Celeste’s periodic blog “Saturday
Salutes to Chronic Pain” honors the collaborative spirit of fellow bloggers,
advocates, and the many friends who share this journey. You inspire me.
Comment: Morphine
equivalents are not created equal. @JeffreyFudin ..." the CDC’s promotion
of a flawed App for opioid conversion, which may have the potential to cause
more overdoses than careful manual conversion when transitioning therapy
between opioids!" Practical
Pain Management: A Model to
Incorporate Functional Medicine into Chronic Pain Care
Comment: Do you know
there are "Seven Nodes of the Functional Medicine Matrix?" I didn’t.
Learn
more about Celeste’s books at her website or find
links here onCeleste's
blog.
Subscribe to posts by using the information in the upper right hand corner or
use the share buttons to share with others.
All
blogs and comments are based on the author's opinions and are not meant to
replace medical advice.
As an advocate for Oska®
Wellness, I periodically share updates. I am not paid to write reviews or
share information on the Oska Pulse PEMF device. However, I do receive a
referral fee if you purchase Oska by using my direct
advocate link, or use my code, CCRN60, at check out. This opportunity
allows me, in part, to maintain my website
and my blog, where I strive to provide information for a better life with
chronic pain and illness.
Apply
my referral code, CCRN60, at check out and be entered to win your money back on
one Oska Pulse purchase. Contest ends December 31 and a winner will be chosen
at random on January 5, 2018.
CONTEST
TERMS
1.Contest
valid December 15-31, 2017, 11:59pm PST
2.Purchase
valid online at www.oskawellness.com
(3rd party sites such as Amazon.com are NOT included in this contest)
3.My advocate
code, CCRN60, must be used at check out or use my referral link to qualify
4.Purchase
must be paid in full, does not apply to 3 Easy Payments method
5.Winner
chosen on January 5 will receive $299 reimbursement on one device
I
am committed to using my Oska Wellness
PEMF device every day, because it works! As an advocate for Oska®, I am happy
to announce Oska Pulse is now available on Amazon. And, just in time to
add it to a holiday wish list.
Oska
Wellness took the top prize for "2017 Startup of the Year"
international competition, at the "Innovate Celebrate" conference
in San Francisco. The conference, held by TechCo in partnership with the
Consumer Technology Association, was a three-day event attended by 100 startup
semifinalists, and eventually narrowed down to five finalist startups. Oska Wellness emerged as the winner.
Learn
more about Celeste’s books at her website or find
links here onCeleste's
blog.
Subscribe to posts by using the information in the upper right hand corner or
use the share buttons to share with others.
All
blogs and comments are based on the author's opinions and are not meant to
replace medical advice.
Celeste’s "Saturday Salutes to Chronic
Pain" honors the collaborative spirit of fellow bloggers, advocates, and the
many friends who share this journey. Your encouragement is an inspiration to
me.
Comment: Reduced or eliminated too quickly, Congressman Roe? You still don't get it! Robert Rose this must be a very difficult and trying time for you, but know you represent millions of Americans who find opioids improve their quality of life.
The
Nerve to Be Heard - iPAIN PoP by Lacy Fowler
Comment:
I couldn’t be more proud of Lacy for her
advocacy on Arachnoiditis at the International Pain Foundation – See my
interview with Lacy on HealthCentral
Learn
more about Celeste’s books at her website or find
links here onCeleste's
blog.
Subscribe to posts by using the information in the upper right hand corner or
use the share buttons to share with others.
All
blogs and comments are based on the author's opinions and are not meant to
replace medical advice.
For
years, we have known an extraordinary number of us with fibromyalgia also live
with one or more frequently co-occurring, comorbid, conditions. One of those is
irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). I have vocalized my own experiences with IBS, interviewed Dr
Stephen Wangen,
board certified, licensed physician in naturopathic medicine and co-founder and
Medical Director of the IBS Treatment Center, and I have written about it in
what our readers call “The Big Book”.
If
you have IBS, you know the drum-like tightness and resonance caused by belly
bloat. When not in an attack, I can explain it like this; I am in a canoe that
is lazily floating through my gut. There I am with my feet up, hands behind my
head relaxing in a tranquil gently moving environment. Then suddenly, I am
holding on for dear life. My canoe ricochets from side to side like a ball hitting
the bumpers of a pinball machine, threatening to throw me into a toxic abyss.
If you have FM and IBS, you know.
What
you may not know is that during an attack I practice creative visualization. I
envision my bowel being coated and cloaked with a calming gel that clings to
the walls of my intestines. The gooey colorful substance protects the lining
against caustic toxins. As I control my breath, I call on my reserves to
translate what is happening differently, without judgment. I have not mastered
the technique enough to prevent an attack, but it does ease my minds
interpretation of the event. In the past, things like creative visualization
were not seen as valuable tools by traditional medicine. But, could times be
changing?
A
stronger connection has been made between fibromyalgia and GERD, as reported in an article I
wrote for ProHealth.
What’s interesting about this connection is that all three; FM, IBS, and GERD
share two things
1.Relationship
to the immune system
2.Relationship
to brain, centralization
What’s
even more interesting is that traditional medicine, thanks to neuroscience, is
now embracing the things my co-author, Jeff Miller, PhD, and I have written
about in our books.
Hypnosis—
Really?
According
to Medscape, a continuing education website for physicians and registered
nurses, hypnotherapy for
IBS,
GERD and
inflammatory bowel disease looks promising.
Did I ever think conventional medicine would look outside the box? Yes, but when
we wrote our book on
integrative therapies
for fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, and chronic myofascial pain I would not have
predicted the robust acceptance or the change taking place in traditional
medical paradigms.
Hypnotherapy,
as I can personally attest, gives us a sense of control and like my reported
experience with creative visualization; it exposes our internal dialogue to
change. As a qualified
hypnotherapist
makes suggestions, we gain power over autonomic body dysfunction, such as IBS
and GERD. Biological changes, i.e. temperature, pulse, and blood pressure occur
in response to our thoughts as evidenced by biofeedback.
There
is a well-documented bidirectional pathway between the brain and gut, and I
believe integrative therapies, such as creative visualization, hypnosis, and
biofeedback have a positive effect because fibromyalgia, IBS and GERD share a
brain-body connection, centralization and the autonomic nervous system.
Learn
more about Celeste’s books at her website or find
links here onCeleste's
blog.
Subscribe to posts by using the information in the upper right hand corner or
use the share buttons to share with others.
All
blogs and comments are based on the author's opinions and are not meant to
replace medical advice.
Celeste’s Saturday Salutes to Chronic
Pain honors the collaborative spirit of fellow bloggers, advocates, and the
many friends who share this journey. Your encouragement is an inspiration to
me.
Comment: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” Henry Ford. "
It is our goal to ‘keep together,’ ‘work together’ and to be successful."
Myra Christopher
Comment: A profound
message. Labels and accurate data matters. Get it right, people. Report
accurate information, politicians. Speak the truth for all, media.
Learn
more about Celeste’s books at her website or find
links here onCeleste's
blog.
Subscribe to posts by using the information in the upper right hand corner or
use the share buttons to share with others.
All
blogs and comments are based on the author's opinions and are not meant to
replace medical advice.
The
FM/a® Test, is
real, and it is making a huge impact on the way fibromyalgia is diagnosed. So, what is it? And, how might it affect you?
My
July 2016 blog, FM/a®
Blood Test – “How To” and My Results, has been trending on social media and
my fibro-friends have told me they have found it very helpful. The following is
one excerpt from that blog that sums it up.
“FM/a® is a multi-biomarker-based test which concerns immune
system white blood chemokine and cytokine patterns. Patients with fibromyalgia
have a significantly dysregulated pattern regarding these proteins.
I
am often asked why I had the blood test done. Wasn’t I afraid the results might
be negative? Of course I had concerns, but for me it was worth the risk since,
like all of us, I have suffered the physical and emotional agony of living with
an invisible illness. If there was a blood test that would confirm my symptoms
were not all in my head, I wanted it. It was worth it, because now I have
affirmation that I have a biological test that confirms I have fibromyalgia,
and I can participate in important research, making a difference in the lives
of people worldwide.
I
am happy to share other important news that might influence your decision.
“The
FM/a® Test is a recognized diagnostic tool that provides an objective diagnosis
of fibromyalgia for Gulf War veterans with this disorder who are seeking to
qualify for disability coverage. Additionally, the FM/a® Test is now covered
for veterans by CHAMPVA insurance, as well as Medicare and most PPO insurance
plans.” (Business
Wire, accessed November 21, 2017)
In my April
2017 blog, I
shared “Breaking News" regarding sequencing of exomes (fibromyalgia
disease-specific gene markers) that will improve the diagnosis of fibromyalgia
through the application of the FM/a® Test. (Press
release). In that blog, I also shared the announcement of “Campaign 250”.
Following is an excerpt.
Breaking
News
Under
contract with researchers from both UCLA and the University of Illinois College
of Medicine Chicago, Campaign 250 will conduct Whole-Exome genetic testing on up to 250,000 patients who have received
a positive FM/a® fibromyalgia diagnosis… Based upon the findings of
this testing and once treatment protocols have received regulatory and
institutional approvals, FM/a® Test positive patients will be invited to
participate in a fibromyalgia-specific
vaccine clinical trial to reverse the biology of fibromyalgia…
That
time is NOW!
I
am honored to say, “I am officially a participant in Campaign 250”. I signed the
consent form, which is straightforward, and I submitted my blood, one tube is
all it takes. The only qualification is to have tested positive with the FM/a Test.
The genomics draw test kit came with detailed instructions.
I am also happy to share that FM/a® testing is now offered to patients
from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Turkey, Mexico, Central and South America, the
Caribbean, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.
The
website provides information you can share with others and your healthcare providers. You will find answers to
frequently asked questions, a brochure to download, personal testimonies, access
to peer-reviewed medical publications, and a scrolling list of insurance companies known
to cover the test (at the bottom of the page). In addition, there are videos to
guide you through the process, such as why
me, how to get the test, how can I be sure, how can I join, exploring effective treatment, how to get the FM/a blood test, and
more. If you have more questions, you are encouraged to give their staff a
call.
Learn more about
Celeste’s books here. Subscribe
to posts by using the information in the upper right hand corner or use the
share buttons to share with others.
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