Noticing Body and Rash More

 Written By Don Shetterly

One of the things I've noticed since some of the major healing session work I had done last Monday is how much more I notice.  Okay, I'm not talking about the itching or feeling the rash, I'm talking about what kicks it up.


Before the healing session work, I just noticed constant itching and burning from the rash.  It was uncomfortable.  It was not easy to deal with, and the warm summer weather made it worse.  I just could not articulate anything that kicked it up as it seemed to have a mind of its own.

Since the healing session, I've noticed the little things that kick it up.  I've seen how things kick up the body temperature in me where it feels like my body is consumed by fire.

The rash seems to act as a barometer for me in the little moments that most of us don't notice in a ay.  Even the slightest word or thought or comment kicks it into high gear.

Now, I'm noticing how my body temperature rises instantly, or at least it feels like an increase.  It goes from normal to feeling as if my body is on fire and being consumed.

I am beginning to see that the minute something comes along which affects me emotionally, the rash and itching start cranking up the response.  It does not take much.  At times, I find myself thinking - that's what kicked it up?  You've got to be kidding!

Yes, I know I am a sensitive person.  I pick up so much, and most of the time, it scares the daylights out of me.  Most of the time, I just shut down what I sense and pick up because it is often too much.

The rash is bringing all of this front and center.  Yes, I do realize that there are other things involved that are impacting me but to see, fully, what is going on is helping me.

Before this, I was oblivious to all that was involved which makes it hard to heal something.  Now, I'm seeing the little pieces and am more aware and in control of what is happening.  This puts me in the driver's seat, rather than just someone along for the ride.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Dealing With Skin Rashes And Itching

This situation seems to affect more people than I once realized.  I know when I had my skin rash and the itching that resulted, it was anything I could do make it through that.  Dealing with it was difficult.

Someone I know had a situation where they were asking me how I dealt with skin rashes and itching because they have a son that is dealing with it.  Another friend of mine was also discussing this issue with me the other day.

Since I've been through this, I wanted to write a blog post detailing more of it as a summary.  I have written other things in the past which you can find here in regards to itching and skin rashes.

Often with skin rashes and itching, there is some trigger or emotional stressor that is coming up.  It could be anything from past experiences and trauma to something related to food or other current situations.  The stressor brings it on, regardless of what it is.

Attack it on all fronts...

You need to attack a skin rash and itching on all fronts for the best relief.  Don't discount the build up of daily stress or triggers to past situations you don't even think of as being a cause of something showing up.  It may seem like it is totally unrelated or you may not even put the puzzle pieces together.  Sometimes when it has shown up in me, I can go to the root cause and story and other times, it is just one of those things I don't understand.

I learned that most over-the-counter products for skin soothing and irritations did not work for me.  They made it much worse.  I'm sorry to all the corporations that think they have the cure-all, but when I tried various products, I could not wait to get that stuff off of me fast enough.  Most of it made things worse!

Caffeine, warm drinks, and sugar often aggravate my situation.  Using too much hot water in a shower or bath can sometimes make it worse by bringing on the itching after you've dried off.  Drying off too vigorously can also cause ongoing irritation.  Clothing can be horrible to have to deal with especially if you live in a colder climate.  The lighter nonrestrictive clothing that you can wear, the easier it is.  Clothing didn't feel god when the itching was at its full strength.

Oatmeal baths...

I used oatmeal baths when things got so bad that I could just not take it.  It would help soothe it and keep me from scratching my skin completely off.  Go to the following link, if you would like to know how to create the oatmeal bath like I did.  It was a lifesaver.  It got me through some pretty horrific moments.

At times when the pain would get too much, I used ice water and tried to put my foot or whatever the body part was in the ice water.  This is no fun of course and it was not easy to do this.  After a few minutes using an ice bath, you're begging for mercy.  However, it does work.  The cold was not easy but it got to where I had no choice.  I needed relief from the itching, swelling and pain.  An ice pack might also help, but I'm not sure in my case if I could have applied it to the affected area.

Silver Gel...

Another item I found helpful was a product called, "Silver Gel".  This stuff helped me so much and I don't know how I would have made it without it.  It seems to start giving some soothing relief within minutes of being applied.  Yes, I know that I said most over-the-counter products didn't work, but this is the exception.  There is also a silver bath soap that I have used to help my own situation.

I also learned to take showers and baths that didn't use water that was as HOT as I normally would have taken it.  I've seen conflicting information on this, but from what I understand, the very hot water tends to open the skin pores up and draws out the moisturizing part of it.  I love my hot water showers, but I learned to turn it down just a little bit.  Then I would try to end the shower with cooler water and that seemed to help my skin from losing moisturizing. 

The other thing I had to deal with when this showed up was the "FEAR" of it.  Just seeing my skin the way it was would change, freaked me out.  The ongoing battle left me feeling drained and so I had to deal with the emotional turmoil that it would create.  Trying to keep in mind that "this too shall pass" was sometimes a comfort to me.

One thing that I find helpful when the itching picks up is if I can lightly caress an area of my body, then sometimes I get soothing relief relatively quickly from the anxiety.  If I woke up in the middle of the night with the itching, I found slightly caressing my leg would help bring a calmness to me and I could fall back to sleep.  The lightest touch and slow gentle movements in the way a mother would calm her child seems to help.  You have to experiment around and play with the concept to find out how this works best for you.  I know this idea may sound silly, but it does work.  I'm not sure if it helps the brain release some endorphins or what, but if you can experiment and find the right spot and right way to do this for yourself, it might bring some temporary relief. 

The best thing you can do is try to attack the situation on all fronts.  Soothing relief is a must because if you're suffering from skin rashes and irritations, you know fully how difficult it gets.  Working to identify and release the stressors in life is the key.  Learning to get to the root of what is causing will help.  However, I know firsthand that this is not easy to do.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Flashbacks Of Trauma

If you've been through traumatic experiences in your life, then what I'm writing here probably will not be anything new.  Flashbacks are not fun.  Flashbacks suck.  Flashbacks pop up in life when you least expect them and they try hard to kick your butt.

I have personally done a lot of work to get past this stuff, but every now and then when certain triggers of life hit, they come on like the rushing water of a flooding river that just burst through a dam.

For a long time, purple was the color that left me hiding and whimpering in the corner.  It took years to fully understand what the purple represented and when I did, I almost put my fist through my front door.  Yes, the memory was horrible.

There were times that I got flashbacks of pains in my body such as a swollen face in the middle of the night.  It would actually feel like someone had just hit me.  It would swell up so much that I would have to take medications and put ice on it to get the swelling to go down.  This would happen in the middle of the night when I was asleep.

A Shoulder To Cry On

Sometimes in life we all need a shoulder to cry on or an ear that will listen. All too often, we get just the opposite by people who mean well and believe they are doing the right thing. Never underestimate the power of just listening to someone or giving them a shoulder to cry on. Never underestimate how holding someone's hand in a moment of crisis can be such a life changing moment.

A little over a year ago, I was going through some very difficult moments. A rash had engulfed my body and itching was my closest companion. No matter what I did, the itching would not stop and I spent many days and nights awake anguishing in terror. There seemed like no end and it was a horrible painful time of frightening experiences that I went through.

I remember finally going to Dr. Paul Canali at Evolutionary Healing for a session. By the time I got there, I was so afraid that I could barely function in life let alone get myself into his office. My body was so wrought with fear that it took all the energy I could find to just get my body to function and physically move. In that moment, I was not sure if there was a way through this. I did not have hope that it would improve because I had already endured so much and for so long.

I'll never forget the words that Dr. Canali spoke to me and what he did when I first got on the table. He grabbed hold of my hand in a very firm, supportive and loving way while he looked at me and said, "I'm here for you!" It wasn't just the words either that were said, but I could tell the conviction in each syllable that he truly meant what he was saying. I also could hear through the words that he could back up what he was saying because he had already touched his own pain and sorrow. It was a life changing moment. I'll never forget that moment.

Today, I read a blog by Nicole Bowman that really reminded me of this point and so much more. All too often, we think we have to solve the problem or we are too mired in our own pain, that we cannot just be there for the person. We can't simply offer a shoulder to cry on or a listening ear? It is okay to go in and be in the depths of pain with people as long as we have done the work on ourselves so we can truly be there.

It took me a long time to understand that you can go into the pain with the person that needs it without losing yourself. It has nothing to do with shielding yourself from the person's energy or anything else. It is a matter of just holding the space open and walking along side by side through their journey helping them to take each step. It has nothing to do with us although it may trigger and connect with areas of our own life that we have not fully healed. We should welcome those moments because they give us further opportunity to evolve and heal ourselves.

I hope you will read Nicole's blog entry that I've linked to below, because she so eloquently states this concept. It is a beautiful concept and one that when practiced can truly be life changing for another person. The true essence of our humanity is how far we allow ourselves to heal and how we use that awareness and consciousness to help others do the same thing. There is no greater gift we can give others than to offer ourselves up with all our pains, inadequacies and healing so that together we evolve into more than we are currently aware of in this moment.

1) Nicole Bowman, Blog Post March 2 - Thoughts On The New Age
2) Dr. Paul Canali, Evolutionary Healing of Miami
3) Blog Post on August 19, 2010 - Stop The Itching



Blog Post & Images (c) 3/4/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com

Freedom From Pain

It is so easy it seems to resist things in life. While resistance sounds difficult, it is by far something we do frequently as humans. This may be through our thoughts, our bodies and even in our spiritual growth and overall learning in our lives. We do this without notice and we do this without giving it much thought.

When we resist, we can see evidence of it in the body. Many people would describe the resistance as tight, tense or painful areas in the body. It may show up through physical illness, unexplained medical conditions or common things like headaches, flu, colds. It may be one of the many symptoms drug companies use to increase their profits. Resistance as I found out in my own personal life may even be itching and rashes. We all know to some degree the things where we hold resistance in our own bodies. Sometimes we are more aware and conscious of these things. At other times, we are disconnected from these parts of our life.

At one time, I would get migraine headaches, stomach problems such as a nervous stomach, and tense muscles. These things would attack me as if there was no tomorrow. During these times, I would visit the doctor looking for help to get me out of pain. They would prescribe Imitrex for the headaches, Tagamet for the nervous stomach or give me muscle relaxers, all in an attempt to help heal my pains. At least at the time, I thought this was the only way a person could take care of themselves. I thought this was what health care was all about and staying healthy.

I went through some very difficult moments in life suffering from these conditions. Each time they would occur, I would question myself, as to why they were showing up. It took me many years to begin realizing and learning that the true source of my pain was resistance. Of course, the resistance was often cloaked in fear to throw me off the trail and confuse me. Fear, as I have learned, is much more powerful than we often allow ourselves to understand.

Once I began to learn that much of the pain I experienced in life was resistance, my life began to change. These things that I suffered from became messages that my body was giving me. They were helping me to change, evolve and grow as a human. They were helping me to consciously grow in my own awareness. It wasn't just about the pain that I was encountering at that moment in my life. Without the pain, my knowledge of so much in life would have been limited. My growth and evolution would have been limited.

If you're overwhelmed in life, all you really want is for someone to give you answers and take you out of pain. You want the magic solution in life that will do this. In those moments of pain and suffering, not much else matters. There is a health care industry in existence today that works to take us away from the pain. In fact, there are many new age, alternative therapies out there that attempt to do this as well.

Reaching for the pill bottles or hanging by every word a doctor or new age guru tells you, most likely will do nothing for you in the long term. Yes, it may make you temporarily feel good, but it is a short term fix that is nothing more than an illusion. It will rob you blind while leaving you smiling that something something was actually done.

The suffering and pain we experience are there for a reason. They are messages given to us by our bodies to help us. Masking them, avoiding them or hoping they will go away is a false prophet selling false illusions of magic and snake oil.

Resistance is not allowing these messages into our awareness and consciousness. Whatever they may be, there is some reason they are showing up. There is some fear that is present in our minds. Only we know as individuals what our bodies and minds are trying to tell us. While resistance may be one way we deal with things in our life, it will not solve our problems. It will not make our pain go away.

We must go into the pain if we wish to let go. The answers we need are within us. While others may help support and guide our way to discovery, it is up to us to stop resisting. It is up to us to consciously choose to allow these pains to exist. We are the explorers of our own body and we are the ones that will discover our own truths.

For when we allow our pain and suffering, it is at that point we are reclaiming our power. We are overcoming the fear that is present and we are truly healing ourselves. By going into these pains, we are evolving in conscious awareness connecting to our minds and bodies. It is there that we will find freedom from our pain and our suffering. It is all up to us and how much we allow this to happen. The power to do this resides within ourselves and if we tap into it, the limits of what we can do for our lives is beyond any limits known to man.


(Above Picture taken of Space Shuttle Launch - (c) 08/08/07)


*Read other articles on Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Reclaim The Power Of Fear

There are parts on my body that sometimes clamor for attention. Whether it is itching, pain, stiffness or a stomach that does flip flops, I experience all of it. Of course, I have learned that these are messages and if I don't succumb to the fear, they have the ability to be moments of awareness and transformation.

Contrary to what is often taught and expounded upon, fear can be a good thing. Often I hear people say it is the absence of love. I would not equate love and fear together as they are two different emotions. If fear controls your life, than I would agree that it is not necessarily helping you. If you recognize fear, go in and ask what lesson you can learn as a result of it, your life has the possibility of a new moment of consciousness.

So what do fear and our bodies have in common when physical conditions show up? Often when the itching, pain and other situations occur in our body, fear is right there masking the source and importance behind these things. Through the use of drugs, surgery, procedures, tests and thought concepts, we tend to hide from the fear instead of raising our awareness and consciousness. We often do it without realizing that we are actually doing this. It is a silent thief in the night.

The more you can take these moments and harvest an increased awareness in life, the more you evolve as a human. Don't run away from fear no matter how much it may attempt to deceive you. Embrace this part of you through the pain and physical discomforts because at the moment you allow yourself to connect, you have then given yourself the opportunity to reclaim the power of fear.

It is easy in life to make up rules, concepts and processes to frame fear into a perceptible and plausible entity for our life. However, the more we run from fear, the more it controls us. Even if this happens in a subtle way. Let us find the courage to embrace fear rather than hide in our caves. Let us truly understand the power we hold in our grasp. Our power is greater than any illusion that fear may offer.

(Above Picture taken at Green Springs State Park, Enterprise, FL - (c) 05/11/10)


*Read other articles on Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Stop The Itching

If you've followed this blog for some time, you will know that I experienced a very rough time of rashes and itching. For further reading, please visit the links below of some my experiences through this ordeal.

For the most part, most of the itching has stopped. However, from time to time, it does sneak back up and cause a lot of discomfort for me. Lately, it has done that and while I have learned a lot about it and went into the fear of it, the anxiety still attacks me. When it attacks, it is hard for me to keep things in perspective.

In order to hopefully help others that are dealing with severe itching that does not seem to go away, I wanted to share a couple of the things that I am doing.

First of all, there is most likely an underlying emotional or stress response that is connected to the itching. Even though it may appear in physical form, one has to look much deeper than the outward physical signs that you see.

Trying to not freak out when the itching starts is a good first step but one that I know is so difficult to do. For anyone that has ever had some itching, see how long you can ignore it. I'm sure it won't be long before you'll be digging your fingers into it. It is a common reaction for us to scratch an itch. But trying not to freak out and go into the hysterics of it is a good start to dealing with the itching and getting it to stop.

Another major thing that needs to be worked on is dealing with stress, trauma and anxiety that is coming up. If you are ignoring these things, they will find a way out and often itching is one way that they will do this. Working on deep release of trauma and relaxation will help to start working through these things.

For me though, when the itching does start in, I've learned that there is one way I can get it to lessen. I'm not sure if it will work this way on everyone but each person needs to find their own way that works. I'm very connected to my body and I sense a lot. But here is what I do to help lessen the itching when it gets cranked up.

On an area of my body somewhat adjacent to where the itching is taking place, I take my hand and slowly and ever so lightly rub over a part of my body where there is no itching at that moment. It is a very light touch where you are maybe touching the hairs on your body but that is as close as you get. It is so gentle and soothing. The speed of your hand movement is very slow and sedative. Your goal is to connect with the slow movement of your hand and feel all of it. Give it time for your mind to connect to what it feels like on your body as you move your hands around in this fashion. You might give yourself a few minute or two rests in between your movements.

Hopefully what you'll notice in a few minutes is that it helps sedate yourself and it helps your mind connect with an area that isn't itching. You are not ignoring the itching but you are giving yourself another message - another option to feel something different. When i've done this, I don't necessarily feel the sedation immediately but once I stop and let myself just absorb what I did, than the sedation begins to set in.

If the itching comes at night which it often does, and if I do this procedure, usually I can fall back to sleep. It has taken me a little time to figure out how to do this on myself but I just kept experimenting with it because out of desperation, I had to find a way of giving myself some relief. Keep trying and expirimenting on things that work for yourself because there is usually a key to finding some relief from the itching. We just have to search for it!


1) Into The Itching, Through The Pain

2) Itching Skin And Oatmeal Bath

3) Sleeping With Night Sweats And Fears



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Itching - Symptoms Of Stress, Part 5

This is Part 5 of 9 Part Series - Itching & Rashes

For a long time in my life, I never fully realized how much stress, emotions and trauma played into rashes and itching. I have known others who have gone through these things but never fully understood them until I experienced them first hand. According to this health.yahoo.com article, the adverse effects of stress are thought to cause the immune system to release histamine which causes the itchy bumps. In the article, it suggests that deep breathing will help but for those who suffer through severe itching and rashes, there is much more to alleviating this than deep breathing.

If you want to read more about what I went through on itching, please read my blog entry on Sleeping With Night Sweats And Fears or Itchy Skin And Oatmeal Baths .

The one thing I did learn was that taking medications/ointments and putting cream on the itches may have had a slight effect of helping but my body soon became accustomed to these things and then they stopped working. I tried many things and little would work. For me, the oatmeal baths were about the only thing that brought some relief but outside of that, it was a struggle until I did some serious trauma release with Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing Institute.



Symptoms Of Stress: (9 Part Series)
Part 1. Tweaked and Tense Muscles
Part 2. Eye Twitching
Part 3. Ragged Cuticles
Part 4. Cavities
Part 5. Rashes & Itching
Part 6. Nausea
Part 7. Sleep
Part 8. Forgetfulness
Part 9. Confusion



*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Book Outline: Why Won't This Itching Stop?

I'm putting this out there as it is a book I am about to start writing. While I don't normally let these things out like this, I realize that no one can write this particular book from my story because the facts are only known to me and a couple other people whom I trust.

Like I said - I'm putting this out there - giving the thought to the universe in hopes that it will be published.



BOOK OUTLINE

Goal:
To keep the book focused on my journey through the itching ordeal I suffered giving what happened along the way, the insights, the struggles and how I came through this. My hope is to bring the actual science in from Dr. Canali in what all transpired and how what happens in the physical body is connected to the trauma and opportunity to become more aware of ourselves. I will draw upon my journal entries, emails and blog postings to help put this book together.


Other:
My goal is to keep the book relatively short but packed with personal experience and science. I know there are many suffering from itching conditions and I want this book to offer some help through what they may be facing or at least give them something to consider and think about. This book will not include my entire story / history but enough to explain the ordeal I went through. The entire story is for the next book.


Introduction:
Setting the scene as to what this book is about and why I am writing it.


Chapter 1:
Before the itching, things were moving along pretty well, and then it started in such a subtle way.


Chapter 2:
As the itching picked up, life grew extremely frustrating and almost to the point I could hardly keep going. Sleep issues, nightmares, night sweats, terror. Everything that I tried to get the itching, rashes to stop and all the store bought stuff that failed. Being afraid to venture outside of my 4 walls, not being able to wear many clothes even though it was cold and winter time,


Chapter 3:
Finally going to get work done on me by Dr. Canali and being so afraid that not even he could help me on this. I was petrified that this was going to take me under. Seeing the changes in the first session of the first day. Seeing the hope and possibility. Working through things and having small unconnected images to what was behind everything until the point it finally came together and created the complete image. The emotions through this, the fear of it.


Chapter 4:
Beginning to recover and growing through the fears – how I did this, what helped me and that it was a process.


Chapter 5:
The science behind the ordeal (narrated or written by Dr. Canali )


Chapter 6:
The story that came out of this ordeal of the abuse that this connected with. (Have to deal with what I can state legally as to who the “perps” are without getting turned down for publishing or setting myself up for a lawsuit. An issue I have to deal through in this.”

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Body Memories, Abuse Memories & Trauma Recovery

I know I've been quite vague about what is going on and I'm not sure I'm at the point of writing too much yet. But I'll try to write a little so at least I'm not leaving everyone in the dark.

For the past few months, I have been going through intense itching on my body which of course led to a rash. It included a lot of body memory pains, night terrors, night sweats, and eye sight that was failing me. I have struggled to sleep in the past two months because either I could not shut my eyes for the terror that would hit me or if I got to sleep, I was waking up around 2am or 4 am. Many nights I sat up reading a book until daylight came where I could finally go back to sleep a little. However, the quality of sleep was lacking and so I was walking around as I was half asleep. It got to the point that I was crying at anything, everything and nothing all through the day. I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness that I couldn't shake and it was unlike anything I had ever dealt with before. I was struggling to get myself to eat as I had no appetite. Anxiety was through the roof and my anger levels were in the "rage" category. My mind would not stop racing no matter what I tried to do. I saw deformities in very personal areas of my body and I saw things change on my skin from moment to moment. At one point, I wondered if I had truly gone crazy. Believe me, I tried many things that I know work for me to get through this and nothing seemed to do anything.

Before Christmas, things got real rough and I was able to talk to Dr. Canali at several times which really helped. Right after Christmas, we made a trip to Miami and I had several sessions of work done on me. By the afternoon of the first day down there, I could already see an improvement. A lot came out and at least I went from feeling despair and hopelessness to possibility and hope that I could get through this. It was during one of these days, that I finally slept through a night without waking up. Of course that was short lived but it was a welcomed relief.

Right now, i'm doing better. Many of the physical symptoms have greatly reduced or are going away. Each day, I see an improvement. I'm still waking up at 2am or 4am almost every night. Usually when that happens, I go to my treatment table and do some work on myself which helps me move past it and allows me to fall back to sleep. Last night though, I slept through until 5am and then i struggled to get back to sleep until daylight hit this morning.

Today instead of just itchiness waking me up, it was a burning pain through out every inch of my body that just about drove me insane. My anxiety and anger levels were way up today and I was feeling like I was going back into that deep dark hole that I don't want to be in. So I once again, went to my treatment table and started working on myself with the tools I have to do this. It isn't easy doing it on yourself but we're too far from Miami to just get in the car and drive down at any time. After the work on the table my resting pulse rate dropped from the high 90's into the low 70's using my Finger Pulse Oximeter Octive Tech 300 Pro Pulse Meter to check this

Out of the work I did on myself today, a story emerged that is connecting the dots. I'm not ready to share that at all right now but up until now, all I had been getting was "implicit memory". Implicit memory is basically everything but the story or events - (example: kind of like feeling a car crash without knowing that you were in a car crash). I'm exhausted and wiped out at the moment but maybe now with the story that is emerging to connect the dots, I can finally begin moving beyond this. The itching and pain have already subsided from what they were earlier today. They may kick back up as I process things but I welcome any moments of relief.

I know that through all of this and healing from it, there is so much more waiting for me. I can already see and feel what those things are but right now, the pains are still pretty raw. I didn't ask to remember any of this but it sort of took me head on and I really have had no choice but to work through it (unless I wanted to remain in the physical situation I've been in). At the moment, even though I'm very tired, I can feel a big weight being lifted off of my body. And I do know, that there is a reason for all of this - that's what keeps me going.

Into The Itching, Through The Pain

Into the itching, through the pain and out comes possibility, hope and a new layer of life.

While I'm not back to 100%, things are much better now after some sessions at Evolutionary Healing Institute. While it seemed almost hopeless before going in for the session, by the end of that first day, much had changed. My body was in a hypersensitive state as the implicit memory of some past traumatic event was replaying itself over and over. At this moment, I only have bits and pieces of the traumatic event but that's about all that is in my conscious mind at this moment. The details are too sketchy to make sense of and right now, I'm fine with that.

In the few days since my sessions, my rash has gone down and is not as bothersome as it was. It does flare up but for the most part, it has greatly subsided. I have been able to sleep through most of the night rather than pacing the floors during the darkness of the night. Certain anatomical areas of my body are looking more normal and are not as swollen and deformed. The overall anxiety level has decreased greatly. Itchiness is drastically better than it was but now I'm feeling more of a burning sensation.

One of the things that was happening was that I could not sleep through the night. I would maybe make it until 2am or possibly 3am but that was about it. The night terrors, night sweats and thrashing around in the bed would get so great that I could not remain in bed. It would force me to get up and sit in a lighted room until the sun came up which then I could go back to bed and fall asleep.

Some of the things that I have done in addition to the sessions with Dr. Canali is taking oatmeal baths, using baby powder, sleeping with a night light on and some relaxing music, taking melatonin before I go to bed, taking Vitamin B for stress, using the Natural Calm product before going to bed.

If things pick up in the middle of the night which they still have, I've at least been able to go to my treatment room and do some work on myself. While it isn't easy going into the pain of this by yourself, I have found that if I can do this, than my body is able to drop back down which allows me to go back to sleep.

Through all of this, I'm learning just how much of a nervous system dysregulation itching and rashes are. Before this, I don't think I would have completely agreed and even in the midst of this, my doubts and fears sometimes win out. However, I know for a fact that on the table in my sessions, we are able to reproduce the symptoms of the rash, pain and itching and then we're able to watch it dissipate. If it was purely a physical phenomenon without any origination in the nervous system, than to create the symptoms and dissipate them on the table would not be possible. That is the part I hold on to because as I'm learning, the more I go into the pain (as uncomfortable and horrible as it may be), I am able to move beyond the itching and the pain.

The story behind this is still somewhat unclear and a mystery because right now "implicit memory" is what is showing up. In time, as this finds true healing, the story will most likely appear. But it isn't the story that matters - it is the healing through this deep layer that will give me the greatest awareness and growth in my life. Yes, there is a little boy that was traumatized very badly but as I heal these wounds, it will help me fulfill my life's contract and my life's purpose.

One of these days, I'll sit down and write about all of this in detail. I've been keep a journal of the individual moments to help me. One of the things that I have learned throughout all my healing is to write in a journal in whatever form that takes.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Itchy Skin and Oatmeal Bath

Lately, I have been going through some rough emotional times and of course, they are showing up physically as a rash and as itching. While it is showing up as a physical manifestation, the underlying cause is abuse memories that are trying to find a way to the surface. With the help of Dr. Paul Canali at Evolutionary Healing Institute, I am going through treatment to help release these things at the core. We've been able to produce all the symptoms on the table in a session and then watch them dissipate right before our eyes.

However, in between the sessions, I'm still dealing with all that is coming up and trying to process it as quickly as I can. In the meantime though, I still get the itching and rashes. In fact, this morning when I woke up, I had a red rash over much of my entire body and itchy little bumps on my skin. In order to get some temporary relief, I researched online about oatmeal baths and then did this for myself.

How Do You Make Colloidal Oatmeal?
Everything I read, stated to use colloidal oatmeal and from my understanding, you can make this from regular oatmeal. I used Quaker Oats (1 minute oats) without any flavorings or additional ingredients. It was just straight oatmeal like you would use to cook with. Since we have a high powered Blend Tec Blender, I dumped the oatmeal in it and ground it to a fine dust. That is supposedly the same thing as Colloidal Oatmeal from what I am reading. If that is not true, please feel free to comment and help me understand this.

How Much Do You Add To The Bath?
After I had the oatmeal ground to a fine dust, I put about 1 to 1.5 cups of it in the bath. I'm not sure if that was too much or not the right amount because I saw so many different recommendations being from 1/3 cup to several cups. I have a big garden style tub and this amount seemed to work. Most of it mixed up fine in the water but there was a small amount that did not.

What Should The Water Temperature Be?
Another thing I was reading was to not make the bath water very hot because this actually opens up the pores on the skin to much and sort of draws the moisture out of your body. It leaves the skin dried out which of course leads to more itching. I can't prove if this is true or not but just in case, I made the bath water warm instead of hot.

What Was The Result Of The Oatmeal Bath?
I soaked in it for probably 30 minutes and it was soothing to me. The itchiness did go away but then water tends to do that for me. I wasn't exactly sure though if the oatmeal would live up to the expectations I read about until after I got out of the tub and dried off. By the way, when you dry off, blot dry - don't rub because you don't want the friction to irritate the skin.

After getting out of the oatmeal bath, I noticed that my skin and body felt very warm. As I sat there for a few minutes, I began to feel very tired and sleepy. This led me to laying down which I fell into a very deep sleep for a couple of hours. It was some of the best sleep I've gotten lately.

While the itching is not completely gone, it helped drastically and give me some temporary relief that I have not had in many days. I noticed though that my skin was not as red as it was earlier in the day and the tiny little bumps had somewhat disappeared. I just got to a point where I could take no more and when the rash covered my entire body, I was desperate to try anything. If you are suffering from this, give it a try. Do a Google search online to how others do this as well but hopefully what I've shared here will help take some of the guess work and questions out of it.

Sleeping With Night Sweats and Fears

Note: Picture from Don Shetterly's, "A Journey Through Words" (used by permission)

For some time, I’ve been dealing with all kinds of physical realities at night. Almost every night when I go to bed, in spite of the room temperature being very cool, I experience an overall feeling of a very warm room. As I often say, the room feels like it is a thousand degrees even though it is not. This is something I have experienced on and off for many years and more off than on. It is a companion to me.

Most of the time, I can manage this and within a short time of going to bed, I can fall asleep with the temperature issues not affecting me to much as I go into the night. Usually by mid night time hours, I will feel somewhat cool as if the room temperature is normal. I’ve always just lived with this and sort of guessed that fear is at the cause of this condition for me.

Going to bed at night is never something I look forward to. It is a must do exercise that in order for me to function the next day, I need to get myself to sleep. Without a night light on in an adjacent room or some type of background noise like a fan, sleeping is almost out of the question. If there is any activity or noise around, there is no way I can sleep. At some points in my life, I have actually had to sleep with every light on in the house.

As I write this, I am so exhausted from lack of sleep over the past week or several days. I have lost count when the last time was that I got decent sleep. Lately, before going to bed, I have been getting dull headaches. And by the time I get ready to get in bed, I’m just wishing there was something else I could do besides subjecting myself to the activity of trying to sleep.

Sometimes I am fortunate enough to fall asleep and then an hour or two later, I am awakened with a startling force. Things such as body memories where I feel like something is being shoved up my anal region, or feeling like I am being pinned down or even feeling like I am being slapped around, hit me with full force. It feels as if there is something in the room attempting to haunt me or just watch my every move. I shake and tremble out of fear as I try to hide within my blankets. I’m on alert as I hear every sound or feel like I notice any movement even if there is nothing I can see with my eyes. I feel like prey being hunted and having to outsmart the predator at every turn. It is as if, one simple mistake would land me in a state of failure succumbing as prey to my predator. My predator is an imaginary creature but one that I seem to know very well.

Out of all of this, my eyes try to close but my mind and thoughts race as if there is no tomorrow. I’m not only constantly evaluating all that is going on around me, but I am working to solve every problem, situation or concern I am facing or may face. Even with breathing exercises or working with the enteric brain energy ball or listening to relaxing music, I am met with an incessant barrage of brain thoughts. I feel like I could compute more calculations than any computer are able to do and yet, my brain never seems to find the right solutions. It just keeps attempting to process the same information over and over as if it is stuck in a loop.

The latest in this round of wartime struggles has been the excessive sweating. From what I can read, night sweats are common in situations where stress is over the top. It can be a result of the nervous system being in a sympathetic state or a state of anxiety. The sweating may start as I go to bed or more commonly, it begins around an hour or two later. Generally, it is my low back and my groin area where it takes place. There have been times, when my bed sheets were soaked from sweat. Keep in mind the room temperature is not warm and even on the coldest of nights, I still go through this. The night sweating wakes me up with severe itching and if I try to ignore it, it attacks me with full strength until I can no longer stand it. I then end up getting into the shower and running water on my groin area with a shower massager in order to find a momentary level of comfort. Due to all of this, I have endured the moments when I begin to scratch myself and while it initially feels good and offers relief, it has become something that is now causing skin issues. Even if I could convince myself that scratching is not in my best interest, my body cries out for relief in any form that scratching becomes as normal as breathing.

The areas affected have changed as the days wear on. What first seemed to be the hot area has not changed and moved on for the most part. Although there are times when the scratching and itchy feeling revert back to where things were in previous days, generally it has moved on to other locations within my groin area. Sometimes in addition to the groin area, I feel an overall itching across my body like little electrical impulses that bounce from one area to the next.

Even though I drink plenty of water throughout my day, I have found myself extremely thirsty at nights when all of this happens. I don’t drink much caffeine at all but if I do, this situation is much worse. After two glasses of water tonight, I am still thirsty which is very strange and odd for me. It is not normal behavior that I experience.

The past few nights, the only thing I could do, in addition to getting in the shower, was to get out of bed and come downstairs. I have found a comforting place in our family room. It provides me some calmness and almost an escape from the predators of the night. The itching usually stops for the most part or reduces down to such a low level that I barely notice it. The sweating stop and I almost feel somewhat cool from the room temperature. If however, I decide to go back upstairs into the dark bedroom, the symptoms come back very quickly.

I feel like I’m at the end of my proverbial rope. I’m not sure how much more of this I can take because these symptoms are draining and exhausting. They have robbed me of precious hours of sleep while leaving me to feel as if I am a zombie. I fear there is some medical condition that gives rise to my early death but that too is fear and anxiety more so than anything founded in reality. Reality is difficult to understand these days because there does not seem to be any relevant reason for the progression of these things to take place. I feel as if my mind is losing the last remnants of sanity or enjoying playing one of the all time greatest tricks on me. I feel as if there is no end in sight, only the torment I feel each and every night. I try to tell myself that this too shall pass and things will get better but the skepticism at hearing this grows exponentially.

Yet, I know that body memories, nightmares and all types of unexplained events have plagued my life in one form or another. They seem more abundant than anything I know. While I know these rough periods of life have moved on and I’ve experienced profound moments of healing, going through these things are beyond the concept of difficult. I know that many of these things are part of a nervous system dysregulation, yet my mind fails to convince my body of that as it is experiencing all of these things. So I am faced once again, with a night of torment, a lack of sleep and unexplainable events. I long for true relief but I long for just a moment of comfort, peace and just some plain sleep.