Acupuncture for Detox

[Lisa]

Hello All!

It's recently been suggested to me that acupuncture to help support detox systems might be very useful for Jeremy and I. Most of the last week I have been asking a family friend who is into alternative healing, if he knew of anyone locally that is a good acupuncturist. He's kinda flaking out on asking anyone and so it is time I find one myself.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to locate a good acupuncturist? Good questions to ask before paying for an appointment? Things I can ask while at the appointment to tell a little better if I will be wasting my money there or getting good service? Any way to have Medicare/Medicaid pay for it?

Any advice on this would be very, very handy. I have never been to an acupuncturist, only a couple of chiropractors in the past.

Thanks for the help! And Thank you Cort for setting up this perfect forum section for this thread. It was a nice surprise to find when I came to make this post. hehe

Lisa

 

[Wayne]

Finding a Good Acupuncturist

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to locate a good acupuncturist? Good questions to ask before paying for an appointment? Things I can ask while at the appointment to tell a little better if I will be wasting my money there or getting good service? Any way to have Medicare/Medicaid pay for it?
Lisa

Hi Lisa,

My understanding is that Medicare will pay for acupuncture if it's administered by an MD. Which sort of makes sense.

Regarding finding a good acupuncturist. I've visited several, and found only one that I remember as being really good (for me). Since there's somewhat of an energetic element to acupuncture, it helps to find someone you're energetically compatible with.

Something I do for myself is try to note how I feel the moment I first enter into a health practitioner's energy field. I can usually get a pretty good sense of whether this person can help me or not on my next health step.

Good Luck!

Best, Wayne

 

[Lisa]

Hi Wayne!

Sorry I didn't get to this post sooner, was feeling pretty blah most of the last couple days. But doing much better now!

I think I may have found one to try. He isn't covered by my insurance but was willing to take 20 minutes to talk to me on the phone and answer a bunch of questions.

Did you find that acupuncture could make you feel physically worse sometimes? With how I was feeling the last two days, I've realized my health is pretty iffy right now and am a bit concerned that acupuncture might be too intense for my system currently. I don't know what to expect from it with having CFS/MCS.

Also, it has been several years since I left home more than 1-3x's a year. This makes me a little nervous too from the MCS side of things making it even more intensive if there isn't enough toxicity relief early on in the treatments. So complicated! I haven't made the appointment yet, need to think on this some more first.

How often did you usually go? The one I am looking into seeing likes to have people come every two weeks which seems a little spread out to me.

Thanks for the info about being in a practitioner's energy field. I had forgotten about the difference I felt between the good chiropractor I saw at one point as compared to a not so good one years later. Compatible energy does seem like a very important thing when healing like this.

Thank you!
Lisa

 

[Jody]

Lisa,

A bit off topic maybe but if you're worried about the complexities of going somewhere have you looked into acupressure?

This is something that you can learn something about on the net, just google it or whatever, lots of sites. It doesn't involve needles and it doesn't have to utilize someone else, you can try it on your own. It's a bit similar to EFT, actually, from what I understand.

That being said, I have not done this myself so I only know what I've read.

And I should add, I have had good experience with acupuncture. Mind you, I also in the early stages would have huge head and body stone from it for the first day or so but then it would ease up and there was ongoing improvement from it. I got it once a month, and still do, over the past 2 yrs.

But I also only had a 20 min. drive from home and up till recently Al drove me, I didn't have to do anything but crawl into the car and then into my bed after.

 

[Lisa]

Not off topic at all Jody.

I have found some good websites on acupressure and am leaving them open on my browser. Now I need the energy to read enough to begin trying it. This method works well for me to get to doing something. Always a reminder if I want one, otherwise I'll open a new page and do my internet stuff there instead. Main help with this system is so that when I do have some extra oomph and what needs doing right then is done, then it is still patiently sitting there ready to go.

Acupressure is starting to look like more of an option right now too. With the noxious stuff from the neighbor a few days ago, I became aware that it is a very unsure thing if I could leave the property routinely for any reason right now. It is incredibly frustrating, but just another thing from the crash this summer. Good to have the reality check though.

My mind still is thinking of life in terms of how well I was doing before the crash instead of readjusting to life after the crash. Not having the adjustment is a recipe for disaster for us and could lead to accidentally not taking proper care with something, thus leading to yet further health declines. That has happened before and is not something I intend to repeat.

There is one positive aspect to this crash. Without it I highly doubt I would have found these boards. I like it here very much.

Lisa

 

[Jody]

Lisa,

I'm glad you found us too.

It's hard to come to terms with the new status quo. But the truth is always a good thing to get a handle on. Getting a grip on where you are is necessary to be able to find your way out. Consider it, finding your position on the map. How can you find your directions to your destination, if you don't know where you're starting from?

I dunno, just a mental picture that popped into my head.

I am thinking that because of your and Jeremy's great fragility, the treatments I would be looking for would be, very benign as you are so easily over-toxed. So like, healing foods, avoiding foods that you may be sensitive to. Ever tried something like liquid chlorophyll? Made from alfalfa, it's a dark green liquid to mix with water (1 tsp, and with you I'd probably cut that in half).

Treatments that you can do at home, yourself would probably be good because then you are not at risk of tox (if detoxification can be shortened to de-tox, toxification -- which may or may not be a word? -- can be shortened to tox). Wouldn't get exhausted from lousy travel, etc. So, EFT and maybe acupressure ... I am trying to come up with other things in this category.

Ever try dry skin brushing with a loofah? Quite benign. Mike Dessin also endorses this. It helps your lymph system eliminate toxins. Gently.

I will think on this some more. See if I know of any other benign self-helps that might be of use for you two. I hope for you both to heal.

 

[Jody]

I know this is off-topic for this thread, but I wanted you to see it, Lisa. And it's related to what we were talking about. Well, at least, to what I was talking about.

Another benign do-it-yourselfer could be breathing techniques. I know we've got some threads that at least touch on this ... just not sure where.

I know Sushi is knowledgeable, I think Cort has written about this.

Anyway, there are ways to alter your breathing so that your body has a better chance to heal. One I know is alternate nostril breathing. I don't know it THAT well, though so you should google it. Or, look for Sushi's stuff on this. Pretty sure that is who wrote on it ...

 

[Lisa]

Hi Jody!

Lots of good suggestions you listed here. Thank you!

Lets see. Haven't tried liquid chlorophyll. I think I read that it can increase you're bodies desire to detox. I'll look into that more and see if I am remembering that correctly. We've been taking psyllium at least every other day and I think that has been helping some.

The last two nights I have woken up around 5 am feeling that overwhelming awfulness that makes you want to just sit down and cry. Seems to be from being overly toxic so I have taken some psyllium at these times too. It helps enough to let me get back to sleep which is good.

Have you ever tried activated charcoal? I have some of that available but have been a little leary of trying that for the same reasons as the chlorophyll. From the way I understand things (I could be wrong too), if something helps with detox then often times the body will be only too happy to detox some more and often times faster than the supplement can help remove it. So confusing.

Dry body brushing. I haven't tried that on a daily basis. Can you use a synthetic brush for it or does it need to be a natural fiber brush? Natural fiber brushes won't be possible for me to use as they will either be soaked in stuff to keep them from mildewing or else will mildew horribly in our climate. Catch 22 with anything natural for us. I'm up for giving it a go if it can be done with a synthetic brush/loofah type thing. We have some we use in the shower so I could start that right away. Hmm, I should google this today or so.

Blah, sorry. Having a very tired and slow day. I think the neighbor's noxious stuff is still going on but that my nose simply isn't smelling it as strongly anymore. Now and then I catch the faintest whiff of the minty odor from that direction still.

Um, last one. The breathing one. I have heard of alternate nostril breathing but have not every looked into it. Might be hard with only having one nostril open at any given time. hehe Breathing is one of my hardest things to do from a sinus perspective. It also brings a lot of anxiety to me when I can't breath or my breathing gets altered by asthma, congestion, dry air, etc. I am up for trying anything at all right now so will try to do a little of the breathing exercises listed here today.

So tired! I think its time for a rest.
Lisa

 

[Jody]

Lisa,

I probably hit you with too many things to think about all at once. I should know better than that, I get brain-tired and woozy from that sort of thing myself sometimes.

Rest is probably an excellent idea. You can always come back and take a peek when you're feeling better. That's one of the nice thing about forums, the info sits there for later for you.

 

[susan]

Hi Lisa,
I would really recommend Buteyko exercises. They help with asthma considerably and teach us how to breathe correctly from lower down in the diaphragm....calming the body..slowing the adrenaline. I got a kit from Jennifer Stark and you can see her on You Tube ...5 videos where she shows you how to do it. I am religious about this as I have seen a real difference in my excitablility and more calm.

Yesterday I had visitors with a 3yr old for 3 hrs. Usually I would have been so uptight...but no they left and I got up and started cooking soooo calm. I really work hard on the exercises. 3 times a day...learned so much on the Gupta program about calming the body. If the body is poorly oxygenated from incorrect breathing it expels magnesium. I think I read some where recently that Cheney said we have "toxic oxygen". If you breathe correctly, naturally your body has a better chance of detoxifying.

 

[Lisa]

Thanks for the suggestion Susan!

I'll look at that too. I tried a small google search on it this morning but couldn't find any descriptive information in the small time I had. I'll delve into it more when I can follow what they are saying better.

Lisa

 

[Lisa]

No worries Jody.

It may take me many days of very slowly plugging away at these suggestions before I make much progress but it happens eventually. All the times I have read you telling people to take it easy seems to be permeating my skull at this point. I am doing pretty good about recognizing when my head needs to shut off for a while and at least 50% of the time I listen to it. lol I need to increase those odds.

Quick question on the body scrub for lymph. I don't have a brush but I thought I'd try it today just using my hands on top of my clothes. It made some of my ache go away with the calming motion but then I noticed I also felt pretty nauseous with a little OI feeling. But the nausea was very sudden.

Is this a normal possible reaction? I have tried it on my arms twice more since then to see if it was coincidence. The first time wasn't too much, but I didn't do much more than about 10 seconds total of just light rubbing towards my body. Second try I had a little more energy right then and so got past my arms a little. Did my head, neck, and hit the armpit area when I noticed the nausea was very large and suddenly had all that OI again.

Hugs,
Lisa

 

[Jody]

Lisa,

I don't know what OI stands for.

I'm guessing it's a bad feeling, though.

I didn't have anything negative happen when I've done the brushing. I think somewhere is a thread where Mike Dessin and I touch on lymph brushing. Just can't place where it might be. He is familiar with this lymph brushing thing and knows quite a lot about bad reactions to stuff, he may be able to answer this.

There could be someone else here who can answer you, of course. the thread with Mike just came to mind.

 

[Sushi]

Lisa & Jody,

Jody: OI is orthostatic intolerance--fancy term for can't stand up! Lotsa reasons why it happens but, you're right--not fun. One friend actually got a military G suit to help her stand long enough to cook! (compression keeps the blood from pooling where it shouldn't oughta)

Lisa: I regularly dry body brush (and yes, it should be a natural brush, but I'd guess that synthetic is better than none), I have OI and I have never noticed it making the OI worse--course that doesn't mean that it didn't for you! But, in theory, it shouldn't--unless you did it while standing up!

Sushi

 

[Jody]

Sushi,

Oh, THAT OI. I do know what that is, have had it actually off and on when I was sickest. My son Jesse had a bad case of it for more than a year, he couldn't stand up for more than a minute or so without feeling like he would black out. Standing up used to be a dicey affair for him as well. He would often feel like he was going to fall down.

Military G suit. Your friend was creative.

 

[Jody]

All the times I have read you telling people to take it easy seems to be permeating my skull at this point.

Excellent. Good girl.

 

[Lisa]

Thanks for the good OI explanation Sushi. And... *blushes* for some reason I WAS doing it standing up! But do I get brownie points for at least leaning on a tree while standing? lol

I'll have to try that out again - without the standing up. hehe

Lisa

Jody, completely off topic here but don't have to energy to find the spot you posted this. Ran across your post today on your new article from a couple days ago. Good article. Helped remind me to take even a couple more breaks today than I was already planning. Geez, I'm so tired and fried feeling these last several days. Good info in it though.

 

[Jody]

Lisa,

Especially when you're feeling like you have been lately, it's a good idea to rest way more than you think you need to.

Do you think it's from the machines or whatever your neighbours have been using lately?

 

[Sushi]

skin brushing

Lisa,

I was taught to do it from the feet up and the head down, meeting at the heart area. Don't know if that is gospel, but if correct, it could make a difference.

Best skin brushing is when a friend brushes you! Less boring. You have that resource--use it!

Sushi

 

[Jody]

Sushi,

I don't know if it's gospel either but I was taught the same thing.

And ditto on the brushing by a friend. Definitely.