Dealing with Dampness

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Dealing with Dampness

Friday, October 17, 2008

By: Greg Lee

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FMOnline vol. 8, no. 10

When medications didn’t stop her daily chronic pains, Barbara thought about

ending her suffering for good. She was deeply disappointed after zillions of

tests, years of different pain medications, and exhausting herself in

exercise programs. She couldn't bear an unending future of wet weather aches,

cold

winters wracking her body with pain, and nights of restless sleep.

Fortunately, her daughter kept looking for a solution.

Her daughter worked for one of the biggest healthcare organizations in the

country. However, she found a solution outside of her big corporation. On an

internet search, her daughter found a local healing center that had experience

in treating fibromyalgia.

Instead of receiving more medications, Barbara found someone who could help

reinvigorate her own natural healing abilities. She got something that she

didn't expect on the first treatment. After years of disappointments,her body

had 60 percent less pain. In some areas, the pain had disappeared completely,

though a knee with a replacement joint still ached. As she continued

treatment, she found healing for her aches and pains that had accumulated over

the

years.

and FM Pain

Chinese medicine looks at fibromyalgia as a problem with the functioning of

the whole body as well as in specific systems. For thousands of years,

Chinese medical texts have described successful treatments for illnesses

similar to

fibromyalgia.

In Chinese medicine, one cause of fibromyalgia pain is described as " excess

dampness. " Dampness is defined as a substance that moistens different systems

in the body. Excess internal dampness causes pain and fatigue. Rainy weather

can increase internal dampness which flares up your fibromyalgia symptoms.

Excess dampness can also show up as a yeast, bacterial, or viral infection. As

microorganisms and their waste products accumulate in your muscles and

joints, you feel more pain and fatigue.

How can you get excess dampness out?

How can you keep it from coming back?

Strategies for Resolving Painful Dampness

There are three strategies for eliminating excess fibromyalgia dampness.

1. Modify your diet by adding food that drains excess dampness and removing

food that produces more dampness.

2. Strengthen your internal ability to drain dampness.

3. Detoxify waste products and metals out of your body.

These changes can lead to rapid improvements in your energy level, quality

of sleep, mental clarity, and chronic pain reduction.

 

1. A. Increase your intake of food that reduces dampness

Below are foods to eat that dry out excess dampness and reduce aches and

fatigue. I highly recommend getting organically grown or minimally processed

versions of these foods:

 

Barley, rye, amaranth, alfalfa sprouts, corn

Celery, lettuce, turnips, kohlrabi

Seaweeds like nori, wakame

Raw goat milk

Raw honey

White pepper, pau d’arco, chamomile

Mushrooms

 

1. B. Reduce your intake of food that creates more dampness

Below are food to avoid that can increase painful dampness in muscles and

joints:

 

Soy products

Dairy products

Products made from wheat, breads, pasta, desserts

Fried food, fatty meats

Desserts, soda, candy, sweetened drinks, sweetened food

Alcoholic beverages

Highly processed food like hot dogs with nitrates, food with lots of

preservatives or additives, artificially sweetened food

Changing your diet may require an adjustment period for you to let go of

familiar comfort or quick-energy foods. As you feel better, eating these foods

gets much easier. Draining excess dampness out of your body helps too.

2. Strengthen your ability to eliminate dampness

You can enhance your ability to drain painful dampness from muscles and

joints through acupuncture treatment and Chinese herbs. With less dampness in

your body, you feel less pain and fatigue. You feel even better when the toxic

waste products of harmful organisms are removed from your system.

3. Detoxify toxins and metals out of your system

The waste products from infectious organisms accumulate as toxins in your

blood, muscles, and joints. Your immune system can’t effectively fight

against

infectious organisms with toxins and harmful metals in your body. You also

feel better and have more energy when these toxins and metals are out of your

system. Reducing or stopping the use of tobacco or recreational chemical

substances helps to detoxify your system.

These strategies work together to eliminate excess dampness out of your

body, which relieves your pain and your fatigue.

You feel much lighter and more energized as you clear out unhealthy dampness

through acupuncture treatment, herbs, detoxification, and dietary changes.

As your muscles and joints get cleaned of unhealthy gunk, your pain decreases

too. You sleep better and feel hope for the first time in years. The real

test is seeing how you react to the next rainstorm.

After a few weeks of treatment, some clients have much less pain and fatigue

during wet weather. Some report that they can run errands without

debilitating discomfort. As you eliminate excess dampness, you may have much

less pain

and discomfort and be able to start resuming normal activities. This change

helped Barbara to have new hope for her future. She has returned to social

activities and started home renovation projects, and even went through a winter

with her electric blanket on a setting of “5.â€

With the right combination of dietary changes, detoxification, and treatment

with a Chinese medicine practitioner, perhaps you can manage your FM

symptoms better, too.

Gregory Lee is a licensed acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist, and Master Sufi

Healer. He is co-founder of the Two Frogs Healing Center in Frederick,

Maryland. He has helped clients to reduce their fibromyalgia pain and fatigue

through the Healing Fibromyalgia Forever Program. To learn more, click _here_

(http://www.twofrogscenter.com/heal_fibro.html) .

 

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