What does feeling incredible mean to you? Does it mean living pain-free, having an abundance of energy or the satisfaction of a full belly after a delicious meal?
Whatever the case, most people wants to feel amazing, don’t you?
Sometimes you may need to take a few steps back to move forward.
This can definitely be the case when it comes to getting rid of pain and becoming healthier.
How to create an incredible future
We all experience change, economically, politically and even climatically. As the world continuously shifts around us, our ability to live an amazing life is dependent on our ability to adapt to these changes.
The King of Stress, endocrinologist Dr. Hans Seyle, said that our ability to change is directly affected by our level of “adaptive energy.” The more energy we have, the more life becomes enjoyable and full of amazing experiences.
The C.A.R.E principles (circulation, assimilation, relaxation, elimination) help increase adaptive energy. This process requires commitment and dedication and can be disheartening if you start to feel worse after starting your healing journey.
Feeling worse, however, can be an indication that the body is actually getting better. This idea is known as a healing reaction or retracing.
Retracing the past
The first mention of the retracing concept in the western medical world was by Adolf Jarisch (1860-1902) of Austria and Karl Herxheimer (1861-1942) of Germany.
Both were dermatologists who treated syphilitic lesions of the skin.
In response to their treatment, most of their patients experienced a temporary fever, perspiration, night sweats, nausea, and vomiting. The patient’s skin lesions also became larger and more inflamed before healing.
The whole experience usually lasted for two or three days.
Interestingly, the more intense the reaction, the faster and better their patients healed.
To honor these doctors, the retracing process is sometimes referred to as the Jarish-Herxheimer response.
Uncovering hidden problems
I like the term retracing because that is exactly what the body does.
It cleans and repairs, layer by layer, if given the opportunity.
Retracing is like house cleaning.
When life is busy and you are tired, you don’t always have time or energy to clean properly. Mostly, you do just what is necessary.
If you had an abundance of energy after work, doing your house work would be easy.
Doing the right thing doesn’t always feel good
The fast pace of the 21st Century and the accumulation of toxins we are exposed to, suck the energy right out of us.
The lack of energy and resources prevents the body from repairing and regenerating efficiently.
As you start to nourish the body and increase its energy, you might experience a few hiccups along the way.
Anyone who has done any spring cleaning will tell you it’s hard work.
It can leave you sweaty, tired and achy. It can be exhausting. It might even leave you feeling ill from inhaling the mold, dust or poisonous fumes.
The result, however, is well worth it.
After all that hard work you can sit back and admire all that you have done to create a better living environment.
Knowing when feeling bad is actually good
It is important to distinguish between a healing reaction and getting sick. As you will see below, the symptoms can be almost identical to a disease state.
Here are a few symptoms linked to heavy metal and substance elimination.
- Copper: headaches, rashes on face, trunk and thighs, racing thoughts, insomnia, fatigue
- Cadmium: intense fatigue, pain in the bones
- Mercury: fatigue, emotional distress, digestive issues
- Toxic metals in general: metallic taste, rashes, nausea, foul breath or body odor and dark urine
- If pharmaceutical drugs are coming out, you may experience some of the side effects caused by them.
So the question is, how do you know you are retracing?
Are you doing anything specific to change your diet or help your body detoxify? If you are actively doing any of the things below you can trigger a healing reaction.
- Getting plenty of rest
- Balancing your metabolism by getting the nutrients you need
- Following a natural, whole-food diet, free of chemicals and additives
- Drinking enough clean or distilled water
- Sauna therapy or any other detoxification methods
Any old symptoms that you are re-experiencing can be a healing reaction.
The whole process may last for a few hours or a few days.
Chronic infections, however, can take a few weeks or months to resolve fully.
If you start experiencing uncomfortable symptoms on any health program that lasts for more than a couple of days, I suggest you see a doctor.
As you can see, retracing can be a little tricky. It isn’t a black or white concept.
Understanding your lifestyle habits, nutritional needs and being aware of your symptoms can help give you more clarity about what is working for you. If you are unsure, speaking to someone with experience is always helpful.
What to do in a crisis.
The retracing experience will be different for everyone. Some will experience intense symptoms while others have none at all.
Being aware of the changes in your body and knowing how to adjust your lifestyle, diet or supplements can help you manage these reactions.
So you don’t want to stop the habits that are good for you, even if they don’t seem that way to start with.
If the symptoms become too intense, here are a few things you can do to help ease them:
- Get more rest. Conserving energy allows the body time to do its thing.
- Eat lightly and have simple meals (one or two food types per meal). Eating a meal that is easily digestible helps conserve rather than waste energy breaking down hard to digest foods.
- Stop taking any supplements. Give your body a chance to process the changes. Once retracing starts, it will complete the process and then rest.
- Short saunas for 5-10 minutes at a time, five to six times a day with a heat lamp sauna can be very helpful as well. Many viruses and bacteria are heat sensitive, so doing it in small doses can help, without overtaxing the body.
- Drink distilled water. Distilled water helps remove certain toxins and can assist the process. Do not drink distilled water too often as it also causes slight mineral loss.
- Other supportive therapies like Acupuncture, foot reflexology, massage or coffee enemas can also be very helpful.
In the beginning, you may feel worse when starting a new, healthy way of living but these healing reactions are sometimes necessary.
A healing reaction helps you get to the cause of the problem; it doesn’t only treat the symptoms.
By putting in the work, you will be able to create long-term changes in your body that will increase your energy and quality of life.
