I'm in my 28th year of this illness, but in treatment only the last 2+ years.
How many treatments do you think I should have? Is 2/week too much?
Thanks.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Probably best to start with once per week. Think you will know even same day or next day of massage whether it helps or causes a herx type reaction.
Is this manual type massage or using the infrared lights? -- some people do better with one type and others on the other type.
Depending on how sick you feel and how much exercise you do, might even want to do less than full-body treatment 1st appointment.
Be sure to drink plenty of water on day of treatment and may need to take some type of anti-inflammatory if it has been a long time since you have had any type of massage.
Hope it helps.
Bea Seibert
Posted by johnlyme1 (Member # 7343) on :
The first thing that I have to ask, how do you feel after these? I just had one today and this time I am pretty wipped out. You might want to ask yourself what else you are doing to support the whole detox process.
Are you supporting your colon? Are you using any kind of drawing formula like activated charcol to pull out toxins or intestinal cleansers?
Are you doing some kind of liver support?
I am addressing many of these areas and Know that I would feel pretty bad without them.
For me, after a lymph massage I usally try to go for a easy walk after and straight into a epson salt bath and drink a lots of water. Then the next day have a colonic scheduled. Then I feel pretty darn good again until toxins build up again.
You will know if 2 a week is too much.
Posted by GiGi (Member # 259) on :
If you are on an active abx or similar program, two times a weeks seems to be excessive. The first thing to do is to empty out the canals before you bring more toxins down with lymphatic drainages. I would do several colonics with 4-5 days in between first - after that lymphatic will not add to the congestion. If it is a good lymphatic treatment, you will move quite a few toxins out. Then colonics every two weeks, with longer time in between as you improve.
Imagine where the toxins are going? Into an already packed elimination system (colon)? That will help you answer your question. You know yourself best - if you feel sluggish and sick, colonics should be priority for a while. Then alternating. I don't think it is necessary to do more than one lymphatic every week - every two weeks is good. Things can be easily overdone and that is too hard on the body. Even with lymphatic drainages or colonics, the body has to work hard and overtime!!! None of that happens without the body's cooperation, no matter what kind or how good the therapist is.
A lot depends on what kind of treatment you are doing. If you did a chelation treatment for several days, more frequent colonics and lymphatics is necessary to avoid redistribution of neurotoxins. Heavy metals are being released with the die-off and that sensation is often misinterpreted as a herxheimer. It is definitely not. It is heavy metals that everybody living on this earth carries today that are being released with the bacterial die-off, etc.
Take care.
Posted by WildCondor (Member # 434) on :
I would start with one per week. Its best to start slow with these things. When you detox, it takes alot for the tissues to recover. I started with one per week, and do 2 per week only after heavy exercise. I drink water with lemon in it before and after and do the saunas as well. Posted by SayYesh (Member # 8343) on :
I'm very excited with all this good talk of the lymphatic massage. I found someone to do this and talked to him yesterday; my first appointment is next Monday. He is quite knowledgable about Lyme - kind of floored me.
I had wondered about doing the colonics too, and how to coordinate that. I will take the suggestion to try and schedule one the next day.
Thanks so much everybody. I will also take the suggestions about drinking water w/ lemon, walking, and doing detox baths. I'm looking forward to adding this 'new' regimen.
Posted by beachcomber (Member # 5320) on :
I have been doing gentle drainage massage twice a month for a year now. At first, I felt truly wiped out and shaky after. My therapist hands me a liter of spring water after each massage and makes me promise to drink it all. It helps.
The massages became more tolerable over time. I had my first deep tissue massage last week and I can say that I was wiped out for 2 days after - so exhausted. My body was dumping toxins hourly - I would call it a natural colonic, for lack of a better/less graphic term. I had fair warning that this might happen.
I would say start out slowly and just see how you feel the next day to really assess how often your body can handle this. 2x/week seems like a lot to me.
I don't know that heavy metals would be of paramount concern, unless you are heavy metal toxic. I am not and I still feel activated and toxic after some massage sessions. I honestly believe it is stimulation of both the IM meds and bacteria in me. My body is definitely moving these things through after bodywork sessions. I don't think it is awful to feel this. I also don't know that you will need to do colonics to move this stuff even further, at first. My body seems to do it naturally after massage. A colonic would put a tremendous strain on me and probably move the meds out faster - not in my best interest at this point in my treatment.
So, just my opinion, try the massage + water + rest first and really take the time to let your body respond and "tell you" how it feels after. You will learn what is best and what is working. Honor your body by listening to it and nurturing it. It is your best teacher at this point.
Bc
Posted by stella marie (Member # 7216) on :
How do you go about finding someone qualified to do the lymph drainage?
Thanks Stella
Posted by tjtighe (Member # 4057) on :
This is just great info. After the first massage, I felt relaxed and better for a few hours, which surprised me.
Yesterday after the massage I had a terrible headache, which hopefully means it's working well. Headaches are a major problem for me. Still have one now and it's almost noon the next day.
I shall now do a search on colonics. Been thinking about them for a long time. I'm not in the greatest place to find such things.
Stella, I found my massage person by calling and calling in the yellow pages under massage therapy. One person led me to this person. You might ask for someone with Vodder Therapy experience. I understand my therapist has taken that type of therapy one step further. It is extremely gentle.
Posted by SayYesh (Member # 8343) on :
Thanks Beachcomber for your advice. I will wait and see, do one thing at a time. I've been careful not to throw too many things at me, at once.
Last fall, I had my ears candled by a massage therapist. While doing the candling, she massaged my neck lymph nodes. I felt like crap for a good 4 days, but afterwards had the best 7 consecutive days I'd ever had since I've had Lyme. That to me was a clue that my lymphs were sluggish and in need of some help. Nevertheless, it's taken me this long to do anything about it.
Stella, I was fortunate. I went to a local Health Food store, which allows alt. practitioners to post brochures, cards, etc. This was the only person I found doing lymph massage (trained in Vodder) in my immediate area.
tj, headaches or migraines when toxic/herxing are a problem for me too. So we'll see what happens.
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