Nerve and Brain Health
Alzheimer’s, dementia, multiple sclerosis, migraines, restless leg syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, brain fog, and other neurological diseases are on the rise. And yet medical treatments for these conditions are band-aid effects at best. We’re told a wide array of explanations, from “your immune system is attacking your body” to “it’s in your genetics”.
But here’s the thing. Our bodies are incredibly intelligent, and they are always working to heal our tissues. And our genetics are greatly influenced by environmental factors, to the point where genes can turn on or off depending on what the body is being exposed to.
The conversations around health rarely focus on environment, because 1) we would have to admit that the world we live in is progressively more toxic than it’s ever been, and 2) it’s easier to just take a medication to quell the symptoms.
So those with a family history of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, etc, are left just waiting in fear for things to show up or (if you already have it) progressively worsen. But what if it was possible to intervene before things got worse? What if there were signs that you could look for that indicated some deeper inflammatory process at play?
Early signs of nerve inflammation can be subtle or not-so-subtle. Nerve pain can even be hard to distinguish from muscle pain or tension. The symptoms are often very similar, and it’s possible to be experiencing nerve pain/tightness without the familiar numbness, burning, tingling, or pins and needles feeling that we’re taught is associated with “nervy” sensations.
One of my favorite examples of not-so-subtle nerve inflammation came from a phone call I had with my mother. She had turned her head to check her blind spot while driving, and immediately developed a painful kink in her neck. What really concerned her, however, was that she immediately began experiencing vertigo whenever she tried to turn her head to the right. She went to see her doctor, who prescribed her a muscle relaxer and some anti-inflammatories and sent her on her way.
Feeling frustrated by the general dismissal from her doctor, she called me while I was on my lunch break and explained her symptoms. We did a quick remote healing session, in which I energetically tuned into her body to see what was going on. Immediately I found inflammation around her right brachial plexus, vagus nerve, and temporal lobe of the brain. We worked to help support her immune system in these regions, I gave her a few healing foods to incorporate to help manage the inflammation, and told her I’d check back in.
When we spoke again the next day, her vertigo was 80% improved, her neck was much less sore, and she was feeling up to doing some yard work. She did note new symptoms of feeling “cloudy” in her head, which was more evidence of this deeper pattern of inflammation.
This is a great example of how nerve inflammation can manifest as something more musculoskeletal. In my mother’s case, inflammation in parts of her brain and nervous system created a pattern of nerve tension that was not agreeable to sudden movements of the neck. If she had worked with a more traditional physical therapist, her symptoms still would have improved over time but the deeper inflammatory process would have remained and probably manifested as something worse down the road.
The nervous system is like the “software” of the body, and the body will do what it needs to in order to protect it. For my mother, that meant significant muscle spasms of the neck to prevent any further tensioning of neural tissue that was already inflamed. These are the types of symptoms that most people will disregard as simple musculoskeletal issues, but with a deeper assessment, these symptoms can indicate a much slower process at play.
This is currently a major issue in health care. Subtle symptoms are dismissed or ignored by healthcare professionals from a lack of understanding. Too many things are regarded as psychosomatic. And this leaves people feeling very, very frustrated.
There are options for intervention, however. Regardless of where you may be at on your health journey, it’s never too late to start incorporating more healing foods to support your immune system and organ function. Energetic healing techniques are also very powerful tools for managing pain, tightness, and other symptoms that more traditional practitioners may not be equipped to address. Just because Western Medicine doesn’t have all the answers right now doesn’t mean that you have to wait 20-30 years to start healing your body.
