Lymphatic drainage therapies

The reason they matter

Lymphatic drainage therapies receive much attention in the natural medicine and holistic health industry. The reason is that any practitioner who has worked with Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, autoimmune disease, and many of those that fall under the same blanket of interrelated conditions knows that lymphatic drainage is critical to getting people better. Most chronically ill people have no idea how much better they could feel if they did effective lymphatic drainage therapies. Whether at home or administered in a clinic, they can make a huge difference in how you feel when done correctly.

A very brief and basic description of the lymphatic system is that it is the vessel system that collects fluid leaked from the tiny blood vessel capillaries into the space between the cells known as the interstitial fluid. This fluid gradually works its way through the tissues and is collected by the tiny lymphatic vessel capillaries. It then slowly works its way into larger lymphatic vessels, then into the lymph nodes where white blood cells, lymphocytes monitor the lymphatic fluid for pathogens, etc.

The thoracic duct and cisterna chyli are large vessels that lymphatic fluid from the legs, and torso flow threw, eventually draining back into the primary lymph drainage points above the collarbone and back into your blood circulation. That is so toxins in the lymphatic system can be detoxified by the liver and kidneys since the lymphatic system contains no detoxification organs. You can view the lymphatic system as an extension of the blood circulatory system in that fluid from blood capillaries constantly leaks into the tissues, flowing through the tissues in the same direction as venous flow. Once lymphatic fluid completes its journey, it goes back into the blood circulation to start the cycle all over again. The two systems are continuous with each other.

If you have done much digging into the subject of holistic Lyme disease solutions, you have probably heard of the controversy between Louis Pasteur (from which the name “pasteurization” comes) and Antoine Bechamp – two 19th Century French scientists.

The debate goes something like this…

Pasteur theorized that microscopic organisms clearly visible under the newly invented microscopes of the day were the “cause” of virtually all diseases. The proof was that every time he looked at diseased tissues under a microscope, sure enough…there were the bacteria. It was theorized that the more virulent and nasty the bug one had come in contact with, the worse their disease was.

Bechamp on the other hand taught that the cellular terrain was everything. That is – the strength of the host was the primary determining factor in disease. As this definition of terrain evolved, it came to mean that at the microscopic level, the health of individual cells, robust activity of immune cells, and a vigorous flow of nutrients into cells and waste products out of cells determined disease more than the nastiness of the bugs.

Basically, Pasteur’s camp won the debate and it shaped modern medicine. The practice of “find a bug – use a drug” was born. The notion of improving host resistance, a prospect that is quite a bit more difficult than taking a pill (and not very profitable) faded away. But the controversy still rages on, and has degraded into name-calling. Some would paint Pasteur as an evil villain who committed various evil and treacherous acts throughout his life (not the author’s view.)

“Okay”, you might ask “Why should I care?”

Good question!

You may not have much interest in medical history, but it does very much affect people’s lives to this very day, both yours and mine. When you get a cold or flu and walk out of a doctor’s office with a prescription for an expensive antibiotic (that actually has no affect on your viral infection), you are living the outcome of this debate. If you are struggling to overcome chronic Lyme disease or almost any other chronic illness the debate becomes quite a bit more personal. In fact your future health could depend on an accurate comprehension of these important principles. So which one was right? Is disease determined by the nastiness of the bug or the strength and resistance of the host?

You probably guessed that being a traditional naturopath, I favor Bechamp’s philosophy, but it’s not that cut and dry. It really can’t be 100% one way or the other. Terrain is so very important but also some bugs like Borrelia Burgdorferi can obviously be quite nasty. In order to deepen your understanding of this important health concept and controversy I want to give two illustrations. The first is an embellished version of an illustration on the importance of healthy terrain that I have heard holistic Lyme disease expert William Lee Cowden M.D. give at several A.C.I.M. medical conferences. It goes something like this:

What would happen if all the garbage collectors in New York City went on strike? …Imagine the scenario in your mind for a bit. To begin with, folks would start bringing their sacks of garbage out to the curb and the piles would grow larger day by day. Then it would begin piling up in allies, vacant lots, and finally the streets themselves. Basically everywhere.

Eventually, there would be no place to put it outside and peoples’ homes and apartments would overflow with stinking garbage and yep, you guessed it, now come the vermin! Rats, mice, roaches and flies would have a heyday. They are everywhere and people are complaining, so the city leaders have an emergency meeting to address the problem. After an all night brainstorming session they announce the solution to the press: they will hire a crack team of professional rat and mouse snipers and bug exterminators! Over the next few weeks the rat-killers scour the city shooting rats and mice, and the exterminators fumigate the whole city with pesticides. What is the outcome? ….piles of garbage with dead bugs and pesticide residue on them, and dead rats and mice everywhere. But after a short time the vermin are all back and another emergency meeting is needed. Solution: more powerful pesticides and hire additional rat and mouse snipers.

Do you see the correlation here to human health? New York City represents your body – the garbage collectors represent all the pathways by which you literally eliminate garbage from your body, such as the bowel, liver, kidneys, and lymphatic system. When these fail at doing their job properly or fast enough, bad things begin to happen, including the methodical appearance of one chronic infection after the other. Waste products and toxins like heavy metals, chemicals, metabolic waste products, and microbial biotoxins begin to back up in your city as it were. This is why holistic practitioners such as myself routinely recommend liver detoxification therapies and flushes, kidney cleanses, lymphatic drainage, and homeopathic Terrain remedies to clear the fluid between the cells of debris, and so forth. The notion is that yes, people with chronic illnesses do have chronic infections, lots of them. And yes, they are making people sick, but what really is the solution, especially when these are chronic and entrenched, such as the case for example with chronic Lyme disease? The ludicrous illustration above highlights the futility of hammering infections with one antibiotic after the other and/or natural bug killers, while neglecting unhealthy terrain, and a broken detoxification system.

Lymphatic system techniques

These may include massage drainage techniques created by Dr. Vodder, a lymphatic specialist from Austria. Many massage therapists use this as MLD or manual lymphatic drainage. Skin brushing methods can also duplicate MLD. There are many styles or versions of this, but they all share the anatomical reality that Lymphatic fluid flows the same way in all humans. So that to assist its flow, we have to work with the known direction of flow.

One of the best therapies we offer for lymphatic drainage is called photomagnetic lymph drainage, along with manual drainage. Lymphatic fluid is supposed to be a watery, milky liquid that flows continually. But in chronic illness states it may be thicker or gel or paste-like. This may be without many classic lymphatic pathology symptoms like swelling or edema/ it is just super sluggish and stagnant. And of course, people don’t feel well in this condition.

The principle of photomagnetic drainage is that the noble gas tubes help to liquefy lymphatic fluid so that it drains and flows normally. This powerful modality can be combined with supplements and systemic enzymes, which will go into the lymphatic system and break down congested materials such as denatured or damaged proteins, the bodies or carcasses of microbial organisms dying off in response to treatments that we do to kill them. We’re talking about dying Lyme spirochetes, L-form, parasites, fungi, and other bacteria. These can die off and congest already congested lymphatic vessels with their remains and their toxins that they have released. So we combine lymphatic drainage remedies, homeopathic remedies, and drainage remedies. The best results come from combining multiple things to push the lymphatic fluid. Exercise helps, yes, but as a general rule, chronically ill people simply are not physically well enough to do the types of vigorous exercise that will move the lymphatic system along naturally.

The lymphatic system- When it is good, it is really really good, but when it is bad, it is horrid

I used this old nursery rhyme to drive home the point that your lymphatic system can be great, and make you feel great, but when it is not keeping up with the removal of the metabolic poison, you can feel horrid. That is especially true regarding the dreaded Herx reaction that anyone trying to recover from chronic Lyme disease, parasites, and fungal overgrowth knows about.

When you come to our clinic, we will introduce you to the types of things you can do, both at the clinic and home. One of the key factors with effective lymphatic drainage is that you absolutely will feel better when you get the lymphatic system moving. Unfortunately, most chronically ill people simply neglect lymphatic drainage therapies in favor of other detoxification therapies or lack the know-how to correct this problem. They also don’t grasp just how slow and stagnant their lymphatic system is. For a naturopathic clinician, it is apparent as soon as you see someone sitting in your office. They are pale, have dark circles under their eyes, and tend to be in a lot of pain. These people need good lymphatic therapies along with other detoxification therapies. Having done this for many years, I’m very confident about helping patients understand and implement good lymphatic drainage so they can feel better. It’s not hard to understand and address; you have to know what to do, and be aware that lymphatic therapies should be done regularly while recovering your health.

What is the best ozone solution for you?

As I implemented ozone therapy as a naturopathic doctor, I naturally implemented Ozone Sauna as the primary therapeutic method. That is because this had a powerfully beneficial effect in my life. There are other ways to deliver ozone, but while not getting into details about those, we recommend home equipment that is versatile enough to do all of them. Having done them all, both on myself and in practice, I am convinced that the ozone sauna is the most potent and dramatic means to improve your health using ozone. That is because you get the benefits of the ozone, the heat causing vasodilation to push the ozone deeper, and perhaps greatest of all, the benefits of detox far beyond any regular sauna. There are a wide variety of ozone sauna units. You can get them in professional cabinets from $7-10,000. You can get much less expensive canvas units, which work pretty effectively, or you can pay up to $80,000 for high-end ozone saunas. They all have two things in common, though. They cause you to sweat with steam and heat and force your body to absorb ozone systemically because of the ozone concentration inside the sauna.

Home units are best for getting well

Expensive ozone machines are simply not required to get therapeutic benefits. In my clinical practice, I used a high-end professional steam cabinet at my clinic for years. Despite having it available at my clinic nearby, I often chose to use a simple canvas ozone steam sauna unit at my home because it was equally effective, but in my house, therefore close and accessible. The best therapy equipment devices are the ones you actually use! As a naturopathic practitioner, I have a mission to help people get the best quality, usable, functional ozone machine, and sauna setup they can. And to use it continuously until they are healthy again. And that’s one of the things that we facilitate patients with. For that reason, we have this same unit set up at our Las Vegas clinic that I recommend for patients for home use. So that patients can come in and experience it, get a couple of sessions in to see what it is like, and then set this same unit up in their own homes for a very low cost. There’s simply no reason to go to a clinic week after week and pay for treatment when for the cost of that, you can get your own home equipment set up. We also have assisted people with the simple setup process in the USA and Europe via video conference. We ship every single item needed for an optimal ozone sauna, and walk you through the simple setup. I am not aware of any other practitioner or clinic doing that.

Ozone sauna and other key pieces of home health therapies

Ozone is antimicrobial, reduces pain, increases immune function, lowers viral titres for a wide variety of viral illnesses, regenerates burned or damaged tissues, and when combined with sauna is a powerful detoxification method. Our primary goal is to introduce you to in-clinic therapies like ozone sauna that you can later set up in the most practical and least expensive way, so that you can avoid costly repetitive clinic charges. Home equipment is the way to go and much less expensive in the long run. Most Lyme patients and other chronic illness patients need continuity of treatment. Today you can get these set up for home use better than ever and ozone sauna is easy to set up at home. But if you have never experienced it, you need to do it a clinic first, to understand how it works, and so we provide that. Repeated ozone saunas done twice a week was crucial for my long term, and full recovery. Ozone sauna is normally the first piece of therapy equipment that you need to get better health faster. There is a dizzying array of natural health equipment out there, though. Part of our mission is to not only assess your health as an individual, but to guide you through all the misinformation out there as to what home health equipment and methods is going to give you the best results. You really do need to be a wise consumer to get those therapy devices that will help you the most. Because we have patients that have come all over, they need beneficial treatments at home as well as what we can do in our clinic.

Lymphatic drainage– There are many diverse lymphatic drainage methods out there. Mostly they are unneeded. All you really need is a skin brush and the right technique to brush the body in the direction of lymphatic flow. Of course, sometimes you need more, and so we provide a natural lymphatic drainage therapy combination that works synergistically. Here is a tip for good lymphatic drainage methods; when they work well, provided you have good detoxification and organ support (see Spagyric Homeopathics next), you will almost always feel better!

Spagyric homeopathics– We use German made Pekana remedies. These can support the body’s organs, immune system, hormonal system, nervous system, and detoxification and drainage very powerfully.

Comprehensive functional medicine testing and supplements– Along with individualized nutrient dense diet recommendations, and other methods to flood the body with nutrients, this can be essential. This functional medicine oriented approach must also include comprehensive gut biome testing via stool tests, urine organic acid and all overall holistic digestive support that is needed to improve digestion and assimilation of nutrients.

Heavy metal detoxification– Finally, you need thorough testing of heavy metals, heavy metal sensitivity, soft tissue levels, hair analysis and along with the recommended Laser energetic detox, you need appropriate heavy metal oral chelation that specifically addresses your body heavy metal burden. We use a variety of methods for this. And last but not least, you need…..

Kill therapies– For Lyme disease specifically (we do work with many other health conditions) we use the most potent natural Lyme remedies in existence. These are in the category of “kill therapies”, when it is needed to use the big guns to attack an infection with natural antimicrobials. We use evidence-based products, and well researched products. We also energetically test the compatibility of all these products so that you get individualized recommendations. The specific combination that is recommended to you will include those things that specifically address the infections that your body is fighting, based on the aforementioned testing. You need products that are well researched to address the infections contributing to chronic Lyme disease. Very few Lyme patients have the exact profile of chronic infection in their body. You need things precisely for you, not someone else, and those infections need to be treated in a logical order.

Parasites are the last to be addressed typically, with the purpose of eradication so that they never come back. The Cowden custom Lyme scan, parasite scan, and bacterial fungal scans test 244 different herbal and other Kill therapies on each patient, and rates these energetically for how compatible these are for you as an individual.

Better Health Faster- You can recover from Lyme disease by combining the best of holistic treatments

Clearly, when you come for an appointment, we wouldn’t do all the tests and recommend all the possible therapies mentioned here, nor would it be advisable to do so. And unless a person is very ill, they will not likely need everything discussed here. As a naturopathic practitioner whether addressing Lyme disease or something else, I want to get to the basics of what you need now at each appointment. We give you protocol recommendations that are simple enough to follow, with the goal to improve your health over 4 to 6 weeks. We see you for an appointment every 4 to 6 weeks (sometimes 8 weeks for out of state), and at each appointment the body tells what its priorities are to heal. Its your journey to recovery to make. I am just the guide. Call us today for more details or to schedule your appointment.

Lymphatic drainage therapies