-armb%c3%a4nder-2227857\/ (28.3.2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Women in Germany continued the traditions of medieval folk medicine by \u201ccharming\u201d or \u201ctalking away\u201d warts until just a few decades ago (and in rare cases even today). The procedure which is described in the story \u201eLipoma\u201c originates from this practice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(From: Stefan Hammel: Handbook of Therapeutic Storytelling. Sories and Metaphors in Psychotherapy, Child and Family Therapy, Medical Treatment, Coaching and Supervision<\/a>, Routledge 2019)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many years ago I had a small round bulge on my thigh, which I ignored for around 18 months. Then I happened to be visiting my GP, and asked him what it was. \u201cIt\u2019s a lipoma,\u201d he answered, \u201ca fatty … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4013,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4011\/revisions\/4013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stefanhammel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}