Fibromyalgia

[GrandTrinity]

A colleague of my mom's is suffering from it, what is the tao bum wisdom on healing this?

[Todd]

A potential lead is the "Super Sleep" CD by the Monroe Institute. It is used to reach deeper states of sleep at night. My former psychology professor did her PhD on people who recovered from fibromyalgia, and one of her subjects maintained that this CD was key to her recovery. She apparently turned over a hundred other fibromyalgia patients onto this CD, most of whom saw great benefit or recovered. Keep in mind, this is third hand information, and I have no personal experience with this product.

 

My professor's take on the overall process of recovering from fibromyalgia, was that those who took the illness to heart, and really examined their lives, tended to go through some sort of spiritual transformation and ended up feeling thankful for their illness. She also said that many fibromyalgia patients aren't so interested in those sorts of things though, and don't usually recover. That said, she also said that a lot of people recovered using just the CD, which as far as I can tell, doesn't induce spiritual transformation.

 

For what its worth....

[karen]

The key is that treatment for chronic problems has to be individualized for each person, and is usually multidimensional, so there's not just one thing that's going to wipe it out. Sometimes one simple intervention like getting off diet soda or cutting out wheat or improving sleep habits makes a big difference, if the problem is minor and isn't deeply rooted. But often it takes more than that.

 

The very first thing I'd ask is what was going on in the person's life when the symptom first appeared. And I'd find out whether they're taking any drugs that could have side effects like the symptoms they're having. Very important to rule that out. All too often the doctors don't take that into account, and slap on a new diagnosis when new symptoms come up.

 

Back to fibromyalgia - there no such thing as an entity called fibromyalgia which is the same for everyone and treated the same, although of course most practitioners do try to treat it that way.

 

Fibromyalgia is just a fancy way of describing the symptoms of muscle pain and fatigue. It's not a true diagnosis, but an allopathic label, so it doesn't disclose the cause of the problem, and only tells you what you already know (you have pain and fatigue).

 

This means that every person who has those symptoms may have different underlying causes. So the approach depends on whether they want to get to the root causes, or whether they just want to suppress or palliate the symptoms. It depends on the person's inclinations and what he/she is prepared to do.

 

Just to give you an idea of possible causes of that and other chronic conditions - emotional blockages; latent inherited diseases that are triggered into action by physical or emotional trauma (including vaccinations); past shocks and traumas; severe nutritional imbalances; toxins such as aspartame and mercury; Lyme disease; cellular dehydration; infectious agents like epstein-barr virus; deep fears and false beliefs. Often with complex, chronic conditions it's a combination of all of those.

 

For example, we know that mercury dental fillings aren't good for anyone, but one person might become very destabilized from them, because they have a lot of other things going on and that was just the last straw. Whereas someone else might be able to handle it without becoming destabilized, until they get a vaccine or have an emotional trauma.

 

Also there are many opportunistic microbes like mycoplasma, which are more the effect than the cause, but contribute to making the person feel sick. The tendency is to focus on those, but that's misguided, like if you lost something in a dark alley but you're looking for it under the street light just because it's easier to see there. Reducing some of the microbial load can sometimes help the person feel better in the meantime, but doesn't solve the problem.

 

The ideal is to work at the causative level, while helping the person to manage symptoms, but the aim is not simply to get rid of symptoms. Even in alternative medicine, usually the focus is on symptoms, and if the symptom goes away, they consider it a success. Well, from the patient's point of view, of course it's good that they feel better, but if the symptom has simply been suppressed, the problem will emerge again later and probably more seriously next time. And it's not only drugs that suppress, but herbs and nutrients can be used suppressively too!

 

But let's step back and look at some possible scenarios:

 

1. If the person is conventional medicine oriented, but willing to try a few other things on their own:

 

Look at how the soul/spiritual life is being neglected, and what would nourish that.

Look into improving their diet, and eliminate common culprits like aspartame, MSG, gluten.

Look at diet typologies to determine what type of diet suits their particular metabolism

Improve the amount and quality of water and salt they're using.

Use some super-food type supplements - start with basic ones like cod liver oil, concentrated green foods and fruits, hemp seeds, minerals especially magnesium, B-vitamins and C, etc.

Look at stress and emotional issues and consider learning EFT or Buteyko breathing or some form of meditation/relaxation technique.

Look at lifestyle - exercise, sleep, relationships, etc.

 

2. If the person is willing to do various unconventional treatments, some of these may be useful in addition to the above basics:

 

Get homeopathic treatment for the acute problem

Get TCM treatment

Use a Zapper ( www.orgonecrystals.com) to reduce the microbial load.

Do oil pulling for a gentle liver cleanse, and some other detox methods depending on their particular constitution, no one-size-fits-all methods.

Anything that regulates the autonomic nervous system like Buteyko, qigong, yoga, cranial osteopathy, Rosen work, etc.

 

The most comprehensive approach I know of is treatment with a practitioner of medical Heilkunst, www.homeopathy.com/clinic. (Heilkunst is the complete system of medicine that includes homeopathy).

 

Putting together a strategy can of course be overwhelming for anyone, especially figuring out how to individualize it, where to start, prioritizing and coordinate everything. I can help people do that. All natural healing methods are potentially useful - the trick is to know what you're really targeting beyond the symptom, and which is the right tool for that, for this particular person at this particular time.

 

-Karen

Edited August 1, 2007 by karen

[Sahaj Nath]

karen pretty much covered it, so my $0.02 will just be that.

 

 

 

the key in most chronic illnesses is the same in cultivation: the greatest determinant is the quality of the individual. it's not merely a matter of what kind of disease the person has, but also what kind of person has the disease.

 

the liver is the seat of anger, frustration, and half of stress (the other half of stress resides in the kidneys, the seat of fear). if the person is quick-tempered or prone to high stress, then cleansing is a great place to start.

 

 

organic pu-erh for clensing. very dark tea, thick as coffee, but surprisingly low in caffeine. this will aid in cleansing the liver, but will really work in detoxing the digestive track. it's probiotic with living, positive bacteria. it's the only tea i know that can be aged like wine.

 

organic rooibos for nourishing the lungs. in africa the folk healers would use this herb to treat asthma. this will actually help the body take in more qi and nourish the oxygen-starved areas of the body.

 

 

gentle, but effective teas can make a difference, if supported by necessary life changes and a little bit of energy therapy. i have had success treating this illness (and am currently treating someone with all the same symptoms), but it's not the same for everybody.

 

this person is not likely to recover if they take a couple of pieces of advice on diet and remedy, but continues with the same life pattern that got them there. chronic illness doesn't happen overnight. it's a consistent pattern over years that eventually breaks a threshold point where it manifests as a physical condition.

 

it's important to figure out what life-patterns contribute to the condition.

 

 

that's about all i can say without know anything about the person. the two teas are very safe and will very likely raise the person's energy levels immediately. the rooibos in particular with help to better oxygenate the blood which could decrease inflammation and lessen pain. i can't make any promises, but then, it's just tea, so what would they have to lose?

 

if the person has any issues with caffeine, the rooibos has no caffeine at all. just hearty goodness.

 

 

the person should meet with either a good herbalist or a good acupuncturist. unless, of course, they're in proximity to a good qigong healer.

Edited August 1, 2007 by Hundun