Exhaustion...Severe Foot Pain...Lyme Disease?

Interesting story…imagine one day, you wake up in the morning…and by the way…yesterday was just a normal day…but TODAY… you can’t STAND UP.  Your FOOT HURTS so badly that you can’t stand.  So you crawl to get your clothes…crawl to the car…and into the ER.  The doctor’s assessment indicates a lack of Prednisone in the foot, so they shoot it up and send you on your way.  

Huh…they do this with football players…because there is nothing more important than scoring touchdowns, so they SHUT OFF the inflammatory response of an injury…so you CAN’T feel the PAIN…and you go back in for more touchdowns.

This person wasn’t scoring touchdowns, but they sent him back in the game of life…unable to protect his injury.  As you can imagine, pretending it isn’t there, doesn’t tend to HEAL! 

So next, he scheduled with the SPECIALIST.  The specialist diagnosed “reactive arthritis”…defined as joint pain caused by INFECTION (that’s from medical texts folks!).  The prescription…methotrexate.  This drug blocks DNA synthesis, cellular repair and healing…it is used with autoimmune diseases and cancer to SUPPRESS the immune system. 

Huh!?…that seems contraindicated to resolving an INFECTION, and healing a freaking injury!  And Meloxicam…another “pretend it’s not there” pain hiding drug!  

He lived on these toxic drugs for a year…pretending…and then his doctors said, “you know…these drugs are toxic and unhealthy…now that the pain is gone…you should wean off them.”  And so he did…and… can you believe it…the pain came back!  

“Ok…I mean it this time…we are going to John Hopkins Medical Center…the cream of the crop.”  He was serious…drove to Maryland to see a prestigious Doctor.  His creamy doctor suggested methotrexate!  (Yeah, that’s the same crappy health blocking drug he was already on!)  Only this time the damage was so severe, it didn’t take the pain away!  

He tried Sisters of Mercy…they ran some additional tests…and said…maybe it’s Lyme Disease.  Huh??…not so crazy…I have seen cases of regional pain syndromes that turned out to be Lyme related.  Maybe…we’ll keep it in mind….

So, by the time he sees me…clearly indicating desperation to see the voodoo guy…he is exhausted... he is having headaches and visual disturbances…and his shoulders are aching.  But voodoo doc has learned from the past…we tested Lyme and co-infections in multiple ways, and found a hyper-tonic response (muscle tightening…a stress reaction).  We found a remedy to resolve that tension…from my Lyme and co-infection resources.  

And we ran our typical full system labs.

The labs revealed inflammation and adrenal exhaustion…which may have simply been a result of this 2 year journey.  I tested for many natural anti-inflammatory plants…and after at least a dozen fails…we located Manjistha.  

Manjistha is an Eastern plant…found in India, China, and some areas of Africa.  Its traditional use is for spider and snake bites…because it flushes the lymphatic system.  It is also known as an immune STIMULANT (am I an idiot, or does it make sense to support and stimulate the immune system if there is an infection!!??)…and its history includes treating all inflammatory joint problems, because of its anti-inflammatory properties.  

Hopefully, you are getting that we do all this testing for one reason…RESULTS.  

Well, after 2 years of pain, which he rated as 10 out of 10 when he came in…unable to control with DRUGS…and was wearing a cast for his ankle…including through several of my visits…he comes in after 6 weeks on this protocol…with NO CAST!!  He relates that his ankle is maybe slightly sore…he has NO SHOULDER PAIN…and his energy is 7-8 out of 10!  

I guess this could just be coincidence…maybe he was just ready to heal.  Maybe he made the right dietary changes (I did note he was a diet soda drinker and asked him to stop)…Maybe.  

I guess I have had so many of these “coincidences” that I start to reason the nourishing the body does lead to healing.  Even if Johns Hopkins Medical says I am a Quack…Oh, well…I bet you can learn a lot from DUCKS! 

Hierarchy of Function

I have a simple way of breaking down your body systems that makes healing much easier.  

There are something like 16 body systems including the skin as the integumentary system, and others with more familiar names…digestive, cardiovascular, immune, etc., systems.

Here is an even easier way of looking at it.  

Defense System:  This includes the immune system and barrier systems such as the skin, plus the detoxification systems such as lymphatics, liver, and kidneys. 

Stress System:  This primarily involves the brain, pituitary and adrenals, which is what responds to the stressful situation, but includes all stress changes as well, such as the heart pumping blood to the extremities to fight or flee.  

Thrive System:  This includes all the systems that make energy, such as the thyroid, adrenals (included here too), and pancreas.  But every cell cooperates to make energy, so it isn’t so much a structural division, but a functional division.

Reproductive System:  This includes the human reproductive system, but all of the healing, repair, and cell reproduction function as well.   

Now this complex machine we call a body is much easier to manage.  Instead of 16 structural systems, we have 4 functional systems.  Instead of 1600 named diseases, we have 4 functional problems.  Our system is invaded, stressed out, not making energy, and not healing (reproducing).  

And, there is a clear priority system…If your home is invaded, dinner can wait (thrive).  Same with a flooded basement (stress), you may put off dinner for awhile.  And if any of these are a clear need (invasion, stress, or hunger), well, makin’ babies is on the back burner for now.  

Natural medicine has clear advantages to treating this functional system.  

Take invasion for example.  In medicine, the treatments for immune challenges include antibiotics, steroids, chemo, and radiation.  Antibiotics might sound like a viable option, but pay attention…the people who take the most antibiotics get the most infections.  Again and again in most cases.  

Natural medicine has wonderful resources for helping the body eliminate everything from bacteria and yeast, virus and parasites, to toxins from the environment and within (we produce waste as well).  

Stress?  What does your traditional doctor have for stress?  Antidepressants.  Ok, maybe, but I don’t like the idea with messing with my brain function, and they don’t treat the real changes of stress…adrenaline, cortisol, etc.  

Natural medicine has amazing resources for handling high adrenaline and/or cortisol, as well as stress fatigue, often called adrenal fatigue.  

Thrive?  Medicine has one play…thyroid replacement…and if you don’t qualify by the standards a blood measurement called TSH, well then they just shrug their shoulders.  

Natural medicine has research proven thrive stimulators such as the herb Ashwagandha, which has at least one published research study showing it increases thyroid output.  And that’s just one of many resources to improve energy.  

Healing/reproduction?  Nothing medicine ever offers aids the healing process, except perhaps, their one use of natural medicine.  They use an amino acid called NAC to treat acute poisoning.  Everything else is symptom suppression.  

Everything natural medicine provides is to stimulate the healing process.  Natural medicine includes food, nutrients, and plants, and has published research documenting recovery from liver and pancreas damage, and you can trust that every cell in your body will respond to natural medicine just the same. 

My favorite products for defense systems:  Echinacea, Reishi mushroom, astragalus, usnea, elderberry, to name a few.

Stress:  Phosphatidyl serine, lemon balm, poppy, passion flower, skullcap…

Thrive: Ginseng, ashwagandha, Rhodiola, Cordyceps mushroom…

Repair/Healing: Gymnema, milk thistle, gotu cola, hawthorne, vitex…

These are just names of medications, only natural, versus pharmaceuticals such as abilify, albuterol, acyclovir, deferoxamine, etc., etc.  Odd names unless you study medicine.  

Which one would you rather learn?  How to block the symptoms of an underlying problem, or how to stimulate the natural healing process that we are all born with? 

"I Am Stuck!"

Do you feel stuck?  It is not uncommon for me to hear, “I have tried everything…medical and natural…and nothing works!”  Or, “Everything I try makes me feel worse!”  

Those are the words of people who have “Blocked Regulation” and/or “Switched Regulation.”

Those were the words of Rosalinda, Melissa, Raven, and Shannon, and now all share their happiness and success on our YouTube channel (DrStone16).  One of the keys to breaking the stuck pattern was treating them for Blocked and/or Switched Regulation.  I know those terms are foreign to medicine and most people, so let me explain…

Regulation:  This is my favored term for the little something within us that attends to our needs.  It keeps the heart beating, lungs breathing, and adapts to every change in our environment, both internally and externally.  The heart and lungs are regulated in our brainstem, which attends to what we call “vital functions.”  And they are vital…meaning death is the result of their failure.  

The brainstem is the “deepest” part of our nervous system.  The next deepest is the limbic system, also known as our emotional brain…but really functions as our fight or flee brain.  Emotions are not bad…in fact if you have been in love, excited about a project, or love your momma, you know that emotions can be wonderful.  The painful nature of some emotions is also good…they are there, just like the brainstem and vital functions, to keep you alive.  If you get emotional…upset in some way…it is giving you a guide to exit or change the situation.  Run from the bear…escape the mugger…or more practically, in life, change our patterns (habits, rituals)

The next layer of the brain is the cortex, commonly thought of as our thinking brain, but only a tiny portion of the brain…right behind your forehead, does the thinking.  Most of the cortex is for moving and sensing.   Again, all designed for survival.  For instance, if you touch a hot stove, the pain initiates a withdrawal reflex….all carefully coordinated in the cortex of your brain.  

I contend that this amazing organization of survival NEVER MAKES A MISTAKE!  Every experience you have is a carefully coordinated effort to increase your probability of surviving another day, week, month, year…yet these four people, and many others, did not feel like their body was working for them, or even with them.  It felt like all heck was breaking loose!  And here’s why…

Blocked Regulation:  Technically speaking, this is an inability to shift from parasympathetic (rest and digest) to sympathetic (fight or flee) and back again.  Regulation is literally stuck…or blocked.  But for a good reason.  There is something challenging survival…an immune challenge…that is demanding attention…the attention of regulation.  I compare this effect to a “fire in the kitchen.”  You can’t really step away for a snooze, to take a potty break, or attend to any other needs.  

This response is still your “best chance of survival” however, even if you can’t sleep, can’t digest, can’t heal…because the challenge cannot be ignored.  Often this is caused by a toxic metal (ie. Mercury) or an undiagnosed infection.  And it is true…success, progress, and feeling well are “blocked” until this problem is addressed.  

Switched Regulation:  This was named for the way it presents…you do something good for you, and you feel bad.  Sometimes you can even do something bad for you and feel better!  It’s an observation made by many patients and doctors, and only the most investigative ever figure out how to remedy this confounding experience.  It was certainly a confounder in my practice for many years…until I dug deep and discovered this very important barrier to healing.  

Often, this is caused by multiple immune challenges…my best analogy is a parent with 4 seriously upset kids in front of her.  As she listens and responds to one, two others get LOUDER.  And that is how it is with symptoms…you attend to one, and others get louder.  It is not even that the attention was wrong…it was just incomplete.  The treatment that was started was appropriate to one problem, and most likely needs to continue with additional support.  

Ultimately, this whole experience is about locating and attending to the top priority (-ies).  I often say that the reason Melissa, Shannon, Rosalinda, and Raven progressed…was that we located the top priority.  Blocked regulation and Neurologic Switching confuse the process of finding the top priority, and that is why it is a process of discovery.  

The stressors that cause blocked or switched regulation are not obvious with typical diagnostics.  I have experienced this first hand, with my “get all the cards on the table” approach of the past.  In this approach, I would order a multitude of lab tests, approaching $2,000 in diagnostics, hoping to unveil any and every stressor and imbalance that stood between my patient and good health.  Yet even with all that information, I would still run into blocks.  Or worse, as I attended to all the needs we uncovered, the patient would feel worse.  

Even with our extensive process of diagnosis, using neurological, energetic, and lab diagnostics, along with simply listening to the messages (we are very thorough in our diagnosis) it still takes a few to several visits to completely nail all priorities, including the TOP priority.  

And, of course, there are a few people that I never identified all the top priorities, and progress was not achieved.  Those are the ones that keep me searching and improving.  

 There are also many more who have shocking results using these diagnostic tools.  Results that surprise me and the patient.  They also keep my searching and improving, attempting to reproduce those results on a more consistent basis.  

For most, however, it is a step by step process of listening, noticing, and responding, requiring patience and time.  The most obvious regulation problems can be quickly observed with a simple muscle response testing using acupressure points.  The most stealth regulation problems sometimes are not evident until we retest the lab markers, identifying objectively (noticing), that one particular organ or system is blocked (no change) or switched (gets worse).  (Although I am getting better at spotting the “stealth” regulation problems, sooner rather than later!)

If you are personally “stuck,” this assessment can be the one thing that breaks you free to start enjoying the experience of your health moving again in a positive direction.  And…if you keep moving in a positive direction, maybe you can one day qualify for the BEST EVER group I talk about HERE!

"Best Ever"

In medicine, the goal of treatment is to slow the progression of the disease process that has overtaken your body.  Expectations are fairly low.  “There is no cure for your disease, so this is the best we can manage it.”  Cancer treatment is victorious if you extend the normal life expectancy…even by a few months.  

What if we chose a different goal…something exciting like “best ever. “ 

This concept came to me after a discussion with a patient who is about to turn 66.  She shared with me that she feels the BEST EVER.  Her energy, happiness, resilience to stress…her overall health and function are BEST EVER…compared to her experience as a kid, and anytime in her adult life.  She feels BEST EVER. 

She first visited me in January of 2009, experiencing what she might call her worst ever.  She had an autoimmune thyroid condition called Hashimoto’s, plus a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.  She was sick, tired, and in severe pain.  And guess what…naming her suffering didn’t relieve the suffering even 1%.  

She had to leave her career because she couldn’t handle the stress of working…she didn’t have the energy or strength to do it…she hurt too much to do it…she was certain she would be dead if she attempted to continue.  

At the point I met her, she had little hope, little money, no direction (for improving her health) and no income.  Her next best option was dying…at least the pain would end, and she wouldn’t have to worry about becoming homeless.  But she wasn’t quite ready for life to end…ending her career was a decision to extend her life, no matter how much pain there was.  

Yup, WORST EVER.  

And now, BEST EVER.  

It got me thinking…thinking about the concept of wellness, and my long time patients (she has been checked at least monthly for 3 years).  She is the most consistent fixture in my practice, besides the longest current patient….me.  

I started to reflect on my suffering, which was mild compared to hers, but was a pretty good list…anxiety, shoulder pain, allergies…never complained about my energy, but I had to take naps all through my late teens and 20s.  Now, my pain levels are best ever…also best ever: energy, resilience, anxiety levels, allergies, flexibility, and I’d say happiness also.  

Then my partner, Sonya (who is edging in on 40, which I’ve already exceeded)…she had chronic migraines, allergies, ear infections (even into college), terrible cramping with her cycle…all best ever.  Moods…best ever.  Tail bone pain, TMJ pain, shoulder pain…best ever.  Scoliosis…best ever (seriously, you can barely see any sign of it anymore).  

Another person that comes in regularly, for the past 5 years…I had to ask about his best ever’s.  he said his ankle, knee and hip pain is best ever.  He said he used to regularly use 800MG ibuprofen for pain, would almost always hurt after playing basketball which he played in high school and college.  And…managing stress and emotions…best ever (which he credits in part to NeuroEmotional Therapy, plus natural management of stress physiology).  

The point here is that most of my patients come in for problem solving, and then when the problem is solved, wait for the next problem to appear.  Some remember the help we provided, and others fall back into the “normal” routine of visiting the “real” doctor…getting named and categorized…and managing those names with symptom suppressing drugs.  

It seems that handling health problems with natural means, and then building on that with wellness visits that identifies your weakest link, and what will strengthen that weakest link…that leads to BEST EVER.  And I propose that as the new goal for your health care investment.  

One more question for the best evers…this must be expensive to care for yourself this way…is your health care expenditures more now…or less?  

A:  A resounding and significant…LESS!  

I have to clarify this…so, you are healthier, happier, virtually NO pain or suffering (symptoms), and you have more $ in your pockets?  

A: YES!  

Hmmmm….