Massage Therapy Benefits for Multiple Sclerosis

Have you tried massage therapy for dealing with your Multiple Sclerosis?

In my book “Waking Up From MS – My Journey To Health, Healing, and Living Symptom Free – I have a chapter focused on “Creating The Best Body.” In that chapter I look at many different therapies to ensure our health and healing. In my almost 30 years of living with MS, I’ve turned to chiropractic care, acupuncture, mediation and mindfulness, exercise, and one of the most enjoyable treatments I’ve used is Massage Therapy. On this journey to heal my body from the devastating affects of MS, I have sought out many alternative and holistic treatments that could repair my body on the cellular level without drugs.  

The most common types of massage:

• Swedish Massage – This is a gentle form of massage that uses long strokes, kneading, deep circular movements, vibration and tapping to help relax and energize you. (I prefer Swedish massage as I find it to be the most relaxing)
• Deep-tissue massage – This massage technique uses slower, more forceful strokes to target the deeper layers of muscle and connective tissue. I always hated the deep tissue massage, I’m all about relaxation!
• Sports Massage – This is similar to Swedish massage, but is geared toward people involved in sporting activities. This can be used to help prevent or treat injuries. Many people use it to prepare themselves for sporting events.
• Shiatsu – This massage technique uses fingers, hands, and elbows. This type of massage is used to stimulate different acupressure points throughout the body, it also helps with the flow of energy. No oil is used so people can remain fully clothed. (loose clothing is best)
• Reflexology –  This involves applying pressure to the hands, feet or ears to produce changes in areas that are connected to specific body parts and organs. Applying pressure to any of the reflex areas, will remove energy blockages and promote health, and healing in the related body parts and organs.
• Myofascial Release –  This technique involves applying gentle sustained pressure into the Myofascial connective tissue (trigger points) in the body to eliminate pain, loosen muscles, and restore range of motion.
• Raindrop Technique – The Raindrop is a technique developed by Gary Young, the founder of Young Living Essential Oils, which is an application of highly antimicrobial essential oils directly to the spine with effleurage (finger stroking) techniques to distribute healing energy throughout the body.

PHYSICAL BENEFITS OF MASSAGE THERAPY

Massage Therapy has many physical benefits. It will boost your immune system, calm the nervous system, lower blood pressure, slow respiration, reduce chronic pain, loosen tight muscles, stretch connective tissue, increase red blood cell count, improve muscle tone, speed-up recovery from injury, reduce tension headaches, increase tissue metabolism, decrease muscle deterioration, speed recovery from illness, increase range of motion, speed elimination of metabolic waste, increase blood and lymph circulation, stimulate release of endorphins, reduce swelling, improve posture, and improve skin tone.

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL BENEFITS OF MASSAGE THERAPY

Massage Therapy has many mental and emotional benefits. It will reduce stress, improve sleep quality, improve productivity, induce mental relaxation, improve concentration, reduce anxiety, enhance self-image, provide a sense of well-being and nurture emotional growth. This is something that all MS sufferers must be mindful of as our mental and emotional health goes hand in hand, many times, with our disease activity.  

I absolutely love Myofascial Release in tandem with a Swedish massage. I recommend getting massage therapy at least twice a month. I noticed benefits from my massage therapy right away. It gave me a sense of calm and peace, but at the same time it’s invigorating since it helps circulation and blood flow throughout the body. Remember, on this journey with MS we must stay focused on healing, repairing, and restoring our bodies. Anything we can do that will lessen inflammation and help build our immune system will have lasting affects.

Massage Therapy gives physical, mental, and emotional benefits. As you see from the list above, you have many different massage therapy options and your massage therapist can help find the one that’s right for you and also help you deal with whatever health challenges that come up due to your MS. Check out my MS Resources page to learn more about important health related information.

I always say, our mind, body and spirits are connected and we must focus on each of those areas to take back our health. We have plenty of tools and resources to help us on our journey. Massage Therapy is one way to get you on the path to health and healing.

To Our health!

Kellie Alderton

#wakingupfromms

If you want to learn more about healthy living and green technologies, check out my products page at www.myvollara.com/kga

You can also follow me on twitter @kelliealderton or my FB page Waking Up From MS where I share insights and information for everyone dealing with MS.

Multiple Sclerosis can be a scary and unpredictable journey.  There are many trials and tribulations for each of us affected with this disease. After living with MS for many years with little hope of being truly healthy, my eyes and mind were open to the possibility of a total transformation of not only my health, but in every way I thought about MS.

It’s with excitement, gratitude, and humility I am happy to announce that my book “Waking Up from MS – My Journey to Health, Healing and Living Symptom Free” is finally available on Amazon.

This book details my almost 30-year journey with Multiple Sclerosis from my diagnosis at the age of 17 to now living symptom free at the age of 46.

This is more than a book about MS, it’s a book about how the mind, body, and spirit are connected and how we must focus on each area if we want to be truly healthy, whether you are living with a condition like MS or not.

My book covers holistic and alternative therapies that I used every day to heal my body. I want my book to take you on your own journey. I want it to be thought provoking and inspiring for everyone who reads it.

Please share with your MS family and friends or their caretakers!  

To our health!

Kellie Alderton 

#wakingupfromms

If you want to learn more about healthy living and green technologies, check out my products page at www.myvollara.com/kga

You can also follow me on twitter @kelliealderton or my FB page Waking Up From MS where I share insights and information for everyone dealing with MS.

Vitamin D – Is it the Multiple Sclerosis Miracle?

Vitamin D may be one of the most important nutrients to heal our bodies, not just from auto immune issues like Multiple Sclerosis but even cancers. Vitamin D deficiencies run rampant now – especially in Americans. It’s interesting that Auto Immune diseases, illness and cancers do too. Vitamin D levels are steadily declining, specifically in the U.S., as children and adults spend less time outdoors.

Studies conducted by researchers at the University of Oxford and another conducted at the New Jersey Medical School and even the Mayo Clinic have suggested that maintaining adequate levels of Vitamin D may have a protective effect and lower the risk of developing Multiple Sclerosis. Vitamin D may even lessen the frequency and severity of our MS Symptoms. When you’re having an exacerbation, your Vitamin D levels may be almost non-existent! Of course more research is needed to assess these findings, but I believe what’s been revealed is groundbreaking and as research continues around the world I grow more hopeful and optimistic each and every day about its benefits to the MS community! When Vitamin D levels are optimized it may help prevent many types of Cancers,  Cardiovascular Disease, Diabetes,  Osteoporosis, Infections, Rheumatoid Arthritis. Any doctor can order a Vitamin D level test and it’s important to find out where you are currently so that you have a reference point in tracking your levels. Screening for vitamin D deficiency is especially important for African-Americans and other ethnic groups with dark skin, due to the decreased natural production of Vitamin D from sun exposure.

The link between Vitamin D and MS is strengthened by the association between sunlight and the risk of MS. The farther away we are from the equator, the higher the risk of MS. Sunlight is the body’s most efficient source of Vitamin D. An effective way to get your D levels up is spending 10-15 minutes a day (mornings are best) in direct sunlight with the least amount of clothing on.  The more skin exposure the more D that is produced. Don’t worry about staying out longer thinking that you’ll get more D, that’s not how the body works.

Supplementing your Vitamin D is very important and can be a great benefit. The Mayo Clinic and even in Swedish studies they’ve shown that the recommended daily allowances are nowhere near the levels we need if we are to combat Multiple Sclerosis and other illnesses. I take 8000 IU’s a day of Vitamin D3 with K2. During the summer months, I take 4000 IU’s. You can also do your own research at the Mayo Clinic website as they have a reference guide for Vitamin D dosing correlated to your specific disease or symptoms. (As always talk with your trusted health care provider before starting any type of supplement.)

The more I research, the more amazed I become! This is just the tip of the iceberg as to how AWESOME Vitamin D is for our bodies, our immune systems, and especially our Multiple Sclerosis!

To Our Health!

Kellie

If you want to learn more about healthy living and green technologies, check out my products page at www.myvollara.com/kga

You can also follow me on twitter @kelliealderton or my FB page Waking Up From MS where I share insights and information for everyone dealing with MS.

My heart is heavy today as I write my second official Blog post!  Sometimes It’s hard to decide what to write, I mean, I want to share so much information that I’ve learned over these last 25 years dealing with this disease from being a teenager, to an adult, to a parent living with this chronic condition, it’s clear now why I was waiting on what to write.

I received a text from one of my best friends yesterday, “I NEED TO TALK WITH YOU NOW”! My stomach dropped when I saw the text and I ran to find my headset and phone to call him back. He began to tell me of a young lady, a wife, a mom of 2 young children who was recently diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.   I was anxious to talk with her to offer some support and HOPE! I know how scary it is when you have Multiple Sclerosis, the uncertainty of the disease course, the uncertainty of the future and how it will affect not only you, but your family.

Unfortunately, this was not going to be that type of call – He told me that she had committed suicide. My heart sank, I couldn’t believe my ears. I said Oh, No, what happened? I learned she was experiencing terrible headaches, pain at the base of her neck, chronic fatigue and had Optic Neuritis. Wow, Those are the same things I was experiencing when I was diagnosed 29 years ago. She was told by a doctor that she would probably have only 4 years to live…..Obviously, that was a ridiculous, inaccurate diagnosis, irresponsible and just plain inhumane.  I was told she was sitting at the computer investigating day and night about MS and was terrified by what she saw!

Please, Please, Please – know this – Multiple Sclerosis is not a death sentence. You can have a productive and good quality of life too. Yes, Multiple Sclerosis is a sporadic and ever changing disease, but there are plenty of options for all of us. We have the top minds in research, medicine, and alternatives working for us for a cure! THERE IS HOPE! I honestly wish I could talk with each person suffering and struggling with MS. Maybe we can devise a plan of attack, maybe we could just chat, and maybe they would understand they are not alone.

I am thoroughly upset by what happened to this poor woman, what if I could have talked to her, what if we could have gotten her some professional mental help, what if we could have gotten her to a local support group or even in one of these amazing Facebook groups we are a part of?

If you’re looking for more holistic and natural ways to beat your MS, you’ll want to check out my book “Waking Up From MS – My Journey to Health, Healing, and Living Symptom-Free.” It details my almost 30-year journey with MS and how I am now healthy, strong and symptom-free!

If you know someone struggling right now or if you are that person – Please reach out to someone!  YOU are not Alone! There is HOPE!

Your life is important!  You are important! Don’t let MS define you!

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – 1-800-273-8255

National Crisis Hotline – 1-800-784-2433

www.mssociety.org – 1-800-344-4867 – “Knowledge is power section”  for newly diagnosed MS sufferers

To our health!

Kellie

If you want to learn more about healthy living and green technologies, check out my products page at www.myvollara.com/kga

You can also follow me on twitter @kelliealderton or my FB page Waking Up From MS where I share insights and information for everyone dealing with MS.

Can we beat Multiple Sclerosis?

If you look to traditional medicine for that answer that would be a resounding and absolute “NO!” We’re told once you have MS you always have MS and we sit and wait for the next exacerbation, we live flare up to the next flare up. That’s how our lives are defined, by the medical community anyway. The medical community also tells us that MS has a mind of its own, almost taking away any chance of us being able to do anything to stop or slow its progression. I totally disagree with that whole scenario. There is far too much information out there to help us start feeling better. We must open our eyes and take control of our health.

I’ve been dealing with MS for over 29 years – Yes,  this is my 29th year of living with this disease and I’m shocked at how some in the medical field will still say that there is nothing we can do to be healthy. They will tell us there is no “proof” that anything other than disease modifying drugs can help us. I’m sorry that’s just not true, I am living proof of that and there is far too much evidence to contradict that statement!

We know that some people with cancer, for example, would be considered “cured” if they didn’t have a relapse after 5 years. So why then is Multiple Sclerosis considered differently? Let’s say someone commits to changing their diet, they exercise, they change environmental factors, they look at their relationships, they look at healing the “whole” body?  What if we go for 2 years without a flare-up, what about 4 years without a flare-up, what about 6 years?

Can we ever say we are recovered or cured of Multiple Sclerosis?

Multiple Sclerosis is very much an individual thing, but what if we take the 5, 6 or  10-year mark, relapse free, would that signify recovery? Think about it, what if we all strived to hit that milestone? If we stayed on the path to heal our immune systems, heal our bodies from whatever has thrown it off track to the point that we have an MS diagnosis. What if we stay focused on recovery and being positive  – wouldn’t there be so much to gain by considering we are recovered or healed or cured? How much HOPE would that give people to think this is not a “Life Sentence?”

I caution you, in this process, we cannot worry about every little symptom that may arise from our MS. This means do not think every challenge or twitch or flutter means a full blown exacerbation, possible hospitalization or even full disability. Our minds are so very powerful, as anyone with Multiple Sclerosis knows, in fact, many doctors will not want us to focus too much on what COULD happen or MIGHT happen because we will often times start to manifest those exact symptoms! YES, OUR MINDS ARE THAT POWERFUL. Instead, I say each of us should look at our lifestyles, what’s working, what’s not and do everything possible to target becoming healthy, heal our body, heal our immune systems, and just being happy!

I turned around my whole disease and am now living symptom-free, healthy and strong. I supplement, eat a healthy diet, exercise, do alternative therapies – chiropractic care, massage, acupuncture, meditation, dry brushing, earthing, juicing, healing relationships and making sure I laugh a lot!

We must take things in stride and put all our attention on our quality of life. This is a lifestyle, not a quick fix!

We can do it!

If you’re looking for more holistic and natural ways to beat your MS, you’ll want to check out my book “Waking Up From MS – My Journey to Health, Healing, and Living Symptom-Free.” It details my almost 30-year journey with MS and how I am now healthy, strong and symptom-free!

To our Health!

Kellie Alderton

If you want to learn more about healthy living and green technologies, check out my products page at www.myvollara.com/kga

You can also follow me on twitter @kelliealderton or my FB page Waking Up From MS where I share insights and information for everyone dealing with MS.