By Ashley Buckwalter-Mack, one of our new Lipese Challenge members on Facebook
I would like to share with you my experience experimenting with Epsom salt for detoxifying purposes. I was looking for ways to detox my system and I came across Epsom salt. After my first soak I could really tell a difference. There was a ton of dead skin in the bottom of the tub, I was extremely relaxed, my aches were gone and I slept better too! So I thought I would give it another try two days later and this is what happened. I weighed myself before getting in to the tub. When I was getting out of the tub my body felt extremely heavy so I thought I would weigh myself again, thinking the number would be higher. To my amazement, the number was down by 5lbs. I stepped off of the scale and back on again three more times to make sure it was reading correctly. Sure enough I was 5lbs lighter! I then turned to the web for answers. I found an article in regards to Dr. OZ stating that Epsom salt can help you lose weight!
For those of you who do not know the benefits of using Epsom salt, here are just a few: Eases stress and relaxes your body, relieves pain and muscle cramps, helps muscles and nerves function properly, helps prevent hardening of arteries and blood clots, makes insulin more effective, relieves constipation, replaces enzymes, and last but not least, it sucks the toxins right out of you. To experience the numerous health benefits of Epsom salt, take relaxing, stress-relieving Epsom salt baths three times weekly by adding 2 cups Epsom Salt to a warm bath and soaking for at least 20 minutes. For the added benefit of moisturizing your skin, add 1/2 cup olive oil or 10 drops of essential oils. Try to rest for about two hours afterwards. If you have arthritic joints, move them as much as possible after an Epsom salt bath to prevent congestion in the joints. Make sure to drink a glass of water before you get in to the tub, and again when you get out, this keeps your body hydrated.
One more thing. Be very careful when getting out of tub as the salts can make you dizzy and your body will feel heavy. Epsom salts can be used for many other things, not just baths. Here is an article that I have found that will explain some other uses as well.
Now, on to my discovery of essential oils! I will just say that essential oils can be extremely beneficiary to your health. They can be added to your bath water, added topically, or even be ingested. Just make sure to read your label carefully for any warnings or directions before using. Here is a link to some information regarding the main essential oils and the benefits they can provide.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT 2014
by Maggie McCarey
1. We still have no answers.
2. We still have no clinical trials.
3. We still have no specific medical care resulting from research.
I experienced the mother of all cascades this winter with no help or support from the medical community to stop it. No proactive ER team to treat me with dignity and respect as it observed my body in distress. No lipedema specialist to prescribe immediate treatment. Oh, my primary would have happily looked at my legs and then shook her head in bewilderment for $200 plus co-pay but she could not treat me. So, I was as alone again for this potentially life-threatening emergency as I was the first cascade preceding my discovery of lipedema six years ago. Absolutely nothing has changed in all these years. No medical community advancement. None.
I was on my own from the moment the first purple skin discoloration and twinge of pain covered my back left calf. The twinge came from a little scratch made by my puppy. The over-reactive inflammatory response to this scratch came from an immune system on high alert. The perfect storm: a scratch; auto-immune anemia (the kind people with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia and lipedema get); cold weather that brings about chilblains, Raynaulds Disease, and/or cold aggultinin disease (interestingly all caused by the same inflammation-producing vascular irritation of small capillaries in extremities); and my pre-disposition to store toxic chemicals and waste in my adipose cells below the waist.
A lipedema cascade. Months of frigid temperatures triggered my immune system and, when the cold relentlessly continued, a horrific cascade filled my lower legs almost to the knee with inflammation. I could only watch the hot red sludge climb up from my ankles to mid-calf, down to my feet and toes, and then swell my hands. the tissue becoming harder, impacted, more painful, and more resistant to touch every day. Two weeks ago, my fourth finger on my right hand turned red at the tip and then quickly became blazing hot to my hand. I went to bed wondering if I would die in my sleep.
If I had gone to a doctor or to an ER at any one of the moments I have described, I would have been lucky to get a doctor to listen to me long enough to think beyond my fat legs. And them I would have been prescribed antibiotics that my body would also likely reject. (Fat legs? Growing three inches of fat below my knees in days? Fat disorder???? Paleeze.) Every bit of self-knowledge I had about cascade prevention, everything that had worked beautifully for me, small scale, failed. Everything I confidently passed onto you, was swept away this winter of discontent.
I have now stopped the cascade, or rather, re-negotiated with it on an almost daily basis. Inflammation is at least receding from just below my knees to a hard ban at the top of my calves and half way down to the ankles which are again soft. The feeling of danger is no longer imminent but also gone forever is the feeling that I can make room for lipedema. Let it be in my life on its side of the room. This winter I learned lipedema will never ever be gone; it may be in remission, but given a “perfect storm,” it will reek havoc on me if I let down my guard. It could happen before you read this blog.
Ever the scientific mind, I took mental notes, and I did work my way out of the cascade, but not yet the entire effects it had on my legs. They have drained but not enough. I added Vitamin B 12 to my regime and folic acid thanks to some serendipitous discussion on Lipese Challenge. I had already been seriously and for the first time looking at my auto-immune anemia which I have had consistently since 1996. Blood disease, especially leukemia is our family nemesis, and denial for me has been the best part of valor. When folic acid and Vitamin B 12 were discussed a few weeks ago, they connected immediately to the research I have been doing on my low red blood count. I think B12 and folic acid have helped.
It interested me, too, to see how inflammation layers. After wearing my canklets for a year (2009), invented in desperation for cascade one, my legs were no longer hard as rocks. With the inflammation in check, they became soft and fleshy past the hip up into the buttocks. I hadn't noticed a pattern...how the inflammation had come or left ...and I had never heard of an inflammatory cascade. This time, I was aware that I was cascading and I observed. The inflammation began at the top of my right calf and a skin-fold reappeared that had taken two years to diminish. This was the exact place that I had smacked against an open dresser drawer in my 20's and forever after felt a hard patch t like extra bone. This time the inflammation moved up from this line towards the knee and also down past the knee into my foot. Within two days, my left leg was keeping pace with my right leg with amazing inflammatory symmetry. I was also in a lot of pain which is why I decided not to use my canklets in this emergency. (I haven't worn them consistently for two years as I simply didn't need them). Finally, I talked myself into trusting the one thing that had changed my legs dramatically the first time. I put the canklets on first thing in the morning and took them off only when I was in bed for the night. Doing this reversed the cascade almost immediately. I hope.
In Steinbach's novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, the hero, Ethan Allen Hawley, comes close to commiting suicide because he loses himself in his ambition to make a name for himself. No I am not suicidal, but I am depressed to look back and see how little progress we have made, not in making people aware for we have accomplished much in this arena, but in making a name for lipedema among the medical profession. Looking back only in my own life, I think I would now be dead if I hadn't been my own health advocate the last 6 years, and I see no change coming in that direction.
I don't know what the median age is of lipedema women sharing support with each other on forums. I know not many are over the age of 60. Are we a part of statistics that appears in the mortality rates of the obese, the stomach, ovarian, and breast cancer folks, the diabetics? At your age, this may not be a concern, but at age 62, having to diagnose myself at age 56, and becoming my own medical practitioner, as well as my daughters', and my granddaughters' primary, is my concern. The rage I felt for all of us when I first learned about lipedema kept me inspired. Now, after this winter and my harrowing dance with lipedema, I am simply, honestly sad for us all.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Lipedema in the world
By Tatjana van der Krabben
The theme "Lipedema in the world", to me, is living my life in such a way that the lipedema doesn't own me. I only have so much energy to burn in a day. Certainly true. Sometimes the thought that something will cause my legs to hurt can make it tempting to pass. It's a balancing act, where I sometimes push on, because the very thing that may cost you energy, could also give you some energy.
Like last November. We had one day only to gather up all the ladies to do a short info & awareness film on lipedema. That's ambitious and we needed ALL day. Yet, we all had a fabulous day and as you can see in the image from the opening scene, we had so much fun.
By the end of the day I looked something like this. Not too bad, right?
How about 'city trip' and 'theme park'? It pretty much equals sore legs. Still, I wouldn't want to miss it. Last year I had a great time in New York and Disneyland Paris.
To me, a city trip is about making choices. It's like every day life: you pick the things you really want or need doing and leave the rest for another time. Of course that sounds quite all right when you refer to doing the laundry versus making the beds. It's different when you're planning something fun. Luckily, there are many ways to work around it. I used to walk throughout the day. Now I take a taxi more often, but you could also try a bus or boat tour to see some sights without pushing yourself too hard. I also plan my route more carefully to avoid detours. If I really don't feel like making choices, I save up a little longer and plan an extended trip. With a little help or creative thinking you can still cover a lot of ground.
Theme parks are even more of problem, because beside all the walking you also need to plan your meals. After all, they mostly offer junkfood, which makes my legs ache even more. Last year, I brought quite the survival kit of homemade gluten-free and sugar-free carrot muffins, nuts and homemade kale chips, among other. That covered most of the lunches and snacks. For dinner we went to a buffet style restaurant. Normally I tend to avoid those; the endless queuing and the kids getting all restless from other kids running around usually annoys me. However, this type of restaurant is a perfect solution to a menu problem. Instead of explaining what you can't have and try to persuade them to make alterations to their fixed menu, you simply pass those items by at the buffet and pick what you do want. If it wasn't for those darn tasty croissants at the breakfast buffet, I would have gotten by on my best behaviour!
I have quite active hobbies: snorkeling and looking for fossils. A fossil hunt is not really agreeable to the legs, I'm afraid, but, again, I wouldn't want to miss it! I used to go to a site 45 minutes by car from where I live. I had to dig and sieve the sand in my makeshift
soil sieve with just the right size mesh to catch what has my fancy. Pretty heavy and hard work, but I use a manageable little garden shovel and mostly sit down when sieving the material. Like that I could keep going for several hours! It clears your head and there's that treasure hunt vibe. Too bad that site is closed now. Last year I went to a particular stretch of beach for my fossil shark teeth fix. We made it a family day trip. It was great. I hope to repeat it this spring and find me some teeth, of course! I've got some serious withdrawal symptoms here.
Of all the things that I love to do, snorkeling is the only thing that is actually good for my legs. I travel to tropical places, whenever I get the chance and take a dip, always on the look out for something I've never seen before or something funky like a shark or moray. Tropical places come with tropical heat, but provided I take a good swim twice a day, I sail through almost effortlessly. It being a hobby, going in twice a day is easy! Especially now that the kids are no longer toddlers you need to watch like a hawk near any water.
I love the beach. The breeze and the water on my skin, sand between my toes, a good book... It's my little slice of heaven. Even when parading around in a bathing suit for anyone to see, yes. At some point I got tired of fussing with a pareo or tunic. It does help that the people in the places I visited the last couple of years are quite appreciative of curves. I'm the pale one that sort of fits in. Thanks to that I became my own standard again after a while and stopped worrying about other people. A sauna, the beach at home, the pool: I'm now fine with all of it. The best souvenir I ever picked up on my travels!
Sunday, March 2, 2014
A Blog for the Faint of Liver
By Maggie McCarey
From Yang Jizhou, The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhenjiu Dacheng), ca. 1590:
The eyes represent the orifices of the liver. When a person closes his/her eyes and falls asleep, the blood returns to the liver. From there it is transmitted to the eyes, and the ability to see results from this. When a person sleeps, now, the nameless fire within grows dim in order to revitalize. Although it may be impossible to refrain from sleeping altogether, it is advisable not to just let this energy dissipate for the mere sake of falling into a slumber. www.itmonline.org
In 1994, I had my second complete physical collapse with the following triggers within one year: 1) gall bladder surgery: 2) a 3-week pharmaceutical cocktail aimed at healing ulcers but really an A-bomb of destruction, that killed parasites as stomach ulcers are now know to be; and, 3) a fender bender which triggered within me a full-blown cortisol/inflammatory episode, so intense that I lost 60 pounds in as many days. I was so debilitated that my Baptist father offered healing prayer over me for a week, and then his prayers became little messages for me to submit to my impending death.
My daughter, Stefanie, was more proactive. She went to an Amish healer in Jamesport, MO and asked the woman to see me. This healer read eyes to diagnose weaknesses of the body. She looked at my eyes and suggested that we work on cleansing the liver. That was a fascinating diagnosis for me because my eyes in my youth were sea-foam green, gold-flecked, and black-rimmed, set against jet-black hair, and commented on daily, especially by strangers. In my adult life they had faded to a quiet unnoticeable teal-grey and I started dying my graying hair at menopause just so my eyes would reappear in the mirror. What did my eyes have to do with my liver???
That the liver is such an important organ, especially for a lipese working towards health, is key to self-empowerment. One Chinese proverb says : The doctor who heals the liver heals a hundred diseases. So, really, WHAT DOES the liver do? According to Jessica Bates in Ehow Fun Facts About the Liver:
Bates also says if the liver stops functioning a person dies within a day, not exactly the immediate death of a stopped heart, to which all romantic poetry, love songs, Hugh Grant movies, and biblical references, are made but still important. In fact, the liver seems to ignored by all of humanity’s curious interest in body parts, including The Wizard Of Oz: a heart, a brain, the “noive.” No, if I only had a liver. In fact, if the word liver is mentioned in our conversations at all it is liver-lilied, a negative reflection of a person’s lack of courage, but which began as an affirmation that the liver is the seat of courage (1600’s England), and, when blood is flowing properly, the liver is the color of a lily so named after the pleasing color of the liver. Yes, call me liver-lilied! Let’s not even discuss how many times and in how many ways many of us have expressed how we HATE liver, even the thought of liver, and how excitedly we proclaim our hatred for liver in culinary conversations. Oh be careful little lips what you say.
Further, Bates says, “the liver also stores fat, and if too much fat is stored there you can develop fatty liver disease. Alcohol, toxins and bacteria are isolated in your liver and flushed out of your body. Like a filter, the liver works as the body's detoxification factory.
Detoxification of the body as performed by our toxified livers is the only game in Healthville these days. Even so, a lot of us don’t even know where the liver is located and we don’t care to. Look how the liver lays over the stomach in this illustration and how often when we feel pain in that area we think we have a stomach ache. Also, look how the liver sits on the colon where so many people have said to me: “I got a sharp pain right here.” Energy workers reading this might well consider an entire session on liver detoxing. For some of us, the liver to the right and under the breast is the exact spot we instinctively rub when we eat foods our body won’t metabolize. We call them belly, tummy, and stomach aches but they are really our poor, ignored, and abused liver’s ache.
According to Chinese medicine, the liver is always where anger is held and released from.
Certain emotional states can result from, or cause, liver qi disorders. For example, a state of depression brought on by an unexpected event can eventually cause physical symptoms attributed to liver qi stagnation; liver qi stagnation, in turn, can cause mental depression. An intense outbreak of anger can induce sudden headaches, dizziness, chest pain, and other signs of -qi flare up (as the Neijing points out: "When a person is angry, the qi moves up); liver qi flaring up can cause one to feel anger. Sometimes a person will suffer a stroke ("qi and blood rushing to the brain") during or shortly after an outburst of anger. Anger is a physiologically normal emotion and will usually not cause disease. The constant suppression of anger or putting oneself always in a situation that generates anger, on the other hand, can be the cause of long ranging problems, since it promotes a chronic state of internal qi stagnation. www.itmonline.org
So we aren’t really pissed off at all. We are livered off. Its the spot where we feel a nudgy little pain when we cough hard or in our youth where pain stabs when we played too hard, and important to this blog, it’s the spot where many of us feel chronic tenderness and low-level pain. It’s the pain I blamed on my gallbladder before it was removed, and since it was removed, mythical gallbladder scar tissue. It’s also the spot that collects and maintains fat-soluble and B vitamins for you women who have had vitamin deficiencies after gastric by-pass surgery because you no longer produce or your liver no longer stores them.
*******************************************************************
So where were we? Oh, yes. My eyes. The eyes are windows to the soul. No that’s not it. The eyes are portholes to the liver. We brought a friend to see the Amish healer once. She looked into the friend’s eyes and said “Oh, dear you have not had a bowel movement for six days (“Exactly six days,” our wide-eyed friend confessed in the car.)
* Iridology an alternative medicine technique whose proponents claim that patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris can be examined to determine information about a patient's systemic health. Practitioners match their observations to iris charts, which divide the iris into zones that correspond to specific parts of the human body. Iridologists see the eyes as "windows" into the body's state of health. Iridologists believe they can use the charts to distinguish between healthy systems and organs in the body and those that are overactive, inflamed, or distressed. Iridologists believe this information demonstrates a patient's susceptibility towards certain illnesses, reflects past medical problems, or predicts later health problems. (Wikipedia)
It became increasing clear to me over the last few months that my liver has been working too hard as the “spot” has become more of a “hot spot.” I began a regiment of dandelion but still my liver grumbled too much over okay foods. I was talking to Catia, another daughter about this issue as I rubbed my liver, and she reminded me of an herb tea that I engineer with remarkable results with AIDS patients, cures for HepC and a nurse’s incurable liver condition because, my friends, the liver constantly regrows itself, and if you nourish it, it should grow faster than it is damaged if it isn’t too damaged. I purchased the herb and began using it. One day last week, I looked in the mirror and saw my old crazy green eyes peeping back. I noted I was wearing teal, okay. The day after, green. Okay, but even so, every time I went to the bathroom I looked in the mirror at a familiar friend I have missed for awhile. Then on the third day, I wore red and they were still sea-foam green. I told Stef and she said, “I noticed your eyes were back a few days ago. “ I thought and then I remembered. I looked at my nails, which have been ridging for a few years, despite my best efforts to nourish them, and they were smoothing out too. “It’s the liver cleanse, Stef.”
I will write more about liver cleanses in the near future, I promise, but in the meantime see if this description of blood and liver has anything in common with you.
LIVER BLOOD DEFICIENCY (gan xue xu): primary symptoms are pale face color; dizziness; dry eyes or, at a more advanced stage, blurry vision (especially at night); numbness in the extremities (including arms easily "falling asleep" while sleeping); limited flexibility of tendons and muscles. Secondary symptoms include pale lips and nails; dry, split, atrophied, or malformed nails; muscle twitching; spasms or cramping in the extremities; trembling hands or feet; occasional intercostal pain; ringing in the ears; in females: decreased and pale menstrual flow. The tongue is typically pale or pink; the pulse tends to be fine, or wiry and forceless.
Representative Herbs: tang-kuei (danggui), peony (baishao), gelatin (ejiao), ligustrum (nuzhenzi), cornus (shanzhuyu), cnidium (chuanxiong), zizyphus (suanzaoren), millettia (jixueteng).
Representative Formulas: Tang-kuei Four Combination (Siwu Tang); Tonify the Liver Decoction (Bugan Tang); Linking Decoction (Yiguan Jian) minus melia (chuanlianzi) plus peony (baishao).
www.itmonline.org
From Yang Jizhou, The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhenjiu Dacheng), ca. 1590:
The eyes represent the orifices of the liver. When a person closes his/her eyes and falls asleep, the blood returns to the liver. From there it is transmitted to the eyes, and the ability to see results from this. When a person sleeps, now, the nameless fire within grows dim in order to revitalize. Although it may be impossible to refrain from sleeping altogether, it is advisable not to just let this energy dissipate for the mere sake of falling into a slumber. www.itmonline.org
In 1994, I had my second complete physical collapse with the following triggers within one year: 1) gall bladder surgery: 2) a 3-week pharmaceutical cocktail aimed at healing ulcers but really an A-bomb of destruction, that killed parasites as stomach ulcers are now know to be; and, 3) a fender bender which triggered within me a full-blown cortisol/inflammatory episode, so intense that I lost 60 pounds in as many days. I was so debilitated that my Baptist father offered healing prayer over me for a week, and then his prayers became little messages for me to submit to my impending death.
My daughter, Stefanie, was more proactive. She went to an Amish healer in Jamesport, MO and asked the woman to see me. This healer read eyes to diagnose weaknesses of the body. She looked at my eyes and suggested that we work on cleansing the liver. That was a fascinating diagnosis for me because my eyes in my youth were sea-foam green, gold-flecked, and black-rimmed, set against jet-black hair, and commented on daily, especially by strangers. In my adult life they had faded to a quiet unnoticeable teal-grey and I started dying my graying hair at menopause just so my eyes would reappear in the mirror. What did my eyes have to do with my liver???
That the liver is such an important organ, especially for a lipese working towards health, is key to self-empowerment. One Chinese proverb says : The doctor who heals the liver heals a hundred diseases. So, really, WHAT DOES the liver do? According to Jessica Bates in Ehow Fun Facts About the Liver:
Food enters your body through your mouth and throat, then travels to your stomach and intestines for digestion. The broken-down food materials find their way to your liver by way of the bloodstream. Once these materials break down further, they are used to make bile, a necessary digestion liquid, and other substances.
Your liver also aids your immune system in battling infection. It stores vitamins, nutrients, minerals and sugar, and it is also responsible for production. Whenever your body needs these nutrients or hormones, your liver releases them to do their jobs. Your liver is in direct control of the chemical balance in your blood.http://www.ehow.com/way_5662043_fun-human-liver.html#ixzz2rRDt9u34
Bates also says if the liver stops functioning a person dies within a day, not exactly the immediate death of a stopped heart, to which all romantic poetry, love songs, Hugh Grant movies, and biblical references, are made but still important. In fact, the liver seems to ignored by all of humanity’s curious interest in body parts, including The Wizard Of Oz: a heart, a brain, the “noive.” No, if I only had a liver. In fact, if the word liver is mentioned in our conversations at all it is liver-lilied, a negative reflection of a person’s lack of courage, but which began as an affirmation that the liver is the seat of courage (1600’s England), and, when blood is flowing properly, the liver is the color of a lily so named after the pleasing color of the liver. Yes, call me liver-lilied! Let’s not even discuss how many times and in how many ways many of us have expressed how we HATE liver, even the thought of liver, and how excitedly we proclaim our hatred for liver in culinary conversations. Oh be careful little lips what you say.
Further, Bates says, “the liver also stores fat, and if too much fat is stored there you can develop fatty liver disease. Alcohol, toxins and bacteria are isolated in your liver and flushed out of your body. Like a filter, the liver works as the body's detoxification factory.
Detoxification of the body as performed by our toxified livers is the only game in Healthville these days. Even so, a lot of us don’t even know where the liver is located and we don’t care to. Look how the liver lays over the stomach in this illustration and how often when we feel pain in that area we think we have a stomach ache. Also, look how the liver sits on the colon where so many people have said to me: “I got a sharp pain right here.” Energy workers reading this might well consider an entire session on liver detoxing. For some of us, the liver to the right and under the breast is the exact spot we instinctively rub when we eat foods our body won’t metabolize. We call them belly, tummy, and stomach aches but they are really our poor, ignored, and abused liver’s ache.
According to Chinese medicine, the liver is always where anger is held and released from.
Certain emotional states can result from, or cause, liver qi disorders. For example, a state of depression brought on by an unexpected event can eventually cause physical symptoms attributed to liver qi stagnation; liver qi stagnation, in turn, can cause mental depression. An intense outbreak of anger can induce sudden headaches, dizziness, chest pain, and other signs of -qi flare up (as the Neijing points out: "When a person is angry, the qi moves up); liver qi flaring up can cause one to feel anger. Sometimes a person will suffer a stroke ("qi and blood rushing to the brain") during or shortly after an outburst of anger. Anger is a physiologically normal emotion and will usually not cause disease. The constant suppression of anger or putting oneself always in a situation that generates anger, on the other hand, can be the cause of long ranging problems, since it promotes a chronic state of internal qi stagnation. www.itmonline.org
So we aren’t really pissed off at all. We are livered off. Its the spot where we feel a nudgy little pain when we cough hard or in our youth where pain stabs when we played too hard, and important to this blog, it’s the spot where many of us feel chronic tenderness and low-level pain. It’s the pain I blamed on my gallbladder before it was removed, and since it was removed, mythical gallbladder scar tissue. It’s also the spot that collects and maintains fat-soluble and B vitamins for you women who have had vitamin deficiencies after gastric by-pass surgery because you no longer produce or your liver no longer stores them.
*******************************************************************
So where were we? Oh, yes. My eyes. The eyes are windows to the soul. No that’s not it. The eyes are portholes to the liver. We brought a friend to see the Amish healer once. She looked into the friend’s eyes and said “Oh, dear you have not had a bowel movement for six days (“Exactly six days,” our wide-eyed friend confessed in the car.)
* Iridology an alternative medicine technique whose proponents claim that patterns, colors, and other characteristics of the iris can be examined to determine information about a patient's systemic health. Practitioners match their observations to iris charts, which divide the iris into zones that correspond to specific parts of the human body. Iridologists see the eyes as "windows" into the body's state of health. Iridologists believe they can use the charts to distinguish between healthy systems and organs in the body and those that are overactive, inflamed, or distressed. Iridologists believe this information demonstrates a patient's susceptibility towards certain illnesses, reflects past medical problems, or predicts later health problems. (Wikipedia)
It became increasing clear to me over the last few months that my liver has been working too hard as the “spot” has become more of a “hot spot.” I began a regiment of dandelion but still my liver grumbled too much over okay foods. I was talking to Catia, another daughter about this issue as I rubbed my liver, and she reminded me of an herb tea that I engineer with remarkable results with AIDS patients, cures for HepC and a nurse’s incurable liver condition because, my friends, the liver constantly regrows itself, and if you nourish it, it should grow faster than it is damaged if it isn’t too damaged. I purchased the herb and began using it. One day last week, I looked in the mirror and saw my old crazy green eyes peeping back. I noted I was wearing teal, okay. The day after, green. Okay, but even so, every time I went to the bathroom I looked in the mirror at a familiar friend I have missed for awhile. Then on the third day, I wore red and they were still sea-foam green. I told Stef and she said, “I noticed your eyes were back a few days ago. “ I thought and then I remembered. I looked at my nails, which have been ridging for a few years, despite my best efforts to nourish them, and they were smoothing out too. “It’s the liver cleanse, Stef.”
I will write more about liver cleanses in the near future, I promise, but in the meantime see if this description of blood and liver has anything in common with you.
LIVER BLOOD DEFICIENCY (gan xue xu): primary symptoms are pale face color; dizziness; dry eyes or, at a more advanced stage, blurry vision (especially at night); numbness in the extremities (including arms easily "falling asleep" while sleeping); limited flexibility of tendons and muscles. Secondary symptoms include pale lips and nails; dry, split, atrophied, or malformed nails; muscle twitching; spasms or cramping in the extremities; trembling hands or feet; occasional intercostal pain; ringing in the ears; in females: decreased and pale menstrual flow. The tongue is typically pale or pink; the pulse tends to be fine, or wiry and forceless.
Representative Herbs: tang-kuei (danggui), peony (baishao), gelatin (ejiao), ligustrum (nuzhenzi), cornus (shanzhuyu), cnidium (chuanxiong), zizyphus (suanzaoren), millettia (jixueteng).
Representative Formulas: Tang-kuei Four Combination (Siwu Tang); Tonify the Liver Decoction (Bugan Tang); Linking Decoction (Yiguan Jian) minus melia (chuanlianzi) plus peony (baishao).
www.itmonline.org
A Liver Song Dedicated to the Sisters I Love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGboNqFgBvw
LIVER LONG AND PROSPER!
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Going Keto
By Darlene Lykins
At the first of 2013, I was an invalid in my office chair. It hurt to move. It hurt to be still. Everything just hurt with a screaming, burning pain. I felt sure that this was my death and so I began the finals – financials, directives, genealogy, passwords, and letters. One of the things I wanted to do was have the fat pads removed from the girls’ inner knees. I began doing the research and found that someone had typed one odd word on a comment board: lipedema. Even in my pain-filled world, curiosity won. I was off on a Google adventure. It didn’t take long to find out about renegade fat cells, inflammation, canklets, and pictures … lots of pictures that looked like me. In addition, that most heinous group of words kept cropping up: incurable, genetic and progressive.
Hope struck in the strangest way that morning. By researching further, I found the Dercum’s video and the lactic acid leakage explanation. Lactic acid? I knew all about the stuff that ended my running dreams. I had no ability to run distance or sprint without that burning foul, fermenting glucose filling my legs. Was that problem the same as this problem? Realizing that this terrible pain could be lactic acid, a ghostly memory flooded my mind of a woman telling me about this amazing diet that had “cured” her daughter’s epileptic uncontrolled seizures. In a huge moment of revolt from modern and sane medical advice, my next Google adventure began with the word: ketone.
I am not a doctor or have anything to do with the medical profession in even a small way. In fact, until that morning in January there was always one clear item in my educational passage … I hate science. Of all the time spent researching and studying subjects over the years, none were anything related to science or medicine unless forced to do so. It is not that I can’t get good grades or understand the facts/figures of the math and science. I just hate science with medicine running a close second. Now I find myself deep in medical research from around the world studying mouse models, learning the lingo and well, actually, hating science but I continue to read and learn.
Going Keto
Jack Sprat could eat no fat… His wife could eat no lean…
In the ancient past, our ancestors had poor hunting/gathering years, iced over continents, extra-long winters, belching volcanoes, and great migrations. Enduring these difficulties took more than a carb diet-hypothesis. Studied by George F. Cahill, Jr. in his career at Harvard, starvation pathway provides a pathway to survival (PDF). In response to starvation, ketone bodies insured our far distant ancestors’ survival. In our modern times, keto-adapted living provides many benefits to endurance athletes, medical patients, and people with special dietary needs.
Glucose-burner or ketone-burner
A glucose burning body covers all diets from high carb to low carb, which includes the high protein diet and omnivore diet. As a glucose burner the liver, kidneys, and pancreas act to create glucose, burn glucose, balance blood glucose, and store glucose/glycogen. A high-protein, sometimes called a low-carb, diet is a glucose-burner as the pathway, gluconeogenesis (GNG), changes protein to glucose. For a carb burner, the traditional diet consists of vegetables/grains, low fats (monounsaturated), and moderate to low protein along with lower sodium.
In the ketogenic diet, organs have different jobs. The liver produces ketone bodies instead of full-time glycogen/glucose. The kidneys, using gluconeogenesis, create glucose for the brain. The pancreas is up regulating its lipid breakdown enzymes and sparing its insulin. Much of the brain, the heart, and the muscles all now burn the ketones for energy production. For a fat-burner, the diet consists of quality fats (including saturated), adequate protein, and low carbs with much more sodium needed than in a glucose-burning diet.
Keto-adaption vs Ketoacidosis
Every diet must lower something creating an energy gap in order to make the body use its fat stores as fuel. Thus, every diet creates ketone bodies at some level as a by-product of fat burning. In keto-adaptation, the body trains over a period of WEEKS not hours to breaking down saturated fats, burn fats and control adequate storage of fats. Ketoacidosis, when the ketone level and blood glucose level are beyond normal parameters, is a state of imminent danger. Without a functioning pancreas, the production of ketones in the liver is like a nuclear chain reaction with the ketones building up in the blood stream doing incredible damage and ultimate death.
My Research
Phinney and Volek (video), (book); Peter Attia (video, video, blog); Freeman (book); along with bloggers McDonald, Sisson and Jaminet were my important resources. When I had the concept understood that I could eat more fat, and I believed that cholesterol would not kill me, I moved to the actual implementation by calculation.
Calculating my risks
The risk factors I found for not doing well on a keto-living style were weight loss surgery, brittle Type 2 Diabetes, celiac disease, eating disorders, confirmed heart disease, inability to digest fats or fatty acids, being a child/teenager, various chronic stomach illnesses, and probably others that I did not find. As I was clear on the ones I found, I moved into the math.
Calculating my Lean Body Mass (LBM)
Short of having an X-ray, MRI, CT or DXA scan of my lean body mass, the next best seemed to be the Covert Bailey formula (website). This formula measures areas not prone to lipedemic distortion along with the lipedemic-distorted areas. On the lipedemic distorted areas, I pulled the tape as tight as I could stand it in order to get as close to the muscle measurement as possible. For me, the formula calculates a 155-pound core body, which was the size of my body before the lipedemic distortion.
Calculating my ideal weight
I needed to add my healthy adipose (HA) in weight to my LBM. “Healthy adipose” is not an oxymoronic phrase, strange alien term, or fodder for comedians. A healthy adipose system is a key to having a good immune system, good skin, continuous energy, long endurance, correct hormones, wonderful lungs, functioning brain, and good general health. How much “fat” is correct? Women need 21% – 36% (website), with men’s numbers being lower. I am targeting the 36% mark because of my age and body shape. My formula looks like: 155 *times* 1.36 for ~210 pounds of healthy mass/weight. This is my ideal weight but it does not meet the approval of the AMA.
Calculating my body composition
As a point of fact, I will always weigh more than anyone’s ideal amount because I have lipedemic distortion/accumulation of—I am guessing low—around 20 lbs. Adding that into the mix, 210 + 20 makes me need 230 pounds.
But, is it fat?
If is it not burring away with diet and exercise, logic says probably not. Lipedema is lipo (fat) and edema (swelling). Fat: no one knows why it is strange and seeming stuck in storage mode so I had to ignore that—for now. Swelling: we know a lot about that and between inflammations from food allergies, toxins, other adipose tissue, lymphedema, and generic edema there are many points to attack. I chose to fight the inflammation and it was time to put the eating action plan together.
Calculating my protein
How much protein one should have in a day is a hotly debated subject. The truism of 25 grams per day is true and adequate for living – but barely. I follow Dr. Rosedale’s formula and picked low (.5) because of my age and known cancers in my family history. 155*.5 = 77 so I aim for between 75 and 100 g of protein each day from various sources to capture as many amino acids as possible.
Choosing my carbohydrate amount
Carbs are not essential but are nutrient rich. Primal Blueprint has the chart that most low-carbers follow; however, Volek and Phinney have re-introduced the concept of “Carbohydrate Intolerance”. Everyone probably has a personal set point where below that amount of carbs we can keto-adapt and above that amount we cannot keto-adapt. Physical clues are a large belly, general obesity, and other signs of metabolic challenge. Another factor to consider is high triglycerides with low HDL (paper). My choice was to eat a VERY low carb intake of zero carbs with the top end being around 30 carbs daily, which necessitated a good vitamin supplement plan. While I get my glucose from protein through gluconeogenesis (GNG), low glycemic veggies are an excellent choice as well as carriers of need micronutrients.
Calculating my fat intake
How much fat? Answer: The protein grams I selected + the carbohydrate amount I selected will be found in X amount of calories. Calculate: Protein*4 = kCal-p and glucose*4 = kCal-c. Add those totals together. ALL other calories need to come from fat—either dietary or stored—in a range above 60% of total intake. NOTE: Once I keto-adapted, calories are not important. Do zero math.
EH?
Instead of counting, I shift percentages of the macronutrients—carbs, fat, protein—to my needs.
• If I want to lose healthy, burnable lipid from the adipose tissue (lipedemic tissue is not burnable yet) I eat the same carbs, the same protein, and less fat. By creating this gap in the fuel system, the body will need to cannibalize its lipids in the adipose tissue because as keto-adapted system it will not want look for glucose.
• If I am at a good realistic-weight and only have that lipedemic fat hanging around, I need to eat the amount of fat to keep cannibalization from happening by making NO gaps in the fat consumption. Mostly, especially with lipedema, if the brain cannot see it has fat it will move on to muscles and that is never good. How would I know if the muscle was being burnt and I needed to eat more fat? One very wise person said my feet would smell of tomcat urine. I agree.
• If I need to gain muscle, I need exercise and an increase in protein in the ratio of 1 gram for every 1 pound.
• If I need to gain fat mass, I probably need to switch out to carb storage again by eating carbs to raise my insulin.
Keeping track over time
Once I had my totals for macronutrients, I used a multipage Excel spreadsheet system but apps like My Fitness Pal would work just fine without the headaches.
Keto-adaption
My basic training time to adapt was 8-ish weeks and I remained strict with my diet. The Keto-flu is a long dragging feeling as the body goes from being on this sugar rush to its more natural state. I keep a basic ratio of 2:1. An easy way to do this is add the protein grams to the carb grams. On a 1:1 ratio I would eat that many fat grams. On a 2:1, I need to multiply by 2. For a 3:1, multiply by 3 and so forth. Phinney likes to say when in doubt, eat more fat. My go-to for most deficits is good grass-fed organic butter, cultured grass-fed butter, homemade ghee, or MCT (coconut) oil. Absolute measures were not necessary I gained a new appreciation of how my body handles energy balance.
So what do I eat?
I tweaked Peter Attia’s eating plan for my tastes (here). I enhanced low-carb recipes by adding fat to keep the 2:1 ratio going. I reworked some of my favorites to create new comfort foods.
Other food tricks
Fat is a toxin holder—remember to find as many clean, chemical-free, hormone-free sources as possible. Eating out generally consists of eating before we leave and then just enjoying a coffee and chatting while we are out. Vacation was tricky but grocery stores became my fast food stops. When I get in a situation of carbs for miles and miles, I wait until I will get home to refill the fatty acid and the protein pools because hunger and eating every 2 hours no longer drives me.
Results!
One year ago, I was 335 pounds and now 255 leaving 25 pounds to resolve before I am at the 230 pound goal. Most of those pounds were inflammation. The rate of “weight” loss did not match my activity level. At times, I would have had to be at a 200% positive metabolic rate—just no way. Pain: the burning pain of fermentation is gone. Attitude about myself: I no longer try to destroy the healthy adipose tissue but am constantly building it up. The healthier it gets, the healthier I get.
The Future
A.) I will be testing cholesterol on a higher level using either VAP or NMR profile. B.) DXA scan. C.) Heart health screening. D.) Relaxation and meditation focuses for cortisol reduction. E.) Maybe an exercise program.
This not written for DIY parent to feed a child for either epilepsy or obesity. Children are very precious and they do not deserve any DIY fixes for their beautiful unfinished lives. Children can be lost to death very quickly eating this way through improper hydration, micro-nutrition deficiency or wasting. Get them real professional help.
At the first of 2013, I was an invalid in my office chair. It hurt to move. It hurt to be still. Everything just hurt with a screaming, burning pain. I felt sure that this was my death and so I began the finals – financials, directives, genealogy, passwords, and letters. One of the things I wanted to do was have the fat pads removed from the girls’ inner knees. I began doing the research and found that someone had typed one odd word on a comment board: lipedema. Even in my pain-filled world, curiosity won. I was off on a Google adventure. It didn’t take long to find out about renegade fat cells, inflammation, canklets, and pictures … lots of pictures that looked like me. In addition, that most heinous group of words kept cropping up: incurable, genetic and progressive.
Hope struck in the strangest way that morning. By researching further, I found the Dercum’s video and the lactic acid leakage explanation. Lactic acid? I knew all about the stuff that ended my running dreams. I had no ability to run distance or sprint without that burning foul, fermenting glucose filling my legs. Was that problem the same as this problem? Realizing that this terrible pain could be lactic acid, a ghostly memory flooded my mind of a woman telling me about this amazing diet that had “cured” her daughter’s epileptic uncontrolled seizures. In a huge moment of revolt from modern and sane medical advice, my next Google adventure began with the word: ketone.
I am not a doctor or have anything to do with the medical profession in even a small way. In fact, until that morning in January there was always one clear item in my educational passage … I hate science. Of all the time spent researching and studying subjects over the years, none were anything related to science or medicine unless forced to do so. It is not that I can’t get good grades or understand the facts/figures of the math and science. I just hate science with medicine running a close second. Now I find myself deep in medical research from around the world studying mouse models, learning the lingo and well, actually, hating science but I continue to read and learn.
Going Keto
Jack Sprat could eat no fat… His wife could eat no lean…
In the ancient past, our ancestors had poor hunting/gathering years, iced over continents, extra-long winters, belching volcanoes, and great migrations. Enduring these difficulties took more than a carb diet-hypothesis. Studied by George F. Cahill, Jr. in his career at Harvard, starvation pathway provides a pathway to survival (PDF). In response to starvation, ketone bodies insured our far distant ancestors’ survival. In our modern times, keto-adapted living provides many benefits to endurance athletes, medical patients, and people with special dietary needs.
Glucose-burner or ketone-burner
A glucose burning body covers all diets from high carb to low carb, which includes the high protein diet and omnivore diet. As a glucose burner the liver, kidneys, and pancreas act to create glucose, burn glucose, balance blood glucose, and store glucose/glycogen. A high-protein, sometimes called a low-carb, diet is a glucose-burner as the pathway, gluconeogenesis (GNG), changes protein to glucose. For a carb burner, the traditional diet consists of vegetables/grains, low fats (monounsaturated), and moderate to low protein along with lower sodium.
In the ketogenic diet, organs have different jobs. The liver produces ketone bodies instead of full-time glycogen/glucose. The kidneys, using gluconeogenesis, create glucose for the brain. The pancreas is up regulating its lipid breakdown enzymes and sparing its insulin. Much of the brain, the heart, and the muscles all now burn the ketones for energy production. For a fat-burner, the diet consists of quality fats (including saturated), adequate protein, and low carbs with much more sodium needed than in a glucose-burning diet.
Keto-adaption vs Ketoacidosis
Every diet must lower something creating an energy gap in order to make the body use its fat stores as fuel. Thus, every diet creates ketone bodies at some level as a by-product of fat burning. In keto-adaptation, the body trains over a period of WEEKS not hours to breaking down saturated fats, burn fats and control adequate storage of fats. Ketoacidosis, when the ketone level and blood glucose level are beyond normal parameters, is a state of imminent danger. Without a functioning pancreas, the production of ketones in the liver is like a nuclear chain reaction with the ketones building up in the blood stream doing incredible damage and ultimate death.
My Research
Phinney and Volek (video), (book); Peter Attia (video, video, blog); Freeman (book); along with bloggers McDonald, Sisson and Jaminet were my important resources. When I had the concept understood that I could eat more fat, and I believed that cholesterol would not kill me, I moved to the actual implementation by calculation.
Calculating my risks
The risk factors I found for not doing well on a keto-living style were weight loss surgery, brittle Type 2 Diabetes, celiac disease, eating disorders, confirmed heart disease, inability to digest fats or fatty acids, being a child/teenager, various chronic stomach illnesses, and probably others that I did not find. As I was clear on the ones I found, I moved into the math.
Calculating my Lean Body Mass (LBM)
Short of having an X-ray, MRI, CT or DXA scan of my lean body mass, the next best seemed to be the Covert Bailey formula (website). This formula measures areas not prone to lipedemic distortion along with the lipedemic-distorted areas. On the lipedemic distorted areas, I pulled the tape as tight as I could stand it in order to get as close to the muscle measurement as possible. For me, the formula calculates a 155-pound core body, which was the size of my body before the lipedemic distortion.
Calculating my ideal weight
I needed to add my healthy adipose (HA) in weight to my LBM. “Healthy adipose” is not an oxymoronic phrase, strange alien term, or fodder for comedians. A healthy adipose system is a key to having a good immune system, good skin, continuous energy, long endurance, correct hormones, wonderful lungs, functioning brain, and good general health. How much “fat” is correct? Women need 21% – 36% (website), with men’s numbers being lower. I am targeting the 36% mark because of my age and body shape. My formula looks like: 155 *times* 1.36 for ~210 pounds of healthy mass/weight. This is my ideal weight but it does not meet the approval of the AMA.
Calculating my body composition
As a point of fact, I will always weigh more than anyone’s ideal amount because I have lipedemic distortion/accumulation of—I am guessing low—around 20 lbs. Adding that into the mix, 210 + 20 makes me need 230 pounds.
I vowed to never sacrifice the actual amount of LBM and healthy adipose tissue I NEED for health to the inflammation/lymphedema/ lipedema weight I carry in order to make the scales in the doctor’s office look good. When I make this sacrifice, I am robbing my health and future.
But, is it fat?
If is it not burring away with diet and exercise, logic says probably not. Lipedema is lipo (fat) and edema (swelling). Fat: no one knows why it is strange and seeming stuck in storage mode so I had to ignore that—for now. Swelling: we know a lot about that and between inflammations from food allergies, toxins, other adipose tissue, lymphedema, and generic edema there are many points to attack. I chose to fight the inflammation and it was time to put the eating action plan together.
Calculating my protein
How much protein one should have in a day is a hotly debated subject. The truism of 25 grams per day is true and adequate for living – but barely. I follow Dr. Rosedale’s formula and picked low (.5) because of my age and known cancers in my family history. 155*.5 = 77 so I aim for between 75 and 100 g of protein each day from various sources to capture as many amino acids as possible.
Choosing my carbohydrate amount
Carbs are not essential but are nutrient rich. Primal Blueprint has the chart that most low-carbers follow; however, Volek and Phinney have re-introduced the concept of “Carbohydrate Intolerance”. Everyone probably has a personal set point where below that amount of carbs we can keto-adapt and above that amount we cannot keto-adapt. Physical clues are a large belly, general obesity, and other signs of metabolic challenge. Another factor to consider is high triglycerides with low HDL (paper). My choice was to eat a VERY low carb intake of zero carbs with the top end being around 30 carbs daily, which necessitated a good vitamin supplement plan. While I get my glucose from protein through gluconeogenesis (GNG), low glycemic veggies are an excellent choice as well as carriers of need micronutrients.
Calculating my fat intake
How much fat? Answer: The protein grams I selected + the carbohydrate amount I selected will be found in X amount of calories. Calculate: Protein*4 = kCal-p and glucose*4 = kCal-c. Add those totals together. ALL other calories need to come from fat—either dietary or stored—in a range above 60% of total intake. NOTE: Once I keto-adapted, calories are not important. Do zero math.
EH?
Instead of counting, I shift percentages of the macronutrients—carbs, fat, protein—to my needs.
• If I want to lose healthy, burnable lipid from the adipose tissue (lipedemic tissue is not burnable yet) I eat the same carbs, the same protein, and less fat. By creating this gap in the fuel system, the body will need to cannibalize its lipids in the adipose tissue because as keto-adapted system it will not want look for glucose.
• If I am at a good realistic-weight and only have that lipedemic fat hanging around, I need to eat the amount of fat to keep cannibalization from happening by making NO gaps in the fat consumption. Mostly, especially with lipedema, if the brain cannot see it has fat it will move on to muscles and that is never good. How would I know if the muscle was being burnt and I needed to eat more fat? One very wise person said my feet would smell of tomcat urine. I agree.
• If I need to gain muscle, I need exercise and an increase in protein in the ratio of 1 gram for every 1 pound.
• If I need to gain fat mass, I probably need to switch out to carb storage again by eating carbs to raise my insulin.
Keeping track over time
Once I had my totals for macronutrients, I used a multipage Excel spreadsheet system but apps like My Fitness Pal would work just fine without the headaches.
Keto-adaption
My basic training time to adapt was 8-ish weeks and I remained strict with my diet. The Keto-flu is a long dragging feeling as the body goes from being on this sugar rush to its more natural state. I keep a basic ratio of 2:1. An easy way to do this is add the protein grams to the carb grams. On a 1:1 ratio I would eat that many fat grams. On a 2:1, I need to multiply by 2. For a 3:1, multiply by 3 and so forth. Phinney likes to say when in doubt, eat more fat. My go-to for most deficits is good grass-fed organic butter, cultured grass-fed butter, homemade ghee, or MCT (coconut) oil. Absolute measures were not necessary I gained a new appreciation of how my body handles energy balance.
So what do I eat?
I tweaked Peter Attia’s eating plan for my tastes (here). I enhanced low-carb recipes by adding fat to keep the 2:1 ratio going. I reworked some of my favorites to create new comfort foods.
Other food tricks
Fat is a toxin holder—remember to find as many clean, chemical-free, hormone-free sources as possible. Eating out generally consists of eating before we leave and then just enjoying a coffee and chatting while we are out. Vacation was tricky but grocery stores became my fast food stops. When I get in a situation of carbs for miles and miles, I wait until I will get home to refill the fatty acid and the protein pools because hunger and eating every 2 hours no longer drives me.
Results!
One year ago, I was 335 pounds and now 255 leaving 25 pounds to resolve before I am at the 230 pound goal. Most of those pounds were inflammation. The rate of “weight” loss did not match my activity level. At times, I would have had to be at a 200% positive metabolic rate—just no way. Pain: the burning pain of fermentation is gone. Attitude about myself: I no longer try to destroy the healthy adipose tissue but am constantly building it up. The healthier it gets, the healthier I get.
The Future
A.) I will be testing cholesterol on a higher level using either VAP or NMR profile. B.) DXA scan. C.) Heart health screening. D.) Relaxation and meditation focuses for cortisol reduction. E.) Maybe an exercise program.
This not written for DIY parent to feed a child for either epilepsy or obesity. Children are very precious and they do not deserve any DIY fixes for their beautiful unfinished lives. Children can be lost to death very quickly eating this way through improper hydration, micro-nutrition deficiency or wasting. Get them real professional help.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Lifestyle changes with lipedema – do or don’t?
By Tatjana van der Krabben
Here at Lipese we speak of hope and leaving no stone unturned on the road to recovery. This upbeat message isn’t necessarily welcomed. We come across countless reasons to stay clear of lifestyle changes:
- It’s genetic
- It’s progressive
- It’s incurable
- If lifestyle works, my family will blame me all over again for being overweight
- My doctors says low carb and going wheat-free and sugar-free is not proven
- My doctor says birth control with hormones can’t affect my legs
- Exercise hurts
We get it. Of course we do! We, too, are in this boat. Frustrating isn’t it? Having lipedema, getting mixed signals, being told time and again that there’s no research to support claims. Conservative treatment is compression, manual lymphatic drainage and the piece of advice to ‘watch your weight’. Frankly, that’s not a whole lot to go on, especially combined with the ‘lipedema is progressive and incurable’ message. I got this speech as well from my dermatologist when I got diagnosed.
I always get an itch I can’t scratch when I hear the word ‘incurable’. Don’t you? Lots of conditions were incurable at some point. ‘Incurable’ is so negative. How are you supposed to derive any motivation from that? And how does that mean ‘nothing will help’? Many beg to differ.
Lipedema need not be progressive. You could possibly even reverse some of the symptoms. There. I said it. Do I hold the magic ingredients to a potion or something? No. Still, lifestyle changes have stopped the previously experienced progressive nature of lipedema in its tracks for a growing number of patients. It takes searching and tweaking and trying and effort. Lots of effort. But you DO have options.
With people sharing their experiences online through social media, you get an idea of what is driving people. There is no single diet that will work, unfortunately. Women report different triggers for sudden weight gain and/or sore legs, but also variations in the extend in which they cut out grains and carbs. I was asking around which doctors now recommend going wheat-free and sugar-free; giving up both tends to yield results for all involved. I abandoned that idea and this is why. Truthfully, you could still dismiss me for lack of scientific substantiating, for the absence of any and all medical trials, either pro or con for leaving out certain food items or incorporating certain exercise. You could argue that for the lipedema specialists that recommend leaving out certain foods, there are at least as many doctors, if not more, recommending something along the lines of the food pyramid, calorie counting or gastric surgery. It’s all out there and they are all considered to be lipedema specialists. True. But if you’ll indulge me one minute on the soapbox? Just one minute. I promise.
Sugar
Sugar is not really food. It’s a sweetener. You don’t actually need it. More so, it’s unhealthy. Regardless what a doctor specializes in, he or she will not frown upon you for leaving out sugar. There’s nothing wild and crazy about quitting sugar. It won’t lead to nutritional deficiencies. So, if there is a little fiber of hope left in you, after all the dietary disappointments you probably had, that something could work, think sugar. Here’s the actual challenge: don’t substitute the sugar for artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately more and more evidence suggests that’s at least as bad if not worse than sugar.
My minute is up. I’ll get off the soap box as promised. Should you give it a try for a couple of weeks, will you let us know how it went?
Here at Lipese we speak of hope and leaving no stone unturned on the road to recovery. This upbeat message isn’t necessarily welcomed. We come across countless reasons to stay clear of lifestyle changes:
- It’s genetic
- It’s progressive
- It’s incurable
- If lifestyle works, my family will blame me all over again for being overweight
- My doctors says low carb and going wheat-free and sugar-free is not proven
- My doctor says birth control with hormones can’t affect my legs
- Exercise hurts
We get it. Of course we do! We, too, are in this boat. Frustrating isn’t it? Having lipedema, getting mixed signals, being told time and again that there’s no research to support claims. Conservative treatment is compression, manual lymphatic drainage and the piece of advice to ‘watch your weight’. Frankly, that’s not a whole lot to go on, especially combined with the ‘lipedema is progressive and incurable’ message. I got this speech as well from my dermatologist when I got diagnosed.
I always get an itch I can’t scratch when I hear the word ‘incurable’. Don’t you? Lots of conditions were incurable at some point. ‘Incurable’ is so negative. How are you supposed to derive any motivation from that? And how does that mean ‘nothing will help’? Many beg to differ.
Lipedema need not be progressive. You could possibly even reverse some of the symptoms. There. I said it. Do I hold the magic ingredients to a potion or something? No. Still, lifestyle changes have stopped the previously experienced progressive nature of lipedema in its tracks for a growing number of patients. It takes searching and tweaking and trying and effort. Lots of effort. But you DO have options.
With people sharing their experiences online through social media, you get an idea of what is driving people. There is no single diet that will work, unfortunately. Women report different triggers for sudden weight gain and/or sore legs, but also variations in the extend in which they cut out grains and carbs. I was asking around which doctors now recommend going wheat-free and sugar-free; giving up both tends to yield results for all involved. I abandoned that idea and this is why. Truthfully, you could still dismiss me for lack of scientific substantiating, for the absence of any and all medical trials, either pro or con for leaving out certain food items or incorporating certain exercise. You could argue that for the lipedema specialists that recommend leaving out certain foods, there are at least as many doctors, if not more, recommending something along the lines of the food pyramid, calorie counting or gastric surgery. It’s all out there and they are all considered to be lipedema specialists. True. But if you’ll indulge me one minute on the soapbox? Just one minute. I promise.
Sugar
Sugar is not really food. It’s a sweetener. You don’t actually need it. More so, it’s unhealthy. Regardless what a doctor specializes in, he or she will not frown upon you for leaving out sugar. There’s nothing wild and crazy about quitting sugar. It won’t lead to nutritional deficiencies. So, if there is a little fiber of hope left in you, after all the dietary disappointments you probably had, that something could work, think sugar. Here’s the actual challenge: don’t substitute the sugar for artificial sweeteners. Unfortunately more and more evidence suggests that’s at least as bad if not worse than sugar.
My minute is up. I’ll get off the soap box as promised. Should you give it a try for a couple of weeks, will you let us know how it went?
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Traditional Chinese medicine and lipedema – Part 2
By Tatjana van der Krabben
A while back I wrote about my new attempts to work on my fatigue and winter circulation issues through Chinese medicine. In my case that includes acupuncture. Note: acupuncture is NOT recommended in lymphedema and this advice has been extrapolated to lipedema. I can only speak for myself and I personally do not experience adverse effects. Other elements of traditional Chinese medicine will also be addressed.
Of course I jumped the gun and tried to figure out my symptoms myself. I already figured out that spleen deficiency wasn’t all there was too it*. I was thinking adrenal fatigue. Or, as put in this context: kidney deficiency. Traditional Chinese medicine doesn’t differentiate between kidneys and adrenal glands as such. I thought I had it pegged: it explained fatigue, comes with symptoms like dizziness, tinnitus and back problems. With the body functions relying on heat from kidney qi, I figured there was my answer.
Although my present therapist being willing to look at other options than the ever blamed spleen, she rightfully did stick to her own path to diagnosis. It was a close call. She was almost inclined to go with kidney deficiency, but the truth is, I have more liver deficiency symptoms as it is. Turns out, even the hours of the day you are struck with fatigue and the exact location of your headaches are indicators of the source of the problem.
With more than 50% of the estrogen metabolism taking place in in the liver and with its other major job of processing toxins in mind, that’s not a crazy place to look for clues. Although…it’s technically not correct to copy and paste our Western idea of the liver onto the traditional Chinese one. When pointing at an organ’s name in this context, one best looks at the description: the whole of the described functions, thus labeled with an organ’s name, is telling you what it’s actually pointing at. I took the Wikipedia definition, because it’s quite readable and helps you see it in terms of functions, more conceptual: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_(Chinese_medicine).
The liver:
• governs 'unclogging and deflation' of qi and emotions. The free flow of qi in turn will ensure the free flow of blood, digestion, and water.
o the free flow of qi and blood is particular significant since traditional Chinese medicine stipulates that stagnation of that flow will cause pain.
o by association via its respective element each zàng organ is embracing a certain emotion. The free flow of these five (and other) emotions is thus linked to the unrestrained circulation of the qi of the zàng organs.
• 'stores' blood
• opens into the eyes
• governs the tendons
• reflects in the nails
• governs anger
• houses the hun (魂, "Ethereal Soul")
What is this ‘storing of blood’? In quite plain English, it’s to be understood as follows:
The liver stores the blood. The liver is considered a storage area for blood when blood is not being used for physical activity. These periods of rest contribute to the body's restorative processes. During exercise, the blood is released to nourish the tendons and muscles.
This function is also intimately associated with the menstrual cycle; the liver maintains an adequate blood supply and regulates the timing and comfort of menstruation. Any dysfunctions in the menstrual cycle are almost always treated through the regulation of liver blood, qi, or yin.
When liver qi is stagnant (a very common condition), a person experiences irritability, tightness in the chest, and, in a woman, symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. When liver blood is deficient, symptoms such as dry eyes and skin, pallor, and lack of menstruation can occur. (Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/chinese/yin-organs4.htm)
So, what rings bells? Circulation, reference to digestion and water circulation, mood swings, dry skin, bad nails and paleness and my dry eyes driving my MAD. I was prescribed artificial teardrops and was about to max out on my daily recommended dose when I turned to my therapist – that dry.
Treatment
Through acupuncture mostly energy enhancing points where selected to help boost my liver and counteract the fatigue. My circulation issues were addressed with a moxa lamp pointed at the abdomen. Nifty thing. Does more than make you feel all warm and toasty. It is said to alleviate pains, reduce inflammation, improve blood circulation and metabolism. Not a needle in sight for that one. The moxa lamp is also referred to as TDP lamp. It’s challenging to find information that is objective; most online information is linked to a site that is also selling them. This one is at least not linked to a web shop: http://www.livingwellpdx.com/TDP_Lamp.html. I still need to self-test a little, but I can say it goes beyond warming yourself in the moment. The effects tend to last. Also, with connective tissue massage (a whole other story) I get from my edema therapist, my abdomen where the lamp is pointed is the softest and suddenly requires the least attention. That’s interesting. So, I’ve ordered my own lamp and will use that for further self-testing. Hopefully it can also alleviate lipedema pain, or at least joint pains, but that’s a question mark at this point!
When my toes get that purplish-grey look, like death not quite warmed over, additional needles are used to make the circulation take that extra jump all the way towards the toes. I also went from 1000mg of cayenne pepper to 500mg, because although cayenne is warming, too much could have the opposite effect according to traditional Chinese medicine. Funny thing is, it’s working.
Last but not least two tiny magnets are taped to the top of the instep of my feet. That’s a type of acupressure – skin is not punctured – to boost circulation all the way down to my feet. They usually last a couple of days. They either fall off or begin to irritate a little. The little magnets prolong the effect of the treatment.
In the past, when focusing on circulation and the spleen, I would experience a brief pick me up after each treatment. Its fleeting effect kept me dangling in the same spot, not bringing me definitive improvement. The shift of focus to the liver has brought progress, possibly supported by a mild fall and winter so far. Although I feel it’s safe to say this is going somewhere. Any and all temperatures below about 15o C (59o F) affect me and not in a good way. We’ve had plenty of that already, including my worst combo: cold dampness. Yikes!
Currently, we’re looking at a way to take things up a notch and aim for further improvement, but also to enable the body into self-support. For that, my therapist again gave me her copy of Healing with Whole Foods – Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford (2002). I found the following, paraphrased:
To address insufficient yin of the liver, mung beans, mung sprouts, chlorophyll-rich foods, cucumber, tofu and millet are recommended, as well as fresh cold-pressed flax oil and extracted oils of borage, evening primrose and black currant seeds. In this context seaweed, watercress and plum improve water metabolism. Also, taking sufficient liquids in general is helpful. Improving the kidney yin function is always beneficial in cases of liver yin deficiency; aloe vera gel is among the best kidney yin herbal tonics for building liver yin.
When the liver blood is deficient, this is a yin aspect that needs to be addressed separately. It can be built up with blood tonics such as spirulina and other chlorophyll-rich foods, dark grapes, blackberries, huckleberries, raspberries and blackstrap molasses. Helpful herbs include dang gui root (Angelica sinensis), prepared rehmannia root (Rehmannia glutinosa), peony root and yellow dock root (Rumex crispus). The three Chinese herbs dang gui, rehmannia and peony can be used singly, but are more effective when taken together in equal parts.
Frankly, I’ve only started looking into these additional remedies. Berries like raspberries are currently out of season in these parts and I tend to watch my fruit sugar intake these days, although I love them. I want to look into cold-pressed flax oil, since that comes recommended for numerous things. I started out with a chlorophyll-rich supplement: chlorella. Why chlorella? For a very simple reason: when checking out spirulina, I saw chlorella too and it was much cheaper. When going through supplements and herbs like I do, all coming out of pocket, I do watch that aspect, too! The other thing I intend to do is have a seaweed salad more often. I finally found dried seaweed without green dye to make chuka wakame, so I can happily indulge myself. Yum!
At the same time I stopped taking Rhodiola, that was initially recommended to me to help defy the fatigue. After I started taking that, I found it was more so recommended for adrenal fatigue. It did little for me; only more confirmation for me I need to go with the liver issues as pointed out by my therapist**. The chlorella started working within days. All in all I now experience less headaches, slightly less dry eyes, I sleep like a baby and feel slightly less drained. My toe nails are also less brittle, but that already followed from the initial acupuncture treatments. Best part: it’s end of December and my feet DON’T kill me for a change, despite the cold. All baby steps, but greatly welcomed.
It’s a long road. The dry eyes have been bothering me for about 15 years and this bad, where medication is required, for about 2 years now. That should give a clue how long this has been undermining my health and how much we do on will power and not much else. Sounds familiar, ladies?
* http://blog.lipese.com/2013/09/traditional-chinese-medicine-and.html
** This blog describes a part of my personal journey towards improved health. I don’t endorse acupuncture or unsupervised administering of herbs and/or supplements. Liver deficiency was a diagnosis based on my individual symptoms. Deficiency and fatigue are generally linked to lipedema, but causes are individual.
A while back I wrote about my new attempts to work on my fatigue and winter circulation issues through Chinese medicine. In my case that includes acupuncture. Note: acupuncture is NOT recommended in lymphedema and this advice has been extrapolated to lipedema. I can only speak for myself and I personally do not experience adverse effects. Other elements of traditional Chinese medicine will also be addressed.
Of course I jumped the gun and tried to figure out my symptoms myself. I already figured out that spleen deficiency wasn’t all there was too it*. I was thinking adrenal fatigue. Or, as put in this context: kidney deficiency. Traditional Chinese medicine doesn’t differentiate between kidneys and adrenal glands as such. I thought I had it pegged: it explained fatigue, comes with symptoms like dizziness, tinnitus and back problems. With the body functions relying on heat from kidney qi, I figured there was my answer.
Although my present therapist being willing to look at other options than the ever blamed spleen, she rightfully did stick to her own path to diagnosis. It was a close call. She was almost inclined to go with kidney deficiency, but the truth is, I have more liver deficiency symptoms as it is. Turns out, even the hours of the day you are struck with fatigue and the exact location of your headaches are indicators of the source of the problem.
With more than 50% of the estrogen metabolism taking place in in the liver and with its other major job of processing toxins in mind, that’s not a crazy place to look for clues. Although…it’s technically not correct to copy and paste our Western idea of the liver onto the traditional Chinese one. When pointing at an organ’s name in this context, one best looks at the description: the whole of the described functions, thus labeled with an organ’s name, is telling you what it’s actually pointing at. I took the Wikipedia definition, because it’s quite readable and helps you see it in terms of functions, more conceptual: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver_(Chinese_medicine).
The liver:
• governs 'unclogging and deflation' of qi and emotions. The free flow of qi in turn will ensure the free flow of blood, digestion, and water.
o the free flow of qi and blood is particular significant since traditional Chinese medicine stipulates that stagnation of that flow will cause pain.
o by association via its respective element each zàng organ is embracing a certain emotion. The free flow of these five (and other) emotions is thus linked to the unrestrained circulation of the qi of the zàng organs.
• 'stores' blood
• opens into the eyes
• governs the tendons
• reflects in the nails
• governs anger
• houses the hun (魂, "Ethereal Soul")
What is this ‘storing of blood’? In quite plain English, it’s to be understood as follows:
The liver stores the blood. The liver is considered a storage area for blood when blood is not being used for physical activity. These periods of rest contribute to the body's restorative processes. During exercise, the blood is released to nourish the tendons and muscles.
This function is also intimately associated with the menstrual cycle; the liver maintains an adequate blood supply and regulates the timing and comfort of menstruation. Any dysfunctions in the menstrual cycle are almost always treated through the regulation of liver blood, qi, or yin.
When liver qi is stagnant (a very common condition), a person experiences irritability, tightness in the chest, and, in a woman, symptoms of premenstrual syndrome. When liver blood is deficient, symptoms such as dry eyes and skin, pallor, and lack of menstruation can occur. (Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/natural-medicine/chinese/yin-organs4.htm)
So, what rings bells? Circulation, reference to digestion and water circulation, mood swings, dry skin, bad nails and paleness and my dry eyes driving my MAD. I was prescribed artificial teardrops and was about to max out on my daily recommended dose when I turned to my therapist – that dry.
Treatment
Through acupuncture mostly energy enhancing points where selected to help boost my liver and counteract the fatigue. My circulation issues were addressed with a moxa lamp pointed at the abdomen. Nifty thing. Does more than make you feel all warm and toasty. It is said to alleviate pains, reduce inflammation, improve blood circulation and metabolism. Not a needle in sight for that one. The moxa lamp is also referred to as TDP lamp. It’s challenging to find information that is objective; most online information is linked to a site that is also selling them. This one is at least not linked to a web shop: http://www.livingwellpdx.com/TDP_Lamp.html. I still need to self-test a little, but I can say it goes beyond warming yourself in the moment. The effects tend to last. Also, with connective tissue massage (a whole other story) I get from my edema therapist, my abdomen where the lamp is pointed is the softest and suddenly requires the least attention. That’s interesting. So, I’ve ordered my own lamp and will use that for further self-testing. Hopefully it can also alleviate lipedema pain, or at least joint pains, but that’s a question mark at this point!
When my toes get that purplish-grey look, like death not quite warmed over, additional needles are used to make the circulation take that extra jump all the way towards the toes. I also went from 1000mg of cayenne pepper to 500mg, because although cayenne is warming, too much could have the opposite effect according to traditional Chinese medicine. Funny thing is, it’s working.
Last but not least two tiny magnets are taped to the top of the instep of my feet. That’s a type of acupressure – skin is not punctured – to boost circulation all the way down to my feet. They usually last a couple of days. They either fall off or begin to irritate a little. The little magnets prolong the effect of the treatment.
In the past, when focusing on circulation and the spleen, I would experience a brief pick me up after each treatment. Its fleeting effect kept me dangling in the same spot, not bringing me definitive improvement. The shift of focus to the liver has brought progress, possibly supported by a mild fall and winter so far. Although I feel it’s safe to say this is going somewhere. Any and all temperatures below about 15o C (59o F) affect me and not in a good way. We’ve had plenty of that already, including my worst combo: cold dampness. Yikes!
Currently, we’re looking at a way to take things up a notch and aim for further improvement, but also to enable the body into self-support. For that, my therapist again gave me her copy of Healing with Whole Foods – Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition by Paul Pitchford (2002). I found the following, paraphrased:
To address insufficient yin of the liver, mung beans, mung sprouts, chlorophyll-rich foods, cucumber, tofu and millet are recommended, as well as fresh cold-pressed flax oil and extracted oils of borage, evening primrose and black currant seeds. In this context seaweed, watercress and plum improve water metabolism. Also, taking sufficient liquids in general is helpful. Improving the kidney yin function is always beneficial in cases of liver yin deficiency; aloe vera gel is among the best kidney yin herbal tonics for building liver yin.
When the liver blood is deficient, this is a yin aspect that needs to be addressed separately. It can be built up with blood tonics such as spirulina and other chlorophyll-rich foods, dark grapes, blackberries, huckleberries, raspberries and blackstrap molasses. Helpful herbs include dang gui root (Angelica sinensis), prepared rehmannia root (Rehmannia glutinosa), peony root and yellow dock root (Rumex crispus). The three Chinese herbs dang gui, rehmannia and peony can be used singly, but are more effective when taken together in equal parts.
Frankly, I’ve only started looking into these additional remedies. Berries like raspberries are currently out of season in these parts and I tend to watch my fruit sugar intake these days, although I love them. I want to look into cold-pressed flax oil, since that comes recommended for numerous things. I started out with a chlorophyll-rich supplement: chlorella. Why chlorella? For a very simple reason: when checking out spirulina, I saw chlorella too and it was much cheaper. When going through supplements and herbs like I do, all coming out of pocket, I do watch that aspect, too! The other thing I intend to do is have a seaweed salad more often. I finally found dried seaweed without green dye to make chuka wakame, so I can happily indulge myself. Yum!
At the same time I stopped taking Rhodiola, that was initially recommended to me to help defy the fatigue. After I started taking that, I found it was more so recommended for adrenal fatigue. It did little for me; only more confirmation for me I need to go with the liver issues as pointed out by my therapist**. The chlorella started working within days. All in all I now experience less headaches, slightly less dry eyes, I sleep like a baby and feel slightly less drained. My toe nails are also less brittle, but that already followed from the initial acupuncture treatments. Best part: it’s end of December and my feet DON’T kill me for a change, despite the cold. All baby steps, but greatly welcomed.
It’s a long road. The dry eyes have been bothering me for about 15 years and this bad, where medication is required, for about 2 years now. That should give a clue how long this has been undermining my health and how much we do on will power and not much else. Sounds familiar, ladies?
* http://blog.lipese.com/2013/09/traditional-chinese-medicine-and.html
** This blog describes a part of my personal journey towards improved health. I don’t endorse acupuncture or unsupervised administering of herbs and/or supplements. Liver deficiency was a diagnosis based on my individual symptoms. Deficiency and fatigue are generally linked to lipedema, but causes are individual.
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