• Aloe Vera Health Benefits - arthritis-exercise
  Article on types of exercises that will help people suffering from arthritis.
  (tags: health healing nature herbs)

• Raw Honey: Exploring the Benefits of This Ancient Superfood

  History and benefits of honey.

   

I mentioned before that I’ve become a Reiki practitioner at the master level within the past year. I continue to give myself Reiki treatments, which are incredibly relaxing. People ask me what the hand positions are for giving Reiki to people with high blood pressure. The most obvious hand position is the traditional Reiki area in the upper chest over the heart, between the breasts and collarbone. This Reiki hand position is perfect for heart relaxation and lowering high blood pressure. Keep the energy flowing for twenty minutes or more.

Of course a hypertension patient needs Reiki in all areas from head to feet, but I give extra attention to the traditional Reiki hand positions over the brain, because that is where strokes happen. The first hand position is over the frontal lobe. Both hands are lightly placed on the forehead and just over the forehead, and Reiki - which is life force energy - is channeled into the brain there for at least five minutes. Next we move to the eyes and cup our hands over them, and send energy. Third there’s the Reiki hand position that covers both ears. After that we move to the back of the brain. Our traditional Reiki hand position covers the cerebellum and occipital lobe. For a diagram, see A Guide to Brain Anatomy.

Of course, if you’re particularly concerned about a client’s brain, you can spend time sending Reiki energy - which is very relaxing - into the brain from any angle. Reiki practitioners are not limited to only the traditional healing sites.

Another area I’d spend extra time on for a client with high blood pressure is the upper back. Again, the purpose would be to relax the blood vessels around the heart, and the heart itself. Reiki simply relaxes and lowers the tension, and brings life force back into natural balance. Reiki life force energy will flow to the area that needs it most. The upper back hand position is very hard for me to do on myself, but I wouldn’t hesitate to do it for someone else.

Aside from all these Reiki hand positions, I’d give a client with high blood pressure plenty of Reiki life force energy in all the other traditional positions. This will relax the entire physical body - the entire circulatory system.

It couldn’t hurt!

And while I was doing that I’d play some wonderful relaxing music for Reiki healing sessions such as Reiki, Hands of Light, by Deuter which is intended to promote deep states of relaxation.

• Free Calorie Counter, Weight Loss Calculators, and Weight Loss Tutorial | CaloriesPerHour.com
  Plenty of information about how to lose weight and keep it off, as well as a calorie calculator, activity calculator, and weight loss calculator. There’s also a weekly newsletter you can sign up for, and forums.

• Bradycardia. | Henriette’s Herbal Homepage
  Brachycardia is a slow heartbeat - slower than sixty beats per minute. I realized I had brachycardia when I was taking a beta-blocker, atenolol, and so I decided to wean myself from the meds.

• Depression and mental disorders can be prevented and treated with simple healing foods
  Eating naturally will help alleviate the symptoms of mental illness. Omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts and molasses help cure depression better than anti-depressants do, according to a study at McLean Hospital.

• Hypavera :: a herbal hypertension product
  I just found this herbal product, and am intrigued… I may try it as my blood pressure is still a bit too high.

I’ve had pain in one of my thumb joints for a few years. I thought it was because my daughter grabbed my hand once and pulled on it the wrong way. But I never suspected Rheumatoid Arthritis. I thought I was too young for that!

This year I started feeling pains in the other thumb joint too. And when I started working at a stand-up-for-hours job downtown, I had pain in one of my ankles. My boyfriend was the first one who suggested it could be Rheumatoid Arthritis, and I did some research to see if that could be it.

. . .

I discovered there are several basic types of arthritis:

1. Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (Still’s Disease): Usually starts between 2 and 5 years of age, and disappears before puberty. A malfunction in the body’s defense system causes antibodies to attack the body’s tissues. They cause inflammation of the joints and organs. Attacks last for a few weeks, and subsequent attacks are usually less severe each time.

2. Psoriatic Arthritis: Psoriasis starts with emotional stress, skin damage, or poor health. It is seen as pink patches of thick skin, caused when skin cell production speeds up. This can cause a mild form of arthritis resembling rheumatoid arthritis.

3. Infectious Arthritis: Caused when bacteria invades a joint and causes inflammation. This is rare, and usually involves only one joint.

4. Rheumatoid Arthritis: Usually starts with hand and foot joints feeling stiff, tender, and/or painful. This usually starts during ages 40 to 60, but it can happen to people of any age.

. . .

I learned that the words “arthritis” and “rheumatism” are used interchangeably yet technically, there are no medical conditions that use only those words. They could refer to Rheumatoid Arthritis, Rheumatic Fever, or Osteoarthritis. If your physician tells you that you’ve got arthritis or rheumatism, ask to know what exactly the disease is.

Some people think that rheumatism is occasional, brought on by bad weather, and that arthritis is a chronic painful condition. But there’s actually no distinction of this sort except in folklore.

. . .

Rheumatoid Arthritis is usually a chronic, long-term condition. Less than half of those who have it recover fully. However the fact that some people do recover fully leaves me with the desire to be in that number. I will be looking for solutions and will keep blog readers informed of any progress I make in controlling arthritis pain and inflammation.

. . .

I went to see my nurse practitioner as soon as I was convinced that I too, could have Rheumatoid Arthritis. She confirmed my self-diagnosis and showed me her deformed finger which helped me see I’m not the only one suffering, that my current condition is mild, and that Rheumatoid Arthritis can become crippling and much worse than I’d imagined.

The nurse practitioner also told me that the thumb joints are often the first places where Rheumatoid Arthritis appears. I guess I’m right on schedule for old age diseases.

Her prescription for me: Motrin. Yes, that’s all I got - a prescription for Ibuprofen! That, and the advice to get used to it.

That leaves me with a lot of questions - and the desire to find ways to deal with this naturally.
. . .

Remember - I’m not a doctor or nurse. If you are one, you’re welcome to comment and give your opinions. Well, for that matter, EVERYONE is welcome to comment and give opinions - I’m hoping to hear from others on this topic.

I’ve got The Pill Book on order from Amazon. It is being shipped right now. I decided to order it before I started writing anything more in this blog because I’d like to know more about the effects and side effects of medications I might need to write about.

I’m really looking forward to studying about the various maladies and conditions. Hopefully this book will help. I have a medical book here at home, and the internet for more research. It should be fun to learn so much about the physical body and how it interacts with substances.

Remember, if you read this blog, that I’m not a doctor. I’m a self-trained herbal practitioner and energy therapist, looking for more information. This blog will chronicle my studies regarding medications and herbal remedies, and dietary changes that may aid various conditions.

. . .

[Update, July 29, 2007: I got The Pill Book and love it. This has plenty of information I'll need for doing the research for this blog. Meanwhile on July 13, the day after I wrote this posting, a fire started on the hill next to the wooded hill I live on. Naturally it caused a lot of stress here. I put a lot of my things in storage in case I needed to evacuate. The computer was one of those things that had to go, so I'm way off-track on working on my blog. We survived just fine, as did the house. I wrote about it on another blog: The Forest Is On Fire.]

I’ve been taking medications for hypertension for over ten years. I take two types of medications.

First I was prescribed Atenolol, a beta-blocker. My blood pressure was still high, so the nurse practitioner added Adalat, a calcium-channel-blocker.

At the time I was very stressed out because I was raising two young children by myself. But hypertension also runs in my family. My mother has it and my maternal grandmother did too. My grandmother had many strokes which my sister (a nurse practitioner) told me were caused by not taking medications regularly. I watched my grandmother suffer after a major stroke she had at the age of 80. For the next six years, until she passed away in 1996, my grandmother couldn’t walk or talk normally. Natuarlly this all frightened me, and I was determined to take my medications as prescribed.

Ten years later, I wonder if I’m doing the right thing. I’m much more relaxed now. I moved away from the San Francisco Bay Area and for six years now have been living in a tiny town in the Klamath River Valley of Northern California. Also the children grew up. They are 16 and 17 now, and are not so totally dependent on me. My life is pretty much stress-free, and I’m happy.

These drugs I’m taking have side effects, like all others. And I’ve added one more drug - in 2001 I started taking Levoxyl for a hypothyroid disorder that was discovered when I had my hysterectomy.

I want to be meds-free! I want to be healthy again, and live a normal life, not dependent on the medications I’ve believed were so vital to my existence. And I believe I can do it. I simply need to learn more about natural remedies and get healthier by exercising more and losing weight. I’m about 60 lbs. overweight. In the last few months I’ve lost about 20 pounds (it fluctuates a little).

I’m starting this weblog to chronicle my attempts to lose weight, get healthy, and get off the medications forever.