Why I offer the Ladys Slipper Ring Home Study course Herbal CSM

Marketing is so annoying.

I was talking to my close girlfriend last night and found myself in an honest kind of rant. 

She asked me about my Lady's Slipper Ring.....

"Hey! Your membership is open again for another year!"

"Yep :) it is!", I reply.

"Are you excited, or nervous?" She inquires.

"Both" (of course)

You see, there's a world of fancy marketing plans out there, and many of them are very slick, very savvy, and very effective. 

They are also designed by folks who know all about marketing and get paid to do that with their time, and can tell everyone all about it. 

I raise kids. I harvest plants. I make medicines and oils and fragrant delights - instead  of weaving a string of drip campaigns into your email box every day, laced with this deadline and this incentive and this push and shove. 

I bend time in order to make dinner for my family, and escape soccer practices to get into the woods. I move mountains in order to keep homeschooling my kids, and I try like hell to make sure that every way I choose to spend my time is in alignment with my values. 

Perhaps I should apologize, because I'm not giving you a proper spiel to be properly coaxed and convinced. I don't actually want to sell you something that requires lubrication. 

Perhaps you want more information, or more insight and my lack of big showy buttons and videos make me small and hard to find.

And maybe you just want the truth from the horses mouth, without the airbrushed words and glittery splash pages. Maybe you just want to hear what I really think, and why the Lady's Slipper Ring is what I choose to put out in the world. 

So here it is, black and white:

I offer this work because I've been to hell and back. A few times. I know the fight to remain heart centered.

This is the work, the insight and loving kind of contemplation that got me through my dark nights of the soul.

These are the affirmations I needed when I wanted to throw in the towel. 

Mornings when I wished with all my heart, that I didn't even wake up, the thread of life was held to my heart by the smell of the plants. By the grounding of vetiver and cinnamon on my feet, I was able to walk that hard day. I was able to let the tears fall with a little more compassion. 

I do this work because honesty can set us free, but sometimes the truth is hiding under a pile of shit.

I do this work because I'm in service to the plants - it is my duty to share their sensual, intuitive powers. It's my thank you to them for resuscitating me time after time after time.

It's the Echinacea roots that carried my grief when I could no longer. 

It's the Bloodroot that called me a medicine woman before I could. 

It's the Pine tree that climbed my bones first. 

It's the Oats that sowed me. 

I'm not a doctor, I'm not a psychologist, I'm not a naturopath. 

I'm not a therapist.

I am a woman 

who's been to hell and back

and these are the tools that carry me through

the challenges of being woman, authentically and wholly

beautifully and dynamically

and I want women to 

not only

know these tools, 

but always have a fragrant oil to put on before bed

to have a healing salve in their bag

and feel the support of the plants

in their bodies and lives

and know you are not alone

as you give

and give

and give

to your families, 

your lovers

your communities

your work

it is you that shines greatness and sweetness

and cannot bear fruit without water 

at your feet.

And so I have not spent time and labor on fancy technological email patterns, and perhaps this is a mistake. 

But instead I have gathered primrose and mullein and artemisia for you, for your body, your pleasure, for your health and joy. 

I have climbed trunks for resins so that you may soothe your weary ankles, and collected the tiniest of skullcap flowers from nearly invisible patches of meadow. I splash through swampy frog streams to reach the bluest of the vervain, and balance precariously on the shoulders of my girlfriend in the thick of the forest so that I can reach enough Elder flowers to last the winter. 

And I will continue to fill my baskets with unruly beauty so that you may always know yours ... your beauty, and your basket full with nourishment. 

In service of the Green Goddess that is in all,

Ananda Lakshmi

for the

Lady's Slipper Ring, Pleasure Medicine Membership UPDATE - LSR 2012-2013 is FULL. Please sign up for the newsletter to stay connected.

beauty blessings

xoxo

The Nature Of Neuropathic Pain

Today's post from nature.com (see link below) is an interesting and informative article looking at what neuropathic pain is and ways to treat it more effectively but more important than that, is the call for better diagnostic tests to establish what sort of neuropathic pain it is. If the testing is improved, then using what is already known about how pain signals in nerves and sodium channels can be blocked, certain current drugs can be re-purposed to better effect. Worth a read and you'll probably learn more than you thought you knew about your condition.

Neuropathy: A name for their pain
Michael Eisenstein Nature (14 July 2016) doi:10.1038/535S10a Published online

  People with neuropathic pain have struggled to find relief with conventional drugs. Researchers are investigating whether more meaningful pain classifications could help.

Two years ago, with little fanfare, neurologist Søren Sindrup reported the results of a successful clinical trial1. On the face of it, it was a modest success story. Instead of coming up with a wonder drug, Sindrup and his team repurposed an existing medication. Nevertheless, some pain researchers consider the trial a potential game-changer — one that marked a turning point in how researchers think about neuropathic pain.

This type of chronic pain arises from damage to the nerves that sense, transmit or process information about environmental stimuli. It can result from numerous initial insults, including spinal cord injury, diabetes and chemotherapy. Patients have generally been grouped on the basis of this initial trauma. But Sindrup, who is at Odense University Hospital in Denmark, and his colleagues took a different approach. They used diagnostic work-ups to cluster patients by their symptoms. This allowed the researchers to home in on a cohort that was more likely to respond to treatment. This is a huge step forward in an area where clinicians have struggled to help their patients. “The drugs we have relieve 50% of pain in somewhere between 1 in 4 and 1 in 7 of the patients we treat,” says Andrew Rice, a pain researcher at Imperial College London. “That's for the best drugs — and that's not very good.”

A growing number of pain researchers think that improvements can be found by analysing symptoms for clues about the underlying nerve damage. Neurologist Giorgio Cruccu of Sapienza University in Rome draws a comparison with another area of neurology. “There is no universal treatment for epilepsy,” he says. Instead, “it depends on the type of seizures”. Pain is a challenging medical target — doctors gain much of their insight from patients' reports rather than from external observations. But clinicians are attempting to devise more-sophisticated diagnostic tools to give the field a quantitative edge — and perhaps usher this patient population into a new era of evidence-based treatment.

Testing your patients
“There were hints in the literature that there are different mechanisms at work.”

Pain is initially recognized through peripheral sensors in the skin known as nociceptors, which react to potential sources of injury such as heat or mechanical trauma. Nociceptors send signals through specialized nerve fibres to the spinal cord, and from there to the brain (see page S2). Disruption to any part of this process can trigger enduring discomfort, although the severity and sensations experienced — burning or shock-like pain, numbness or tingling — can vary widely depending on the nature of the underlying damage. Not all injuries result in the same pain symptoms. For example, people with post-herpetic neuralgia (which can result after an outbreak of shingles) often have spontaneous pain that resembles an electric shock, but some experience allodynia — pain as a result of benign physical contact, such as clothing rubbing against skin. Over the past two decades, clinical researchers have come to appreciate that this variety of symptoms offers a way to understand how pain works. “There were hints in the literature that there are different mechanisms at work across various neuropathic pain entities, where patients have the same 'origin' of pain, but a different pain mechanism,” says Christoph Maier, a pain specialist at University Hospital Bergmannsheil in Bochum, Germany. “Today, we know this idea is correct.”

If these symptoms do represent different underlying mechanisms, that would help to explain why people in the same patient group respond differently to the same drugs — and that might have implications for treatment. “We have tried to develop a classification that is based on symptoms, which may give some indirect clue about the pain mechanism,” says Nadine Attal, a neurologist at Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University in France. Over the past decade, several questionnaires have been developed, including painDETECT and Douleur Neuropathique 4, which help to distinguish pain associated with nerve injury from that brought on by other causes, and the more detailed Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory (NPSI), for further subclassification of patients. These can be completed by patients in minutes, and have proved to be a reliable way to assess the nature and intensity of their pain.

Left to right, a whisker-like fibre, pin prick and thermal stimulus are used to test pain sensitivity as part of the quantitative sensory testing protocol.

But questionnaires do not objectively measure pain, nor can they zero in on the factors that trigger it. To provide such insights, Maier and other researchers affiliated with the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (DFNS) have devised a standardized battery of assessments known as quantitative sensory testing (QST). The QST protocol includes components such as hot and cold probes, to determine whether pain is triggered by thermal stimuli, and thin, whisker-like filaments that are applied to the skin to assess sensitivity to touch. “If you have somebody with allodynia, that small filament would feel painful,” says Ian Gilron, an anaesthesiologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. QST can help researchers to measure the response of different types of sensory nerve, including both the small fibres that detect painful stimuli and the large ones that transmit information about movement and vibration. Although QST enables clinicians to measure and monitor pain symptoms, it is a labour-intensive process that requires extensive training. Furthermore, the variability in pain response across or even within individuals means that QST is better suited to identifying subgroups in a population than for diagnosing individuals.

Skin biopsies taken from the area of pain can provide a more detailed picture of what is happening at the tissue level. “You can demonstrate the loss of small fibres by directly counting how many free nerve endings can be found in the epidermis,” says Cruccu. He also advocates the use of tests that directly measure how well individual nerves function. Such techniques, says Cruccu, “provide objective measures unpolluted by cognitive biases”. Although this type of neurophysiological testing can reveal the nature of nerve damage, it requires costly, specialized equipment and expertise — and some of the more cutting-edge tools have yet to be validated for clinical use.
In search of subgroups

Researchers are still deciding how to rewrite the diagnostic rule book, but preliminary studies support the idea that a deeper assessment of pain symptoms can lead to more effective care. For example, in Sindrup's clinical trial1, although the team recruited patients with diverse neuropathic traumas, it used QST to identify common characteristics that might predict drug efficacy. The researchers found that people with nerves that had become hyper-responsive to temperature or physical probing — the 'irritable nociceptor' phenotype — were more than three times as likely to have pain relief from the anticonvulsant drug oxcarbazepine as those who had the non-irritable phenotype. This response also makes mechanistic sense: Sindrup and colleagues noted that oxcarbazepine blocks the sodium channel proteins that are responsible for nerve signalling, which could well be hyperactive in patients with irritable nociceptors.

This study is one of the few to select patients up front on the basis of pain characteristics, but others have applied similar techniques retrospectively. By using QST and skin-biopsy data collected during a trial of botulinum toxin A, which inhibits the firing of pain nerves, Attal and her colleagues found that people with both allodynia and a higher density of epidermal pain-sensing fibres were more likely to benefit from this treatment2. And a team led by Didier Bouhassira, a colleague of Attal's at Versailles, is preparing to report a study that re-examined data from 1,200 patients who previously participated in unsuccessful clinical trials for a heavily studied neuropathic pain drug. These findings offer hope for improved patient–drug 'matchmaking', whereby symptom profiles inform smarter trial design and help doctors to prescribe the treatments that are most likely to be effective.

Integrating data sets from multiple diagnostic approaches offers a way to improve this process. One such effort, by neurologist Roy Freeman at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues, analysed QST and NPSI data from past clinical trials to identify four distinct patterns of pain symptoms that seem to correlate in different groups of patients3. These profiles could be developed into 'fingerprints' for specific types of neuropathic injury by, for instance, connecting specific pain triggers such as pressure or cold with manifestations of pain such as stabbing or tingling sensations.

Researchers hope that such correlations will reveal information about the roots of pain pathology. A large European patient registry maintained by the DFNS and the public–private organization the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is enabling a more thorough hunt for such patterns. “It contains about 4,000 patients,” says Maier, who manages the data set as part of the IMI's Europain project. “It includes somatosensory profiles, clinical data, QST data, microscopy and skin-biopsy data and, in some cases, genetic data.”

Despite having only a handful of trials to serve as proof of concept, several consortia — including the US-based Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials (IMMPACT) — are planning on using these phenotyping tools in clinical trials. For now, most of the enthusiasm is coming from the academic sector; pharmaceutical companies expect much stronger evidence before taking on the additional cost. There is also the likelihood that more refined testing will shrink the patient population that drug companies can target with new analgesic drugs. “Instead of getting an approval for all of post-herpetic neuralgia, for example, they'd get one just for post-herpetic neuralgia with allodynia,” Rice says.

Nevertheless, according to Cruccu, a growing number of trials now use the quick questionnaires as a cost-effective fail-safe. Even if, overall, a trial seems unsuccessful, the availability of these data could enable a later search for specific subgroups in which efficacy can be demonstrated. Maier says that findings such as those from Sindrup's trial suggest that many 'failures' may be masking successes: small numbers of patients whose positive response to a drug is drowned out by the sea of people whose pain is poorly matched to the therapy being tested.

For now, the diagnostic tools available give only basic signposts for clinicians who treat people with neuropathic pain. But, given the dearth of effective treatments, even modest gains could have an outsized impact — especially once a next generation of analgesics enters the pipeline. “If there was a way to know who was most likely to respond to a drug and really focus on that in a clinical trial,” says Rice, “that would be magic.”

References

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Demant, D. T. et al. Pain 155, 2263–2273 (2014).
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Attal, N. et al. Lancet Neurol. 15, 555–565 (2016).
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Freeman, R., Baron, R., Bouhassira, D., Cabrera, J. & Emir, B. Pain 155, 367–376 (2014).
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Michael Eisenstein is a freelance science writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v535/n7611_supp/full/535S10a.html?WT.feed_name=subjects_drug-discovery

Unconfusing the Comfreys

Thanks to Susun Weed for elaborating on this troublesome mix up in this issue of the
Wise Woman's Ezine.

Spring Peeks Baby Nettles Monarda and the Littles of the New Season

Spring Peeks

The newest greens of the Equinox!

March 22, 2012 Newsletter

Enjoy! 

xoxox

STRATEGIC OR RANDOM HOW THE BRAIN CHOOSES

Many of the choices we make are informed by experiences we've had in the past. But occasionally we're better off abandoning those lessons and exploring a new situation unfettered by past experiences. Scientists at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus have shown that the brain can temporarily disconnect information about past experience from decision-making circuits, thereby triggering random behavior

In the study, rats playing a game for a food reward usually acted strategically, but switched to random behavior when they confronted a particularly unpredictable and hard-to-beat competitor. The animals sometimes got stuck in a random-behavior mode, but the researchers, led by Janelia lab head Alla Karpova and postdoctoral fellow Gowan Tervo, found that they could restore normal behavior by manipulating activity in a specific region of the brain. Because the behavior of animals stuck in this random mode bears some resemblance to that of patients affected by a psychological condition called learned helplessness, the findingsmay help explain that condition and suggest strategies for treating it. Karpova, Tervo and their colleagues published their findings in the September 25, 2014, issue of the journal Cell.

The brain excels at integrating information from past experiences to guide decision-making in new situations. But in certain circumstances, random behavior may be preferable. An animal might have the best chance of avoiding a predator if it moves unpredictably, for example. And in a new environment, unrestricted exploration might make more sense than relying on an internal model developed elsewhere. So scientists have long speculated that the brain may have a way to switch off the influence of past experiences so that behavior can proceed randomly, Karpova says. But others disagreed. "They argue that it's inefficient, and that it would be at odds with what some people call one of the most central operating principles of the brain -- to use our past experience and knowledge to optimize behavioral choices," she notes.

Karpova and her colleagues wanted to see if they could create a situation that would force animals to switch into this random mode of behavior. "We tried to create a setting that would push the need to create behavioral variability and unpredictability to its extreme," she says. They did this by placing rats in a competitive setting in which a computer-simulated competitor determined which of two holes in a wall would provide a sugary reward. The virtual competitor, whose sophistication was varied by the experimenters, analyzed the rats' behavior to predict their future choices.

"We thought if we came up with very sophisticated competitors, then the animals would eventually be unable to figure out how to outcompete them, and be forced to either give up or switch into this [random] mode, if such a mode exists," Karpova says. And that's exactly what happened: When faced with a weak competitor, the animals made strategic choices based on the outcomes of previous trials. But when a sophisticated competitor made strong predictions, the rats ignored past experience and made random selections in search of a reward.

Now that they had evidence that the brain could generate both strategic and random behavior, Karpova and her colleagues wanted to know how it switched between modes. Since that switch determines whether or not an animal's internal model of the world influences its behavior, the scientists suspected it might involve a brain region called the anterior cingulate cortex, where that internal model is likely encoded.

They found that they could cause animals to switch between random and strategic behavior by manipulating the level of a stress hormone called norepinephrine in the anterior cingulate cortex. Increasing norepinephrine in the region activated random behavior and suppressed the strategic mode. Inhibiting release of the hormone had the opposite effect.

Karpova's team observed that animals in their experiments sometimes continued to behave randomly, even when such behavior was no longer advantageous. "If all they've experienced is this really sophisticated competitor for several sessions that thwarts their attempts at strategic, model-based counter-prediction, they go into this [random mode], and they can get stuck in it for quite some time after that competitor is gone," she says. This, she says, resembles the condition of learned helplessness, in which strategic decision-making is impaired following an experience in which a person finds they are unable to control their environment.

The scientists could release the animals from this "stuck" state by suppressing the release of norepinephrine in the anterior cingulate cortex. "Just by manipulating a single neuromodulatory input into one brain area, you can dramatically enhance the strategic mode. The effect is strong enough to rescue animals out of the random mode and successfully transform them into strategic decision makers," Karpova says. "We think this might shed light on what has gone wrong in conditions such as learned helplessness, and possibly how we can help alleviate them."

Karpova says that now that her team has uncovered a mechanism that switches the brain between random and strategic behavior, she would like to understand how those behaviors are controlled in more natural settings. "We normally try to use all of our knowledge to think strategically, but sometimes we still need to explore," she says. In most cases, that probably means brief bouts of random behavior during times when we are uncertain that past experience is relevant, followed by a return to more strategic behavior -- a more subtle balance that Karpova intends to investigate at the level of changes in activity in individual neural circuits.

Are Neurontin And Lyrica Really The Best Options For Neuropathic Pain

Today's post from wellnessresources.com (see link below) is an out and out attack on Lyrica (pregabalin) and neurontin as drugs for neuropathic symptoms. However, it has to be said, it's now wildly out of date. Nevertheless, the prophetic warnings in the article have been borne out. It was written in 2009 and since then the FDA has issued strong warnings about Lyrica...and Pfizer (the manufacturers) have themselves withdrawn positive advice for its use in tackling diabetic and HIV-related neuropathy. Yet, these drugs are still universally popular and widely prescribed by doctors. Is this a case of heavy promotion by the drug company, or a refusal to face the facts on the part of health professionals? Unfortunately, Lyrica is one of those drugs that seems to have a multi-function and is prescribed for all sorts of nerve problems. It is so deeply entrenched in the lexicon of nerve problem treatments that subsequent warnings, law suits and withdrawals of support from its own maker, have had little effect on its popularity. If your doctor or neurologist wants to prescribe Lyrica for you, it may be time to pose some serious questions, especially if your neuropathy stems from diabetes or HIV-related causes. There are alternatives which may be safer for you in the long run. More articles on this subject can be found by typing in 'Lyrica' in the search box to the right of this blog.

Neurontin and Lyrica are a Death Sentence for New Brain Synapses
Byron J. Richards, Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Neurontin and its newer more potent version, Lyrica, are widely used for off-label indications that are an outright flagrant danger to the public. These blockbuster drugs were approved for use even though the FDA had no idea what they actually did in the brain. A shocking new study shows that they block the formation of new brain synapses1, drastically reducing the potential for rejuvenating brain plasticity – meaning that these drugs will cause brain decline faster than any substance known to mankind.

The problem of these drugs is compounded by their flagrant illegal marketing. Neurontin was approved by the FDA for epilepsy back in 1994. The drug underwent massive illegal off-label promotion that cost Warner-Lambert 430 million dollars (the very first big fine for off-label promotion). The drug is now owned by Pfizer. Pfizer also owns Lyrica, a super-potent version of Neurontin. It has been approved by the FDA for various types of pain and fibromyalgia. Lyrica is one of four drugs which a subsidiary of Pfizer illegally marketed, resulting in a $2.3 billion settlement against Pfizer.

Even though the marketing of these drugs has been heavily fined, they continue to rack up billions in sales from the off-label uses. Doctors use them for all manner of nerve issues because they are good at suppressing symptoms. However, such uses can no longer be justified because the actual mechanism of the drugs is finally understood and they are creating a significant long-term reduction in nerve health.

The researchers in the above study try to downplay the serious nature of the drugs by saying “adult neurons don’t form many new synapses.” That is simply not true. The new science is showing that brain health during aging relies on the formation of new synapses. Even these researchers managed to question the common use of these medications in pregnant women. How is a fetus supposed to make new nerve cells when the mother is taking a drug that blocks them?

These are the kind of situations the FDA should be all over. As usual, the FDA is sitting around pondering a suicide warning for Lyrica while its off-label uses include bi-polar disorder and migraine headaches. The FDA is likely to twiddle its thumbs for the next decade on the brain damage issue. Consumer beware.

http://www.wellnessresources.com/freedom/articles/neurontin_and_lyrica_are_a_death_sentence_for_new_brain_synapses/

Maybe Time To Chuck Out The Old Sneakers And Do Your Feet A Favour

Today's post from bestshoesforwalking.com (see link below) follows on from yesterday's post about the perils of Winter for neuropathy patients and takes a comprehensive look at footwear expressly designed for people with nerve damage in their feet. Now don't expect high fashion here - there are no Jimmy Choos or Louboutins - but let's face it, tottering along the street in 5 inch heels is not for the average neuropathy patient! It may be worth taking a look at this article, if only to see what's on offer and why it may be suitable for you. If you're like me and have 5 year old sneakers that you wear day in day out because they're sooo comfortable, you may not be doing your feet any favours at all and be storing up problems for the long term. On the other hand, orthopedic shoes can be the ugliest footwear on earth but manufacturers are seeing the size of the market and adapting their styles accordingly. The list here is by no means exclusive but may give you an idea of what to look for. By the way; the article may be aimed at the diabetic foot but as we all know, it still applies to all forms of neuropathy in the feet.

Best Shoes For Diabetic Neuropathy in Man and Woman
December 10th 2016 


Walking is considered to be the entire useful exercise, to assist control blood sugar levels, that suits people of all ages. Accordingly, a diabetic person who begins to use walking as a method to control blood sugar need choose a suitable walking diabetic shoe that must meet specific criteria’s, in order to protect his diabetic foot. Below the best shoes for diabetic neuropathy in man and woman review that must be helpful or needed for your health, body and fitness. Below the recommended shoes are help to stop swelling on your feet.
Diabetic Walking Shoes:

For somebody with diabetes, walking can be very beneficial to health. In addition to reducing cholesterol and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, walking for diabetic activity also lowers blood sugar level and develops circulation to the legs and feet. Being a diabetic walker, you will require paying careful consideration to prevent foot problems such as injuries and calluses. Walk-related foot injuries tend to happen when a walker wears a shoe that is unless the incorrect type of shoe or a cheap fit for their feet. Luckily, most diabetic foot problems can be prevented by buying a pair of suitably adjusting diabetic walking shoes and paying proper care to diabetic foot care.

Tips for Purchasing Shoes with Diabetes:

* Have feet measured periodically, because feet turn over time?

* Shop later in the day, because feet swell during the day, particularly if you have heart disease or kidney problems.

* Have shoes matched with the socks you’ll be wearing with these particular shoes? That process you’ll know they will fit accurately.

* The range between your longest toe and the tip of the shoe should be ½ of your thumb’s width, so you have the benefit amount of space to fit your feet.
When you bargain a new pair of shoes, break them in before wearing them for a long period. Wear them for one-two hours, then inspect your feet for any cuts or injuries. Wear them three to four hours the next day, and so on, until they feel comfortable.
Better Shoes Delivers The Best Results:

Only a uniquely designed diabetic walking shoes can protect and not hurt your feet although walking. People with diabetes must be careful when it comes to even a mild activity such as walking, as even the inadequate pressure can lead to an injury when it comes to a sore foot.
When you are walking for a higher period with lower quality shoes, the consequences can be severe, in many cases, simply having fulfilling shoes can help amazingly ease the pressure on your feet.
WHAT IS NEUROPATHY?

Neuropathy is a collection of complications that happen when nerves of the peripheral nervous system are damaged. The condition is referred to as peripheral neuropathy. Neuropathy typically causes pain and numbness in the hands and feet. It can occur from traumatic injuries, infections, metabolic sicknesses, and exposure to toxins. One of the common critical difficulties of neuropathy is diabetes.

Of the American with diabetes, 25% increase foot problems related to the disease. This is essentially due to a condition called neuropathy. Diabetic Neuropathy is a difficulty of diabetes that affects the nerves. The most common figure of diabetic neuropathy is called external neuropathy and attacks the peripheral nerves. Peripheral tissues are the nerves that go out from the brain or spinal cord to the muscles, skin, internal organs and glands. Peripheral neuropathy impairs the proper functioning of these sensory and motor nerves.
Diabetic Neuropathy Foot Care-

Diabetic Neuropathy (diabetic nerve destruction) of the foot is a moderate complexity of diabetes. In its initial stages, diabetic neuropathy may create diabetic foot pain. As the disease advances, it may lead to loss of feeling in diabetic feet. There are many various types of neuropathy, each with different symptoms. The significant common type of neuropathy that affects diabetic feet is peripheral diabetic neuropathy.

If you have been diagnosed with peripheral diabetic neuropathy, you need to make diabetic foot care is the recent priority. As diabetic neuropathy progresses, the consequences of carelessness to the health of your feet will become frequently severe. People with diabetes with advanced diabetic neuropathy of the foot are at the significant risk of developing diabetic foot ulcers and other difficulties that can lead to amputation if left untreated.
Diabetic Neuropathy – Prevention is the Best Remedy:

Prevention is the best method now available for diabetic neuropathy. Though pain and pain can be controlled with medication and medical therapies, impairment of nerve function cannot be reversed. Favorably, once diabetic neuropathy has been detected, steps can be taken to prevent any further improvement of the disorder.

Maintaining average blood sugar levels is the most important step to take when trying to prevent and control diabetic neuropathy. Shielding your feet by using diabetic shoes and diabetic socks at the full time and making healthy lifestyle choices such as not smoking, regularly, eating a balanced diet, exercising and having healthy blood pressure are also key factors in reducing the risk of diabetic neuropathy development or advancement.



Shoes, name Shoes, Image, Shoes, Price
Drew Shoes London Women’s Therapeutic Diabetic Extra Depth Shoe Check Price
Orthofeet Women’s Comfort Diabetic Extra Depth Sandal Check Price
Dr. Comfort Carter Men’s Therapeutic Diabetic Shoe Lycra Velcro Check Price
Dr. Comfort Women’s Bonita Camel Diabetic Slippers- Check Price
Diabetic Relief Slippers Check Price
Orthofeet Chelsea Neuropathy Women’s Comfort Diabetic Shoes Check Price
Acor River Walk Diabetic Walking Shoes Men’s Women’s Black Bone Mocha Check Price
Advance Diabetic Comfort Walking Shoes Men’s Black Check Price
Women’s Extra Diabetic Wide Width Adjustable Slippers Check Price

The Value of a Proper Shoe Fit:

To avoid irritation, stress, and pressure sores, you must need shoes that fit properly. For optimal comfort, make sure your shoe matches the length and width of your foot and that it provides a fitting heel counter. Also, assure that there aren’t any obtrusive seams or stitching inside because this will make rubbing and chafing against your foot. For people with diabetes with an existing foot disease, therapeutic footwear is often prescribed by a doctor or podiatrist and provided by a qualified podiatrist.
Below the best shoes for diabetic neuropathy in man and woman review .

Drew Shoes London Women’s Therapeutic Diabetic Extra Depth Shoe-

The Drew London women’s slip-on shoes give all the comfort features of a Drew so that you can move in and walk with amazing all-day support. Double depth with two detachable insoles creates space for custom orthotics or easily some extra toe room. Drew shoes are breathable, perfect with stretch fabric vamp and greatest padding where you need it most. The shoes offer our best fit still, with a soft, fabric covering. Check Latest Price

Orthofeet Women’s Comfort Diabetic Extra Depth Sandal-

Orthofeet Sarasota Beach Women’s shoes offer anatomical arch support, non-binding comfortable fit, and maximum stability against pressure points. The Gel Orthotic insole with the ergonomic, cushioning foot soften step, enhance resistance, and help natural foot movement. The deep toe box design provides the foot to ease and spreads out naturally for added comfort. Check Latest Price

Dr. Comfort Carter Men’s Therapeutic Diabetic Shoe Lycra Velcro-

Dr. Comfort Carter style shoe for men is a device washable, double-depth diabetic shoe. Built of lightweight extent Lycra with a two-way Velcro closure for more flexibility, this shoe is designed to provide foot damages such as bunions or hammertoes, yet keeps its shape after hours of washing. Our Men’s Double Depth Set features our most popular styles improved with extra depth providing the excellent fit for people who need extra volume. Check Latest Price

Dr. Comfort Women’s Bonita Camel Diabetic Slippers-

A tight heel slipper for women, with a unique rubber outsole perfect for indoor/outdoor usage. This lightweight slipper arrives with a Dr. Comfort gel insert and has a toe box for extra protection. The microfiber upper with dual flexible goring makes it accessible to slip them on your feet. The fleece lined interior assures a snug fit, reducing the chance of abrasions. With a Scotchgard shielded outer material, the slippers are great for going outside to grab the paper or decreasing in your house. Check Latest Price

Diabetic Relief Slippers-

Therapeutic Relief Slippers are a blessing for diabetic foot difficulties, swelling and bunions! Cloud-soft, plush fleece insulation and cushiony memory foam crib feet in comfort and give shock absorption. Hook loop strap closure makes them simple to put on or take off and improve fit. High ankle cut provides you great support. Plus, non-skid protection soles and weather tight P/U nubuck upper lets you use them indoors and outdoors. Check Latest Price

Orthofeet Chelsea Neuropathy Women’s Comfort Diabetic Shoes-

Orthofeet Chelsea Women’s shoes offer anatomical arch assistance, non-binding relaxed fit, and best protection against pressure points. The Easy Slip-on design facilitates easy access to the shoe and an adjusted fit with a Velcro strap closure. The Gel orthotic-insole along by the ergonomic, cushioning sole relax step, enhance stability, and aid natural foot motion. Best Shoes for Neuropathy. The deep toe box design enables the foot to relax and spreads out naturally for continued comfort. Chelsea shoes are managed to help reduce Foot Pain, Arch Pain, Knee Pain, Heel Pain, Forefoot Pain, Metatarsal Pain, Low Back Pain, also to enhance comfort for Diabetic Feet, Arthritic Feet, Plantar Fasciitis, Sensitive Feet, Pronation, Metatarsalgia, Morton’s Neuroma, Bunions, Corns, Hammer Toes. Check Latest Price

Acor River Walk Diabetic Walking Shoes Men’s Women’s Black Bone Mocha-

Acor River Walking Shoes. River Walk shoes combine the science of walking with the comfortable style of modern design, bridging a long-standing gap within functional fit and style. The Line-of-Progression outsole imparts stability and comfort to each phase of the walking cycle. The insole method is lined with a silver technology called X-Static. This shoe has the Tandem Closure System. This system provides you the choice of usual lace-up or two methods of the hook on loop attachment. Check Latest Price

Advance Diabetic Comfort Walking Shoes Men’s Black-

The Men’s Advance Comfort Footwear last fits a medium depth fit for a wide range of feet, and particularly for the low-risk foot in need of just a little more room. Advance Support shoes come with two different insoles for a comfort of adjusting the fit. Check Latest Price

Women’s Extra Diabetic Wide Width Adjustable Slippers –

The Best Extra Wide Fit Women’s Slippers with VELCRO brand fasteners accommodate even the most swollen feet and swollen ankles in fabulous comfort. These Extra Wide Womens Bedroom or House Slippers are excellent for comfortable casual use in the home and home care settings. A great option for elderly with bunions, corns, foot edema, hammer toes, diabetes, and podiatry foot problems. The wide slipper opening features VELCRO brand fastener closures. Skid-resistant non-slip slipper soles. Memory foam insoles for the ultimate in comfort! Terrific for those with disease or lowered hand dexterity. These soft wide width slippers make the real diabetic slipper for women. Extra-roomy deep, wide width slippers for swelled feet and ankles are great for patients in hospitals, post surgery, nursing house patients residents and retirement houses. Check Latest Price

Overall, When buying for diabetic slippers, you need a pair that’s flexible and comes with a flexible closure. The adjustable closure will surely come handy as diabetic feet can eventually change in shape and size. You also need diabetic slippers whose outsoles are beefed up with extra traction; pull tabs at its heels; warm wool uppers; or sturdy construction. If you want to know more about walking shoe, so visit here now- Best shoes for walking

http://bestshoesforwalking.com/best-shoes-diabetic-neuropathy-man-woman/

Can Neuropathic Pain Prematurely Age the Brain

Another interesting article from conquerchiari.org (see link below) talks about the long term effect of chronic pain on the brain. Logical really but not something which we normally think of first when considering neuropathy side effects. The fact that long-term HIV-patients are often confronted with brain-aging, related diseases, is a little disconcerting when you realise that consistent neuropathic pain may just be enabling that process a little more. Yet another thing to discuss with your HIV-specialist, especially if you are beginning to notice changes in your own brain behaviour.

Chronic Pain Is Hard On The Brain...
--Rick Labuda

Chronic pain prematurely ages the brain. That was the most significant - and disturbing - finding of a group of researchers from Northwestern University. Scientists have known for some time that chronic pain alters neurons in the spine, but Dr. Apkarian, a neuroscience researcher, and his colleagues wanted to know if and how chronic pain effected the structure of the brain.

In order to study this, Dr. Apkarian and his team used MRI's to measure the volume and density of the brains of 26 people with chronic back pain (CBP) and compared them to the brains of 26 healthy volunteers. They published their results in the November 17, 2004 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Each of the 26 members of the pain group had experienced unrelenting pain for more than a year in their lower back. In some, the pain radiated down into the legs, in others it didn't. In addition to the brain MRI's the CBP subjects reported their pain intensity and how long they had been in pain. To aid in the analysis, members of the pain group were also classified as having neuropathic pain - due to nerve damage - or non-neuropathic pain. The 26 volunteers that composed the control group were recruited to match the age and gender makeup of the CBP group as closely as possible.

The researchers used two different techniques to measure the volume of the neocortical gray matter (the part of the brain responsible for most higher order functions) from the MRI's. They found that overall, the subjects in the pain group had 5%-11% less gray matter volume than the control subjects, a statistically significant finding. People normally lose about 0.5% of their gray matter each year as they age, so this result translates to the pain patients experiencing 10-20 years of aging compared to the control group.

In looking at neuropathic versus non-neuropathic pain, the team found that in the neuropathic pain group, the volume loss was related to pain duration. In fact, in the neuropathic group, each year of pain equated to a 0.2% loss in gray matter (1.3cm3). In the non-neuropathic group, pain duration was not related to volume loss.

The neuropathic pain group also fared worse when the team measured the density of the gray matter in specific regions of the brain. In the prefrontal cortex - responsible for high level functions - they found that people in neuropathic pain had gray matter that was 27% less dense than the control group, and people with non-neuropathic pain had gray matter that was 14% less dense. They also found that the thalamus - a region of the brain which relays pain and other sensations - was significantly less dense in the pain group as compared to the control group.

Although this study can not prove it conclusively, the authors believe the results mean that the chronic back pain is causing brain tissue to atrophy in certain areas. If proven to be true, this would mean that chronic pain not only alters the neurons of the spine, but has a structural effect all the way to the brain as well. While it is a significant finding, it is also important to keep in mind that this study looked at chronic back pain specifically and the results may be different for other types of chronic pain.

Still, with millions of people in the US alone suffering from chronic pain, and with neuropathic pain an all too common problem for CM/SM patients, this area of research is definitely worth paying attention to..

--Rick Labuda

http://www.conquerchiari.org/subs%20only/Volume%203/Issue%203(1)/Chronic%20Pain%20Brain%203(1).asp

What is the best treatment for sciatica trapped nerve

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Is HIV always the big bad wolf

This is part of an article by Bradford McIntyre on the site http://www.hivaidspositivestories.com and raises an important question for all people with HIV. Is the blame for every disease or complaint that you get, transferred onto HIV and if so, is that really the case? It's certainly easy for health professionals to blame HIV and/or the HIV medication for your neuropathy but the fact is that there are about 100 possible causes for neuropathy (see elsewhere here on the blog). It makes you think!

So much fear has been created around HIV infection and AIDS. The camouflage uniforms worn in the army, disguise and hide, so not to draw attention, able to blend in. The fear associated with HIV/AIDS has kept us in the dark, many fear losing their family. friends, home and job, causing people to hide the fact they have been infected with the HIV virus. So no one can see, hear, or know the truths of those living with HIV and AIDS. Most often when individuals die from HIV related illness or AIDS, the funeral announcements rarely say HIV/AIDS was the cause, but use cancer, heart disease or any other camouflage.


How can we tell the real number of HIV related deaths? How can the public know and understand HIV/AIDS, without the truth? Individuals dealing with HIV and all those around them who are affected but not infected, they know these truths!
Science, pharmaceutical companies, the medical profession and government, have all but ignored much of what many people living with HIV/AIDS have to say, which is a major contribution in the understanding of this virus. Science and the medical profession provide HIV/AIDS information to the media. The media takes this information and in so doing, does it without a real balance of understanding. Unfortunately the fear has undermined our understanding. We see people dying, and certainly in many parts of the world there is malnutrition, lack of medical attention and affordable pharmaceutical resources, causing countless deaths. We see the fear associated with sex and the need for safe sex practices! We hear about the deaths.


We hear about drug cocktails, medications being approved. We see people taking a handful of pills. We hear about the resistance to drugs, and we visually, through the media, see those sick with wasting syndrome, PCP pneumonia, kaposi's sarcoma , or crippled by neuropathy.


What is alarming about this situation is the medical profession holds the HIV virus responsible for any and all illness when a patient is diagnosed infected with HIV, using the excuse that a condition is HIV related. It is because of this rampant over diagnosis that little or no search is undertaken for what is causing the health problem. Many have died, many suffered greatly due to mis-diagnosis or no diagnosis. Other diseases occur, and with a condition in progress or out of control and very little attention given it, this allows for many suffering and dying. Not from HIV, but from an invasion of bacteria, fungi, viruses and cancers, unaware to those not looking.
We don't see individuals living a happy and full life, whether it be with or without drug treatments. And we don't see it because the fear has people afraid to talk about HIV/AIDS or disclose they have been infected. So we don't have people coming forward to tell their side of HIV/AIDS. How are we going to get people to come forward when the stigma attached to HIV/AIDS has created so much fear. People are hiding their HIV infection! This is likened to the early days of cancer, hiding the fact, only whispering the C word! Everyone who develops cancer does not die, it makes no sense to believe everyone who is infected with HIV will get sick or die either! We don't see those who get sick but benefit from the drugs and have their health restored, many returning to the work force. We don't see or hear about individuals who test positive for HIV or have AIDS, in relationships, falling in love. We don't see the many relationships where one partner is infected and one is not, and the partner who is negative, is not infected.


The public needs to understand HIV and let go of the fear, each person taking part in a global prevention strategy. These days pharmaceutical resistance is evident, with HIV, not only is a person infected with a strain or possible multiple strains, but along with it, comes the possibility of resistance to all the drugs the infected individual has taken.
We don't know how each person will react to HIV infection. We need to put money back into wellness!
We must not wane from our efforts in safe sex education, prevention, and research. Never was it more important to keep up our efforts, creating less toxic and affordable drugs, and providing proper health care including alternative therapies and supplements.


With proper awareness and education, we can go about living our lives responsibly, " showing up for life", without fear. Not afraid of talking about HIV/AIDS or conversations about safe sex.
Letting go of the fear, we can all talk to our family and friends and co-workers we discuss our personal lives with. Our employer can know health related information. And, if need be, we can ask for help and receive help! We can also eliminate false perceptions and judgments due to shear ignorance. There is more power in people knowing the truth, than there ever was in the fear and hiding! A shift in perception is nothing short of a Miracle!

by Bradford McIntyre

http://www.positivelypositive.ca

Cymbalta a treatment for pain or the psychological effects of pain

(...Treatments 3)
Using antidepressants to treat neuropathic pain is becoming a more common treatment method maybe because it's a no-brainer for the doctors. If your pain is chronic, it stands to reason that you will become depressed, to whatever degree and many doctors subscribe to the theory that pain is partially psychosomatic anyway. The problem is that coming off these drugs, whenever that is appropriate, is not always easy, thus creating another problem on top of the neuropathy. Cymbalta is an example of that and many HIV patients have clutched at the offered straw, believing that if it helps with the pain and with the psyche, it's a win-win situation, until they try to stop taking it. If you've been advised to use Cymbalta or another of the antidepressants, ask your doctor two things: will I be able to come off it gradually and will you monitor that and does it clash with anything else that I am taking?

Cymbalta (duloxetine)
An Antidepressant That Also Relieves Nerve Pain
From Mark Cichocki, R.N., former About.com Guide

What is Cymbalta?
Cymbalta (duloxetine) is an antidepressant recently approved by the FDA that has also been approved to treat peripheral neuropathy. People who suffer from depression will often experience pain; people with depression are more sensitive to pain, and treating depression improves one’s threshold for pain. Cymbalta not only treats the emotional effects of depression, but the physical pain of depression as well.

How Does Cymbalta Work?
To understand how Cymbalta works, you must first understand the physiology or cause of depression. There are two naturally occurring chemicals in the brain that are responsible for mood and mood stability. Under normal circumstances, these two chemicals, serotonin and norepinephrine, are in a specific balance. However, these chemicals can become out of balance, causing changes in mood, specifically depression. Cymbalta works by re-establishing the balance of these two chemicals, and in turn relieving the symptoms of depression.
The same two chemicals responsible for mood also have an influence on pain perception. Just as an imbalance causes depression, an imbalance of these chemicals causes pain. When Cymbalta re-establish chemical balance, the symptoms of pain are relieved.

Important Note! - While Cymbalta relieves nerve pain, keep in mind it is not a narcotic.

How is Cymbalta Prescribed and Taken?
Cymbalta is available in 20mg, 30mg, and 60mg capsules. The preferred dose is 60mg once daily. Some people may require less than 60mg each day. As is the case in any medication, the prescribed dose should be the lowest does that has therapeutic effect.
One benefit of Cymbalta is the fact it can be taken as one capsule once per day. Adherence to HIV medications is an ongoing problem in the treatment of HIV. Two factors that impact adherence is the number of pills that must be taken each day and how often medicine needs to be taken in a day. Most antidepressants can be taken once per day, however, current peripheral neuropathy medications often have to be taken several times each day. Cymbalta's one capsule, once-a-day treatment does not add significantly to a daily pill burden.

What Should I Expect When Taking Cymbalta?
Like most antidepressants, it will take some time before you feel the effects of Cymbalta. It takes some time to re-establish a chemical balance in the brain. Some people will feel better after about a week on the drug and most will feel better by four to five weeks after starting. You should not stop the drug until speaking with your physician.
Important Note! - Unlike narcotic pain medications that work an hour after taking a dose, Cymbalta will take a little time to relieve your pain. If you need pain control while serotonin and norepinephrine balance is restored, speak to your doctor for suggestions.


Are There Any Side Effects I Should Be Aware Of?
Like most medications, there are some side effects associated with Cymbalta. Most side effects - if they do occur - will resolve after the body becomes adjusted to the medication, usually in a couple of weeks. In clinical trials, the most commonly reported side effects include:•nausea
•dry mouth
•constipation
•decreased appetite
•fatigue
•drowsiness or feeling sleepy
•increased sweating
•sexual side-effects
•possible withdrawal symptoms if abruptly discontinued
While not common, there have been reported cases of elevated blood pressure when taking Cymbalta. Your doctor will monitor your blood pressure while taking the drug.

Drug Interactions and Precautions
While Cymbalta has been deemed safe by the FDA, there are people who should not take the drug because of certain drug interactions. Some drugs, when taken together can cause unpredictable and potentially dangerous side effects. For that reason, you should not take Cymbalta if:•you have had an allergic reaction to Cymbalta in the past
•you have taken drugs known as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) - consult your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking an MAOI drug
•you have glaucoma
•you are taking the drug Mellaril (thioridazine).

Neuropathy In The Philippines

Today's post from philstar.com (see link below) talks about the rising incidence of neuropathy in The Philippines. The medical director of Merck Philippines goes on to suggest that vitamin B supplementation may help. It's always interesting to read about approaches to neuropathy in other parts of the world than North America and Europe because it illustrates how neuropathy has become a world wide problem.

Many Pinoys suffering from neuropathy
(The Philippine Star) | Updated April 3, 2014

MANILA, Philippines - Despite its debilitating effects on a person’s life, neuropathy remains an unrecognized and underestimated condition hounding many Filipinos now, according to experts.

Dr. Gio Barangan, medical director of the Merck Inc. Philippines, said many Filipinos continue to suffer from neuropathy although this could be prevented primarily by taking vitamins B1, B6 and B12 and by observing a healthy lifestyle.

“Neuropathy is the disease of the nerves which are like the electrical power lines that bring electricity to the different parts of our body. The main reason for developing neuropathy is vitamin B deficiency,” he said in a press briefing last Monday.

The other causes are diabetes, malnutrition, and renal diseases that stemmed from high intake of alcohol.

Barangan cautioned that vegetarians are prone to developing neuropathy because they do not eat meat that is rich in vitamin B12.

“Basically, vitamin B complex — composed of vitamins B1, B6 and B12 — are water soluble vitamins. We have to replenish them every day and we can do that by eating foods that are rich in these vitamins… and by taking vitamin B,” he added.

To raise awareness about neuropathy, Merck organized a dance concert last Monday at the TriNoma Atrium in Quezon City that reunited dance icons in the 1990s such as Wowie de Guzman and James Salas of the Universal Motion Dancers; Joshua Zamora and Jon Supan of the Manoeuvres; and Jopay Paguia and two other dan-cers from Sex Bomb.

Debbie Go, Merck head of commercial marketing, said they conceptualized the dance concert to encourage the public to give importance to their nerves.

“It is an advocacy where we want to draw attention to the symptoms of neuropathy and how it greatly affects the quality of life of Filipinos… We want to show the importance of movements in our lives,” she added.

Neuropathy is characterized by pain, numbness and tingling sensation in the hand, arms and legs more often felt in the morning.

Barangan said that while people in their 20s could also develop neuropathy, the condition is most common among older persons.

“We have to take the usual vitamins in tablet form. If we don’t do that, sooner or later we will develop neuropathy… The little trauma that we experience every day can cause nerve damage,” he added.

Vitamin B1 or thiamine is responsible for converting sugar into energy and for repairing damaged nerves.

Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine not only converts sugar into energy but protein as well and, at the same time, makes new nerves, while vitamin B12 or cobalamin is important for metabolism and in the formation of red blood cells and maintenance of the central nervous system.

http://www.philstar.com/science-and-technology/2014/04/03/1308007/many-pinoys-suffering-neuropathy

Neuropathy Knowledge What Is The Spinal Cord

Today's post from sciencedaily.com (see link below) is the fifth part of a series from the same source providing readers with explanations and information about many of the medical terms they hear when researching neuropathy, or sitting in the doctor's surgery and talking about it. Today it explains how the 'spinal cord' works and gives related definitions of other words associated with its importance in the body. Worth following the links if you have the time.

Spinal cord
Science Daily via Wikipedia

The spinal cord is a part of the vertebrate nervous system that is enclosed in and protected by the vertebral column (it passes through the spinal canal).

It consists of nerve cells.

The cord conveys the 31 spinal nerve pairs of the peripheral nervous system, as well as central nervous system pathways that innervate skeletal muscles.

For more information about the topic Spinal cord, read the full article at Wikipedia.org, or see the following related articles:


Peripheral nervous system — The peripheral nervous system or PNS, is part of the nervous system, and consists of the nerves and neurons that reside or extend outside the central ...  read more


Central nervous system — The central nervous system (CNS) represents the largest part of the nervous system, including the brain and the spinal cord. Together with the ...  read more


Motor neuron — In vertebrates, motor neurons (also called motoneurons) are efferent neurons that originate in the spinal cord and synapse with muscle fibers to ... read more


Sensory neuron — Sensory neurons are nerve cells within the nervous system responsible for converting external stimuli from the organism's environment into internal ...  read more


Sympathetic nervous system — The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which also includes the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). The ...  read more


Phantom limb — Phantom limb is a phantom sensation in amputated or missing limbs. A phantom sensation is a feeling that a missing limb is still attached to the body ... read more


Nociceptor — A nociceptor is a sensory receptor that sends signals that cause the perception of pain in response to potentially damaging stimulus. Nociceptors are ...  read more


Spina bifida — Spina bifida describes birth defects caused by an incomplete closure of one or more vertebral arches of the spine, resulting in malformations of the ...  read more


Nervous system — The nervous system of an animal coordinates the activity of the muscles, monitors the organs, constructs and also stops input from the senses, and ...  read more


Parasympathetic nervous system — The parasympathetic nervous system is one of three divisions of the autonomic nervous system. Sometimes called the rest and digest system, the ... read more


http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/s/spinal_cord.htm

The Pregnancy Pact

Pregnancy Pact

At Gloucester High school, an alleged teenage pregnancy pact has resulted in 17 pregnancies at the school this past year. Why do teens choose to become pregnant, and .Best Lifetime Movies - The Pregnancy Pact 2010 - Full Movie Based On True Story - Duration: 1:29:19. PMSE.Binnnn 65,199 views.Gloucester High School; Address; 32 Leslie O Johnson Rd. Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 United States: Information; School type: Public High school: Established.Best Lifetime Movies - The Pregnancy Pact 2010 - Full Movie Based On True Story - Duration: 1:29:19. PMSE.Binnnn 63,003 views.WWW. GLOUCESTER18.COM 978.590.0442 INFO@GLOUCESTER18.COM THE GLOUCESTER 18 The True Story Behind the Gloucester Pregnancy Pact Synopsis Genre: Documentary.Directed by Rosemary Rodriguez. With Thora Birch, Madisen Beaty, David Clayton Rogers, Max Ehrich. Inspired by the true story of teenagers at Gloucester Mass. High .A Duggar pregnancy pact would be huge for the family. Duggar pregnancies seem to get the attention of both fans and haters. Michelle Duggar made the path with.Read stories from three pregnant women who share their perspectives of how they are striving for healthy pregnancies by #LivingMyPACT. My husband and I made a .News of pregnancy always has been a cause for celebration in my booknew life, a little baby, is a beautiful blessing. A miracle. But this picture, of four black .Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High A Massachusetts fishing town tries to understand why so many of its teenagers made a pact to get pregnant. How one school is .

Pregnancy Pact

Teen Pregnant Black Baby Girl

Directed by Rosemary Rodriguez. With Thora Birch, Madisen Beaty, David Clayton Rogers, Max Ehrich. Inspired by the true story of teenagers at Gloucester Mass. . Best Lifetime Movies - The Pregnancy Pact 2010 - Full Movie Based On True Story - Duration: 1:29:19. PMSE.Binnnn 65,199 views.Pregnancy Boom at Gloucester High A Massachusetts fishing town tries to understand why so many of its teenagers made a pact to get pregnant. How one school is .Gloucester High School; Address; 32 Leslie O Johnson Rd. Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930 United States: Information; School type: Public High school: Established.Read stories from three pregnant women who share their perspectives of how they are striving for healthy pregnancies by #LivingMyPACT. My husband and I made a . Best Lifetime Movies - The Pregnancy Pact 2010 - Full Movie Based On True Story - Duration: 1:29:19. PMSE.Binnnn 63,003 views.At Gloucester High school, an alleged teenage pregnancy pact has resulted in 17 pregnancies at the school this past year. Why do teens choose to become pregnant, . A Duggar pregnancy pact would be huge for the family. Duggar pregnancies seem to get the attention of both fans and haters. Michelle Duggar made .WWW. GLOUCESTER18.COM 978.590.0442 INFO@GLOUCESTER18.COM THE GLOUCESTER 18 The True Story Behind the Gloucester Pregnancy Pact Synopsis .News of pregnancy always has been a cause for celebration in my booknew life, a little baby, is a beautiful blessing. A miracle. But this picture, of four black .

DIY FIRST AID SET for out of the country travel!

TRAVELER'S FIRST AID KIT 

- Party of 15 - to Nicaragua - March, 2013 -

~~~~~~~~~

*fine print* - This is not a first aid training, or an herbal training. This is simply to show what is packed in the kit. You take all responsibility for the contents and use of this information.

**This especially does not cover severe emergency protocols, ie; broken bones, eye injuries, CPR, anaphylaxis, seizures, concussion, or any other medical emergency that should be tended by a medic. Always know your emergency contacts!

Resources for first aid training can be found at the very end of the article.

**

Oh Great Spirit,

I am the woman walking in the fields

collecting plants to heal the people.

I give thanks to this plant

and I have faith with all my heart

That this plant will heal the sickness of the people.

~ Gathering prayer of Belize ~

---------

------

---

We started with a workshop

Where we discussed the possible hazards, and basic first aid protocols.

Together, we made a super-sticky spruce resin salve, and a tincture they named 'after-bug care' which contained 3 kinds of Artemesia and a little Rue. Sweet Annie (Artemisia annua) is specific for malaria, so we made this the primary ingredient, backed up by Mugwort (A. vulgaris) and Wormwood

 (A. absinthium). Rue (Ruta graveolens) is a well loved anti-venom and anti-parasitic, so we added a bit of that too.

We discussed Chewing Herbs, and their effectiveness, ease and versatility for travel.

I packed them up together, one pouch for each traveler. Clove, Licorice, & Osha.

After our super-fun workshop where we donned bandanna fashions and fumbled with rubber glove removal,  as well as tasted various elixirs both candylike and heinous, I got busy assembling the full kit.

The goals of the kit were several: 

• 1) Lightweight enough to carry - so I used primarily plastic 1/2 oz tincture bottles.
• 2) Address all of the circumstances the group brought up in class, and traditional ones necessary.
• 3) Be well organized, accessible, and efficient to use.
• 4) Be incredibly versatile, so each herbal packed can serve at least a few purposes.
• 5) Be theft-resistant - proper sizes so no trouble at the airport, and of the major sets, there are 2, packed with different travelers - so if one suitcase is lost or stolen, there will be another kit sufficient.
• 6) Be non-breakable and non-meltable, it's hot there. 

The team (13 teens and two adults) from North Star have been working together for months - practicing Spanish, learning stove building techniques, understanding travel responsibilities and logistics, fundraising, learning how to obtain a passport, insurance, and proper items to pack. 

They've also done team building initiatives with seasoned Outward Bound Mentor, Pandora. Who was seriously spectacular and fierce.

They've spent time also learning about the landscape, the climate of Nicaragua, and some of the Native culture and daily life of the people. They've each done a research project on something specific. My daughter studied the bugs, which are not only fascinating, but also a wee bit scary!

So ... for the final outcome, here is the full contents of the kit. If you are traveling with a group, you can use the following documents to help you assemble your own, or reduce/adjust to your own needs for the size or location of your adventure.

These INFO CARDS, to go into the 3 main baggies. I laminated them for waterproofing, and then paired them together into what seemed logical herbal/sanitary overlap. Click to download & print:

(*note: cards not organized how the bags are - I made them first :)

VECTORS/VENOMS, WOUNDS

BURNS, SOFT TISSUE INJURY

FEAR/ANXIETY/INSOMNIA, FOOD POISONING

Then I took stock of all the contents, and packed them up into their thematic baggies.

MASTER INGREDIENT LIST

MASTER LIST OF WHAT IS IN EACH BAG

And a little Jitterbug Perfume Oil - aka bugs don't like this smell and it's good for those of you who like patchouli and get a headache from too much rose-geranium. Alas, you still must bring and use deet, so I hear.

Bug Essential Oil Blend: 

Cedarwood 3 parts, Patchouli 1 part, and a touch of vetiver and mugwort, with a little jojoba oil. I did put these in little 1/4 oz glass roll on bottles, as essential oils really need to be in glass.

Here are the ingredients for a few of the other combinations found in the kit: 

Burn Dressing

to a 2 1/2 oz bottle, color coded cap blue:

Aloe Vera Gel, Rose Hydrosol, Witch Hazel Hydrosol, equal parts.

St Johnswort tincture, about a tablespoon

Lavender essential oil 6 drops

Blue Chamomile essential oil 6 drops

Helichrysm essential oil 6 drops

Wound Wash

to a 2 1/2 oz bottle, color coded cap green:

Yarrow tincture, 2 parts

St. Johnswort tincture 1 part, 

Witch Hazel hydrosol 1 part

essential oils of Lavender & Blue Chamomile (7 drops ea)

Alien Elixir: (aka random fears)

Equal Parts Skullcap and Passionflower tincture

Panacea III - Traveller's Insurance essential oil blend 

10 ml glass eo bottle

(this blend is a proprietary recipe, but I will offer the ingredients and you can either create your own version or commission an essential oil practitioner to. Summer and fall I usually have it for sale.)

contains:  Pure Essential Oils of Eucalyptus, Lavender, Roman Chamomile,

Peppermint, Blue Chamomile, White Sage.  

~~~~

So, here they go! Geared up, and ready for a transformational adventure. 

It's been a great honor and joy for me to do this project, both as an herbalist, and a mom. In addition it has fulfilled my goal in giving something this year - the first time I've made a philanthropic goal, and what better way to start that tradition in my work. I look forward to most of the medicines being unneeded, but also look forward to hearing what was successfully utilized.

Now, I ship my open heart off to Central America, and hope it returns to me still beating strong, maybe even stronger.

Thank you to North Star for being a truly remarkable place for teens to flourish, and to all of our friends and family that supported my daughter in making this dream come true - from donations, to gifts of colorful bandannas, and help with everything inbetween.

It takes a village.

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(now if you need some comic releif after the sap I just poured on you, here is North Star's rendition of the Harlem Shake!)

FIRST AID RESOURCES:

SOLO Wilderness First Aid Certification (manual seen in second photo)

HERBAL 1st AID training with Sevensong

HERBFirstAID online course, add your name for future enrollment

( I receive no compensation for these endorsements - they are my personal recommendation)

travel smart, travel safe!

xoxo

Ananda