October 26, 2001
IncontinenceGREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS from Arnold's Way!
Children running quietly through the woods
Trees falling without a care
A tear shed, a blush without remorse
Rain drops of human despair
Rivers of untold sadness
The worry, the loss of face
Why is urine flowing so freely?
I cry, I hope, I wish for no more
As this sentence looks for structure, the energy begins the quest for the
answers to the questions from what is, to what was, to what can be. This
week's topic, if you hadn't guessed, deals with incontinence. It's one of
those long-winded words that gives me the creeps just by saying it - yuck! So
why would I write about it? Not by choice. As a man of quiet destiny
I surrender this week's topic as well as last week's. I stop right there.
Last week was my choice, school lunches. Talk about endless material.
I could have written a book on one meal alone!
It's Friday night. We, meaning, I, begin researching incontinence.
My table, as always, is filled with at least 15-20 resource books. As I
begin searching there were only 2 books that even mention incontinence.
One is Alternative Medicine, which was written by 380 leading physicians.
Their combined information was a 70-word blurb that describes incontinence.
So, on that note we begin our quest to research the causes of incontinence and
the healing possibilities for curing incontinence. For me that means a
layman (that's me!) who allocates approximately 10 hours every week to
discovering the cause, the treatment, and the lifestyle needed to create
wellness from within. I am talking about practically any disease,
including incontinence.
Alternative Medicine defines incontinence as "Loss of urine, not while
urinating, without warning." For those of you who are trying to
understand, it is what it is. The sufferers of this illness not only deal
with the disease but with the embarrassment. It is a disease that almost
demands either an extra pair of clothes, a handy bathroom, and/or wearing
diapers. Associated Medicine states that the main reason for incontinence is
either bladder dysfunction or lax muscle tissues. This is caused by child
birthing, aging, or fibroid on the tumors. The good news is no drug
therapy was recommended. Keep in mind this is an alternative medicine, so
there are other options, you would think. Unfortunately, the only
treatment was stated was surgical. "Incontinence may be successfully
treated with simple surgical procedures if the problem becomes severe enough and
decreases the quality of life."
There was no mention of diet; there was no mention of jumping on a trampoline,
which is an exercise, I discovered, that provides another path to healing.
So let's assume we trust the doctors. Let's assume that diet or exercise
is not a factor. Let's assume we take this simple procedure. Incontinence
affects mostly women, and they are the ones who need this "simple
procedure." From this point I paraphrase Anna Innez, who runs a
health education center and has treated incontinence among many other diseases
without drugs, without surgery, without side effects, without anything other
than our body's innate wisdom for healing. Anna described examples of what
happens when the a woman enters the operating room. First, she has to be
put to sleep for what is considered a simple procedure by 380 leading
physicians. This simple procedure would be considered barbaric by women if
they knew the steps involved in the procedure, if they knew about the other
healing options, and if they knew that only 50% of these operations are
successful. You would think somebody, anybody would give them (women)
another option.
Not the case. She, let's call her Phyllis, lies down. In order to
get to the bladder they need to go through an opening, which is the vagina.
In order to see what they are doing they need a special instrument with a light.
It's a long instrument used for this simple procedure. According to Anna,
they (meaning doctors) also need long scissors, which are necessary to cut the
sphincter muscles that control the flow of urine. So they begin.
Before anything starts, Phyllis has to be put to sleep. Otherwise, this
operation would never work. She also has to be numbed so if any internal
organs are accidentally cut, by mistake, she wouldn't feel it. The
operation begins. Phyllis is asleep and her vagina has to be open as wide
as possible so all these instruments can go in so that the doctors can see the
muscles, cut them, pull what has to be pulled out, tuck what needs to be tucked,
and then sew what has to be sewn. Therein lies the answer, and only 50% of
all operations of this type according to Anna Innez are successful. I don't know
about all the ladies reading this, but as a guy my initial reaction would be to
cross my legs! "Hello, Women! Stop the Insanity!" This is
the 21st century. I say this with kindness, with hope, with love, and with
anger, for these procedures are not simple. They are invasive. They are
meant to imprison not empower, to weaken one's female worthiness not strengthen
her spiritual awareness. Anna Innez stated, "If you want to get
butchered and drugged then go through this option. Otherwise, take
responsibility and find out what causes incontinence. Get educated.
Go to Arnold's or call me (70-739-2940)."
The questions remain. If we hold back on the operation, what are the
options? What are the causes? What are the healing possibilities?
Alternative Medicine states that bladder dysfunction and/or lax muscle tissue
are the main causes of incontinence. To get a better understanding of the
bladder we turn to the book called World Medicine written by Tom Monte. He
describes the bladder as a "muscular spherically shaped sac
located behind the pubic bone. It is lined with mucous membrane and has
walls comprised of 3 layers of tough muscle. Because of this unique
structural design, it is able to expand and contract, able to hold urine, which
is released from the kidney. It is able to accept all this waste fluid and
then extract it when the bladder is full. The average bladder holds up to
a pint of urine and gets released from 3 to 8 times per day."
According to World Medicine, bladder control develops in children after the age
of 3-4 years, since before this time the nerve cells haven't fully developed.
As one matures so does development of the nervous system, spinal cord, and
brain. In adults, if the system has fully developed, the bladder, when it
is completely filled with urine, will send signals through the spinal cord to
the brain saying, "There is now a pint of urine in the bladder.
Please send signals back down to the urethra through the spinal cord to release
the sphincter muscles." These in turn will release the urine held in
check by the sphincter muscles. We take a step back and grasp this body's
intelligence. Everything our bodies do is out of love for our being.
There are no words to describe this continual act of human kindness. There is
intelligence in everything we do from a conscious level of speaking to an
unconscious level of uncontrolled peeing. As we educated our intellect we
can also re-educate our sphincter muscle through diet, through exercise, through
understanding that the power that God, Universal Force, or what have you, has
given us, his people, his children, his love, is a right for life with all the
tools necessary for exquisite health from the time of birth to the time of
death. From opening our mouth to learning to say words we need to right
environment, the right language, the right food, the right exercise. So we
listen, we read, we educate ourselves about the proper choices to cure
incontinence not treat it forever.
So we hold this statement temporarily while we search through the Merck Manual
17th edition, which took 7 years to write, fills almost 2,655 pages, and is the
most widely used medical text in the world. Written by over 200 authors,
me, myself, and I in our 6 hours of researching become inundated within the
first 5 minutes. How much information there is on incontinence! There were
10 pages devoted to its cause, treatment, and diagnosis. But, there was no
cure, no diet change, and almost no mention of diet and no mention of exercise.
I see the 10 pages. I see the many sections. I begin to feel a
little overwhelmed, a little perplexed, a little out of my league. I close
my eyes and see all these words, all these drugs used, and with my eyes closed I
look for strength to find the wisdom to choose the right words to express the
many possibilities without so many drugs, so many side effects, so many choices.
With all these possibilities, there is one clear choice.
So in our quest for truth we retrace our footsteps in those medical texts, in
the alternative text, and in the raw food texts of how to treat incontinence
without any drugs or surgery. The answer still arrives in the same quaky
verbiage manner than demands elimination without complications. I suddenly
notice the smallest book on the table. It's the least impressive but is
able to give such an important answer to the cure of a disease. But now I
have to stop and sleep.
It's 6am the next day. I'm ready with the small book. It's called
Rebounding to Better Health by Linda Brooks, certified reboundologist. It
gives the clearest definition and the easiest solution with an easy to reach
time frame for becoming symptom free of incontinence. She states,
"The answer lies in strengthening the sphincter muscles that control the
flow of urine from the bladder."
So we once again review the medical options, the Merck Manual options, the 10
pages written in medicalese. It's the drugs options and the surgical
options. We look at the treatment, which includes the schedules of what to
take and when. We think about the complex surgical procedures and all
those instruments that have to go up the vagina for a 50% success rate. Or
we can continue reading what Linda Brooks, certified reboundologist has to say.
"Rebound exercise is cellular. It strengthens the cells of the
sphincter muscles building increased control of the bladder within 2
weeks." Hallelujah. So, before you women jump for joy, which is
exactly what you do in rebounding, we first have to explain what rebounding is
in the simplest of terms. Rebounding is jumping on a mini-trampoline.
This simple exercise strengthens the immune system because it works on three
levels of cleansing thought the gravitational pull-down. Linda Brooks
states, "This is the only exercise that will stimulate the cells of your
internal organs, veins, and arteries as well as bones and muscles, while
increasing circulation and flushing the lymphatic system." It's that
simple.
The other only thing besides an 85% raw diet that Anna Innez, health educator on
fasting and healing, recommended when asked about incontinence was rebounding.
She suggested 2 rebounding techniques that would strengthen the sphincter
muscles.
1) While on the rebounder, squat as if you are sitting on a chair keeping your
spine straight and jump 25 times several times a day.
2) Sit on a rebounder with your legs in a U shape.
Jump on your butt with your arms up. Easier said than done, but according
to Anna Innez, within 2 to 4 weeks the sphincter muscle will have tightened, and
incontinence will be a thing of the past.
Keep in mind this is in addition to a change in diet to 85% raw. There is
absolutely no way around that.
What does a diet that is 85% raw look like? Briefly, fruit in the morning
or nothing and lunch and dinner consisting of plenty of salads, with nuts and/or
avocado as the fat portion of the meal. Anna Innez or myself are willing
to talk about it in and have paperwork, which discusses this in further detail.
The other method I discovered, which has been used successfully in treating
incontinence is the Kegel method. Dr. Arnold Kegel, a professor of
obstetrician and gynecology at UCLA created a set of exercise for preventing and
treating incontinence. These exercises are geared towards women who are
pregnant or have just given birth. However, they can be used by anyone,
including men.
Here are the Basic Steps, which have been taken from World Medicine.
1) Practice controlling by slowing down the urine flow and ten stopping it. This should be done 6-8 times while urinating.
2) Practice relaxing and contracting the same muscles throughout the day. Hold the contraction for several seconds and then relax. Do this exercise from 50 to 100 times a day.
3) Contract the pelvic floor during lovemaking.
World Medicine states that these exercises are widely taught at childbirth
classes and have helped millions of women regain control of the muscle that
controls urination.
In summary, there are choices ranging from the simplest to the more complex. We
at Arnold's Way hopefully presented them in an interesting and somewhat in depth
way. We are not doctors. The only thing we do is share information.
On that note, thank you for your time.
-Arnold
References:
World Medicine by Tom Monte
Anna Innez, Fasting and Health Educator
Merck Manual 17th edition
Alternative Medicine
Rebounding for Better Health by Linda Brooks
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Upcoming events at Arnold's Way
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Dinner buffet lecture at Arnold's Way catered by B.I. chef extraordinaire of raw
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raw food promoter in the world. Time: 6:30-9:30pm. Date: Saturday
November 3. Cost is $35. Reservations are required by Oct 27. Call
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Register Early!!
Guest lecturer Brian Clement will be coming to Arnold's Way on October 26 from
7-8:30pm. We will have a raw food potluck dinner before the lecture from
6-7pm. The potluck dinner will be the last Friday instead of the last
Wednesday this month. Reservations are required. Bring a dish or $7 at the
door.
Arnold's Way presents: 2nd Tuesday Raw Lecture Series
Tuesday November 13th - 6:30pm. The talk will be about recovery from
multiple sclerosis.
Arnold gives a breakfast lecture on raw food and healing every Saturday morning
at the store from 8: 15 to 9:45. It's free and there's free breakfast.
But please pre-register.
On the last Saturday of every month, Arnold gives a free raw food preparation
course from 8:15 to 9:45 at the store. Learn how to make pizza, chili,
pies, soups, cookies and more in 7 minutes or less.
There's a raw food Pot Luck dinner on the last Wednesday of the month at the
store beginning at 6pm. Bring a raw food dish or pay $7. No
pre-registration required.
Greenwood has 2 pot luck dinners each month, on the second and fourth Saturdays,
from 2-5 p.m. Call Tom for more info at (610) 623-5656.
Loreta Vainius is sponsoring a Living Food support group. (610) 648-0241