Chronic Wellness Annette Leonard

I'm talking today about a therapy that is rather woo. It is called Earthing. With more than 30 years of medical studies performed on it, I was surprised that I didn't learn of it until very recently. Simply put, it is the practice of putting your bare skin on the earth.

The idea came from the fact that we walked the earth for millennia without shoes. In our modern world we're receiving all kinds of wave particles both natural and artificial. Artificial waves like wifi, cell, and electromagnetic. We are taking in the waves and don't have ways of discharging them.

Our electrical outlets have grounding sockets. Researchers are finding that our bodies, too, need to be grounded. When we just touch the earth, we start to discharge the excess electric energy that builds up in us. We can test this just with a home volt meter. But the studies go on to show that inflammation, pain, weight, blood thickness are examples of things that have all shifted with just short but regular bouts of contact with the earth.

This is absolutely the lowest tech, most accessible change that most of us can make and see whether or not it helps. There is a movie on YouTube called The Earthing Movie https://youtu.be/44ddtR0XDVU

Didn't all the children already know this? Don't all the gardeners know this? This is concrete evidence about the way nature heals us.

Have you heard about earthing? Have you tried it? What are your experiences

As I continue to discuss alternative methods of healing today I'm talking about sound therapy or sound healing. Maybe you know about Tibetan singing bowls or have heard about taking a sound bath. When we talk about sound healing, that is a broad term that implies using the modality of sound for various types of intended purposes.

I have experienced sound healings on the floor on a mat, I've been on massage-type table, and I've experienced two "floating" sound baths one in the silks (typically used acrobatically) and one in water. Often singing bowls are involved, often drums, gongs, tuning forks, or voices are involved. The theory behind the practice is that because our bodies are 60% water, vibration from sound effectively penetrates our tissue. Therefore, blood pressure, mood, and even pain can be impacted by sound.

The floating sound bath when I was suspended in the silks was particularly distinct for me because the sound so thoroughly enveloped and surrounded me. The experience was so soothing and immersive. It was conducted by a woman whose pain was also transformed by sound healing after a car accident. Sound healing shifted what acupuncture, physical therapy, and medication hadn't.

For me, sound healing is moving and nourishing. Research has even shown that different frequencies access different states of being. Different hertz help us access delta, theta, and other brain states. See how listening at those frequencies impact your nervous system.

Have you had a sound healing? How has it worked for you?
I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

Often those of us with chronic pain or illness decide to try modalities other than Western medicine. From diagnosis to treatment to long term care, there are a wide array of options to get input from experts who aren't our typical physicians. Today I'm talking about acupuncture.

Acupuncture is a practice of traditional Chinese medicine. By using the meridians that our qi follows and reading our pulse, a practitioner can impact our pain, energy, and internal organs with needles.

Typically after taking off some clothing thin needles are inserted into specific points ranging from the head and face, to the chest, arms, torso, or feet. Often the needles are left in place while the patient relaxes for 10-20 minutes.

I don't find the process painful. There might have been some discomfort upon insertion but that didn't last. It is typical that a series of treatments are recommended.

You might visit an acupuncturist for fibromyalgia, insomnia, and other pain conditions.
It is often not covered by insurance. However, you might be able to find people who charge on a sliding scale or who offer community treatment rooms.

I found acupuncture energizing and addressed my pain as well as offered me more energy.
Have you tried acupuncture? Did it benefit you?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

This is an FDA approved device that I've been using for about a year and a half. My migraines are daily. I use the Ceafaly daily both as a prevention and as a treatment for acute migraines.

There are 2 settings - one 20 minutes long for migraine prevention and one that's 1 hour long to interrupt migraines. You can buy the device at Cefaly.com. It retails for about $350. It has worked for me. It does reduce the intensity of migraines.

The device stimulates the vegus nerve. The stimulation is sometimes like vibration, sometimes a bit tickly/tingly, and can be felt from the eyebrows back to the crown of my head. The sensation is distracting and I find it to be soothing. It can sometimes help me get to sleep.

There are very few ways to address migraines with any consistency or success. There is nothing quite so inescapable as headache pain. I'm glad to have a solution that is not another pill.

Have you tried Cefaly? What are you using to treat your migraines?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

I have a good friend who was tested for POTS. POTS can cause changes in heartrate, blood pressure, and vertigo, all due to autonomic nervous system dysregulation. Her doctor booked her in for testing (which I didn't know they had available).

Within a day of the testing, she learned she didn't test positive for POTS. This is someone with other complex chronic pain and illnesses. The lack of that diagnosis still hit her hard. I could relate to that fragility and the invalidation that comes when I believe something is true and learn it isn't and the fear that arises around "What is true? Is this psychosomatic? What about these symptoms? Will anyone believe me?"

Invalidated: the root of the word "invalid" is the word used in French for disabled. When we aren't given support, recognition, support, other's recognition, support, when we aren't feeling seen, it is disabling.

Later, my friend saw her primary care physician. He said, "you are not your diagnosis." The lack of a diagnosis does not take away your symptoms. Just because our diagnostic tools have not yet caught up with your symptoms, you don't need to feel invalidated. If you are still searching, for your diagnosis -- I'm sorry. However, it doesn't change the fundamental truth that you know is happening. No one test can/should define you. We have one another. Let's support each other, help us feel seen and acknowledge the truth of our circumstances.

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.

Evusheld is the FDA approved, lab created, preventative monoclonal antibody therapy. In addition to the lab-created variety of monoclonal antibodies (Evusheld), there are biologically derived monoclonal antibodies which are spun from the blood from people who are sick with COVID and administered to those who are sick with COVID to help speed their recovery.

Evusheld is a protein that is designed to look like the proteins we make when we get sick. When injected, it makes a body like mine think we've already been sick which then keeps us from getting COVID. When I received it there were four vials injected as 2 shots in the buttocks every six months.

I was a candidate for Evusheld because I'm so immune suppressed because of the chemotherapy I'm taking. Evusheld had Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the FDA. However, at the end of January, that EUA was revoked. Evusheld has been proved ineffective against the current COVID variants.

Therefore, for the severely immunosuppressed, there is no longer a preventative option for avoiding COVID. The alternatives are now post-viral options Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, and monoclonal antibody treatment in the hospital or in urgent care clinics. Perhaps as this virus evolves and becomes less deadly we'll continue to see the threat decrease.

Have you taken Evusheld?
What factors in to your thinking about COVID these days?

I'm Annette Leonard, speaker, coach, and sick person who believes that my illnesses do not define me. If health is the absence of disease and wellness is the presence of wholeness, then no matter what your disease status, we can work toward your wellness, your wholeness.

Whether or not you are ever "healthy" on paper, you can be well. Join me and others on the path back to wholeness at AnnetteLeonard.com. Whether you are a person experiencing chronic illness or are someone who loves or serves people with chronic illness I have great resources here on this channel or on my website for you.