Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Coping with trauma: the mind/body connection: updated again 9/26/12

This blog typically deals with a lot of conspiracy research that can be very draining on both an emotional and physical level if not counterbalanced by more, for lack of a better word, positive thoughts and actions. This problem has been on my mind a bit lately, since I've noticed that most people who deal with the subject of trauma-based mind control tend to burn out after a short length of time due to the emotional weight of dealing with difficult subject matter. Since many regular readers here have ongoing issues with physical and psychological health, I thought it might be useful to share some of the strategies I've used to cope with these problems.


TMI warning:
This post contains gross details about some of my ongoing physical health problems so skip ahead if that bothers you. First of all, I've always had physical health problems, from a very early age, and these only became worse as I got older. By the time I was in my mid-twenties, I'd had to deal with heart disease, a stroke from a speed overdose, crippling staph infections, extremely painful endometriosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, PTSD, and the list goes on. Yet, strangely enough, over the past 6 years or so I've gradually been getting healthier, until now I'm probably the healthiest I've ever been despite a long history of problems which were exacerbated by years of substance abuse. One of the most powerful things I have on my side is that I've always believed in the power of holistic health modalities to treat the body and mind, and have almost never succumbed to the lure of pharmaceutical drugging, even though it might have provided some relief in the short term.

About 4 years ago I hit a turning point when I came down with a dental abscess. The pain had been excruciating for weeks, my heart had begun racing, I was having alternating chills and hot flashes, and felt that I would pass out if I stood up or moved around for any length of time. Most reasonable people would have gone straight to the emergency room, but I was determined to avoid it and am so glad I did. I must warn people here that it is only advisable to forgo Western medicine if you are knowledgeable about the alternatives and committed to following what might be a strict regimine. Instead of taking antibiotics and undergoing surgery, I found an article on treating dental abscesses in cats with homeopathic medicine, and immediately adopted an alkaline diet, under the principle that overly acid environments encourage the proliferation of infectious disease.

The pain was gone almost overnight and has since to return, although for about a month afterwards, anytime I ate acidic restaurant food it would come back temporarily. The alkaline diet, for those who don't know, is typically promoted as being centered around fruits and vegetables, with minimal consumption of animal products. Here is a list of alkaline foods, however there is one very crucial fact that almost all of these lists omit, which is that bone broth is an alkaline substance. I take the acid-alkaline lists with a grain of salt, since it seems that many of them are based on dogma about vegetarianism as opposed to chemical analysis of the food. In my experience many animal products such as butter and organ meats did not cause problems although consuming the smallest amount of refined vegetable oil resulted in immediate pain. One addition to the list that was very important in healing the abscess was baking soda, which acts very quickly to alkalize the body. Baking soda alone can't solve long term deficiencies but it can be a short term life-saving medicine that stops the proliferation of infectious pathogens of all kinds. It's best to drink the baking soda solution (one teaspoon dissolved in a glass of water, no more than 3 times a day) on an empty stomach, otherwise it can produce nausea.

Up until this point, I had achieved great success with the Weston Price diet, which emphasizes the consumption of high quality saturated fats that come from pastured animals raised without synthetic growth hormones. Holistic health practitioners often stress the need to reduce saturated fats and animal products in one's diet and, while some have achieved helpful results this way, going the route of vegetarianism can also result in deficiencies for many, particularly in those individuals with a history of depression and/or chronic fatigue syndrome. Previous to adopting the Weston Price protocols, I had been a vegetarian for 15 years and always had low energy and issues with depression and anxiety. Afterwards, my energy levels shot through the roof, my moods improved and, contrary to what mainstream medicine preaches will happen with increased saturated fat consumption, my resting heart rate went down by about 25 beats per minute while my aerobic capacity increased exponentially.

Switching to an alkaline diet which was less focused on muscle meats and more focused on bone broth and organ meats was the final addition which fine-tuned this system, although homeopathy played a very important role in healing as well. The other crucial factor was the addition of lacto-fermented foods, which could be a post in and of itself. Many people rely on pre-packaged probiotics to supply beneficial bacteria, but in my experience home fermentation produces far better results, and in greater quantity. The most versatile product I make is whey from raw cow's milk, although many other recipes can be found here.

On another level, cleansing the body can also have the unintended side effect of releasing toxic emotions in a sometimes dramatic, noticeable way. One of my friends regained memories of trauma-based mind control after undergoing a 30-day fast while incarcerated. Personally, I would not recommend this strategy because drastic cleanses can be dangerous and even life-threatening. The same effect can also be achieved in a safer, yet slower way by emphasizing foods that are pungent or bitter, such as hot peppers, onions, dandelion root, grapefruit peel or lemon, although not all of these foods will help every person. I've been incorporating large quantities of these foods into my diet on a daily basis as a way to treat fibroid cysts, which Ayurvedic medicine interprets as a kapha imbalance. Since adopting these protocols, I've begun expelling thick scar tissue during my menstrual cycle (you were warned!). Healing with Whole Foods is a great, thoroughly researched reference book for tailoring a diet to a person's unique constitution, while emphasizing particular emotional issues that go along with each physical pathology. The author's vegan extremism may not work for many readers so I've found it best to combine the information it contains with that of Nourishing Traditions, a book based on the Weston Price diet. Another useful book which is focused on how thought affects the body is You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay.

In my opinion it is impossible to truly heal unless you are able to address both the mind and body simultaneously. To cite one example, people with adrenal exhaustion or chronic fatigue syndrome are often subconsciously drawn to conflict-laden situations because, like a cup of coffee, these scenarios provide a temporary rush of energy to get them through the day. In the long run, this pattern can result in toxic relationships, substance abuse, or preoccupations with catastrophic scenarios such as economic collapse or end times predictions. So, it is imperative to address problems of the body and mind in a holistic fashion, to prevent systemic imbalances from being allowed to thrive at the expense of your own health and sanity.

The system outlined above is the result of years of trial and error, such as adopting extreme diets like macrobiotics or raw foods which only exacerbated the problems I was dealing with. I still have a lot to learn but have no doubt that the protocols I'm using have improved my quality of life. It would be nice if it was possible for me to be a healthy vegetarian, but unfortunately it simply is not. Actually, this is one of several reasons why the Gnostic idea of Earth being a fallen world makes some sense to me, although thankfully many indigenous cultures do provide an ethical system for relating to this world as it is. But that's a topic for another time. I hope the information contained here has been helpful.