- The Health Restore Plan: A Long Time in the Making by alternliving
18 y
5,072 9 Messages Shown
Blog: My Health Journey
I first turned toward cleansing a little while after discovering Cure Zone. My first impressions of this web site, I am somewhat embarassed to say, were fairly negative. It looked "crazy" to me, and I did not feel very open-minded about people who raved and raved about liver cleanses. But I was at my wit's end. I had been doing megavitamin therapy to cure my schizophrenia and had abandoned it after finally coming to terms with the fact that it wasn't working for me. The following is a synopsis of my first forays into alternative health. I originally included it in my web site, which I designed a couple of years ago and then eventually abandoned.
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My journey into the world of alternative medicine began when I stumbled upon the “cure” for schizophrenia while searching the net.
After being diagnosed with this debilitating condition at the age of 22, I went through the gamut of hospitalization and medication. During this period, I read Deepak Chopra’s “Quantum Healing” and was intrigued by his accounts of “cures” for schizophrenia. In the book, he briefly mentions that glycine supplementation and kidney dialysis have each proved effective cures for schizophrenia -- glycine because it helps balance dopamine levels and dialysis because it filters toxins from the blood. Dialysis was neither practical nor desirable, so I searched the internet for glycine and schizophrenia. I found little. However, this short foray into alternative cures and the internet as health research tool lead to another “cure.” My searches soon began to return “orthomolecular medicine.”
I researched it some more and eventually scheduled an appointment with a prominent orthomolecular physician. Orthomolecular medicine has had success curing schizophrenia and other mental illnesses using therapeutic doses of vitamins. Depending on what “school” of orthomolecular medicine you or your doctor follow, this might involve, primarily, high doses of vitamin B-3, vitamin C, or doses of vitamin B-6. The first doctor that I saw put me on high doses of vitamin B-3 and vitamin C, along with other vitamins, minerals, and supplements. After four months, the depression that had accompanied my hallucinations disappeared and the hallucinations themselves were significantly reduced. During this time, however, I also had my first full-blown panic attacks. I did not make the connection to the vitamins, however, until a few months later. Finally, I stopped the vitamin program, and the panic attacks gradually subsided over the course of several more months. My symptoms of schizophrenia remained as they were, with no return to their former severity.
At this point, I was convinced that I had simply subscribed to the wrong “school” of orthomolecular medicine. So, I tried another. Instead of the Hoffer approach, I visited the Pfeiffer Treatment Center, in Warrenville, Illinois, and started a supplement program based around vitamin B-6. As my luck would have it, or so I thought, I was again “prescribed” a vitamin as part of my regimen that, this time, caused a panic attack within a few days. I did not stick around long enough to see if this program, like the first one, would also have beneficial results. The “side effects” were enough to make me stop it altogether and swear off synthetic vitamins. As I became involved with orthomolecular medicine, I became increasingly aware of the depth and breadth of the alternative medicine scene. I have learned that synthetic vitamins are essentially inert chemicals whose effects on the body can be unpredictable. In fact, they are not very dissimilar from drugs in their action, particularly at high doses, since they are essentially foreign substances to the body. A lot of people, however, have been cured of their mental illnesses through vitamin therapy.
I have learned a lot on this journey into the world of alternative health and medicine, but there is a lot more out there to be learned, quite to my surprise and delight! I knew very little about health before I fell ill aside from what I had been “fed” by the dominant medical institutions and their adjuncts. The power of “censorship” and cultural brainwashing cannot be underestimated!
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So that was my experience with orthomolecular medicine. The birth of my personal "health restore plan" started the day I started to actually consider some of the therapies that CureZone members espoused. As I became increasingly disillusioned with orthomolecular medicine, CureZone started to look better and better. My incredulity waned.
Presently, I believe that there are three major health-related things causing me difficulty in my life:
1)I have genetically low levels of the neurotransmitter histamine. Carl Pfeiffer, pioneer of orthomolecular medicine, found that many schizophrenics, and many other members of the population as well, have this condition. For more on this, check out his book, "Nutrition and Mental Illness." From what I have read, no one knows for sure whether this can be cured nutritionally or whether it is simply genetic, but I am willing to bet, from what I have read about nutrition, that it can be cured by improving one's health and nutrition levels.
2) I have schizophrenia and take medicine for it. When I go off of the medicine, I become non-functional and out of control. When I'm on the medicine, it makes me feel miserable. Thankfully, however, I take a very low dose. Nevertheless, I still take a prescription drug once a day, and by no means does this contribute to my general health, if you know what I mean.
3)I am nearsighted. Studies by Dr. William Bates near the beginning of the 20th century showed that people who wear glasses to correct their vision problems chronically strain their eyes. In fact, from his point of view, all sight problems such as myopia and presbyopia can be reduced to eye strain. Natural vision, whether up-close or at a distance, is the product of a relaxed eye. Glasses themselves (and in this day, contact lenses) strain the muscles of the eyes. People who cure their vision via the Bates' method and other techniques report a sort of re-learning process, by which they learn to see not by straining but by natural vision techniques. For many, it changes their lives as old emotions arise, etc. If you think about it, one who wears contacts or glasses is constantly straining his/her eye muscles and is therefore never relaxed! This contributes to a negative state of being, including negative thoughts, and I think that this is definitely the case with me.
Of course, less than optimal nutrition (which I'll explain more about in the next post) and a general lack of exercise up until recently also make my life less than ideal. Ideally, I would eat a Weston Price/Nourishing Traditions diet and eat biodynamic fruits and vegetables, but the Nourishing Traditions diet is very expensive and time-consuming and biodynamic groceries are hard to come by. They are probably also expensive, though perhaps not more expensive than organic fruits and vegetables. There is a place in Berkeley, California, that sells Weston-Price-style foods, and so if I were to live there and buy their foods I could eliminate the "time-consuming" aspect of the Nourishing Traditions diet. But, although I love the Bay area and would love many aspects of living there, I don't know anyone in California save for some extended family. I prefer to stay on the familiar East Coast, close to friends and immediate family.
I have come up with a plan for restoring my health enough to cure the major illnesses that I have (hay fever, endometriosis, nearsightedness, mitral valve prolapse, schizophrenia, leaky gut, hypoglycemia, adrenal fatigue). I call this my "health restore plan." It has taken two years for me to come up with the plan in its present form, and, unfortunately, I am still on step one, after time spent doing research, trial and error, and planning, and after time spent living at home with little income for health-related endeavors and attending school full-time with little extra time or income to take care of my health. Once I discovered orthomolecular medicine, I committed to it fully and did it for about a year and a half. After that, though, it was hard both financially and psychologically to spend all my efforts on my health. Hopefully, I am now at the point where I can commit to a plan. Here is an outline of my plan:
1)a)Switch to a healthy diet and spring water for a water source.
b)Exercise 6x/week.
c)Lose the extra weight that I have on me (50 lbs. overweight), in part through 1
tbsp./coconut oil 2x/day (1x in the morning & 1x in the late afternoon) and in
part by not eating after 6 p.m. (also through diet and exercise)
d)Liver flushes (Andreas Moritz protocol)
e)Homeopathy (as long as is necessary, work with practitioner)
f)Craniosacral Therapy (full sequence)
g)Rolfing (full sequence)
2)Dental cleanup, supported by Andreas Moritz' advice re: liver flushes, kidney
cleanses, etc. and dental cleanups (see his forum on CureZone)
3)a)Lymph cleanse (probably via rebounding)
b)Dr. Ray Behm "The Secret" program for gum restoration
c)Live cell therapy for mitral valve prolapse, schizophrenia, endometriosis
4)Do tests through a lab such as Great Smokies Lab for health imbalances
5)Vision restore vis-a-vis the Bates' method or other similar techniques
n.b. if necessary, try other therapies and/or additional live cell therapy after #4
is completed if still not cured of illnesses and imbalances (e.g. could try a
visit to Sylvia Browne, chelation therapy, etc.)
Thanks for reading!
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alternliving
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- eyes and panic attacks by yobeliever
18 y
2,645
Hi, after reading your message I had to share with you what has happened in my life. I have suffered from panic attacks and agoraphobia for years. I noticed you mentioned eyes. I have been housebound and suffered many symptoms. I used Xanax to get me through so I could function. As I got older I started getting double vision from the Xanax. I, like you over the years started on vitamins and lots and lots of other alternative methods. My Xanax stopped working because of all these antioxidents. They were somehow neutrilizing the Xanax. When the double vision started it got me to thinking about my eyes. For some reason I went to the net and looked up panic attacks and eyes. I found a site
http://www.vsofb.com.
This was a doctor in Michigan finding cures for people with panic attacks and agoraphobia through prisms in glasses. Dr. Debby feinberg said that a condition called hyperphoria was to blame. She said one eye is higher than the other and that is causing dizzyness and the other symptions. Anyway I went to see her and have been working with her to overcome my problems. She has been putting prisms in my glasses and my symptions have been leaving. It is a trial and error until they all go. I am now 80 % over my panic and agoraphobia. I am off Xanax and haven't had one in 8 months. Go to her web site for more information. I really hope this helps you. God Bless, Yolanda
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yobeliever
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- Re: eyes and panic attacks by 747030
18 y
2,788
| This is amazing. Thank you for sharing this with us. I have nightime panic attacks that cause insomnia, and have been looking for natural means to control or cure this horrible malady. I took sleeping pills for awhile, but they dehydrate me and make me feel groggy in the mornings, so I stopped using them. Any other panic attack sufferers out there who have found answers to this problem by natural means? Jax in CO
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747030
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- Re: eyes and panic attacks by alternliving
18 y
2,911
Hi Yolanda.
I haven't had a panic attack since 2004, but I do still get social anxiety and sometimes suffer from agoraphobia. My panic attacks were mostly vitamin-induced. The high doses of vitamins messed with me.
That's great that you're off the Xanax.
I couldn't access the website that you linked to in your message. When you say that one eye is higher than the other do you mean in terms of diopters or in terms of the positioning on the face?
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alternliving
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- Re: eyes and panic attacks by yobeliever
13 y
2,925
In reply to your question it is both. Theposition in the face if off and because of this the diopters is also off. I would also like to say I am not against vitamins as I take a lot of them but in the right amount. They really help. It has been 5 years since I posted this so I would also like to up date you all. The prisims in my glasses have just been improveing my condition. The longer I wear them the more things changed, for the better. I have to admit I went back on xanax because even though my eyes were improveing I couldn't convince my mind that things were under control. I have went back on a very low dose of xanax. I now take one half of a 0.5 mg tablet just to get me out the door, so maybe I take two a week. I have had this condition for over 40 years it is hard to tell my brain that this is the new normal. I drive, I go places alone and best of all when I feel the dizzyness I know what is wrong. These glasses are like a wheel chair to a person that can't walk he still has the problem but now he can function in it. This is a physical disability just like any other physical disability and you should look at it like that. There is no way to move your eyes permantly but this is the wheel chair to help you function with it. Not everybody with panic attacks have this but I think a large percentage of them do and most of the eye doctors don't check for it and even if they did they really don't know how to correct it. The earlier you catch it the more your chances are of total success. I am now 95% improved and am very thankful for that. The web site for Dr. Debbie is http://www.vsofb.com
or just put vision specialists of Birmingham in google and it will come up. I hope this will help those who are suffering from this crippling disability. God Bless, Yolanda
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yobeliever
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- Re: eyes and panic attacks by yobeliever
8 y
1,127
| I mean that it is the diopters that are off. My blog is agoraphobiawhat.blogspot.com. My book is "MY Silent Disability by Yolanda Antonino."
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yobeliever
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- Re: eyes and panic attacks by yobeliever
13 y
2,419
| It is now 2011 And I just came accross this posting from 2006 and I would like to up date it. Five years have passed since I wrote that post and the news is really good. I have virtually no more dizzyness the anxiety level is down quite a bit. The prisims that I told you about keep getting better. It seemed like the more time passed the better they became. I don't have that pitching forward feeling anymore. I can sit anywhere at a restrauent and feel confortable. Even the thought of going to restrauents does not cause me to go into a panic like it would have. I am comfortable driveing. I am now in full control of what my eyes are doing. I am very sensitive to what is going on with them. Sometimes when in a store and if I am walking fast and the products on the shelf are whizzeing past me I will feel dizzy I then know to slow down it is too much for my eyes to handle. This usually happins at a store or place I am not familiur with. I realize I have a disability that will not go away. Like not being able to walk but if in a wheel chair you can still function. I will always have one eye higher than the other I cannot change that but I know with the prisims I am able to function. I know not to move my head to quick or that will bring dizzyness on and wth it panic. If this does happen the best thing is I know what is happening and can say oh have to slow down and regroup, not go into a full fledged panic. The down side to all of this is my xanax I have had to go back on half of the dose I was taking. I had had this disability for 40 years the mind had settled into this way of thinking and I thought better to take half of the dose and be able to get on with it than not take it and sit back and not do all I could do in life. It was a trade off but one I will not beat myself up over. For the first time last year I got into a airplane and flew to California. There was absoultly no way I would have ever done that before the prisims. I encourage you all today to look into this prospect if you are having these problems it sure can't hurt you. God Bless you all Yolanda
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yobeliever
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- Re: eyes and panic attacks by yobeliever
9 y
1,339
| Hi I can't believe it has been 9 years since I posted this message. I am going to tell you what has happened in that time. My symptoms of agoraphobia, like dizziness, avoidance,being home bound, panic, have mostly gone away. I had just got my prism glasses when I talked to you about 9 years ago. It took about 3 years for the glasses to really take hold. In that time I went back to Vision Specialists of Michigan and had them adjusted and more prisms added. I have also written a book describing my journey through the world of agoraphobia and the liberating process of my prism glasses to treat a problem with the eyes called Hyperphoria that causes all the symptoms of agoraphobia and panic. The name of the book is My Silent Disability, by Yolanda Antonino. I also have a blog at http://www.agoraphobiawhat.blogspot.com. I hope you will go over there and take a look and get some good information. My dizziness is gone, I can go into stores and suffer no panic and no dizziness, I have flown over 6 times to California with no problems. I went back on my xanax but at a reduced amount and only when needed. I found that after 40 years of agoraphobia my brain could not be retrained to go without any calming influence. So I take a small amount when I go shopping or out to dinner. I needed nothing extra to fly. I am now 77 years old and wish I had had all this information years ago. But it is what it is and I have accepted that. There is the same help for you just believe. Love you all, Yolanda
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yobeliever
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- Re: The Health Restore Plan: A Long Time in the Making by CST Therapist
14 y
2,470
Cranial Sacral Therapy aka CranioSacral Therapy (interchangeable) is a viable soft-tissue healing modality that can work wonders if you find a qualified professional who uses this method. I turned to CST after having some unsuccessful stints with Rolfing and the lighter touch method certainly worked better to resolve some deep structural issues I was having.
I've created a blog site that is dedicated purely to disseminating accurate information on CST, and would like to invite submissions from existing CST practitioners. Find us here:
http://www.cranialsacraltherapy.com
contact-us with your submission and we'll be happy to add any accurate information to the site. You can see it's pretty plain, and intending on helping to promote this wonderful therapy.
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CST Therapist
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