There is nothing more life changing than challenging items you harbor from the past.  Even with a chronic illness at hand, you can tackle one job, or drawer at a time, and bring things full circle or much cleaner as you go.  I use the "isolated method" as taking on huge lumps of organizing can be daunting for many of us.

​Despite constant efforts to declutter your home, do papers still accumulate like snowdrifts and clothes pile up like a tangled mess of noodles?

Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly simplify and organize your home once, you’ll never have to do it again. Most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, which doom you to pick away at your piles of stuff forever. The KonMari Method, with its revolutionary category-by-category system, leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo’s clients have lapsed (and she still has a three-month waiting list). 

With detailed guidance for determining which items in your house “spark joy” (and which don’t), this international bestseller featuring Tokyo’s newest lifestyle phenomenon will help you clear your clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home—and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.

This show documents the strange and unusual pets some people have in the world. These animals range from the weird to the dangerous and are not usually animals people have at home everywhere.

Successful businessman Ron Hall and his wife, Deborah, discover a renewed sense of purpose when they begin to volunteer at a local mission in Fort Worth, Texas. Their lives change forever when they develop an unlikely friendship with Denver Moore, a homeless man who inspires them to save their struggling marriage.

​In the midst of an apocalypse, a man struggles to reach his pregnant wife, who is thousands of miles away.

Young lawyer Abby Morgan hears of the disappearance of her estranged sister in Texas. The trail eventually leads to a plastic surgery clinic in Mexico.

​A bounty hunter (Michael Fassbender) keeps his true motive a secret from the naive Scottish teenager (Kodi Smit-McPhee) he's offered to serve as bodyguard and guide while the youth searches for his beloved in 1800s Colorado.

Summoned to a remote Alaskan village to search for the wolves that killed three children, a wolf expert soon finds himself unravelling a harrowing mystery.

A dramatisation of Norway's deadliest terrorist attack, in which a right-wing extremist murders 77 teens at a youth camp in 2011.

​Fantasy romance about a relationship that forms between an architect and the doctor who lived in his new lakeside house two years previously. Only able to communicate by passing letters into the house's mailbox, the pair begin to fall for each other, but will they ever be together? Hollywood remake of the acclaimed South Korean film `Siworae'.

A massive drug operation changes the lives of three conflicted New York cops. Burned-out vet Eddie Dugan (Richard Gere) is close to retirement; narcotics cop Sal Procida (Ethan Hawke) faces the difficult task of caring for his large family on his ordinary salary; undercover officer Clarence "Tango" Butler (Don Cheadle) finds his loyalties beginning to shift toward a powerful drug dealer. Over seven chaotic days, the three men are drawn toward a fateful crime and destiny.

​A man returns to his home town after a lengthy absence spent fighting in the US Civil War. Although his apparent character transformation arouses his wife's and others' suspicions, everyone is delighted when his tobacco-growing scheme is profitable for the whole town. Just as he is settling into an idyllic routine with his family, he is accused of the murder of a man killed many years before.

Upon viewing Heal I became entranced with the whole notion of stem cells.  Sure, I was aware of their function and also the medicinal procedure of injecting degenerative tissue and bone with stem cells.  I also knew it worked well in most situations allowing various parts of the body new regeneration when such operations were completed.  

But the thought of the body's innate ability to heal itself was intriguing.  I began perusing the Internet on scholarly articles, and several pieces mentioned the word "summoned".  They stated the body was actually in transition and waiting for those stem cells to be summoned to active duty.  I immediately thought, "How the hell can I summon those cells to regenerate areas of my body that are in distress? "Better yet, what type of procedure did some of these stage 4 patients use to summon the passage of good health again?" 

One thing that is most important is the understanding of stem cells.  How can you summon anything if you don't understand where it is or how it works?  Let's take a look, and I'll leave you with some food for thought.
​
Cells in the body have specific purposes, but stem cells are cells that do not yet have a specific role and can become almost any cell that is required.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can turn into specific cells, as the body needs them.

Scientists and doctors are interested in stem cells as they help to explain how some functions of the body work, and how they sometimes go wrong.

Stem cells also show promise for treating some diseases that currently have no cure.

Sources of stem cells

Stem cells originate from two main sources: adult body tissues and embryos. Scientists are also working on ways to develop stem cells from other cells, using genetic "reprogramming" techniques.

​Adult stem cells

Stem cells can turn into any type of cell before they become differentiated.A person's body contains stem cells throughout their life. The body can use these stem cells whenever it needs them.

Also called tissue-specific or somatic stem cells, adult stem cells exist throughout the body from the time an embryo develops.

The cells are in a non-specific state, but they are more specialized than embryonic stem cells. They remain in this state until the body needs them for a specific purpose, say, as skin or muscle cells.

Day-to-day living means the body is constantly renewing its tissues. In some parts of the body, such as the gut and bone marrow, stem cells regularly divide to produce new body tissues for maintenance and repair.

Stem cells are present inside different types of tissue. Scientists have found stem cells in tissues, including:

• the brain
• bone marrow
• blood and blood vessels
• skeletal muscles
• skin
• the liver

However, stem cells can be difficult to find. They can stay non-dividing and non-specific for years until the body summons them to repair or grow new tissue.

​Adult stem cells can divide or self-renew indefinitely. This means they can generate various cell types from the originating organ or even regenerate the original organ, entirely.

This division and regeneration are how a skin wound heals, or how an organ such as the liver, for example, can repair itself after damage.

In the past, scientists believed adult stem cells could only differentiate based on their tissue of origin. However, some evidence now suggests that they can differentiate to become other cell types, as well.

​Embryonic stem cells

From the very earliest stage of pregnancy, after the sperm fertilizes the egg, an embryo forms.

Around 3–5 days after a sperm fertilizes an egg, the embryo takes the form of a blastocyst or ball of cells.

The blastocyst contains stem cells and will later implant in the womb. Embryonic stem cells come from a blastocyst that is 4–5 days old.

When scientists take stem cells from embryos, these are usually extra embryos that result from in vitro fertilization (IVF).

In IVF clinics, the doctors fertilize several eggs in a test tube, to ensure that at least one survives. They will then implant a limited number of eggs to start a pregnancy.

When a sperm fertilizes an egg, these cells combine to form a single cell called a zygote.

This single-celled zygote then starts to divide, forming 2, 4, 8, 16 cells, and so on. Now it is an embryo.

Soon, and before the embryo implants in the uterus, this mass of around 150–200 cells is the blastocyst. The blastocyst consists of two parts:

• an outer cell mass that becomes part of the placenta
• an inner cell mass that will develop into the human body

The inner cell mass is where embryonic stem cells are found. Scientists call these totipotent cells. The term totipotent refer to the fact that they have total potential to develop into any cell in the body.

With the right stimulation, the cells can become blood cells, skin cells, and all the other cell types that a body needs.

In early pregnancy, the blastocyst stage continues for about 5 days before the embryo implants in the uterus, or womb. At this stage, stem cells begin to differentiate.

Embryonic stem cells can differentiate into more cell types than adult stem cells.

​Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)

MSCs come from the connective tissue or stroma that surrounds the body's organs and other tissues.

Scientists have used MSCs to create new body tissues, such as bone, cartilage, and fat cells. They may one day play a role in solving a wide range of health problems.

​Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS)

Scientists create these in a lab, using skin cells and other tissue-specific cells. These cells behave in a similar way to embryonic stem cells, so they could be useful for developing a range of therapies.

However, more research and development is necessary.

To grow stem cells, scientists first extract samples from adult tissue or an embryo. They then place these cells in a controlled culture where they will divide and reproduce but not specialize further.

Stem cells that are dividing and reproducing in a controlled culture are called a stem-cell line.

Researchers manage and share stem-cell lines for different purposes. They can stimulate the stem cells to specialize in a particular way. This process is known as directed differentiation.

Until now, it has been easier to grow large numbers of embryonic stem cells than adult stem cells. However, scientists are making progress with both cell types.

​Types of stem cells

Researchers categorize stem cells, according to their potential to differentiate into other types of cells.

Embryonic stem cells are the most potent, as their job is to become every type of cell in the body.
The full classification includes:

Totipotent: These stem cells can differentiate into all possible cell types. The first few cells that appear as the zygote starts to divide are totipotent.

Pluripotent: These cells can turn into almost any cell. Cells from the early embryo are pluripotent.

Multipotent: These cells can differentiate into a closely related family of cells. Adult hematopoietic stem cells, for example, can become red and white blood cells or platelets.

Oligopotent: These can differentiate into a few different cell types. Adult lymphoid or myeloid stem cells can do this.

Unipotent: These can only produce cells of one kind, which is their own type. However, they are still stem cells because they can renew themselves. Examples include adult muscle stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells are considered pluripotent instead of totipotent because they cannot become part of the extra-embryonic membranes or the placenta.

Uses

Transplants with stem cells are already helping people with diseases such as lymphoma. Stem cells themselves do not serve any single purpose but are important for several reasons.

First, with the right stimulation, many stem cells can take on the role of any type of cell, and they can regenerate damaged tissue, under the right conditions.

This potential could save lives or repair wounds and tissue damage in people after an illness or injury. Scientists see many possible uses for stem cells.

Just when you've given up hope to ever have some natural connection with your body to heal, so comes along the movie Heal.  With natural testimony on how people have healed themselves from a devastating prognosis, your senses with be rekindled wondering what power you have within yourself to makeshift a change.  A change that may be so profound that it will allow your body to heal itself.  

Back pain is a common culprit for those who suffer from fibromyalgia.  Although the picture shows lower and mid pain, it really doesn't serve justice for those who suffer from upper spine pain and joint swelling as well.

The fibromyalgia spine is a tricky area.  Not only do we suffer from various joint, ligament, and muscle pain, we are also prone to periodic back soreness or all-out throbbing and stabbing in various areas of the back.

I hate to mention I have any type of pain to friends and family.  I'm always met with, "Oh, Dear, were you lifting something heavy?" 

"No, not at all," I retort.

"Well you must have forgotten, you need to be more careful."

Unfortunately, fibromyalgia back pain can come on at any time, at any place, and for any unknown reason. I remember one evening distinctly in which I was enjoying a much need rest while watching a fabulous movie on Netflix.  I got up (not too fast for those questioners) and immediately felt a knife-like jab in my lower back. This lasted for several days.  And, for some reason, I can never get a handle on prevention.

Did you know that as many as two-thirds of people with chronic low back pain also have fibromyalgia? Looking at the numbers from the other direction, up to 49 percent of people with fibromyalgia have lower back pain. In fact, back pain is so prevalent among people with fibromyalgia that it was once one of the symptoms doctors looked for in making a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

There’s no doubt that living with fibromyalgia is challenging enough on its own, let alone when you have back pain. But it may make you feel a little better to know there is an explanation for the intensity of the pain you’re going through.

“Both back pain and fibromyalgia belong to a group of disorders called central ​hypersensitivity syndromes,” says pain management specialist Ronald Staud, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Although the roots of the two conditions differ for example, back pain could be caused by a damaged vertebral disk the pain experiences of the two conditions bear some similarities. Among them is the sense that these chronic pain conditions cause you to be on a “high alert” setting of sorts (doctors call it hyperarousal). And then, to top it off, the pain wears you down, causing fatigue, depression, and anxiety that make living with fibromyalgia and back pain all the more draining.

​One essential is getting an accurate diagnosis of your back pain. According to Staud, many physicians who treat fibromyalgia can also assess back pain’s possible causes. However, ask for a referral to a pain specialist if you have any concerns about your doctor’s ability to parse out the factors contributing to your back pain and prescribe the appropriate medical treatment.

Treating Fibromyalgia and Back Pain

Pain medication is usually part of the prescription for fibromyalgia symptoms but often isn’t enough for most people, especially if a back condition is involved. Putting together a multi-part pain plan is a must, says Staud. This is even more true if you need specific therapy for your back. Consider these additional ideas to create a comprehensive treatment strategy that may combine traditional and alternative approaches:

• Lifestyle changes. Both back pain and fibromyalgia symptoms may improve as you work on a healthier lifestyle adjusting your diet, increasing exercise, and losing weight if needed.
• Mental health treatment. Anxiety, depression, and trouble sleeping can all make pain feel worse. Comprehensive treatment strategies may include therapy and medication targeted to depression and anxiety, says Staud.
• Physical therapy. “Back pain is the mainstay of physical therapists,” says Staud. Physical therapists can teach you how to move through your day more effectively and show you stretches to ease back pain and perhaps make living with fibromyalgia easier.
• Alternative treatment approaches. Acupuncture, biofeedback, and music therapy can help ease back pain. According to Staud, pain management specialists are well-versed in the complexity of pain treatment and will be open to any questions you might have about alternative approaches. Talking with your team about options you’re considering will also help you avoid any interactions between alternative treatments and prescription medications.
• Education. Finally, a little knowledge can go a long way toward easing some of the anxiety you may be feeling. Talk with your medical team about the physiology of pain and the complex factors that influence your perception of pain when you are facing conditions related to hypersensitization

​When you’re struggling with low back pain and fibromyalgia, you might feel as though you’re fighting two battles. But a combination of therapies some aimed at fibromyalgia, some aimed at the back pain, and some aimed at both — is more likely to bring you symptom relief.

Another interesting noteworthy point worth taking into consideration is positive thoughts.  I notice when I am off from the hectic work routine for a week or so, I am less apt to feel such symptoms.  In fact, as long as I can keep happy and positive about all aspects of life,  my pain levels plummet.  But how can we assess that every minute of every day to feel somewhat whole again?

Actuary Reuben Feffer (Ben Stiller) is so aware of the risks inherent in all situations that he is unable to risk anything. His bride, Lisa Kramer (Debra Messing), seems perfect but cheats on him during their honeymoon. Back home in New York City, his best friend, former child star Sandy (Philip Seymour Hoffman), urges him to attend a party. There he meets an ex-classmate, Polly Prince (Jennifer Aniston), whose spirited ways spark his adoration but confound his neuroses.

Follow the ultrarunner on his final attempt to complete more than 2,000 miles on the Appalachian Trail in record time.

In this 1994 adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's classic, the March sisters confront growing pains, financial shortages, family tragedies and romantic rivalries in mid-19th-century Massachusetts. Jo (Winona Ryder) struggles for independence and sometimes clashes with her beloved mother and her sisters Meg, Amy and Beth. She also contends with their cranky Aunt March, their impulsive neighbor Laurie (Christian Bale) and kindly linguistics professor Friedrich Bhaer (Gabriel Byrne).

​Problem fixer Michael Clayton is brought in to clean up the mess after one of his law firm's top litigators suffers a breakdown while representing a corrupt chemical corporation in a multi-billion dollar legal suit. Under pressure to appease the firm's clients, Clayton finds himself torn between his desire to do the right thing and a pressing need to pay off spiralling personal debts.

Anabel abandoned her daughter Chiara when the girl was barely 8 years old. Thirty-five years later, Chiara returns with a strange request and asks her mother to spend 10 days with her. Anabel sees the trip as a chance to get her daughter back, but what she doesn't know is that Chiara has a hidden purpose and that she'll have to face the most important decision of her life.

Vaughn and Marcus, who have been friends since childhood, travel to a remote area of the Scottish Highlands for a hunting trip. The pair are tested to the limit when they face a thrilling situation which neither could have prepared for.

Vaughn and Marcus, who have been friends since childhood, travel to a remote area of the Scottish Highlands for a hunting trip. The pair are tested to the limit when they face a thrilling situation which neither could have prepared for.

​In 1988, New York's police wage an all-out war on drugs, and guilty and innocent alike become casualties. Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix), manager of a nightclub that is often frequented by gangsters, tries to remain neutral but hides a potentially fatal secret: His brother (Mark Wahlberg) and father (Robert Duvall) are both cops. After his brother is wounded in an assassination attempt, Bobby can no longer remain neutral. He joins forces with his brother for an all-out assault on the mob.

​Eight years after a child disappeared without a trace, detectives find disturbing clues that indicate that the girl is still alive.

​Detailing the life of tenor Andrea Bocelli, who transcends his blindness with his singing, from his bumpy childhood to his meteoric rise to fame.

A woman (Charlize Theron) confronts traumatic, childhood memories of the murder of her mother and two sisters when she investigates the possibility that her brother (Corey Stoll) is innocent of the crime.

When Gerry (Gerard Butler), the husband of Holly Kennedy (Hilary Swank), dies from an illness, she loses the love of her life. Knowing how hard Holly will take his death, Gerry plans ahead. Beginning on her 30th birthday, she receives the first in a series of letters written by him, designed to ease her grief and encourage her to move forward to a new life.

​Left at the altar, a young executive takes her Caribbean honeymoon cruise with the last person she ever expected -- her estranged father. Although they depart as strangers, they soon gain a new appreciation for love, life, family and each other.

I recently went to my brothers for an afternoon of Sunday football and was treated to a unique treat.  I have always been a sweet potato lover but always placed them in the microwave for a quick nuke.  

The sweet potatoes that graced my plate that day were an unbelievable velvety sweetened texture that called for no butter.  In fact, I had never had anything so succulent.  Since then, despite a few minutes longer of cooking time, I will prepare them no other way.  

You need to give these a try if you've gotten one of those air fryers.  They can be found at thrift stores for dirt cheap and well worth the time and investment.

3 sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 teaspoons kosher salt, optional

Wash your sweet potatoes and then create air holes with a fork in the potatoes.

Sprinkle them with the olive oil & salt  (if using), then rub evenly on the potatoes.
​
Once the potatoes are coated place them into the basket for the Air Fryer and place into the machine.
Cook your potatoes on the "potato section" for 25-30 min.
Top with your favorites!

Do you remember when you were a kid and mom's potatoes came out of the oven with a crunchy crust and a pillowy inside that burst with velvety goodness?  That was pre-microwave age.  

You'd grab one of those potatoes and slab on the butter, sour cream, and bacon bits. Those potatoes were so good they could be eaten alone.  In fact, when times were tough, mom may have put an array of toppings on the table and that dinner would stand alone with a salad.

If you haven't tossed potatoes into your air fryer, you are in for a real treat.  Once this recipe is given a whirl you'll no longer nuke your potatoes any longer. 

4 medium Russet potatoes scrubbed clean and dried
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Prick each of the potatoes with a fork or sharp knife. Rub the potatoes with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Then, arrange the potatoes in the air fryer basket, making sure to leave ample room around the potatoes for the air to circulate as the potatoes cook.

Set the heat to "potato" and the timer for 30 minutes. At 30 minutes, pull open the air fryer and gently press on the sides of the potato. If it easily yields, the potato is done. If not, return it to the basket and set the timer for up to 10 more minutes. 
​
Split open the baked potatoes with a knife and add your preferred toppings. 

I am sitting here staring out my window waiting for a few rays to stream so that my body can feel its healing grace.  I want to run out back, drop in my chaise lounge, eagle-spread feeling those first rays of medicinal warmth.  It is like I'm plugged into something greater and my pain and suffering begins to ease the moment my skin is kissed.

Right now my body feels like it is slowly degenerating.  Winter months come so harshly and wreck such havoc that I never know what its going to leave in its aftermath.  One year it was pancreatitis, another year it was Left Ventricular Hypertrophy.  Each of these past eight years of winter blues leaves something malfunctioning in my organs.  Weirdly, it is always by March before the suns rays begin to openly display daily here in the southern belt.  

I know what it is.  It's that natural vitamin D.  I am a whole 'nother person when its out.  Right now though, I am met with "Are you feeling ok? You don't look good.  Go home and rest."  Rest is  not going to help me I want to shout!

And, I'm sorry to say, but I don't feel the same with Vitamin D supplements.  It helps, but just doesn't do the job like the real thing.  I am so grateful that I don't live up north.  I don't know how some of my readers do it.  Cabin fever for an extended period of time would just kill me coupled that with lack of natural sunlight to bathe in.

Anyway, I cam across and article my Dr. Northrup I'd like to share that shows the unique benefits of Vitamin D our our need to utilize daily especially if you have chronic health aliments: 

​Vitamin D is necessary for the health of every cell in your body. Yet, Vitamin D deficiency has reached epidemic proportions. Overall, Vitamin D influences more than 200 genes, each of which has the propensity to become impaired without adequate Vitamin D. According to a number of studies, Vitamin D deficiency can result in many diseases and conditions, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, depression, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancers of the breast, prostate, and colon.

Yet, maintaining an optimal level of Vitamin D can improve your immune system function and prevent many diseases, including colds and flu, cancer, and “autoimmune” diseases.  Plus, an optimal level of Vitamin D can improve your mood, regulate insulin, support heart and lung function, protect your brain from toxic chemicals, and may help reduce pain in people with chronic pain conditions.

Know the Risk Factors for Vitamin D Deficiency?

The average Vitamin D level for all women in the US is 29 ng/ml – well below the recommended 40 ng/ml. For African Americans, the average is even lower – 21 ng/ml. Typically, people who are Vitamin D deficient do not know it because symptoms are subtle and often attributed to other conditions. The problem is, some of the symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency can be serious. They include getting sick frequently, experiencing fatigue, chronic fatigue syndrome, bone pain, muscle pain, back pain, fibromyalgia, hair loss, depression, and poor wound healing. If you suffer from any of these symptoms, I recommend that you test your Vitamin D levels.

But, many people who don’t have symptoms are at risk for Vitamin D deficiency. If you live in a climate where you do not get enough sunshine (such as above the 35th parallel), your stores of Vitamin D most likely will be low, at least from November through March. Also, if you have dark skin, you are more likely to be deficient in Vitamin D because melanin reduces your skin’s ability to synthesize Vitamin D from sunlight.

Other individuals who are at greater risk for Vitamin D deficiency include women who cover themselves from head to toe, such as women who wear burqas or niqabs for religious reasons. Also, people who use SPF 30 or higher are at greater risk because sunscreen reduces your body’s ability to synthesize Vitamin D by 95%! Plus, people who work the night shift (and sleep during the day) and people who are homebound are at greater risk of Vitamin D deficiency.

Office workers and people who live in highly polluted areas often have lower Vitamin D levels. So do vegetarians and vegans. Finally, infants who are solely breastfed can develop low Vitamin D levels and should receive 400 IU per day of an oral vitamin D supplement. (You can get drops made specifically for babies.)

Vitamin D and Breast Cancer Prevention

There are many studies that show the connection between Vitamin D and breast cancer prevention. Reduction in risk can range from 55% to as high as 80%, depending on Vitamin D levels. And, it appears the higher your serum Vitamin D the better in terms of preventing cancer.

In addition, much research shows that Vitamin D is extremely important for regulating cell growth. This is very exciting news because not only do adequate Vitamin D levels in women appear to reduce the risk of breast cancer up to 80%, some studies suggest that Vitamin D may reduce the progression of cancer by slowing the growth of blood vessels within the cancer cells, thus causing cancer cell death and reducing the chance of cancer spreading (known as metastasis).

Even more exciting is the fact that Vitamin D is associated with better survival rates among breast cancer patients. A 2014 statistical analysis performed by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine showed that Vitamin D receptors are not lost until a tumor is very advanced. So, as long as Vitamin D receptors are present, tumor growth can be prevented when Vitamin D levels are adequate.
If you are concerned about your breast health, or you have breast cancer, I recommend getting your Vitamin D level tested and taking a high-quality Vitamin D supplement to get your Vitamin D level to around 60 ng/ml.

How to Test Your Vitamin D Levels

I recommend that everyone test their Vitamin D levels. It’s good to do this when you are feeling well so you have a baseline. If you are having health problems, I definitely want you to get your Vitamin D tested, especially if your symptoms are vague, or if you suffer from a serious condition and are not improving with standard treatments.

Testing is easy and you can do it from home with a home test kit. I like the ones from Grass Roots Health. If you are healthy and looking for your baseline measurement, start with the basic Vitamin D test kit. You can also get one of the more comprehensive kits that allow you to test your Omega 3 index, C-Reactive Protein (CRP), and A1c along with your Vitamin D. You can also do a complete inflammation panel, which is good for people with chronic conditions.

Vitamin D tests are serum tests. This means that you will need to prick your finger. If that bothers you, then I suggest you ask your health care provider to perform a blood test to check your Vitamin D levels. You should specifically ask to have a 25(OH)D test performed, also called a 25-hydroxy Vitamin D. Be sure to get your actual number. Don’t settle for hearing that your Vitamin D is “a little low” or that “you’re okay.”

Ideally, your Vitamin D level should be at least 40 ng/ml – somewhere between 40-60 ng/ml is optimal. Higher levels are also fine up to approximately 100 ng/ml. If you are below 40 ng/ml, I suggest taking Vitamin D supplements until you are in the ideal range. You can use the calculator on Grass Roots Health to determine the amount of Vitamin D you need take to reach your goal of 40-60ng/ml.

Other Ways to Increase Your Vitamin D Levels Naturally

If you are deficient in Vitamin D, the best way to increase your serum levels is to take a high- quality supplement. However, there are two more ways you can increase your Vitamin D levels naturally.

The first way to increase your Vitamin D level is to spend more time outside in the sun. In order for your skin to synthesize Vitamin D from the sun, you need to expose your skin directly to sunlight with no clothing barrier and no sunscreen. Soak in the sun for 5-10 minutes every day or until your skin turns slightly pink. If you have darker skin, you may need to stay outside a bit longer.  I don’t recommend doing this when the sun is hottest, but around 10:00 am is usually a good time.

If you live in a climate where you cannot get adequate sun exposure during any part of the year, invest in a broad-spectrum light box. These produce the light you need – but without the UV rays – and are effective in helping your body synthesize Vitamin D. Plus, light therapy can reduce symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), help you get a better night’s sleep, and reduce cravings for sweets and carbohydrates. Alaska Northern Lights makes good products, but there are many others on the market to choose from.

The second way to increase your Vitamin D levels is by eating Vitamin D-rich foods. These include fatty fish, such as cod, salmon, tuna, swordfish, sardines, and herring. Four ounces of cooked sockeye salmon contains roughly 596 IUs of Vitamin D. But, canned tuna in water contains only 68 IUs. So, you need to do your homework if you plan to get your Vitamin D this way – and be committed to eating a lot of fish!

Fish oil is also a good source of Vitamin D. For example, one tablespoon of cod liver oil contains about 1,360 IUs of Vitamin D. So, if you take a fish oil supplement, be sure to take this into consideration when calculating how much additional Vitamin D you need from a Vitamin D supplement.
​
A couple of other foods also contain some beneficial Vitamin D. Eggs (from chickens) contain about 44 IUs. And, one cup of maitake mushrooms contains 786 IUs of Vitamin D. (Maitake mushrooms are also a good source of prebiotics and a great way to keep your microbiome healthy.)

Research suggests a bias in how people with fibromyalgia (FM) recall pain, with intense pain usually exaggerated in recall.

Researchers suggest that psychosocial factors, such as patients’ own assessment of their physical abilities, may affect FM patients’ pain recollection.

The study, “A longitudinal analysis of pain experience and recall in fibromyalgia,” was published in International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases.

Pain in FM is usually measured via self-reports; however, this has been shown to lead to disparate results, likely linked to the fact that how people experience pain is often different than their memory of that painful episode.

Increasing research suggests that memories of painful experiences are “more powerful predictors of future pain than the actual previous pain experiences,” researchers said.

“These findings engender questions of what pain recollections truly reflect, how pain recollection differs by populations, what factors moderate pain recollection accuracy and how they operate similarly across differing populations,” they stated.

Evidence shows that pain recall is affected by psychological, social, and biological factors — depression was shown to negatively affect pain recollection and one study showed that glucocorticoid cortisol, a hormone released during a stress response, also changed how a group of healthy males experienced pain during a controlled experiment.

While research into factors that affect pain recollection has been done in some populations of patients with an identifiable cause for their pain, “no research has been done to assess these processes among those with fibromyalgia.”

Researchers analyzed data from 572 FM patients to understand how they experience and recall memories of pain.

The patients were asked to perform — in five different moments over a period of one year — a self-assessment of their FM-related pain levels at that “present moment” (experiential pain or EP), an assessment of what they considered the level of the highest FM pain they had ever experienced (historical peak pain or HPP), and the level of their lowest FM pain (historical valley pain or HVP).

Recollections of FM pain were compared to recollections of other types of pain, such as the worst toothache pain, or the worst stomach pain, that were recorded at the same timepoints.

The authors found that pain recall in FM patients changes over time, with a tendency for a decrease of all FM pain experiences, which didn’t happen when patients were asked to recall other non-FM pain experiences.
Moreover, momentary pain experiences of those with FM are systematically closer to their lowest levels of pain than they are to their highest levels of pain.

Of note, and in accordance with previous studies, the accuracy in recalling pain levels was lower among depressed FM patients — this set of patients seems to have a tendency to inflate past peak pain levels and momentary pain, but not so with lowest pain levels. “Depression does not relate to inflations of all pain, but only peak recollections and present pain experiences,” the authors wrote.

The authors identified other factors that can contribute to fibromyalgia pain syndrome (FMS) pain recollection, such as self-efficacy (i.e. the assessment the patients do of their own ability to perform physical tasks), or sleep impairments.

In this study, higher self-efficacy seems to lessen pain experiences in FM and to deflate recall of the severity of historical pain, while impaired sleep was correlated with inflation of all FMS pain experiences.

Researchers could also corroborate previous data that suggest age seems to alter the intensity with which individuals remember past negative experiences, in this case peak FM pain.

Over the year that patients were asked to recall their current FM pain compared to past FM pain experiences, all of them said their pain experience levels decreased. This suggests that the act of recollection might help FMS patients cope with their momentary pain levels.

Because current pain levels were always closer to lowest historical pain, it seems that “asking patients to report their average pain on ‘good days’ (pain at its least) might be a good reflection of their typical daily pain experiences,” researchers said.
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Moreover, these results suggest “that memory related to pain might be a worthwhile target for intervention,” the study concluded. - Shared by Patricia Inacio, PhD