beluga said:

So, basically her approach is as I kind of thought... which is to approach the inflammatory and GI aspect of it and
- Reduce inflammatory food intake - refined sugars/carbs, gluten, processed meats, saturated fats, etc...
- Support gut microbiome - a lot of times with inflammatory diseases, she'll see SIBO and other bacterial overgrowth that keep your body from uptaking supportive nutrients... which can be balanced with elimination dieting and then adding probiotics and healthy-gut things like lots of ferments to your diet.
- Add lots of supportive foods - dark leafy greens, red/blue fruits (anthocyanins), nut and fish fats (including fish, cod liver, salmon oil supplementation), etc...
- Supplementation-wise: curcumin (turmeric compound) that has piperine (black pepper compound), boswelia, quercetin, hyalurnoic acid, biotin, and collagen - look for forms of these that are highly bio-available, and, of course, look into any contraindications or interactions with whatever you're taking already.
I've got RA/synovitis issues from Lyme disease... the efficacy of just a highly bio-available curcumin/piperine supplement is pretty amazing with managing it. I took a few different supplements for a while with little effect, but once I started using one from the brand Integrative Therapeutics, I really noticed a difference.

Also yoga. Any little bit you can do makes a difference. My mom's wife is in a wheelchair with basically an entirely fused back, both knees replaced, all sorts of etc. (horrible car accident in her 30's and generally poor health maintenance, plus 40+ years of smoking)... her condition and quality of life got worlds better when her PT gave her some chair yoga exercises to do.

Realize it's a lot to swallow (also just an overview) and maybe you've heard a lot of it before... but.. figured I'd give you our perspective. Might give you some things to look into on some of those sleepless nights.

edit: Oh, and WATER! Almost no one, myself included, drinks enough water consistently. So many of my wife's clients see a huge improvement by just putting periodic reminders on their phones to drink a glass of water.

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Hortulanus said:

dear Amy,

do you ever sleep?

Sam in South Ontario

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beluga said:

What's the root cause?
Wife's a functional nutritionist with an herbalism degree (and blacksmithing )... I can pique her brain about something you maybe have not tried. I'll keep the anvils out of the equation.

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Milson said:

For a quick open focus exercise (i find these easier stoned):

Find the point on your gum line where your top front teeth hit. Press it with the tip of your tongue using the same pressure as you use to press a button at an atm.

Now wiggle your big toes over your second toe on each foot simultaneously.

Go back and forth between these two at the same rate as your normally breathe.

Once you have done this for a full minute, try instead to flatten as much of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as possible, trying to focus on even pressure at the edges. Keep doing the same thing with your toes and do this for another minute.

Now instead of the toes, try your best to feel the way your body hits whatever you are resting on. Your butt and back if you are sitting, maybe a whole side of your body if you are laying down. Try to trace the outline of the spot with the most weight on it that you can feel. Then go back to the roof of the mouth. Bounce back and forth for a minute.

Yawn yet? Shiver? Feel any body energy that was kind of weird?

How's your pain?

Sometimes people feel things when they do an exercise like that. It's interesting to me where my attention goes.

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amekins said:

I was eating fresh turmeric daily. Would that be considered highly bioavailable?

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amekins said:

In all honesty, I’m just tired.

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amekins said:

Oh, the sleep issues started with recurrent nightmares when I was 4. By the time I was 15, I spent a lot of nights sleepless.

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amekins said:

Thank you for that, Milson! I’m going to assume it’s really the repetition and focus on different parts of the body that matters (modification needed for feet/toes because of the current injury).

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Milson said:

For a quick open focus exercise (i find these easier stoned):

Find the point on your gum line where your top front teeth hit. Press it with the tip of your tongue using the same pressure as you use to press a button at an atm.

Now wiggle your big toes over your second toe on each foot simultaneously.

Go back and forth between these two at the same rate as your normally breathe.

Once you have done this for a full minute, try instead to flatten as much of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as possible, trying to focus on even pressure at the edges. Keep doing the same thing with your toes and do this for another minute.

Now instead of the toes, try your best to feel the way your body hits whatever you are resting on. Your butt and back if you are sitting, maybe a whole side of your body if you are laying down. Try to trace the outline of the spot with the most weight on it that you can feel. Then go back to the roof of the mouth. Bounce back and forth for a minute.

Yawn yet? Shiver? Feel any body energy that was kind of weird?

How's your pain?

Sometimes people feel things when they do an exercise like that. It's interesting to me where my attention goes.

Click to expand...

Milson said:

For a quick open focus exercise (i find these easier stoned):

Find the point on your gum line where your top front teeth hit. Press it with the tip of your tongue using the same pressure as you use to press a button at an atm.

Now wiggle your big toes over your second toe on each foot simultaneously.

Go back and forth between these two at the same rate as your normally breathe.

Once you have done this for a full minute, try instead to flatten as much of your tongue against the roof of your mouth as possible, trying to focus on even pressure at the edges. Keep doing the same thing with your toes and do this for another minute.

Now instead of the toes, try your best to feel the way your body hits whatever you are resting on. Your butt and back if you are sitting, maybe a whole side of your body if you are laying down. Try to trace the outline of the spot with the most weight on it that you can feel. Then go back to the roof of the mouth. Bounce back and forth for a minute.

Yawn yet? Shiver? Feel any body energy that was kind of weird?

How's your pain?

Sometimes people feel things when they do an exercise like that. It's interesting to me where my attention goes.

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beluga said:

For sure. But, unfortunately, the levels you can get in a supplement would see you eating probably an inhuman amount of turmeric.

I believe it. Certainly don't want to add more to the 'uggghhh!!' when you see a list of 'do this; don't do that', but I'd be remiss to not offer our experience. I'm totally sold on functional medicine, personally, and I believe it can make up for a lot of the ground that conventional medicine falls short on.

You've already expressed your interest in psychedelics therapy .
Might be worth a trip out of state sometime.

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Milson said:

Ah, yes. Instead focus on the spot wherever your cast/brace stops. Or bend both knees, etc.

I believe you are right in what matters for you. It's really just a practice that happens to help different people differently and some not at all. But i have seen it help in individual ways a lot and i have my own subjective experiences that i hold quite dear psychologically because I really don't take being able to sense what i feel for granted (and nor should most people imo).

To tip my hand just a bit more, though....what's interesting about this practice is it focuses on spaces instead of points. Hence the sequence above progresses on that vector.

Active point active two points active space passive space.

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Milson said:

WARNING WE ARE ENTERING MILSONIAN SPACE

In my own spiritual practice i have found that aligning this practice with an activation of the chakra pathways from root to crown allows me to find tension in my body and, when clear, allows me to spin up energy and let it go through the crown of my head for some seriously rocketship psychedelic experiences.

The above isn't remotely scientific and is just something i do for giggles, of course. A hobby.

But holy shit do i recommend it.

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amekins said:

I’m keeping this one bookmarked. It’s similar to biofeedback stuff I work ok, but with more focal points (I don’t know if that makes sense to you).

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beluga said:

For sure. But, unfortunately, the levels you can get in a supplement would see you eating probably an inhuman amount of turmeric.

I believe it. Certainly don't want to add more to the 'uggghhh!!' when you see a list of 'do this; don't do that', but I'd be remiss to not offer our experience. I'm totally sold on functional medicine, personally, and I believe it can make up for a lot of the ground that conventional medicine falls short on.

You've already expressed your interest in psychedelics therapy .
Might be worth a trip out of state sometime.

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amekins said:

It is all invaluable information which I will chip away at. For whatever reason, I keep on trying. Today will be no different. I have to figure out where to obtain them. I had hoped someone local but no luck so far. I do know that I will hope to be able to ask your thoughts and suggestions on their use when that time comes.

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amekins said:

I believe starting this year there is some Medicare coverage for OTC supplements. It’s not much, but it’s something. As you know, all that shit is expensive.

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amekins said:

So soil test sometime after 6 pm. Enough of the glums. The sun just came out.

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amekins said:

You’ve got some good shit being consumed there, Hippie Dude

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amekins said:

See what you started??? lol.

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