Side Tracked by Chronic Illness Part Two
In the previous post, I wrote about all my symptoms and challenges regarding my chronic condition.
The "treatment" offered by my internal medicine doctor was for me to continue to eliminate gluten and take ibuprofen whenever the pain bothered me. I also was on the "anti-inflammatory" diet (no gluten, sugar, coffee for example). While all that seemed to help, it also seemed inadequate and I wanted more information. I got all the relevant books the public library had to offer regarding fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
The next book that I found to be helpful was "The Fibromanual" by Ginevra Liptan, MD.
From Dr. Liptan's book, I learned that I was taking the recommended supplements: fish oil, calcium/magnesium/zinc, Vitamin K, E, C, B12, and turmeric. I added boswellia - it's suppose to help with inflammation. I wasn't sure about turmeric but I've been taking it to help with pain after dance classes. And it didn't hurt that it is purported to be anti-cancer, anti-dementia as well as anti-inflammatory. I ran out of it one day and didn't think much of it until the pain throughout my body intensified! I went out to get more turmeric, took the pill immediately and felt relief in a couple of hours. I now have a backup bottle in my cupboard.
Some of the therapies recommended in "the Fibromanual" include myofascial release. It is a manual therapy that reduces tension in the fascia, the connective tissue around muscles. The author writes about the CranioCradle that you can use at home to simulate
craniosacral therapy. This seemed attractive because I had much pain in my neck and shoulders. So, I bought one and it is very relaxing. It supposedly softens the tight fascia in the back of the neck and seemed to bring some temporary pain relief. And because my pain might be coming from inflamed fascia, I got books on fascia stretching and bought a device, the FasciaBlaster that supposedly helps open up the fascia and break down fascia adhesions leading to pain reduction. I am not sure how much the FasciaBlaster
worked but it seemed to decrease some of the cellulite around my abdomen. The stretching exercises from "The Permanent Pain Cure" by Ming Chew, PT seemed to do the most good. Maybe. Certainly, none of the things I was trying did any harm.
On one of my regular every 6 week acupuncture appointments, I spoke to my acupuncturist Shirley Nichols about my worsening condition: brain fog, depression, fatigue, body pain. I've been seeing her for 20 years and I credit her with avoiding a hysterectomy, relieving my shingles pain (lasted for almost 5 years), getting rid of migraines and sailing through menopause, to name some of the benefits from her treatments. She recommended that I see an alternative doctor, Damon Miller, MD who helped her with symptoms of chronic fatigue. I called him and made an appointment.
Just to recap, my symptoms:
poor quality sleep, during which I would constantly wake up from the pain in my neck
brain fog (seemed like a preview of Alzheimer's)
depression
fatigue
all over body pain, particularly in my neck and shoulders
migraines
While the body pain was awful, it was the brain fog, fatigue and depression that was the most debilitating.
My appointment with Dr. Miller started with an extensive dialogue about my symptoms, medical history, and his explanation on how he works. He had me hold onto a large computer mouse-like device that was hooked up to a computer. It was diagnosing my sensitivities to a variety of things like toxins, heavy metals, molds. He explained that the toxins were in many areas of the body and the first thing I had to do before proceeding with treatment would be to eliminate anything with "sulf...." in my toothpaste, soap and shampoo. Also, I needed to stay away from white vinegar, peanuts, almonds. And, no using aluminum foil in cooking. I would do this for 2 weeks and then he would begin the first of two laser detoxification treatments. In the meantime, he sent me home with a couple of supplements and homeopathic treatments for allergies and body pain.
And....he explained that there was an important emotional component to healing. He suggested that I write down any childhood trauma or sadness and then to burn the paper. I said "no, I wasn't going to do that". I told him I couldn't go there. He seemed concerned and gently suggested that I write a timeline of my life. It is odd, but he was the second person who said exactly that: I would benefit from writing down any childhood trauma and then to burn it. I also told that person that I wouldn't be doing that. Period. And then, I read in the Fibromanual that one of the psychological risk factors for fibromyalgia is childhood trauma or abuse. Damn! So, if I wanted to get serious about beating this, I needed to visit that dark period of my life. I decided I would do the treatment and hold off on that part of healing. Maybe I would get better without addressing my difficult childhood.
I've been treating myself to a massage every 6-8 weeks with Mika Banks, truly the best massage therapist I've ever had and I've had many massages throughout my life. I credit her with fixing my body so I can continue to dance. The day after my first appointment with Dr. Miller, I had a massage scheduled with Mika. She wanted to try something she had been studying, integrated energy therapy. I trusted her but I really wanted a massage more than any New Age "treatment". She started with a body massage and then tried her energy therapy skill . She began from my head and worked her way down. I didn't feel anything until.....she got to the heart area where I felt this "whoooosh" of energy leaving me. She continued down and I felt another "whoooosh" leaving me from my right hip. And finally this crazy energy came streaming out of me from my left foot. I relayed all this to her after treatment and we discussed what happened. I didn't feel any differently but I appreciated her wanting to help with my healing.
And then.....the next day, I felt different. I felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from me. I was stunned because for the first time, I could think about my childhood without feeling great sadness. I tried to invoke that feeling but nothing happened. I waited a few days, still feeling stunned and wrote down the chronology of my life and all the childhood trauma I could remember. It became more of a clinical exercise of just writing down the facts. I felt removed from the emotional component that has plagued me for 5 DECADES. I then burned the document and I was fine. In addition, on my father's birthday (he died in 2015), I always felt a certain sadness and regret but this time, I wished him a happy birthday and felt a genuine sense of love.
Next: Laser Energetic Detoxification and LDM-100
The "treatment" offered by my internal medicine doctor was for me to continue to eliminate gluten and take ibuprofen whenever the pain bothered me. I also was on the "anti-inflammatory" diet (no gluten, sugar, coffee for example). While all that seemed to help, it also seemed inadequate and I wanted more information. I got all the relevant books the public library had to offer regarding fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.
The next book that I found to be helpful was "The Fibromanual" by Ginevra Liptan, MD.
From Dr. Liptan's book, I learned that I was taking the recommended supplements: fish oil, calcium/magnesium/zinc, Vitamin K, E, C, B12, and turmeric. I added boswellia - it's suppose to help with inflammation. I wasn't sure about turmeric but I've been taking it to help with pain after dance classes. And it didn't hurt that it is purported to be anti-cancer, anti-dementia as well as anti-inflammatory. I ran out of it one day and didn't think much of it until the pain throughout my body intensified! I went out to get more turmeric, took the pill immediately and felt relief in a couple of hours. I now have a backup bottle in my cupboard.
Some of the therapies recommended in "the Fibromanual" include myofascial release. It is a manual therapy that reduces tension in the fascia, the connective tissue around muscles. The author writes about the CranioCradle that you can use at home to simulate
 |
| CranioCradle |
craniosacral therapy. This seemed attractive because I had much pain in my neck and shoulders. So, I bought one and it is very relaxing. It supposedly softens the tight fascia in the back of the neck and seemed to bring some temporary pain relief. And because my pain might be coming from inflamed fascia, I got books on fascia stretching and bought a device, the FasciaBlaster that supposedly helps open up the fascia and break down fascia adhesions leading to pain reduction. I am not sure how much the FasciaBlaster
 |
| FasciaBlaster |
worked but it seemed to decrease some of the cellulite around my abdomen. The stretching exercises from "The Permanent Pain Cure" by Ming Chew, PT seemed to do the most good. Maybe. Certainly, none of the things I was trying did any harm.
On one of my regular every 6 week acupuncture appointments, I spoke to my acupuncturist Shirley Nichols about my worsening condition: brain fog, depression, fatigue, body pain. I've been seeing her for 20 years and I credit her with avoiding a hysterectomy, relieving my shingles pain (lasted for almost 5 years), getting rid of migraines and sailing through menopause, to name some of the benefits from her treatments. She recommended that I see an alternative doctor, Damon Miller, MD who helped her with symptoms of chronic fatigue. I called him and made an appointment.
Just to recap, my symptoms:
poor quality sleep, during which I would constantly wake up from the pain in my neck
brain fog (seemed like a preview of Alzheimer's)
depression
fatigue
all over body pain, particularly in my neck and shoulders
migraines
While the body pain was awful, it was the brain fog, fatigue and depression that was the most debilitating.
My appointment with Dr. Miller started with an extensive dialogue about my symptoms, medical history, and his explanation on how he works. He had me hold onto a large computer mouse-like device that was hooked up to a computer. It was diagnosing my sensitivities to a variety of things like toxins, heavy metals, molds. He explained that the toxins were in many areas of the body and the first thing I had to do before proceeding with treatment would be to eliminate anything with "sulf...." in my toothpaste, soap and shampoo. Also, I needed to stay away from white vinegar, peanuts, almonds. And, no using aluminum foil in cooking. I would do this for 2 weeks and then he would begin the first of two laser detoxification treatments. In the meantime, he sent me home with a couple of supplements and homeopathic treatments for allergies and body pain.
And....he explained that there was an important emotional component to healing. He suggested that I write down any childhood trauma or sadness and then to burn the paper. I said "no, I wasn't going to do that". I told him I couldn't go there. He seemed concerned and gently suggested that I write a timeline of my life. It is odd, but he was the second person who said exactly that: I would benefit from writing down any childhood trauma and then to burn it. I also told that person that I wouldn't be doing that. Period. And then, I read in the Fibromanual that one of the psychological risk factors for fibromyalgia is childhood trauma or abuse. Damn! So, if I wanted to get serious about beating this, I needed to visit that dark period of my life. I decided I would do the treatment and hold off on that part of healing. Maybe I would get better without addressing my difficult childhood.
I've been treating myself to a massage every 6-8 weeks with Mika Banks, truly the best massage therapist I've ever had and I've had many massages throughout my life. I credit her with fixing my body so I can continue to dance. The day after my first appointment with Dr. Miller, I had a massage scheduled with Mika. She wanted to try something she had been studying, integrated energy therapy. I trusted her but I really wanted a massage more than any New Age "treatment". She started with a body massage and then tried her energy therapy skill . She began from my head and worked her way down. I didn't feel anything until.....she got to the heart area where I felt this "whoooosh" of energy leaving me. She continued down and I felt another "whoooosh" leaving me from my right hip. And finally this crazy energy came streaming out of me from my left foot. I relayed all this to her after treatment and we discussed what happened. I didn't feel any differently but I appreciated her wanting to help with my healing.
And then.....the next day, I felt different. I felt like a heavy weight had been lifted from me. I was stunned because for the first time, I could think about my childhood without feeling great sadness. I tried to invoke that feeling but nothing happened. I waited a few days, still feeling stunned and wrote down the chronology of my life and all the childhood trauma I could remember. It became more of a clinical exercise of just writing down the facts. I felt removed from the emotional component that has plagued me for 5 DECADES. I then burned the document and I was fine. In addition, on my father's birthday (he died in 2015), I always felt a certain sadness and regret but this time, I wished him a happy birthday and felt a genuine sense of love.
Next: Laser Energetic Detoxification and LDM-100
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