-o- To Health -o-
This is a new addition to my blog, I was going to add this to my Golden Words, which I post to pass on or impart indisputable tidbits of wisdom. I've decided, however that this topic, health is so vast and BIG, it deserves it's own category.
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-o- You're probably asking why I think I can pass on advice to you? And please remember - anything relayed on this blog is only what I've found interesting and/or feel it's something that others need to know about so maybe more light may come of it... Perhaps someone may take an interest and do more studies on something they've stumbled upon here-who knows where it can go - remember, there's no such thing as coincidence everything happens for a reason. But certainly, if you've come across any information that you can dispute with backup, please post it in comments beneath the blog. Also if you have more information that can support what you've read here, please share it with us all so we can be aware of your information. We need to have a good 360 degree view of "everything" so the best path in our lives may be chosen.
What do I know about health? Everything I can learn about...Throughout my almost 59 years of this life, I've always done extensive research on anything new that I or someone I've known have encountered or heard of as far as health issues and anything to do with the well-being of body, mind, and soul. Actually, soul is always "just perfect" but we should all have concerns as to the state of soul's ability to communicate with the other bodies...to relate to the mind and therefore utilize it's wisdom for the body. This produces a healthy "being"!
My mom used to say...if you start to get a sore throat, eat some umi boshi (Japanese Pickled plums) or make and drink a tea (drop two umi boshi into a cup of boiled water and let steep, drink after cool enough)....or she'd say never eat pears if you're trying to heal any part of your body, pears will prevent the healing. I eventually began to wonder where my mother got this advice she was passing on to me. So I asked her...she then proceeded to tell me about her father, Moichi Moriyoshi, who was one of two people in Japan who have always been allowed to travel into China and bring back herbs to be used for Japan's medicinal use and preventive medicine, my grandpa being from Hiroshima, Hiroshima perfecture the southern part of Japan and the other doctor was from northern Japan, she didn't mention what city or perfecture - she told me they were the keepers of the two copies an ancient Chinese "PDR" (Physicians Desk Reference - for lack of a better description) book containing all of China's known health remedies. China allowed those two copies to leave it's soil and they were the only two Japanese people who also were allowed into China to acquire herbs that were only available there. She said it was a very big, thick book and all written in Chinese (the size she described to me, I envisioned it to be a much larger than a Websters Unabridged Dictionary)...hmmm, I always thought it was strange that she knew how to read Chinese...lol...she must've spent some time in that book. Since her father had translated (passed on) when she was 9, I asked her where the book was now. She answered that her oldest sister has the book now (made sense...she had entered the health field and became a nurse or maybe a Doctor...I can't say for sure as mom was limited with her communication with them after transplanting her citizenship to the U.S. Mom's long since translated too, thereby totally severing any communications with her siblings - any references I had for contacting them has been stolen from me and I don't think I ever knew any of her sister's married names. She said their kids could speak English, but I was never introduced to them and like I said, I don't even know their last names or their children's first names. As it looks now, I guess the Japanese heritage of our family is limited what I was able to receive from my mothers answers to questions that I thought to ask while growing up.... In retrospect I have a million questions I wish I would've asked.
Am I healthy?!? Other than needing some caps replaced on my teeth (had them for over 30 years, but now I need to replace some posts as 3 have broken off and the caps don't have anything to hang on to...when I get some money again, I'll take care of that...(sure wish someone would come up with a way for us plain folk who don't have money to make our own teeth....lol) But, yes, I am very aware of what I put into my body, as it will work it's way out to reflect your indulgence of it and show on your physical body.
I haven't been to a doctor in well over 30 years... personally I don't agree with allowing someone to "practice" on me. If anyone's gonna do any practicing on my body, it will surely be me first. I have to exist in this body during my stay on Earth and I do so enjoy and am happiest with a capable, functional "house". I've always had an interest in why some bodies are ill and/or don't function and others are like "spring chickens" to their dying day! It seems to me to be only fool-hardy to not realize the importance of good health in all aspects of life.
I've also been blessed with encountering some wonderful doctors who have imparted tidbits of their medical wisdom to me and now whenever I have any one on one dialogue exchange with anyone in the health field, if they impart the impression of knowing what they're talking about and give advice that comes across to me as wise and non-intrusive along with preventive advice, I have questions and I won't hesitate to ask them anymore as I have learned the squeaky wheel gets the oil. I've found that since I do have questions for them, they realize I have an interest and they often impart additional knowledge that is always helpful to know. One such doctor, chose to pass on some helpful muscular manipulative techniques to me when an old boyfriend in 1981, Greg (since translated) had such back pain, he couldn't stand up. He whined, cried and moaned....I even had to bring him a container so he could relieve himself because he couldn't get up to walk to the bathroom. Since it didn't seem his pain was going away, Greg decided to go to his chiropractor. I had heard of them while growing up...many people thought of them as quacks...it wasn't until I believe the 1970's or 80's that Chiropractors were even recognized as a legitimate medical field, so prior to that, if you wanted to see a chiropractor, that expense came out of your own pocket as your health insurance didn't cover them. Before Greg, I was 10 years old when I was introduced to the existence of Chiropractic services. My (great) aunt Meta Baumgartener, her husband ([great] uncle) Ernest Baumgartener and his brother (uncle) Fred Baumgartener were the only other people I knew who went to see chiropractors. Back to my story about Greg and his back, I managed to convince him that maybe if he could lay down in the van then I could drive him to his Chiropractor he could help him get his back in alignment. After four days of laying there in agony, Greg decided that maybe he could make it to the van. So I made a "bed" for him to lay on while traveling into Tacoma. Greg's chiropractor, Dr. Yu couldn't do anything to help him...he couldn't even touch Greg's back, much less manipulate it to pop a vertebrae back into place. So he sent him out for x-rays and came back to his office when done with that.After studying the x-rays, he determined Greg's sciatic nerve had slipped out of it's holding holes in the coccyx (one of Greg's passage holes had a gap on one side-birth defect or injury) and was being pinched in that gap and inflaming more. decided Greg needed to go see a specialist who would be able to handle Greg's needs better...he was going to send him to Dr. Ian Marsh. Dr. Ian Marsh(retired shortly after) was a specialist he had a whole slough of DD's before his name on his sign at his office- the one that stood out to me was the DDO. After going into his office, and older man with white hair came out and introduced himself with his Swedish accent. Greg was pretty apprehensive - but followed Dr. Marsh back to the examining room. He ran Greg through the gamut of options, surgery for a permanent fix, or ongoing temporary treatments. Greg chose the temporary fixes since there were no guarantees with surgery. It wasn't ten minutes later from following him in, Greg came walking back out with a smile on his face. He said Dr. Marsh wanted me to come back in there with Greg. He showed me two large sized paperback books. One was, "The Holistic Health Handbook: A Tool for Attaini Wholeness of Body, Mind and Spirit by Berkeley Holistic Health Center (November 1981)
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The other was "The Science of Homeopathy by George Vithoulkas (1980)" he told me he wanted me to go buy those two books and read them (first time I had heard of either form of medical practice) so I wrote down those names and agreed to do so. He scheduled an appointment for Greg for in next week and asked me to come in too he said he wanted to teach me a few things, but he wanted me to get those books and read them first. I nodded and said "ok". As we were leaving, Greg stopped and said "Is there something I can take if the pain comes back?" Dr. Marsh's smile faded and he looked down at the ground then back to Greg and while shaking his head and waving his hand in front of him answered, "Well, I suppose you can take an aspirin if you have to!" -That brought a smug smile to my face as at that time in my life, I wouldn't even take an aspirin, except if I noticed a fever was going to start in me (two aspirin taken before it sets in, usually cut the fever off before it grew into the flu-for me). I bought the above mentioned books, which, by the way, I highly recommend to anyone who is looking for some alternative health measures. They are an excellent introduction to "alternative medicines"and explain everything in laymans language. That next week, he asked me if I bought the books and if I had read them... I let him know I was still reading them. So he asked me and Greg to come back to his office, he then explained to me about Greg's back pain and showed me a diagram of the spinal column and how the nerves come down through it and at the base of the spine, forks out and then goes to the hips and down through the legs. He had Greg lay on his side on the table and flex his one knee up as close to his chest a he could while doing that, he showed me how he finds his lowest rib and about two inches down from where that joins the spinal column, move out from the spinal column about two inches and run the hand lengthwise along the muscle with very slight pressure. I will feel a slight lump there. That is the thigh flexor muscle, it is the longest muscle in the human body. Anytime someone does too much (more than usual movement) exercise using their legs or hasn't been doing as much movement with their legs as they're used to, that muscle (running from about the bottom rib to your hip joints along the lower part of the spinal column) will start to cramp, sometimes in the form of spasms, sometimes a solid hard cramp...either way, those muscle cramps will pull on the vertebrae, thereby causing lower back pain, or in Greg's case, causing his sciatic nerve to slip out of it's usual resting place and pinching it. Then he showed me after finding the spot it's cramped (by the lump) how to take my thumb and push very slow, strong and steady, said I had to push hard because this muscle sits about four inches inside on the average persons back- this will make the muscle relax, relieving the stressful pull on the vertebrae which thereby eases the discomfort and pain. He said if I didn't have the strength to push hard enough, I could take my knee and push on the back of my elbow to give the pressure added strength. This was a form of shiatsu massage. He said what he has taught me there should save me and Greg a visit to Tacoma and $85 a visit. I thanked him and still thank him to this day...I have been able to help many friends who've had chronic back pain caused from the sciatic nerve. When helping out friends (usually friends who can't afford to see a doctor), before I do anything I always ask if they have a previous back injury and if it's ongoing... I want to help not hurt more...lol (I have one friend who has a floating bullet (slug) in her back, so of course when giving her a back massage, I always have to locate that first before applying any pressure). Dr. Marsh also told me that going to a chiropractor to get your bones adjusted all the time is not good. It eventually wears down the bone where it rubs to snap back into place. The key is to keep good muscle tone to hold the vertebrae into place. One needs to know which muscle it is that keeps that particular vertebrae from being pulled out of place and work on toning up that muscle with simple easy exercise. Talk to your doctor and ask him for an exercise that can help your particular case. You'll have less back pain and less visits to the doctor! The cost of exercise is inexpensive! The muscles function is to hold that vertebrae from slipping out, so make sure the right side and the left side are equally built up so you don't have a lop-sided pull. Once that ridge on the vertebrae has worn down too much, there will be constant and continual slippage usually resulting in having to fuse another vertebrae next to it to help hold it in place. So if you go to the chiropractor, learn about the muscles too...it's not all about the bones. He also recommended that we go buy a gravity machine, and use it for a few minutes every morning and evening, it will take a lot of tension off your discs and help your vertebrae have the space they need and not click against the other vertebrae near it. We all know that from standing upright all the time, over the years, we lose height, the gravity machine will help prevent that.
-o- With that said, let me convey my intent of "To Your Health". I like to keep informed about health issues so I always run into information about keeping healthy, getting healthy and pioneering (still to this day) medical discoveries/releases to the public. I've decided that when I do come upon new or interesting info, I will post those items for any of you who may be interested. I will also post tips and when I do, I hope I will get feedback from my readers... Please!?!
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