Inclined Therapy I.T. Multiple Sclerosis & Varicose Vein

If it's on your mind and it has to do with multiple sclerosis in any way, post it here.

Have you ever had varicose veins, Obvious swelling in veins, in your hands or feet? Or haemorrhoids? If you use a wheelchair and have experienced haemorrhoids, answer yes if you have had this problem prior to using a wheelchair.

I have ms but never had varicose veins, or haemorrhoids,
46
43%
I have ms and also have varicose veins or haemorrhoids
44
41%
I Have ms and have experienced visible swollen veins but not varicose veins
17
16%
 
Total votes: 107

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ForeverSpring
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Post by ForeverSpring »

Today marks 6 months of using the inclined bed, and improvements still continue.

As someone who has had to wear socks in bed every night for over 40 years because of cold feet, I can tell you that my feet are definitely warmer at night on the inclined bed. The socks get pulled off in the middle of the night now while I am sleeping, but my feet are still nicely warm when I get up in the morning.

Everyone has a favorite position for sleeping. Mine is in lying on the right side, and it has been the only one comfortable for me until recently.

Now I can rest on my back for at least an hour, and not feel any pain or discomfort due to scoliosis or degenerative disc disease. The gentle traction of the inclined bed apparently has stretched my spinal column to this beneficial result.

I can also now lie -- and even sleep -- on my left side for the first time in many years. I used to carefully avoid lying on my left side, because within a few minutes there would be increasing numbness, tingling and pain on that side, along with a lot of cardiac arrhythmia. If I were unfortunate enough to accidentally fall asleep while lying in that position, I would awaken with all of those symptoms highly intensified, and severe spasticity besides. Not so, anymore!

There remain yet some patches of sensation of very mild numbness and tingling along that left side (face, arm, leg) and of burning on the upper arm.

I have not had any spasms anywhere for over two months!

During the years preceding my last exacerbation 6 years ago, I had noticed that, no matter how vigorously or how long I walked, I could no longer achieve that good feeling of an endorphin boost. It had gradually decreased over the years until it felt like there was none.

About a year after that exacerbation, I learned about LDN. One of the major factors in my decision to try it, was that researchers had found that people with MS have only 12-20% of the endorphins that others have, and one of the effects of LDN is that it increases that low level of endorphins by as much as 3 times for the following day. I began taking LDN and have found it to be a great help. Although it does not restore the endorphin level to 100%, the daily increase is far better than what I had previously experienced without it. With LDN I could push myself to walk 2 miles, even though it would make me tired and there was no invigorating endorphin boost from the walk itself. I did it for overall health benefits and because I knew that I must keep my muscles as strong as possible.

Now, over the last several weeks -- for the first time in 10 + years -- the walking exercise is producing a very noticeable endorphin boost! This change suddenly began while I was still walking only 2 miles daily -- which, as I mentioned above, had been a longstanding habit. This is truly amazing, and suggests that much more is happening inside my body due to the tilted bed.

With my left side now stronger and the limp gone, I have gradually increased my walking to a current 5 miles on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and 2 or 3 miles on the intervening days (sometimes with Exerstrider walking poles for full-body exercise). When the weather is inclement, I resort to my ReboundAir mini-trampoline.

Another noteworthy event involves my immune system, which I would describe as “hyper-reactive“ for most of my life. I have multiple food and environmental allergies and sensitivities. Early this month I went to the local Dental Clinic for my 6-month checkup on my gum disease and dental cleaning. The hygienist is excellent. She really digs and scrapes everything clean. However, this causes a lot of bleeding and discomfort. Whenever I have had this cleaning done in the past, and even last February, it has always stirred up my immune system for a few days, bringing on those familiar “flu-like“ symptoms so common in MS following any body trauma. This time I was very surprised that there was no after effect!

As you can see from my progress reports, the improvements that I am experiencing since inclining my bed are not limited to the circulatory system, but affect also the skeletal, muscle, nerve, endocrine, and immune systems. This therapy seems to benefit the entire body.

ForeverSpring
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ForeverSpring
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Post by ForeverSpring »

I did it! 8O I am so filled with a sense of wonder that it almost feels like a dream, but I actually did it!

Today I went on a 4 ½ hour hike in the mountains with some family members. We climbed over rocks and tree roots to a lovely lake at an elevation of over 11,000 feet. The round trip was about 6 miles, with the return in the heat of early afternoon. The only little discomfort experienced is in my arthritic knee joints.

This was my first hike in more than 15 years! 8O It never could have happened without the changes due to the inclined bed. I was not the only person in the group to be highly impressed by this feat! What a difference 6 months on the inclined bed has made! :D

ForeverSpring
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Inclined Therapy and Multiple Sclerosis Improvements

Post by AndrewKFletcher »

Foreverspring Thank you for confirming the efficacy of Inclined Therapy for people with multiple sclerosis. Finding someone like yourself who is willing to record and report experiences and considerate enough to share your experience with the forum is a rare. I have never understood why so many people remain so ignorant of such a simple life-changing paradigm?

Congratulations on achieving your magnificent goal in the mountains and continued health improvements. While you were at the upper elevation did you experience anything unusual from the altitude regarding your ms numbness and sensation loss you mentioned earlier?

I for one are very excited by your posts and want to shout and tell the world but alas I know that most of the world has been conditioned and more interested in popping the latest pills.

If you ever decide to come to the UK please do let me know.

Perhaps now is a god time for people to read what happened on the earlier pilot studies posted in this thread so a comparison with your own observations can be drawn. And let’s not forget Terri Harrisons’s life changing experience either.

I have friends locally who remain on an inclined bed and who also have massive improvements from non-ms related conditions.

Perhaps one day when I am long dead and buried someone in a white coat might take this important research to the media and deliver it to mainstream medicine where it so rightfully belongs.

We desperately require more people with ms to give Inclined Bed Therapy a fair trial over a minimum of 4 months.

If you are already trialing inclined therapy then please share your experiences with the forum.


Andrew

PS, regarding the gum disease, gargle hydrogen peroxide diluted down from 3% to 4 parts water, swish around your mouth repeatedly 3 times a day and do not rinse. Overtime teeth become lovely and white and gum disease becomes history.
Again simple but a fact!
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ForeverSpring
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Post by ForeverSpring »

I awoke at 2:30 this morning feeling hot and dehydrated, and have been sipping extra water today. On the way up the mountain, I exhaled a lot of moisture with my huffing and puffing; my heart was pumping hard and I was sweating profusely, causing more moisture loss through the skin. Although I had a liter of water with me for the hike, next time I would take 2 liters.

At no time during the hike, or even at the elevation of 11,000+ feet, did I experience any worsening of numbness, tingling, sensation loss, or any other MS symptoms. I still have -- as I mentioned in my 6-month report -- some residual patches of paresthesias on my left side, and they remain(ed) the same.

Andrew, you should have seen me climbing over rocks and tree roots, and crossing numerous brooks by balance-walking over a log! I can hardly believe that I actually did this!

On the way home, I kept saying to my daughter, “This is really something! I never could have done this a few months ago!” She agreed. When I told her that the only place I felt the effects of the exertion was in my knees, she cautioned me that I would feel a lot of muscle ache the next day, and pointed out the likely areas to be strained.

However, this morning I am a little tired, due partly to the dehydration and partly to the extra-early awakening, but my knees are only a little achy and there are no sore muscles anywhere! Considering my age, that is nothing short of amazing! I am thinking that the inclined bed must help the body to remove any toxins that would normally cause muscle soreness and stiffness after this kind of exertion. This is far better than I had anticipated!

I hope that you will witness during your lifetime widespread vindication by the medical community of your work. If not, you may know that you have done your best to help as many suffering human beings as you could.

My children are now considering how to incline their beds, too.

ForeverSpring

P.S.: Thank you for your suggestion of diluted 3% hydrogen peroxide for gum disease. I have read that its use at full strength is damaging, but I will investigate the use of the further diluted solution to see what I can find out about it.
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Turning a health corner

Post by AndrewKFletcher »

It is interesting to hear that your expected aches and pains were not evident in the morning.

This may have been why the Ancient Egyptians adopted sleeping on an incline for the workforce building the pyramids, who probably didn't have a medical profession or indeed a physiotherapist.

I say this because I too have experienced the changes in waking up without muscular aches and pains following heavy manual labour when our bed was first elevated.

Have you considered reporting the therapy and your results to your ms consultant?

I wish I had seen you on the mountains defying the generally lousy prognosis people with ms are given. It must have been an awesome experience for you and your family.

It is very difficult for me to use up so much precious time trying to reach people who for some reason known only to them are impervious to thinking for themselves and would much rather let the medical profession think for them. When really I want to grab people and give them a good hard shake and scream the message down their ears in the hope that a few will evaluate what is written and follow your example. Frustrating does not even come close to describe how it feels to have so many people, who I know can be helped by Inclined Therapy, blissfully ignore what you have written and shared here with the people using the forum.

And what really get’s to me is that this is not the first time that people with multiple sclerosis have reported massive improvements. 2 pilot studies have already confirmed the efficacy of I.T for ms and other neurological conditions.

All that is left to say is when you are eventually sick of being sick and have reached a turning point where you have exhausted the endless drug related avenues and heard all of the excuses possible why you are not responding. Give this simple therapy a try for at least 4 months! And maybe, just maybe you can turn that same corner that Foreversping has and take control of your own health.

Andrew K Fletcher
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ForeverSpring
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Post by ForeverSpring »

I empathize with you in your frustration, Andrew. Thank you again for sharing IBT.

I have not had an MS consultant of any kind for over two years, and do not intend to find another one. My last neurologist retired and moved to a different state. At my final appointment with him, he did mention that he thought that some of my problems appeared to be cerebrovascular, although none of his testing could confirm that. He would be very interested to see the changes wrought in my condition by the inclined bed over these past months!

As mentioned earlier, I went into this experiment due to curiosity -- just to see what would happen. I had not even planned to post about my experience, but now I am glad that I wrote this chronicle, so that others can read it and see the possibilities for themselves. The mitigation and disappearance of signs and symptoms that I have had for years has been amazing. I suspect that there will be more improvements to come, although perhaps more subtle than what has already taken place.

The turnaround of my condition -- simply by altering the position of my bed -- is truly remarkable! Whatever are the little details as to how this is taking place inside my body, it is a life-changing experience that affects all my daily activities and outlook.

Inclined Bed Therapy is wonderful in its simplicity, and fits in well with my natural protocol for good health. While personal lifestyle factors undoubtedly affect its efficacy, it is a valid therapy and I will continue it for the duration of my lifespan.

Happy roads!

ForeverSpring
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More photographs of varicose vein improvements.

Post by AndrewKFletcher »

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum ... #msg272970

The photographs from Alun's "calf located varicose vein" are nothing short of impressive. He has provided a series of 3 photographs.

Also a lady with RR ms for 11 years has tilted her bed, read what she has to say about the first few nights.

Andrew
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Post by turtle_fi »

Hi and thank you for this thread, very interesting. i have not read the whole thread, but i'm still interested to give it a go.

i'm just wondering, if motorized bed like in the pic below would be ok (i would really like the easy adjustment of head side), or does it require a completely flat bed tilted?

Image
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Electrically operated beds can't incline correctly.

Post by AndrewKFletcher »

Sitting as would be the case with the legs flat will compress the spine and as the pelvis will inevitably push against the muscle and skin beneath it as many people in wheelchairs are undoubtedly aware of over time it can cause pressure sores and compromise the circulation.

The correctly inclined bed however does the opposite. It decompresses the spine applying a gentle traction to the spine overnight. The weight of a person using it is distributed more evenly and the shear forces on the skin are negligible if any at all at a five degree angle.

If you have one of these beds the best way forward is to ignore the motorized functions and put some strong wooden blocks under the bed as these are pretty heavy beds.

Andrew
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Post by turtle_fi »

but if you lift the head just 5-10 cm, i guess there should not be any extra pressure on spine and pelvis. normal people might have that high pillows (i use a very flat one, neck does not appreciate high pillows)

i need to go and try one of these beds at the shop.. to feel the position.
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Post by ForeverSpring »

Hello, Turtle_fi!

Inclined therapy requires the entire, flat bed to be inclined at an angle of 5 degrees. Here is a diagram from Andrew’s blog:

http://andrewkennethfletcher.blogspot.com/

This means that, for a standard-length bed, the head end of the bed must be raised about 15 cm (6 inches) more than the foot end. If you have a longer, king-size bed, it would be a little more than 15 cm.

Unfortunately, the motorized bed that you posted above cannot do this by a push of the button.

There is a lot of information in this thread, including an interesting photo of an ancient, inclined Egyptian bed. I hope that you will take the time to read the entire thread, and then incline your bed in the recommended position to try it for yourself.

Wishing you healing similar to what I have found with this therapy,

ForeverSpring
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Post by AndrewKFletcher »

turtle_fi wrote:but if you lift the head just 5-10 cm, i guess there should not be any extra pressure on spine and pelvis. normal people might have that high pillows (i use a very flat one, neck does not appreciate high pillows)

i need to go and try one of these beds at the shop.. to feel the position.
Your nervous system begins at the top of your head and finishes at the ends of your toes and fingers. This therapy is addressing how gravity influences the circulation in the whole of the body.

Curently the literature ignores the effects of gravity on the circulation, in fact it states that we are continually struggling against gravity.

Only one can be correct and looking at the results from Foreverspring and many more people with ms, the gravity assisted circulation theory appears to be correct.

Once you have lay on a correctly tilted bed it does not take long to realise there is a lot more to this non-invasive therapy than could be gleaned from a few posts. Read the whole thread and familiarise yourself with the logic of avoiding a flat bed.

Hope you will join us

Best

Andrew
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Post by AndrewKFletcher »

Had another call from Paul Gilmore who has a spinal cord injury. Paul is now moving his toes and feet and can now feel pain in his toes and feet with improvements being noticed frequently.
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Post by AndrewKFletcher »

Anyone any ideas how to reach people with ms with this important discovery?

I am at a loss.

Foreverspring has posted her amazing reports over the months since she tilted her bed and has been duly ignored by the forum.

Question is: Am I wasting my time here??

Andrew
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Post by gibbledygook »

Andrew, I don't think you are wasting your time here but quite a lot of people get stuck into their various favourite sections and so may not check into the General discussion that frequently. I can't really make any claims about the inclined bed which I still sleep on because I've had the stent surgery but I think your theory holds water and could be very helpful.
3 years antibiotics, 06/09 bilateral jug stents at C1, 05/11 ballooning of both jug valves, 07/12 stenting of renal vein, azygos & jug valve ballooning,
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