You may have seen on the newsgroups alt.med.fibromyalgia and alt.support.chronic-pain, my challenge to the magnet people. I had answered some posts about alternative treatments for pain. I was pretty frustrated on that day. I was noticing a lot of people telling about how they had tried all of these treatments, but nobody was willing to come right out and say that the methods had helped with the pain. Many would say that they weren't rid of the pain, but they had extra energy, or peace of mind, or some other such thing.
So, I put out my views and added that I was mostly skeptical about the magnet therapies. My challenge was something like this:
"SET ME UP WITH THE WHOLE MAGNET SHOOTIN' MATCH, MATTRESS, SHOE PADS, NECK & SHOULDER GIZMOS, ETC. FOR FREE. IF IT WORKS, I WILL SHOUT THE PRAISES FROM THE ROOFTOP. IF IT DOESN'T WORK, I WILL LIKEWISE SHOUT ABOUT THAT. ANY TAKERS?"
Well, there has been a taker. I will tell you her name, it is Tammy, and she is from Virginia. She accepted the offer, and is going to send a mattress pad, pillow, shoe inserts, far-infrared quilt, necklace, eye mask, and spot products. She is also going to send a couple of books on the subject for me to read. She said she was going to be out a little for the shipping, but she was verrrrrrry hopeful for me, and excited. Tammy is a distributor, and assured me that she did no advertising on the net. She is interested in seeing if I can get rid of this pain, and maybe making a magnet convert out of me in the process.
Stay tuned to this page, as I will be making updates frequently on the results of this experiment. Maybe I'll get a picture of me using all of the products at once.
DAY 1 So, I got home from a weekend in the mountains, and found that most of the magnets had come. The box was mailed Express Mail, and I appreciate that Tammy made that effort. It was here from Virginia overnite and delivered by 11:30 the next morning. Included in this package was: 1 Kenkomini 700 Gauss magnet disc 1 Kenkomax 700 Gauss magnet disc 1 Kenko Sleep Mask 1 Magboy magnetic massage balls set in a roller case 1 Pair of Magsteps shoe inserts 1 Gold Necklace 1 Intellirest magnetic pillow 1 Twin Summer Far-Infrared Quilt 1 Magnet Viewer (To see the patterns of magnetic force of a magnet) And hopefully coming soon by the oops, I mean UPS guys: 1 Demo Mattress Pad The magnet pattern in the Nikken supplies are all triangular. The patterns on the pillow are similar to many of the plain round button type of fridge magnets. When I put up one of the flexible advertisement type of fridge magnets, the pattern was all the same, a bunch of parallel straight lines. Not knowing the science that is supposedly behind all of this, I don't know what the significance of the different patterns even means. I just thought that I would throw in the fact that I have noticed that there is a difference. I used the quilt last night. I am not finished reading the ream of information papers that Tammy sent, so I can't really give you much of the reasoning behind the theory of far-infrared technology. It's supposed to be a summer-weight quilt, and the accompanying brochure said I should have a more comfortable sleep. I don't use much of a blanket anyway, and I thought that something that is 50% wool and 50% ceramic impregnated fiber would be too hot. It was pretty cool last night due to a rain, so I was comfortable anyway. I also used the magnet pillow. It's a very dense foam with the 1/2 inch button magnets spread out near the surface on one side. I can't say I noticed any difference between last night or any other night as far as sleep goes. Tammy sent a lot of homework along with the magnet stuff. There is a book, and a bunch of magazine articles, as well as a bunch of testimonials from magnet users. We are just getting started here, so after I have read up on this stuff, and have begun to use each of the products, I will let you know more. Daddio
DAY 4 I have used the pillow and the quilt for three nights now. I was a little worried about the quilt being too warm, and last night it was. I sweat my butt off. I am wondering, if the reflective body heat is supposed to help with the pain, will it help that much more if it's making me sweat? Hope so, because it sure was hot. As far as feeling any less pain, I'm not there (Yet). I say yet in such a way as to not give the impression that the pain relief is inevitable. I am a skeptic after all. I have worn the shoe pads for two days. They have little bumps all over them, that I assume will either A) massage my tired feet, or B) will "energize my Chi, or Chakra, or whatever those things are supposed to be. The truth of the matter is, they are not uncomfortable, but I don't feel that energy I have seen people claim. Once again, I will allow for the (Yet). I bought some Okabashi Sandals that had bumps all over too. They were supposed to excite the foot reflexology points while I walked. The bumps on the sandals bugged the heck out of my feet. I had received one e-mail telling me to expect hot flash type of feelings as the pads began to work. Only problem with that is, I work in a building that has about six seperate temperate zones due to poor air conditioning. My office is comfortable, but as I leave it to go to other parts of the building, I may walk through a hot spot followed by an icebox. So, if the hot flash type thing happened, I might miss it anyway. Tammy also sent a rather attractive necklace with the package. It is gold, and quite masculine looking, so I have worn it for the last two days. I have had a few compliments on it's looks, but I am sorry to say I have had no pain relief that has been noticeable. The two discs that were sent have been taped on while working the last two days. I have taken them off when I get home from work. I wonder about something. I have seen people say that on the days when they had forgotten to bring their chair pad or other magnetic devices, that they had terrible pain days. So, once the magnets start to work, does that mean I would need to tape the discs to my body for ever?!? It's not like the tape is too expensive or anything, but the thought of having to tape them to myself over and over for life is not very appealing. Does the magnet therapy ever end, or is it something that becomes daily ritual? Anyway, I have a silver dollar size disc and a disc about 3 inches around. I tape one directly over the worst pain area on my back, and the other goes directly opposite that one on the front of my body. I have to tell you, I have been into a two day pain flare, and don't know whether it's magnet caused, or if it was going to be happening anyway. None the less, the CHALLENGE continues. BTW, the oops guys (UPS) haven't made it with the mattress pad yet. Either that, or they left it on my neighbor's porch, and he is using it instead of me. Daddio
DAY 6 OW! I am having one of the worst pain flare ups I have ever had. Some of you told me this would happen at first, as the toxins were trying to escape the body. I had gone on a couple of long fasts before (30 days & 32 days) but I never experienced the pain like this when my body was shunning toxins. I woke up feeling pretty good this morning. I slept in because I had taken a day of vacation today. I woke up at about 7:00 AM to the phone ringing and one of my supervisors calling to see why I wasn't at work. So, I got up and took my pain meds and muscle relaxants and went back to bed. I got up at 10:00, and felt good enough to go out and cut the grass in half of the yard. It takes me about four days to cut the whole yard usually. Not because it's big, but because I can't handle the pain when I cut it. Anyway, two hours later, every muscle in my body was screaming. I have had a tough day. Since I woke up feeling pretty good, I go optimistic about the magnets. I have kept the discs on 24 hours now, except to take a shower. I am still using the quilt, but tonight it's real hot, so I don't know if that will work. I took my Ambien last night, and had another of those black out episodes. I got up to find the front door had been left open all nihgt, and I had eaten something I didn't recall eating. I found the evidence on the computer desk this afternoon. I guess I got to sleep pretty fast last night. I forgot to put the necklace on today. The toughest thing today was figuring out how to wear the shoe pads. I don't wear shoes much in the summer, escept for work. I put the pads on my sandals. It was a little awkward, because they kept slipping and sticking off the back of the sandals. Someone needs to invent a magnet flip flop for people like me. Tammy e-mailed me to tell me the UPS guys delivered the mattress pad back to her address. That's one reason I call them the oops guys. She put it in the U.S. Mail, so I will probably get it on Monday. Later! Daddio
DAY 9 I finally got the mattress pad on Saturday morning. It got here from Virginia in two days (Priority Mail). It's single size, and I have a Queen size bed. It's perfect, I am single and don't have a Queen. So I slept on it on Sat. & Sun. nights. I don't know what to tell you, I slept until 6:45 on Sunday morning, that's six whole hours. I am using a CPAP for severe apnea, and have never made it through a whole night with that face mask on. So, was it the magnet mattress pad? I also started taking 5HTP on Thursday. Was it the 5HTP? I know it may cloud the Magnet Challenge if I am trying too many things at once, but if you understand pain, you understand that pain sufferers will try everything and anything to get pain relief and sleep. The flare has subsided a bit. I have been feeling a little better the last two days. I went to work today, and had a pretty good day! I love Mondays at work because I have so much to do, the time flies and the day is over before I know it. I haven't cut back on any medications yet, and am wondering about that. I saw one or two posts on the newsgroups from people saying they had instant relief from their magnets and even quit taking their pain meds. Lucky them, it's what I was hoping for from the magnets, instant relief. I have also been expecting a "warming" effect in the areas where the magnets are. That hasn't happened. Is it supposed to? I am wondering something else. If the pain is moving around, how are you supposed to handle that? Do you have to move the disc magnets around to follow the pain? One last thing, what is your favorite/most effective magnet appliance? Mattress, shoe pads, chair pad. or what? I appreciate Tammy so much for setting me up with all of these appliances, but she didn't send a chair pad. I'm not complaining, honest. If you have one, and want to donate it to the Challenge, let me know. Since I am a keyboarder for most of my day and evening, I would think that would be beneficial if the magnets are going to work. My worst pain comes after driving, even for short perods of time, and I would like to try a seat pad or chair cushion, or whatever you might call it. By the way, there has been some good feedback in the Guestbook, and by e-mail. Thanks to all of you for being interested in following this journey. Know what I hope? I hope this turns out to be the thing that gets me pain free, and that others will then want to try it in hopes that they will be pain free too. Don't run out and buy everything just yet, but stay tuned to see if I get to that point. If the magnets don't work, I don't know what I'll do next. I heard all about Olive Leaf Extract today on a talk show. HMMMMMMM? DaddioNext Page of THE CHALLENGE
