-- Sherrill Sellman

This was the bulk of the appointment and afterwards my low back and sacral area felt a lot looser and hurt much less during the week.

She didn't touch my neck, although I wish she would've because it's really tight and uncomfortable, even after my massage.

_____________

I was unsure of my schedule this week, so I didn't call and book with Sam in advance and he got all booked up. So no massage for me.

_____________

My third appointment was the day of this writing.

I told her about my neck and she worked on it for about 40 minutes. On the fluids. Apparently there is a lot going on there -- Sam said the same thing.

She also worked on the area of lymphatic drainage from my lower body/legs. Apparently the lymphatic drainage points were "crunchy" versus flowing smoothly. If your lymphatics from any area don't drain properly you will have swelling in that area. Swelling in the lower legs from improper drainage usually goes down overnight and then increases as the day goes on.

There are lots of herbs for lymphatic drainage and cleanses, but if things are not right from a structural point of view, nothing is going to work well. It will also be a losing battle in the long run; your structure doesn't improve as you get older for no reason.

My next appointment is for one month. Apparently the work she did on the fluids and lymphatic drainage takes a while to really settle in. She said it was like giving the body "information" and that my body will keep shifting a little bit at a time for about the next 4 weeks.

I'll keep writing about how those shifts go and feel over the next month. I'll probably supplement with massage and chiropractic to keep things from getting uncomfortable again.

Actually, I just made a last-minute effort to get in with Sam tomorrow. If not, I'll haul myself out to Mississauga to see my chiro. (Sandy Bhasin - drbhasin.com). He doesn't do any cracking -- the treatments are very gentle but effective. I found him after my second whiplash, when I couldn't move my head. Having so much going on with my neck, I like the gentleness of the treatments.

TC

About a day or two after my first visit, the shooting pain in my head started. This is a pain I would feel for about 5 seconds once every two years or so. A couple of days after my first visit, the pain was everyday, several times per day.

My osteopath said it is ideal to combine osteopathic treatment with massage. So off I went for some weekly massages to take the edge off!

I saw Sam Ward at Park Road Healing Arts, partly because this is the same building where my Toronto office is but mostly because I had heard he was great.

When I mentioned the shooting head pain he said it was because everything was shifting and things hadn't settled yet. Ugh.

I had a fantastic massage and Sam really worked on my trigger points and getting things to release. He actually when into my tissue and muscle and got the tight spots to release. He said once they are released, they don't come back (unless you injure yourself again, I assume).

After that massage the shooting head pains were no longer!

(By the way, my osteopath is Su Gray at Danforth and Pape in Toronto.)

TC

Some people who strongly believe in vaccinating all children feel that they do not want their children around other children who have not been vaccinated because of the "germs" they may be carrying.

One of my patients made an excellent point:

"If you believe so strongly in the vaccinations you have had for your children, then why does it matter that my children are not vaccinated?"

TC

You DO however, need to get an affidavit signed and notarized and get it on file with your local health unit. Basically this form says that you choose not to immunize your child based on your conscience or religious beliefs.

For all the fear that surrounds ''But what will happen to my child when they go to school?'', this one is pretty straightforward.

Don`t know where to get the form? Don`t know where your local health unit it?

Never fear -- I`ve got you covered!

The Form - Here you go! Statement of Conscience or Religious Belief Affidavit

Local health unit - this web page lists the health units throughout Ontario.

http://www.ingoodhands.ca/cert_02.html

Print out the form, fill it out, take it to a notary public (when I needed one in the past, I just looked in the Yellow Pages. You should be able to find one easily on the internet as well.) and get it signed. Then go to your local health unit, get it on file and have a copy for yourself and anyone who may want to see it such as schools etc.

And that's all there is to it!

TC

Why, why, why?

One of the most common questions I get from patients is, "If it's not good for you, why are they allowed to say it's good for you?"

Marketing. Sales. Profits.

Health? No, no....that's not the point. Sales and profits are the point.

I just caught a few minutes of a morning show...

...and on this show they were talking about saving money at the grocery store. I didn't catch the whole thing, but what I did catch fired me up enough to open up my blog and write this post.

TV Tip: Instead of buying frozen/refrigerated pasta, buy old-fashioned pasta in cans. The pasta is already cooked and in sauce, so you don't even have to boil water! And it`s non-fat whereas the other pasta has lots of fat.

Me: Are you kidding me?? First of all, the frozen/refrigerated pasta had cheese (and probably cream and/or vegetable oil in it). So of course there is going to be lots of fat - that`s the jist of high-fat dairy.  

So they suggested the old-fashioned canned pasta in sauce. Canned foods, as a general rule, are not good for you. There are some foods that are okay to use canned sometimes (sardines, legumes) but that`s about it. Having meals that come out of a can is not a good idea.

And while I`m on it, let me say that although I`m all for old-fashioned, just because something is the way ''it always was when I was a kid'', it doesn`t mean it's good for you.

About 50 or so years ago, the pesticide truck used to drive down residential streets and spray lawns with chemicals. People would take lawn chairs and sit on their front lawns while they were being sprayed as a form of entertainment. I guess there wasn't much going on in many suburban neighbourhoods and this was exciting. But now we know better and some communities are banning pesticides on lawns altogether.

But I digress...

A healthy alternative would be to buy dried and/or fresh plain pasta, a healthy jar of sauce and add a bunch of vegetables and sauteed/stir-fried meat/chicken/fish.

TV tip:  Since most orange juice is just reconstituted orange juice concentrate anyways, you might as well save some money and just buy the concentrate and add the water yourself. There is a huge savings of about $5 with this one.

Me: Ah, the illusion of choice. Would you like this one or that one? Maybe I would like neither.

If you are going to buy orange juice (or any juice) make sure it's not from concentrate at all.

But something important to know is this: juice isn`t good for you. You read that right. Juice isn't good for you.

Juice is processed by your body the exact same way as if it were sugar-water. By the time you buy orange juice in the store, the vitamin C is long gone and all you have is a liquid with a ton of sugar in it.

Eat the fruit. Fruit is full of fiber and it slows down how quickly the sugar enters your bloodstream. Eat the fruit instead of drinking the juice.

And no, kids don't need juice. Of course they like it but this is for the same reason they like cake and cookies: they are full of sugar. Teach them to eat fruit and you'll be planting some very good seeds in your child about healthy food choices.

Save on juice by not buying it at all! (Now there's a tip!)

TC

I love my Kleen Kanteen water bottle!

If you are a patient of my Brampton office, you`ve never seen it because I have a big glass 1 litre jar. But when I`m at my Toronto office and on my days off, I`ve always got my Kleen Kanteen (500ml) bottle with me. In fact, I am going to add to my collection with a 1 litre bottle soon.

Non-leaching stainless steel

These water bottles are made from non-leaching stainless steel. Some types of stainless steel can leach, but this company uses a kind that does not -- incidentally there are over 50 different types of stainless steel.

Light and easy to carry around

This bottle is nice and light when empty. And the 500ml bottle fits nicely into my purse -- so I can take it with me when I am out running errands downtown, on the subway or out for a walk.

Dishwasher friendly! (not the cap though, just the bottle)

It is easy to clean -- it has a nice wide mouth that fits perfectly into my dishwasher and comes out sparkling clean and ready for another day`s use.

It is just stainless steel -- there is no coating to wear off.

What a waste!

At one point, I had another re-usable water bottle that was made from aluminum with a coating (because aluminum is toxic). This bottle worked well for a while, but eventually the coating wore off in the mouth of the bottle and I could taste the aluminum. I had three of these bottles (about $75 plus tax!) and I just threw them all out. 

With the Kleen Kanteen there is no coating, nothing to wear off and no reason why this bottle shouldn`t last a lifetime!

TC

Some new research has shown that by smoking, you`re not just harming yourself anymore -- it`s been shown that children are harmed by this as well. Even if you smoke outside your home.

It`s called third-hand smoke and the news is not good.

Hair and clothing carry the toxins

Researchers have found that the contamination/toxins from tobacco smoke lingers long after the cigarette has been put out. The toxins get into the hair and clothing of a smoker (or anyone who is around cigarette smoke) and when that person comes into contact with anyone, that person is exposed to those toxins.

Two hundred and fify strong

These toxins (collectively called particulate matter) have been proven to be toxic and there are 250 of them. 250 toxins! What`s worse is that 11 of them have been shown to be Class I carcinogens -- the most dangerous level of cancer-causing chemicals.

Do it for the kids!

Third-hand smoke has been associated with cognitive (definition: the process of knowing and, more precisely, the process of being aware, knowing, thinking, learning and judging) deficits and lower reading scores in kids.

Do it for your loved ones!

Even if you are not around kids, everyone you come into contact with is being exposed to these hazardous toxins.

Do it for yourself!

On a slightly different note: smoking and cigarettes are not your friend.  Just like many people who overeat feel that food is their friend, many smokers feel that cigarettes are their friend. But they aren`t.

More ways to quit smoking than to skin a cat

If you find you cannot quit on your own, there is no shame in getting help. There are prescription drugs from your doctor for quitting smoking, acupuncture, hypnosis.

Stigma, schmigma

And perhaps psychotherapy is appropriate as well. Although there is still a social stigma that only `crazy`people go to psychotherapy, there`s actually a big joke here: Some of the most balanced, most accomplished people in society go to psychotherapy -- they just don`t tell everyone about it. So by hanging on to these out-dated views about therapy, you`re actually really missing out.

TC

Bones or fluids?

One thing I learned was that if a person gets a chiropractic adjustment and it doesn`t hold, there is a deeper problem that needs to be addressed. Often there is a problem with `the fluids`. There is fluid that surrounds our brain and spinal column and there can be a problem with these fluids. An osteopath can address fluid problems.

My Visit

In my visit, we first sat down and she asked me a bunch of questions about my history. Why I was there, surgeries, accidents, falls, any health concerns etc.

Then she had me stand up to assess my posture. I always try to stand up straight and not slouch, but that`s not quite what she was looking at -- apparently my posture is not good. I stand forward with most of my weight on the balls of my feet instead of back on my heels. In fact, when she placed my body in what was the proper position, I felt as if I would fall over backwards!

After a variety of falls, whiplashes and surgery at 1 year of age, by system doesn`t know where it`s center  is. So every time I get a little thrown out of balance, my body scrambles to figure out what to do and eventually to stabilize itself.

Sounds exhausting!

There are so many people in similar situations to myself -- surgeries, falls, accidents. It seems to me everyone should be assessed by an osteopath, at least once.

After the posture assessment, she had me lie down on a massage table and determined that there was a lot of pulling from my head all the way down to my right hip/SI joint. It seems  my right hip joint area was not sitting how it should be. After the treatment, I definitely felt like my right hip had been rotated outward. Interestingly enough, ever since I was a kid my right foot would always rotate inwards. Hmm.

My next appointment is in 2 weeks and apparently the body does a lot of work on it`s own between visits.

I am definitely more conscious of standing on my heels versus the balls of my feet and have really noticed every time my right foot turns in -- I never noticed these things before. I am not sure if it is the treatment or the power of suggestion.

I`ll write another post after my next visit and keep you up-to-date on my progress. I hope my chronicalling my experience helps you to determine whether osteopathic treatment is right for you.

TC

I sure don't, but I hear the results are fantastic.

It has to do with moving bones, muscles, organs....and getting everything into their proper place. Or something like that.

I am going to find out and let you know

I have an appointment of my own on February 20th with an osteopath in Toronto and I am going to document what it's all about here for you to read.

Why am I doing this?

Because I have found that most of my naturopathic modalities stop at the point where someone needs their structure taken care of. And so I need to refer out for most of that, but I don't know how to explain it to patients.

If you have had your structure looked at and you end up in my office, my treatments will be much more effective.  And if you are one of my patients, I just very well may want to refer you to an osteopath at some point and I am hoping this will be a great source of information for you.

I've only sent one person so far

I have sent one patient to an osteopath so far and the results have been amazing. I sent this patient only because they had a lot of tailbone pain and I know that osteopaths apparently work very well with this type of pain. The changes in this patient have been amazing.

So I got to thinking...

I used to fall on my tailbone as a way of life - hardwood stairs, concrete stairs - you name it. And, as evidenced by my yoga postures, I could be a bit more limber.

And so to the osteopath I go...Feb 20th....I'll keep you posted!

TC