Autonomic Neuropathy Can Affect Your Whole Body

Today's post from neuropathydr.com (see link below) looks at the dangers of peripheral neuropathy progressing to autonomic neuropathy, although you will need to use the search facility here on the right of the blog to find more detailed articles about autonomic neuropathy (there are plenty). Basically, autonomic neuropathy is when your nerve damage begins to affect functions that you take for granted and have no control over (breathing, digestion, sexual function, blood pressure, sweating, to name but a few). It can seriously affect your quality of life and it's important to be aware of the possibility. Some neuropathy causes are more likely to lead to autonomic problems than others (for instance, diabetes, cancer and HIV) but that's not a hard and fast rule. it's important to look out for the signs and alert your doctor or specialist as soon as possible.
 

Neuropathy Pain Is Serious Business! The Hidden Dangers of Autonomic Neuropathy
Posted by Editor on January 1, 2015
 
Neuropathy Pain Can Lead to Serious and Life-Threatening Nerve Damage. Here’s What You Need to Know for Your Long-Term Health.

You already know that neuropathy pain can significantly impair your quality of life on a daily basis, and in a long-term way. But did you realize that ignoring neuropathy pain can actually contribute to the development of life-threatening illness?

When there is nerve damage to your autonomic systems (the parts of your body that function automatically, like digestion and blood pressure), these systems are likely to stop behaving like they should. This is called autonomic neuropathy, and it can actually threaten your life. Any impairment of autonomic systems is an immediate danger to your health.

When are you at risk for autonomic neuropathy? You should consult a qualified neuropathy physician if you have any of these conditions that are frequently associated with neuropathic pain and damage from autonomic neuropathy:

Diabetes
Cancer that is being treated with chemotherapy
AIDS or HIV
Lupus

It is also extremely important for you to seek the support of a NeuropathyDR® clinician if you are experiencing any of these nerve damage symptoms:

Unusual sweating
Dizziness
Tingling or numbness in extremities
Change in the way you feel sense hot and cold temperatures
Sexual problems
Loss of ability to control your limbs or fingers and toes

You might also be in a high-risk category for developing autonomic neuropathy related to neuropathic pain if you have had a severe injury or amputation. In these cases, be sure to see a NeuropathyDR® clinician for a consultation now, instead of waiting for symptoms to develop.

There are times when a trained physician can detect nerve damage before any symptoms arise, and early intervention in treatment is key—not just to quality of life over time in terms of neuropathy pain, but also avoiding life-threatening scenarios related to autonomic neuropathy.

http://neuropathydr.com/autonomic-neuropathy-pain/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=autonomic-neuropathy-pain

How Can You Train Your Pain Away

Today's post from catherinecarrigan.com (see link below) discusses what Eckhart Tolle calls the 'pain body'. Now depending on your attitude towards mindfulness, alternative healing and ancient treatment techniques, you may either read this with horror, or allow yourself to be open to other ways of thinking about your chronic pain. I swing both ways in that regard and freely admit that I need to be in the mood for this sort of article. However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have value - I think it does and if you can read the article and open yourself to new ways of approaching your pain, you may gain a great deal of benefit from it. A great many people have benefited from this sort of looking at your body,  so don't be too quick in dismissing it as mumbo-jumbo. It's an interesting article, that after you've read it, seems to make perfect sense. Worth a read: it may get you thinking and if the pills aren't working at the moment, what have you got to lose?.

What Is The Pain Body?
Posted on Apr 4, 2016 by Catherine Carrigan in Blog

To free yourself from pain and suffering, you must have a deeper understanding of your pain body and the way it actually works.


What Your Body Really Is

To understand your pain body, you would need to understand the way that I, as a medical intuitive healer, view your whole body:

You have a physical body, which includes your muscles, bones, glands and organs.
You have an energy body, which includes your chakras, your acupuncture meridians and your breath.
You have an emotional body, which includes your emotions and all your feelings including the ones you do not have words for quite yet.
You have an intellectual body, which includes your mind, your thoughts and your beliefs.
Finally, you have a spiritual body, which is the part of you beyond all space and time. Many people refer to this as your soul.

Simply put, your pain body is the same thing as your emotional body.

Emotions can shut down literally any other level of your being.

Don’t believe me?

A Story of How Emotional Pain Changed Me Physically

Let me tell you a story.

In 2004 I was on vacation in Los Angeles.

I was driving a rental car in Santa Monica on the way to attend a yoga class when my cell phone rang.

My beloved professor from Brown University, Kermit Champa, had just died.

Up until that point, I had spoken to him virtually every week of my life for 24 years. He had brought me through the hard times, the good times, he had helped me understand myself and been the father I always wanted and never had. And then he was gone.

Even though I was well rested, well fed and eager to practice yoga, when I arrived at the class, all I could do was lie on my mat barely able to move.

Suddenly I felt like all my energy had evaporated.

Perhaps you can relate a similar experience where a sudden emotional experience changed literally everything about you!

What Controls What In Your Body

Here’s how this all works together:
Your spiritual body controls your intellectual body.
Your intellectual body controls your emotional body.
Your emotional body controls your energy body.
Your energy body controls your physical body.

Simply understanding this fact can save you years of pain and suffering.

The Levels of Power In Your Body

You can think of each of these bodies as levels of power:

Your soul controls your mind. That’s why, as we develop our spirituality, we can become mentally stronger and more capable of withstanding the vicissitudes of life. That is why many frail elderly people have become like spiritual warriors. Even though they may not be as physically strong as they used to be, they become a great source of strength for their entire community.
Your mind controls your emotions. As you look for the wisdom rather than the hurt in all life’s challenges, you can save yourself tremendous emotional pain. That’s why thinking positively, looking on the bright side, having a sense of humor and reframing your challenges can soften the blows you feel emotionally.
Your emotions control your energy. You can learn how to feel your feelings and let them go – as opposed to either running away from them through addictions like drugs (legal and illegal), alcohol, sex, overworking and the hundreds of other ways you can ignore what’s really going on. A good way to think of emotions is that they are a process. As you develop healthy stress management skills you can process through the inevitable hurts more easily. I often work with young teens and have tremendous compassion because they have not yet learned how to handle all their emotions and can quite easily be derailed by disappointment, divorce, death and the challenges of growing up. No matter what our age, the more you develop healthy methods of handling your emotions, the healthier you will be in every way. You can download a FREE chart about how stress affects your body at this link on my website. It’s quite humbling to learn what ailments are related to our inability to cope with the stress in our lives.

Your energy body, which includes your chakras, your acupuncture meridians and your breath, controls your physical. That is why when your chi is depleted you can feel so physically weak.

Your Physical Body Is Simply Your Result

Your physical body is simply the densest part of who you are.

A good way to think of your physical body is that it is the result.

Your physical body is the result of your energy, your emotions, your mind and your soul.

By the time you experience pain and suffering, the causes of that pain and suffering have been with you for some time.

That’s because energy enters in through your spiritual, filters down into your mind, then your emotions, then your energy body and finally congeals in your physical body.

If I am working with a client to relieve pain and suffering, I have to reverse the process.

That means you have to move the vibration of pain and suffering back out of your physical, through your energy, through your emotions, through your mind and all the way past your spiritual self.

Simply put, pain comes in through your spiritual, past the gateway of your mind, into your emotions where things can get quite tumultuous, through your energy and finally into your physical organs, glands, bones and muscles.

To get rid of pain, you have to reverse the process.

That’s why – if you have only been working to get rid of pain through your physical body – you may not have been too successful.

You have to honor who you really are and take into account all five bodies to get rid of your pain and suffering.

How Energy Flows In Your Body

Yesterday I was working with a new client who had been suffering from chronic low back pain.

Although she had worked regularly with a chiropractor, massage therapist and cranio sacral therapist, improved her nutrition and started practicing yoga, nothing could get rid of the chronic nagging pain on the right side.

She came to me for a medical intuitive reading.

Very quickly I explained that 30 percent of her pain was due to a low functioning right kidney, 40 percent due to severe adrenal burnout and the last 30 percent due to spiritual loneliness as her soul was longing for companionship of like-minded people.

Even though she is happily married, has two well-behaved children and a fulfilling part-time job, she admitted she had been longing for people she could really talk to about the things that her soul had begun to perceive.

“If you think I’m tired now you should have seen me years ago,” she told me.

Her self care and great attitude had indeed made a difference, but not cleared her low back pain completely.

I explained to her the way energy flows in the body:
Energy enters at the crown of your head through the bahui point.
The hara line is a vertical electrical current running through the bahui all the way down into the center of the earth. Any breaks, blowouts or disruptions in your hara line can lead to major disruptions in the flow of your energy. I can heal your hara line and also teach you how to perceive it and heal it yourself.
Your hara line feeds energy into your chakras. People who practice energy exercise such as yoga, tai chi and qi gong are doing themselves a wonderful favor by balancing the energy centers in their bodies. This is why I have taught yoga for 20 years and practiced and taught qi gong for about as long. Although these forms of exercise may be gentle, their benefits are quite profound. The more balanced your chakras, the more balanced your endocrine system and every organ system in your body will be. In addition to energy exercise, you can visit a highly trained energy healer such as myself to clean out and repair your chakras.

Your chakras feed your acupuncture meridians. I practice acupressure (without needles) as well as Reiki and other forms of energy healing. A block in your acupuncture meridians may be the cause of your pain.
Your acupuncture meridians feed your organs. In the case of my client, after all her chiropractic, massage, craniosacral therapy, yoga and good nutrition, it was a surprise for her to hear that her right kidney and right adrenal gland was partially the source of her pain. Energy work – whether it be energy exercise or energy healing – can build the chi in your organs.
Your organs feed your muscles. If you have a chronic muscle pain, you can learn which organs that muscle is related to. If you want to understand the health of your organs, you can download this FREE assessment on my website at this link. The healthier your organs, the less pain you will feel.

Your entire body is like one big hologram with each aspect deeply interrelated to other aspects of yourself.

When you suffer pain, the more you inquire about how these different aspects correlate, the more likely you are to root out the causes and resolve the issue.

Every Organ Carries Emotions That May Be Adding to Your Pain Body

If you visit my website, you can download a FREE chart that lists out the emotions that correlate with the major organs in your body. Just click on this link.

Let’s just take one organ for example.

Your large intestine acupuncture meridian of course relates to your colon.

The muscles that it correlates with include your quadratus lumborum muscle in your lower back as well as your hamstrings. If you have low back pain, more than likely these muscles are highly involved in your suffering.

That is why if you came to me for corrective exercise and therapeutic yoga for low back pain, more than likely I would recommend exercises to lengthen your hamstrings and balance the two sides of your quadratus lumborum muscles.

The emotions associated with your large intestine include:
Guilt
Grief
Regret
Release
Self worth (or lack thereof)
Enthusiasm
Depression
Letting go
Indifference
(Un)merciful
Compassion
Sadness
Apathy

Now Here’s the Truth: What You Experience Is In You, Not Out There

Most of the time we believe that world outside of us is the cause of the emotions that we feel.

As a long-time medical intuitive healer, I am here to tell you the truth.

What you feel is inside of you.

If you feel angry, you will look out into the world and find things to feel angry, bitter and upset about.

If you feel depressed, you will look out and find 100 reasons to feel sorrowful.

As you change your inner experience, the world you experience changes also.

You Can Not Get Rid Of Your Pain Until and Unless You Shift Your Emotions

If I am doing a healing – no matter whether that healing is to get rid of the pain in your back, help you improve your business, get to the bottom of your money issues or to improve your relationship with your mother – after setting the goal, the very next thing I do is find the emotion or emotions that have kept your suffering in place.

Why is this so important?

Simply put, you can not get rid of your pain until and unless you have resolved the emotions that have held it in place.

If you don’t, you simply morph that energy from one part of the body to another.

You fix your hurt knee, your wrist goes wonky.

You fix your knee and your wrist and then your foot starts hurting.

And so on.

Emotions Are Vibrational Patterns

You can think of emotions like vibrational patterns.

You can download a FREE chart on my website to understand the relative heaviness or lightness of specific emotions. Click on this link to learn more.

The lowest vibration emotions, from least to most damaging, include:
Affirmation
Scorn
Hate
Craving
Anxiety
Regret
Despair
Blame
Humiliation

All True Healing Must Include Emotional Healing

As you resolve these emotions in yourself, you stop carrying the vibration.

As you stop feeling these emotions, you stop lighting up the parts of your brain related to the acupuncture meridians.

As you clear this energy from all parts of your body, you start feeling lighter and less bothered by the pain.

This is why integrated holistic healing is a must in this day and age.

This is why, as a medical intuitive healer, I work on all five bodies – your spiritual, intellectual, emotional, energetic and physical self.

A Personal Story

In in the fall of 2015, I was practicing my yoga when I noticed that my left wrist was hurting. I had just come out of a full wheel. Even though I had learned the correct form so as not to strain my wrist, I felt a sharp shooting pain.

As busy as I was, I didn’t pay much attention until a few months later when I was practicing qi gong.

I lifted my left wrist and noticed a large protruding bump – a ganglion cyst.

It turns out that my mother also has a ganglion cyst, also known as a Bible bump because an old timey remedy is to hit it with a large heavy Bible to get rid of the bump. Turns out her ganglion cyst is in the exact same place as mine only hers isn’t hurting any longer.

“I’m 57 years old and I can still blame something on my mommy,” I joked with my yoga class.

Indeed, many of the vibrational patterns that cause our pain and suffering did not in fact start with us. These are called:
Genomes, or genetic thought patterns.
Miasms, or beliefs, habits and thought patterns that we picked up from the culture we grew up in.

I identified the emotion behind my wrist pain and began taking a flower essence to resolve the feelings.

Even if the pattern had in fact started with my mother, it was now in my own cells and if I wanted to resolve the pain I had to deal with it.

As I did so, I also received chiropractic adjustments as my carpal bones had become misaligned.

Eventually the pain lessened.

Then one day I noticed I had run out of the flower essence I had been taking to resolve the emotions behind my wrist pain.

Thinking I may be over it by now, I didn’t bother to start on my second bottle.

A few days after I ran out, I noticed my wrist pain had returned!

I immediately began taking the second bottle and continued to process the emotions that had made me hurt so badly.

To Get Rid of Pain, You Must Take An Integrated Approach

You can take an aspirin, call your chiropractor, visit your medical doctor for an Xray or an MRI. I strongly support all these approaches and can also recommend many natural healing remedies for pain.

But when you really want to get rid of pain and suffering, you will want to take an integrated approach.

Ask yourself:
Where did my pain start?
What are the emotions I am feeling?
How are my spiritual, intellectual, emotional, energetic and physical bodies involved in this pain?

By taking an integrated approach, you can supercharge your healing, resolve your emotions, shift the vibration and empty out your pain body.

What is healing?

Healing happens when you honor who you really are as a human being and take advantage of this deeper knowledge to address all aspects of yourself.

http://catherinecarrigan.com/what-is-the-pain-body/

Accepting Your Chronic Pain

Today's post from painpathways.org (see link below) is a short but useful article suggesting ways to handle the pain that may be dominating your life. Sometimes the first step to making pain less of a feature in your life is accepting it for what it is. Sounds glib but it may well be true. As soon as we experience chronic pain, we try to deny it, remove it, or allow it to overwhelm us but making peace with the fact that it's there and for a reason, allows us to relax and work on ways to reduce its influence. Worth a read.

Pain And Acceptance

Dr Rosemary Fish Posted: June 2, 2014
 
Dr. Rosemary Fish and her associates state that chronic pain acceptance “involves experiencing ongoing pain without attempts to avoid, reduce or otherwise control it … and engaging in everyday activities of value to the individual in the presence of pain, and disengaging from the struggle to limit contact with pain.”Acceptance is generally described as having two parts: pain willingness and activity engagement.

(1) PAIN WILLINGNESS

Pain willingness refers to being willing to live with pain, to reduce frustrating attempts toward making the pain go away (while continuing those that help), to understanding that pain is part of who you are now. It is leaving behind the pressing need you likely had at the beginning of your pain problem that drove you to find a diagnosis, a treatment, a cure.

(2) ACTIVITY ENGAGEMENT

Activity engagement reflects the idea that you are moving on with your life, doing the things that matter as best you can, even though you have pain. It is being willing to do things even though you may hurt while doing them. It is recognizing that you can either stay home and hurt or go out and hurt. Researchers have found that acceptance seems to be generally helpful and has been associated with reduced pain severity, less distress and lower pain interference and disability.

A key factor in acceptance seems to be the state of mind of avoidance versus engagement. When you strive to control, get rid of, manage, find a cure for pain, you have an avoidance mindset. You are struggling and fighting and perhaps putting your life on hold until you can end your pain. Needless to say, this is a very stressful state of affairs that puts most of your focus and your energy on your pain— and it gets in the way of living. The engagement mindset has a very different “feel” to it. You are not pretending that you don’t have pain; rather you are saying to yourself, “Yes, I know I have pain and I wish I didn’t, but I will work to engage my life, my goals and my friends and family anyway.”It is not denying that you have pain. It is choosing to move your focus away from pain—onto living.

You may be skeptical about everything that you just read. You may think your pain is too severe or that you are too disabled or that it isn’t possible to accept living with pain. I agree: these are challenging ideas. I hope you will take sometime to think about them. I think they are worth thinking about. You may find that acceptance actually brings some relief to your suffering and opens doors that you thought were locked. {PP}

http://www.painpathways.org/pain-acceptance/

How They May Diagnose Your Neuropathy

Following on from yesterday's video, today's post from aboutperipheralneuropathy.blogspot.com (see link below) is the text attached to the video and gives a much more detailed explanation of neuropathy testing and diagnosis. Sadly, many neuropathy patients never get to the MRI, skin biopsy stage of testing because either their doctors feel they have enough information from the patient's own account, or there is pressure from financial authorities not to 'indulge' in very expensive testing procedures. It is true that in many cases, the patient's own experiences, coupled with an obvious cause for their neuropathy (diabetes, HIV, cancer treatment etc) mean that further testing is unnecessary - it's quite clear what the problem is and the treatment is generally not influenced by further extensive testing. An interesting breakdown of neuropathy diagnosis.

How to diagnose peripheral neuropathy 
Posted by Srikanth R Monday, 2 September 2013

Nervous system

Peripheral neuropathy is characterized by damage to nerves of the peripheral nervous system (nerves outside the brain and the spinal cord). It compasses a wide range of disorders.

Diagnosing peripheral neuropathy is a challenge to the medical profession. It is not easy because the symptoms are highly variable. Diagnosis usually involves a thorough neurological examination.

Diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy involves extensive analysis of patient history. This includes patient’s work environment, various symptoms, social habits, exposure to toxins, risk of HIV, history of alcoholism, risk of various infectious diseases and family history of nerve related medical conditions.

Doctors perform tests in order to identify the cause of neuropathic disorder. They conduct tests to determine the extent of nerve damage. Tests are also conducted to determine the type of nerve damage.

Presence of a systemic medical condition (something that is affecting the entire system) is revealed by general physical examination and related tests. Liver dysfunction, diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, kidney dysfunction and signs of abnormal immune system activity are detected by blood test.

Examination of cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and the spinal cord reveals abnormal antibodies associated with neuropathy. Specialized tests reveal cardiovascular disorders, blood related medical conditions, connective tissue disorders or malignancies.

Motor fiber involvement may be determined by testing muscle strength and by checking for evidence of cramps or fasciculations (muscle twitches). Muscle twitch is a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction and relaxation which is usually visible under the skin.

Sensory nerve damage can be identified by evaluating the patient’s ability to register light touch, pain, vibration, body position and temperature. This evaluation also indicates whether small or large sensory nerve fibers are affected.

Doctors may recommend additional tests based on the results of the neurological examination, patient history, physical examination and any pervious testing or screening. It depends on the patient’s overall condition. Additional tests help to determine the nature and extent of neuropathy.

MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to examine muscle size and quality. It can also detect any fatty replacement of muscle tissue. MRI can determine whether a nerve fiber has sustained compression damage.





MRI uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy. It reveals problems that cannot be seen with other imaging methods. During an MRI test, the area of the body being studied is placed inside a special equipment that contains a strong magnet.

The high-tech MRI equipment creates a strong magnetic field around the body. Radio waves are passed through the body in order to trigger a resonance signal that can be detected at different angles inside the body.

A computer processes this resonance into either a 2D slice or a 3D image of the scanned area. Images from an MRI scan are digital images that can be stored on a computer for further study.

Another advantage of MRI is that the images generated with the help of the test can be reviewed remotely, such as in an operating room or in a clinic. Contrast material is used in some cases to show certain structures more clearly.

NCV

Nerve conduction velocity (NCV) tests are used to precisely measure the degree of damage in larger nerve fibers. They reveal whether symptoms are being caused by degeneration of the axon or the myelin sheath.

Patches known as surface electrodes (similar to those used for ECG) are placed on the skin over nerves at various locations. Each patch gives a mild electrical impulse which stimulates the nerve.

The nerve fiber responds by generating its own electrical impulse. An electrode placed further along the nerve’s pathway measures the speed of impulse transmission along the axon (nerve fiber).

Impulse blockage and slow transmission rates tend to indicate damage to the myelin sheath (a fatty, axon-enwrapping sheath). Reduction in strength of impulses is a sign of axonal degeneration.

To prepare for the test, normal body temperature needs to be maintained. This is because low body temperature slows nerve conduction. It is very important to take appropriate precautions before performing this test on patients with pacemaker or cardiac defribrillator.

During the NCV test, the patient may feel the impulse like an electric shock. It may be uncomfortable to some people. However, there will be no pain after the test is finished. This is the experience of many people on whom this test is performed.

CT scan

CT scan stands for computed tomography scan. It is also known as CAT (computer axial tomography) scan. It is a noninvasive process that employs tomography. Tomography is the process of generating a 2D image of a slice or section through at 3D object (a tomogram).





This medical imaging method is used to produce rapid, clear, 2D images of bones, organs and tissues. CT scan is a painless process. The machine used is knows as CTG scanner. It uses X-rays. X-rays are passed through the body at various angles and are detected by a computerized scanner.

The data that is generated is processed and displayed as cross-sectional images of the internal structure of the body or of a particular organ. These images are also known as slices.

Neurological CT scans detect vascular or bone irregularities, some brain tumors and cysts, encephalitis, herniated disks, spinal stenosis and other disorders. Spinal stenosis is characterized by narrowing of the spinal canal.

EMG

Electromyography (EMG) is a process wherein a fine needle is inserted into a muscle in order to compare the amount of electrical activity present when muscles are at rest and when they contract. EMG helps differentiate between nerve and muscle disorders.

Nerve biopsy

Biopsy is a medical test usually performed by a surgeon or an interventional radiologist. It involves sampling of cells or tissues for examination. It is the removal of tissue form a living object in order to determine the extent or presence of a medical condition.

Nerve biopsy is an invasive procedure involves removing and examining a sample of nerve tissues. Nerve tissues are usually removed from the lower leg. This test can provide valuable information regarding the degree of nerve damage.

Nerve biopsy is an invasive procedure. It is not easy to perform. In some cases, this procedure may itself cause neuropathic side effects. According to experts, nerve biopsy is not always needed for diagnosis.

Skin biopsy

Skin biopsy is a biopsy technique in which doctors remove a thin skin sample and examine nerve fiber endings. This test offers some unique advantages over NCV tests and nerve biopsy.

Unlike NCV, skin biopsy reveals damage present in small fibers. Skin biopsy is less invasive than nerve biopsy. It is also easier to perform. Skin biopsy has lesser side effects than nerve biopsy.

The above-mentioned techniques help doctors diagnose peripheral neuropathy effectively. Right diagnosis enables them to work for improvement in the overall quality of the patient’s life.

Doctors can work with patients affected by peripheralneuropathy and add value to their overall well-being. For this to be possible, patients should keep up their appointments with their doctor. Peripheral neuropathy should not be neglected.

http://aboutperipheralneuropathy.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-diagnose-peripheral-neuropathy.html

How do you know if you have Neuropathy in your feet

Today's post from articlesnatch.com (see link below) is a good general guide for people who are not sure what the feelings in their feet mean. Whatever conclusion you reach, it should always be discussed with a doctor but at least you'll have an idea what might be going on. The conclusions at the end of the article may be interpreted by some as being somewhat optimistic but again, every individual case is different, with different causes and outcomes, which is why a medical consultation is necessary.
The B-vitamin items mentioned may have different names in different countries but should be available in most health food or supplement shops.

Do I Have Neuropathy In My Feet?
By: Brandt R Gibson DPM

Often, I see patients in our office concerned about strange feelings to their feet. Many are found to have neuropathy (or peripheral neuropathy). Neuropathy is the poor functioning of nerves and can lead to significant abnormalities in the feet and legs. Do you have neuropathy? Some simple questions are:

- Are your feet numb or do your feet feel dead? - When you injure your feet, do you feel pain? - When walking on your feet, do you have difficulty feeling the feet or do you trip regularly because you can't feel your feet? - Can you feel heat or cold in my feet or hands? - Do your feet tingle? - Do you have regular "pins and needles" sensation to your feet? - Do you have burning, stabbing, shooting or electrical shock pains in your feet? - Are your feet overly sensitive to touch, including pain from bed sheets or other items that shouldn't hurt? - Do you feel like there is cotton, leather, or sock on your foot, even when there isn't? - Do your feet hurt significantly at night and keep you awake?

An abnormal answer to any of these questions usually indicates neuropathy. Neuropathy can be a complex problem with multiple possible causes including diabetes, AIDS or HIV, toxins and metallic poisons, certain chemicals, alcoholism, vitamin deficiencies or nutritional imbalances, it may also occur from systemic diseases (kidney failure, liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis, abnormal blood proteins, cancer especially with chemotherapy, leukemia and shingles). Entrapment may also lead to the symptoms of neuropathy. Diabetes is the most common, however in the United States.

There are multiple theories on the cause of neuropathy, but the most common theories included blood flow interruption to the nerves or nerve fiber damage (or a combination of these). Therefore, for many years it was thought nothing could be done to improve neuropathy. You may have been told this about your discomfort. That is no longer the case. Many new treatments are coming that may help neuropathy.

The most common natural substances to improve neuropathy are B complex vitamins: B1 (thiamine), B6, B12 and folic acid. Many of the over-the-counter vitamins that contain these products, however, are in a form that are not as easily absorbed or utilized by the body. In our research, we have found two products that provide the vitamins in a form that are beneficial and easily utilized by the body.

1. Metanx - A prescription item that contains L-methoylfolate, Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate and Methylcobalamin (all natural forms of folic acid, B6 and B12 respectively). These products work together to produce increased blood flow to the nerves and assist in nerve repair. Many people are encountering improved feeling in their feet and decrease of their symptoms. It usually will require treatment for at least 4-6 months to insure it has sufficient time to help repair nerves.

2. Neuremedy - A over-the-counter item that contains a form of B1 (benfotiamine) that is absorbed and modified by the body to the active form of B1 (thiamine). Most forms of this vitamin fail to be absorbed in the body, but the benfotiamine of Neuremedy is easily absorbed and utilized by the body. It has been shown to nourish dysfunctional nerves and allow them to conduct impulses more normally. It has been utilized since the early 1960s in Europe and Asia on thousands of patients.

So, neuropathy although a common problem doesn't need to continue to cause problems in your life. It can be treated often very effectively through the use of one of these two options. Many other options are also in the works.

Copyright (c) 2009 Mountain West Foot & Ankle Institute

http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Do-I-Have-Neuropathy-In-My-Feet-/774206

Bah Humbug! Transformational Tools for your Holidays! Journal activities Herbs Foods and Smells to Help You

This past week my girlfriend and I had an enlightening conversation about Thanksgiving. Each of us where sharing what challenges us the most; what we were afraid of, what made us feel rotten, and what kind of behavior by others ruins our day.

I found us saying things like “I wish I had more help with the planning and preparation of the food so I was less resentful”, “I don’t want to have to answer to anybody about my personal life if I’m not ready, but I don’t want them to feel pushed away, either”, “I’m worried about political differences coming up” and “I feel exhausted at the end, not filled up and all happy like we’re told we should feel. I want to actually feel nourished and full of gratitude, not like: ‘thank God that’s over!’”

After we vented a bit, we started asking some questions instead, and low and behold we started coming up with miraculous ways to approach the coming holidays with a lot more self-awareness and intention, and less attachment to how others decide to use the day.

This is an incredibly self-protective and freeing experience! And although I've personally done a *lot* of inner work around dealing with winter and the holidays, but this conversation was especially helpful and insightful.

So, in light of the fast-approaching Yule tide, I come here today to offer a similar journey for you, as well as herbal and aroma allies. For my apothecary members I always approach things holistically this way (including inquiry based journaling/mindset methods, sensory engagement, and herbal nourishment) so that the healing happens from multiple facets and is integrated more completely. I invite you to tackle things with this in mind as well.

The more my friend and I talked about what we wanted and complained less about what we didn’t want, the more clearly we were able to see the potential to enjoy our holiday more, even within the given circumstances.

However, it is good to get all the complaints on the table, as they can help us navigate. So….lay it all out, my friend, with reckless honesty:

What are my biggest, most anxiety producing complaints about the holiday?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

{Awesome, good job J}

Next, Go slowly through each of your above frustrations and ask these questions:

1.       Is this an experience I’m capable of changing?

2.       Does the change need to happen externally, involving others?

3.       Is there a change in me, internally, that would help? What is that? Compassion, forgiveness, or a shift in expectations?

4.       Do I contribute to this issue in any way?

5.       What personal boundaries can I set for myself around this issue? (e.g.; Getting more rest? Not answering questions I don’t feel comfortable with? Not engaging in feeling victimized or falling prey to passive aggressive behavior?

6.       In what ways can I ask for help & support from my loved ones in regards to this issue?
  

7.       How can I better prepare for this potential experience, manage it if it occurs, or help prevent it?

{Woot! Feels good so far, yes? Are you surprised by anything so far?}

Next, we need to shift the focus to what we do desire.

1.       What would each of these experiences look and feel like to you, if they were expressed in the positive?
For example, if your #1 fear was listening to your children fight, it might look like two siblings enjoying each other’s company.

2.       What do I want out of a holy-day? How do I want to feel before, during, and after?

3.       What are some ways my ideals can be fed and supported??

Brainstorm specific ideas around this – the more specific you are the more likely it is to happen, whether because you take action, or something becomes more energetically possible through the magic of your intentions.

Super! We’re well on our way to a transformed holiday experience.  In addition to the above specific problem-solving inquiries, we can arm ourselves with some general ideas as well. These are three of my favorite pattern interrupters that I use the most often.

~In this moment, I can choose peace.

~In this moment, what can I do differently?

~Even though I feel ­­­­_____ (angry, hurt, etc) I can choose to shift things by acting out of love.

By claiming more ownership over the emotional choices, vocabulary we use, and the physical activity choices we have, and by creating a plethora of options for ourselves, we can shift out of feeling victimized and begin to foster a sense of self-protection, groundedness, and hope that the coming days, meant to be most sacred, generous, and fulfilling, actually can be just that.

The nourishing feast: 

Oh the food! Yummy, yummy food, and lots of it! Meant to be a gleeful celebration of bounty, of course, this can instead be the source of much misery for many, whether it is days in the kitchen laboring over the perfect meringue, a tender bird, or peeling endless potatoes – worrying about eating too much and gaining weight, fearing the dish washing task, or simply feeling like crap afterwards.

Whatever the food brings up for you, we can apply a few small tweaks for aid.

--Ditch the MSG. This means no “Mr.Gravy” thickener, and no poor quality brand dressings or seasoning packets. MSG can cause severe inflammation, instigate over-eating, and provide mega-headaches. They are just no good party poopers. (Monosodium Glutamate) is known for its trouble making and is better off left out of the meal.

--Change from soda. UGH! There are so many excellent sparkly options nowadays. Corn syrup and artificial flavor/color is a holiday’s bad news. Don’t go there. Especially if you have volatile parent/kid pairs in the family, or any diabetics. This might feel like an epic change for some – but remember that we can focus on what we are adding instead of subtracting to help us all adapt and enjoy.

--ADD Lots of digestive aids! At least an hour before the main meal, take a little something each ten or twenty minutes to stoke your digestive fire. There are many options you have no excuse to avoid this essential action.
 

Ginger root, Lemon Juice, Fennel Seeds, Apple Cider Vinegar, black pepper & cinnamon chai, Turmeric root, bitters such as Dandelion root tincture, Artemisia tincture, and Goldenrod tincture can all help ready the digestion. Fermented foods as an appetizer and condiment are one of my very favorite (and delicious) ways to support digestion. Homemade sauerkraut, kimchi, or pickled vegetables are a fantastic way to support those in your family who may not be so interested in your herbal concoctions.

--Have honey available. For those who might decide to use honey instead of sugar in their coffee or tea. Yay! (Then dessert will be more relaxed)

--Ask for help!!!! Call up your inner queen and do some delegating. People who stand around waiting to do something, actually do want to help. But if they are in someone else’s kitchen, they would do well with some helpful directions. Guys who retreat to the football game are, more often than not, willing to help if you’re willing to ask.

And, last but not least, Aroma-allies.

If you’re hosting, and you usually burn Yankee or similarly scented candles consider not. These candles can contribute to migraines, nausea, mood swings, and mysterious maladies galore. They are packed with dangerous fragrance chemicals like z-estrogens that can wreak havoc.

Natural aromas in the house are inviting … cider, stuffing, garlic … these are the smells that help us feel welcome, stimulate salivation, and cultivate memories (without side effects). If you do wish for candles, try ones with natural essential oils of orange or cinnamon for a gentler ambiance. You can also choose unscented candles and use an aromatherapy diffuser with the following essential oils.

If you keep a cupboard of essential oils, you can make yourself a helpful blend.  One of my favorite for Yule time is Roman Chamomile. Wildly herbaceous & floral/fruity, this almost apple-like chamomile oil is incredibly uplifting and anti-depressant. Roman Chamomile is excellent for those who tend to feel brooding, argue beyond the point of reason, and get ‘hot headed’ or stubborn. It is also somewhat expensive – but also strong. Diluted in carrier oil at about 2-4 drops of essential oil to 1/3 ounce carrier oil, you can apply it or smell it as frequently as you like.

If you prefer something more grounded and rooty, you might find Vetiver essential oil to be helpful. It is excellent for those who abhor traveling, tend to feel nervous or insecure, or feel as though they need thicker skin. It is one of the strongest essential oils and will be plenty effective at a dilution of 1 drop in 1/3 ounce of carrier oil.

You might enjoy a trip to your local natural food store to smell an array of essential oils and determine which one makes you feel most relaxed and happy.

~~~

However you choose to support yourself this holy-day season, may it be nourishing, joyful, and bring you closer to the ones you love.

Blissful Blessings,

Ananda

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NEW

in the Apothecary (and more to come in the next week, stay tuned!!!)

FORTRESS

~Resins & Roses~

Botanical Perfume

click here:

Nails at your finger tips

Nails at your finger tips

NAILS – Nails at your finger tips

Each and Every one, especially females would like to have beautiful long sharp nails, since nails give beauty to the hands. In this modern sophisticated life, it is driven more cosmetically than for its real use, i.e., many would like to give a polish with different shapes and colours. Some people even go for painting on it. Some would develop the habit of nail bite. Some may use the nail as a tool or for entertainment with finger tapping.

Animals use their nails to hold the prey with firm grip, and also use them to attack the enemy with the piercing & scratching nature. They also get grip and stability from nails while walking or running. On evolution, man had outweighed all the risk of hunting and had started a sophisticated urban life, where the uses of nails are restricted only to fine works. So, humans cut their nails constantly or once in a while on growth, to avoid discomfort. It is just like shedding of dead skin cells.

ABOUT NAILS – Nails are glossy, hard and dense keratin (protein) material which supports finger tips in all its efforts. Even though, it appears as convex smooth surface externally, the inner portion remains concave in nature. Nails grow continuously through life. The colour, shape, smoothness, thickness and strength of the nails differ from one person to another and even differ from one finger to another in a same hand.

PARTS OF THE NAIL – The exposed hard and smooth surfaced nail is commonly called as Nail plate and the inner covered part as Nail bed or Nail root. Nails grow from Nail matrix which lies just beneath the Nail bed. The nail plate is made of hard dense keratin substance projected from the nail matrix. Nail plate safeguards Nail Bed and sensitive nerves in the finger tips. Nail matrix is the most important part for determining the shape and thickness of the nail. The front part of matrix can be noted as whitish half moons (lunula) in the nail plate, near the skin folds. Any damage to matrix will cause deformity to total loss of nail.

Colour – Normally, nails will be transparent, but look rosy in colour because of the blood supply

beneath it. So, in case of reduced blood supply or Anaemia, it becomes paler or white. Also when the nails grow away from nail bed, they will get more thick and more opaque.

Texture – Nails usually have a water content of 10 – 25%, which makes it slightly flexible. They will become brittle, if water content gets lowered – for example in ageing process and contracting diseases. They will also get splits, ridges / grooves, bending & peeling on losing texture.

Growth – It would be surprising to note how it is possible to produce such a hard nail from the smooth skin layer near the nail bed in a continuous manner. It is just a natural process like skin peeling or shedding as in other places, but the compressed and hardened layers of the keratin make the nail harder. Babies’ nails are initially soft in nature, as days/years pass, they become hard. Normally growth rate will be 2-3 mms depending upon the finger / toe. It will take 4-6 months to replace entire nail or in case of Malnutrition, poor blood circulation, serious medical illnesses, extreme low temperature exposures and medications, growth rate can slow down.

Uses – Many people, without knowing the importance of nails, usually think of nails as an item of cosmetic waste product like hair, but they both have their own job in our body, i.e. protection. Nails cover the sensitive nerves in the fingertips and also provide more strength and stability to the fingers / finger tips in doing any fine & strained work. The change in shape, colour, texture & stability gives more idea about our health.

Being faces of the fingers, Nails often speak about the quality and quantity of blood circulation. These ten commandments of hands can also give more idea about the body conditions i.e., anaemia, jaundice, cyanosis (bluish discolouration due to reduced oxygen supply), etc in case of diseases of lungs, heart and liver. Thus it is, that doctors always have a look at the patient’s nails before diagnosis.

CHANGES IN NAILS – The changes often noticed in nails are discolouration, ridges or grooves, clubbing & pitting. Nails commonly get damaged while closing doors of cars or house due to carelessness. But Nails can grow in normal fashion, even if plugged out completely without damaging the nail bed / matrix.

Nail discolouration – Commonly, nails get coloured from colouring agents like Mehandi, Nail polish, Hair dyes, etc. They may also get discoloured due to fungal infection, disease conditions or chemotherapy and heavy steroidal drugs.

• Pale or white nails – indicate Anaemia
• Yellow nails – indicate Jaundice
• Red nail – indicates fresh bleeding beneath the nail
• Purple nails – indicate contusion / stagnation of blood beneath the nail
• Black nails – indicate fungal / bacterial infection or melanoma
• Blue nails – indicate Cyanosis which may be due to lung or heart diseases
• White dots – indicate the presence of air in between the layers of nail. It is commonly seen in Malnutrition or vitamin loss.

Shape often gets altered in many disease conditions.

• Clubbing (roofing of nail near skin fold) – is seen in lung or heart disorders
  
• Splitting nails – in fungal / bacterial infection
• Thickening of nails – Psoriasis, fungal infection, ageing, etc
• Ridged nails – Ageing, eczema, rheumatoid arthritis, etc
• Spoon shaped nail & Nail Pitting – are common in thinning of nails which may be due to malnutrition and various wasting diseases.

Brittle nails – are more commonly seen in ageing, malnutrition, serious medical illnesses, constant use of nail polish removers, etc

Nail care and Preventing infection – are in our hands

Do’s

• Always keep fingers and nails dry and clean
• Clean nail pockets often if you have more free edges
• Cut / Shape / Trim nails at regular intervals

Care for nails in all hand work

Don’t

• Allow more free edges to protrude away from finger
  
• Do any strained hand work without wearing gloves
• Bite nails
• Use nail polish removers often

Avoid

• Working continuously in water
• Chemical contacts & strong soaps
• Ill-fitting shoes
• Exposure to extreme cold / hot temperatures
• Using unnecessary drugs

Using it as tool or screwdriver

Nail suffers an array of complaints starting from infection to deformities. The commonest are nail bed infection, in-growing nails and fungal infection. Each and every complaint should be taken care – then and there, or otherwise, left over infection will lead infections to adjacent bones lying beneath it. The common nail complaints are

• Absence / loss of Nail is medically termed as “Anonychia” & Infection of Nail bed is called “Onychia”
• Infection of surrounding part of Nail is called “Paronychia” (Whitlow)
• Atrophy of nail is called “Atrophia Ungium”
• Fungal infection of nail is called “Onychomycosis”
• Hypertrophy or excessive thick nail is called as “Onychauxis”

for new hope

Dr. S. Chidambaranathan, BHMS, MD (Homeo)

Laxmi Homeo Clinic

24 E. New Mahalipatti Road

Madurai, TN 625 001

India

Tel:  +91-452-233-8833 | +91-984-319-1011 (Mob)

Fax: +91-452-233-0196

E-mail:  drcheena@yahoo.com

www.drcheena.com / www.drcheena.in

(Disclaimer: The contents of this column are for informational purpose only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional healthcare advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of healthcare professional for any health problem or medical condition.)

THAT SMARTPHONE IS GIVING YOUR THUMBS SUPERPOWERS

When people spend time interacting with their smartphones via touchscreen, it actually changes the way their thumbs and brains work together, according to a report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 23. More touchscreen use in the recent past translates directly into greater brain activity when the thumbs and other fingertips are touched, the study shows.

"I was really surprised by the scale of the changes introduced by the use of smartphones," says Arko Ghosh of the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich in Switzerland. "I was also struck by how much of the inter-individual variations in the fingertip-associated brain signals could be simply explained by evaluating the smartphone logs."

It all started when Ghosh and his colleagues realized that our newfound obsession with smartphones could be a grand opportunity to explore the everyday plasticity of the human brain. Not only are people suddenly using their fingertips, and especially their thumbs, in a new way, but many of us are also doing it an awful lot, day after day. Not only that, but our phones are also keeping track of our digital histories to provide a readymade source of data on those behaviors.

Ghosh explains it this way: "I think first we must appreciate how common personal digital devices are and how densely people use them. What this means for us neuroscientists is that the digital history we carry in our pockets has an enormous amount of information on how we use our fingertips (and more)."

While neuroscientists have long studied brain plasticity in expert groups--musicians or video gamers, for instance--smartphones present an opportunity to understand how regular life shapes the brains of regular people.

To link digital footprints to brain activity in the new study, Ghosh and his team used electroencephalography (EEG) to record the brain response to mechanical touch on the thumb, index, and middle fingertips of touchscreen phone users in comparison to people who still haven't given up their old-school mobile phones.

The researchers found that the electrical activity in the brains of smartphone users was enhanced when all three fingertips were touched. In fact, the amount of activity in the cortex of the brain associated with the thumb and index fingertips was directly proportional to the intensity of phone use, as quantified by built-in battery logs. The thumb tip was even sensitive to day-to-day fluctuations: the shorter the time elapsed from an episode of intense phone use, the researchers report, the larger was the cortical potential associated with it.

The results suggest to the researchers that repetitive movements over the smooth touchscreen surface reshape sensory processing from the hand, with daily updates in the brain's representation of the fingertips. And that leads to a pretty remarkable idea: "We propose that cortical sensory processing in the contemporary brain is continuously shaped by personal digital technology," Ghosh and his colleagues write.

What exactly this influence of digital technology means for us in other areas of our lives is a question for another day. The news might not be so good, Ghosh and colleagues say, noting evidence linking excessive phone use with motor dysfunctions and pain.

With Neuropathy Dont Let Your Body Fall Into A Disuse Syndrome

Today's short post from neuropathydr.com (see link below) is as good an argument for exercising if you have neuropathy as you'll find. One of the best reasons for exercising (however uncomfortable the idea feels) is that your muscles, joints and nervous system will degenerate through disuse. Especially as you get older and the pain and your lifestyle mean that your life by definition becomes more sedentary, it's important to keep as active as possible. If your neuropathy is affecting more parts of your body than just your feet and legs (autonomic neuropathy) then it's vital to keep moving in some way or other, so that the organs, muscles and joints still have something to work for. The article is short but makes the point very clearly. Well worth a read.

Disuse Syndrome
Posted by john on February 13, 2017

In our last post, we discussed how exercise can help control the symptoms of your underlying illness (whatever caused your autonomic neuropathy). Today we’re going to discuss the effects of not exercising, which are called disuse syndrome.

Use Vs. Disuse

When you’re thinking about starting an exercise program and you’re thinking about how dangerous it can be, you also need to consider the effects of not starting an exercise program.

The effects of not exercising are called disuse syndrome. If your level of activity seriously out of sync with your level of inactivity, you can develop:

• Decreased physical work capacity

• Muscle atrophy

• Negative nitrogen and protein balance

• Cardiovascular deconditioning

• Pulmonary restrictions

• Depression

The effects of any of these symptoms of disuse syndrome in combination with your autonomic neuropathy symptoms can make a bad situation even worse.

The very nature of your autonomic neuropathy can affect the systems that are most sensitive to the effects of exercise. Any exercise program you begin should be designed and monitored by a medical professional well versed in the effects of autonomic neuropathy, like your NeuropathyDR® clinician.

Autonomic neuropathy can have a serious effect on the very systems in the body that are directly affected by exercise. Make sure you talk to your healthcare provider before you start an exercise program and let them monitor your progress.

For more information on coping with neuropathy, get your Free E-Book and subscription to our newsletters at http://neuropathydr.com.

http://neuropathydr.com/disuse-syndrome/