Befriending the Wolf

Blog

Last year I conducted a chronic illness support group where people with lupus, Graves syndrome and other maladies participated. In this group I taught them the ways I discovered to feel better, the ones I wrote in the book, from managing emotions, accupressure points, they were all initiated in Reiki, etc. At the end of the group, they all reported a much greater wellbeing index, and they continue to be well, capable of managing their illnesses with the tips I gave them. Th...

New year, new…what?

Every year we see countless advertisements of the same things, this new year lose weight, achieve your financial goals, exercise, and every year we promise we will do it and fail again. What is going on? We lack the discipline, or we aren’t convinced, or maybe there is something in our subconscious mind that blocks our achievement of being who we truly want to be and we tend to sabotage ourselves. In most cases this is the real reason, and behind self-sabotage there is a negati...

Even if we live in a world full of confusion, our hearts should remain full of immense calm. Meji

This is the challenge. To maintain our center no matter what happens on the outside. The mystics commonly retire from the world to monasteries or to live as hermits in nature to achieve this state of inner peace, but what would happen to them if they came back to the world, had a spouse, kids, a job to keep them, had to deal with political, economic and international trouble, traffic, parties, watched the news? Horror. It is much easier to achieve and keep inner peace...

I believe that the greatest gift you can give your family and the world is a healthy you. Joyce Mey

Many times we feel that loving others is sacrificing ourselves, that we must literally take the bread out of our mouths and give it to others. While this is a beautiful act, if we do not take care of ourselves, we will end up being a burden instead of a blessing. If each of us took care or ourselves 100%, and only after being completely well we undertook the care of others, we would all be well. The biggest problem is that we are not taking full responsibili...

The mind has great influence over the body, and maladies often have their origin there. Jean Baptist

Body and mind are not separate entities. They are both part of the same being. It’s inconceivable to think that what happens to one has no effect over the other. Just because we can’t see thoughts, that doen’t mean they don’t have a real physical existence, and that they do not have consequences in our bodies, especially when they are of a repetitive nature. In the same way, when something happens to our body, it would be unbelievable t...

The best and most efficient pharmacy is within your own system. (Robert C. Peale)

The body is wise. if we give it the ingredients it needs to be well, it will. If we give it things that hurt it, it won’t be able to function correctly. We must remember that all organismas tend to wellness, so our task is merely to give ours what it needs and it will do the rest. The body is nourished basically from:Water. We have to make sure to drink pure clean water in non plastic recipients and in sufficient quantity (o...

The most important thing in ilness is never to lose heart (Nicolai Lenin)

It is known that a positive attitude, hope, and optimism are very important in getting better from an illness. But, how do we keep the good cheer when we feel ill? It is not easy. When the body is hurting and the inner sensation is of ill helath, the tendency is to get depressed, sad and desperate. So you have to think as little as possible about the illness, distract yourself with other positive things. For example, I like series and movies. When I f...

Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body. (Cicero)

In fact, all diseases begin in the energetic field, energy stagnates and starts affecting the organs. Everything begins with a negative thought that unleashes a negative feeling we do not recognize, that stays latent in the body. This feeling starts to stagnate, it becomes “blocked” and little by little, it starts affecting the physical body. Many times we have already forgotten what happened to us and how it made us feel, but if we do not recognize it or ex...

Life without health is not life; it’s only a state of langour and suffering. Buda

When one has been ill one knows this is in the deepest part of the self. Everything else loses importance when we feel sick. It doesn’t matter how beautiful our home is, our car, or any other posession if we can’t enjoy it because we are riddled with pain. The most important thing we have, then, is our health and everything else comes in on second place. Taking care of our body is a life project. We have to be always attentive to ou...

See the tree / see the forest

Seeing the tree means to be completely absorbed in the problem. To see no exit, no solution, to be stuck in the drama of what is happening at that moment. To see the forest is nothing more than keeping an open mind to the infinite possibilities all around us. These possibilities can be things we already know and have forgotten or completely different things that we never would have thought possible. Many times the best solutions are not even logical, t...

Follow your intuition

Intuition is your internal knowledge. It is related with the unconscious mind that has all the experiences of your life stored and it’s a sort of antenna that can connect to the morphic field, collective uncounscious or universal wisdom. It’s like a spiritual GPS system, you give your consciousness the goal you want to get to and it will take you through the best road. What we have to do is listen to this internal voice and allow it to take you on the right road.&...

What you live is a reflection of what you think

When the Spanish arrived in Mexico, the indians could not see the boats. They just saw strange men arriving in their shores but couldn’t see where they came from. When the witch doctor arrived, he saw the boats and described them to his companions, only then could they see the ships. This strory serves to remind us that we only see that for which we have a frame of reference, if there is no reference, or openess to create one,...

Suffering can be defined as pain prolonged in time. This pain can be physical, mental or emotional. Physical suffering is associated with physical circumstances and is alleviated as symptoms withdraw. However, mental and emotional suffering can subsist indefinitely, even when the stimulus for pain is gone. Some examples of this kind of suffering are a clinical depression, post traumatic stress, or unresolved grief. For this kind of suffering ther...

Happiness is a state most people pursue. However, it is a difficult concept to define. In the first place, happiness is a subjective experience. For each person it can mean something different. On the other hand, it is not, in most people, a constant state, but something that comes along in moments throughout life. That is why it is said that happiness is not a destination, but found along the road of life. Even if it sounds complicated to ...

With the events that have befallen Mexico lately, it is easy to lose ourselves in negativity and see all the bad things life brings us. This attitude leaves us depressed, impotent and afraid. From this frame of mind it is difficult to process information and solve problems, we react to what is happening around us in a very primary way. In order to keep the positive frame of mind, from where we can make positive proactive decitions, we must focus our att...

Resonance Reppatterning

This technique developed by Chloe Wordsworth is without a doubt the most efective I have encountered to change negative beliefs and behavioral patterns that prevent us from becoming who and what we want to become. This weekend I had a seminar with the creator of the metthod, who is always innovating and enriching our knowledge in the practice of this marvellous system. I love to announce that being a parctitioner of Ressonance Re...

Alternative medicine clinics

This week I am in San Francisco, California, seeing alternative medicine clinics. I came to explore whta they offer, since California is at the vanguard in non conventional medicine, what I find useful and new, I shall take back to Bienestar 360Until now I have found primarily acupuncture and the administartion of IV serums and s...

One of the most used and recognized healing technique in the East is acupuncture. It’s effectiveness has mede it transcend borders and arrive to the West with great acceptance in recent years. Acupuncture, as part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, is based on the concept of the Five Elements and their interactions with health. Each element rules over different organs, and each organ has a meridiain through which it’s energy travels the body. The Chinese belie...

COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE

In developed countries it is becoming more and more usual to treat illness with a mixture of alopathic medicine and natural remedies. The concept is called complimentary medicine. Let’s say that it means taking the best of both worlds, tha advances in medical science and the millenary knowledge of health to achieve an over all wellbeing. This mixture is yielding very favourable results in those countries.&n...

Mental-emotional balance

Emotions are harder to understand than physical needs. Often we have opposite and even contradictory feelings. Sometimes the most difficult task is identifying what we are feeling, for emotions are often in layers, one hiding the other. Besides, nobody educates us to feel and resolve emotions, we are left to our own devices as to what to do with them. The most important thing when dealing with emotions is learning to know ourselves, to observe ourselves, to inve...

Balance as the principle of health (1 of 3).

“The secret to well-being is balance. We have to maintain balance between our physical body, our mental-emotional state, and our spiritual understanding.” (Diericx, M., 2017, Befriending the Wolf, Pg. x). Balance means not giving too much atention to one level, but being aware of all of them in their just measure. Each level is different and has it’s own needs. The physical body, being the most evident and needy of ...

Chocolate is a very healthy pleasure. One of it’s qualities is being a strong antioxidant, helping us to remain young and healthy. But not only that, it has also been proven to produce endorphines in he body, lightening the mood and helping to counteract depression. It’sbenefits are, however, diminished with the addition of sugar and milk, so the best way to eat it is dark. Historically, prehispanic peoples drank it in water with chi...

When hormones interfere

Women have hormonal ups and downs every month, as is well known and has been the object of many jests towards us. For this reason it in not surprising we don’t find it funny when something bothers us and our hormones are cited as the cause of all our maladys. However hard it for us to admit, hormones do play an important role in our moods and energy. When besides the hormonal ups and downs, we suffer an illness like lupus, they are in addition, trigge...

Indigestion and acid reflux

In the holiday season it is a common to overeat and drink. When we do this, it is possible we suffer the consequences in the form of indigestion and acid reflux. The obvious solution is to eat and drink in moderation, but when we don’t do this, we have to solve the problem:A mixture of one tablespoon apple cider vinegar and one teaspoon of baking soda in half a glass of water drunk slowly should solve indigestion.For acid reflux, baking soda also helps...

Optimism vs sentimentalism

The topic of positive thinking is very much in fashion, of not letting yourself fall into negative feelings, that what happens in life should not affect you and you should always be happy, no matter what. It sounds wonderful, but it is really impossible to do. Human beings have feelings, positive and negative ones. When life doesn’t happen the way we want it or the way we plan it, when we suffer the loss of things or people we love, it’s natural that it shou...

Our skin is the barrier that tells us what is us and what is not us. It protects us from whatever could hurt us out there. It’s the first line of defense of the body against intruders. It’s also our largest sensory organ, making touch the most constant sense of the five. There is not a single moment in our lives that our skin is not in contact with something, the floor, clothing, the wind, temperature. However, it’s an organ we tend to take for grant...

The importance of necessary supplements

Many people speak of the importance of good nutrition to be healthy, and I completely agree. However, many times we don’t manage to include all the minerals, vitamins, proteins and dietary fibers we need in our food. One reason for this is the low quality of the foods we eat, since many of them were grown on chemical fertilizers in poor soils and have little nutrients. Another reason is the lack of time and budget in modern life to buy and prepare fresh or...

We are the change we desire.

Barack Obama, in one of his speeches made this affirmation. I think what it means is very important. Many times, we are busy blaming the world for being unjust, for being in the wrong, because it doesn’t give us what we deserve. Few times do we stop to ponder what we are doing to achieve the positive change we desire. The outside world will not change because we want it to change, we have to change it, starting by ourselves. That way,...

Near Death Experiences

This morning I was listening to a Ted Talk by Anita Morjani. In this chat she talks about her near death experience. She is not the only person who has had this kind of experience, in fact I had one as a child also, what is fascinating about hers is the medical record of her case. Anita had terminal lymph cancer. The doctors had no hope for her whatsoever and her physiscalbody was completely deteriorated. She tells of how she ...

Fatigue, your worst enemy

Fatigue, when you have any autoimmune disease, can be your worst enemy. On the one hand, the illness causes a chronic fatigue that inhibits you from doing what you want to do on many occasions, and when you feel well, there are so many things to do it’s very easy to overdo it and cause a flare or get too tired. Then, what can we do? The answer is not easy and requires a lot of self discipline:Prioritize what you have to and want to do.Have a plan of action for ...

Of the Lupus symptoms, one of the most incapacitating and misunderstood is lupus fatigue. No one can understand how far beyond normal tiredness it goes. I hadn’t felt it in a long time and now that it’s back, I’m impressed at how the easiest thing, that we all do normally with no effort, can be a humanly impossible task. Something as simple as smiling, as talking. It’s a fatigue that seems to penetrate to the bone marrow, that makes the body heavy,&...

RECURRENT HEADACHES

Usually headaches are caused by stress, but also there are some, very related to Lupus, that are caused by inflammation. On the head, above the ear and towards the eyes you can find the trigeminus nerve, and flowing through the same path there are lymphatic channels. We who suffer Lupus tend to have a swollen lymphatic system because it is part of the immune system. When the lymph conduct is swollen, it presses on the nerve causing headaches and even migraines. ...

Lately this very annoying condition has been plaguing me. I think of something but when I try to say it, half the words fly away from my mind, like a scarred flock of birds, and I end up playing charades with the simplest of sentences and thoughts. It’s very frustrating. Recently, in a restaurant the dialogue went something like this:“Waiter, can I have a…, that thing to eat with…”“You mean a spoon?”“No, the other one, to eat, you know…. not liquids�...

This weekend I attended the Author 101 University live event. In it I met a lot of people devoted to helping one another to succeed. This is the kind of spirit I like to share with and to expand into the world. I believe fervently if we all just wanted to help eachother instead of competing, damaging, being intolerant and critical, this world would be a radicaly different place. But in order to accomplish that we would have to stop being egotistical, we would ac...

Insomnia is one of the the most bothersome symptoms of lupus. We need to rest more than any healthy person, and many times we cannot sleep. There are many causes for this. Some of the most common are:Pain keeps us awake.The medications we take cause insomniaEmotional factors do not allow us to fall asleep: worries, fear of the future, anxiety, etc.Other diverse factors, like cramps, muscle spasms, excesive skin sensibility, etc.It is very important to try and sleep, s...

How to deal with bad moods

When you suffer from a chronic illness, you have to mind the stressful factors in your life. One of the most difficult to manage are the bad moods of those who surround us. At least in my case, when my husband gets angry about something, he starts shouting and blaming, and I used to stress horribly about it. When this situation was prolonged, I ended up having a lupus flare. I had to learn to manage his temper changing my reaction so that this doesn’t ha...

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN´S DAY

Today, lupus warriors, I want to take a few lines to recognize and congratulate ourselves. Let’s do the following excercice:Close your eyes and think of all you have survived, all that has passed. Look at your story and recognize your strength, all that you have learned, grown, endured. Recognize yourself as the warrior you are, strong, resilient, capable. Give yourself now the recognition and love you deserve. Think of the hard times, remember them, see yours...

Become who you want to be, part 4

Having realistic goals is the key. Realistic for you, not anyone else, and that takes a lot of knowing yourself, and stark, naked honesty. I will tell you a personal story about this: I have a friend who has the most gorgeous body you can imagine. She looks like a Victoria´s Secret angel. When I was younger, I yearned to have her body every time I saw her in a bikini, and felt cheated for having my body instead of hers, I have to confess I wa...

Become who you want to be, part 3

The secret or the true formula for success in goal attainment is threefold:Visualize your self in the future as you want to be, whatever the goal may be. Visualize clearly, strongly, with all the detail you can muster and involving all the senses (what is the temperature, what does the air smell like, is it night or day, where are you, what are you wearing, how do you look, who are you with, and most importantly, how does being this future you FEEL). Involve your emotions a...

Become who you want to be, part 2

It is the fact that we build who we are going to be through every choice we make that makes things like positive visulaization or goal setting meditation so powerful (heard of The Secret?). When you have a clear picture of whom you want to become in the future, i.e. the potential future you that you would like to become, your attention, the small, seemingly unimportant decitions and actions you take every day are much more likely to bring you to that possible outcome. You w...

Become who you want to be, part 1

We live in the present moment. What we are is the result of the decisions we have made and the steps we have taken to achieve those goals. Sometimes we have failed, sometimes we have learned from our mistakes and tried again, some other times we have succeded. It doesn’t matter. We are who we are today is a consequence of everything that has happend before. The same is true of the future. We will become what we build ourselves to be with every thou...

Trips with Lupus

When we travel there are many changes to our routine. For example, schedules get dishevelled, the food is different, rest can be difficult, the weather is different, many people swell during the trip, etc. There are many ways to mitigate the adverse effects of travel to be able to enjoy them in the best way possible. Some examples:For leg swelling, use compression stockings.For liquid retention, take diuretic drinks, like coffee or tea when possible.Take with you all ...

¿What conditions can present complications when you have lupus?

When we have lupus, any health situation can be aggravated or complicated. If it’s something that comes from the outside, for example, a virus or bacteria, our immune system is not concentrated only in attacking the external enemy, but a part of it is attacking the enemy and another part is attacking, frequently, the same organ which is being already attacked by the virus and/or bacteria (or some other organ, it’s impossible to predict what it will attack)...

Heart centering

Mystics of certain traditions say that the heart is the seat of the soul. Scientiifically it has been proven that the heart has the largest electro magnetic field of the body. In meditation it is a useful technique to center the consciousness in the heart, and when we have to make a decition it is clearer when taken from the heart. In Chinese Traditional Medicine the heart is the Emperor of the body. Here is an excercice to center on the heart to make important ...

5 Daily Steps to Combat the Depression That Comes With Chronic Illness

By Milly Diericx | Contributor Dec. 14, 2016, at 6:00 a.m.For many people, chronic illness is almost synonymous with hopelessness. Hopelessness causes depression, for life can lose its flavor, sense and purpose. It is imperative that we stop the negative train of thought that manifests as acute and ongoing depression. Mostly, we lose hope and feel depressed when we live in the past, reliving the memories of how we were before the illness, or the future, projecting catastrophic possibil...

The importance of a good posture

Yesterday I went to a phisiotherapy session for a chronic knot I have had for many years in one shoulder. The therapist manupulated my arms and legs a little, asked me to stand and sit. After her revision she concluded that this knot is the result of bad posture, especially when I’m sitting in the computer working. She also said that many of her patients have similar problems caused by a bad posture. These are her recommendations:When standing, do not block th...

4 Keys to Coping with Emotions of a Chronic Illness Diagnosis

Published by U.S. News, 4 November, 2016, Milly Diericx, ContributorA diagnosis for a chronic illness represents a loss. A great loss, for your life will cease being as you once knew it and will take on a different character, governed by the disease.One of the first emotions to surface – after the shock of hearing the diagnosis – is anger. There is the feeling that life has dealt you an unjust hand, and there is a need to find a culprit for this turn of events. Depending on the par...

What Its Like to Be Diagnosed With a Chronic Illness. Published by US News

I had symptoms for a long time but doctors told me I was fine and it was all in my head, while performing all kinds of tests with weirder than ever names and possibilities. No matter how many times they told me it was nothing, I knew there was something wrong with me. I felt so bad, was that normal? I questioned my own sanity some days, and other days I questioned theirs. I had grown scared to go to the doctor when yet another symptom appeared. I felt like the doctor would think,...

To have a fulfilled life

Living with chronic illness and learning not only to overcome it, but to live a full life in spite of it, is a complicated process. It begins, as all processes do, with a decision. Each and every one of us has to decide how we want to live with what we have. There are many options. The easy one is to be the victim, to stay in self-pity and impotence letting the illness rule our lives, living for the doctor’s appointments and medications, only aware of the symp...

My family. How to handle them without stressing?

Frequently it is those closest to us that put the largest strain on us, unwittingly. This happens because they love us. They are the ones that most want to be with us, and therefore the ones that put the most pressure on us. In this time of parties and celebrations, it is very common that the family insists in our presence in all celebrations and reunions. Besides, our children want attention, there are presents to buy, and many times meals to cook to take to th...

What happens in the body with an autoimmune disease?

The immune system should protect the body from external agressions, like viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. and internal threats like toxins and cancer cells. It is a highly complex system involving various organs in the body. For instance, white blood cells, the soldiers of the body, are produced in the bone marrow, but they are also found in other organs like the spleen and lymphatic system. Other organs also contribute to the body’s immune system, for instance,...

Changes in life style implied in a chronic illness

For me, recieving a Lupus diagnosis came with a very profound change in my lifestyle. At the beginning I felt a great frustration for being unable to do what I wanted to do, of having to let go of activties and dreams that were now unrealizable. For example, when I was a child, my hero was Indiana Jones. I wanted to travel throughout the most esoteric places finding and experiencing magical objects and unforgettable adventures. Obviously I did not grow up to be ...

Why do I have to go first? Is it egotistical?

Many times we are told that if we put ourselves first, we are egotistical and that is wrong. But, what happens when you have an illness? If you don’t put yourself first to be the best you can be in every moment, your condition can get worse, and then, is this not more egotistical? If you are feeling worse you will need more attention, more help and care from others, and this will necessarily become a burden for others (even if they do it lovingly). That is why I thi...

Redefintion of the condition

There are some definitions of Lupus as an attack on ourselves from the emotional, as if we hated ourselves and wanted to commit “suicide” from the inside. I do not agree. While emotions are important and we have to be aware of them, we are as capable of loving ourselves as any other person, maybe more for we have had to survive more things than the normal person. We have had to to make adjustments to our lives that other people don’t even imagine. We have ...

Nelson Mandela’s legacy of courage

In the poem Invictus Mandela talks abut his hardships in prison, but having a chronic illness is much like a prison, and I think this poem speaks to the warrior in all of us! I especially find the last line incredibly inspiring.INVICTUSOut of the night that covers me,Black as the Pit from pole to pole,I thank whatever gods may beFor my unconquerable soul.In the fell clutch of circumstanceI have not winced nor cried aloud.Under the bludgeonings of chanceMy head is bloody, but unbo...

Exagerated empathy.

Human beings are social beings by nature. Our lives depend on establishing relations with others of our species since childhood. This ability to understand others is called empathy, it’s que quality of being able to ‘walk in another’s shoes’ and know, from our own feelings what the other is feeling. However, empathy can be exagerated, and in this case the person can feel the feelings of the other person to the extent to making them her own. When there is...

Sometimes I imagine that I’m like a detective, a spy trying to delucidate the evil plans of an enemy hiding within the fibers of my body. Which is why I’m always aware of any signal my body gives me about the wherabouts of the next attack of the enemy. Sometimes I think of this game as a James Bond movie, where the powers of evil are always on the prowl and he has to destroy their plans before they end the world as we know it. In my case, with my body, it’s func...

Any flare can be lethal.

The secret to controlling lupus in a healthy way is to be very aware to the beginning of an attack and to the things that provoke them. It is, for me, of vital importance to stop an attack at the very beginning, for once started it grows ever larger, like a snowball rolling down the mountain. We have to remember that even if it’s the beginning of a flare, if it attaks a vital organ it has the potential to kill us in a few days. As we never know what our immune syste...

Learning to say NO

Taking advantage of the controversy caused by Selena Gomez in the discussion about lupus, it’s important to me to bring forth the importance for lupus patients to learn to say NO. When the body starts having physical or emotional symptoms, they are alarm signals that our immune system is acting up again. We have to take ourselves into consideration when these red lights present themselves and learn to say no, no matter how important we feel the commitment we made could be...

Selena Gomez’s Lupus, a misunderstood illness

This week I found a magazine which sported a picture of Selena on the cover with the title: Selena’s Rehab Nightmare. On reading the article, the magazine informs that the real cause of Selena interrumpting her tour was a problem with alcohol and depression resulting from her breakup with Justin Bieber, and not becuase of the efects of lupus. While I do not know Selena personally and therefore cannot comment on how much she was affected by her breakup with Bieber, I do kn...

It is very importat for emotional wellbeing to have a creative activity. Depending on personal tastes, this can be any of the arts, like painting, sculpture, writing, music or dancing, but it can also be anything else, anything from cooking to collecting stamps or building models. It really doesn’t matter what activity you do, what matters is that is is really pleasant for you. That way, not only will you have an enjoyable activity to do when you are sad or depresse...

Holistic approach

I have been receiving many questions from people asking for help with various symptoms. I do my best to answer every one and I’m very grateful for your confidence in me. However, I have to say to everyone that lupus is a complex disease, as we all know, and one tip will probably help but not really control this condition. What really helped me and made me pretty much overcome this ailment and live a normal life was not one thing. It was a holistic approach to ...

Now, during the summer, I had an experience that made me reflect about fear. When I was a child I was very close to drowning in the sea. This trauma lasted all my childhood, making daily baths and learning to swim well very difficult. Now, as an adult I decided to face my fear and learn to scuba dive. I got my diving certificate with a lot of effort. However, the first time I actually went diving in the open ocean, two years after my certification, I panik...

I know, we have heard this a million times and it sounds good, but no one tells us exactly how to do it. The word love has been overused to the point we don’t even know what it means anymore. I guess it means different things to different people, but to me love is closer to acceptance than any other term. Acceptance is the inner attitude, attention is the manifestation of love, that is, what we do that signifies love. When I wholeheartedly accept myself...

Perseverance with lupus is a tricky business. Where the rest of the world can set goals and go for them, we have to take into account the feasibiliy of them and many times periods of not being able to advance towards our goals. In past blogs I have talked about goal setting and achieving, so I won’t go into that right now. But we do have to remember that it’s important to have clear goals and to keep them in sight for the long haul. Things may very we...

Be asertive and set limits

Close relationships can sometimes get very demanding on our time and energy. As lupus patients we need to set very clear limits to the demands others place on us. There are things we can do and others that take too much out of us that we can’t really manage. For this we have honest with ourselves. Being there for your family is important to maintain healthy relationships, but you do have to manage your energy, so negotiate with yourself honestly. Which ...

Give back energy that doesn’t belong to you

In everyday life we become charged with other people’s moods, thoughts and worries. Sometimes we start believing they are ours also. This is wasted energy, and we don’t have any energy to waste. The following exercise is a very good way to “give back” those things that are heavy in our minds that don’t belong to us:Take 10 minutes of silence in a comfortamble place where you won’t be bothered.Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths to center yourself and ...

Finding purpose and meaning in life

Viktor Frankl, the author of Logotherapy, says if you find meaning and purpose in your life, you can survive in the direst of circumstances. He observed this while imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp. Only those who had a purpose survived, including himself. When he was released at the end of the war he became a therapist helping people find their own purpose in life. There are those who say that we all come to this earth with a certain mission, ...

Other people’s impotence with our illness

When we are cronically ill, people that surround us can fall into incomprehention or say things that hurt us, like “but you don’t look sick”, “if yesterday you could, why can’t you today?”, “you are imagining your symptoms”, “why are you tired if you haven’t done anything?”. While the sick person can be hurt by these comments, it is very common that the other person either really doesn’t understand, and how can you understand something you have never...

We humans are capable of a wide range of emotions, so many that sometimes we have trouble recognizing them. It is however, a very important part of the sometimes complicated process of channeling and expressing them in a healthy manner. A good way to start is to recognize the stronger ones: anger, sadness, fear, joy, love. The other emotions are nuances, degrees of the basic ones. That way, frustration is a mode of anger, while panic is a severe form of f...

Lupus patients have little energy. We get tired easily since our immune system is working overtime because it is always on alert or in attack mode. Besides, our body is always working to repair itself from the attacks the immune system causes in it’s exacerbated enthusiasm. That is why we have to be very clear in what we want to do, we can’t waste time in superfluous activities. If we want, besides what life demands from us, to do something meaningful for ou...

To maintain adecuate sugar levels, the metabolism awake and optimal energy levels, the best thing is to eat five times a day in small quantities. The combination that works best for me is this: -Breakfast: One protein + one carbohydrate (fruit, whole wheat bread, cereal) + una portion oil/grease (butter, cooking oil, nuts, avocado).-Mid morning snack: Either a fruit, cheese, or vegetables (cucumber, tomato juice, vegetables, etc.)-Lunch: One protein (chicken, meat, fish, tof...

Personality is the music of the soul

Music is the only art form that requires an interpreter and it is he/she that gives importance and meaning to the piece of music. In the same manner I imagine the body, personality, soul triad. The body is the musical instrument, the personality is the interpreter and the music is the soul. Each one of us has a soul with certain characteristics and gifts, a beautiful and unique piece of music that is our essence. Our personality interprets this music sheet, give...

Lupus presents various symptoms, many of which we may think are nor related to one another and for which we see various specialists. Lupus patients are even diagnosed with different conditions in addition to the lupus, like fibromyalgia. It is sometimes difficult to recognize which of our symptoms correspond to lupus and which of those are cause for alarm. Many symtoms are not dangerous and can, many times, be treated with alternative methods. For example, skin ...

Relationships: Don’t be a burden on others

It is very common in relationships to become codependent, that is to depend on others to be happy or even to give life meaning. When we are sick this develops exponentially, for we do come to depend on others even for our basic needs. It is worse with lupus, for it’s not a passing illness, but a lifelong condition. It is therefore very important that we learn not to lean on others excessively, or to have a wide support group in case of a crisis, because taking care of a s...

Tha alkaline diet

When your body is acid, it is easier for viruses to proliferate, also cancer cells and inflammation. For the body to be healthy, it has to maintain a neutral PH. There are many things in modern life that acidify the system, especially what we eat. In the same way, it is through food that we can most easiliy maintain our body neutral. If you want to keep yor body healthy follow an alkaline diet, even if it’s just a week a year to detoxify:Avoid grease, fried fo...

Change your outlook, change your life.

The body, the mind and the emotions are not separate entities, they are integral parts of us, and are therefore, intimately related. What we think afects our emotions and our emotions have direct effects in our bodies. Modern medicine is now beginning to take this relationship into account and is starting to leave behind the treatments that deal with the body as a merely biological entity separated from the mental and emotional state of the patient. Every day it becom...

Visualizing yourself accomplishing what you want is proven to be effective in reaching your goals. Visualizing how you want to think and feel about yourself is as effective. In this technique we use the imagination, because we are communicating with the right hemisphere of the brain, that takes care of automatic bodily functions. This part of the brain does not deal with logic or understand words, it takes it’s orders in the form of symbols and it uses the imaginati...

Air pollution, it’s effects and how to be protected from it.

Air pollution is a concern factor in all big cities around the world. In our case, in Mexico City we have seen noxious elevations of conaminants in the dry season. While we cannot escape pollution, for we live and work in the cities, there are things we can do to protect ourselves from it and to help our bodies deal with the toxins.Tips to protect ourselves from air pollution:1. Avoid exercising outdoors. It is a better idea to go to a closed gym with air conditioning...

Befriending the Wolf: The Guide to Living and Thriving with Lupus

Befriending The Wolf: A Guide to Living and Thriving with Lupus is a comprehensive guide to alternative methods of healing for this pervasive ailment. You will experience self-esteem, emotional wellbeing and proven, practical tips from the inside-out. Milly Diericx has dedicated her life to trying alternative healing modalities, speaking clearly and honestly about them and their efficacy....

Visualizing yourself accomplishing what you want is proven to be effective in reaching your goals. Visualizing how you want to think and feel about yourself is as effective. In this technique we use the imagination, because we are communicating with the right hemisphere of the brain, that takes care of automatic bodily functions. This part of the brain does not deal with logic or understand words, it takes it’s orders in the form of symbols and it uses the imaginati...

Joint pain and swelling

My joints tend to swell with too much activity, and swelling is always painful. To help them get back to normal I rest them with a pillow under them, so they are slighly and comfortably bent, and put ice packs on them. It is not good to leave the ice on too long though, it can make them stiff. I put the pack on for five minutes and take it off for five, alternately until they feel better. Menthol ointments and herbal oils (like Just's oleo 31) also help. If...

Swelling in the soft tissue

Lupus swells the gums and makes the teeth sensitive, also the medications affect teeth and gums, we also get sores on the inside of the mouth and nostrils. This usually happens when we are in a flare or when the acidity in the body is too high. Lupus medications, especailly prednisone, are acid forming agents in the system, besiades causing the teeth and bones to soften with time, so we have to couteract their effects. Mouth and nose sores, acid reflux and many o...

What you eat definitely affects you in every way. Think of your food as the building blocks of your body, if the bricks are of a poor quality, your building, or body, will be frail and susceptible to environmental stress. Try eating healthy as much as possible. Also chemicals in the food supply can be aggravating for lupus (for example, aspartame has been proven in many studies to be a trigger for lupus symptoms), so I recommend organic food as much as po...

It is vital to keep your spirits up, and to learn to laugh at yourself and all the situations you can get yourself into with this condition. Laughing has been proven to produce pain alleviating chemicals, like endorphins, in the brain and boosting the immune system. Also, a sense of humor is a basic ingredient in keeping a positive outlook in life, which is vital in keeping depression away. Many times, with lupus, while feeling really horrible, your...

In life what defines your well being is, to a great extent, your point of view. You always have a choice in how you take circumstances in life and what you make of them. This is, however, the biggest challenge. It is extremely difficult to keep a positive outlook when you are feeling horrible and, many times, no one even believes you. It takes practice and resolve to keep the optimism going when you don’t have energy to make it out of bed. But practice m...

Physical activity is important, not only to keep our muscles strong and our body fit, but also our joints supple and our state of mind positive. However, overdoing exercise is detrimental to our health, too much will exhaust us and could potentially start a lupus flare. The way to know what and how much exercise is right for you is your wellbeing. Every one of us is different and we are also different every day. My advice is have a regular rutine, one that works...

Viktor Frankl expressed in his Logotherapy that everyone has to find a purpose in life. People who have purpose have a much better chance of surviving challenging situations. I find that my life became much better when I found my purpose and meaning in helping others. We all need to have that feeling of purpose and meaning in our lives. We all have to find our own. It’s sometimes very easy to know what your purpose in life is, for example when you are bo...

Nature vs Nurture in relationships

There are things that are our nature. We are born that way. This nature gives us a basic background personality and acts as a fliter through which we view the things that happen in our lives. Experience then shapes us, teaches us, molds us and our behaviour, thoughts and perceptions. But nature is always there, and it’s always the refference point to which we come back, time and again. One is our innate character, the other our experience in this life.&n...

New Year’s Reflection

2015 was a year full of surprises, some of them good, some others not so good and some really extraordinary ones. All in all, it was a year of major growth fro me, of coming into my own. I learned a lot about myself, about my limits and my capabilities, but mostly I learned that being alone is not so bad when you have a good relationship with yourself. It can even be enjoyable. I used to be terrified to be alone, and felt like I would be unable to survive on my ...

Be proactive: Over indulging and detoxifying

This is the season to be jolly. It is also the season to eat and drink all kinds of sweets, alcohol, heavy foods and to overdo it. The advice everyone gives is be moderate, but moderation is something that is difficult, especially when the temptation is everywhere. Another option I have found that works is to go ahead and indulge, after all it is the season! After the parties are over, schedule a week or more of a detox to get your body balanced again. There are...

Be proactive: Acupresure on only one point.

If you do not have time to study the acupuncture meridians, try doing just one point. There are many that work for many things at the same time, like for example, the Su Zan Li point. It is said that just masaging this point you can manage balanced health and therefore longevity. For us with Lupus, it’s most interesting function is regulating the immune system. Let’s try massaging this point for a month, and see the results for the new year! Following ...

Be proactive: Alkalinize

New studies have found that acidity in the system provokes many diseases, viruses thrive in acid environments, as do cancer cells. Acid systems do not function optimally. However, extreme alkalinity is also not healthy, so never overdo anything. Modern living tends to acidity, for many of the things that make our daily lives easier tend to acidify the system. Examples are conservatives and colorants in our procesed foods, excesive grease, and even stress. ...

Be proactive: Acupuncture and Accupressure

Chinese Traditional Medicine holds that there are five elements out of which everything is made. The balance of these elements creates harmony and therefore healthy systems. Including our bodies. They assign every organ and function of the body to one of the elements, and they say that the energy of that organ runs through the body through channels called meridians. When you are sick, a chinese doctor would say that your life energy got stuck in some meridian an...

Be Proactive: Prioritize

Your daily activities can be exhausting. Many of them are musts, others can be reorganized in terms of importance. It is important to know in advance, as much as possible, what you have to do for the day. That way you can organize your time, your priorities and get enough rest throughout the day. When you are making your plans, remember to schedule at least one pleasurable activity, something you enjoy doing. Many times we tend to do the chore...

Rosacea: Symptoms and Natural Remedies

Earlier this year, researchers at Stanford University identified genes connected to Rosacea. Maybe this knowledge will help create better treatments for those suffering from this skin condition. In the meantime, there are simple, inexpensive natural remedies to help heal and reduce the dry skin, itchiness, and redness of rosacea.What is Rosacea?Rosacea is a chronic skin condition easily recognized by redness, bumps, and pimples that appear on the nose, cheeks, forehead, and chin. It ca...

Be proactive: Stress

Stress is one of the most damaging of modern emotional states. Stress is caused by a constant stream of preocupations and negative projections that we can do nothing about. They include everything from our immediate future, our work, relationships, state of health to world occurrences, like the refugee crisis or the global economy. Our minds are constantly recieveing information, most of it negative, about the world we live in. That, plus the fact that we are na...

Be proactive: Emotions

Emotions are our basic humanity kit, without them, we would be as robots, flatlined, as dead. They are the spice of life, even the negative ones. We call them positive or negative according to how they make us feel, if the sensation is exhilarating or pleasant, we label them positive emotions. If the sensation they produce is unpleasant, we call them negative. This is the only difference between them. In reality, there are no good or bad emotions, they all...

Be Proactive: Kidney problems

Lupus can attack the kidneys, and prednisone is hard on the kidneys also. In addition, they have to deal with all the other drugs you take for this condition. Their health is extremely important so that they can deal with all the stressing factors. The kidneys are a vital organ in the body, so their malfunction can be potentially deadly. Taking care of them is therefore one of the most important things in your daily stay well routine. You know something is...

Be proactive: Mindfulness and relaxation

It is very important to be attentive to yourself, to keep checking yourself to notice any minute change. At least once a day do a complete check of your general wellbeing with a mindfulness technique, like meditation, to see how you are doing. You can do a shorter simplified version of this exercise several times a day to measure how you are feeling, and to give yourself a little relaxation and rest during the day. Here is an exercise you can do that checks the whole body w...

Be proactive: Food and substance allergies

Remember that our immune systems are extra sensitive to everything. This includes food. We know there are foods that cause more allergies than others, the ususal suspects being gluten, sugar, lactose, chocolate, eggs, starwberries. However, any substance can cause an allergic reaction, and in people with lupus, a flare up. All allergic reactions are attacks of the immune system and we should keep ours as quiet as possible. If in your list of possible trigg...

Step 3: Be Proactive

Now that you have accepted Lupus as a condition that is part of you, and you know yourself and your symptoms a little better, you know what emotions, thoughts and activities trigger attacks, you are ready for step 3. This step involves being proactive, not only reactive to the condition. First you have to think of yourself as a whole being, not just a body. You are also your mind-emotions and your spirit. I do not mean the spirit in any religious sense, but as t...

Know thyself: Auto - Observation

The first rule in living successfully with Lupus is self-observation, scanning all your body every day. Doing this exercise is a good way to check yourself, see if anything hurts more than usual. Detecting unusual pain is important to detect a flare in its early stages, when you can detect a coming flare, you can nip it in the bud.Knowing yourself is the key to catch the ups and downs associated with the disease, which is the key to keep yourself on the remission side of th...

Know thyself: Meditation

In the quest to know yourself better, there are things you can do to help out. It is not as easy as it sounds, this “know thyself”! The first requisite is to have some quiet time to really feel yourself deeply, not in the passing, but in essence. One of the tools that help you do that is meditation.Meditation is basically a method to quiet down the mind of it’s daily preoccupations so you can listen to yourself, your thoughts and emotions, and feel your body mor...

Step 2: Know thyself (written in the Apollo temple at Delphi)

As the ancient Greeks knew, to know yourself is the key to all knowledge and wisdom. In this quest to live and thrive with lupus, it also holds true. Once you have accepted that you have this condition (step 1), and accepted yourself as you are, you can move to step 2. Knowing yourself is a difficult art, for your eyes were made to only see out, not in. That is why it is sometimes easier to know someone else than it is to know you. To achieve this you have...

Step 1: Acceptance

The first step in befiriending lupus is accepting it. Your immune system is not your enemy, it is trying to help you, it just gets confused with what is you and what is not. We don’t know why certain immune systems have this malfunction, so we just have to accept that they do. We can search for reasons as to why this happens, and especially why it happened to us, we can feel victimized, treated unjustly, we can even get angry at our Destiny, at God, at genetics.&nbs...

This blog has the objective of being a question and answer, tip, companionship site for people with lupus and other autoimmune diseases. Lupus encompasses very different symptoms, many shared with other autoimmune diseases, so we can all benefit from eachother’s experiences and the things we have found that work to mitigate and sometimes erradicate symptoms. More than a place to vent our frustrations, I would like this blog to be positive, a sharing of solutions more than...