Happy New Year!

The end of the year is always hard to stay on track with wellness protocols – especially detox. January, for me, is a good time to set goals and create a lifestyle focused on moving my health forward.

My husband and I met with my doctor, Steven Harris, this week. The two of those men have a similar sense of humor and tend to joke a lot (sometimes at my expense – but hey, they do make me laugh).

Dr. Harris started by asking me what I want to focus on health wise for 2023. I love that. We make such a good team – he recognizes that I want control of my own health, but he has the experience and knowledge to guide me.

My answer: DETOX

I have been working hard to clean my world of toxins. From the food I eat, to my cleaning products, to what I cook with and how I store food – everything that comes into my home is vetted for how it will affect our bodies.

I still struggle with toxic overload. Just having numerous diseases creates a toxic environment in the body – so the more I can remove those toxins, the better I should feel. My body does not detox well. So when I do anything to encourage detox, I get very sick and have a ton of pain.

Last year, I began working to support the downstream detox pathways (gut, liver, kidneys, lymphs) to more effectively remove toxins and reducing cellular inflammation so we can get to the toxins inside cells. Now it’s time to aggressively pull the toxins out of tissues and cells.

Current Protocol:

Detox – As I mentioned, I have a hard time with detox. I have lots of tools, but I often hesitate to use them because I know it’s going to make me very sick. The hope is that if I detox enough, if I push through the sickness and pain, eventually I should get enough toxins out of my system that I won’t have such horrific responses. Ayurveda should help with the lymphatic system. I also use sauna, ionic foot baths, dry brushing, epsom salt & clay baths, various oral medications & remedies to actually carry the toxins out of the system (cholestyramine, bentonite clay, phosphatidyl choline, zeolite, glutathione, magnesium, activated carbon, humic acid, fulvic acid, dandelion, etc). Other tips from the doc: drink hot water while in the sauna, take proteolytic enzymes, minerals and natural adrenal support on detox days.

Low Dose Immunotherapy – one of the challenges with chronic illness is that the immune system causes inflammation in response to infection. LDI helps retrain the immune system to respond appropriately to the specific pathogens and reduce the inflammatory response in the body. These take time. I am currently using Brucella LDI and will move to Lyme next month, followed by Bartonella 2 months later.

CCI Physical Therapy – Last month, Dr. Harris referred me to a PT who specializes in cervical instability. I was skeptical – I’ve done so much PT and it always leaves me in more pain than when I started. This has been different.

First, she explained CCI more clearly. The ligaments in the neck are like tight springs that support the neck and head. Muscles are like rubber bands that stretch and rebound when the neck moves – bring it back to its central position. With CCI, the ligaments become loose, so the muscles pick up the slack and become tight. Which is why previous PT, which works to strengthen muscles, has failed so spectacularly.

The prolotherapy I did in Florida was focused on strengthening the ligaments, but the muscles haven’t loosened up. My CCI PT doctor has been slowly introducing methods to do that.

Neural Therapy – I started procaine shots (which are administered just under the skin) in the neck and back. Neural therapy can reduce inflammation and pain, while also improving immune and lymphatic system function. My husband was taught to do these for me – yeah, he’s amazing. We will be adding traumeel, zeel and neralgo to the procaine (these german homeopathics focus on reducing inflammation and nerve pain).

Scar Tissue – A few months ago, a knot in my neck developed that hasn’t gone away. I get knots frequently, due to either swollen lymph glands or tense muscles. This one is different. It came on suddenly and has been there too long without change to be something like cancer. So what is it? Well, we think it’s scar tissue from the prolotherapy. It hurts – a lot – as it is pressing on nerves. I need to make this a focus right now. The good news is that DMSO should clear it up quickly without major side effects.

THERAPIES WE ARE CONSIDERING:

Hyperbaric Chamber – I’m not a fan of enclosed spaces, but I’ve been able to do larger chambers in the past. Oxygen kills Lyme. So this can be an effective treatment. However, these are prohibitively expensive to purchase, and we do not have local centers to be able to do them every day.

Apiatherapy – Bee venom therapy (as in bee stings) has been proving to be a highly effective tickborne disease treatment. But you have to actually use honeybees to sting yourself. Not a fan of that idea. But considering it.

Pancha Karma – Dr. Harris has recommended I visit India in the past to do a 3-week Pancha Karma program in India. I am not excited about the idea of leaving the country for treatment. Fortunately, the Ayurveda center he wanted me to visit has moved to Milpitas, CA. That said, I’ve seen a woman in Redding for lymph drainage massage in years past. She’s great and she is an Ayerveda practitioner with Pancha Karma as an option. So I think I’ll start with her.

Ayurveda is the traditional medicine of India. Pancha Karma is an Ayurvedic practice of cleansing the whole body. I’ll be writing about it more soon, for now, I’ll just say it is interesting to learn how the world can affect my specific body type.

In closing, if you’ve been stuck in your wellness journey, don’t give up. There is so much to learn about your body and the tools available around the world to help get you “unstuck”. If you want to chat about it, feel encouraged to reach out to me. I may not have the answers, but I’d be happy to share some of the tools that I’ve come across.