For over ten years now I have suffered from a painful chest injury. It happened during martial arts training; a stray elbow landed right on my sternum. I tried everything to diagnose and fix it – X-rays, scans, acupuncture, physiotherapy, Chinese herbs – and nothing worked. Until a friend told me to see a sports massage expert. After two sessions the damn thing was feeling good again!
It turns out my sternum was being stretched by a lopsided spine and collar bone which caused me to pinch some nerves. By working with the cause of the problem as opposed to the symptom I was able to get some pretty amazing relief.
And that really got me thinking about all the other health secrets we have discovered over the years. This post is all about them.
What health secrets am I talking about?
What I would really like to hear about is anything that you tried that finally gave you some relief from pain, new levels of energy, etc. The thing is, a lot of these methods are not accepted by Western Medicine due to the lack of intensive double-blind studies. But that is not the point. Some of them still work.
Meditation, for example, has been helping people achieve happiness, good health and peace of mind for thousands of years but it is only in the last decade or so that modern medicine has really accepted its benefits. Does that mean it didn’t work for people before that? Nope.
Your story
What I would really like to hear about is stories from people that have tried something new and got amazing results. Please share the details about what was going wrong and then about how you found out about the new treatment. It could be something to do with:
- depression
- anxiety
- insomnia
- a niggling sport injury
- lack of energy
- etc.
Obviously we do not need personal details or anything like that. This idea of this post is to learn about some new methods that people might be able to research as possibly alternatives or compliments to their current unsuccessful efforts.
Be the friend who suggests the treatment idea
I would never have seen that sports therapist unless a friend suggested it to me. Luckily for me I am mates with a lot of martial artists and as such they are in touch with the best people to treat their injuries. But not everyone has that friend around to make those types of suggestions. The idea behind this post is to share any health secrets that we have heard about or come across in the hope that we can be that friend that suggests the idea.
We are NOT giving anyone medical advice here; we are just suggesting some methods that worked for us that someone else might want to investigate further.
Not a replacement for a doctor’s advice
photo credit: Defence Images
Please be very clear on this. These health secrets that we occasionally encounter are not a replacement for a doctor’s advice. You should never try anything or change anything to do with your health unless you consult your GP first. It is far too dangerous.
Sure, if you are getting some physio for a bad back and want to try some acupuncture instead that is perfectly okay. But never ever change any medication or medical prescription because of something you found on the internet.
What is your health secret?
So have you tried anything that has really helped change your life? Something that you might not have tried unless a friend suggested it? Please leave a comment about it here. I am hoping that we might be able to use this post as the catalyst for some people to meet with a helpful new remedy and maybe finally be done with an old injury.
Mindfulness of body sensations helped me manage proriasis caused by stress(in my case). Am a lot calmer, assertive, disciplined and purposeful about life now.
Several years ago, after several weeks of hard work around my house and in my yard, my feet hurt very badly and my back was aching constantly. Then it suddenly progressed to numbness in my feet, extending clear up to my calves. The sensation would alternate between burning and tingling, icy cold, and loss of feeling in the feet. I was also under a greater amount of stress at work, which coincided with the physical over-taxation leading to the sudden increase in symptoms. I could hardly sit in a chair to work (luckily I can work from home, so I was able to be as comfortable as possible). As a diabetic, foot numbness is a frightening condition. I read up on diabetic neuropathy, and was not given much hope by what I read. There is very little treatment, and almost always it focuses on the symptoms (There are some new medications for the pain). One thing I read was that if the symptoms were not equally distributed in the right and left feet, there was usually a cause other than general diabetic neuropathy, which usually results in equal distribution of symptoms in both feet. Amazingly, before this time, I had been slowly becoming aware that the pain in my extremities was traceable to my spine. I could feel the pain in my ankle shoot down the nerve right to the end of my little toe. And the tingling sensation in my inner thigh corresponded to my back pain. I started searching the web and Internet news groups, particularly studying any article or posting regarding the use of chiropractic treatment for neuropathy pain. At this time, I also discovered that chiropractic treatment was covered by my health insurance. I had nothing to lose at this point.
When I went to the chiropractor, I could hardly walk. I seriously despaired of ever recovering the feeling in my feet, and thought I’d have to suffer the excruciating pain every day. I was actually wondering if it would be disabling to the point that I would not be able to continue my job. I thought if I didn’t see any improvement pretty quickly, I’d pursue more conventional methods of treatment – painkillers. I was very impressed with the change after the first adjustment, but still cautiously fearing a relapse. During that first day, I didn’t notice too much, but by the next morning the pain reduction was at least 50%. Since then, there have been ups and downs. Some days have been good, some not so good. The overall improvement, however, has been a steady upward trend. I can’t emphasize how much of a difference it has made to my ability to lead as normal a life as possible for someone with diabetes. I am slowly increasing my ability to walk for exercise, working by way back up to my previous level. I have also made efforts to improve my posture, particularly for the hours I’m sitting in front of a computer at work, or when driving. I’m also trying to incorporate some lower back stretches and exercises.
Given my history of low back problems, it seems that much of my symptoms have not been caused by diabetes, but have been aggravated by it. The message that I would like to convey to others in my situation is to try to have a positive attitude, even though this is hard to do when in pain. Do your homework, think about your symptoms, and their history and interconnections with each other (In my case it literally took years to piece together the evidence that seemingly unrelated symptoms were in fact related!), and be willing to try chiropractic treatment if you have any of the same kind of experiences I’ve had. If I had not done this, I have no doubt that I’d be taking a daily dose of painkillers and living a diminished quality of life.
Several years ago I was suffering from pretty severe depression. I was attending a workshop on developing intuition when we “played around with” energy healing one afternoon. I worked with the course assistant as my partner, as I knew she had a lot of experience. After doing the healing, she said that the receiving side of me had been completely blocked up, and she inferred that an old relationship was the cause of my depression. The relationship in question involved a man overseas who I had been helping out financially, and who I couldn’t seem to break away from emotionally. I had justified the help by thinking of how unjust the distribution of wealth is between the US and his country. My partner explained that the money was simply a metaphor that showed what was happening energetically, and that the blockage showed that I was giving far more than I was receiving in a spiritual sense.
Miraculously, after this healing, my emotional attachment to the man faded and my depression lifted. It didn’t happen immediately, but rather over the course of two or three weeks. I haven’t been depressed since.
I don’t know if this woman actually did something with my energy or simply made me see things in a different way. All I know is, it worked!
My secret is to accept yourself first above anything else then we won’t use the self-sabotage, self-critical behaviours of bad diet or drinking etc. Those who know who they are don’t need to artificially find ways to lift the mood – they have a great one to start with. Use self-enquiry for good health.
Positive thinking. Believing in something. Healthy eating habits is a great suggestion for anyone suffering from depression or feeling low and loss of energy… I was raised on frozen foods, chicken fingers, french fries…didn’t have a healthy balanced diet, developed depression as a teenager…lasted for quite some time. At some point I got sick of feeling the way I felt and researched changing my diet, how to cook good healthy meals. I have never felt better. I now also exercise on a daily basis, but just changing my diet made a huge impact on how I felt, my attitude, the amount of energy I had.
I have heard this before but never stated quite this way. This really made me think. Thank you. Mim
Paleolithic Diet and Exercise…
http://www.thepaleodiet.com
http://www.movnat.com
Based on the idea that humans are natural beings of nature, so in order to be the way nature intended (happy, healthy, and free), we need to replicate the lives of our early ancestors, the hunter gatherers or cavemen. From experience, I can tell you that the closer we are to our true nature, the better our lives will be. We eat as healthy as we can, we exercise the way thats best for us (i’m a personal trainer and this is true), we overcome fear which helps us to be stronger mentally, we become more mindful and above all, enlightened!
Like I said, it works for me, not just in diet and exercise. My whole life is perfect, and it’s all based on one simple philosophy…be as nature intended (or as much as you can). Try it, look into it, research it, your life will change forever!
Marcel Altena