Migraines

 After listening to this TED talk by Amelia Scott Barrett, MD, a lot of things resonated with my journey suffering migraines.  I had to learn the hard way that triptans cause chronification, creating muscle tension, which leads to more migraines.  Even when following all the rules to avoid rebound headaches, I still got them if I used triptans or Ibuprofen at all.  

Dr. Barrett promotes DNA testing to see what genetic conditions you may be predisposed to and can therefore prepare for.  Migraine sufferers often have a gene that makes them poor detoxifyers.  So eliminating toxins and managing detoxing more often would be beneficial. I do foot zones and ionic foot baths for this purpose.  

Migraines make the amygdala bigger which leads to people becoming more emotional, anxious, depressed, etc.

So what can be done?  Physical therapy to help the posture.  Chiropractic care can help.  I found relief using a microcurrent device called Healy for a little bit.  But the truth is that migraines are the body's way of trying to get your attention that something is out of balance.  Almost always this includes emotions.  If you don't address the emotional side of migraines, you will not find healing.

I found relief using Ubrelvy for the past couple of years, but no matter what I have found that works, it is always temporary because it's just a bandaid.  It doesn't treat the root problem. I have found that my root problem is feeling unsafe.  After several years of severe stress my nervous system forgot how to balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.  I could either live in fight or flight or I could shut down and feel apathetic.  The trick is to help your brain remember that it can run both systems simultaneously.  This is best done through meditation and deep breathing.  Acknowledge your emotions and recognize triggers in your life.  Emotions that are associated with migraines include:Being unable to flow easily with life, wanting to take things at your own pace and and not being pushed, the inability to handle pressure or stress for too long, wanting to be in control or pushing for control (Truman, Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, Pg 258).

Physical Therapist Taylor Kruse (@Kruseelite) uses an analogy I find very helpful. Any kind of chronic pain can be caused by an overflowing threat bucket.  We each have an imaginary bucket of how much we can handle.  When the threats in our world overflow the bucket, our nervous systems experience dysfunction.  Recognizing what fills that threat bucket and eliminating those threats is key to true healing.  First and foremost on this list for me is when I feel a conflict of emotions such as I'm frustrated with my husband, whom I love.  Another way to think of this is the stacking of emotions.  When you feel angry, frustrated, hurt, betrayed... all of these things together overwhelm your nervous system.  Acknowledging these feelings, but then letting them go instead of ruminating over them is an important part of the healing process.  

Focusing on calming down the stress response through deep breathing exercises where you acknowledge the threats but also realize you are safe in this moment helps your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems regulate.  With migraine there seems to be a dysfunction between the two where you can't easily switch back and forth without triggering pain.  We need to remind our brains that life is like a rollercoaster.  It can feel scary and exciting yet we can be safe all at the same time.

Rewiring this neuropathway of safety is key to being pain free.  Why? Because for those of us who have experienced severe pain, the fear of this happening again is extremely threatening.  The more we have experienced this pattern of pain/fear of future pain, the more likely we are to trigger it.

I like Sarah Jackson's approach to rewiring your brain.  She said that rewiring your nervous system doesn't work if your attitude is that you need fixing or you have to save yourself.  It works because of God's love for you.  You matter and you have to believe that about yourself or your nervous system won't shift.

My Take on the Telepathy Tapes

 I've made it through the first 7 episodes of the Telepathy Tapes podcast and it has triggered a lot of reflection for me.  Several things ring true to my life's experiences.  I know that we cannot enter into God's presence if we are unclean (Revelation 21:27, 3 Nephi 27:19).  One of the participants in Ky's study said "you don't get these gifts if you lie."  And it has caused me to think, what if the only thing holding us back from these greater spiritual gifts is our sins?  Or what if the way to access higher communication is through love?  I know that the spirit speaks to me with thoughts, feelings, and on rare occasions with actual words in my mind that were not my own.  So, in that sense I have experienced telepathy from another spirit, and it makes sense to me that it is possible for an omniscient God to read my thoughts.  I pray in my mind and believe that God hears me.  So what if the closer we become like Him, the more able we are to share in these gifts?  

I have also experienced a connection with siblings and my spouse where we have been thinking the same thing and a connection with my pets where I feel like I can tell what they are thinking or feeling.  It also makes sense to me that the gift of tongues works in this manner.

My guess is that we access the ability to connect to someone else's energy and thoughts not only with their permission but also through our love for them.  When someone is born with a handicap like autism, I think they have already passed their mortal test and are here just to get a body and teach the rest of us something.

  

Fiber Fueled Review

 I have always subscribed to the belief that different constitutions have different needs.  As an O blood type, I have had a great need for protein and do not generally feel well if I cut out meat.  However, the evidence presented in "Fiber Fueled" is reminding me of how important vegetables and fruit are.  

He quoted Dr. Rob Knight, who is a leading expert on gut health, as saying that "the single greatest predictor of a healthy gut microbiome is the diversity of plants in one's diet" (pg 74). He recommends eating at least 30 different plants each week.  This was more important for the gut microbiome than being vegan or omnivore.

Another interesting tid-bit was that in a study where two people ate the same amount of calories at lunch but one had lentils and the other had bread, when at dinner time they both ate bread, the one who had lentils earlier did not have his blood sugar levels as affected by the bread.  This is called "the second meal effect" (pg 65-66).

The Gamut Point

 The Gamut point is located along the triple warmer meridian.  Tapping on this point can help alleviate panic, fear and anxiety.  It is found about an inch below the knuckles in between the pinky and ring finger.  There should be a slight indentation and it will likely be slightly tender if there are blockages in that point.

https://tappingschool.com/gamut-point/ 

While tapping on the Gamut point follow these 9 steps:

1. close eyes

2. open eyes

3. without moving your head, look down to the right

4. without moving your head, look down to the left

5. roll your eyes clockwise

6. roll your eyes counterclockwise

7 hum for a couple seconds

8. count to 5

9. hum for a couple more seconds

Learning the Language of the Body

 I studied German in college and spent a year and a half living in Austria while a young adult.  Having an associates degree in international studies, I have thought a good deal about learning different languages.  Learning in the classroom is helpful, but nothing compares to immersion into a culture for learning a foreign language.  

How does this apply to health?  Our bodies try to communicate to us what we need to heal.  Our bodies are designed to heal themselves, but if we are sabotaging this process through toxic thoughts, toxic foods or environments, then they may become overwhelmed.  Often the messages our bodies send to communicate their needs to us are subtle at first, but they get louder and louder if we ignore them.  Learning to recognize the subtle messages can prevent bigger problems later on.  

Fevers, rashes, aches and pains are all messages our bodies use to communicate a need to our brains.  Often blisters, sore spots or dry skin on the feet are messages from reflex points trying to teach us that a certain organ or area of the body needs attention.  Listen to these messages.  Sit with them and try to figure out the translation.  

Books such as Heal Your Body by Louise Hay or Feelings Buried Alive Never Die by Karol Kuhn Truman are great resources to learn which physical symptoms might be associated with different emotions you have trapped in your body.  

Once you decipher the message, then you can work on letting go of the toxic emotions, thoughts or environmental factors creating the problem.  

Viewing your body as this intelligent tool that is so good about communicating its needs to you can help you love and appreciate your body and then be in a better mental state to love yourself and heal.

Just as in any conversation, it is important that we reciprocate communication.  Talk to your body.  Remind it that it is in a safe place.  Give your body permission to be at peace and be still.

Thoughts and Feelings

 I have recently worked with some people about relationship struggles.  People have very different personalities and sometimes those differences create clashes.

One thing that I think is important to remember is that just because someone has an opinion about you doesn't change who you are; their opinion is just a reflection of who they are.  Listening to their opinions and then seeking to understand why they would feel or speak that way might help us better understand who they are and what their needs are.  Judgments and harsh words always come from a place of pain.  

It takes maturity to not react when someone lashes out at us, but if we just pause before reacting, we can evaluate whether there is any truth to what has been said and if not, shrug it off.  Don't give rent free space in your mind for thoughts that hurt you.  

Also, if the same issues keep coming up for you, it might be time to be still and ponder what you're supposed to be learning from these issues.  It could be that you have something you need to change in the way you treat others, which takes some humility to admit.  It could also be that Heavenly Father is trying to teach you something about love and forgiveness or something else just as important, that you can't learn any other way.  Or it could be that your body is ready to release some trauma from the past.  Similar circumstances tend to resurface until we have addressed an issue. It seems very unfair that those who have been abused are more likely to experience such events again, but it is often the case.  However, when healing takes place and that trauma is released, we are no longer attracting that kind of energy into our biofield anymore.  

Color Therapy

 Dr. Richard Frankel was said to believe that "stress is encoded in the mind as color."  (Light Medicine of the Future by Jacob Liberman pg. 132).

When I was in 8th grade my English teacher talked about how red was her favorite color and I remember thinking, how could that be anyone's favorite color?  It is the color of blood.  I had spent many hours in various hospitals with medical personnel doing bleeding time tests on me.  This consisted of being cut with razor blades while they watched me bleed.  They always told me it wouldn't hurt and wouldn't scar - both of which proved untrue.  I detested the sight of blood.  In addition, I was struggling with heavy menstruation, feeling very unsupported in the changes my body was undergoing, which only added to the trauma associated with that color. 

After working through some of this trauma, I now love the color red.  Likewise I had similar issues with the color yellow in association with self-loathing and a closed solar plexus chakra.

"Frenkel's technique goes something like this:  while patients focus on their images in a mirror surrounded by different colored bulbs, they are asked to describe any feelings or memories that come into their awareness.  Frankel reports that old, painful memories literally 'gush out' of they patients' minds during this process, frequently accompanied by the bodily symptoms associated with the original experiences.  As a physician, he believes that removing stress from the mind not only reduces human disease but also unleashes human creativity.  Dr. Frenkel has achieved a high degree of success in controlling anxiety, depression, phobias, migraines, suicide, computer fatigue, obesity, and drug and alcohol abuse."

There are many different color therapy tools available.  It is hard to weed through the details to know which ones are high quality and which ones are just high price tags, but not necessarily great therapy.