Thursday 25 June 2009

Day 186 - Spine

“Also known as your backbone, your spine is a strong, flexible column of ring-like bones that runs from your skull to your pelvis. It holds your head and body upright and allows you to bend and twist your body. It also offers protection to your spinal cord - a large bundle of nerves that runs through the cavity in the centre of your spine that relays messages between your brain and the rest of your body.
Your spine is made up of 33 irregularly shaped bones called vertebrae. Each vertebra has a hole in the middle through which the spinal cord runs.

Sandwiched between your vertebrae are pads of tough, fibrous cartilage called intervertebral discs that cushion your vertebrae and absorb shock. These discs, together with the curved, S-shape of your spine, prevent shock to your head when you walk or run.

The joints between individual vertebrae aren't very flexible. But working together they give the spine a wide range of movement, allowing you to arch backwards, bend forwards and twist from side to side. During strenuous movement, strong ligaments and muscles around your vertebrae stabilise your spine and help to control movement.”*

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/body/factfiles/spine/lumbar_vertebrae.shtml

The radionics practitioner called me today and told me that this morning she did some work on my spine. A strange thing to hear from someone I will never meet.

Since the practitioner started working on me a week ago, the headache seems worse. I don’t know if it is just a coincidence, as the pain always varies in intensity for no apparent reason. Having said that, as with other treatments, the symptoms usually get worse before getting better.

It’s just rather depressing as it seemed to be improving. Unfortunately, every time I think the situation is ameliorating, my hopes get crushed and I am again back at square one.

I find it unimaginably hard to describe the pain I feel - at its worst, the headache is an all encompassing pain which embraces the entirety of my head. It doesn’t thump per se, rather simply feels as if a gargantuan tree trunk had placed itself inside my head.

On a ‘normal’ day, it is more of a constant piercing pain in my right temple which, again, varies in intensity according to its whim. Once again, when inclined, it also manifests on the left hand side.

And thus my capricious headache still remains a mystery to all and sundry.

Monday 22 June 2009

Day 182 - Reiki


“Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.

The word Reiki is made of two Japanese words - Rei which means "God's Wisdom or the Higher Power" and Ki which is "life force energy". So Reiki is actually "spiritually guided life force energy."

Reiki treats the whole person including body, emotions, mind and spirit creating many beneficial effects that include relaxation and feelings of peace, security and wellbeing.

It is a simple, natural and safe method of spiritual healing and self-improvement that everyone can use. It has been effective in helping virtually every known illness and malady and always creates a beneficial effect. It also works in conjunction with all other medical or therapeutic techniques to relieve side effects and promote recovery.

An amazingly simple technique to learn, the ability to use Reiki is not taught in the usual sense, but is transferred to the student during a Reiki class. This ability is passed on during an "attunement" given by a Reiki master and allows the student to tap into an unlimited supply of "life force energy" to improve one's health and enhance the quality of life.”*

*http://www.reiki.org/FAQ/WhatIsReiki.html


"I am a reiki master" - these words were spoken by a good friend’s boyfriend.

I asked him to immediately ‘do some reiki’ on me. Anything, just anything, to make the pain go away. Even just for five minutes.

I lay down and was asked to relax. I have always found it very hard to unwind - I am always tense, thoughts constantly toiling away in my head. I am incapable of only having one thought, let alone thinking about nothing at all, as yogis do.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax. After some mental fighting and internal oohs and aahs I eventually managed to relax a bit more and to suppress some thoughts.

It came slowly, but it came: a feeling of lightness, as if being transported towards the sky, nearly as if I were floating. The kind of feeling you imagine you will have when you die (if you believe life doesn’t entirely end with some ants nibbling at your toes).

I felt as if I was being elevated, raised from my body, the thoughts turned off, vanishing just like that - puff, puff, puff. They became dust. Finally, I managed to exterminate them, annihilate them in their entirety.

Andy put his hands on my shoulders. By doing so, he was telling me the session was over. I gently opened my eyes, the bright sunlight prompting me to blink repetitively; I longed already to return to that previous state of peacefulness.

Andy explained that a reiki treatment is the equivalent of having four hours sleep. No wonder I felt refreshed and relaxed. More importantly, during the treatment itself the severity of the headache diminished.

Andy has kindly offered to ‘attune’ me - all I need to do is spend a couple of days at my friend’s house in the countryside where I will learn to heal myself through reiki.

Friday 19 June 2009

Day 179 - Bra

“Bras do not cause breast cancer per se, but ill-fitting, too tight bras can help cancer growth since they can prevent your body from excreting dangerous cancer-causing chemicals.

The main reason why tight bras are bad for breast health is because they restrict the lymph flow in your breasts. There are numerous lymph pathways and lymph nodes in the armpits, under the breasts, and in between the breasts.

Normally the lymph fluid washes out waste materials and other toxins away from the breasts, but bras (and especially push-up bras) inhibit this action, so toxins can start to accumulate in the breast, and that can help cancer to develop.

In other words, bras inhibit the way our bodies normally cleanse themselves and get rid of cancer cells and toxins like PCBs, DDT, dioxin, benzene and other carsinogenic chemicals that cling to the body's fatty tissues like breast. In fact, if you find a lump in your breast, it may very well be filled with lymph fluid that was not able to move away from the breast tissue.

Bra wearing may also be connected to cancer in other ways. Wearing bras slightly increases the temperature of the breast tissue, and women who wear bras have higher levels of the hormone prolactin. Both of these may influence breast cancer formation.”*

*
http://www.007b.com/bras_breast_cancer.php

When the kinesiologist told me “bras may cause cancer”, I wasn’t too sure what he was talking about. He later emailed me a number of articles that explained the relation between wearing bras and cancer, which I found of much interest.

I have now seen the kinesiologist various times - he advised continuing taking my tablets and has changed and added a number of different supplements I should take, according to the muscle testing results of each session. I explained my headache seems to be better, but is nonetheless still very much present.

During today’s session, when muscle testing me, the kinesiologist explained something was causing the test results to act bizarrely - sometimes the same muscle would ‘go strong’ and then suddenly it would ‘go weak’. He eventually figured out what was causing the problem: my bra.

In kinesiology, anything that lies within the patient’s magnetic field that he or she is sensitive to can influence the muscle testing results and therefore needs to be removed; this could be a food the person is intolerant to, or a material that causes irritation, such as a type of metal (on an earring, for example).

In this case, my bra was causing problems. The kinesiologist explained that the liver eliminates toxins through the lymph pathways and nodes located under the breasts. When wearing a bra, the toxins cannot be expelled freely, thus accumulating in the breast.

I have spent some time researching the topic, and, although there are many articles that claim there is no scientific evidence that proves that bras cause cancer, the ones that state the contrary seem to me to make a lot of sense. Furthermore, it is important to note that these articles claim that bras may be a contributing factor to cancer; they do not state that bras are the sole factor that causes the disease.

Not many studies have been conducted in this field. The first comprehensive one on this subject was done by medical researcher Sydney Singer and his wife Soma Grismaijer who, through extensive research, noted that the chances of developing cancer for women who wore bras was 125-fold more than in women who did not wear bras at all. Certainly something to look into.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Day 176 - Radionics


“Radionics is a method of sending precisely defined healing energy to people, animals or plants, no matter where they are in the world.

Fundamental to radionics is the view that a living body has a subtle energy field which sustains and vitalises it. If the field is weakened, for example by stress or pollution, then eventually the physical body also becomes weak, leaving it susceptible to illness. The aim of radionics is to identify the weaknesses in this field and to correct them, and thereby alleviate or prevent physical or emotional disease.

This subtle field cannot be accessed using our conventional senses. Radionic practitioners use a specialised dowsing technique to both identify the sources of weakness in the field and to select specific treatments to overcome them.

It is not necessary for a patient to be present for the practitioner to 'tune in' to him/her. Something unique to the patient such as a signature or hair sample may be used as a proxy, or ‘witness’. This can happen because part of the mind of each of us is linked via a universal mind.

The universal mind seems to function outside the familiar space-time framework of our day-to-day lives and that is why it does not matter where the patient and practitioner are geographically located. They can be together or many miles apart.

The first sign that treatment is working may be an increased feeling of well being. An improvement in physical symptoms usually follows.”*

*http://www.radionic.co.uk/What_is_radionics.htm

Word about my headache has spread amongst friends and friends of family. I was recently advised to try radionics.

I was told that this treatment had worked wonders on a friend’s aunt, and I was strongly encouraged to try it out.

Once again, I might as well give it a go. I have nothing to lose.

At first, all I was told about radionics was that I needed to “put my hair in a black box and she [the practitioner] will do the rest”. Not exactly, but not too far off either.

Today I called the practitioner who told me more about radionics and explained how I can benefit from it.

I have been asked to complete a form with more details of myself and to send a little strand of hair to the practitioner who is based a few hundred kilometres away in XYZ. Although I will never meet her in person, she will ‘work on me’.

While all this sounds completely illogical and implausible, the way the practitioner described radionics was that years ago tribes used to ‘feel’ what other tribes were living through, even though the latter were physically located miles away from the former. A sixth sense enabled them to communicate with each other.

Radionics works in a similar fashion, with the practitioner communicating with the patient via a ‘connection’ that will be established once she receives my strand of hair. Thereafter, regular email or phone contact must be kept, so as not to lose the ‘connection’.

I have got to a point where I must try everything, as anything may work.

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Day 169 - Wormwood

"Also called shrub wormwood, Artemisia absinthium is a member of the daisy or Asteraceae family. The species name, absinthium, means "without sweetness".

Wormwood is often used as a digestive stimulant. By increasing the production of stomach acids and bile, wormwood can be useful to persons with poor digestion. It helps persons recover after a long illness and improves the uptake of nutrients.

It affects the bitter-sensing taste buds on the tongue that send signals to the brain to stimulate the entire digestive system (salivation, stomach acid production, intestinal tract movement, etc.). It is also helpful in treating infections, and may also protect the liver from harmful chemicals.

Wormwood's unique properties fascinated humanity long before the plant was first used to make absinthe in 1792. Because of its powerful effects on both mind and body, wormwood has been valued as a versatile medicinal plant since at least 1600 B.C.

A favorite liqueur in nineteenth-century France, absinthe was addictive and associated with a collection of serious side effects known as absinthism (irreversible damage to the central nervous system). The toxic component of wormwood that causes absinthism is thujone. Wormwood may contain as much as 0.6% thujone.

This aromatic, bitter substance is believed to induce an inexplicable clarity of thought, increased sense of perception, enhanced creativity, inspiration and the ability to "see beyond" - as all the famous absinthe drinkers amongst nineteenth century poets, writers, painters and other artists discovered.

On the other hand, wormwood soaked in white wine is used to produce the liqueur called vermouth (derived from the German word for wormwood, Wermuth), which contains very little thujone.

To this day, Bedouin Africans sell wormwood in a Cairo market as a remedy for ill health. The Bedouin also burn wormwood leaves as incense around their newborn children to give the child a life of good health.”
*

*
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2603/is_0007/ai_2603000742/
http://www.absinthefever.com/wormwood


Since my last session with the kinesiologist I have been taking wormwood drops. These are made with a woody shrub which has a highly bitter taste, supposedly an important component of its therapeutic effects on stomach ailments. Interestingly, wormwood has long been used as an ingredient of vermouth and absinthe, and is also used in medicine.

It tastes absolutely ghastly, and unfortunately I need to take a high dose of it four times a day. Wormwood is commonly used as an anti-parasitical, and my body seems to be “asking” for a lot of it through muscle testing.

The good news is that my headache seems to be improving. Whether it is the wormwood, the supplements or a mixture between the two I do not know. But I do know that the headache is finally subsiding in strength.

Something to rejoice!

Monday 1 June 2009

Day 161 - Liver

“The liver is the largest, heaviest and most complex internal organ in the body, weighing 1-1.5 kg and hidden mostly by the lower right ribcage. It is one of only two organs to have two blood supplies, receiving blood from the hepatic arteries [20%] and the portal vein [80%] (carrying blood from the intestines).

The liver makes and breaks down proteins, sugars and fats, stores nutrients absorbed from the intestines, and removes toxins from the blood. It is the powerhouse, recycling and disposal plant of the body. Life literally is not possible without the liver.

There are many causes of liver disease - the most common cause in Western countries is alcohol.”*

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A134920

The liver test arrived in the post a few days ago. I knew I would have to send a urine sample, but was rather surprised when I found a 2 litre plastic bottle in the test kit. I don’t know what the guy at the post office will say.

I have had to refrigerate my saliva twice in the past 24 hours, and need to send it tomorrow morning to the labs, along with a urine sample.

***

I have just learned that I do not need to post the 2 litre bottle of urine (thank goodness), rather just need to transfer it to a much smaller sample that is also enclosed.

The nutritionist told me the results would take up to six weeks to get to her. Once again, all I can do now is wait.