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April 17, 2007

First, let me apologize for not updating the site as promised. The journey I have undertaken is not an easy one. I was experiencing a period of what seemed to be a positive steps in the right direction. Then while working to continue on building my health, a mishap led to a my health suffering a huge setback. I have been continuing to deal with this and recover from this.

Positive steps:
Last May (2006) I visited the Century Wellness Clinic in Reno Nevada for a month of integrative treatment. This was a very positive experience. I feel that it put me on more steady ground in which to continue improving my state of health. While I still had plenty of work to do this was a positive direction to move from.

After returning from Nevada, I had my last mercury amalgam removed and replaced with a hypoallergenic composite filling in July. This is thought to reduce any unneccesary burden on the body and to help facilitate the healing process. This is a recommended step before any stem cell treatments.

After Having my amalgam removed, I instigated a natural Detoxification protocol in order to cleanse any toxins remaining in my body. I continued this well into August. Detoxification was an interesting experience that coaxed a nasty case of hives out of me, as well as other unpleasent evidence that something was indeed happening.

Feeling a little more on top of my condition at this point, I felt I was in a place where I was able to try something I had been wanting to, but not up to trying, until now. Fasting. In October, with a little inspiration from another MS site and several medical articles pointing to a benefit in fasting and MS, I began a 10 day juice fast. This was honestly an amazing, incredible experience. I think part of this was due to the fact that until this point I don't think I was capable of pulling something like this off, and two I felt good on a health level from it.

With all the work I had done up until this point, I was finally feeling able to address some mobility issues that I was still having. Some spasticity and some foot drop in my right leg we're making it difficult to get around and exercise, which is an important component in the healing process. At this time, I visited a physiatrist to see what I could do to improve my condition. Because along with my diagnosis of MS, I also have some mechancical issues with my lower back that may be contributing to my leg issues. I was prescribed and ankle orthosis, which is basicly a brace that helps keep the foot up to accomadate a more normal stride, I was also prescribed rehabilitation therapy to address some these conditions.

With the new orthosis I was able to get around much better than I had been previously. I started walking up my block everyday, and by the second day was able to make it all the way to the corner. I had been riding a stationary bike and using an eliptical runner previous to this which enabled me to get some exercise without having to raise my foot but actually walking was difficult due to the foot drop.

Steps back:
The day I got my orthosis I started rehab, which in hind site was an incredibly large mistake. The first day at rehab I was simply getting used to the orthosis, I had just gotten it about an hour earlier, nearly immediately my practitioner started drilling me on the way I was walking. Don't do this, don't do that, your banging your foot down. I was pleased with my progress and was thinking “give me a @*&%ing break, I just got the thing, give me a chance to get used to it.” This was the beginning of my current nightmare, one that I am still working to recover from. I made it through the first rehab and luckily did not have to return until the following week.

During my time off I continued walking up the street everyday and was happy to feel a little bit more strength return as my trip got a little more steady every day. I returned to rehab the next week and was greeted more positively since I was getting used the orthosis, and my walking was improved. Since one of my issues has been lower back pain this was addressed with general hot/cold therapy and some light stretching. The second week of rehab went a little more smoothly than the first, and I felt that I would try and stick it out.

I continued walking up the street and started getting half way to the corner of the next block. Another week of rehab went fairly well, although I was starting to feel a little worn out after each treatment. I think my desire to make a strong effort may have allowed me to let my practitioner push me harder than I should have allowed.

I made it to the next corner of my block. I was happy but starting to feel rundown. Rehab, walking, and the extracurricular activities that come with my new found mobility where catching up with me. My forth week of rehab began, and a new experience in pain and suffering was upon me. In order to loosen up my muscles the practitioner used an ultrasound device that used waves to penetrate into muscle and heat the area up. After that I was aggressively stretched over a bolster in a obtrusively one sided manor, focusing only on one side of my body, then the therapy ended with one side of my body stretched out like a wet noodle and the other contracted. I could barely walk when the therapy was over, I felt as if I was walking sideways on a hill. My chiropractor would later tell me that my right leg was then 2 to 3 inches longer than the other one, which it had not been previously.

After explaining to my rehab practitioner how absolutely crudy the last treatment had left me feeling, and my apprehension from the effects of the ultrasound, I was told that the ultrasound could not be causing my problems and this is probably just certain aspects trying to resolve themselves. Being a total fool, and thinking some suffering may be part of resolution, I went back and relived the whole experience again. This time I came away with a whole new set of problems. Where I had only been having problems in my right leg, I was now having horrid low back pain and numbness in my left leg that was made worse when I got into the wrong alignment.

I was now in too much pain to continue rehab and I returned to the physiatrist. I was offered drugs to reduce the effects of the rehab. This was it. One of the big lessons I had learned from the whole ordeal. Beware of Western practices who are not integrated. When I had originally visited the physiatrist I had told her that I used a natural approach to health, where she then warned me of the dangers of taking vitamins, which is really a valid concern when you do not monitor them, yet she was willing to, without hesitation, prescribe hardcore drugs that would almost surely derail much of the work that I have for so long diligently adhered too.

I spent the next several weeks following a strict natural regimen to reduce inflamation, chiropractic manipulation and relaxing in an effort to reduce the whole new level of pain that I was experiencing. With the help and support of my chiropractor and my nutritional guide, I was able to reduce this awful ordeal to a livable level. This experience definitely made my condition worse, forcing me to have to address my mechanical back issues sooner rather than later.

Onward:
 Despite my new setbacks I have continued to forge forward. During the month of January I attempted to start an anti-candida diet regimen, I say attempted since I was still juicing a lot of carrots, which as I have learned, are too sugary for the diet. I also underwent a series of extensive metabolic and systemic panels to further correlate any areas that need to be addressed with my health.

The results of my tests have confirmed that I still have issues with candida overgrowth, as well as some other flora related issues. All of these problems point to an issue with an anaerobic system state, just like with Epstein Barr Virus. My EBV markers for old antibodies are still very high. These yeast, bacteria and viruses all flourish in an oxygen starved environment.

February arrived and I started a serious anti-candida diet, no sugars refined carbs etc. I upped my probiotic intake and added some new elements to my supplements to counter some of the issues that were uncovered with all the workups I had done the previous month. While the new numbness in my leg (from rehab) had resolved, I was and am, still dealing with an elevated level of pain. At the end of the month I tried a new MS therapy given to me by the integrative doctor that had ordered all the workups I had taken.

At the beginning of March I started on a candida diet called the Body Ecology Diet, which gave me a real focus in dealing with diet, although I have adjusted it to accommodate both the Swank, and Best Bet Diet that are more specific to MS. I think I have probably had a long term issue with candida, and suspect that it may take quite some time to bring it into normal levels, since it is most likely at a more systemic level for me.

Also during March I had an MRI taken of my lumbar back, and found that problems that I have had with the low back are a little worse. I saw a neurosurgeon and we are moving forward to figure which of my problems may be low back and which are likely to be related to MS. This has been a stressful and time consuming process, if I didn’t have MS and were having some of these symptoms, a doctor might think it was an emergency, and that I might need immediate surgery or suffer permanent damage. As I continue to seek answers on what is my back, or what is MS, my ability to walk continues to diminish. Something needs to be done sooner than later.

For the start of April I had an MRI taken of my Cervical and Thoracic Spine, which showed evidence of some MS type scaring. This is tough since it just makes it more difficult to tell what is being caused from my low back mechanical issues, and what can be caused from this upper spine issue. I really think that it is some of both, but if I can eliminate some of the problem it should help facilitate an overall more positive healing state.

Sum it up
I have tried to write this several times over the last few months and it has either come across as a scathing visceral tirade against the arrogance of the perceived omnipotence of the western medical establishment or it has simply been to painful to relive a to recent experience that I am sill working to recover from. I haven't posted those things because I am trying to keep a positive outlook and not dwell on the negative aspects. However, I do think the near constant pain caused by rehab experience is having a negative impact on my ability to heal, as it is causing such burden on my immune system.

I am still interested in doing a documentary of my MS experiences, I just had to put the idea on hold since I have been unable to do much else than focus on trying to reduce my pain. It might actually have been a good period to document but I just wasn't able to coordinate and try and hang on at the same time. Even writing is difficult to do for extended periods, as sitting at the computer for to long creates it's own problems.

I still see that there are many opportunities to better health still out there. But, I am sort of going in circles with a lack of funding. I just need the resources to make things happen, as there is still more work to be done. Stem cell therapy is still my long term goal, but I feel that it would be beneficial to work on resolving as many of the extra health issues that I still am dealing with before I take that step. It would be a much simpler endeavor if it was simply a case of putting my mind to it. I have no doubt I would have much more of this done, however, the other part of the equation is what my body, as well as my financial situation, allows me to do.

In closing, I would also like to express a debt of gratitude to my chiropractor, Dr. Krista Hawes of InLine Chiropractic, who through all of my experiences, gave me more information on what I was going through than both the Physiatrist and rehab. By the location of where my symptoms where expressing, she was able to pinpoint what vertebrae were affected, and they did in fact correlate with my pain and numbness. She worked with me and was able to help bring my symptoms to a manageable level and helped to resolve the numbness in my left leg. She was so compassionate on making sure I was more important than the financial aspect.