Cutting Hair

Posted by twinklev

My anxiety has been a little high over doing something I haven’t done in many years. My husband asked me to cut his hair a couple of weeks ago. I use to cut his hair, our children’s hair, family, I did a few friends as requested. I use to do body piercings for others. I’ve pierced brows, I’ve done Monroe’s, I’ve done bellies, nose etc. That’s something I’ll most likely never do for anyone again. I’ve been asked, I’ve declined. My hand isn’t quite that steady anymore, but I think it’s steady enough to cut his hair.

His hair is really long right now. It’s close to being as long as mine. His hair is curly so the worse result is that any errors will be hidden in shorter curls or would need to be fixed by a professional.

Learning to reduce fears of trying again isn’t always easy, yet to try at all is rewarding. If I wasn’t trying some of these things again, I wouldn’t have ever gotten this far and I doubt I’d get any further.

In pain we stop doing the things that pain prevents us from. We don’t want to hurt more, we don’t want to instigate spreads, or flare ups, we stop using what hurts and we also stop it for the rest of our bodies and the result is deterioration, more diagnoses’, gastrointestinal issues and it’s not all a direct result of originating illness itself. It’s partially due to non use after the fact.

A few months ago, post MLT, the feeling in my middle finger returned, my index finger while arthritic has most of it’s feeling back. It’s just my thumb, inner palm and the part of my wrist that’s connected to my thumb that doesn’t feel fully.

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I wish you all pain eased days and nights.

MLT Update

Posted by twinklev

It’s been 7 months since I first attended the Gohl Program and approximately 4 months since receiving Manual Ligament Therapy (MLT) the second time. The first time my Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 2 was minimized drastically in pain and symptoms. Remission of sorts. I was able to move and stand better. I could bend my toes and come up on my toes. I came home after the 5 days of treatment and utilized the techniques in stretching I had learned from Mr. Arik Gohl. I was able to bend over and touch my toes. I could still come up on my toes with more ease, and I could dance for moments at a time. These weren’t things I could do on the fly at any time of the day, but rather things I could do as I progressed or had an ability to do at any given moment. Or things I was unable to do at any given moment also.

My spinal issues had still been giving me trouble. Pain wasn’t so much in my back other than strain, but in my right arm, hand, fingers. Numbness, tingling, paresthesia. Medical Definition of paresthesia. : a sensation of pricking, tingling, or creeping on the skin having no objective cause and usually associated with injury or irritation of a sensory nerve or nerve root. I wasn’t only experiencing creepy crawlers but intense and moderate to severely painful buzzing that would begin with tightening and pique with an intensity often hard to bear before decreasing. A crippling sensation as my entire arm would lock up for the duration of the symptom. This occurred every few minutes all day and all night long for over a year. I had finally received a cervical injection for C6 and C7 Cervical Radiculopathy. I had the second injection the day before Arik Gohl and Monica Depriest of the Gohl Program picked me up for the healing retreat. I had never met them before. I had also just learned 2 months prior that my CT results listed lost of disc height, Levoscoliosis, Spondylosis, Osteophytes and other spinal deteriorations. I’ve had bone spurs in my right foot and ankle for many years (2003 MRI), my spine I had no idea. Osteophytes are a bony outgrowth associated with the degeneration of cartilage at joints. I knew I had degenerative disc disease upon an imagining diagnosis in my mid to late 30’s. By January of 2016 I had so much physical pain compiled on me, and without pain related treatment or medications that I failed myself in being able to apply my coping strategies I had learned, wrote about and had shared for others years before. My CT had revealed C4-5-6-7 issues. I’ve known I’ve had Osteo for many years but I didn’t have treatment for it.

There wasn’t anything I could do for myself anymore. In that I mean I couldn’t get pain down enough to even try. I continued to dangle on the edge. I had always been willing to try. I tried so many times over the years for bilateral CRPS.

And then I had MLT.

The therapy literally saved my life.

It brought my pain down so much that I was able to become active in my own healing again. I had no one to rely on in healthcare, nothing to relieve pain, nothing to stop my head from spinning over pain. I lost the ability to survive. I went through motions of living, but I had already died inside.

To this day I haven’t stopped my routines in keeping my flesh, my body from becoming so restricted again. Fascia, all that fibrous tissue, connective tissue, bone pain, crps pain, spinal pain. I’ve kept my own pain levels stable.

Check out all these success stories

Gohl Program TV

Gohl Program Webinar – Chronic Pain

Gohl Program Webinar with Monica Depriest

Twinkle V Case Study Documentation

Twinkle V. – RSD/CRPS, Spinal DJD, Generalized Chronic Pain (Full- before and after treatment sessions)

I can’t even watch those videos because I don’t want to be that person. That’s a lot of pain to see myself in because I know how I really felt arriving there. I don’t even look like that anymore and it only took 7 months. I can’t wait until the 1 year mark which will be on my 49th birthday. I celebrated my 48th while attending the Gohl Program healing retreat in October of 2016. I hope that turning 50 becomes everything (or something) that my 30’s and 40’s should have been.

I know that it’s difficult for some to believe how far I’ve come in such little time. I also had a new injury to my right foot which is a month old today. It did cause a setback in my overall progress yet I retained progress in other areas of my body, mind and spirit during it’s healing time. Even in this injury I didn’t take or have access to any pain medication other than having used the topical Voltaren Gel, Epsom’s soaks and ice. Yes ice! I had not used ice since PT in 2002 for the fairly severe injury in January of 2001 which led to CRPS Type 2/Causalgia. This time began almost immediately desensitizing as not to allow a reversal of progress back to full blown CRPS symptoms. I began wiggling my toes the best that I could again. I’m on my road to recovering that foot once more.

My YouTube videos I’ve chosen intentionally to do raw and real for whatever day it is, moment of the day, pain, progress, humor, sorrow. Same with Facebook videos. There isn’t any reason to disguise myself beyond what I am at that moment.

This year is healing for me. I already dropped out of most advocacy related volunteering and awareness activities toward the end of last year. I’ve remained a Medtronic Patient Ambassador which I’ve been since 2015. I’ve attended training webinars, and I represent and support the Gohl Program.

Aside from these I just want to live, love and remain free right now. Find myself, learn myself, laugh and smile as much as this life can offer. 16 years of nothing but pain, disability, uncertainty, loss, lack of access to care, suffering and suicidal actions changed me.

While living keeps throwing it’s obstacles at me, I’m able to get through them better. Yes there are days movement is harder, of course there are moments when a pain rises for a few. While my Spinal Cord Stimulator leveled my legs out, my upper body had no relief. I lived at a 7 with 8-9’s too often. I fell over the edge at 10.

I haven’t been above a 7 at all. When I have been it was a combination of causing my own acute pain from rebuilding bodily deterioration, or from unrelated belly issues. I’ve held well between 2-5. 5 meaning issues not CRPS and my new injury was decently painful at onset.

Can you imagine living in nothing but physical pain and being able to survive it without medication management for pain? I have. Easy? Not at all. It’s been 15-16 months since I’ve had any. It’s turned out to be so very worth it.

I couldn’t have done this without MLT, Arik Gohl, Dr. Vero Lizarraga, Mr. Warren Gohl, Monica Depriest, Dr. Ed Glaser and the after care tools that I’ve continued to provide myself on a daily basis.

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MLT Revolution – Gohl Program

Posted by twinklev

Why Ligaments? Ligaments, there are over 900 in the body, are very sensitive to all kinds of movement and stresses such as environmental (Gravity), physical, and emotional. In some research studies, ligaments have been shown to have many times more sensitivity than our skin!With this sensitivity, ligaments are able to coordinate all the contractions and de-contractions necessary to provide us with the movements of our body and its systems. When they are stressed through injury at physical or even emotional levels, the ligaments direct our nervous system to contract areas of our bodies to protect the vital organs as well as the site of an injury.This is a great thing in the first few days but unfortunately, because ligaments have very low blood supply, they do not heal well and often remain in a state of stress thereby continuing to tell the nervous system to protect the body. And this is where the not so good things start to compound and our bodies begin to suffer pain, spasm, and even systemic problems as it tries to find balance under stress.Getting to the sourceMLT directly interacts with ligaments in a very gentle and non-invasive way. Using very light finger pressure on certain ligaments throughout the body, MLT is able to correct the cycle of stress and contraction-inducing signals the ligaments are sending to the nervous system. The effect only takes just a few seconds but the outcome can be dramatic. This is because instead of focusing on the muscles which are only doing what the ligaments are influencing, MLT focuses on the source of what the problem was to begin with, the sensitive and influential nature of the ligaments.

MLT Founder

Arik Warren Gohl has been a clinical manual therapist since 1999. In the years since graduating, he has developed numerous clinical practices and curriculums for Physical Therapists, Massage Therapists, and Chiropractors.

In the past 12 years, Arik has become well known for creating a new type of treatment called Manual Ligament Therapy (MLT) and has been endorsed by some of the most respected researchers and doctors in the world, including Dr. Moshe Solomonow PhD and Dr. Edward Glaser, owner of Sole Supports orthotics.

In his time as a therapist, Arik has continued to seek new and more effective ways to treat difficult conditions with an advanced combination of modalities including dynamic stretching, movement re-education, and manual therapies. The end result is his protocols are able to resolve both simple and difficult conditions in a fraction of the time it would normally take in conventional physical rehabilitation.

For this, he has an international reputation as a sought out clinician for those suffering all levels of symptoms, as well as being respected as an educator of advanced subject matter such as neuro-ligament sciences.

Currently Arik owns a Physical Therapy clinic in Guadalajara, Mexico which has become the “go-to” clinic for patients of all varieties as well as some of the best athletes in the country. In addition, Arik has recently teamed up with Dr. Edward Glaser of Sole Supports orthotics to focus on the treatment of the debilitating condition known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS) with the goal of providing a non-invasive, non-surgical resolution for the disorder.

View Original Source: MLT Revolution – Gohl Program

New Injuries After CRPS

Posted by twinklev

Tonight begins the 3rd day since I re injured my right foot. Any number of reasons could have been the cause. For one, I’ve been somewhat overdoing myself in healing, progress and maintaining pain levels. I refused to miss doing my stretches, or routine, even when I caused myself pain unrelated to any illness or injury. Pain that was a result of not moving or using muscles and bones for too many years. A good pain even if it hurt because no matter it was progress forward. I’ve re injured myself several times over the years and always with the same result in flareups and associated issues. Until the Gohl Program.

Another reason could have been that I’m so tired I was just absent minded to make the step I intended to, another could be I had just gotten off the slider not long before and my back was sore and my knees wobbly. That’s why I left it down in the first place. I wasn’t finished using it. I’m still fairly weak and don’t do big sets at once. I learned my lesson already. Mostly. I mis judged stepping over the bottom metal leg of the machine as I moved toward the doorway and as a result stepped entirely on it with all my weight, left hand grabbing the dresser to keep me from falling, and my foot was still on it. My entire right side was heavy on it.

While both the bottom and top is bruised it’s the bottom that’s worse. When I weight bear the knot on the bottom presses into the ground and the rest of the knot in the center pushes upward through to the top. (insert potty mouth words) but I’m still walking on it.

Normally people with RSD or CRPS wouldn’t use ice. I did. I’m getting rid of my worries and hurts and I can’t let using an ice pack be one of them. Not at this point. I didn’t have any adverse reactions. I did put a dry wash cloth between it and my skin. Voila! No problem.

Bending my toes isn’t happening right now. I’ve manually bent them. You know like how the 5 little piggies went to the market. Anyway, I’m not kidding.

I sometimes miss that quarter beat. In other words, I’ve never been a whole note. Ha!

Of course it’s something that’s a total bummer. Especially after having worked so hard these last 6 months.

It’s going to be most interesting to find out how long it takes to recover and be standing on my toes again.

As it heals from where it is now, I’ll keep working with my upper body and spine. Once the bruising and swelling comes down I’ll know better how much of a setback it may have caused. I do have a soft back support brace on now and it’s only so that my spine doesn’t shift as I’m unable to walk right. I’m minimizing anything that can get in my way of continued healing and anything that can cause the injury to want to get out of line.

I’ve come way too far and fairly fast after 16 years to fall behind now. I can’t stop, I’m obsessed, or maybe possessed. Both?

I helped my husband carry in bags from the car today when he asked for my help. That could go 2 ways. Either why would he even have asked knowing I hurt myself or I could be glad I got myself up to do it even so. I could have said no? I’ll stick with being glad.

I’ll re ice again today. Yep, I’m starting over it a way, but I’m not starting all over from last year. That foot has had tendons and ligaments torn off bones, chip fractures, entrapment’s, surgeries, scars, dings and much more. CRPS, Achilles tendinitis, arthritis, osteo, heel spurs, plantar fasciitis, etc and so forth.

Looking forward to learning how fast I can reverse and heal from another new injury to a CRPS extremity using post MLT routines.

I’m keeping a log and photos. I’ll share any delays or progress.

All I need to know now is who has the voodoo doll?

220px-Poupée_vaudou - image source- wikipedia

Review – Gohl Program | Part 4

Posted by twinklev

Review – Gohl Program | Part 4

believe

It’s not yet been 6 months since first attending the Gohl Program healing retreat. Let me begin by saying that your journey is yours in pain; my journey is now mine from pain. Nearly all of us share, raise awareness, learn, teach and offer support to others. Many belong to or own groups, websites, blogs, are a not for profit or are a part of nonprofit organizations or businesses doing the same. My main goal is sharing my progress and healing after receiving Manual Ligament Therapy to proffer hope where hope had no longer existed for me. To share this option for chronic pain relief, testimonials, webinars, case studies, until people believe impossibles are possible. While everything I’m doing now may not be directly related to the Gohl Program it is because of it. An example would be the use of fresh herbs for their medicinal properties instead of the use of Over the Counter medications. The Gohl Program didn’t tell me to go home and do these things. I chose to continue the holistic course I had already begun as part of my overall healing experience.

On February 26, I shared to Facebook:

February 26 •
#MLT #Fact = In what became 4 months (2 days ago) since my first treatment session at the Gohl Program Arik Gohl, I’ve been able to:
1. Move my toes
2. Bend over to touch my toes
3. Raise my legs
4. Walk without assistance, or needing to stop a few steps later.
5. Walk to the store (A couple of blocks, each way)
6. Dance
7. Sleep better
8. Re quit Gabapentin and Cymbalta
9. Squat
10. Adjust my spine to better alignment when sitting, laying down and standing.
11. My Spinal Cord Stimulator has been off since hours before my first session on October 24, 2016.
12. Did I mention dance?
13. Regain strength in my upper right extremities. Raise my arm, move my shoulder.
14. Since my last treatment in January of 2017, I’ve been able to regain better use of my right hand and fingers.
15. Belly flares (Diverticulitis, Gastritis, Kidney, Liver, etc, general inflammation and associated pain) has been reduced in the duration of time and discomfort associated with those diagnosis’ and symptoms prior to treatments.
16. I skated with my Grandson for the first time in his 11 years of life on February 18, 2017.
17. I’m not prescribed opioid pain relievers (nor have I had any since February of 2016)
18. Mr. Arik Gohl, Mr. Warren Gohl, Dr. Edward Glaser, Dr. Veronica Lizarraga, Ms. Monica Depriest, the Gohl Program and MLT literally saved my life.
19. I’m living 16 years later without pain being a constant physical and emotional reminder of what I couldn’t do, shouldn’t do or would never do.
20. I’ll never quit again.
~Twinkle V.

On March 4th:

March 4 at 12:57am •
After a fairly intense moment with the dad Mr. Warren Gohl, Arik Gohl’s father, who I’ve been blessed by, I left my emotional garbage in a rock filled parking lot in Tennessee. I left the beginning, I left iPain, I left my Facebook deactivation and the reasons why, I left advocacy and awareness for which it was, I left the medical mistakes, I left the pain I caused my children, I left thinking I wasn’t a good wife anymore, I left the hurt of believing I would never be anything more than I was and that I wouldn’t go any farther than I had. I left the gossip and the whispers. I left caring too much. I left being a pain person. I left the end of it all and a new beginning was born. Because of that my path was paved in a new direction, and if I worked for it, I could be free of all that it had been and find peace in a forever where pain wasn’t my captor anymore, but instead a reminder that if I hadn’t endured all that I had physically and mentally, I’d never be right here, right now.
There’s no other place I’d rather be.
Can’t never could do anything anyway.

On April 3rd:
April 3 at 7:50pm •
There has only been 4 years scattered among the last 17 that I haven’t had major surgery, procedures, or blocks. There’s been several times over the last few years that I was cut cold turkey off of medications and went through hard withdrawal. No opioid withdrawal, just an increase in pain as a result. I’ve had other major surgeries prior to #CRPS, one of which kept me out of work for 3 months. I never filed for State Disability. I went back to work as soon as I was cleared to. After #CRPS I still fought by butt off to beat it enough to manage and the secondaries began and my entire being was overcome with all of it. Finally dropping out of the healthcare system was the best thing I ever did. No one asked me to, no one told me to. The stress itself of waiting on authorizations, scheduling, how to get to an appointment, who to rely on, all interfered with more than they helped my ability to cope. And I know many of you go through the same thing. We dwell on the unknown and that in turn raises physical pain. Physical pain then instigates stress and emotions and you can’t ever get out of it. Until you understand that you can.
No one wants to believe in anything other than surgeries that rarely heal us. Especially if we can’t do the followup care for ourselves for them to be successful. Few want to believe in anything other than pain medications and I know if it’s all you have, it’s all you have to survive and I understand that more than you may realize. People lose themselves to pain. You all have one way or the other. Few are taught basic techniques for self care, and healing,
I talk about stretching and people freak out. I talk about the decrease in my own pain and people think I couldn’t have ever been as they are. I talk about progress, everyone wants to know how, but then can’t believe in it. Not even as an option to share.
If you can suspend your disbelief long enough you might get at least part of it in the overall meaning of what we’re all capable of doing for ourselves or with the assistance of a caregiver until we can. When you have an open mind, you learn. Closed minds leave us right where we are in any circumstance.
I was heading for reconstructive spinal surgery. I was already scheduled for banding ligation, and I cancelled my last cervical spine injection.
I chose to go off the last 2 medications I had only restarted the month prior to receiving #MLT. The program didn’t ask me to, or imply that I had to. I quit Gabapentin so that I could feel any changes without something overshadowing it.
I quit Cymbalta so that I could just be me.
How could I do all this?
GohlProgram.com
Since the first post containing the 20 points, I’ve also began using a stationary bike, I worked myself up from light stretching to being able to do another exercise/stretch to strengthen my neck, shoulders, back, stomach, legs, arms and hands. These stretches and techniques were directly taught to me by Mr. Arik Gohl and are not what is taught or expected in traditional physical therapy. Traditional PT is often unrealistic with exercise or stretching prescribed that is beyond an expectation to succeed. Rather, most patients are set up to fail and because of this many never recover.

On the query “Do tendons feel pain”
Answer: Most people feel a general achiness, stiffness, and pain. Symptoms can occur throughout the body. Any soft tissue (muscles, tendons, and ligaments) may be affected.

There are over 900 ligaments in the human body and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments in the foot alone.

If you can imagine then that when our feet are properly aligned and supported solesupports.com and when our feet and body is relieved with Manual Ligament Therapy that chronic pain conditions can be eased, cured, or that remission really is possible even in the most complicated cases.

I said cure didn’t I? Cure the word that’s become taboo when it comes to the supposedly incurable. Trust me, if someone threw around the word cure to me, I probably wouldn’t have believed, but I would have looked into it. If I knew someone that went from 0 to living I’d be watching and listening intently on their progress, setbacks, or healing.

I did that with Ketamine. I seen results and so I wanted to for myself. I just never had that opportunity. Now I’m glad that I didn’t. 1. I would have had another chemical in my body. 2. I may have come to rely on it. 3. Its hard having relief of any kind and having it either taken away or become unavailable again. With the Gohl Program there isn’t any taking away because it’s up to you whether you do or don’t after the treatments.

I imagine that I’m in a time where healthcare as we know it now doesn’t exist. I imagine what I would do for myself to live through colds; flu’s, promote healing in injuries, acute or chronic pain and I remember that it wasn’t even so long ago that my own pediatrician who was also my children’s pediatrician always suggested Ginger ale when we were sick. Something I rarely or if at all hear of anymore. Ginger, or ginger ale, relieves colds, flu’s and pain. I use ginger often for its anti inflammatory effects.

I imagine that if I wanted to live through the worse I’d have to find a way by being responsible for myself and my own well being whether it be living off the land, using home remedies, and moving myself even when it hurt that I could survive.

I’ve found that way through the Gohl Program. I hope I can show you the way, too.
Part 1 – https://rsdadvisory.com/2016/10/31/review-gohl-program-part-1/
Part 2 – https://rsdadvisory.com/2016/11/06/review-gohl-program-part-2/
Part 3 – https://rsdadvisory.com/2016/11/08/review-gohl-program-part-3/

Advocacy and Awareness: CRPS

Posted by twinklev

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Image Source: Sad Face Behind Mask by Mudabbirali

I had always maintained a level of balance when raising awareness for Complex Regional Pain Syndromes Type 1: Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and Type 2: Causalgia. My role was to provide accuracy over inaccuracies. Identifying, evaluating and sharing diagnostic criteria for the diagnosis of CRPS. In addition was the difference between CRPS and CPS (Chronic Pain Syndrome) Chronic Pain Syndrome is a compilation of chronic pain complaints which can include RSD or Causalgia, yet is NOT a CRPS itself.

Complex regional pain syndrome occurs in two types, with similar signs and symptoms, but different causes: Type 1. Also known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, this type occurs after an illness or injury that didn’t directly damage the nerves in your affected limb.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 2 (CRPS Type 2) is a severely painful response to a peripheral nerve injury. CRPS Type 2 is characterized by severe, burning pain affecting a specific area as a result of the nerve injury.

Approximately 90 percent of people with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome have Type 1.

The McGill Pain Questionnaire

McGill Short Form Pain Questionnaire

McGill Pain Questionnaire (MPQ)

The McGill Pain Index

The McGill Pain Questionnaire, also known as McGill pain index, is a scale of rating pain developed at McGill University by Melzack and Torgerson in 1971. It is a self-report questionnaire that allows individuals to give their doctor a good description of the quality and intensity of pain that they are experiencing.

This index is subjective. Subjective means that your pain and symptoms are based solely on what you define them to be. It contains no objective findings to establish any certainty whatsoever.

This index leads you all to believe you have the worse pain disease known to man. Above Cancer. The index describes “Causalgia” which the majority of the people with this syndrome do not have.

Upon reading this many of you will suddenly decide that you have type 2. If you didn’t have type 2 there would be less reason to be incurable and in so much pain.

Do you know how many people over the years who have been diagnosed with RSD suddenly changed their own diagnosis to Causalgia upon learning the difference? Too many.

This is why the research and documented statistics are flawed. This is why the healthcare system fails to help us and instead classifies many of you with Chronic Pain Syndrome or Somatic Symptom Disorder.

According to the respected Dr. Philip Getson “Current estimates suggest that there are between two and ten million patients with this disorder worldwide. It is my personal belief that if you subscribe to the theory that fibromyalgia is in fact not a distinct and separate entity but rather a sub-sect of RSD (as I do), that number can be as much as five times higher.” http://www.drgetson.com/reflex-sympathetic-dystrophy.html

This is because RSD and Fibromyalgia share similar subjective results (trigger points/pressure points) and complaints in addition to some objective shared findings. Overactive nerves instigated by stress. The Fight or flight response.

I can assure you that Complex Regional Pain Syndromes Type 1: Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and Type 2: Causalgia can be drastically relieved and has the potential to be curable without drugs, sympathetic blocks, modalities or implantable devices.

I can no longer ascribe to the belief that CRPS is without possibility in healing. I’ll not tell people they’ll never get better, and I won’t be sharing the misinformation that advocacy groups expect of me. What I’ll share are the facts that surround this misunderstood syndrome and how we never have to end up disabled, sick, emotional and grieving over something that has a chance early on for an immediate remission, without years of failed treatments and medications and doesn’t ever have to lead to an end of no return.

I think I’ve proven that.

~Twinkle VanFleet, GohlProgram.com