Understanding The Healing Crisis

I came across this rather good explanation of healing crises from Nutri Link the other day. As a naturopath, most of your therapy is designed to reverse your body back to health and eliminate any congestion stopping you from doing that. In natural medicine, people generally feel worse before they get better and this is seen as a good, if not very pleasant, sign. Here is their take on explaining what happens…

 

• In the process of bringing your body back to good health you may experience some temporary pain or discomfort. Symptoms of cold, flu, dizziness, nausea and fatigue may occur. Do not be alarmed. These symptoms do not mean your treatments are not working, but quite the contrary. The discomfort is often a very positive sign that the healing process is taking place.
• A healing crisis is any of a wide range of symptoms that may occur during the course of healing. Typically, the onset of these symptoms is very rapid. You may experience some symptoms immediately after a treatment, or up to 2 to 3 days later. The worst of the symptoms may last as little as a few hours or as long as several days. The longer the symptoms last, the stronger the healing crisis. But it is also characterised that when the symptoms have passed, you will feel better than prior to the crisis.
• Most patients do not understand the healing crisis because of their experience with conventional medicine. Where the focus of conventional medicine is on eliminating discomfort and curing disease, holistic medicine seeks to address the underlying cause of pain and illness. It aims to balance the body’s energy flow so that the body can restore itself to a healthy state.
• Disease is a long, gradual process that occurs over time with stages of progressively ill health preceding it. It moves from less serious physical complaints to more serious ones, and then moves inward to deeper levels. Sometimes minor ailments are driven deeper into the body and become more serious with drug therapy, which suppresses the symptoms, but weakens the immune system. For example, you may first experience a skin problem, which seems to clear up. Later, the disease may progress inwardly to become asthma. Some time after that, you may even develop depression.
• Increasing a person’s health reverses the disease process, almost like putting a video of your disease on rewind. You must move through previous states of health and that is when old symptoms crop up, occurring in reverse order of their original appearance. The person with the skin problem may re-experience some depression, followed by some asthmatic episodes, and later on, the skin problem may re-occur.
• The aching body, headaches, nausea and fatigue often felt during a healing crisis are primarily the effects of detoxification. In the healing process, the body is working to eliminate its storage of toxins; materials that have been collected in the colon, the tissues and in individual cells. In a sense, the body becomes more toxic temporarily until the toxins are excreted.
• Once you understand that some discomfort is normal, and that symptoms can be a positive sign that healing is taking place, there are a number of things you can do to help your body during a healing crisis. First, try to follow your prescribed program correctly. Taking medications, such as antihistamines, aspirin or other painkillers unless really needed, can delay the healing process and may actually prolong the discomfort.
• Sufficient rest is very important since your body is under a great deal of stress during the healing process. Similarly, your diet should consist of light, easy-to-digest meals and heavy, hard-to-digest foods should be avoided. Plenty of hot water should be taken throughout the day.
• Exercise is often helpful especially if the crisis presents itself on an emotional level. Because many toxins leave the body through the skin, light brushing of the skin with a natural bristle brush can help stimulate blood and lymph flow. Soaking in a warm bath with Epsom salts may also be helpful.
• Reducing environmental stresses can help a healing crisis pass more quickly. Take a good look at your daily stress level. Your diet, smoking habits, alcohol intake and other lifestyle elements may need to be changed.
• Attitude can be one of the most beneficial factors in coping with healing crisis. A positive attitude will allow you to relax and to recognise that the symptoms are temporary and your treatment is on target.
• Keep the lines of communication open with your practitioner. Report your symptoms and allow your Health Care Practitioner to help you if your symptoms are too much to cope with. Adjustments in the degree or frequency of treatments may be possible to lessen your discomfort.
• The road to good health is an exciting and rewarding journey, but like any worthwhile endeavour, it has some challenges. The healing crisis is an opportunity for you to understand the process your body is going through to reach a state of health. Despite symptoms, you should experience more areas of improvement than discomfort. These brief episodes of symptoms should be considered signs of progress and an indication that you’re on the road to good health.

 

Couldn’t have put it better myself! 

Did You Know That…

fruit yoghurts can contain up to 8 teaspoons of sugar?! Always go for plain, live, preferably soya, and then add your own fruit, seeds, nuts and a little agave syrup or honey – that way, you know what’s in it!

The Hidden & Painful Cost of Statins

Dr. Andrew Bamji is a consultant in rheumatology at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup who helps people with joint problems & arthritis.  He was diagnosed with severe tendon inflammation which was triggered by the statins he was put on by his GP because his cholesterol was 9.2.  He says that if someone has had a heart attack statins are an important tool in preventing another, but that the problem is statins are being handed out ‘willy-nilly’ with very little apparent benefit.   Many patients face side-effects in return for the marginal protection statins can offer.  It’s time the medical profession realised this.   Each form of statin causes night cramps, muscle pain, severe muscle disorders known as myopathy & also fatigue.

 

He realised that many of his patients with musculoskeletal conditions such as polymyalgia were on statins.  When he advised them to stop taking them, their problems went away.  Statins only marginally increase heart protection.  If a patient has heart disease & high cholesterol the chance of their dying from a heart attack over 4-6 years is about 8%.  If they’re given a statin every day, this decreases to about 6% or 7%.  If you take statins without any problems then there’s no reason to abandon them, but the idea of their wide-spread prescription, given the minimal & questionable benefit & potential side-effects, is just nonsense.  He says that as a patient who has thrown his statins away, he is happy to take his chances. D. Mail 27.1.09

 

Ed’s Note: I offer this slightly sensationalist letter about statins only because I have come across problems with statins more and more the last couple of years. It’s worth considering whether symptoms of any kind began after you started any new medicine or supplement – most often when I mention this to patients, it hasn’t occurred to them. It should; it’s very common.

Breast Cancer Chemicals Campaign

Breast Cancer UK is a charity that fights to inform people about chemicals being one of the major causes of the rise in breast cancer. I received this from them recently, so pass it on in case you find it useful. I certainly believe chemicals could have an awful lot to do with not just breast cancer, but the cancer epidemic we find ourselves with.  Have a read…

 

“Our ‘No More Breast Cancer’ campaign is becoming more widely known.  We hope that you will pass on information about our work and direct people to our new website at www.breastcanceruk.org.uk   Please check it out. 

 

According to the Office of National Statistics’ latest figures, the number of new diagnoses of breast cancer in the UK has risen again and now affects over 45,000 UK women per year.  Since 1993 the average age of women diagnosed with breast cancer is 50-54, although the Government continue to designate breast cancer as a disease of ‘old age’.  We want the Government to reduce our exposure to hazardous chemicals in our environment and in everyday products that are linked with breast cancer. 

 

Regardless of these depressing statistics and our pressure on the Government to acknowledge hazardous chemicals as a risk factor in breast cancer its response this year has been consistently disappointing.  When we queried why hazardous chemicals had not been included in their Cancer Reform Strategy the reply was the same one they have always given over the last decade:  they don’t believe there is enough scientific evidence.  Also the online Downing Street Prevent cancer petition received exactly the same response. This is regardless of the work other countries such as New Zealand, the US, Canada, and the EU are already doing to reduce the exposure of their citizens to potentially harmful chemicals.

 

Our basic recommendation for 2009, to kick-start the process of change towards reducing the incidence of breast cancer, is for Government to acknowledge breast cancer as a major public health issue and to agree to reduce our exposure to those CARCINOGENS and ENDOCRINE- DISTRUPTING CHEMICALS that have been scientifically linked to the disease.

 

If you are as fed up as we are with the Government’s continuing apathy, please consider our new Action Alert. You can use our form letter to write to your MP http://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/actionalert/index.php  asking what they and their Party intend to do to prevent breast cancer, should they be voted in at the next General Election.

 

FROM: Clare Dimmer, No More Breast Cancer campaign, Breast Cancer UK, B.M. Box 7767, London, WC1N 3XX 0845 680 1322  [Reg. Charity No: 1088047]

 

Keep the Doctor Away with an Apple a Day

There’s often more than a grain of truth in “old wives tales”, and recent research is showing that apples can help to lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, allergies, and inflammation. The skin of the apple is actually more beneficial than the flesh, and it is important to buy organic apples so that you can eat the skin free of pesticides. The important nutrient in the skin is quercetin, which is known as a flavonoid and is a powerful anti-oxidant. It also has remarkable anti-tumour properties and can help stop inflammation, too.

But there is more to apples than just quercetin. The insoluble fibre found in apples is helpful for constipation and the soluble fibre helps to lower cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Apples also contain pectin, one of the soluble fibres, which is known to reduce the amount of cholesterol produced by the liver. ‘Natural News for Women’

Ed’s Note: As a snack, most days I will cut an apple into slices, put it on a nice plate and eat that to fill me up. The slices seem to be more filling than biting into a whole apple somehow – don’t ask me why!

Firms ‘peddling junk food propaganda’ in our schools, report finds

Food manufacturers have been accused of using school information packs to ‘peddle propaganda’ for unhealthy products.  Campaigners have highlighted claims that crisps are healthier than apples, and that children should eat fruit and vegetables ‘in moderation’.  A study by the Children’s Food Campaign claims that major food corporations spend as much as £300million a year on school information packs that amount to advertising and misinformation.  Experts say junk food has been promoted in the classroom. The report, ‘Through The Back Door’, found that two thirds included misinformation.  In one case, Vimto urged teachers in over a 1,000 schools to get their pupils to write a poem praising the sugary drink.

It also reports how the European Snack Association, sponsored by KP, Pringles and Walkers, produced information saying that a bag of crisps is healthier than an apple.   The campaigners also attack the British Soft Drinks Association for saying that artificial colours merely ‘restore the colour lost from food during processing’.    In reality, the bright colours are used to make the drinks appear fruity. Some have been linked to hyperactivity in children. The study criticises the association for suggesting that sugary food and drink is a carbohydrate on a par with healthy foods such as bread, rice & pasta. The Children’s Food Campaign is calling on the Government to ban companies from using schools to promote their brands and a biased view of food and health. Coordinator Richard Watts said: ‘We were flabbergasted by some of the claims in these packs.   Promoting junk food in the classroom in the guise of education is unacceptable. Our investigation shows that the food industry cannot be trusted to provide children with unbiased nutritional information.’ Mail Online 29.12.08

Foods Matter Forums

Just thought I’d tell you about these useful forums which are especially for people who want to talk to others about allergy and intolerance. Foods Matter is a really useful resource if you’re avoiding foods or environmental stuff so take a look – I keep having my two-penny’orth on there which is fun! Go to www.foodsmatter.com.

New Regulation Body For Complementary Medicine

Some of you will have seen the media reports about a new regulatory body, the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council), which has been set up to bring complementary medicine under one body. The point really is to stop cowboy operations and protect both the public and competent practitioners. The first therapies to be added are massage therapists and nutritional therapists (me then!). You’ll be pleased to know that I already qualify for the register due to my training and experience, and by September this year I should have completed all the relevant documents (of which there are loads!) necessary.

Redbush Tea Tip

When it’s cold outside, you tend to drink more warm drinks, don’t you? Philip came up with this idea. We bought a cheap coffee filter machine from Asda for a fiver. Pour some water into the machine as if you’re making coffee, but instead pop two redbush tea bags into the glass jug and let the water drip through as normal. Leave the teabags in for a good 10 mins (or longer if you like it strong) and, hey presto, you’ve got tea on all day. I simply pour myself a tiny cup full in my new Spode china cup and saucer (thank you sister for Christmas present!) every now and then when I fancy one. Add a dash of soya milk or some lemon if you like, or have it ‘straight’. So good for you. You could do this with any herbal, white or green tea bags too!

Hot Banana, Cinnamon & Chocolate Smoothie

It suddenly occurred to me the other day that I have never thought to make a hot smoothie! Try this – it’s warming and comforting, and a great snack mid afternoon as it’s quite sweet, but filling and low calorie: Pop some soya milk, soya yogurt and a banana into a blender and whizz together. Then, heat it up in a pan (no microwaves, please!) to a simmer – don’t boil it. Whizz it up again either with one of those frother sticks, or carefully in your blender and pour into big mugs or thick glasses. Sprinkle some Green & Blacks Hot chocolate powder and some ground cinnamon on the top, put your feet up for a minute and enjoy…