And once I was diagnosed as having Nickel and Iron Oxide Allergies, I started researching basic info, sources of exposure, dietary approaches, and lifestyle changes that I would need to make. I wanted to get a handle on this allergy and reduce it's power to take over my life.
I have been writing about detox plans to help reduce the toxic levels within a person's body. Today's article presents the most "out there" approach. But it is the approach I most depend upon and use it daily.
Dr. MyHill is a medical doctor in the UK. She describes herself this way:
I believe modern Western Medicine has lost touch with patients. What patients actually want is an answer to the question why they have developed their particular problem followed by which nutritional, lifestyle or environmental changing factors need they put in place to allow improvements. In pursuing this object, I have become the Secretary of the British Society for Ecological Medicine, a medical organisation in which we have our own scientific journal, our own bi-annual scientific meetings at the Royal College of General Practitioners as well as running training meetings for GPs and Consultants. All the medicine that we practise has an excellent evidence base, but of course not the mega financial resources to sell this to the health industry in this country.
Hang in there, I WILL get to the detox in a moment. Read a bit more of what Dr. MyHill says about daily exposure to toxins:
In the last fifty years it has been estimated that 5 million new chemicals have been created by man, of which 75,000 are in regular everyday use, of which less than 10% have had any sort of toxicity testing. These chemicals are now ubiquitously present in the environment, and are well absorbed through food, water, by inhalation and through our skins. Many of them are very fat-soluble and bio-accumulate in our bodies. It is now becoming very clear that the internal environment of our bodies reflects our external environment.
Furthermore, because we are at the top of the food-chain and because we live for many years, chemical burden is increasing each year. Studies done by the World Wildlife Fund and other such scientific bodies show that we all carry a heavy burden of chemicals. They are present in our fat in mg/kg (this would be similar to the sort of levels in blood if we were taking a therapeutic drug); persist for many years; and their effects are unpredictable.
Most of these chemicals are known toxins, cause cancer, birth-defects, damage to nerves and the immune system, to the liver and bone marrow, etc. Furthermore, we now know that cocktails of chemicals have much more serious effects than chemicals in isolation. Low-dose chemicals may be very much more toxic than we ever expected, partly because many of them mimic our own hormones, thereby disrupting the delicate hormonal balance within all of us.http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Detoxing__Far_Infrared_Sauna_%28FIRS%29
Detoxing Plan #5 Through the Skin
So Dr. MyHill is one of many holistic doctors who are recommending Infrared Therapy as a method of detox.
Chemicals can be excreted directly through the skin and by exhalation. These
excretions happen when the body gets hot & chemicals are released, passing through the sweat.
There are a few ways to detox through the skin:
There are a few ways to detox through the skin:
- Exercise
- Saunas, Turkish baths & spa therapies
- Far Infrared Sauna (FIRS)
Sorry to keep quoting, but this one is needed. Dr. MyHill describes how Far Infrared Sauna (FIRS) works:
Far infra red rays constitute the main energy-source that comes from the sun and are responsible for warming our skin when we sit in direct sunshine. The rays penetrate several centimetres through the skin and heat up subcutaneous tissues. With enough sun on the skin, the skin will sweat; chemicals from subcutaneous tissues will be mobilised and pass out through sweat. The sunshine does this without heating up the core temperature (although if you lie in the sun for long enough then the core temperature will eventually rise;) therefore chemicals can be mobilised and excreted without causing systemic poisoning. Dr Rogers describes many case-histories in her book of patients who, for example, have severe heart-disease who would certainly not tolerate a sauna, but who can tolerate FIRS very comfortably.
Infrared sauna treatments are the top recommendation of holistic doctors. However, it is difficult to find places to get this treatment. AND it is very expensive to purchase.
My kineselologist/chiropractor told me about using a infrared mat that is made by Therasage. Studies have shown that it takes about 15 minutes of infrared heat to warm up the tissue to start improvement. Some doctors believe by going 5 minutes longer, you are working on the actual healing and repair.
I started using the Therasage mat daily to help heal my knee following surgery. Now I also include daily treatments on my front torso & back torso. It truly has become my favorite way to detox!
The Therasage FIRS mat is available at Amazon and at http://therasage.com/
Happy Detoxing!
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