Regarding the connection between mind and body, and your previous statin post, I'm watching that combine and play out with a 70-year-old neighbor. He's always been healthy and free from drugs, but all of his four sisters take statins because they have "high LDL" and convinced him last month to get blood work done.
The results came in and the doctor told him he was at risk of a heart attack and stroke because his LDL was 220, and gave him a prescription for statins. I'm not sure why, but he refused to take them, probably because he's very stubborn.
The thing is, he also believes what they told him and now thinks he has lost his health and has a congenital problem that will end his life. I saw him when he walked out of the doctor's office and he looked fragile and crushed, and it's been a downward spiral since then. His acid reflux flared up considerably and he's always clearing his throat, and since last weekend he's been in bed, exhausted and weak and discouraged.
I hope he just needs time and deals with his own aging and mortality, but it's really cruel to tell someone their blood is bad and likely to give them a heart attack, all based on that stupid test.
The pharmaceutical industry LOVES to use predatory marketing like that and terrorize people into buying their products. Sadly doctors don't recognize it, so things like this are common place :*(
High LDL is typical of people who are lean and who largely eat a low-carb diet. I strongly suggest watching Doctor Ken D. Berry on You Tube. He discusses this more than once, among many other topics. I myself have high LDL. I had a heart screen for plaques, and it showed nothing. Going on statins will make one's health worse, not better. Please check out Doctor Ken D. Berry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0y6r6VJqc
Yes my cholesterol has been going up a bit. I am on the No Sugar No Grain diet. My modern medicine doctor would typically advise statins in such a case, but I had that heart scan recently and there was no plaque whatsoever, so obviously the higher cholesterol level is not a problem. I had a close friend who took them and ended up with liver cancer and died. Her mom and brother had also succumbed and died before her. Hard to say if the statins killed them for sure, but the drugs do have that warning that they can cause liver cancer....
Yes, I have always had an elevated LDL, and had a CT coronary calcium score of zero a few years ago (at age 61), so I just keep living my active vegetarian lifestyle and growing vegetables. Sorry I don't need any medicines yet, but I do take a few basic supplements.
It's a shame* CT calcium scores aren't used because of how much valuable data they provide (although perhaps that's because they call the value of cholesterol monitoring into question).
*except in regards to the radiation exposure one receives from a CT.
It's a good idea when one is over 50, and with any suggestions in personal or famiy history, that there is increased, or even average risk of arterial disease. A friend of mine failled to show up for a meditation retreat, after dining with other friends 2 nights before.
He had some "indigestion" he died next to his bed, apparentlly of his first heart attack.
This prompted me to finally check my calcium score at 61. I think I'm done with that.
The risk from CT is higher in women, due to breast cancer risk increase from chest-radiation.
A low or zero CT-calcium score after the age of 50 is a really good ticket to not have people bother you about cholesterol and statins for the rest of your life.
A high score is a wake-up call. Unpleasant, but...
He can get a CT coronary artery calcium score, and if it is low he can just keep on living, though fresh vegetables and a few nutritional supplements, and a mid-normal vitamin-D level (and 100-200 mcg/d of K2) are adviseable.
"(e.g., many of the current illegal drugs used to be freely handed out at pharmacies). "
Sounds like a poor choice of words, they were never FREELY handed out since they are not FREE of cost or restriction obviously requiring a prescription and you should be careful with that of course, so BE WELL ALL.
May 25, 2023·edited May 26, 2023Liked by A Midwestern Doctor
When I look at my life I can only say: God gave/gives me shot at living a perfect life.
There will always be tragedy and malevolence, disappointments and losses, pain and misery. God showed me/us a perfect way forward (the 'operating system' always knew THE path) through life's minefields and chasms, the deep cold rapids, white water slamming you against boulders, and the stirrings, silent despair, sleeping with an enemy.
I would that people would simply turn off their TV's, walk outside, and go help a neighbor with something. Talk to each other like you matter, people have so many different areas of focus. All of us are necessary to complete the picture. We all need to be here, we are all important.
Finally, glad am I that I was born at a time when we were taught about nobility of spirit, that each and every human being is noble until proven otherwise (but then allowed to restore his/her nobility by penance) and proud of each other and certainly glad and thankful of our birthright.
I'm thankful that we were taught that tyranny was bad, independence, in liberty, absolute. Critical thought was a minimal requirement of citizenship. We trusted that successive generations of teachers were carrying the torch, working to guarantee the continuation of this amazing nation, the only nation in the history of history conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all created are equal.
Your comments approach more closely the underlying causes of all these problems than anything else I have read here so far, but the causes go deeper. Self-importance and self-reliance, and especially the latter, must be considered.
We can't supply ourselves with that which we lack because we don't possess it! It has to come from outside us, from our Maker. We keep trying and trying to fill ourselves with what we do not have and this really, truly does not work.
Perhaps we simply do do not 'recognize'. If we recognized our basic nature as immortals, and the amazing gift of life, we would all be celebrating and skipping and dancing all the time!
Perhaps. If that's the right thing to recognize. I keep thinking I understand things, only to find that there's more to it, or that it's something else. It's a learning process, and it's OK to draw wrong conclusions, but not a good idea to get stuck there.
I'm unclear about details of our basic nature, but I see how basic assumptions about that or anything else have to be examined, and discarded if they don't hold up. I don't see that process happening nearly enough.
I had it explained to me by a feminist wytch: Starhawk, in the 80's. (I'm sure she's sitting jabbed with all her leftist friends, now, but who knows?)
BEER CAN THEORY: all we can do is pick up what is on our path.
Then, my tribe in the USA taught me: KEOA. Keep Each Other Alive.
I keep looking at what you write - and thinking - we were TAUGHT. We learned stuff. Not only did we learn in the classroom, but the churches, and the fields and trees between our houses. What is education now?
"In the final part of this article, I will discuss the remarkable resource I gained access to solve this problem, and I would also like to request that you share what approaches have helped you to address your problems. Due to the circumstances around my own resource, I was explicitly requested for my discussion of them to go behind a paywall."
This sounds like some nonsense however of excuses for this in the follow-up article, many words misspelled or omitted too. VERY STRANGE to see that going on rather crazy at times so BE CAREFUL ALL
Very apropos everything. I was reflecting that I became addicted later in life, to the internet, and then when I removed the internet, to food. Why? I think covid-madness related isolation started it, along with the fact that I was tapering off benzos (1 mg lorazepam and 30 mg temazepam for several years) at that time. When I got low on benzos (only half a mg of lorazepam), I got quite out of hand.
I eventually quit sugar and grain-type starches and began regular sun exposure and exercise. I am finally normalizing. I think the sun has made the most difference. Who woulda thunk.
Should your depression categories include SAD too? I've been helped by St. John's Wort with that.
I want to add that I have done a lot of therapy, and except for a support group with other young women which was empowering, and much later a very congenial therapist who helped me swim out of a case of PTSD, the rest of it was hogwash. Money wasted. And some of it was actively harmful, like when the therapist went out of her way to convince me that I was imagining spousal abuse. Most of these people don't know what they are doing. -- Loved the article.
Almost all "medical" professionals, from my experience, do not know what they are doing. A true healer can be found within, or outside the profession, but they are extremely rare. It is truly serendipitous if you find one.
Thank you again. Two ideas came to me to share: 1) the Buddha's first noble truth is that life is "duka" which can be translated as "affliction" but is commonly thought of as "suffering." Suffering is not dependent on attachment. Life is suffering. That is, Suffering is unavoidable. Where our attachment enter the picture is when, due to our attachment to comfort we push discomfort (suffering) away. With this in mind, I believe most Buddhists do not understand what the buddha taught. 2) In the U.S. we are taught that success if financial. Imagine then, the suffering that arises from this even though it has been studied and shown that once we have what we need to be secure, additional wealth does nothing for us. Imagine if success were defined in another way, such as mastery of an art, craft, or skill.
I haven’t heard anyone explain Buddhism - or reality in general - nearly as well as Alan Watts. I think we are at the beginning of Wattsism, a movement of sorts that will transform humanity to a large extent over the coming decades and perhaps centuries (assuming we don’t blow up the world). https://youtu.be/nmWc-f_URYE
I listened to the first hour. He was certainly highly intelligent and well learned. He described himself as "cunning." I always thought of him as "clever." He briefly touched on what I wrote about--the aversion to suffering--at min 38, describing it as the resistance to pain. Otherwise what I heard seemed to be his own philosophy after distilling many eastern spiritual paths, not an explanation of Buddhism. As I wrote above, I think most Buddhists are stuck in the ism and don't get the true, pure teachings. The best clarification of this issue I read in David Brazier's book, The Feeling Buddha.
My bad. I posted the link I did because I like that talk a lot, he refers to the Buddha, and the talk concerns medical matters which are relevant to our host’s blog, but it doesn’t focus on the concepts and development of Buddhism as numerous other talks he gave do. One introduction to Buddhism, as he understood it, is at https://youtu.be/0nIuFNzVUDY
You should have stopped at "quit watching main stream media" and told everyone to get outside. Mental illness is about disconnection... from self, from others, from nature, from spirit.
The lockdowns exacerbated that... I don't care how much we can do digitally. We need each other... to touch, talk, see others... physically, mentally, spiritually...
The saddest thing was that everyone warned about the dangers of the lockdowns for mental health, and then forgot about those warnings until the lockdowns were over, at which point they started pointing out the current mental health crisis we are facing.
Personally, after lockdowns and lockouts for people without passes - it became so much easier to stay in, to stay home. My circle of travel just naturally narrowed (so much so, that I don't think I'd notice a 15 min city much), and "going out" just for fun is no longer a thing. PTSD? Perhaps. It's not neurotic, just a natural narrowing of scope after getting slammed.
So - anyone who is less focused on emotional wellness than myself (I am in constant Practice) - will continue to suffer, long after lockdowns.
I think that was the main point of the lockdowns, face masks and social distancing. Vaccine uptake would have been much lower if people were still mentally healthy.
I really missed hugging people and seeing their smiling faces that were covered by masks. It seems like the definition of disconnection when we have to "protect" ourselves from each other...
Dr., please continue in this direction. I loved every single piece of the article. Much of it were things I've often wondered, but had no answers for... the Vagas nerve, psychiatric imbalances, psychedelic drugs, body language. When I was young, I realized my sister was lying every time she sniffed once while looking down. I never mentioned her "tell" to her and she does it to this day. Quite a liar, lol.
Have a couple people in my life that tell less than the truth. Sometimes flat out lies. Sometimes just leaving out bits. I will look for contractions, blinks, sniffs, etc. Will be interesting to see if I can find a “tell.” (And I’ll be watching myself as well, to find the things I’ve been subconsciously pushing down.)
Agree this article is great. So much to learn. I will need to read it again. Loved the vagus nerve discussion. Makes even more sense as to why yoga helps.
My most chilling experience during the COVID lies was a video of a local OB encouraging pregnant women (and everyone else) to take the jab. He licked his lips the entire time. It was eerie- like a snake tongue.
I completely agree! I think people have an unrecognized sense for receiving information from other people through "feeling". For most people this is subconscious and they tend to ignore it if it is contrary to information that comes in from outer senses (sight/hearing). There's a wealth of information to be gained by training yourself to be conscious of this sense.
Such an insightful write up. There are so many things I want to say, I don’t even know where to start. I’ll just say this for now: I’m beginning to feel like this country has turned into one big insane asylum and the worst lunatics among us are running it.
I wish it were just your country. The Western model of medicine, especially psychiatry, is well established the world over. Our website for tapering off of psych drugs, www.survivingantidepressants.com , has members from easily 100 countries.
Then there's the COVID business, very few got away from that. Africa, perhaps.
Terrific article. I didn't know about the biochemical causes you mentioned. Recently learned of low-progesterone depression, thought to be major cause of post partum depression
Before you left them drug you for depression and anxiety. Do some research and based on the knowledge that you gain, have your hormones tested and adjust for optimal. Get up early and exercise and go to bed early for sex and sleep. Get a decent diet, if it comes in a package and you can't pronounce the ingredients, throw it out. Get a job you enjoy, ideally a physical one. Associate with the people who are good for you and you for them. It really is more blessed to give than receive, do good. Nullius in Verba Magisteri.
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) are nick-named gender-benders... they cause gender dysphoria, literally, twisting and confusing X and Y chromosomes.
Right! So many crucial subjects in modern life are not covered, and the ill effects covered up. Quite often, all you need is the right information, to make the right decision. But if you're not armed with the right information, you're walking around blind folded in a mine field.
I had a dream two nights ago wherein I was driving and all the electric in my car went out. It was night and I was in absolute black darkness. I continued to drive seeming to know where to go and told myself "I should pull over". I did. I went up to a persons porch and the lady let me use her phone to call my husband. The number was an old one and I didn't know the new one by-heart. Her husband locked me in the brightly light bathroom with him and tried to make me - at this point pantless - to do something I refused. He was furious. His wife returned and I told her to "get the Gospels". As soon as she turned to do so I woke.
Yes very interesting article. Re: trouble sleeping, I have found that it has nothing to do with coffee. I would have five or six espressos or cappuccinos throughout the day on my trip to Italy and no troubling sleeping at all.
Years ago when I was married to a constant criticizer, I would chat with my sister on the phone about some of the issues. I was pretty much trapped, as I did not have any economic alternatives to leave with the kids. I would try to focus on the positive things. Some time after I had told my sister about a frustrating situation brought about by hubby, she made mention of it, and I had absolutely no recollection of it. She advised to keep a journal -- initially I did not want to write down negative things, but I was perplexed that I really did not remember what she was relaying back to me. So going forward, I did as she advised. After a month or two I went back and read this journal. I recognized my writing, but I could not remember the incident at all. Wow. So my mind was hiding these difficult things from me, it was burying the things I was powerless to change. I was not operating as a whole person. Mentally this was destabilizing. I finally divorced him in 2002/2003.
As far as not being able to "think yourself out of an emotion", I must say that we should notice what we are feeling when we feel it, and then try to understand why. We should not let others have control over our emotions.
The brain definitely has a defense mechanism to purge hurtful thoughts. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like we get to choose which ones. My wife can’t remember most of the events of several years of her childhood due to prolonged trauma at the time.
James Sloane says coffee with caffeine causes adrenal fatigue. It stimulates the release of adrenaline, I think, which can keep a person awake initially, but when the adrenal glands run out of adrenaline, they can no longer release enough of it to keep someone awake. He said the adrenal glands need vitamin C, preferably natural, and vitamin B5, as from rice bran etc. The body uses vitamin C first for the adrenals and what's left over is used to repair blood vessels etc. But too much synthetic vitamin C (over 1500 mg/day) harms the kidneys.
Hypoglycemia has a specific symptom where stimulants act as downers instead of uppers like they do with most people. I think the mechanism that you are talking about is involved. When I was hypoglycemic (before I realized it), I used to eat a big bowl of ice cream at night to put me to sleep. (And, yes!, I gained alot of weight.)
Years ago when I was dealing with severe depression I did an experiment. I started a journal of my moods - I would have 4 or 5 days in a row when I felt fine and would clearly write in journal that it was a good/happy day. Then I would have a bad day when I was absolutely convinced that not only did my life suck horribly on THIS day - but it had always sucked and would always suck in the future. It was really hard to convince myself to read my journal but when I did and the proof that my current perspective was wrong was right in front of me in black and white (and my own hand writing), incredibly, I thought that I had been lying to myself when I wrote it!
There were no trigger events that day or phycological reason for this crazy stubborn perspective shift. My conclusion was that it was a chemical shift.
Possibly this doesn't directly relate to your experience in regards to cause (I think you are right about the mind blocking things you can't change) but the value of a journal to keep you aware of what your brain is doing is a valuable tool in my opinion.
Lol when i was married to a verbally abusive narcissist, I couldn't see what was happening even though in the mental health field. It was especially hard when the female therapist gaslighted me and tried to date the ex!! One night I threw a plastic cup, went to doc for "pms" and got on my low dose of prozac. I call my life BP and AP...one of the rare proponents of this ssri.
Our bodies are divinely designed as avatar to our soul. We can't evolve ahead of ourselves... we can't see beyond our blind-spots, that's why they're called blind-spots. So happy for you that you finally divorced.
Working with dozens of chronic pain patients for fourteen years, I wholeheartedly agree that persistent pain is rooted in unresolved emotional conflict. I find this challenging to address in 30 minute physiotherapy appointments. So I find it incomprehensible how a doctor in the public system would address it in 10-15 minute time slots. The emphasis of quantity over quality in Westernized Medicine has undermined it's efficacy. Instead of aiming to resolve conditions, it promotes a revolving door system predicated on negative- feedback loopsm
As a massage therapist with over 20 years experience, I completely agree. I have suggested counseling to clients because I thought their issues were likely coming from unresolved emotional problems/bitterness.
I think a big problem with this is that we have been conditioned to believe that when someone tells us all the health problems stem from emotional dysregulation. That means we are crazy. Primarily because all that modern medicine offers is psychiatric drugs. Therefore people are not receptive to hearing. It is emotional issue because they don’t think there is a solution that will be provided. Perhaps if we are armed with people they can seek help from they will be more open to the idea.
Here’s an odd one for you. My mom has had lingering foot and knee pain for years due to a couple injuries. She had double mastectomy and reconstruction and said after the surgery those pains are completely gone. I really think that anxiety and fear can exacerbate or prolong chronic pain. Dr. Doidge has two incredible books on the brain that deal in part with chronic pain and it’s relationship to neuronal activity.
That's fascinating that her chronic lower limb pain disappeared after surgery. The brain's interpretation and manifestation of pain is quite engnimatic. However, like you mentioned there is a lot of research on the matter. It's complexity is also elaborately explored by David Butler in the book Explain Pain. Bahram Jam, a Canadian physiotherapist also trenchantly delves into persistent pain on his website, Advanced Physical Therapy Education Institute, aptei.ca. He also outlines research on why anti-inflammatories are more of a hindrance to recovery from both acute and chronic injuries than a benefit to tissue repair. It really runs antithetical to most conventional medical advice.
Great thoughts. Thanks! I agree about NSAID’s. They are pretty great for uses to alleviate pain in the short term (headaches, back aches, etc.), but I have come to believe they do more harm than good if used continuously over long periods. I used to use them a lot for years after high school for pain from knee and shoulder injuries, but stopped about 4 years ago and my pains are much less apparent to me now than they were when I used them a lot.
Prior to the COVID-19 vaccines, Peter Gotzche put together a good estimate that NSAIDs were the deadliest class of drug by total number of deaths caused.
I'm testing a theory about NSAIDS stopping pain (just watching and thinking). My theory is that we oscillate between taking in or pushing out toxins. Taking them in is storing or putting into the 'can't feel box', but pushing out toxins is painful. Pain is the body trying to detox. Taking an NSAID makes the body switch back to storing (pain free). It seems those who take the most NSAIDs have the most pain (or detoxing from the last NSAID).
A lot of the "working" population imbibes NSAIDs routinely. It's their reflexive reaction to an exacerbation of pain. However, long-term use of NSAIDs does erode ligaments, tendons and even bone structures.
There has even been some evidence that rats following rotator cuff repairs who took NSAIDs daily demonstrated less muscular strength and tissue healing than rats post-operatively who didn't take NSAIDs. Moreover, military personnel who sustained ankle injuries and took NSAIDs demonstrated less ankle mobility, ligamentous stability and more swelling than the personnel who didn't take NSAIDS. So its unclear how effective NSAIDS are for acute muscular injuries. I think society's dependency on NSAIDs is a boon for the pharmaceutical industry and medical-industrial complex. They have a plethora of adverse effects, which warrants further medical intervention and pharmaceutical consumption.
I agree - helpful for occasional pain but counterproductive for any long term use. Any advising of taking daily (example - for heart) seems like a transparent marketing ploy...
Agree. I have a very similar situation. Took nsaids for years then finally wised up. Once I stopped, my chronic back pain eased. Only one time I got ‘frozen shoulder’ and my doc recommended high dosage nsaids for a couple days, then taper off. I was reluctant but wanted to try that before any surgery. Happily, it worked. Maybe it worked at that time because I wasn’t taking them daily anymore.
There is a noninvasive intervention to stimulate the vagus developed by Dr. Stephen Porges (author of the Polyvagal Theory) based on his 35+ years researching the autonomic nervous system. It's called the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and backed by a growing body of research.
The protocol uses sound and frequency variations delivered via music to stimulate the vagus and stapedius (which can flatten in response to unresolved trauma or chronic stress). It essentially "retunes" the ANS to be less cued into threat which in turn resources the patient for physical and emotional change, and boosts the effectiveness of more active therapies. I use the SSP in my practice and recommend it highly.
Yes! SSP is amazing and must be used with care because for some people, it creates really intense, dysregulating responses. It also can create a sense of safety previously not accessible to the client.
Just curious do different degrees of hearing loss effect the treatment or outcome? For example is this less effective or must be handled differently in someone with complete hearing loss in one ear or with significant hearing loss in both?
Loved it, thank you. Mind-opening, thought provoking article that was deeply insightful. I am looking forward to all the follow-up articles to this. I think you should write a book or two, definitely one on this topic because:
1. You have an extensive macro knowledge on the
topic but;
2. You understand it on the micro level too;
3. You teach & communicate complex topics really well and;
4. You do so with integrity, introspection, honesty and humbleness.
My friends say I tend to explain both the forest and the trees. More than anything else, I
1) don't want to try to communicate things or take people's time up unless I think the message can get through. If it can't, I'd rather do something else.
2) I feel very strongly about not putting false information out (doing that really violates my sense of self and I think that spreading falsehoods creates bad karma especially when a lot of people listen to you). To some extent that's impossible, but I try. Similarly I haven't covered a lot of topics I've thought about because I'm still too uncertain about too many parts of them. The humbleness in here is basically a way I get around the dillema of having to take a position on something where I honestly don't know what the truth about it is, and if I couldn't do that, it would be impossible for me to write here at all.
Yes, please continue to write about the areas of health covered in this article. I have found myself gripped by every one of your posts recently and have learned an incredible amount in a short time. Your work is invaluable, please continue!
You can think your way out of emotions. You may not be able to stop the initial reactive emotion, but you most certainly can think things over, examine the situation, draw on experience and sort of mute the emotion Anger and fear I think are common emotions that can be dealt with by thinking it through. Do I have all the information? Did I misunderstand? Why is this happening. In fact, as you mature, you better find a way to get a grip on emotions or you might find yourself unhappy and making others unhappy.
Parents teach their children how to reason through tough emotions. We do this so they will have an easier life and get along well. There is a cute video out there where the little boy reasons his way through why he got mad about (I think) not getting something. He discusses those feelings with his mother. If you can find it, it is probably the most adorable thing out there on the net and relates well to your writing.
One effective way to stop being mad at a person is to see things from their perspective. I feel like perspective is a hugh controller of emotions. I would like to learn more about the internal mechanism for perspective... Is it chemical, psychological or something else? Can you effectively think your way into another perspective? Or does it have to do with natural emotional chemicals (like the ones that our body uses to feel empathy)?
Perspective offers a lot more beyond controlling anger. It offers compassion and understanding. It tamps down frustration. Gives you a chance to broaden your own mind about how you view things. A while back the good doc here wrote about allowing differing ideas to occupy her? mind at once. Opposing ones. Not necessarily tossing one aside, but letting it marinate. I think that is what we practice a lot of the time when we make earnest efforts to gain perspective. I don't have to give up on my own ideas, but I can tolerate hearing yours and maybe even mull it over to accept it at least understand it. My own integrity is not compromised and my own feelings are not invalidated, but I have emotional room to rest in allowing the two to exist in my head. Not sure if I communicated that perfectly, but it is that I agree with you. haha. As far as how it works, I think different personalities come at it differently. Some are natural empaths, some are peacemakers, some are negotiators, some are logical thinkers and some people force themselves to gain perspective because it behooves them and then they work really hard at it even if it is not at all in their nature. So I think it depends. Just me spitballing. I'm no expert. Just a lady with some wrinkles and a few twirls around the FUBAR arena.
Yes, this is true. I have done it myself. Reflection, reframing.
Unfortunately it is also true that sometimes it is not true at all. About two weeks after my Viral Infection, I developed horrific insomnia and horrible anxiety and depression. I quite truly could not even think about my feelings or thoughts nor could I pray or meditate my way out of them. I couldn't even meditate one millisecond, which was very different for me. Thank God I knew of a homeopathic medicine that helped. Clearly there was some uncontrollable physiological phenomenon at work
I am going through the same thing! Two weeks after the infection, I had extreme anxiety, depression, even disassociation.. I couldn't pray or meditate. Slowly getting right. Could I ask what homeopathic medicine helped?
Oh, I am so sorry. It's dreadful, isn't it?! And yes, unable to even pray or meditate.
Aurum metallicum was the helpful medicine. Are you familiar with using homeopathy? It's its own kind of medical paradigm and system. It's NOT "home remedies" or herbs or supplements. Many times made from herbs, but in highly diluted and potentized form. So one must understand some basics to know how to use it well.
PS, I saw you sent a message. But can't read it right now as I don't have the app. Will see what I can do later tonight or tomorrow.
Looking at some other sources, starting to think that the virus seriously inflamed my vagal nerve. Ashwagandha and methylated B complex has helped. But I would like to fully heal so I don't keep having days when I'm humming with anxiety because I have some chocolate or a piece of bread! I don't have the app, just messaged you through substack.on my computer. The phone insisted on the app - but I already have too many! Seems like it when I am anxious. ;). Thank you for the info! I am unfamiliar with this - how do you decide the amount to dose?
In the meanwhile, I have also found chamomile tea with valerian tincture added (directions are on the bottle) sipped throughout the day to be quite calming for anxiety. Along with all the stuff you're doing. Scutellaria lac-something or other (skullcap) acts on benzodiazepine receptors and can also be helpful. It's an herb. There's Chinese skullcap and American, and I confess I don't know which is the Scutellaria lac-whatever. I'm sure you can look it up.
Homeopathy is an energetic system of medicine based on the principle that like cures like. For example, symptoms of burning, teary eyes and watery nose can be treated with homeopathic Alium cepa which is red onion. The gross substance (onion, in that case) is made into a solution that is serially diluted with succussion (a specific vigorous shaking) in between each dilution. The dilution is such that no conventionally detectable substance remains in the final remedy. The diluted, pitentized solution is then sprayed on the outside of sugar pellets which are placed under the tongue.
There is no one right dose for all people for every situation, so paying attention to one's own responses is very important.
You can read more at JoetteCalabrese.com - look for her tabs about learning homeopathy or how to start or new to homeopathy. Her approach is not the only approach but her education is free and a reasonable place to begin.
Remedies come in various potencies. The most commonly used ones are 6C, 30C, and 200C. The higher the number, the more dilute the remedy AND the more potent it is. (I know, sounds like woo.). Joette tends to start with the higher potencies for mental conditions, but there are other folks who suggest starting low and gradually increasing potency only if necessary. Some folks are really sensitive and starting too high can make them worse.
There are groups on Tracebook, MeWe, and probably here on Substack that will help you learn.
*** not medical advice, of course; I am not a homeopath, merely a self-taught individual. Do your own self-study before using any herb or other medicine. ***
Yes! I make a tea of chamomile, lemon balm, fresh ginger slices and whole cloves in the am. It DOES help. I also order Bad Heilbrunner (sp?) Stress and Sleep tea from.an online apotheke. I lived in Germany for a while, they are BIG into homeopathy. Hildegarde of Bingen is one of my heroines. Thank you for the steer! I will check.all of these out. Are you feeling better and able to.lower the dose, or does it appear the virus gave us a permanent 'gift?'. I had mine last January, so coming up on two years after Christmas. That's a lot of inflammation! But I have more good days than bad now.
I am no medical doctor, but have had terrible insomnia. It got so bad that I was devolving into a shell of myself. My decision making was off, I wasn't driving well, I thought I was getting alzheimers - I couldn't remember words. Through mental stress, sickness, treatments for sickness, what have you, lack of sleep is a serious problem. But under normal circumstances we learn how to properly, healthily deal with emotions in the "normal" course of life. Those healthy habits translate well to stress events (if not the overwhelming kind). But I bet later down the line if you have a similar situation as you have described, you will be able to meditate. We teach ourselves how to cope even when there is mental breakdown. There is opportunity to rebuild. Treating emotions like they are untamable forces and that they must all be embraced and accepted is folly. IMO. You then (potentially) act like a wild animal who acts on every impulse!
That is NOT what you experienced. You had a giant stress situation, tried to use your worthy coping mechanism and it failed you. Then you sought out homeopathy - your other way. Kudos to you for thinking it through and acting to preserve yourself.
Your moniker and your comments on boards convince me you are among the rational and that you don't let emotion rule you.
Also, I hope that you have been able to find resolution for your insomnia. I have not had more than a solid four hr chunk of sleep in over a year. Many nights I sleep as though I am nursing a newborn - awake every two hours. Except without the oxytocin-induced sleep that comes after. 😩. I think that the liver herbs are finally perhaps starting to help. I have tried nearly every supplement or herb for sleep, without success.
Thank you for your well wishes. I have resolved the insomnia. The first time was when I was working my first real job where there was tremendous pressure and long hours. I did not have good coping skills or "tricks" to shut my mind down. I did go to the doctor and asked for some sleeping pills. He said no, but gave me an antidepressant. Once I realized what it was, I elected not to take it since I was not depressed outside of being sad for not sleeping. 30 years later (I think menopause induced and my husband snored incredibly loud) I could NOT sleep most nights outside occasionally dozing. I started taking Benedril. It worked, then it didn't. One day I was talking with a friend whose husband killed himself from grief from not being able to sleep. She mentioned in passing that he took Benadryl and it made his memory faulty. Well it slapped me in the face! That was me! I tossed the Benadryl and my sound mind returned. Scary. My doctor knew I was doing this. I told him what happened. I feel the combination of a keto diet (for me), upping my exercise and my husband getting a Z-Quiet mandibular advancement mouth piece has enabled me to sleep a solid 7 hours every night. Sorry for the long answer, but just in case you or someone reading this has sleep problems and might fit my profile, I sincerely hope my solutions might work.
Copernicus, have you tried chinese scullcap or melatonin? I am sure you have, but I thought I should mention them. My husband shuts the screen an hour before sleep, goes to bed and reads for an hour. He is a good sleeper in general, but he says it calms his mind. I feel for your not sleeping. It is so terrible. Make sure your room is sufficiently dark and the temp is slightly cool. Sending a hug.
You know, my mom takes a “sleep aid,” as she calls it. I bet it’s Benadryl. I should encourage her to consider something different - her mental capacity has been deteriorating over the last several years. Rather significantly.
Melatonin used to help, but for the last few years, nada. The insomnia didn’t get horrible until about a year ago. Before that it was just waking up around 4 and not able to go back to sleep. I attributed it to stress due to our kiddo having problems at school (another story… kiddo is bright w a learning glitch and the school saw only the brightness and not the glitch. Told me I was an overly worried mom without the experience of seeing vast numbers of kids like they did; sent us home from a school meeting w parenting books. One of which I already had. 🙄)
Anyway, yeah, we eat low carb (not Leto), so diet is pretty good. I’ve been too worn out to exercise. Tried every homeopathic medicine that is supposed to help w sleep, with no success. Strangely, my first foray into homeopathy was using one medicine for sleep. It helped my early morning waking. For about a month. Then, everything went downhill fast, and I haven’t had a decent night of sleep since.
Working on a couple things in conjunction with the ND, and I think they might, maybe be starting to help. I hope I’m right, because the consequences of not sleeping are just awful.
Thank you for your kind words. I sincerely appreciate them.
I agree with all you said. That we absolutely must not merely embrace emotions as some unnameable force about which nothing can be done.
Sadly, I have for the last year or more been enduring, and my family with me enduring the impacts on them, an additional often-beyond-my-control emotion. Unfortunately a host of supplements, prayer, and homeopathy got me only somewhat better. Finally saw a naturopathic physician who believes it to be gut microbiome related, and while addressing that along with a liver detox herbal combo, at last, I think, and hope, that things, by God's grace, are improving.
I guess that illustrates your point that even when emotions feel and are beyond our immediate control, God gives us means and avenues to follow so that, with his help, we can regain control.
Thanks again for your words of affirmation. The moniker, well, he wasn't afraid to question the status quo.
Hey also, tell your naturopath about all the OTC and presciption meds. Things innocuous as PPI's can mess up your body's fine balanced tuning. Ya never know. : )
About the things that are out of control and the emotions over them or directly involved in them. I don't know what they are, but if it is a thing that your response matters (for your family's stability - or your own) and there is a very strong desire to express emotions even with that in mind. I first pray for God to give me strength to be patient, graceful and calm. I pray that in every way I can think of! Meanwhile, away from the emotional thing I will think through what is going on, what is most upsetting and come up with what I will do in the face of it. Various scenarios. If something I don't expect comes up, I try very hard to zip my lip, maintain a neutral face, wait a few beats and excuse myself to do something else. I took care of my mom when she was dying. She had a brain tumor. Between my mom, my siblings offering advice or rehashing childhood or dealing with doctors I got pretty good at preserving my sanity. I pray you are not enduring something terrible, but if you are, know that God will not set a situation before you that you cannot handle or where he does not provide escape.
When I send this, I will send up a prayer for you.
And no, cannot give up on prayer. God sees, knows, hears. Even when it feels like he doesn’t. Praise God that his Spirit groans with us when all we can do is utter inarticulate groans.
Grateful to meet fellow followers on these Substack forums. The comments are worth the posts, often times.
I agree! When I was depressed all my training on controlling thoughts and emotions by extension were utterly useless. It felt like something was controlling me that normal coping mechanisms could not handle.
I'm not traditionally religious but I do have my spirit guides and a few times in extreme depression situations I put in an emergency call for help and my perspective immediately cleared. It was surrealistic. As much as I love my spirit guides, the scientific part of me thinks that I was able to spiritually effect my mind just by willing it so. Maybe the mind's equivalent to adrenaline giving you power over your body that you don't usually have.
It was many years ago when I read the book and unfortunately I can't remember who wrote it, but in it he related an experiment done in a prison where a segment of the population was feed according to the hypoglycemia protocol and none of them returned to prison after they got out. (This was apparently highly unusual). He made a correlation between crime and hypoglycemia that reminds me of the one between antidepressants and crime. Messed up sugar levels over time really screw up your emotional/chemical balance. Diabetes is talked about and researched, but hypoglycemia - not so much. I always wondered if this was because there were no drugs to address issue only targeted supplements and nutritional protocol. Also, hypoglycemia causes the same symptoms as ADHD - for which they are still giving kids prescription meth. - would love to read an article on the correlation between that and the dramatic rise in meth addiction...
Regarding the connection between mind and body, and your previous statin post, I'm watching that combine and play out with a 70-year-old neighbor. He's always been healthy and free from drugs, but all of his four sisters take statins because they have "high LDL" and convinced him last month to get blood work done.
The results came in and the doctor told him he was at risk of a heart attack and stroke because his LDL was 220, and gave him a prescription for statins. I'm not sure why, but he refused to take them, probably because he's very stubborn.
The thing is, he also believes what they told him and now thinks he has lost his health and has a congenital problem that will end his life. I saw him when he walked out of the doctor's office and he looked fragile and crushed, and it's been a downward spiral since then. His acid reflux flared up considerably and he's always clearing his throat, and since last weekend he's been in bed, exhausted and weak and discouraged.
I hope he just needs time and deals with his own aging and mortality, but it's really cruel to tell someone their blood is bad and likely to give them a heart attack, all based on that stupid test.
The pharmaceutical industry LOVES to use predatory marketing like that and terrorize people into buying their products. Sadly doctors don't recognize it, so things like this are common place :*(
High LDL is typical of people who are lean and who largely eat a low-carb diet. I strongly suggest watching Doctor Ken D. Berry on You Tube. He discusses this more than once, among many other topics. I myself have high LDL. I had a heart screen for plaques, and it showed nothing. Going on statins will make one's health worse, not better. Please check out Doctor Ken D. Berry. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6B0y6r6VJqc
Yes my cholesterol has been going up a bit. I am on the No Sugar No Grain diet. My modern medicine doctor would typically advise statins in such a case, but I had that heart scan recently and there was no plaque whatsoever, so obviously the higher cholesterol level is not a problem. I had a close friend who took them and ended up with liver cancer and died. Her mom and brother had also succumbed and died before her. Hard to say if the statins killed them for sure, but the drugs do have that warning that they can cause liver cancer....
Yes, I have always had an elevated LDL, and had a CT coronary calcium score of zero a few years ago (at age 61), so I just keep living my active vegetarian lifestyle and growing vegetables. Sorry I don't need any medicines yet, but I do take a few basic supplements.
It's a shame* CT calcium scores aren't used because of how much valuable data they provide (although perhaps that's because they call the value of cholesterol monitoring into question).
*except in regards to the radiation exposure one receives from a CT.
It's a good idea when one is over 50, and with any suggestions in personal or famiy history, that there is increased, or even average risk of arterial disease. A friend of mine failled to show up for a meditation retreat, after dining with other friends 2 nights before.
He had some "indigestion" he died next to his bed, apparentlly of his first heart attack.
This prompted me to finally check my calcium score at 61. I think I'm done with that.
The risk from CT is higher in women, due to breast cancer risk increase from chest-radiation.
A low or zero CT-calcium score after the age of 50 is a really good ticket to not have people bother you about cholesterol and statins for the rest of your life.
A high score is a wake-up call. Unpleasant, but...
There is an incredible book with an anecdote that addresses some similar situations called “You Are the Placebo”.
Yes, Joe Dispenza! Also, The Body Keeps the Score by van der Kolk, MD - https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
I agree. There is far too much 'suggestion' or what I call 'witch-doctoring'. It can have a sadly profound affect :(
Really cruel. Pharma could be/should be replaced with placebos with training for doctors about effective communication.
He can get a CT coronary artery calcium score, and if it is low he can just keep on living, though fresh vegetables and a few nutritional supplements, and a mid-normal vitamin-D level (and 100-200 mcg/d of K2) are adviseable.
"(e.g., many of the current illegal drugs used to be freely handed out at pharmacies). "
Sounds like a poor choice of words, they were never FREELY handed out since they are not FREE of cost or restriction obviously requiring a prescription and you should be careful with that of course, so BE WELL ALL.
When I look at my life I can only say: God gave/gives me shot at living a perfect life.
There will always be tragedy and malevolence, disappointments and losses, pain and misery. God showed me/us a perfect way forward (the 'operating system' always knew THE path) through life's minefields and chasms, the deep cold rapids, white water slamming you against boulders, and the stirrings, silent despair, sleeping with an enemy.
I would that people would simply turn off their TV's, walk outside, and go help a neighbor with something. Talk to each other like you matter, people have so many different areas of focus. All of us are necessary to complete the picture. We all need to be here, we are all important.
Finally, glad am I that I was born at a time when we were taught about nobility of spirit, that each and every human being is noble until proven otherwise (but then allowed to restore his/her nobility by penance) and proud of each other and certainly glad and thankful of our birthright.
I'm thankful that we were taught that tyranny was bad, independence, in liberty, absolute. Critical thought was a minimal requirement of citizenship. We trusted that successive generations of teachers were carrying the torch, working to guarantee the continuation of this amazing nation, the only nation in the history of history conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all created are equal.
I feel the exact same way you do.
Your comments approach more closely the underlying causes of all these problems than anything else I have read here so far, but the causes go deeper. Self-importance and self-reliance, and especially the latter, must be considered.
We can't supply ourselves with that which we lack because we don't possess it! It has to come from outside us, from our Maker. We keep trying and trying to fill ourselves with what we do not have and this really, truly does not work.
We do not have because we do not ask.
Perhaps we simply do do not 'recognize'. If we recognized our basic nature as immortals, and the amazing gift of life, we would all be celebrating and skipping and dancing all the time!
Perhaps. If that's the right thing to recognize. I keep thinking I understand things, only to find that there's more to it, or that it's something else. It's a learning process, and it's OK to draw wrong conclusions, but not a good idea to get stuck there.
I'm unclear about details of our basic nature, but I see how basic assumptions about that or anything else have to be examined, and discarded if they don't hold up. I don't see that process happening nearly enough.
Or we ask amiss.
I had it explained to me by a feminist wytch: Starhawk, in the 80's. (I'm sure she's sitting jabbed with all her leftist friends, now, but who knows?)
BEER CAN THEORY: all we can do is pick up what is on our path.
Then, my tribe in the USA taught me: KEOA. Keep Each Other Alive.
I keep looking at what you write - and thinking - we were TAUGHT. We learned stuff. Not only did we learn in the classroom, but the churches, and the fields and trees between our houses. What is education now?
KEOT Keep each other thriving
Thank you! Revising my earlier one, I like this better!
"In the final part of this article, I will discuss the remarkable resource I gained access to solve this problem, and I would also like to request that you share what approaches have helped you to address your problems. Due to the circumstances around my own resource, I was explicitly requested for my discussion of them to go behind a paywall."
This sounds like some nonsense however of excuses for this in the follow-up article, many words misspelled or omitted too. VERY STRANGE to see that going on rather crazy at times so BE CAREFUL ALL
Very apropos everything. I was reflecting that I became addicted later in life, to the internet, and then when I removed the internet, to food. Why? I think covid-madness related isolation started it, along with the fact that I was tapering off benzos (1 mg lorazepam and 30 mg temazepam for several years) at that time. When I got low on benzos (only half a mg of lorazepam), I got quite out of hand.
I eventually quit sugar and grain-type starches and began regular sun exposure and exercise. I am finally normalizing. I think the sun has made the most difference. Who woulda thunk.
Should your depression categories include SAD too? I've been helped by St. John's Wort with that.
I want to add that I have done a lot of therapy, and except for a support group with other young women which was empowering, and much later a very congenial therapist who helped me swim out of a case of PTSD, the rest of it was hogwash. Money wasted. And some of it was actively harmful, like when the therapist went out of her way to convince me that I was imagining spousal abuse. Most of these people don't know what they are doing. -- Loved the article.
Almost all "medical" professionals, from my experience, do not know what they are doing. A true healer can be found within, or outside the profession, but they are extremely rare. It is truly serendipitous if you find one.
"One grandmother is worth two M.D.s." ---Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. : D
Ah I forgot about SAD. I just focused on it with Blue light.
Lithium orotate can help a lot with tapering benzos.
"Most of these people don't know what they are doing" is one of the issues of the modern age :(
So glad this helped you!
Connecting with nature, sunshine, fresh air, spring water, real food and earthing cures A LOT!
Thank you again. Two ideas came to me to share: 1) the Buddha's first noble truth is that life is "duka" which can be translated as "affliction" but is commonly thought of as "suffering." Suffering is not dependent on attachment. Life is suffering. That is, Suffering is unavoidable. Where our attachment enter the picture is when, due to our attachment to comfort we push discomfort (suffering) away. With this in mind, I believe most Buddhists do not understand what the buddha taught. 2) In the U.S. we are taught that success if financial. Imagine then, the suffering that arises from this even though it has been studied and shown that once we have what we need to be secure, additional wealth does nothing for us. Imagine if success were defined in another way, such as mastery of an art, craft, or skill.
I really appreciated this comment. I was going to reply to them tomorrow but I just wanted to say that.
Not sure why the thoughts on Buddha got me thinking of Dunbar in Catch22.
I haven’t heard anyone explain Buddhism - or reality in general - nearly as well as Alan Watts. I think we are at the beginning of Wattsism, a movement of sorts that will transform humanity to a large extent over the coming decades and perhaps centuries (assuming we don’t blow up the world). https://youtu.be/nmWc-f_URYE
Jon,
I listened to the first hour. He was certainly highly intelligent and well learned. He described himself as "cunning." I always thought of him as "clever." He briefly touched on what I wrote about--the aversion to suffering--at min 38, describing it as the resistance to pain. Otherwise what I heard seemed to be his own philosophy after distilling many eastern spiritual paths, not an explanation of Buddhism. As I wrote above, I think most Buddhists are stuck in the ism and don't get the true, pure teachings. The best clarification of this issue I read in David Brazier's book, The Feeling Buddha.
Best clarification for me is: Awaken The Immortal Within by Jason Breshears
https://www.scribd.com/document/584236400/Awaken
My bad. I posted the link I did because I like that talk a lot, he refers to the Buddha, and the talk concerns medical matters which are relevant to our host’s blog, but it doesn’t focus on the concepts and development of Buddhism as numerous other talks he gave do. One introduction to Buddhism, as he understood it, is at https://youtu.be/0nIuFNzVUDY
You should have stopped at "quit watching main stream media" and told everyone to get outside. Mental illness is about disconnection... from self, from others, from nature, from spirit.
The lockdowns exacerbated that... I don't care how much we can do digitally. We need each other... to touch, talk, see others... physically, mentally, spiritually...
The saddest thing was that everyone warned about the dangers of the lockdowns for mental health, and then forgot about those warnings until the lockdowns were over, at which point they started pointing out the current mental health crisis we are facing.
Have you compared the lockdown measures with the collection of signs that you are in an abusive relationship? The parallels are scary.
Personally, after lockdowns and lockouts for people without passes - it became so much easier to stay in, to stay home. My circle of travel just naturally narrowed (so much so, that I don't think I'd notice a 15 min city much), and "going out" just for fun is no longer a thing. PTSD? Perhaps. It's not neurotic, just a natural narrowing of scope after getting slammed.
So - anyone who is less focused on emotional wellness than myself (I am in constant Practice) - will continue to suffer, long after lockdowns.
I think that was the main point of the lockdowns, face masks and social distancing. Vaccine uptake would have been much lower if people were still mentally healthy.
It was hard for me to see people over the computer!! I never shut down my office and was available the whole time for people to come in person.
I really missed hugging people and seeing their smiling faces that were covered by masks. It seems like the definition of disconnection when we have to "protect" ourselves from each other...
Dr., please continue in this direction. I loved every single piece of the article. Much of it were things I've often wondered, but had no answers for... the Vagas nerve, psychiatric imbalances, psychedelic drugs, body language. When I was young, I realized my sister was lying every time she sniffed once while looking down. I never mentioned her "tell" to her and she does it to this day. Quite a liar, lol.
I wish you'd just write a book.
Thank you!
And yes, please cover hormones in the future.
Thank you! : )
Have a couple people in my life that tell less than the truth. Sometimes flat out lies. Sometimes just leaving out bits. I will look for contractions, blinks, sniffs, etc. Will be interesting to see if I can find a “tell.” (And I’ll be watching myself as well, to find the things I’ve been subconsciously pushing down.)
Agree this article is great. So much to learn. I will need to read it again. Loved the vagus nerve discussion. Makes even more sense as to why yoga helps.
My most chilling experience during the COVID lies was a video of a local OB encouraging pregnant women (and everyone else) to take the jab. He licked his lips the entire time. It was eerie- like a snake tongue.
That’s creepy.
Yes, it was very creepy, especially bc he was known as a careful, compassionate, wise doctor.
That video is the picture of COVID to me- an evil, death-mongering lie in what previously seemed good.
That will be interesting for you. I saved the article. It seems like a lot stems from the vagus nerve and that's my next subject to read up on.
Be well.
I focus more on what I feel than the specific action, but both ways work.
I completely agree! I think people have an unrecognized sense for receiving information from other people through "feeling". For most people this is subconscious and they tend to ignore it if it is contrary to information that comes in from outer senses (sight/hearing). There's a wealth of information to be gained by training yourself to be conscious of this sense.
Agreed. Empaths feel what others feel -- it can be a blessing as well as a curse.
Such an insightful write up. There are so many things I want to say, I don’t even know where to start. I’ll just say this for now: I’m beginning to feel like this country has turned into one big insane asylum and the worst lunatics among us are running it.
You are not the only one who feels that way
But then we have some thought provoking articles like these to remind us of sanity and integrity!
I wish it were just your country. The Western model of medicine, especially psychiatry, is well established the world over. Our website for tapering off of psych drugs, www.survivingantidepressants.com , has members from easily 100 countries.
Then there's the COVID business, very few got away from that. Africa, perhaps.
Terrific article. I didn't know about the biochemical causes you mentioned. Recently learned of low-progesterone depression, thought to be major cause of post partum depression
Oh dear I completely forgot to mention hormones in this...
Before you left them drug you for depression and anxiety. Do some research and based on the knowledge that you gain, have your hormones tested and adjust for optimal. Get up early and exercise and go to bed early for sex and sleep. Get a decent diet, if it comes in a package and you can't pronounce the ingredients, throw it out. Get a job you enjoy, ideally a physical one. Associate with the people who are good for you and you for them. It really is more blessed to give than receive, do good. Nullius in Verba Magisteri.
Next time. You did mention post-partum.
Huge subtopic that'd be. You may want to save it for the upcoming piece on hormone therapy and mental health in transgender individuals ;)
A lot of people told me not to touch that one...
Agree. Steer clear. You have so many other topics to offer.
Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) are nick-named gender-benders... they cause gender dysphoria, literally, twisting and confusing X and Y chromosomes.
Reading Tales From the Blast Factory now. Mark Gordon has done radical hormonal work with Andrew Marr and gotten some radical results.
Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) seriously messes up your hormones...
EDCs mess up your blood sugar!
I love the new topics you are diving into. Fascinating. Thank you!
Right! So many crucial subjects in modern life are not covered, and the ill effects covered up. Quite often, all you need is the right information, to make the right decision. But if you're not armed with the right information, you're walking around blind folded in a mine field.
I completely agree
I had a dream two nights ago wherein I was driving and all the electric in my car went out. It was night and I was in absolute black darkness. I continued to drive seeming to know where to go and told myself "I should pull over". I did. I went up to a persons porch and the lady let me use her phone to call my husband. The number was an old one and I didn't know the new one by-heart. Her husband locked me in the brightly light bathroom with him and tried to make me - at this point pantless - to do something I refused. He was furious. His wife returned and I told her to "get the Gospels". As soon as she turned to do so I woke.
Your comment and that dream seem related.
Thank you.
Yes very interesting article. Re: trouble sleeping, I have found that it has nothing to do with coffee. I would have five or six espressos or cappuccinos throughout the day on my trip to Italy and no troubling sleeping at all.
Years ago when I was married to a constant criticizer, I would chat with my sister on the phone about some of the issues. I was pretty much trapped, as I did not have any economic alternatives to leave with the kids. I would try to focus on the positive things. Some time after I had told my sister about a frustrating situation brought about by hubby, she made mention of it, and I had absolutely no recollection of it. She advised to keep a journal -- initially I did not want to write down negative things, but I was perplexed that I really did not remember what she was relaying back to me. So going forward, I did as she advised. After a month or two I went back and read this journal. I recognized my writing, but I could not remember the incident at all. Wow. So my mind was hiding these difficult things from me, it was burying the things I was powerless to change. I was not operating as a whole person. Mentally this was destabilizing. I finally divorced him in 2002/2003.
As far as not being able to "think yourself out of an emotion", I must say that we should notice what we are feeling when we feel it, and then try to understand why. We should not let others have control over our emotions.
Compartmentalization in a classic component of trauma and something many people have tried to uitilize when brainwashing people throughout history.
The brain definitely has a defense mechanism to purge hurtful thoughts. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like we get to choose which ones. My wife can’t remember most of the events of several years of her childhood due to prolonged trauma at the time.
James Sloane says coffee with caffeine causes adrenal fatigue. It stimulates the release of adrenaline, I think, which can keep a person awake initially, but when the adrenal glands run out of adrenaline, they can no longer release enough of it to keep someone awake. He said the adrenal glands need vitamin C, preferably natural, and vitamin B5, as from rice bran etc. The body uses vitamin C first for the adrenals and what's left over is used to repair blood vessels etc. But too much synthetic vitamin C (over 1500 mg/day) harms the kidneys.
Hypoglycemia has a specific symptom where stimulants act as downers instead of uppers like they do with most people. I think the mechanism that you are talking about is involved. When I was hypoglycemic (before I realized it), I used to eat a big bowl of ice cream at night to put me to sleep. (And, yes!, I gained alot of weight.)
Is that harm from the oxalic acid degradation product? Should one beware spinach?
Guess I'll get more fava beans.
Glad you were able to divorce .
Years ago when I was dealing with severe depression I did an experiment. I started a journal of my moods - I would have 4 or 5 days in a row when I felt fine and would clearly write in journal that it was a good/happy day. Then I would have a bad day when I was absolutely convinced that not only did my life suck horribly on THIS day - but it had always sucked and would always suck in the future. It was really hard to convince myself to read my journal but when I did and the proof that my current perspective was wrong was right in front of me in black and white (and my own hand writing), incredibly, I thought that I had been lying to myself when I wrote it!
There were no trigger events that day or phycological reason for this crazy stubborn perspective shift. My conclusion was that it was a chemical shift.
Possibly this doesn't directly relate to your experience in regards to cause (I think you are right about the mind blocking things you can't change) but the value of a journal to keep you aware of what your brain is doing is a valuable tool in my opinion.
Lol when i was married to a verbally abusive narcissist, I couldn't see what was happening even though in the mental health field. It was especially hard when the female therapist gaslighted me and tried to date the ex!! One night I threw a plastic cup, went to doc for "pms" and got on my low dose of prozac. I call my life BP and AP...one of the rare proponents of this ssri.
Our bodies are divinely designed as avatar to our soul. We can't evolve ahead of ourselves... we can't see beyond our blind-spots, that's why they're called blind-spots. So happy for you that you finally divorced.
Working with dozens of chronic pain patients for fourteen years, I wholeheartedly agree that persistent pain is rooted in unresolved emotional conflict. I find this challenging to address in 30 minute physiotherapy appointments. So I find it incomprehensible how a doctor in the public system would address it in 10-15 minute time slots. The emphasis of quantity over quality in Westernized Medicine has undermined it's efficacy. Instead of aiming to resolve conditions, it promotes a revolving door system predicated on negative- feedback loopsm
I prefer a few long appointments than a ton of short ones.
As a massage therapist with over 20 years experience, I completely agree. I have suggested counseling to clients because I thought their issues were likely coming from unresolved emotional problems/bitterness.
I think a big problem with this is that we have been conditioned to believe that when someone tells us all the health problems stem from emotional dysregulation. That means we are crazy. Primarily because all that modern medicine offers is psychiatric drugs. Therefore people are not receptive to hearing. It is emotional issue because they don’t think there is a solution that will be provided. Perhaps if we are armed with people they can seek help from they will be more open to the idea.
Here’s an odd one for you. My mom has had lingering foot and knee pain for years due to a couple injuries. She had double mastectomy and reconstruction and said after the surgery those pains are completely gone. I really think that anxiety and fear can exacerbate or prolong chronic pain. Dr. Doidge has two incredible books on the brain that deal in part with chronic pain and it’s relationship to neuronal activity.
That sounds like a pretty classic neural therapy case. If you do it, the best results come from preservative free lidocaine.
To elaborate, it's very possible either the local or global anesthesia reset overactive neurons causing her foot and knee pain.
Excellent insight! Thanks
That's fascinating that her chronic lower limb pain disappeared after surgery. The brain's interpretation and manifestation of pain is quite engnimatic. However, like you mentioned there is a lot of research on the matter. It's complexity is also elaborately explored by David Butler in the book Explain Pain. Bahram Jam, a Canadian physiotherapist also trenchantly delves into persistent pain on his website, Advanced Physical Therapy Education Institute, aptei.ca. He also outlines research on why anti-inflammatories are more of a hindrance to recovery from both acute and chronic injuries than a benefit to tissue repair. It really runs antithetical to most conventional medical advice.
Great thoughts. Thanks! I agree about NSAID’s. They are pretty great for uses to alleviate pain in the short term (headaches, back aches, etc.), but I have come to believe they do more harm than good if used continuously over long periods. I used to use them a lot for years after high school for pain from knee and shoulder injuries, but stopped about 4 years ago and my pains are much less apparent to me now than they were when I used them a lot.
Prior to the COVID-19 vaccines, Peter Gotzche put together a good estimate that NSAIDs were the deadliest class of drug by total number of deaths caused.
I'm testing a theory about NSAIDS stopping pain (just watching and thinking). My theory is that we oscillate between taking in or pushing out toxins. Taking them in is storing or putting into the 'can't feel box', but pushing out toxins is painful. Pain is the body trying to detox. Taking an NSAID makes the body switch back to storing (pain free). It seems those who take the most NSAIDs have the most pain (or detoxing from the last NSAID).
I’m given to understand that professional athletes pop these things by the handful daily. Can’t be good.
A lot of the "working" population imbibes NSAIDs routinely. It's their reflexive reaction to an exacerbation of pain. However, long-term use of NSAIDs does erode ligaments, tendons and even bone structures.
There has even been some evidence that rats following rotator cuff repairs who took NSAIDs daily demonstrated less muscular strength and tissue healing than rats post-operatively who didn't take NSAIDs. Moreover, military personnel who sustained ankle injuries and took NSAIDs demonstrated less ankle mobility, ligamentous stability and more swelling than the personnel who didn't take NSAIDS. So its unclear how effective NSAIDS are for acute muscular injuries. I think society's dependency on NSAIDs is a boon for the pharmaceutical industry and medical-industrial complex. They have a plethora of adverse effects, which warrants further medical intervention and pharmaceutical consumption.
https://www.aptei.ca/wp-content/uploads/NSAID-Paper-2014-3.pdf
I agree - helpful for occasional pain but counterproductive for any long term use. Any advising of taking daily (example - for heart) seems like a transparent marketing ploy...
Agree. I have a very similar situation. Took nsaids for years then finally wised up. Once I stopped, my chronic back pain eased. Only one time I got ‘frozen shoulder’ and my doc recommended high dosage nsaids for a couple days, then taper off. I was reluctant but wanted to try that before any surgery. Happily, it worked. Maybe it worked at that time because I wasn’t taking them daily anymore.
Belated reply. Just wanted to say this is very interesting and I’d love to read more on similar topics. On to the sleep and trauma article!
There is a noninvasive intervention to stimulate the vagus developed by Dr. Stephen Porges (author of the Polyvagal Theory) based on his 35+ years researching the autonomic nervous system. It's called the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) and backed by a growing body of research.
The protocol uses sound and frequency variations delivered via music to stimulate the vagus and stapedius (which can flatten in response to unresolved trauma or chronic stress). It essentially "retunes" the ANS to be less cued into threat which in turn resources the patient for physical and emotional change, and boosts the effectiveness of more active therapies. I use the SSP in my practice and recommend it highly.
A few people I know have had success with that one.
Yes! SSP is amazing and must be used with care because for some people, it creates really intense, dysregulating responses. It also can create a sense of safety previously not accessible to the client.
Agreed! The SSP must be administered by a trained and certified provider. Careful titration and co-regulation throughout is critical.
Just curious do different degrees of hearing loss effect the treatment or outcome? For example is this less effective or must be handled differently in someone with complete hearing loss in one ear or with significant hearing loss in both?
It's not possible to say. The cases would require individual evaluation.
Loved it, thank you. Mind-opening, thought provoking article that was deeply insightful. I am looking forward to all the follow-up articles to this. I think you should write a book or two, definitely one on this topic because:
1. You have an extensive macro knowledge on the
topic but;
2. You understand it on the micro level too;
3. You teach & communicate complex topics really well and;
4. You do so with integrity, introspection, honesty and humbleness.
My friends say I tend to explain both the forest and the trees. More than anything else, I
1) don't want to try to communicate things or take people's time up unless I think the message can get through. If it can't, I'd rather do something else.
2) I feel very strongly about not putting false information out (doing that really violates my sense of self and I think that spreading falsehoods creates bad karma especially when a lot of people listen to you). To some extent that's impossible, but I try. Similarly I haven't covered a lot of topics I've thought about because I'm still too uncertain about too many parts of them. The humbleness in here is basically a way I get around the dillema of having to take a position on something where I honestly don't know what the truth about it is, and if I couldn't do that, it would be impossible for me to write here at all.
I started this article intending to read it in phases. But I couldn’t stop. Many thanks to AMD for taking the time to write this up
Thank you!
I agree, same here!
Yes, please continue to write about the areas of health covered in this article. I have found myself gripped by every one of your posts recently and have learned an incredible amount in a short time. Your work is invaluable, please continue!
Thank you. I try really hard to put out whatever will most directly benefit those who read it.
You can think your way out of emotions. You may not be able to stop the initial reactive emotion, but you most certainly can think things over, examine the situation, draw on experience and sort of mute the emotion Anger and fear I think are common emotions that can be dealt with by thinking it through. Do I have all the information? Did I misunderstand? Why is this happening. In fact, as you mature, you better find a way to get a grip on emotions or you might find yourself unhappy and making others unhappy.
Parents teach their children how to reason through tough emotions. We do this so they will have an easier life and get along well. There is a cute video out there where the little boy reasons his way through why he got mad about (I think) not getting something. He discusses those feelings with his mother. If you can find it, it is probably the most adorable thing out there on the net and relates well to your writing.
One effective way to stop being mad at a person is to see things from their perspective. I feel like perspective is a hugh controller of emotions. I would like to learn more about the internal mechanism for perspective... Is it chemical, psychological or something else? Can you effectively think your way into another perspective? Or does it have to do with natural emotional chemicals (like the ones that our body uses to feel empathy)?
Perspective offers a lot more beyond controlling anger. It offers compassion and understanding. It tamps down frustration. Gives you a chance to broaden your own mind about how you view things. A while back the good doc here wrote about allowing differing ideas to occupy her? mind at once. Opposing ones. Not necessarily tossing one aside, but letting it marinate. I think that is what we practice a lot of the time when we make earnest efforts to gain perspective. I don't have to give up on my own ideas, but I can tolerate hearing yours and maybe even mull it over to accept it at least understand it. My own integrity is not compromised and my own feelings are not invalidated, but I have emotional room to rest in allowing the two to exist in my head. Not sure if I communicated that perfectly, but it is that I agree with you. haha. As far as how it works, I think different personalities come at it differently. Some are natural empaths, some are peacemakers, some are negotiators, some are logical thinkers and some people force themselves to gain perspective because it behooves them and then they work really hard at it even if it is not at all in their nature. So I think it depends. Just me spitballing. I'm no expert. Just a lady with some wrinkles and a few twirls around the FUBAR arena.
Yes, this is true. I have done it myself. Reflection, reframing.
Unfortunately it is also true that sometimes it is not true at all. About two weeks after my Viral Infection, I developed horrific insomnia and horrible anxiety and depression. I quite truly could not even think about my feelings or thoughts nor could I pray or meditate my way out of them. I couldn't even meditate one millisecond, which was very different for me. Thank God I knew of a homeopathic medicine that helped. Clearly there was some uncontrollable physiological phenomenon at work
I am going through the same thing! Two weeks after the infection, I had extreme anxiety, depression, even disassociation.. I couldn't pray or meditate. Slowly getting right. Could I ask what homeopathic medicine helped?
Oh, I am so sorry. It's dreadful, isn't it?! And yes, unable to even pray or meditate.
Aurum metallicum was the helpful medicine. Are you familiar with using homeopathy? It's its own kind of medical paradigm and system. It's NOT "home remedies" or herbs or supplements. Many times made from herbs, but in highly diluted and potentized form. So one must understand some basics to know how to use it well.
PS, I saw you sent a message. But can't read it right now as I don't have the app. Will see what I can do later tonight or tomorrow.
Looking at some other sources, starting to think that the virus seriously inflamed my vagal nerve. Ashwagandha and methylated B complex has helped. But I would like to fully heal so I don't keep having days when I'm humming with anxiety because I have some chocolate or a piece of bread! I don't have the app, just messaged you through substack.on my computer. The phone insisted on the app - but I already have too many! Seems like it when I am anxious. ;). Thank you for the info! I am unfamiliar with this - how do you decide the amount to dose?
In the meanwhile, I have also found chamomile tea with valerian tincture added (directions are on the bottle) sipped throughout the day to be quite calming for anxiety. Along with all the stuff you're doing. Scutellaria lac-something or other (skullcap) acts on benzodiazepine receptors and can also be helpful. It's an herb. There's Chinese skullcap and American, and I confess I don't know which is the Scutellaria lac-whatever. I'm sure you can look it up.
Homeopathy is an energetic system of medicine based on the principle that like cures like. For example, symptoms of burning, teary eyes and watery nose can be treated with homeopathic Alium cepa which is red onion. The gross substance (onion, in that case) is made into a solution that is serially diluted with succussion (a specific vigorous shaking) in between each dilution. The dilution is such that no conventionally detectable substance remains in the final remedy. The diluted, pitentized solution is then sprayed on the outside of sugar pellets which are placed under the tongue.
There is no one right dose for all people for every situation, so paying attention to one's own responses is very important.
You can read more at JoetteCalabrese.com - look for her tabs about learning homeopathy or how to start or new to homeopathy. Her approach is not the only approach but her education is free and a reasonable place to begin.
Remedies come in various potencies. The most commonly used ones are 6C, 30C, and 200C. The higher the number, the more dilute the remedy AND the more potent it is. (I know, sounds like woo.). Joette tends to start with the higher potencies for mental conditions, but there are other folks who suggest starting low and gradually increasing potency only if necessary. Some folks are really sensitive and starting too high can make them worse.
There are groups on Tracebook, MeWe, and probably here on Substack that will help you learn.
BoironUSA.org is a good source for the remedies.
*** not medical advice, of course; I am not a homeopath, merely a self-taught individual. Do your own self-study before using any herb or other medicine. ***
Yes! I make a tea of chamomile, lemon balm, fresh ginger slices and whole cloves in the am. It DOES help. I also order Bad Heilbrunner (sp?) Stress and Sleep tea from.an online apotheke. I lived in Germany for a while, they are BIG into homeopathy. Hildegarde of Bingen is one of my heroines. Thank you for the steer! I will check.all of these out. Are you feeling better and able to.lower the dose, or does it appear the virus gave us a permanent 'gift?'. I had mine last January, so coming up on two years after Christmas. That's a lot of inflammation! But I have more good days than bad now.
I am no medical doctor, but have had terrible insomnia. It got so bad that I was devolving into a shell of myself. My decision making was off, I wasn't driving well, I thought I was getting alzheimers - I couldn't remember words. Through mental stress, sickness, treatments for sickness, what have you, lack of sleep is a serious problem. But under normal circumstances we learn how to properly, healthily deal with emotions in the "normal" course of life. Those healthy habits translate well to stress events (if not the overwhelming kind). But I bet later down the line if you have a similar situation as you have described, you will be able to meditate. We teach ourselves how to cope even when there is mental breakdown. There is opportunity to rebuild. Treating emotions like they are untamable forces and that they must all be embraced and accepted is folly. IMO. You then (potentially) act like a wild animal who acts on every impulse!
That is NOT what you experienced. You had a giant stress situation, tried to use your worthy coping mechanism and it failed you. Then you sought out homeopathy - your other way. Kudos to you for thinking it through and acting to preserve yourself.
Your moniker and your comments on boards convince me you are among the rational and that you don't let emotion rule you.
Also, I hope that you have been able to find resolution for your insomnia. I have not had more than a solid four hr chunk of sleep in over a year. Many nights I sleep as though I am nursing a newborn - awake every two hours. Except without the oxytocin-induced sleep that comes after. 😩. I think that the liver herbs are finally perhaps starting to help. I have tried nearly every supplement or herb for sleep, without success.
Thank you for your well wishes. I have resolved the insomnia. The first time was when I was working my first real job where there was tremendous pressure and long hours. I did not have good coping skills or "tricks" to shut my mind down. I did go to the doctor and asked for some sleeping pills. He said no, but gave me an antidepressant. Once I realized what it was, I elected not to take it since I was not depressed outside of being sad for not sleeping. 30 years later (I think menopause induced and my husband snored incredibly loud) I could NOT sleep most nights outside occasionally dozing. I started taking Benedril. It worked, then it didn't. One day I was talking with a friend whose husband killed himself from grief from not being able to sleep. She mentioned in passing that he took Benadryl and it made his memory faulty. Well it slapped me in the face! That was me! I tossed the Benadryl and my sound mind returned. Scary. My doctor knew I was doing this. I told him what happened. I feel the combination of a keto diet (for me), upping my exercise and my husband getting a Z-Quiet mandibular advancement mouth piece has enabled me to sleep a solid 7 hours every night. Sorry for the long answer, but just in case you or someone reading this has sleep problems and might fit my profile, I sincerely hope my solutions might work.
Copernicus, have you tried chinese scullcap or melatonin? I am sure you have, but I thought I should mention them. My husband shuts the screen an hour before sleep, goes to bed and reads for an hour. He is a good sleeper in general, but he says it calms his mind. I feel for your not sleeping. It is so terrible. Make sure your room is sufficiently dark and the temp is slightly cool. Sending a hug.
You know, my mom takes a “sleep aid,” as she calls it. I bet it’s Benadryl. I should encourage her to consider something different - her mental capacity has been deteriorating over the last several years. Rather significantly.
I thought was I was losing my mind. It is worth looking into.
Yes to the skullcap and melatonin.
Melatonin used to help, but for the last few years, nada. The insomnia didn’t get horrible until about a year ago. Before that it was just waking up around 4 and not able to go back to sleep. I attributed it to stress due to our kiddo having problems at school (another story… kiddo is bright w a learning glitch and the school saw only the brightness and not the glitch. Told me I was an overly worried mom without the experience of seeing vast numbers of kids like they did; sent us home from a school meeting w parenting books. One of which I already had. 🙄)
Anyway, yeah, we eat low carb (not Leto), so diet is pretty good. I’ve been too worn out to exercise. Tried every homeopathic medicine that is supposed to help w sleep, with no success. Strangely, my first foray into homeopathy was using one medicine for sleep. It helped my early morning waking. For about a month. Then, everything went downhill fast, and I haven’t had a decent night of sleep since.
Working on a couple things in conjunction with the ND, and I think they might, maybe be starting to help. I hope I’m right, because the consequences of not sleeping are just awful.
Great hope and prayers it gets solved. You will hit on the solution.
Thank you for your kind words. I sincerely appreciate them.
I agree with all you said. That we absolutely must not merely embrace emotions as some unnameable force about which nothing can be done.
Sadly, I have for the last year or more been enduring, and my family with me enduring the impacts on them, an additional often-beyond-my-control emotion. Unfortunately a host of supplements, prayer, and homeopathy got me only somewhat better. Finally saw a naturopathic physician who believes it to be gut microbiome related, and while addressing that along with a liver detox herbal combo, at last, I think, and hope, that things, by God's grace, are improving.
I guess that illustrates your point that even when emotions feel and are beyond our immediate control, God gives us means and avenues to follow so that, with his help, we can regain control.
Thanks again for your words of affirmation. The moniker, well, he wasn't afraid to question the status quo.
Hey also, tell your naturopath about all the OTC and presciption meds. Things innocuous as PPI's can mess up your body's fine balanced tuning. Ya never know. : )
Yep, he knows. No rx meds, thankfully.
Don't give up on the prayer Copernicus!
About the things that are out of control and the emotions over them or directly involved in them. I don't know what they are, but if it is a thing that your response matters (for your family's stability - or your own) and there is a very strong desire to express emotions even with that in mind. I first pray for God to give me strength to be patient, graceful and calm. I pray that in every way I can think of! Meanwhile, away from the emotional thing I will think through what is going on, what is most upsetting and come up with what I will do in the face of it. Various scenarios. If something I don't expect comes up, I try very hard to zip my lip, maintain a neutral face, wait a few beats and excuse myself to do something else. I took care of my mom when she was dying. She had a brain tumor. Between my mom, my siblings offering advice or rehashing childhood or dealing with doctors I got pretty good at preserving my sanity. I pray you are not enduring something terrible, but if you are, know that God will not set a situation before you that you cannot handle or where he does not provide escape.
When I send this, I will send up a prayer for you.
Thank you. 🙏🏻
And no, cannot give up on prayer. God sees, knows, hears. Even when it feels like he doesn’t. Praise God that his Spirit groans with us when all we can do is utter inarticulate groans.
Grateful to meet fellow followers on these Substack forums. The comments are worth the posts, often times.
I agree! When I was depressed all my training on controlling thoughts and emotions by extension were utterly useless. It felt like something was controlling me that normal coping mechanisms could not handle.
I'm not traditionally religious but I do have my spirit guides and a few times in extreme depression situations I put in an emergency call for help and my perspective immediately cleared. It was surrealistic. As much as I love my spirit guides, the scientific part of me thinks that I was able to spiritually effect my mind just by willing it so. Maybe the mind's equivalent to adrenaline giving you power over your body that you don't usually have.
It was many years ago when I read the book and unfortunately I can't remember who wrote it, but in it he related an experiment done in a prison where a segment of the population was feed according to the hypoglycemia protocol and none of them returned to prison after they got out. (This was apparently highly unusual). He made a correlation between crime and hypoglycemia that reminds me of the one between antidepressants and crime. Messed up sugar levels over time really screw up your emotional/chemical balance. Diabetes is talked about and researched, but hypoglycemia - not so much. I always wondered if this was because there were no drugs to address issue only targeted supplements and nutritional protocol. Also, hypoglycemia causes the same symptoms as ADHD - for which they are still giving kids prescription meth. - would love to read an article on the correlation between that and the dramatic rise in meth addiction...
If you ever find it, please let me know!
That makes total sense, being in a hangry state is never good.