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Thursday, August 2, 2018

Strange bruising and great lab results

Even though the macrobiotics have already done wonders putting an end to my trigeminal nerve damage (aka chronic facial pain of 7+ years), I decided to do more to help my body heal.

Back when I lived in California my friend Holly Tse wrote a book titled "Sole Guidance" Chinese foot reflexology. I remember reading a blog post titled: 5 Simple Habits to Improve Eyesight Naturally and her Facebook posts about how practicing these habits and reflexology had allowed her to recover her vision and not need glasses any longer.

As someone who had better than 20/20 vision most of my life I was tempted to follow her lead but didn't think I had the discipline to do all that is required. After living a macrobiotic lifestyle and diet the past three months I realized I do have the discipline it takes, nothing is more important than my health, and reflexology might help what is going on in my brain. So, I ordered her book.


Upon first reading it I focused on the pressure points in the order she suggests them in beginning with the kidney, bladder, and lymphatic drainage points. The next chapter focused on the brain, temporal (including the trigeminal nerve), and heart points.

So here was my big surprise. After the very first night? I woke up in the morning to discover that for the first time in years, some mild lower back pain that only bothered me at night when sleeping on my stomach hadn't woken me up that night. The following night was the same. I immediately realized that the pain that had been there for at least the past 5-6 years was seemingly gone. That was back on July 7th. It's now August and still no more pain.

The other morning I woke up at 5:00 but didn't want to get out of bed. I wanted to let my body rest even if my mind was done sleeping. So I laid on my stomach to see how long it would take for my back to ache. It never did.

But here's the really weird part. After the second day of no lower back pain as I slept... I noticed my back in the bathroom mirror. It was bruised. Not a little tiny bruise. It was a huge bruise that encompassed my entire lower back. The skin felt slightly thickened along my spine and the entire area looked sunken in. Like this...


It was more than a little alarming. I called my Primary Care Physician on July 9th but the earliest they could see me was July 24th. I scheduled the appointment but by the time it came the bruising was all gone. I went anyway because I'd taken a picture that I could bring with me and a friend had suggested that the bruising might be related to my diet.

I went online to research if that was possible but it didn't make a lot of sense that every nutrient deficiency I could find that related to bruising all recommended eating more leafy greens and vegetables. LOL. I eat leafy greens and vegetables three times a day, often two different kinds at each meal. I've never eaten so many leafy greens and vegetables in my life! But I went and the doctor ordered blood tests just to make sure that wasn't part of the problem.

I wouldn't have been surprised if I had begun to become nutrient deficient, three months into my new macrobiotic lifestyle and diet (no sugar, dairy, yeast, and meat except for an occasional serving of wild caught, white meat fish). My PCP ran a Complete Blood Count, a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, and these additional tests to look for specific nutrient deficiencies. The tests showed I wasn't nutrient deficient at all.


Because it was going to take so long to get in to see my PCP I sent the photograph of the bruising to my Macrobiotic Counselor, Denny Waxman. He said he thought it looked like an elimination process and that it was a good sign. Upon reflection I do think it's possible that my body was pushing out toxins it had probably held onto and stored for decades. After a few days the bruising cleared up and hasn't come back.

I'll add that I had begun doing evening, salt, foot soaks around the same time as part of my macrobiotic program. So perhaps it was the combination of both modalities that brought about this strange result?

I am taking this all as a good sign that my body wants to heal itself. I just need to figure out how to allow it to do so without hampering its process. My diet and avoiding as much new stress as possible continue to be my top priority. Processing a lot of stress I've held onto for years is also a big part of my solution. It's not easy. In fact it's damn hard. But, it's what is necessary not just because of the spots in my brain but for my own emotional well being.

I am hoping by sharing this journey I will indirectly help others find their own path to better health, a higher quality of life and contentment.


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The information and suggestions in this post are given from a personal perspective and should not be interpreted as professional medical advice. Please consult a professional Counselor or Doctor to help you find your way to better health.


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