Has anyone tried any holistic approaches to coping with APS symptoms. Kris

[kelgem]

I am interested in meditation and yoga in particular for reliving migraines, and Depression/Anxiety if anyone has any information, i would appreciate any feedback?

Thanks Kris

[MaryF Administrator]

Hi there, I do many things with diet and exercise and meditation for pain and sleep, using sound files, with binaural beats... it all helps I think. However I am lucky to have never had depression, was born half cup full, so at least that is a bonus. Mary F x

[pamcelis]

Hi kris i do a lot ofpilates and it really makes me feel better. Even if im weak, my mood is better and my joints hurt a little bit less. I hope you try it and that it works for you!!

[viv112]

Hi, yes I think anything that helps us to relax in a healthy way and relieve stress is good for us, and I find that Pilates and yoga really help. Stress and anxiety may have been a contributory factor in acquiring an autoimmune condition like APS and so worrying about it just makes it worse. I felt at my worst just after I was diagnosed with APS when I didn’t understand what was going on in my body. I felt frightened and the anxiety made me tight chested and my muscles tense. There is a mind/body relationship and we can help our bodies to become healthy again.

[GinaD]

Warning: philosophical discourse ahead:

Holistic approaches undoubtedly work. Conscious relaxation and exercise disciplines reduce stress levels, which reduces those nasty inflammatory chemicals.

But then you can easily find yourself on the flip side: that it was neurotic habits of mind which gave each of us this disease. That's the argument used by a lot of docs to ignore our symptoms and cries for help. They come to believe that listening to us just encourages neurotic, destructive thoughts.

There is undoubtedly a connection here: my APS took a turn for the worst coincidentally (? I don't think so) when I found out someone close to me was struggling with addiction issues.

So yes. Try yoga and Pilates and good diets. Positive lifestyle changes are powerful disease management tools.

But don't go to the dark side of this argument and believe you are somehow culpable for your own illnesses.

We all slide down that hoober boob highway. We all have stresses in our lives. We all live here or there. In some of us the mix of environment and inherited biology results in disease of one kind or another. Use the positive to help. But reject the idea that you are wholly responsible for the negative. There was a time, described by Susan Sontag in her " Illness As Metaphor" when first TB, then cancer were portrayed in our shared social consciousness as the logical disease expression of personality flaws. Now medical science has discovered more tangible causes of these diseases and the moral stigmas have been taken away. But as long as the root biochemical causes of autoimmunity remain obscure, that diagnostic stigma will fall on us.

Embrace the holistic approaches. They do work. But don't go to the Dark Side.

Gina

[DorothyItaly]

Hi well apart from Tai Chi and meditation I also am a Reiki Master so I Reiki myself when I go to bed and my husband can give me a treatment. Lymph drainage massage I have found really good as well, though it takes a few days to get over in my experience. Bach Remedies are good too.

[Hidden]

Since retirement I am grateful I can fly (3 hours)to Miami Beach several times a year (in the warm months May--October....water is delightfully warm and the prices are delightfully low) and soak in the ocean for hours...w/ SPF t-shirts of course.....I have never felt better..have not had a 'flareup' in months..of course I was raised at the beach so I have an affinity....don't know if it the relaxation, salt water or what.....but this is my "holistic" self treatment

[GinaD]

AHHHHH Luisa. Now that sounds like relaxation indeed. And Dorothy, I have often read the word " reiki" but until now I have never had the motivation to explore what it is. I'm off to wiki land now . . .

Gina

[kelgem]

Thank you all so much for your sharing, i found a Yoga cd I used many years ago and have started using that again Yoga was a big part of my life many years ago when i was well, so hopefully I was see some improvement in myself soon

[SassyOne]

Give hypnosis a try. Dispite the endless stress in my life lately I have been doing well. I have felt much better since trying hypnosis, walking & better nutrition. I have been on a mission to lose weight. Since I am not on Warfarin I have been experimenting with ginkgo biloba and different teas that thin the blood, dialate blood vessels, help improve brain function, have antioxidant properties etc. such as ginsing, Puerh, oolong, white tea. Anything that reduces stress should prevent flareups. I am open to trying new things that might help. I will also be looking into lymph drainage. Thank you!