posted
I am seeing a flower essence practitioner right now and she believes that people who have a hard time getting better from lyme Have had traumatic experiences especially in childhood and the key to healing these patients who have failed antibiotics is to heal the trauma.
I haven't responded well to antibiotics and I have had traumatic experiences throughout my life. Does anyone believe this is true?
The flower essence practitioner would like me to see a woman named katina makris? If I don't respond to the flower essences because she helps people work through their trauma. This woman wrote a book about lyne and how she got better through overcoming her trauma.
randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
ummm is she saying lyme is a manifestation of our troubled past and not a real physical ailment?
if so, I have a huge problem with that.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
| IP: Logged |
Judie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 38323
posted
No, I don't agree with this line of thinking.
If you feel the flower essence or whatever the person is selling will help you, it's worth exploring, but I'd walk into it with realistic expectations (for example, I'll give this 1 month to see if there's improvement and I don't feel comfortable spending over $50, or whatever seems right for you).
I'm just wary of people taking money from already ill people who just want to feel better. I've been taken in before and spent a lot on treatments that did nothing in the long run.
The problem I have with this philosophy is that if someone isn't "healing" from what the practitioner is doing, then the patient can get blamed for it for not dealing with issues. This is cruel and wrong.
EVERYONE has some kind of trauma in their lives. If trauma was the root of illness, there would be a lot more ill people walking around.
This is an INFECTION.
One of the first practitioners I saw (who failed me doing energy healing for over a year), said it must be mental why I'm not healing. WRONG!
I got to a better doctor who ran better diagnostics and was able to turn around the problem in 2 weeks. I was horribly depressed at the time and it had NOTHING to do with healing my body. My body healed DESPITE my mental state. (this was before Lyme, but other just as debilitating illnesses)
Healing from trauma is important to ANYONE for their emotional and spiritual health.
From my personal experience, some of the most positive, happy, emotionally well-adjusted people have gotten ill or even died from a physical illness. It had nothing to do with childhood trauma.
Posts: 2839 | From California | Registered: Jul 2012
| IP: Logged |
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged |
GretaM
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 40917
posted
Sorry no. It's a bunch of hooey.
Infection is infection.
Period.
Sounds like a money making scam-one practioner sending patients to the other like chain letters.
I am so morally opposed to this, and this is why alternative medicine gets a bad name. Practioners like that.
Sounds like she's already set you up to fail, so you can go to practioner #2.
I'm fuming mad that you're being passed around.
Posts: 4358 | From British Columbia, Canada | Registered: Jun 2013
| IP: Logged |
Judie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 38323
posted
"Sounds like a money making scam-one practioner sending patients to the other like chain letters. "
Yep, that's what happened to me, when the energy medicine practitioner didn't work he referred me to his friend for "mental" work. Total waste and was completely the wrong treatment.
Posts: 2839 | From California | Registered: Jul 2012
| IP: Logged |
posted
I listened to a webinar about this the other night
The woman presenter said that many women with chronic Lyme were molested as children
sounded like hooey to me, I tuned out the rest of the webinar
Hope I didn't miss anything important - LOL!
-------------------- One day closer to being cured..... Posts: 104 | From Wisconsin | Registered: Jan 2014
| IP: Logged |
Judie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 38323
posted
"The woman presenter said that many women with chronic Lyme were molested as children"
This sounds like blaming the victim to me.
Many women are molested as children and DON'T have chronic Lyme (or other awful illnesses).
Ignorant presenter there...I'm glad you tuned out.
Posts: 2839 | From California | Registered: Jul 2012
| IP: Logged |
TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
This is a complex subject and one that has been mentioned as part of the healing process by several lyme doctors including the famous Dr. K.
Healing lyme is about cleaning up your body terain which includes mental health.
I have been using flower essences for decades and they can be very helpful if you get the right essences. If you are given an essence that you don't need it's ineffective so picking the right practioner is very important.
In my opinion flower essences are not likely to be the whole answer for those who have not healed from lyme disease but just another tool to help move one along.
Treatment is often like peeling an onion so treatment typically goes in stages. I would judge results as you go and if you find it is not helping either get a new practioner or stop altogether.
I hope you find something that is helpful.
Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
It is a bunch of hooey - you can do psychotherapy till you're blue in the face and it will not fix these infections, even if you face all of life's traumas.
Granted, people go for stem cell therapy and do much better, as their immune system gets a huge boost. But psychotherapy cannot duplicate this kind of immune boosting.
However, there's nothing wrong with doing psychological work to feel better and do better mentally and emotionally.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged |
TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
Just a note - flower essences are not psychotherapy.
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
dbpei
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 33574
posted
I don't buy into the childhood trauma part of healing as well. I think having this disease is a trauma in itself! It has certainly robbed me of the life I knew and loved. But I will continue to fight to get it back!
But I do think emotional healing paves the way for our treatment to work better. That is why any type of support is helpful to those of us suffering with this horrible, chronic illness. Whether it is talking to a supportive therapist, going to a support group, or getting support here, all of those can be of great help.
Katina Makris is a warrior, who is fighting hard for all of us. I don't want her to get a bad rap. She has gone all over the country, speaking about the damage this disease does and how easy it is to miss it in due to errors in CDC guidelines. She is trying to educate the public and the mainstream medical communities.
She, like Dr. K, believes that there are so many aspects of this horrible illness that MAY need to be addressed when we are not getting better. But she NEVER would blame the victim. She is very empathetic and cares very deeply for all of us that are victimized by this ugly illness.
Posts: 2386 | From New England | Registered: Aug 2011
| IP: Logged |
linky123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19974
posted
Sounds like a scam to me.
-------------------- 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.' Matthew 11:28 Posts: 2607 | From Hooterville | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged |
Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
Dr. K says it is more than probable that many of us, who remain sick no matter what therapy you do, has a trauma or unresolved psycho issues to solve.
What he says is that anyone with chronic health problems need to treat the psychological part too, in order to be fully back to health.
I refused to believe that when the naturopath tried to treat me for that. Treatment by dr. K ' s method is fast and the aim is merely to get you back to health (not to treat the trauma as most shrinks do, that takes years, if ever...).
Anyway, she was treating me with antimicrobials, with food chosen one by one, with tapping, lymph drainage, homeopathy, neuraltherapy, etc. So one more treatment wouldn't do bad, so I followed what she told me to on that psycho part too.
Later I learned energy testing myself, and AMAZINGLY, many things I refused to accept came as true in energy testing (I did on myself!).
Example: if I said: 'I want to get well, healed, fully back to my life'. Of course, it sounds logic, I was spending thousands of euros and francs with treatment, desperately trying to be alive. How can that mean 'I want to let myself die'? I had a small baby to look after, how can I want to die?
Well, my tests said 'true' to the sentence 'I'd rather let myself die than heal'. I kept repeating the sentence, the tests, changing sentences, but it was clear: somewhere inside me, I didn't want to heal. But my MIND said 'it's impossible!, of course I want to heal'.
It is very easy to correct the problem when we know how (PK, psychokinesiology following dr. K), but I was amazed to see how our minds can be tricky and not let us see what we really feel.
Bach flowers are amazing therapies, I find. They do not heal deep trauma, in my experience, but they do help us in deep ways. I do not think one can get healed only with Back flowers, but my naturopath is a great fan of these flower essences. I use them as supportive, and I do see behaviour changes even in animals.
Back flowers are widely used in Germany and Switzerland, both on animals and people.
There is another lady that is treating lyme patients and she is a lyme survivor herself. she used to come to lymenet years ago. She and her daughters are healed, and she swears by Bach flowers too.
There is place for these therapies. The anti-microbial part will deal with one side, but only a more holistic treatment can get many of us, long time sufferers, out of lyme for years.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
Another thing Dr. K says, is that the KPU problem can come FROM chronic infections or be one of the CAUSES for chronic infections, being there before the patient fell sick.
And he himself knows that when you have KPU from start, you got to treat a trauma. If my memory is good, he is such a case himself and needed to treat his own trauma to fix the KPU (which he suffers since birth).
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
| IP: Logged |
oxygenbabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5831
posted
Trauma in childhood can be associated with later mental and physical illness in life. It might create a chronic anxiety state and permanently shift the setpoint for being triggered.
OTOH, it is certainly not a given that if you don't get well from tbd, it's because of unresolved trauma. It could be genetic variation, other toxic exposures, or undiagnosed infections (how many ticks transmit viruses we ignore or don't know about I'd like to know?)
And if there is trauma you can probably as easily work through it yourself as paying someone else--the way Brussels described, perhaps. Or diaries, or meditation, or any number of self help techniques.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
Jamers
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 28016
posted
Amazing story Brussels. Thanks for sharing. I believe our mental state does affect our general well being. The mind and body are linked. It is demonstrated with mental issues like anxiety or depression that manifest physical symptoms. I think its a component to healing for sure!
-------------------- Diagnosed Pos. Lyme Nov. 17, 2010, Igx. Pos. Babesia Duncani March 2011, Igx. Clinical diagnosis for Bartonella Posts: 1127 | From North Carolina | Registered: Sep 2010
| IP: Logged |
Jamers
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 28016
posted
Not to mention STRESS, which is actually one of the main causes of illness. Isn't stress a mental issue that leads to physical illness?
-------------------- Diagnosed Pos. Lyme Nov. 17, 2010, Igx. Pos. Babesia Duncani March 2011, Igx. Clinical diagnosis for Bartonella Posts: 1127 | From North Carolina | Registered: Sep 2010
| IP: Logged |
posted
I want to put in a plug for Katina Makris, as mentioned in the initial post here - she wrote a good book and has toured. She's a homeopath and treats with homeopathy.
Back to the psych issue - I was sent to psychologists galore when I had undiagnosed invisible pain.
It wasn't until I found out that I had Lyme and went round the clock on oral clindamycin because I knew I wasn't allergic to it that my 25 years of pain went to almost zero in a week's time. It's my experience that we have to treat the infections in order to get anywhere.
That said, I always think it's a good idea to lighten the load by working through any issues, and feel better mentally and emotionally about life.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Are you guys sure flower essences work? I have tried them in the past and didn't notice anything at all...
Posts: 109 | From North East | Registered: Mar 2011
| IP: Logged |
They are less likely to work, however, with a closed mind.
They, in combination with doing a lot of release work for past trauma(s), and shifting one's perspective in how one views things, as well as mind set, can over time make a huge, huge difference.
Sorry to offend, but responses such as: "a bunch of hooey" by a large percentage of the mainstream are so unfortunate, really.
Given that, you might consider the option of giving it a try, if no other reason than to think outside the box, which from what I have seen has served more people in getting better than not. You have nothing to lose, katrinab. And for what it's worth, that probably could be said for a hefty portion of other peeps in search of getting out from under these infections.
Things evolve on here as they do elsewhere.
Case in point, Parasite treatment. Go back and do a search on this website to a few years ago on parasite treatment, and see what type of responses were posted about that. Not a lot of positive, open minded input on that. In fact, if anything, people were prone to ridicule for even going there.
Today, there ironically seems to be quite a bit more consideration & acceptance with regard to this phenomena, how it relates to part of the puzzle.
There aren't too many successes to be had treating these illnesses with the type of approach that most are being led to believe… the herbals, antibiotics, and supplements can get you only so far most if not all of the time.
Am I saying that things like flower essences will cure you from these illnesses, no, probably not. However, I will say that they have their place in the journey to healing. And I, for one, can honestly say that doing both trauma work (and no, I was not molested as a child, nor do I agree with whomever came up with that theory) and taking the essences over time have been the difference between dying and living, literally.
Posts: 192 | From New England | Registered: May 2011
| IP: Logged |
GretaM
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 40917
posted
"A bunch of hooey" was NOT directed towards using flower essences.
I have used them myself in the past. While infected with lyme, but for one of my many many misdiagnoses. Crabapple and pine. My mom is a bachs flower escense practioner, as well as an energy healer.
Believe you me, if either of those worked for bacterial infections, I would be A-OK.
The flower essences didn't work, of course, because they don't address bacterial infections.
Period.
"a bunch of hooey" was directed towards the idea that all of us with lyme infections could easily be well if we released "childhood trauma".
Sorry, but that's like telling someone with tuberculosis or HIV they can get cured if they release "childhood trauma".
Now if we are talking support and comfort, then sure absolutely, flower essences, aromatherapy, energy work and counselling all have a place.
But for a professional to tell a sick person they remain sick because of a bad childhood, instead of a bacteria that is SO great at infiltrating every tissue, doesn't understand Bb at all.
And to put it in context, what if our LLs said, "you know, we'll give you another week but if you don't get better, musta been your childhood."
So what about those of us who has awesome childhoods? What is the practioner's excuse for those patients?
Posts: 4358 | From British Columbia, Canada | Registered: Jun 2013
| IP: Logged |
WPinVA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 33581
posted
I don't think it's complete BS. There's no way dealing with old trauma will cure lyme on it's own, but I also think it could be holding you back from a complete recovery. The brain when under stress, releases all sorts of chemicals, and those could be negatively affecting you, and impeding your full recovery.
Now, whether the Flower Lady is the one to help you through this, I would be a little skeptical there!
Posts: 1737 | From Virginia | Registered: Aug 2011
| IP: Logged |
posted
it seems like what to take from this is just that trauma and chronic stress are chronic immune suppressors? Am I right? The mind-body connection.... I think once you are ill and your mind is affected it can appear that these emotional problems are greater than they are and are more cause than effect...however, they are still effect... just comes down to, in my opinion that chronic stress affects the physical body, making one more vulnerable to infections which may already exist within the body and perhaps may contribute to the weakening of the terrain...and truly implode once the infection is affecting our systems, no? Isn't that why it is so important to eat and think healthy - creating a healthy internal terrain - physical and mental. I don't think that these emotional traumas will cause these conditions but there is a lot of research indicating childhood abuse of a variety of forms may make a person vulnerable to a host of illnesses.... that is my 2 cents - I think it is worth it to strengthen the emotional landscape so all of the bodies resources are going towards health???
Posts: 109 | From North East | Registered: Mar 2011
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic