I disappeared at the end of March..I know. For several weeks I moved through a cycle of an allergy driven upper respiratory infection and a series of small but entirely uncomfortable RA flares and well, everyone knows how easy it is to fall off the horse when the saddle isn’t secured. And I had only just begun this online journal…. loose saddle. But I’m back.
During my time off from writing I did a lot of reading, slept well and then didn’t. I went to yoga and I didn’t. I ate my veggies & drank my water…and I’ve paid attention to how my body feels. I have chronic inflammation from RA but under the stress of the infection and the flares and the tight deadlines at work, which there are many, I recognized that I feel it in my right foot, my right should and my jaw. So I looked to what might help.
My discovery…my next answers…Dry brushing and lymphatic massage. Specifically for their potential benefit for those of us with Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Dry brushing requires you to brush your entire body towards your heart with a natural-bristle brush. It’s a wonderful exfoliator of course, but the really wonderful benefit is that the lymphatic system is stimulated. And lymphatic massage (which I’m on the hunt for a good practitioner now) is a very gentle massage that activates the system to unclog the drain ,so to speak, and move the lymph fluids.
And per the interweb…. The lymphatic system is a network of tissues, and organs that help rid the body of toxins, waste and other unwanted materials. It helps keep the body’s fluids in balance and clears away infection (as lymph fluid moves toward the heart and contains white blood cells..which are part of the immune system that are involved in protecting the body). RA is an auto immune disease. My system is in overdrive all the time. My muscles don’t ever fully relax and my body always thinks it has something to ward off. It’s no surprise that my lymphatic system could be clogged up.
A study on PubMed titled, Targeting lymphatic function as a novel therapeutic intervention for rheumatoid arthritis, stated as “inflammation progresses to a more chronic phase, lymphatic clearance declines and both structural and cellular changes are observed in the draining lymph node. Specifically, chronic damage to the lymphatic vessel from persistent inflammation results in loss of lymphatic vessel contraction followed by lymph node collapse, reduced lymphatic drainage, and ultimately severe synovitis and joint erosion” And it went on to say “in patients with RA report lymph node changes following treatment, and thus draining lymphatic vessels and nodes could represent a potential biomarker of arthritis activity and response to therapy. Most importantly, targeting lymphatics represents an innovative strategy for therapeutic intervention for RA”.
There are many ways to support the system. Eating quality foods, no packaged foods… drinking plenty of water and getting massages help (although I haven’t had massages specific to lymphatic support, I know massages in general with their kneading and long strokes must help and as I hydrate well after that’s a plus too). So I do all that. But getting regular exercise (preferably exercise that makes you really sweat) helps too. And regular sauna use is a big assist as well for it’s detoxing effects. And that my friends, is important information. I’ve lost my sauna rhythm and I’ve not been able to do much exercise (respiratory infection and mini flares from having taken my meds a day late). But this new understanding, as limited and as simple as it is, has shifted me once again.
I got back in my sauna. I began to dry brush my body. I drove to a favorite lake to walk. I once walked at that lake several times each week. I hadn’t been in years. And although I overlook a “lake” it only made me long for the real one… Yesterday morning and again this morning I went on my old walk. 5.1 miles. It took me exactly twice as long as it once did. I began to cry three times yesterday. But it came from a great sense of relief being there. I sat a time or two and I stopped and watched the ducks from a bridge. I felt warm and cool breezes and walked under and beside beautiful trees. And I know I could have gone to yoga and had myself a grand sweat, and I will do that during the week. But I felt I needed the emotional shift of returning to a place I felt effortless and strong. I need to rediscover the joy of moving my body versus the pride of just having moved it.
I will continue to return to the lake and move my body during the week and spend time in my sauna. And as I do I expect “at last” relief response I experienced from my three time “almost cry” that came, no doubt, from the desperate place my body resides now, will let go and it’ll embrace the empowerment that movement provides. One day that almost cry will wash away in the sweat.
Some may say that the walk is just a workout… health care. Some may say that dry brushing and the sauna are just a way to relax and exfoliate….self care. But I say they are one in the same. Self care IS health care.
Inner Calm 