Saturday, November 5, 2016

Time for Change

The change of seasons brought with it a flare up of bursitis, tendonitis, and the rest of the pains that fall under the general category of Fibromyalgia. At first, I felt myself backsliding into past mental patterns of wo-is-me. Part of this pattern is worrying about how I will fare as time goes on and I need more care. I wasn’t due for my six-month checkup with my primary doctor until November 29.

I worried I wouldn’t be able to last that long as pain began to creep up. I prepared a written report for my doctor which included what I found in my research related to adrenaline and lactic acid buildup in muscles. (More to follow).

Somewhere during wo-is-me, I must have set the right intention (a new skill I’ve been learning) and I set it for “it is TIME to figure out once and for all, what my body needs to heal.”

What if instead of trying to numb the pain, I could spend more time with my body and less time inside my mind? Where would I even begin?
  • More time with my body means less time on the computer.
  • More time with my body means taking hot baths to heat up my muscles before I stretch them.
  • More time with my body means taking the time to prepare nutritious delicious meals.
  • More time with my body means drinking more water.
  • More time with my body means listening to the many meditations I’ve accumulated and retraining my mind to overcome pain.
Yes, I set an intention and when you do that, everything you need begins to show up, which is what just happened to me.

1.  I had subscribed to a newsletter that was promoting Dr. Mark Wiley’s book Arthritis Reversed. The book was being offered for just the cost of shipping along with a bunch of other CD’s and newsletters, including a meditation CD “Relax Away Your Pain.” The book arrived just in time and I read it from cover to cover. I sure wished I had come across it years earlier. I am intrigued that as a result of my intention to spend more time with my body, I received instructions to meditate, move slowly with exercise such as Tai Chi, and take Chinese Medicine. Did I mention I resigned from two volunteer jobs I was doing? Too much time on the computer was backfiring big time. Yes, there are many things I wish I came across years earlier. No time for regrets. Start NOW. Sone of many things Dr. Wiley recommends is acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, and meditation. Most of the bits and pieces I’ve been trying to put together are simply said in this book. This book is one of my new bibles.

Some but not all of what this book covers:
  • the mind-body connection to pain, 
  • key lifestyle changes,
  • explains why drugs and cortisone injections are toxic to the system (p.21),
  • the psychological effects of chronic pain
  • The 10 biggest arthritis mistakes people make
  • How long-term stress affects your body (which validates what I just learned in the first article)
  • Natural Solutions Your Doctor doesn’t know
  • Natural Supplements (yay—I’m already taking the recommended Chinese Herbal Teas & what Ambika just brought me)
  • Topical creams, gels, and oils for relief (yay—I am using many of them & have added doTerra to the mix—can’t wait to get some Deep Blue!)
  • Exercises (I must take the time to do the suggested ones in addition to going to Curves)
  • Resolving Negative Thoughts & Emotions (I’ve been doing Theta Healing belief work)
  • Goal-setting and more!
The magic articles—

2. I found it on Facebook. Dr. Michael Platt: "The pain of fibromyalgia is caused by a buildup of lactic acid from constant muscle tension. Again, this can be caused by anger from certain interpersonal relationships or from the release of excess adrenaline. Contributing to the buildup is the tension of the muscles compressing small veins—venules—which carry lactic acid out of muscles. At the same time, muscle tension similarly compresses lymphatic vessels that also function to remove lactic acid from muscles. This creates a situation where the lactic acid is continuously building up, but is not able to be drained. …. To lower adrenaline levels, we must first understand why the body overproduces this hormone. Up until a certain time in history, the body only produced excess adrenaline in times of danger. It allowed people to either face the danger or run away from it—the fight-or-flight response. Such a physical response lasted only a few minutes, and as soon as the danger passed, the adrenaline level returned to normal. Today, however, there are people who release adrenaline all day and night without being in danger.”

To read the rest of the article, go to http://alternativemedicine.com/fibromyalgia-curable-despite-what-your-doctors-says/

Nice! A simple explanation for the all-over muscle pain I’ve had most of my life. So how do I fix it? I sent the entire article to Ambika (healthwithambika.com) to get her feedback. She responded by sending me multiple assessment forms to fill out.

Ambika Longnecker, PhD, is an amazing alternative health practitioner I met in Austin—when I decided to get an eye reading. With the eyes the window of the soul, she mapped out all the issues in my body. Amazing! But that’s not the end. Once she knew what my issues were, she offered multiple modalities to choose from to pursue healing. I was introduced to Theta Healing and Tibetan Pulsation. I love that she does everything I wanted to experience in pursuit of better health—many of which I had in the past which showed the kinds of results that were useful for me.

I’ve been doing a lot of work for Ambika and we have been trading services. It’s been exciting to know I have skills she needs (publishing, website creation, and Facebook pages) and she has the healing education I want to learn about. Best of all, I learn as I put the content together for her books.

Kristin Planiz had me fill out assessment forms, too, prior to deciding which mix of Chinese Medicinal Herbs she was going to give me. I’d been drinking the tea for several months, calmly aware that even though I don’t feel any obvious changes, re-growing healthy body parts takes time. Since I was already seeing Kristin for Chinese Medicinal Teas, I suggested Kristin and Ambika meet. I wanted them both on my healthcare team.

While I was reading Dr. Wiley’s book, Ambika called me to say she made an appointment with Kristin and she was coming to Lampasas. She hoped to come visit me as well.

Ambika came to Lampasas last Thursday. She did an eye reading on Kristin and Kristin did acupuncture on Ambika. While she was there, Ambika learned of the Chinese Herbs Kristin was mixing for me and why, so Ambika could add her nutritionals (for me) without overstepping Kristin’s.

Then Ambika came to my place with the bag of nutritionals she wanted me to take. I live less than .5 miles from Kristin’s office. She also recommended I have a Theta Healing session once a month. When I questioned the cost, her response was, “I have a lot of work I need you to do and I need you to be healthy!”

Ambika, using applied kinesiology, also muscle tested me on things I was already taking and eating. I didn’t pass on the frozen cherries I’ve been using in my smoothies, the Alive 55+ Multivitamin for Women, and the Ezekiel Food for Life Sprouted Grain Bread. Bummer. It’s time to try eliminating Gluten and Grains. This is what Ambika brought me:
  • PURE L-Glutamine powder to put in my water (to hopefully neutralize the lactic acid in my muscles)
  • TerrainMax Kidney Terrain Liquid Multivitamin, Mineral, & Cofactor Dietary Supplement
  • TerrainMax Liver Terrain Liquid Multivitamin, Mineral, & Cofactor Dietary Supplement (taking a lot of medications for over 12 years for pain & metabolic side effects left its mark on my liver and kidneys)
  • Organa Minerals  (I already had some but wasn’t taking nearly enough)
  • Super Oxicell (KR-23) Glutathione & SOD Cream by Apex Energetics (An amazing mix of awesome ingredients to rub into my pulse points and other places I hurt)
  • Slippery Elm (to sooth acid reflux and dry mouth/throat
  • A sheet of simple energy medicine exercises to do every day to get my Chi flowing


3.  Jonathan Bender’s The Joint Pain Relief CodesYes!!!! Out of this entire e-book, the part that jumps out at me is the connection between tight hamstrings and the IT band which connect to the knees and describes the pain I have on the outside of each knee. I can tell the exercises I’ve been doing at Curves are pulling on my knees and now I know why. I have been missing out on a crucial step. I plan to ask my health professionals how to properly do what Jonathan is suggesting (without buying the expensive gadget he is promoting in his book).

Code= IT + Stretch + Internal/external hip/thigh + glut + hamstring + quad + core

“This code is very simple to work, if you're suffering with knee pain simply follow the code in the order you see it. First, making sure the IT bands are released. Then you should warm up with a walk or movement for 5 minutes. Next you want to start with internal and external strengthening of the hips and thighs. After that start igniting those gluts, which is the largest muscle in the body. Next you want to make sure the hamstring is nice and stretched and then muscle engages. Then you want to engage the quad and the core. There are several variations of muscle engaging movements so you can choose which movement works for you and more importantly, doesn't cause you any pain. As you can see in the diagram above. The IT band along with the hamstring both interact directly with the knee and therefore can't afford to be over tightened and must remain loose. This also provides a view of the quad muscle positioned above the knee which has to be very strong in order to keep stress off the knee.”

I definitely want to find an exercise therapist to show me how to do this. Since childhood, my hamstrings have been tight and I used to think my knees were going bad until I learned about the IT Band. Now I am learning they both connect to the knees.

4. Dr. Cully, my chiropractor, had to be on hold for several months while I finished off my car payments. I found out just how much it was helping during the months I had to miss getting my adjustments. I finally started back the beginning of this month, and felt awesome after my treatment.

5.  Kristin had partnered with Theresa Linder (both doTerra Wellness Advocates) to provide educational classes almost every week on a variety of uses of these amazing oils. This last week, we learned about Aroma Touch using eight oils that are lightly massaged along your spine, soles of your feet, and your hands. I was intrigued by the similarities to Reiki I was familiar with. Kristin is so impressed with Aroma Touch, she is adding this service to her practice.

I ordered a book with all the details in it and can’t wait to experience one next week with Kristin. The goal is to know others you can trade this amazing therapy with. Theresa is a wonderful teacher and I never tire of hearing the stories she interweaves in the classes she teaches. Just so you know, I’ve been going to the classes for months, hoping that if I hear the information enough times, I will finally assimilate it all. I am now ready to become a Wellness Advocate myself.

All these modalities require me to retrain my natural tendencies to be a workaholic—even if work is just reading emails, checking posts on Facebook, and doing research when I am not trying to study and learn new things. All the topics I covered in this post have interlaced beautifully vs. conflict with each other or cause confusion.

I just celebrated my 61st birthday Saturday. Ambika is 72 and is still going strong. She is a wonderful role model for me to aspire to. Plus, after 6 years of juggling a grueling tight budget to handle car payments, I just made the last one. Now to create a new routine to include what Dr. Wiley says is essential to good health.