"Chronic" Interrelated Conditions. Overview / Guide Topic for YOUsers re: Lyme, Fatigue, Pain, Fibromyalgia, Neuro, Endo, etc.

I'm inclined to suggest to people who want to know what Lumigrate has to offer about chronic Lyme, fatigue, pain, neurological degeneration, etc. to  'just go to the forums at Lumigrate and look around, after you've looked at all the other links briefly and gotten the overview'. 

Ideally, people would have the time, energy and inclination to do so. Everyone is creating their own reality, living their reality on Earth in this life, I'd say.  Some people are able to get a LOT done in a short period of time and a lot of change can result if they've gotten lucky a bit, or have exceptionally good skills and abilities, even intuition, to know which route to take.  There are so many options now, the massive amount of information online (and in books and movies and so on) is almost endless!  

But that is usually not practical nor realistic, so in order to have a link to provide as a 'gateway' or 'thread' to start pulling on, I'm creating this NEW topic which I will be adding onto.  I will look at the topics in the forums that have had the most views at Lumigrate as one factor to consider, and use my judgment of what ones are the best resources for people to spend their time and energy looking at. In other words, if you are inclined to take "The Incline", this is where you get your ticket.  

In Colorado Springs, the famous mountain Pikes Peak has had, for many generations, "The Incline".  It's the most direct route from the base to the top.  I had the good fortune of going on it when I lived there and a beloved out of state relative came to visit with her life partner and treated my family who wanted to go.  Then there's the highway to the top and it winds around with grade that less steep and appropriate for motor vehicles.  There are also numerous hiking trails, and trails the wildlife have created over the years.  This forms an analogy to present about how a person (or other animal) can go about getting from the baseline they're at (at the bottom) with health, and climb to where they ideally wish to end up -- at the top of the mountain!  

Here's a photo I took from a PBS show about Colorado Springs, it shows The Incline to which I am referring. The base is in Manitou Springs, and the camera taking the photo captured Garden of the Gods in the foreground.  My apartment in Colorado Springs had a view of Pikes Peak and was near where this photo was taken, so I frequently walked at Garden of the Gods park.                          (Note, Editing end of Nov 2018, 1,150 people have, so far, accessed this topic since it was created).  

Lyme.  It's Time! (Theories Abound)

I'll kick this off by stating that as the years went by and I kept learning, the theory that I feel is correct is that most of us have this type of bacteria in us, typically congetially passed.  It's also transmitable from a variety of sources, everyone agrees that includes ticks, most say other bugs -- basically anything that can bite into you.  Mosquitos, fleas, and so on.  Remember to not think 'one or the other' but it can be both -- an acute infection from a bite or other transmission (some believe sexually, saliva and so on spread it, too).  

The German auricular medicine (GAM) model, which I began learning in 2011 but really dropped what I was doing to learn more thoroughly in 2017, and others suggest that we're intended to have bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi and various, what I call "interlopers" within us -- and our bodies by nature -- if undisturbed -- balance things.  

Disturbances via the GAM model can be one of two things, or both, very generally speaking.  And the theory meshes with what we see in environmental medicine statistics with the growing numbers of people who are not on the "well" end of the continuum, and are somewhere along the way to dead from being chronically "unwell".  

Links about this model can be found at:

• www.lumigrate.com/forum/dysautonomia-what-many-actually-have-often-unaware-and-not-diagnosed-people-and-pets (Easiest, and introduces and leads to the last in this list)
•  www.lumigrate.com/forum/auricular-medicine-us-and-beyond-learning-test-energetically-grate-tool-toolboxes-providers-an (Most thorough overview)
• www.lumigrate.com/forum/claus-peter-kessler-md-facebook-learn-test-order-system-disrupted-his-mantra (Who I learned of this from, who persisted in teaching until I "got it")

For symptoms of Lyme: This is the link to the website I suggest people check out about symptoms. Also check out the tab that about why they're against the IDSA. It is imperative that people understand what that organization has created in terms of what I would simplify and call nicely 'monkey business'. 

lymedisease.org/lyme101/lyme_disease/lyme_symptoms.html

Let me give you some pieces of what you'll find at LymeDisease dot com related to symptoms, so you'll have an idea here if you're on a page you're wanting to continue on and take my suggestion and go out on the link (then come back, hopefully, and continue on this topic or others) and learn what I'm suggesting you venture to for info (and avoid the places that are NOT the best (or worse) for information.  

Chronic Lyme

If Lyme disease is not diagnosed and treated early, the Lyme spirochetes can spread and may go into hiding in your body. Weeks, months or even years later you may have problems with your brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, heart and circulation, digestion, reproductive system, and skin. Symptoms may disappear even without treatment and different symptoms may appear at different times.

 

I also like the way that Suzy Cohen, "America's Pharmacist", and author of 'Drug Muggers' and many other things presents Lyme at HuffPost. Here's the link: www.huffingtonpost.com/suzy-cohen-rph/lyme-disease_b_3697817.html  Here's the first portion of what you'll find at the link:

 

Do you have symptoms that come and go? Are you on a medication merry go round? Have you been to 10 or 20 doctors without relief? Maybe you've been misdiagnosed.

Lyme disease, caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, is the No. 1 vector borne spreading epidemic worldwide. People often attribute uncomfortable symptoms to aging, stress, or the "aches and pains of daily living," especially if blood tests and body scans are normal. What if you have Lyme and don't know it?

It's not uncommon to get Lyme. If you've ever been for a walk in the woods, laid in the grass, live in or visited a Lyme-endemic area, or have a pet cat or dog, you may have exposed yourself to Lyme disease and associated co-infections. There is even the possibility of contracting Lyme if you were born to a mother who has been exposed. Tick born infections can also be transmitted from blood transfusions. This is scary, as Lyme has been found to persist in stored blood, and Ehrlichia and Babesia (two co-infections) have been reported in patients receiving blood transfusions.

Lyme Looks Like Other Diseases

Symptoms of Lyme vary, and you're more likely to express the disease if your immunity goes down and stress goes up. One clue is that discomfort plagues you! It's like a spinning dial, changing symptoms every hour, or day. You see, Lyme is a multi-systemic illness, and may affect every part of the body causing fatigue, stiff neck, headaches, light and sound sensitivity, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), anemia, dizziness, joint and muscle pain, brain fog, tingling, numbness and burning sensations of the extremities, memory and concentration problems, difficulties with sleep (both falling asleep and frequent awakening), chest pain and palpitations and/or psychiatric symptoms like depression and anxiety.

I interviewed Dr. Richard Horowitz, a board-certified internist in Hyde Park, N.Y., who has treated more than 12,000 chronically-ill patients with Lyme disease. This expert physician has noticed the trend of varying symptoms. He's dubbed it "Lyme-MSIDS," short for Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome.

MSIDS is like Pandora's box. It involves not only the bacterial and parasitic infections mentioned above, but also associated viral and fungal infections, immune issues, inflammation, hormonal disorders, mitochondrial dysfunction (the mitochondria are the part of the cells responsible for energy production), sleep disorders, environmental toxins with heavy metals, and detoxification problems.

 

I'll be providing, below, the short version of my and our history, and bring you current to what the present day holds for Lumigrate as well. Because when I go to a website for the first time, I'm always thinking 'what motivates them, who owns them, are they honest / am I safe here?' So I hope you will feel postive things from your time at Lumigrate, and that my having sorted through resources to provide and suggest to our users helps you find what you're after with your online time (and energy and indirectly or directly money / trade pieces that you're using).  

So you've now been introduced to how I look a lot at the resources of time, energy, money. And I call our users something unique that reflects our YOU model -- you're a YOUser here with us!  

Lumigrate YOUsers who succeed in making headway with their wellness are not people who expect the short, 'soundbite' information that the Internet information for casual use is based upon. YOU learn that your health is your #1 asset, and make it a top, top, TOP priority. Hopefully you don't have to become obsessed with it, and neglect other areas of your life such as vocation and personal interests, but ultimately those things in the Lumigrate model are part of your wellness as well. We're very holistic and look at all aspects of life. So if it's your priority to spend time watching hours of sports a week, or reality television shows about OTHER people living their lives and doing their vocations, this is not the site for you. However, if that struck a nerve and perhaps piqued your interest, then maybe we are. Up to YOU!. And perhaps YOU already are 'on that sheet of music' -- that's great! I hope we provide a great deal of information of the type you're seeking in order to increase your odds of finding the info that helps you, while decreasing your time and energy to seek it out online. 

Our YOU! model is our cornerstone

We have topics about the YOU model and essentially it's about YOU getting copies of important medical information for the file YOU keep. YOU finding providers to surround yourself with who help you as needed, and you're 'hiring them' as advisors, knowing that you're the one that agrees to what they recommend or not.  Nobody who says "the doctor put me on such and such" has spent much time working the Lumigrate information. The doctor suggested and I decided to take ....   

The reality is that we often don't have the providers available to us in the geographic area that we'd like to have on our team of providers. You can really pencil in providers who are 'virtual', that you learn from because of their videos or written work. Sometimes those provider do remote consults, and I look for having a large number of those available in the resources I suggest to our YOUsers. So that's the foundation to build on here. 

The next layer after understanding the YOU model is our way of looking at what takes our natural state of wellness that we ideally have at conception and birth and on through until we'd die of old age at 125 years or something which is the estimated life expectancy of a person if they had all the things they needed to be well and none of the things that would take away from it.

We've presented various models here over the years. The first from our launch in 2009 was from the naturopath involved in startup wellness clinic we'd collaborated on, with my role being as navigation and consumer education with Lumigrate the hub/tool, and and was called 'full barrel syndrome'. Picture a barrel that has a drain in the side, like an old wine barrel. It's got the plug in it, you're a closed system and the things that go into your body that adds to the burdens on the genes and etc. If you're not detoxing -- the plug represents the detoxing and cleansing process.  So if you don't learn to do things that 'draink the barrel' when it gets half full, then you'll end up getting symptoms of mild unwellness that increase as the barrel fills and then eventually it is overfull and you 'spill over' suddenly' with symptoms significant eough now to be labeld "chronic illness".  So you have to drain the barrel. 

With the addition in 2010 of an environmental medicine MD from Dallas, TX, who used a similar model but using an elevator and calling it 'load theory'.   

And learning what all the things were that went into the barrel that burdened you is what needs to be done, then addressing the things that can be addressed. Thinking of the mind, body, and spirit as things that can be toxic -- that's 'integrative medicine', which is what we're about around here. And finding the underlying causes (notice that's plural) and addressing that is 'functional medicine', which we're also about around here.  

We refer to the mainstream medicine for the western world as many things: mainstream medicine, conventional medicine, Western medicine, allopathic medicine, organized medicine is a term I've seen used more recently. There are many fabulous things from this big medicine (another term used, like big pharma, big insurance, and that feeds into the military-industrial (which includes medicine) complex.

So, using what is appropriate for SOLVING real problems and integrating with more traditional things is what integrative medicine is about.  Many people use "traditional" incorrectly, it means the old stuff, not the new stuff that is what we're used to.  Plants and spices and food as medicine are "traditional".  Knowing those basics here before going forward is helpful.  

It takes 'divergent thinking' patterns and not simplifed, dummied down 'convergent' thinking. Often those trained to be short-sighted will say 'you're outside the box, you cannot then have any respect or use for what's inside the box' which is not true! And yes, I also simplify it and call it inside / outside 'the box' (which means what is acknowledged, allowed and facilitated (such as "paid for" as one example) by 'the system', basically.) 

About Lyme, and the "Overlapping Conditions".

I started out calling them 'kissing cousins' in the forums in 2009 before I was aware that anyone else was seeing the commonalities between people who had a diagnosis or thought they had 'fibromyalgia', lupus, MS, and a host of other maladies.  When having an education group I had to think about where to draw the line of who to include in the group -- and that was a very flexible line that we found as we went on.  So let's call it here Lyme etc. to simplify. I often will say "fibromyalgia and the etceteras", too. 

So to get things heading into Lyme "etc." info, here's a place to get us started. When it comes to Lyme / Borreliosis / Borrelia, etc., Dr Horowitz is one of the leading experts that I feel is highly regarded overall, maybe without question more than anyone I'm aware of. The link to TiredOfLyme dot com, below, is a great resource for people to be aware of overall.

"Can I ever completely get rid of Lyme disease?", in my mind, is a great place to start about Lyme here on this topic at Lumigrate.  Refer to what I said, above, about our theories, and that the thinkers I subscribe to say you don't want to, it's natural to have it within us BUT keep everything in proper balance.  

Paramount in what we opt to do once we realize that the symptoms we've had of adrenal fatigue, neurological impairment, cognitive dysfunction, pain, etc. might or does have Lyme / Borrelia as a contributing factor or cause is how we're going to treat it. And our tendency in the US and other Western world countries is when it's a bug is to stomp on it and squish it. People literally talk about how it feels like playing "Whack a Mole". 

I recently have literally witnessed bugs with people who have said  'kill it' or 'step on it', or just took action and killed it.  And in other situations someone else has said 'let's collect it and usher it out to where it can live outside and do what it's supposed to be doing for the order of the natural systems.'  What do YOU do with bugs you see?  What do you think you should do for bugs in you?

Should we be taking an approach of 'whack a mole' with all these cofactors that we can have (many virus' and bacteria') and trying to 'kill off' things, or should we be taking a more 'thoughtful' and strategic approach. To reduce the things 'filling the barrel' or 'loading the elevator' to refer to the analogies, above.  That is an initial key to think of as you START or CONTINUE your search for information and solutions that YOU think are right for YOU (or those you are researching and being proactive on behalf of).

Dr. Richard Horowitz, M.D., author of the book Why Can't I get Better: Solving The Mystery of Lyme & chronic Disease has this quote at this link at Tired Of Lyme dot com, and he refers to 'load theory' so I selected it to add here: 

"The goal is not to "cure" or "eradicate" but to lower the load so that the immune system can manage. We will not eliminate all of these organisms entirely from our bodies. (Sidenote: Bolding added by me).  

A true "cure" may be possible in early acute Lyme, but is not frequently seen in late Lyme. However, this does not mean that patients do not attain excellent results and have excellent health after treatment. It simply means that there may be a small number of Borrelia or other co-infections left in the body, and the immune system must be working properly to keep them in check. Source, March, 2011." (go to the link, and find the quote and the link for the source, it is a valuable resource website). 

www.tiredoflyme.com/can-i-ever-completely-get-rid-of-lyme-disease-opinions-from-the-most-popular-lyme-doctors-and-healers.html#.VAeYCPmSzTq

Lumigrate History and Overview About Me/Us and YOU!

(please skim or skip or read depending upon your interest in this aspect, I'm just providing one 'overview' topic for multiple purposes here.) 

So this brings up a key factor about Lumigrate.  I do try to keep you here at Lumigrate and route around to resources if I think that's the best thing for YOUsers, but overall I want to not create any NEW wheels (information) if there's something good out there already.  

When I came up with the idea and was motivate after a medication error after a surgery kept me in the hospital twice as long as expected or needed, it was late 2006, and in 2007 when I started exploring the idea which I started pursuing in 2008, and we were online by March of 2009 -- there was not a lot of good information on the Internet, and we were going to create it from the ground up.

My plan was to start with the local best providers who had come together to be under one roof of a new clinic we all rented space in. That unfortunately didn't 'stick' and we're all still doing our things, but independently. So here I was with a brand new website with great videos and empty forums for doing case examples and educational articles from our complement of providers (MD, ND, DAOM, two PhD psychologists, one an expert in chronic pain and brain injury, the other in performance and guided imagery and the mind/body connection). So it turned out that Facebook was booming at that time and I connected with a lot of people with fibromyalgia and who worked with people with that 'label' or 'diagnosis', and by the people with fibromyalgia writing initially in the forums, it generated enough reads that I could then recruit providers to spend time writing in the forums. So this was our initial two layers of how we developed.

Then by late 2012 one of the providers I'd put the most time, energy and money into for any one expert to be part of things got cancer and died, in addition to what happened when I had invested in the local providers and facilitating the business that didn't work out for us as as group, I realized we'd been 'up' three years and were lagging in the amount of content we had beause it was labor and money intensive to be finding and recruiting and nurting the various experts -- and for a good integrative approach you really need about a dozen providers or more.  (Massage therapy, movement therapy, PT, OT, aromatherapy, in addition to the major ones like DC, DDS, MD, DO, RPh (pharmacy), ND, acupuncture and traditional Oriental medicine, etc.).  

So you'll see that in 2013 we had only one new provider register and that was someone who I'd actually met BEFORE 2007 and she ended up getting busy enough as soon as she started her business that she didn't 'need' the exposure from Lumigrate. For a local provider who is not doing remote advisement, we really don't give them very much response, I've had perhaps one patient find their way to a local provider due to Lumigrate and that person was cued to call me as well but they were able to find what they wanted independently and were thrilled with the provider they found through Lumigrate.  

YOUsers knowing this 'going in' to look at the website benefit so they'll understand why there's the mix you'll see.  Maybe it doesn't matter to some, but to others I think it helps to 'explain'. And besides, you'll then know where you're at on our journey growing slowly on the Internet and helping increasing numbers of people. You also have now learned that I've used my money to create this resource for people. Why would I do that?  I referred to the big event that pushed me to do it, with the bungling of my care after surgery. I remember thinking as I was getting dressed -- angry, mind you -- but clearing due to them doing the right things for the last hour -- and thinking "How could this happen to someone who knows as much as I do, who did all the right things in my plan, in a hospital I picked due to my homework, in a city (Grand Junction, Colorado) that is regarded as one of the top in the United States for health care? ... .... someone has to do something about this!  ... I have to do something about this!"  

I was having to be back at work in my busy OT practice the next week, just for paperwork and doing a workplace assessment with the assistant, who was  fabulously experienced with hand and overall OT.  We were helping dozens of people a week having everything from a sore thumb to a spinal cord injury and serious brain injury within a PT clinic that had MT as well -- it was a really dynamic, powerful place! But we were being restricted from starting a program for the types of patients that the first MD I'd marketed to had requested -- one for the patients with 'fibromyalgia'/ complex chronic illness. There were space, time, and money concerns, and a lack of education and understanding on the part of the staff and most of all the decision makers. That's okay, it kept me pushing forward. 

My first NEW patient was the first patient on my schedule in the New Year, and it turns out she had fibromyalgia / complex environmental illness. She'd been proactive in the past and had good insurance and spent resources wisely, but that included doing things that insurance did not pay for. With the YOU! team I built for her, essentially, adding me, PT and psychology to her existing team of MD and MT (who is who knew about me to tell her, the MD did as well, he was my MD but didn't think to tell her of me) she excelled. And the psychologist, Dr Young, wanted to start an education group and learn more together with out patients.

So we did that, and then the need for a website became apparent at the same time as the group was offerng me a place with the new clinic for integrative care.  And so a year and half later almost, we were finally Live on the internet. So that's the basic history of Lumigrate. Sponsors come with expectations and you can lose control of your website. Advertisements, which can generate revenue, distract people from the right answers if they are randomly chosen by Google or whatever. It takes a lot of time to find the proper advertisers as I wouldn't want to just have people seeing some random product and clicking and going to a product that we'd not really want to support.  

Ultimately, people paying me for consulting services which I can then use to maintain the website in addition to providing my income for living expenses and 'life' like everyone has is the current plan we're on. Someday perhaps we'll be shifting to something different.  SIMPLE is one of the things I wanted on that aspect becasue the in-depth nature of our topics and the work YOUsers need to put in to be effective with their health outcomes is very important to me. 

My formal education and related work and life experience highlight that pertain here is as such: Public education in the community that inspired "South Park" as Trey Parker is a decade younger than I. I went to Colorado State University in 1978 and graduated in 1996 with a B.S. in occupational therapy, after having found out I struggled in school compared to my 'intellligence' because I had a lot of problems inside the brain with how it perceived visual and sensory information (aka learning disabilities).

So I did what therapy I had the ability to do and was able to then do well enough to get into a very challenging and highly regarded program. I did internships at a rural BOCES program and suburban elementary school for pediatric exposure, outpatient in a rural city in western Colorado because they had only one OTR and treated a wide variety of diagnoses and problems, and then requested to be considered for the Denver VA for Level 2 internships, as they tied the physical and mental disabilities / impairments to each other as everyone wanted the mental health and nobody wanted the physical because of an autonymous, hands off supervisor.

My prior experience made that a good fit for me and so I was allowed to have that internship slot and I met some of my greatest teachers in the psyche unit in the form of the recovering Vietnam veterans who were expertly shepherded by a graceful OTR who was working long past when most retire. Because it was her calling in life. And I know that OT and what I've gone on to do with it as my foundation formally is as well. The three months working with all men who were physically compromised due to a wide variety of things was also fantastic experience, except I didn't learn anything about how the real world of medicine works when you're having to be based on Medicare and Medicaid billing along with all the other insurances. So that was an experience at my first job, where I was the sole OTR with good supervision from a PT who understood OT and management. But I was almost fired because I was slow to pick up on things necessary for the billing and documentation required with the pace (fast) required to make money for the businesses. It didn't much matter or make sense to them that I had the brain-based learning differences.

Thankfully the area manager sent in to put me on a performance plan had a close family member who had similar problems and she recommended another specialist similar to the one I'd completed therapy and gotten special glasses from in Fort Collins. It turns out Dr Hellerstein launched her first book about the time Lumigrate did in 2009, and she became a provider on Lumigrate a full decade after she saved my OT career, thanks to the manager who had the knowledge to help me. These are but a fraction of the hurdles I have overcome in life and I recognize that everyone has such stories. I hope that by my understanding this and sharing mine, you'll feel more comfortable at Lumigrate. Much of the content will spin into my telling some sort of story in hopes that something in it will help those reading to see a situation they can impact in their life. 

I enjoyed an OT career which included being the supervising OTR at the biggest skilled nursing facility in Colorado, many small ones, and when on breaks from that I worked for a large metropolitan hospital system both on the inpatient and outpatient side, a nation-wide acute rehabilitation company, and an innovative private driving program, serving as their first director of rehabilitative driving services. 

I had spent two years just before applyling to the OT program working for the health education department at Colorado State University's student health center, which was fabulous experience in more ways than I can verbalize.

And prior to that, another massive experience came my way when I was recommended for a job when I was only 24 and no college degree assisting a now world-famous air quality / visibility monitoring researcher. The project was intended to lead to reforming many things with the US and world, and laid the groundwork for the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and the carbon tax, etc.  

As part of my job in those many years, I had to buy the equipment and staff a graphics and video studio to use for marketing our message with the project. So when people think or ask 'how did she THINK to DO THIS? She's a middle aged former mountain hillbilly girl who isn't that adept with technology -- and she's an OT, they're the lowest rung on the allopathic medical model (almost)' -- that's the answer! I was also raised by a right wing mother who'd become Catholic later in life and a far left (socialistic-almost) father who insisted we not have religion as part of upbringing and we'd chose that when we were grown. He also wouldn't let me get a job in our town, so I babysat for the neighbors, the father was a politician so he and his wife were going to a lot of functions during the day for her and together on weekends.

I ended up not having children of my own so I am glad to have had those six years with kids who sometime inadvertently called me Mom before saying 'er, I mean Mary'. Yes, I ended up later adding a 'd' to my name in order to have a name that I felt more represented me. And then I got to learn how difficult it was to get people to change! Some people resisted it, refused even. Others immediately shifted with 'no problem'. And it was backwards of who I thought would be easy or give me a hard time. 

It was meant to be, as I have the ability to see many sides of many issues as a result. And they were also very unwell in a variety of ways so I picked up a lot of 'stuff' coming through them and their home and leadership as parents. And I therefore have walked the walk. I know that it was body, mind, and spirit stress that lead to my health failing from literally the start of my life. And now at mid-50s, while I'm not 'well', I'm functionally well enough to do what needs to be done and I'm not dead, as I say to skeptics or criticals who say 'well how come you're not well if you do all this stuff?'  I was with symptoms EARLY and they got BAD in my 20s and I did have 125% better and perfect health in my early 30s. But ... .life happens.  We're all different and we all just have to do what we do or not and get the results we get and keep going.

So let's keep going at this point about BEST information here to suggest to YOU!  

LOAD THEORY - A building block of the foundation

You cannot build a strong house without a good foundation, and all the information at Lumigrate won't 'stack up' and be as strong for you if you haven't first read the topic titled "Are You Loaded?" which explains from Dr Marc Spurlock's perspective why he's seen so many patients from the elderly to the very young, increasingly, with chronic conditions. It's a very short and easy to read overview, but he does suggest you do some thinking about yourself, and your genetic family tree. 

Here's a link to the topic provided by Dr Spurlock, who provided a massive amount of content in our forums from late 2009 and into 2013 when he started being part of a blogsite at someone's recommendation. In a way, the forums were serving a function of a blogsite in our startup years but that had shifted by late 2012 and 2013. He continues to have information at his website and we interact daily at Facebook at the present time (Facebook is getting onto it's last legs perhaps, many people have turned away from it or are using it less, which is fine, it's perhaps time for all of us to continue on deepening the connections we made on Facebook so readily and networking differently now). 

www.lumigrate.com/forum/are-you-loaded-what-i-see-causing-illnesses-soar-children-through-elderly

When you go to a link at Lumigrate, you'll see above the topic the chain of how that is laid into the website. At the left will be Home, Forums .... If you're reading this online you can see it above this page. (Yes, we have to sometimes cater to a range of abilities, and some are beginners at navigating websites, but thankfully that is becoming less of an issue than when we started.)

Then the section or 'container' it is called in website lingo shows the main area or category, such as in this case it's the chronic illnes and pain batch. Then what forum specifically is on the far right. So in this case you'll be able to click on that link from the link above, and see ALL the topics in the forum that has Dr Spurlock's name on it. I included ITC Pharmacy into that title and didn't realize it breaks the links to do that, so now that their information is in other places in the forum I've not modified the title. But you'll see great easy recipes from Dr Spurlock, and then specific topics about the major facets he addresses in his work at his Dallas environmental medicine-type clinic, where he is also working on anti-aging issues as well as chronic conditions. 

Again, I suggest you take the time to go read that and put it on a list or take the time right then if you want and can, to DO THE WORK. That's the #1 reason that people don't get well today -- they are learning or looking at lots of information. They're not taking action on it. Back when I was first not well there was literally nothing I had access to that could help me learn. So we live in an incredible time today with so much information. Find it. Read it. LEARN it, then incorporate it -- take action!  You'll see Dr Spurlock's signoff expression is: "There is no one to blame, there is only take-action!'  Many people were bunched up blaming things from the past moments or years for their situation and not taking action in this moment on what they had the ability to make change with! So hear his challenge and 'call', become a proactive patient. 

Environmental Wellness vs. Environmental Illness forum

and the link is: 

www.lumigrate.com/forums/preventive-medicine-concepts/environmental-wellness-vs-environmental-illness

This was a new 'container' I started to put information in that was going to be representative of the 'environmental' aspects.  In the past we'd think that it was the wheat that was causing problems for many people, becasue it was hybridized and our genes didn't know what to do with it. But then new research was coming out indicating a connection to the glyphosate chemicals used as herbicides by many companies (Roundup is one brand people mostly know by name). So that's clearly 'environmental'.  Electromagnetics in our environment. Ticks in our environment. So much information that people with Lyme, Etc. will want to know about the information in the forum.  Go and take a look at the list and go from there.

TOP PICKS at Lumigrate re: Fibromyalgia 

Initially, we amassed a lot of information in the 'container' / section that was about chronic fatigue, pain, fibromyalgia. Those were the known words that everyone in general was operating off of when Lumigrate was created (which was in 2008, launched 2009), and continue to be the way 'people think and talk' generally. However, there was a gradual shift to "Lyme" becoming the buzz word, much as "fibromyalgia" became the buzz word in the past.  

So I created a forum there that was for the more major topics that I wanted people finding the forums with these concerns to be SURE to find.  That information would apply to this group, even though we weren't putting 'Lyme' in the title, as fibromyalgia is one of the 'etceteras' in Lyme, Etc., obviously. 

www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibromyalgia-chronic-pain-and-chronic-fatigueexhaustion/lumigrates-top

LET'S TAKE A LITTLE "BREAK" HERE and HAVE SOME FUN While We're At It  

Comparing FM to Downton Abbey with Sue Ingebretson   

www.lumigrate.com/forum/13-ways-fibromyalgia-and-downton-abbey-are-alike 

Sue Ingebretson is a woman who lives in California and had the all-too-typical story of going missed-diagnosed. Her story is a dramatic one in terms of falling in a parking lot due to to her medical impairment and poor physical status and being in the right place at the right time for a stranger to help her and look at some of her symptoms that are obvious and told Sue to keep after finding someone who could help her. Which she did, then got a reversal of symptoms and then she, same as me and others, wanted to 'get the word out'. She went about it a different way and wrote a book called FibroWHYalgia.

When I read it, I was relieved -- GOOD, someone already has THE book out there that I was unable to write because I was busy creating the website (Lumigrate)! You'll find a forum at Lumigrate near the top titled The Lumigrate Bookshelf - you'll see books that I thought were stand outs as I went along the way in time after Lumigrate launched. You will also see a forum near there that's titled About Our Forum Authors. You can see Sue's information there, along with others who were our 'resident experts' in the 'layer' at Lumigrate from 2010 through 2012. (When I streamlined the process and started creating the content entirely on my own and linked to sources I find on Lumigrate, on the Internet, etc.). 

Naturally, if you find a provider of information writing at Lumigrate, their 'follow me if you want to' links are in the signature area. Again, these were things I offered for no charge to people who I thought were valid, sincere experts about various subjects in order to enable our YOUsers to find great, what we called 'grate', resources. In the early times I've later found there were problems with providers and you'll be able to judge my enthusiasm in what I write. I hope my enthusiams for Sue, FibroWHYalgie, and her amazingly creative piece about Downton Abbey and 13 ways it's like fibromyalgia is apparent, and you go check this topic out. There is a link in it to take you to her other topic of key importance at Lumigrate, which is an overview of the book. 

Remember, on these KEY links I'm providing here are the forums that generally have a lot of the best information at Lumigrate for those that would be reading this. 

We Even Had a Yenta! ("connector") (and Bubbie / Grandmother) 

In 2009, about this time of year, on our then Facebook page appeared a woman who said "This is the best site on Facebook about fibromyalgia and I don't do anything unless it's FUN, and they make it FUN".  I was posting a lot of pertinent information and we were also having fun, talking about our fibro-fog stories, or our moment when we had strange things happen due to the side effects of sleep medication - there was one in particular that was doing a number on a lot of people.  We had a blast, I'll always have fond memories. 

And so I got to know this woman after that and it turned out after a couple of months of my posting about Lumigrate and links to Lumigrate for the information we had, she wasn't aware that we had a website, she was just hanging out on Facebook interacting and gleaning what we had to offer. Oh, honey, you're missing the boat and are just enjoying the rowboat, I thought. We had a good laugh about it.  Then one day she said in a PM as we were chatting on Facebook, which I spent a lot of time doing with people in order to encourage them to come to Lumigrate AND tell their friends if they liked, SOMETHING that I thought was a woman's name -- we'd just been talking about the people who had said something on a thread. "No, honey, I just wished you a Happy New Year, it's the Jewish New Year".

From there, I asked her to write and she took it to a whole new creative level and utilized her mother as a resource. So for several years we enjoyed a LOT of wonderful, entertaining and funny topics from a woman who signed off as Your Yenta. Here's the link to one of the better exchanges that went on under on the thread as Dr Spurlock and Yenta had a nice conversation (going into a question she had about thyroid). www.lumigrate.com/forum/what-your-yenta-learned-russia-about-beauty-tanta-petzel

Naturally, take the link to the forum offered and read more of Yenta's works if you wish. Let us hope she's kept up with the new information at Lumigrate or elsewhere about Lyme / borrelia being part of the pain and fatigue of many people, perhaps she is one of them. She wrote about being out in the woods as a child in New York working with her father who was a dog trainer and innovator about the use of dogs for law enforcement / search and rescue, etc. (Hilarious article she wrote about traveling through the airports with drug sniffing dogs and she had narcotics in her pocket as she was in real life, a woman partially disabled from chronic illness/ conditions (plural) and had a great deal of pain). 

OKAY, BACK TO WORK...  Now that we have had some fun for a 'break', WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT? 

From my perspective, there are a number of things that all people would be doing, ideally, to protect their wellness level, or increase it if there are problems and the "load" on them has taken their wellness level in the direction of illness / lack of wellness. The subject matter is really VERY complicated to learn, and in my years having been a person with all this stuff, like so many others, I have likely followed quite the 'normal path' that most Americans have traversed.  I thought I'd share what I've found that worked for me, that I'd recommend to people.

1. Realize that it took a LOT  to knock a human being from well to unwell, and it might have to do with what your genes were bringing to the party; epigenetics research and modern nutritionists will look at three generations for things to be expressed.  Realize that you'll have to figure out what makes you 'tick' to figure out how to go about the changes in lifestyle that are required to have improvements in wellness, or to keep yourself from sliding further from ideal wellness. Many people today report reversals of symptoms when they find the right information and do the things that end up helping.

I had the good fortune in 2012 of happening upon an injured female deer, it was the Friday night that the world had learned about the Newtown/ Sandy Hook tragedy. I called for help, others going by stopped, and I ended up staying until she died feeling that the way it all happened was intended for me to be there. It took an incredible effort by an experienced western man and a law enforcement officer to end her life, the body is so amazing how it is set up to succeed and not fail. Keep that in mind. Once you find what's loading you or keeping you loaded (see above about 'load') and change things, progress can be remarkably fast.

2. Knowing how you 'tick', figure out what you'll do for support as you make changes in your life. That can be something you do on your own (example: journaling and keeping track of progress and challenges, etc.), with an online coach such as I'd referred to, above (and we have one with Lumigrate though she is a generalist and not specific to "Lyme" or complex illness. However, I've worked with her on a team for a woman with 'fibromyalgia' as the diagnosis and she was great with it, and she'd likely be willing to learn the ropes about more Lyme base information if you were to consider her as a resource for coaching.

However, I did provide the link, above, to a group that has a Lyme missed-diagnosed, then properly diagnosed, treated and reversing health coach as well.) Take out a pencil and paper and draw a YOU! model for yourself and see who you would put as a provider on your team. Psychologists, occupational therapists, nutritionists, chiropractors, doctors and nurses and providers of all kinds can be part of that support system.  Friends, who are wise and able to be supportive, and family. Figure out some ideas for proceeding. Facebook, but do be careful with that, most groups do not have effective leadership and might end up encouraging you to stay more stuck than moving forward. Other groups will be of value. Just be discerning.  

3.  STUDY information as if you were taking a class. As if you were going for 'a masters' in mastering your health. Dedicate your time and find areas in your schedule where you can take away resources (time, energy, money) because you're transfering your focus to this new TOP PRIORITY. Again, know how you 'tick' and what YOU need to DO to keep on track. Hence I put the information in #2, above, before this -- get help with this if that's what you need. Know that you'll maybe be starting out at Introduction: 101, and then you'll be going to 201, 301, 401 and getting to the master's level information. Maybe you'll go on to become doctorate level about the information you learn and then you'll become one of the many people who have healed and reversed and teach or support others in the future. 

4. KISS --- Keep It Simple Sweetie! (I don't like the 'stupid' word that this expression originally had. Do look at the positives whenever possible, practicing gratitude and having a fulfilling spiritual practice is important. Humor is important as well. Our Spirituality Coach on Lumigrate, Beth Patterson, brought us examples of humor from her work to the Forums at Lumigrate when she provided some topics so people could find her and know what she was about. She also provided examples of the depth of intimacy she will go when talking with people who have called upon her to help them with their journey at the end of life. That was her speciality niche as a chaplain for hospice and palliative care before she went into coaching people remotely on spirituality and personal growth. She does croning ceremonies for example. Become a crone about you and figure out what's contributed to wellness problems, looking at body, mind, and spirit, and then work on rectifying and revising. 

5. Realize that when you break down the information of what the contributors are to these disorders, toxins are the key. Various kinds, as I've said, don't just think toxins on the food, or in your home cleaning supplies and car, but toxic people (the mind), and beliefs (which can be the spirit/ spiritual). Keep in mind the three pronged approach of integrative medicine.  I want to provide a resource at this point: Please take the time to go and study what is at this website, and the one that they have a tap to link to for their other website (as they're interrelated) . www.gordonmedical.com/unravelling-complex-chronic-illness/ 

6. Consider finding a therapist or group of providers who you can make be a mini team to work with you. You might go to each one once a month, and perhaps your insurance will cover some or all of it. Likely they'll not have the ideal setup like many cities have: as an example I refer you to the amazing clinic in the San Francisco, California area which I referred to with the link immediately above (GordonMedical). This is what was envisioned for the integrative and functional medicine center that we were part of when starting Lumigrate (which was going to be the education resource for the center and anyone else who wanted to learn from what we were doing there, spreading he word out to the world of what we did as providers that helped patients with a variety of chronic conditions.)  

At the above link, find the informaton about Frequency Specific Microcurrent. It's under the protocols tab. Study about that and see if it's something you'd like to find a provider in your area to work with you on this type of modality. It might be that nobody in your area has learned how to do this yet and gotten the equipment, but if they get a request for something they cannot provide, it might encourage them to pursue adding it to their repertoir. PT clinics and doctors have other effective modalities and programs, too, but thisis one many do not know about, but its incredibly effective in my experience.

I had an appreciation for this from a woman with a 'fibromyalgia' diagnosis who came to our live education group, suprisingly, there was a progressive provider at the MD hospital in town, our regional medical center, in their outpatient clinic. Many medical communities and providers are in tumult lately, with people leaving the groups to work for others and then they are for a while at another location and then not. The PT/MD team had that happen and in 2009 I'd actually met with both and they both were going to provide information to Lumigrate about this important up-and-coming therapeutic modality. And then things fell through for the above reasons and just them not following through. The MD was even teaching a local psychiatrist (also an MD) how to do it, and I met with him and then he left to go to California to practice.

So I had done my in-person homework on this. And then I had a case present to me in 2013 who had an onset of inflammation and pain who had done everything their primary care doctor had suggested, gone to chiropractic and was with little relief from debilitating symptoms. I suggested they seek out the MD that had moved and settled finally who was the area guru with microcurrent. And that was, she told me, what it took to get her turned around. She'd independently figured out some of the diet information. And I put the holiday Thank You card in my cache of things for my portfolio, to show people who might be interested what my career path has all been about.

Okay, so that brings us to DIET.    

7. Diet -- there are tons of resources at Lumigrate about diet. I very much have liked, and done a topic about Dr Marty Ross, an MD in Seattle who treats Lyme / autism, etc. He wisely states that you have to simplify the 'ideal' diet that works for helping people who have these conditions because the routine of exercise and supplements is so rigorous that the food aspect, if you take it to the ideal exptreme, is problematic. So search for his informatioin at Lumigrate or, here's the link:

www.lumigrate.com/forum/6-practical-diet-recommendations-marty-ross-md-whether-you-have-bug-borne-disease-or-know-it-o

8. Water. Clean, safe, water. Study about fluoride and municipal water, we have a lot about that here at Lumigrate.  Search word is SWIG, for Safe Water is Great, that was a group word for our 2012 mission about water that Dr Kennedy and Dr McCloskey collaborated heavily on that year with me, showing that in a city of 50,000 / area of 100,000 there are providers who you can find in person perhaps that are aware on on this cutting edge information that you now seek and are going to master! 

9. BREATHE. Oxygen is so important to our tissues. Find our information about mindfulness and meditation and make a practice of breathing. Also find our information about sleep apea, particularly the screening test from Dr Kennedy. And as always, look outside of / beyond Lumigrate as well, but I do believe we have a good complement of information here to study to get you to the point of being 'masterful' about Lyme etc and recovery. 

10. Exercise and 'Activity'. I was fortunate when I was diagnosed in the late 1980s with what was called then "CEBV" or chronic Epstein-Barr virus, the ENT/MD who knew what it was and immediately tested me and found elevated titers told met the exercise was important and a key to recovering. But he gave me a tip to not push past when you feel you 'hit the wall', and I was compliant with that. I was enterprising and hard working, motivated, and persistent. I learned and eventually, for a while, was with more energy and endurance than I'd ever had in my life, thanks to also going to a chiropractor that a friend recommended. It happened, he specialized in chronic illness via a nutritional approach, adjustments to have good alignment and working order of the body systems, and a line of supplements that I've seen other chiropractors carry. I've known of a progressive veterinarian that used the brand as well. 

I've outlined how I worked with patients who were referred to me that were extremely debilitated with what was diagnosed at that time, 2007, as CFS / FMS.  It can be done independently, but ideally there would be a therapist you could go to that would help guide you through the process. I'd suggest the patients also see one of two PTs in our clinic, typically, whichever was the best 'fit' for them, as well as the pain management psychologist in our building. We had every single patient make improvement, and some were great outcomes.

A 17 year old and her mother presented for evaluation and they were planning to apply for disability for her at 18; last I heard she was working full time and had permission to get up and make a lap between phone calls at her call center job, as needed. One young adult took a while to have results, but we weren't able to do our usual activity and PT with him as we did the others. I did see him later and he had finally made improvement. He'd appealed to all these experts and nobody had highlighted the importance of the spirit aspect and that is what he believed lead to his return of function finally. I'd say it was an accumulation of everything before that was held back from coming to fruition until he got back to his faith/ spiritual center. Again, success to some extent or another in each case. I'm passionate about this, and would like to see all therapy clinics be able to effectively treat people with these conditions. 

Consider finding one that might be up for learning. Or a trainer, or anyone qualified to 'coach' you. Two heads are better than one only when the other head is as good as yours, if you think about it. But know that I'm talking about putting on lotion as part of your 'activity'. Taking a shower or bath. Getting dressed. etc.  

I'd teach breathing and mindfulness on the first day with my patients in the clinic, then the next appointment they'd know we were going to go to the gym and pick out one or two pieces of equipment such as treadmill or recumbent or arm bike, and do up to two minutes and we'd be happy if we got two seconds and stopped as long as they were monitoring what they were able to do without getting 'too tired'. We had 100% success with the patients we had that year.

And I wasn't really trying to have this type of patient, as overall the PT staff was busy and the chronic fatigue patients were not what they had served before. But that was how it went, I was a magnet for them, and they came. And we succeeded! And this was the year I was planning to create a website and move along with my professional career. I was 'reversing' my symptoms rapidly and was fully able to have a 360 degree life -- work, friends, family, etc. .. and go to a class on Tuesdays (which was hard on me, they didn't have comfortable chairs and it was 3 hours ). Which brings me to .... 

11. Adaptive equipment.  Only when absolutely necessary do I suggest adaptive equipment to people because you then become reliant on material things that you have to have with you to function.  But when it is needed, it's important to have and use.

When comes to sitting, I highly recommend finding something that helps you. I have gotten my money's worth out of a slab o' gel that is sold by AliMed and comes in an attractive black cover with handles that make it look like a little purse or day planner case when you carry it with your purse or in the other hand. They've over $100 so I suggest people ask for people to pool their resources if that's pricey as a holiday or birthday gift if they feel it would be a good thing for them. It's the kind of gel that can be hot and cold and so it's been in my car in the hot and cold for over a decade now and is like brand new.  Do your hands hurt from activity, find equipment to take the load off, sometimes just wearing grippy gloves helps. Having an occupational therapist help problem solve that, if you can find a therapist that's a good problem solver with equipment, can be invaluable. Unfortunately insurance does not pay for things that therapists suggest typically. Which brings me to....  

12. Stinkin' Thinkin' and 'Go with the flow' -- It's not healthy to bottle up what you think about things and feel about things, naturally. So keep that in mind as I advise you to not get bunched up about the health care system today. Face it as a reality -- learn about why it is so messed up and then you can more easily work around it. As Dr Spurlock needed a way to sign off on his articles, he came up with "There is no one to blame, there is only take action!" because on his Facebook page there would be so many people frustrated that he had solutions he talked about but insurances didn't pay for them, organized medicine didn't 'recognize' it. That has generally vanished over the years since, as the consumers have learned about the corrupt, unfortunate and 'wrong' system we have. Some things you won't be able to afford, perhaps. But truly, much of what you can do that helps can be done without it being an additional cost out of your budget.

Do what you can, have your goals for now and on a line you then go all the way out to 'forever in the future' and you'll step along that line with your progress at a rate that is hard to predict. Envision what you'd have ideally and basically work towards them. Know that you're not really in control of the exact timeframe of things. When I found out that three foods I was eating daily were causing my inflammation response in 1995, I thought maybe in a month I'd feel a little better, as I quit eating them all at once (which I don't necessarily recommend by the way, for the most unwell people it can upset the apple cart too fast but that's all covered on topics on Lumigrate in more detail about diet such as the UltraMind topic in the gut forum). In three days I felt a lot better and by a month I was unbelievably turned around. And other things I thought were going to progress rapidly and didn't. You have to 'go with the flow'. 

13. "Try" is a word to examine and look at removing from your vocabulary. See our topic on A Trying Game from Dr Paula King in the mind/body forum area as she's a specialist in the mind/body connection. Again, realize the 'mind' aspect of this.

The Grandaddy of CFS from way back, Dr Jacob Teitelbaum said it brilliantly when I had the privilege to speak at a conference in 2009 about chronic pain that I then told his handlers about and he got an invitation to be keynote. This is in the forums on a topic about his going from fatigued to fantastic and my hearing him speak, so Search / look around for it if you want the detail. But it was an aha moment and such a simplification to me when he said that people who get these conditions tend to be 'trying to please impossible to please people'. I'm so educated by organized mental health medicine to be an OT that I was overthinkin' it when I saw the families dynamics that patients complained about or shared about and commiserated about in education groups. And this was what had contributed in my case as a child and as a young adult at the time my health failed initially. I won't get better until I don't have those people affecting my life anymore, I knew. So I have worked on that. It's not easy or fast to change when they're in your life in a major way. But it can be done. 

14. Simplifying things to where you're comfortable. Letting go of things that you used to do that you're doing because -- that's what you've always done. Making a conscious effort to overall, always, be looking at 'why am I doing this, and does it fit in with my long-term ideal life reality I'm working to create?' I used to enjoy entertaining and was good at it. But then it became time, energy, money that didn't 'fit' anymore for me. So I got away from doing that. It changed my social life a great deal as people tend to invite you to things if you've invited them to things. But I realized that it's more of an interesting life to have changes and be different than it is to stay the same forever. Instead of looking at it as 'letting something go', look at it as what you gain with the freed up time, energy, money.

15. Think outside the box as well as inside the box. Example: Since we know sleep is a key, restorative sleep, is your sleeping partner, if you have one, interfering in some way? Would it be beneficial to sleep apart at least some of the time?  So often an outsider can shed light on things in terms of suggestions that it's easy to overlook when it's your life. So try to take a look at everything as if you're an outsider and see what you come up with. Or invite someone in from the outside, the more qualified the better, to make suggestions. 

16. Focus on the things that YOU feel are the most critical, and really re-evaluate your priorities. In my opinion, that is diet, water, breathing correctly, and activity as well as even the most basic of supplements to cover the nutrition and ideally the complement of things that would be, well, IDEAL. I know people who struggle to purchase basic supplements with their budgets and there might be a little room in their 'fun money' to shift for something that does make them feel better in other ways. I also have known people who will say "we can't afford that" and then they're booking a vacation. And that is where their priorities are -- that's THEIR list of what's most important, not mine. But please do think about your priorities and habits with your budgets and go from there. 

These are some things I thought might help people if I'd go through a day (or more) and note what things I do that are perhaps different than I did in the past, and likely different overall than what most people do. 

Caffeinated coffee, except rarely. I enjoy green tea, decaffeinated coffee, and a variety. Ideally I do hot lemon water first thing (for detoxing but again, study about this it can be too intense for some), and an herbal tincture that's for detox each day. (I learned of Ojibwa: Tea of Life from a traditional naturopath who has treated many cases of Lyme etc. successfully). Organics whenever possible always. More important with some things more than others but ideally, have it all be organic. (and hence non GMO)

I am more aware of the need to feed the body even if it's something simple, first thing in the morning. I'd done this in my teens with the start of my blood sugar/pressure problems due to adrenal fatigue, I now realize why. It's common we don't like to consume anything but liquids first thing but that's not to our benefit. Self disclipline, having a system to keep track, remind, and REWARD  yourself (if that means 'yay for me, good job or 'great, I will then get a treat such as a special something that's within reason for your diet or budget if you want to buy something. Books and CDs were one I found worked for me well.) I'd referred to diet, above, so refer there for more info.

Supplements - Crucial. And it can be very simple or very complicated, depending upon your needs, your desires about supplementing, and what you want to spend (and unfortunately for many 'can' spend). If you eat first thing as is prudent and start your supplements (waiting naturally if you're on thyroid that needs to be taken on an empty stomach as so many are), then you're on your way to 'hitting the mark' for nutrition that day. Lumigrate provides a few great leads about supplements and much good information for our YOUsers.  

Respect your 'gut". Thankfully, due to a brand of yogurt that capitalized on why people were buying yogurt in some cases (though they would typically not buy a brand like the mainstream one that got this out there to the  public), many people learned about some of the symptoms of having not a good mix of bacteria in your gut / intestines. There gut was so important and 'stand alone' that I created a whole forum for information about it and it's connection to other things (such as the mind/ brain). Here's the link to that forum at Lumigrate if you prefer to take a link. Please take a look at the topic on the UltraMind Solution - Fix your gut then your brain gets better too is the concept.www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/gastrointestinal-gi-issues-and-solutions-gut-things

This was my 2013 New Years thread for the 'resolutioners', and I added onto it every day for several weeks, bringing in different aspects of how to go about changing how you eat. Which means something like 'tapping' might help break up old patterns of behavior, and I link to that. Or I bring in supportive information about wheat, since that's one of the things in UltraMind's plan and info and I know it takes people a lot of information to 'get it' that we've been flat out lied to in the past if we were believing that conventional wheat was good for us. (Then new info is there in another topic about if it's the chemicals on conventional wheat and therefore organic might be a different thing.... Things for YOU to explore and decide what YOU think / believe / want to act upon.)

So, in a way, it's like a more broken up version of this type of topic, where I'm covering a lot of ground in a fairly lengthy topic that has somewhat of a DIY and 'here are some steps' information for YOUsers to work on in their study time if this is information they believe can help them make changes in what they do that will impact wellness.  

Oral care -- Toothpaste -- I use baking soda and then do oil pulling (again, something for people to learn about, and I do have these things on Lumigrate as a resource in the forums, look around or Search). I'd like to DIY make the recipe Dr Spurlock provides in his forum, but at this point, I'm more simplified than that. Or maybe focused on other things. Tongue scraping -- when my new dentist a decade ago offered a BreathRx tongue scraper things got a whole lot better for me overall. I'd tried a brand I purchased at a sore and it was not that great. So I didn't keep up with it. These are necessities to me now, with the other things mentioned here. Not only did it help my sinuses drain (I learned this is known as milking the sinuses), it really helped with my SEEING my tongue and that is such a barometer of the gut.

Then you can adjust what you're doing based upon that feedback. Also, the one handed flossers, those helped a lot too, as wrapping Glide floss around my fingers I thought was contributing to my hangnails (which I found out was as much from the fats and type of fats I was consuming not being ideal/right). Again, a barometer because if I get any bleeding from the gums I now know that's indicative of stressors in the body that interplay with nutrition level and then the supplements come into things.  There's much interconnection between the health of the oral cavity and the overall body. Study it. We have a lot at Lumigrate now, much of it very innovative information. 

I've written at Lumigrate about how I had a great diet going and didn't yet know a few things I have now learned about myself and health issues overall, and my first symptom of health crashing long ago was my gums. And still, 2012, my general dental care professionals didn't know about anything to do with systemic issues and the gums. So I turned to my Lumigrate experts -- Alan Jolly, RPh at ITC Pharmacy by phone and Jim Kennedy, DDS by email and they each said slightly different things but mostly overlapped in their advise so I started there and the problem turned around right away. And I had kept up with a multi-supplement but not additional vitamin C, and I just need more of that. And CoQ10. So don't listen to what I do specifically, but get ideas from it and then go study and get your expert team hoping YOU to advise you. 

Lotions and potions for the hair and body -- so simplified once I started using coconut oil. I keep a wide mouthed jar in the bathroom so I can dip my hand in it. It works as a deep hair conditioner, some people wash their hair with baking soda and rinse with apple cider vinegar and I tried that but didn't quite get the results I enjoy from my hair. But maybe I'll step into that realm in the future and I'm just not there yet. So I mix it up and do health food store shampoo and conditioner and then alternate. Some believe it's harmful to you to shampoo more than once a week. I just am going from being a daily hair washer to ... less. Make sure your soap is non toxic too.  

Applying oil to the skin in a way that takes into account what you'll learn about lymph drainage is recommended. And you know what? There's someone who includes that information at the resources that I've linked to in this piece, so there are deep resources here for all kinds of applicable things. But it can be done in a way that incorporates STRETCH too. This is complicated to figure out at first but when you get it integrated into your routine, makes it a streamlined way of doing a lot of 'grate' things for yourself regularly as part of your routine. 

Blow drying and styling my hair with things that have electricity -- limited it drastically. (electromagnetics)

Under the arms is a place of debate -- I believe the topical toxins include aluminum that can uptake into the body, others will say it's not small enough to do so. I've found an enzyme spray at the health food store. I wish the crystals of salt/ rock would do the trick for me but alas, it didn't. But I tried many things and found what works for me. Tiny little brand, only maybe makes the one product.

(Editing November 2018, Dollar Tree's milk of magnesium works great, and so far -- since I learned I was sensitive to mercury and aluminum molecules in even small amounts as 'root cause' of my issues -- it's been Hg and Al safe! I found a wonderful deodorant I liked from an up and coming product maker and the first one was free of those and the second was not.  Maybe the next batch will be like the previous one.  I plug along and am thankful the maker works with me about this, and is wanting to learn.)  

Jewelry that matches the outfit and that kind of thing - I simplified to something I wear 24/7/365 that's inexpensive and simple. I can wear them 24/7. Around the neck can interfere with you in an energy way.  So I've gone to just the earrings, typically. One less thing to remember (or not remember), increasing the odds of having the time and remembering to take the supplements I have found to be right for me currently, eat as often as I should, and get to the exercise activities, meditation / rest and relaxation that are imperative to have 'in balance' when having these chronic conditions that have your adrenals and overall system 'taxed' all the time. Doing what you can to reduce the burdens you are very capable of controlling, is the ultimate in stopping progression, reversing symptoms, and ultimately restoring wellness. 

Clothing. I decided to wash my clothes and set them in a cerain area to use and then go to the closet if I needed something else. After a while, you really can get rid of the things you've not used, selecting into what you keep things that would be right for situations you had not encountered in that time frame such as a funeral or wedding, special occasion, etc. When you but new, use your newfound awareness of product safety and fabrics, etc. Many toxins are coming in our clothing. 

The home: I drasticallly reduced the kinds of cleaning products I used by finding some of the newer, healthy types that are on the market that are more general. And the old fashioned stuff that you can learn about at great resources online -- borax, vinegar, baking soda. We've provided some resources at Lumigrate from way back as we had Dr Lepisto do a seminar at the clinic in 2008 when we moved in and had problems with the staff understanding things about chronic illness and toxins in perfumes and air fresheners, cleaning supplies, etc.

And I've put some resources at Lumigrate for YOUsers.  I very much like our Cancer Schmancer, Topical Toxin topic for cancer awareness that I created in years past, and I've liked it so much I have not spent much more time at Lumigrate on that subject. It's pretty complete. A tip they gave that everyone LOVES that I tell personally when advising, is to just change one thing every shopping trip and you'll gradually replace all the more toxic things with better options. This goes for what goes in as well as on your body (as what is around and on your body ends up in it, really, when you think about it. Breathing it in or the skin absorbs it. 

Electronics- Learn about the effects on the brain from the light, the electromagnetics, and generally look at the use of these tools we have today and how you want to operate. Much info in forums that I found to be particularly good resources, I thought, so use us as a resource on that as well. 

Exercise and activity; fresh air and sunshine - I referred to it, above, too. I believe they're good for me and for you generally, but it's up to each person to decide what they're going to think is right for them. Look into some of he information in the alternative, internet world about the sun and sunglasses -- there are many theories and it's again, up to YOU. Additionally, do things that you'll learn are good for lymph, if you chose to and can. (Look at skin brushing, for example, or I apply lotion the way you would for lymph facilitation, and exercises for it include bouncing activities, it is thought, so explore learning and see if it seems relevant and sound information to you. 

And then get outside in nature. Learn about 'grounding' and see if it's for you. I believe it's relevant and that I'd always known it intuitively and that is why I was always barefoot as a kid. (I had a lot to discharge too maybe, now that I've learned more about all the EMF sources and reflect back, I think that aspect was one I overlooked the longest and regret now not having gotten to that sooner BUT we all have so much to learn and 24 hours in a day with varying energy. So the important thing is I did eventally get there. Same will be for YOU.

I've had people start with one minute or two minutes and work up from there. In the late '80s with my massive CFS crash initially, when I went from thinking I was a normal well person to knowing that I had many issues, and have dealt daily with it since, more or less (thankfully much less due to proactivity and good teachers / learning in the past), I started with walking half a block. My doctor had told me two things and to exercise up to but not through fatigue was one, and the other was a Rx for something for the neurotransmitters in the brain which I'd go about a different way today but it was a good place to start then for me, at least. 

Pacing and adrenalin. A recent topic I created about an Idaho D.C./chiropractor's website, BeyondMTHFR had a video I watched and link to as I liked it a lot, and he talks specifically in there about how we're kind of 'adrenalin junkies'. That's what's up, in his opinion, with the meal skipping that's a commonality with those with adrenal fatigue. And that made sense but I'd never thought about it.

I've had an experience with someone I'm related to who has a different set of symptoms than I have about doing something we had to have done that week, and their words were "I work better under pressure" so they were intentionally putting off doing the task to the last day. My response was "I've learned to pace and have to do it my way, so go ahead and wait but I'm starting today and then that day I'll have done my share and will just enjoy the gathering."

But procrastination had been a life-long habit, including just when I leave to get to something (and I normally run on time or 'acceptably a few minutes late' which isn't acceptable to a few people. And ideally "early is on time and on time is late" as intensive business people will teach. But I eventually realize what rushing and driving when stressed does to your health overall, and I worked on that. I suggest you find strategies and habits that help with your health in terms of not getting your adrenaling 'going'. 

Work simplification and energy conservation. "Energy" is something we tend to think of that has to do with our utility bill. Consider running your dishwasher MORE often, do smaller loads of laundry, and more frequently.  Yes, it's not as 'conservative' of water and electricity resources, unfortunately, but when it comes to your wellness and keeping up on things, it makes a big difference if the job isn't 'overwhelming'. Try to keep it a 'whelming' amount at the very most. (Yes, I made that word up, do you like it? Gotta sprinkle in the FUN.)  Go to the store more often (necessary when you want fresh, organic vegetables anyway). Many of my habits as an adult came from living in the country as a child and going to town once a week for EVERYTHING, and you were stocked up on things in case there was a major snowstorm or the power went out for other reasons.

That's often a good thing for preparedness, naturally, but the weekly instead of daily shopping as people do in cities was making it difficult for me to get to the store when I was in some of my less well periods in the past. I remember once when I'd injured my ankle and was in extreme pain and working full time as an OTR, I went to a big store with a big parking lot to get the gel splint for my ankle, and standing in line I saw bananas about 20 feet away. I was literally too tired to hobble over there and back when waiting in line to check out. Find smaller stores if possible, it saves a lot of energy. Now, brainstorm some more ideas! 

Consider if things you do are 'habit' and necessary, or habit and unnecessary. I once knew of a family that changed their bedding every day, and they washed all of it and their towels and got fresh ones on the beds and in the bathrooms. We were all teenagers so the mother wasn't doing all that work on her own, but if she had come down with chronic fatigue / exhaustion of the adrenals, would she still think that was necessary? 

Let go of things and / or forgive --- work on the acceptance of things that have happened and work on the present moment with your future desires and wellness level and life overall in mind.  Recognize that your life has changed. This is echoing what I wrote, above but it's critically important. The Shame/ Blame game is a topic at Lumigrate I suggest you find, and it links back and forth with one on Forgiveness. The most 'famous' guest blog we have on Lumigrate is from Mastin Kipp on the subject of forgiveness. And it served as an excellent example of how conventional behavioral health advise took it to 'letting it go' but 'forgiveness' is different, and there was a disagreement and difference about it. YOU are living within a paradigm and you might not even realize what that is, and it could be the paradigm is restricting you from going to the next level of wellness.

Remember that YOU only have control over what YOU 'do' or do not do. You don't ultimately have total control over your reality, that is a dance you do in concert with other factors that perhaps are 'bigger than you' or 'beyond'. You'll have to decide what your spiritual beliefs are. And you certainly cannot control what others do -- influence, yes. But if your efforts are not profitable for you, remember there's an option to end relationships. With Facebook friends, groups, providers you have sought help from, best friends, spouses, and even parents or other relatives. It doesn't have to be permanent, or maybe it will be. Work on being in the present. 

Many use the Serenity Prayer. I do -- and I have included it in a topic at Lumigrate too. Again, many resources if you wish to use them. And naturally, seek some form of professional help if needed and desired. (Remember thinking outside the box of the phone providers there are today, or online if that's something that you feel comfortable with and would like.) 

Sleep. This is critical, restorative sleep is a key to the body healing and reversing or stabilizing symptoms. We have information at Lumigrate on apnea and other things related to sleep. As I said, above, if you have a sleep parner and it might benefit you to sleep solo some of the time, and ideally all of the time but that's asking something you aren't wanting to do, think outside the box and figure out what you might be able to do for better sleep. Many people are not compliant using their machines for sleep apnea, and might not know it sometimes is a matter of the jaw position and there might be another way to get at making a better reality for them relative to the oxygen that gets to their brain and other tissues. Sometimes the sleeping partner is disturbed by the machine so the person with the failing health stops using it. Is that really good problem solving, is that REALLY where your priorities are? Think these things through and act according to what YOU think is best for YOU.  Remember with Lumigrate, YOU're the one in the control seat, using the others around you to help you as a team. And hopefully this list has enlightened readers to how many facets of this issue we have content about. 

Positioning is important, and in the links up top there's a lead to get you to the chronic pain area. There's a topic in the chronic pain forum about The Why of My Pain, and Frank Gresham. I wrote the topic, transcribed a very good video he did for a federal employees' wellness meeting and then link to his YouTube channel with a list of all the videos he had and the number of views (so you can see how many are coming from Lumigrate as his views go up in a way, but just to keep track and see how his fan base is growing!) And he looks at in standing, sitting, lying, in the car -- all the positions you are in during 24 hours. I've added on some information on topics about positioning too. (And here's the link if you'd rather: www.lumigrate.com/forum/why-your-pain-presentation-certified-trigger-point-therapist-frank-gresham-my-overview

As an OT we didn't actually learn much about positioning in school, but then I learned a great deal on the job and have continued to learn as I go. Both at work and on my own 'working on my problems'.  I personally use a good pillow for me for my neck and to help alleviate the pull or weight in different places and make me much more comfortable, some lightweight pillows from a company called Sqüsh are awesome for me. They're in flexible lycra-like outer fabric with poly beads inside. About $10 each, and they used to be at a popular bedding, bath and other things store that's a popular chain in the US, but they haven't had them the last year.

Two that would go around the neck as a neck pillow then one that's a square (which is moderately good pillow for sitting on and is very light to transport in a big purse or sack of some sort. Anyway, that's a few pointers, and again, we have more in the information at the website. Or this was inspiration and you can find more independently online, naturally. Naturally, people who are crafty and handy and capable can get ideas and then create something on their own keeping whatever you believe to be safety ideas in mind. Sometimes things come with added chemicals as fire retardant, for example -- some might think that's great but others might feel those are chemicals that add to the 'load'. Yes, lots of things to end up studying. This is why I started out saying be committed to this like you're in a Master's program about YOU!. 

For those who want a resource that will ship (out of Denver, Colorado), for all kinds of medical equipment, here's the link to the topic in a forum about equipment suggestions, and I suggest The YouCan Toocan Store. Here's what you'll find at their website about them: "Here at YOUCAN TOOCAN, we specialize in providing the tools seniors and people with disabilities need to keep their lives simple and preserve their independence." (I added the bolding to the Keep it Simple Sweetie, part, as I suggested, above.) 

Here's the link to my introductory topic about them (look for more similar topics in that forums, too): 

www.lumigrate.com/forum/equipment-and-gadgets-easily-obtainableideas-least-are-free-online