Hi Walt,
I haven't wanted to contribute to your "work load", but I have been thinking about the reduced blood supply you have mentioned (reflexive blood loss to the intestines with leaky gut). I think you may have said something about this with reference to dysautonomia. At some point I would like to know more about this. When I got pulse diagnosed by the acupuncturist at Kaiser she said I had a reduced blood supply. It surely affects my brain! Do you think adrenal exhaustion could contribute to a reduced blood supply from a lack of circulation stimulation? At any rate, I think a reduced blood supply could contribute to hair loss and brain fog. My ears are often stopped up since the "changes of life" have begun.
I have also been wondering if you have considered making a video about this stress process and skilled relaxation? I really haven't gotten a grip on skilled relaxation even though I've been reading this site over a year. A possible reduced blood supply doesn't the brain get the gist of this and I think I'm a visual learner. I need to have someone come to me and say "Here Idiot, here's how you do this!" I am doing some investigating into herbs that stimulate or mimick the parasympathetic nervous system response. The owner of a listserv I get has been experimenting with some herbs (like anemone) and will let me know her results.
Well, uh back to lurking for a bit! Mary J.
In Reply to: Reduced Blood Supply posted by Mary Jackson on March 11, 1998 at 12:26:42:
Dear Mary,
The chart on page 69, of my book, shows you "visual learners" (grin) how the blood supply is redistributed during the fight or flight response. The brain is NOT one of those organs shut out of the circuit. You need your brain to run or fight! The gut is the one that suffers the most.
Next, how have you approached learning the skill of relaxation? Have you used the workbook recommended? If so, you may be one of the rare people who need to do this with biofeedback. That will cost you about $1500, which would be quickly paid back in savings in many areas of your life (not just medical).
Your hair loss probably IS aggravated by blood supply reduction but this is due to scalp muscle tension which is part of the fight or flight we have been talking about.
Your brain fag is due to chemical reactions in the brain chemistry due to the LGS peptides triggering immunological reactions----not a reduction in blood supply. HOWEVER, your bracing of head & neck muscles MAY be reducing the OXYGEN & NUTRIENTS supply to your brain through locking of the natural skull bone pumping movements. 75% of all nutrients to the hypothalamus get there via the cerebrospinal fluid which ONLY moves by this pumping movement.
In your case, it all comes down to stopping the chronic bracing due to the FOF mentioned above.
Do not hesitate to write again. Things have eased up a bit here on the BB.
There ARE many videos out there for learning skilled relaxation. Not as many as there are audio tapes since many people are distracted by visual input while learning this.
Herbs can be of temporary help---especially things like peyote & mushrooms (grin). However, even they will be temporary. Nothing except learning & practicing will do.
Let me know what you HAVE done &, perhaps I will have some specific ideas.
Walt
I am a 59-year old woman who smoked for 42 years. In '95
was diagnosed with emphysema and lungs equivalent to 81 years old. Quit smoking a year ago - have been exercising
with a trainer - weights and bike riding - walking 5K's now.
However, get frustrated when body will do more than lungs
will allow. I am going to buy a small trampoline and try
this - will keep you posted if progress occurs.
Also am using inhalers - would like more lung capacity -
this is certainly worth a try!
Thanks - keep in touch. Bev Maloney
SAVE WOMENS SEX LIVES!!!!!!
There is a terrible,horrible thing happening
to women everywhere.
It's called vulvodynia.
It is painful to have sex and in some instances women can not have sex at all.
PLEASE HELP.
-get the word out there.
-investigate , write articles, ask questions,
tell people about it, for more information
look at
www.vulvodynia.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-get my sister christy on oprah
she is tired of the pain.
help SAVE WOMENS SEX LIVES
respond to nat e-mail christyh@intergate.bc.ca.
In Reply to: vulvudynia posted by natalie on March 17, 1998 at 18:06:57:
made 2 mistakes.
vulvodynia is spelt with an o not an u
vulv
odynia
and it is christyh@intergate.bc.ca
In Reply to: vulvudynia posted by natalie on March 17, 1998 at 18:06:57:
Dear Natalie,
Vulvodynia is always caused by a combination of 2 things.
First & foremost is the chronic bracing of the levator ani (the doorkeeper muscle for the anus, bladder & vagina. Biofeedback sensors have been available for years to teach women to keep this muscle relaxed. HOWEVER, the most effective approach (as well as the least expensive) is to simply get rid of ALL the total body bracing that is always present & let the levator ani get relaxed as a side-effect. We have discussed this under topics as diverse as prostatitis (the male version of this problem in women), interstitial cystitis (almost exclusively in women) and many of the topics on my home page (link on this page).
The second cause, less common but ALWAYS present to some degree, is a symbolic and deep-seated fear of penetration.
I know that many reading this will not want to hear this. However, those who are ready to get over this vexing problem will eventually have to come to grips with it.
My book would be a good place to start understanding this AND what to do about it (link below). Those who want to understand the causes in greater depth, might want to read a copy of Dr Pelletier's classic (also referenced in my book): "Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer".
Once sufferers of this problem have the above under their belts, if they have any more questions, write again.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: vulv0dynia posted by natalie on March 17, 1998 at 18:12:36:
Dear Natalie,
I fortgot to mention several shorter term ways to relieve the symptoms while one is dealing with the causes I already mentioned.
Getting a deep, total body, therapeutic massage, 3 times a week for 2 weeks would give significant results that would last a few months. Its most important benefit would be that the individual would have no more doubts that I know what I am talking about. Chiropractic may have some suggestions as well.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Reduced Blood Supply posted by Walt Stoll on March 13, 1998 at 11:20:25:
Hi Walt,
I'm sure I've had the reduction of oxygen and nutrients from bracing (having been born breech and all that as I explained a year or so ago). I think I could have some neurotransmitter exhaustion in the process.
I haven't used the workbook you mentioned (hopefully in book) and haven't done much except massage my hands and feet. This is relaxing but also gives energy which can cause me problems--I already have a lot of energy. That's one thing I have been successful in achieving. I did note a distinct relaxation response after I'd been rollerblading four days in a row. Recently I tried walking three days in a row and had a problem with that--too stimulating to the nervous system and circulation. I was really interested in a news article on CNN recently about vipassana (hope I got that) meditation and its effect on prisoners. It seemed to help them find themselves amid all the stimulation affecting their brains.
Could you describe a bit about the natural skull bone pumping movements and how they originate? Thanks again--Mary
In Reply to: Re: Reduced Blood Supply posted by Mary Jackson on March 21, 1998 at 08:46:25:
Dear Mary,
I THOUGHT SO!
Usually the most important thing for anyone to do to get well is the LAST thing they get around to doing. Even if you GOT your skull bones moving again, they would just freeze up again with your "bracing". The main thing that causes lgs is also this bracing. Call The Cranial Academy, (317) 594-0411 for information about skull bone movements. Please share what you learn with the rest of the BB participants. I find it hard to explain without being able to show pictures of the head & spine.
There is NO MAGIC to vipassana meditation. It is just one of the things that works for a large % of people to reach the relaxation response I have been discussing here on the internet for years. NOTHING works for everyone, that is why one must always check the effectiveness of whatever is being practiced with biofeedback.
The problem with ANY "program" like the prisons one you mentioned is that the instructor teaches what s/he knows and lets those for which it does not work just fall by the wayside.
This is why I always tell people what I do about skilled relaxation. 100% of people can achieve these results IF they will not try to force one way to work for them.
Get the workbook and finally get this most importanrt cause of your problems behind you.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: Reduced Blood Supply posted by Walt Stoll on March 23, 1998 at 11:25:29:
Hi Walt,
I just read this--kinda far down on the site now. Yeah, you're right about the most important thing being left for last! I will print out your response and study it. There has been a thread on the D'Adamo BB about kriya yoga dispensing with excess cortisol in the blood. I am trying to figure out the difference between kriya and hatha yoga (the type usually taught around here). I am still corresponding with my e-mail pal Zarin who posted a bit to your site--she is from India originally so we discuss ayurvedic herbs, etc. I just love the wisdom of holistic medicine. I read your page about plagiocephaly. God knows you're doing a great service here with your site! Mary
In Reply to: Re: Reduced Blood Supply posted by Mary Jackson on March 29, 1998 at 23:58:07:
Thanks, Mary.
I need a boost now & then!
Namaste` Walt
DearWalt,
Thanks for the reply. I truly agree that I have body bracing and need to do the twice daily 20 minute relaxation. I am looking for a bio-feedback person and have been looking for bio-feedback software for my computer. Does this work very well. I think a trained person would be vital in the beginning. I have LOTS of stored stress and have been worried about it for several years. I think much of this is stress. (MOST) I also think I am very low on many nutrients due to not being able to eat properly.
I hope I can find a person to do deep body massage. I read
that one can't have deep body massage if they have
circulation troubles and I have varicose veins so I
will have to see what can be done.
Frankly, I am scared. The doctor tells me I can't live on
Ensure forever. The muscles are relaxing now that I am
drinking it but I still can't eat food.
I have to do something to move forward.
Thanks for your help and encouragement.
Pamela
In Reply to: Re:Body Bracing posted by Pamela Jayawardena on March 30, 1998 at 13:56:38:
Dear Pamela,
Of course, your doc is right when he says "you cannot live on Ensure forever". However, without telling you how long it WOULD be safe for you to live on it without damage, he is just scaring you. I think you did not ever consider "living on it forever".
It would be safe for 6 months (so long as you continued feeling better), especially if you took a good multivitamin like Multigenics Intensive Care in the meantime. Call (800) 522-6382 & have them send you the formula. As I recall, Ensure has a lot of refined carbohydrates in it (yuk).
By doing what you are learning to do, you should be a lot better long before that.
How does the software do the biofeedback for you? I would be interested in learning. Perhaps, then I could advise you about its efficacy. I had heard that they were developing this about 15 years ago. At that time, it was simplistic in the extreme. If it has matured as the rest of the computer field has, over that period of time, it MAY be worth while. I am not at all sure that you need an "instructor" to do this. The main reason I recommend seeing someone trained is that it is THEY who have the good instruments. Buying a good instrument, individually, would be a waste since nearly all people need only one or two sessions. THEN, what do you do with the machine?
Walt
I thought it would be useful to bring up the point for readers that there was a spot on 20/20 last Friday, 3/30, about sleep deprivation. They quoted a doctor Maas (?) who has a book out on sleep, as saying that "...America is a nation of walking zombies ...", that most people need 8 1/2 of sleep per night, but many people are only getting 5 or 6 hours. Since you consistently with good reason emphasize the importance of stress reduction in health, I wanted to pointedly introduce to the bulletin board that lack of sleep can be a consistent, devastating stressor in one's life, that can become a habitual "nightmare" (or "daymare" because we feel the effects when we are awake). Even stress inducing habits can be hard to change. This program just reemphasized to me that I, personally, need to reorder my priorities and get more sleep. If you are truly relaxed before sleep, you need less sleep, which I proved to myself when I learned to do yoga years ago...but enforced sleep deprivation because we "don't have time to sleep that much" can be devastating.
In Reply to: Sleep posted by Jan Buntyn on March 02, 1998 at 12:44:25:
I was really astounded when I read your posting today. Shortly before Thanksgiving, 1997, I had a severe GERD attack that put me in the hospital with heart attack-like symptoms and esophageal spasms. Since that time, I have had three return ER visits for anxiety attacks related to the dibilitating effects of GERD. I am currently on medications that only slightly relieve the symptoms. Just this morning I got to thinking about all my medical problems and how they may be related. It occured to me that I have been an "insomniac" since my early teens. I am 43 now and consider myself lucky to get four hours of sleep at night. I think this may have been on of the first indication that my body was not effectively dealing with stress. Sleep is a great stress reliever, so how can I re-program my body to sleep? I do yoga in the early morning, but I am a day care provider which fills up most of my day.
Linda
In Reply to: Re: Sleep posted by Linda on March 02, 1998 at 15:23:50:
Linda,
Everybody has different was to releive stress in their life. There is a great book "THE RELAXATION AND STRESS REDUCTION WORKBOOK" There are many things that creat stress in our life, physicial, emotional, enviromental, food sensitivities and so on. Many times we think we are relaxed or not stressed but the body is. If you have not read DR Stoll's Book I would encourage you to do so.
By the way I use to be a day care provider as well. Did you know that it is comapared to a the same stress level as an air traffic controller. Problem is you never get to leave your place of employment after the Kids go home you are still there and I think this is an added stress.
Shelly
In Reply to: Re: Sleep posted by Shelly R on March 02, 1998 at 17:05:56:
Dear Shelly,
Thanks for your note. Obviously, a "nerve" has been struck here. I am electing to respond to all the sleep notes here since you have come closest to the resolution of same.
When one's system is constantly in the fight or flight mode, it would be abnormal for that person to go deeply into restful sleep. Who could go to sleep when they are walking right at the edge of a cliff--which is exactly how the bodymind feels?
When I first learned to do skilled relaxation, it was so much fun that I ended up doing it several hours a day. I got so that I needed essentially NO sleep. Since skilled relaxation is 24 times as effective in reversing stress-effect storage than sleep (per minute), I was getting more than 24 hours of effective "sleep" per day without actually "going" to sleep.
I would lie down for a few hours and experience a sort of waking sleep with lucid dreaming. It was wonderful!
Yoga is one of the effective ways to do this. However, in my experience, yoga takes more time to get the results one may need than many other ways. Of course, yoga has other benefits. One needs at least 20 minutes TWICE a day, of skilled relaxation of some kind, to reverse the "readiness" that causes this kind of problem with sleep.
I do not know WHY this is so but it is. SOME people will get reversal of sleep disorders with just once a day and MANY will be able to maintain their benefits with once a day ONCE THE PROBLEM IS RESOLVED. However, most people will not get satisfactory results with only once a day practice.
The reason I say that one needs twice a day (never within 2 hours of retiring) is that one cannot count the just before retiring one in the 2 needed. It is a lovely way to go to sleep so many people use it for that purpose. NO PROBLEM so long as that time is not counted in the time necessary to actually resolve the problem.
Walt
Dr. Stoll,
I didn't find anything about repetitive stress disorder on your site when I did a search.
My mother-in-law has it. Any time she does an action repeatedly, whether it's washing dishes or cleaning a countertop or typing, her tendons start to get inflamed and painful within a few hours. It takes days to get better.
I get the feeling that there's some nutrient that would help, but I don't know where to start. Would glucosamine and chondroitin help? Could coffee cause this?
Thanks!
P.S. here's a cancer site for a doctor friend of mine. Three generations of doctors in his family have used insulin to make standard drugs much more effective. He can do chemotherapy as a primary treatment, with no surgery or radiation needed. The insulin potentiates the drug so much that 1/10 to 1/20 the dose is needed, and there are no side effects. I have a friend who went to him with her very advanced breast cancer, and after six months is symptom free.
In Reply to: repetitive stress posted by Chris Duffield on March 26, 1998 at 13:47:32:
Dear Chris,
Your M-I-L has total body bracing causing her immediate symptoms. She would profit greatly by reading 2 references in this order: My book (link below) and one of the books referenced in the back of my book: "Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer" by Dr Pelletier.
She would get immediate, though temporary (several months) relief by getting a deep, total-body, therapeutic massage 3 times a week for 2 weeks. The most important reason for her doing that is not because of the relief she would get but because it would prove to her that there was a solution to this unnecessary misery. She could get relief for a year or so by getting Rolfed.
Neither of the above would be a permanent cure but would give her relief while she was doing what WOULD. The only thing that will permanently resolve this is by her learning an effective skilled relaxation technique and practicing it at least 20 minutes twice a day (not counting any done within 2 hours of retiring). All of this is explained in depth in my book.
It IS possible that raising her intracellular magnesium level might help a lot too. However, that would requeir her seeing someone who knows how to test for it & resolve it. This is also carefully described in my book. If her level is low enough to contributre to this bracing, it is likely low enough to prevent enough oral absorbtion of magnesium to correct the problem.
UNFORTUNATELY, you are not the one who has to learn this--SHE is. Until she is willing to learn enough about this to do it, NOTHING either of us have to say will do anything.
If she decides to start thinking for herself, as she gets well I hope she will share her experiences with the rest of us here on the BB. Others suffering the same thing (there are lots) deserve to know that this is an unnecessary misery.
Walt
In Reply to: Re: repetitive stress posted by Walt Stoll on March 28, 1998 at 08:03:28:
Thank you for responding to my note. I have forwarded your response, as well as information about your book, to her.