Oxygen Therapy - Massaging the Truth (Part IV)

After my initially ecstatic but ultimately short and unhelpful experience with meditative breathing with oxygen, I went back to the drawing board.  If my theory that certain muscle groups were under-oxygenated was correct, then targeting blood flow to those muscles while breathing oxygen was a logical next step.  My weapon of choice... a foam roller.

I set up my oxygen generator to use while performing self-massage on a foam roller, targeting tight hips, quadriceps, and my IT (iliotibial) band.  After the very first treatment, I felt a difference - an ache in the hips, quads, and IT band on the right side of my body that wasn't usual after a session with the foam roller.  My left side felt normal.  I immediately (whether correctly or not) attributed the disparity between to the relative tightness of the muscles in each leg.  The muscles in my right quad have been tight for years, whereas the muscles in my left quad have been relatively limber.  What did it mean?  I don't know.  I wanted to believe that my right leg muscles were finally getting the oxygen that they needed to repair and relax.  

The aches and soreness lasted for two or three days.  After a few more days, I tried massaging with oxygen again, targeting the same muscle groups, with much the same result.  Achy right leg muscles, three day recovery.  I kept up with this routine for a few more weeks.  However, nothing changed.  I observed no relief in muscle tightness attributable to the addition of oxygen or any other effect from the oxygen therapy.

The massage experiment was a relatively short trial, with interesting observations but no conclusions.  After a month of these interesting but inconclusive observations, I was eager to move on to the next promising experiment...exercising with oxygen.

Click the links below to read other posts in the Oxygen Therapy Series:

Oxygen Therapy - A Plausible Theory (Part I)
Oxygen Therapy - Finding an Oxygen Source (Part II)
Oxygen Therapy - Trials and Tribulations (Part III)
Oxygen Therapy - Massaging the Truth (Part IV)
Oxygen Therapy - Cardio for a Day (Part V)
Oxygen Therapy - Strength Training (Part VI)

The Limitations of Western Medicine - The Human Element (It's All About Attitude)

The human element is often thought of in terms of the creativity, spirit, or life that humans can breathe into a variety of subjects.  It is also often though of in terms of humans propensity to make errors or the limitations due to physical or mental limitations.  While both definitions of the human element exist in the western medical system, the latter is all to prevalent in one sense or another.  The human element includes a number of different factors.  In this post, I'll attempt to describe how a physician's attitude can impact their execution of western medicine.  Note that human elements are equally valid for alternative practitioners.

It's All About Attitude

When Adelaide was born she could have been diagnosed as colicky.  She slept, ate, or cried.  When my father, a pediatrician, first visited, he suggested that we go to see our pediatrician and prepped us for the visit.  "Colic is usually a bad diagnosis on the physician's part," he said.  "There are three or four things that typically cause a baby to be colicky..."  He told us to have our pediatrician look into her ears and into her throat (for signs of infection) and to ask about diet.  When we went to see our pediatrician, we asked him to look at Adelaide's ears, to look in her throat, and we asked for suggestions to ease her colic through Ingrid's diet.  Instead of doing as we had asked, our pediatrician told us that babies this young don't get ear infections or sore throats and that diet wouldn't help.  He told us that colicky babies get better around age three months and that we should just carry on until then.  I did just tell you that my father is a pediatrician, right, I wanted to ask him.  And I know what you are telling me is complete bull.  I didn't say anything.  Ingrid and I thanked him, left, and never returned.

The dismissive and disinterested stance of this pediatrician is one example of how western medicine is limited by the attitude of the practitioner.  As my father put it, "if someone is in distress and there's something the physician can do about it he should do it."  Unfortunately, there are western practitioners who, for one reason or another, don't take this same stance.  So even if western medicine clearly understands and can treat a problem, as was ultimately true in my daughter's case, our former pediatrician was unwilling to help. 

I have had a number of doctors look at my health history, look at my current history, and then tell me "I don't know what's wrong with you, but you're not dying."  Some doctors, good ones, would suggest possible harmless treatments (such as diet) or colleagues (including alternative practitioners) that might be able to help.  Others would tell me that there was nothing to be done or that I was getting old and that I should learn to live with my symptoms.  Guess which doctors I've found more helpful?

Fortunately, a physician's attitude is one limitation that is possible to bypass.  A good doctor will not be dismissive or disinterested.  They will work with you or make referrals or suggestions that can help you reach your health goals.  If you are seeing a practitioner who is not working with you or has reached the edge of their abilities, it's time to make a change.

Quote of the Day - The Wrong Place

In the past few weeks, I've run across or am trying to start quotes that have really made me think, smile, or laugh.  I'm usually considering the quotes in a framework of health, so instead of keeping them to myself, I've decided to start a new blog series called Quote of the Day.  Some days will have quotes, some won't.  I'll start off with what I think is an original quote:

If you're looking for something in the wrong place, you'll never find it. - Adam Hoch

Allergen-Free Recipe - Strawberry Apricot Smoothie

A completely original and very tasty smoothie...

1 Banana

½. C. frozen strawberries

2 c. water (or coconut water)

2 c. kale (or spinach)

2 tbls. Flax seed

6 dried apricots

3 dried plums (or dates)


(1) Combine all ingredients in a high-power blender.  Blend until incorporated and smooth.

In Real Time - Modified Grain Brain Diet

This is me.  Not the best photo, but the best of the most recent photos of myself - taken by my daughter, Adelaide, during her first experience with my iphone camera (she is three and wanted to snap a picture of me next to some rocks in our neighborhood). 

I am 6'-3", 212 lbs.  This puts my body mass index (BMI) at 26.5, which is considered overweight.  I've never been one to take much stock in a BMI as I am fairly dense, meaning I have above average muscle mass - largely due to years of hiking, biking, rock climbing, and other miscellaneous activities.  However, a few years ago my doctor told me that the statistics didn't care if a high BMI was due to above average muscle mass or higher body fat - a high BMI correlated with a shorter lifespan and reduced quality of life.

After pondering that for a little while, I decided that it made sense.  More body mass, whether from fat or muscle, at a minimum required the heart to work harder, to pump blood to more tissues.  When an organ works harder than it otherwise needs to, it tends to wear out more quickly.  Just like when the liver of someone who consumes a lot of alcohol wears out more quickly than the liver of someone with low alcohol intake.  A second obvious ramification of more weight is mechanical - meaning more force is being applied to joints (knee joints, hip joints, etc.) during movement as simple as walking.  More force on each joint will wear out the joint faster than than if less force were applied, leading to bad knees, ankles, and hips. Without expounding further, the bottom line is that reducing body mass has several advantages.  

Within the past year I've lost close to twenty pounds, primarily through diet (as at the time I was too nauseated to exercise).  I started out experimenting with the Grain Brain diet, the one advocated by Dr. Perlmutter, attempting to get rid of my debilitating nausea.  The nausea stayed (I later figured out that the nausea was caused by medication, Cyclobenzaprine - aka Flexeril - which my doctor recommended as a Western approach to my chronic health issues; I'll post more on that later).  However, on the Grain Brain diet, which I modified heavily due to my nut, egg, and dairy limitations, I consistently lost weight.  And it stayed off.  My goal is to lose the remaining fat, maybe another ten or twenty pounds.  

Today is day four of my diet - a grain-free, allergen-free (see the elimination diet post to see what I consider allergenic), refined carbohydrate-free diet.  All recipes currently on my blog are on the diet.  The good news is that I can eat as much as I want and exercise need not exceed walking (though the longer the better).  To date, I've lost three pounds - hardly worth writing home about - but a good beginning.   

Allergen-Free Recipe - Candied Pumpkin Seed, Pear, & Spinach Salad

Get ready for a sweet and salty salad that is designed to offset a savory meal.  If  its too sweet for your tastes, add more spinach or some goat cheese (if you can eat goat cheese).

4 c. Baby Spinach Leaves
1 Pear (Red, D'Anjou, or your favorite)
1/4 c. Dried Cherries (Optional)
1/2 c. Candied Pumpkin Seeds (click here for the recipe)
6 tbls. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbls. Balsamic Vinegar

(1) Add all ingredients to a salad bowl.  Mix and serve.

Click here to see the entire 2014 Allergen-Free Thanksgiving Menu.  

Allergen-Free Recipe - Candied Pumpkin Seeds

I love candied nuts during the holidays.  This recipe provides a good substitute that can be used in a variety of dishes or enjoyed as is.  

1 tbls. Coconut Oil
1/2 c. Pumpkin Seeds
2 tbls. Light Brown Sugar
Salt





(1) Heat coconut oil over medium heat.  Add pumpkin seeds and toast for approx. 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until light brown.

(2) Add the light brown sugar and cook for another minute, until the sugar is dissolved.  Take off heat immediately and spread on a sheet of wax paper to cool.

Note:  Watch this dish carefully, as it is very easy to burn both the pumpkin seeds and sugar.  Stirring will help immensely.