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She sent me to an ENT, who found the root cause (allergies). Now, I keep the dust mites down in the house, take a nose spray daily, take Zyrtec and/or Sudafed when heavy allergy season hits, and have been ear-infection-free for a few years.

I'm glad that you've found something to keep the ear infections away (they suck!), but it seems to me that, since you're still taking a daily nasal spray and allergy drugs during part of the year, you haven't yet hit the core of the issue.

Allergies can be successfully resolved. Perhaps there's something in your diet - many children's ear infections can be traced back to a milk (pasteurized/homogenized) allergy. Hypnosis is one way of getting to the core of the allergy - for example, suppressed trauma from parents fighting on a picnic could've triggered an allergic response to grass; Donna Eden tells how she's dealt with allergic responses in her book. I don't recall offhand if Harold Reilly's The Edgar Cayce Handbook For Health Through Drugless Therapy mentions allergies specifically, but it's a gold-mine of natural solutions to many health problems.

Another of favorite modalities is Cranial Osteopathy/CranioSacral Therapy.

If you like being on the drugs that's fine, but there are other options too. :)

Osteopathy is the knowledge of the structure, relation and function of each part of the human body applied to the adjustment or correction of whatever interferes with the harmonious operation of the same.

George V. Webster, D.O. 1921 (source)

Neurofascial release works essentially at the level of one type of connective tissue which is called the "fascia". The connective tissue is the glue which holds us together by connecting one part of the body to another. In addition, it makes up the compartments and coverings of other tissues and organs, and it is even connected to itself, all in a very complex and organized way. Therefore, the connective tissue structurally unifies the body, giving it much of its strength and support. This is a unique function which is not performed by any of the other body tissues.

Experts tell us that we "live in our fascia" as though it was a body suit. One indication of the quality of our health is how well this "body suit" functions. Injuries can affect many of our tissues, but especially our fascia. The site of the injury usually causes a local problem, but there is a great deal of truth to the expression, "When my toe hurts, my whole body hurts". A pull or twist in the fascia can also be transmitted along all of its connections, making it possible to produce distant problems as well. When our "body suit" fails to function properly, we can experience pain, headaches, restricted range of motion, and many other problems affecting our general health.

-http://healthabounds2.com/neurofasc.htm

First a story about a baby, then a suggested book and some links.

"Sally" knew there was something wrong with her second child soon after he was born. Every so often he'd stop breathing, but never when the Medical Doctor was around. The kid was always cranky. One day while Grandma was watching him, he stopped breathing and turned blue, and Grandma called the ambulance. Sally was like, "thank goodness, maybe they'll FINALLY believe me!" The doctor prescribed a "slant board". Every night for about six months she strapped baby to the slant board. Eventually he "grew out" of the respiratory distress, and the slantboard too.

As the years started to go by, the ear infections started to add up. I guess they were almost constant. Eventually they sent him to a specialist, who decided to chop out the tonsils and adenoids. I guess he was 3 years old or so at the time, and the surgery mostly ended the ear infection cycle. The timetable's not mine, so I don't remember when the hole in the eardrum occurred - perhaps it was pre-surgery, perhaps it was post.

Fast forward to 2005. Sally was dating my father. The son had recently been hauled out of school on a stretcher, because one of his friends had introduced him to Tequila. I suggested a course of action a couple times, but they just ignored me. I begged, I pleaded, but as the year went by, nothing was done. I think his weight started to balloon upwards at this time - he's 5'10" or so, and over 300lbs.

At the marriage I told my "stepbrother" that I thought he'd benefit from some CranioSacral Therapy. A month or two later I set him up with a guy whom I'd had some experience with. Took him over, introduced them, left, came back, paid the guy myself. He liked the experience, and has been back several times. As we were driving away, he noted how he hadn't realized how tight he was on the drive over, but what a difference it was now that those layers of tension were gone.

Ear Infections and Respiratory Distress are red-flags indicating that Osteopathic Manipulation would be beneficial. I knew this because my ear infections have cleared up since I started getting worked on a year and a half ago.

In chapter 2 of Andrew Weil's Spontaneous Healing, Dr. Weil talks about meeting Robert Fulford, D.O., and how Dr. Fulford had remarkable success with children's chronic health complaints. Ear infections usually resolved after two or three visits. Hyperactivity and other "behavioral disorders" frequently resolve themselves when abnormal pressures in the brain are taken care of.

My doctor was good friends with Fulford (took over his practice in Ohio, before following him to Arizona), and told me the rest of the story of how Dr. Fulford got dragged out of his Tucson retirement. Dr. Fulford had a pediatrician friend, and one day the friend was losing a baby to respiratory distress. Nothing the pediatrician did made a damn bit of difference. Dr. Fulford was called in. He put his hands on the baby; five minutes later: *poof*, all better.

Dr. Weil witnessed Fulford's remarkable healing touch, and even experienced it himself when his jaw was knocked out of alignment. He tried - begged and pleaded - to get his fellow M.D.s to witness for themselves the Osteopathic difference, but they mostly weren't interested.

See Lew Rockwell's Medical Control, Medical Corruption for a good take on how "medicine" got so fucked up. Summary: Doctors wanted a monopolly to raise their incomes, Rockefellers wanted more business for their pharmaceuticals. AMA lobbied to shut down the private medical schools, Carnegie and Rockefeller "endowed" the remaining medical schools to indoctrinate teh doktors in pharamceutical-based medicine.

100 Years of Medical Robbery and Real Medical Freedom are also good, and get into how insuran

I have to take special care of my upper back and neck since a car accident a few years ago.

this one's simple. Car accident induces "trauma" in the body's fascial (connective) tissue. If the body's stored trauma level is low, the new trauma is simply absorbed without any other symptoms. Every body has a carrying capacity for "trauma", and as long as that cup is less than full there are no problems. But as soon as the body's trauma carrying capacity is exceeded, symptoms will result.

The solution is simply to "empty the cup". All the crutches in the world (you mention mattress, pillow, MSM/glucosamine chondrotin, getting up every once in a while) are ineffective so long as the body is "stiffened" from traumas previously incurred. Cranial manipulation is the best method I've found... Either Cranial Osteopathy or Cranio-Sacral Therapy (from a Registered Cranio-Sacral Therapist [RCST]).

See The Nature of Trauma and Osteopathic Treatment Questions. (Both these doctors use an advanced form of cranial manipulation known as the Biodynamic model...)

I've some comments on osteopathy in my comment history, so you might want to subscribe and browse the older ones (surely #'s 24-48 will have at least one, and the first one you find will link to even older comments...) for more on my experience thereof.

I personally suffered from depression combined with panic disorder that set in approximately two years ago. Since then I have been taking Lexapro which effectively treated my depression and continues to treat my panic disorder.

So you were fine for years & years, and then two years ago everything changed and you've been on anti-depressants ever since? This is why us anti-pharmaceutical types get all hot under the collar when people say that some people are just broken, and need the benefits of modern drugs.

I myself have had great success controlling compulsive behavior with Cranial Osteopathic treatments (see case #10). After a few visits the doctor was like, "fixed your misshappen head" (I'd had a blow to the chin 7 years before, don't remember 2 weeks, and ever since I'd always thought that something didn't seem quite right about my head, but I didn't realize what it was), then a few weeks later, "finally got your head working right - when I first started working with you, it was like a disorganized bag of sand." Something about restoring proper cerebro-spinal fluid flow in the brain...

Met a psychologist years ago that said she had much, much better results with her clients when she sent them for cranio-sacral therapy (non-monopoly cranial osteopathic manipulation) and "Network Spinal Analysis" (a gentle offshoot of chiropractic) too.

Then there's always 'accupuncture' for emotions, which has worked mircales for hundreds of thousands of people.

And there's also the old standby, Hypnosis.

I'm of the opinion that antidepressants just cover up the actual problem, analogous to giving someone who's just broken their leg Morphine for the pain, but not bothering to set and cast it so the bones can heal properly.

I[t] just appears that like any other ability (sight and hearing included) different people have different levels of innate ability, and in the case of telepathy the vast majority are below the threshold of being able to notice it at all, and those few that do lack the a significant way of testing and training the ability.

The primary difference is in the training people pursue.

Ingo Swann says the "superpowers" are universal, and can also be trained. Some people are better than others, as with any field of human activity, but that has more to do with the level of development achieved in previous lifetimes than anything else. Some people are born super-psychics, others as a math-wiz, others as a music virtuoso, etc - all levels of competency evolve and develop over multiple life experiences.

In addition to labeling Randi as a 'fraud' yesterday, I also gave a link to Mr. Swann's recent piece on the biological basis of Telepathy.

Ingo regularly castigates the parapsychology establishment for undertaking poorly designed experiments. I think Mr. Swann says that telepathy and the other "superpowers of the human bio-mind" (remote viewing, telekenesis, out-of-body-travel, etc.), are experiences first, and everyone has a different experience. The differences are such that the phenomena do not respond well to the exacting controls of standardized trials.

I know I myself have had any number of experiences unexplainable by the standard "scofftic" crowd...

For example, my dogs' cranio sacral therapist came by today. Advanced Cranio Sacral technique works at the junction between matter and energy, between the physical body's non-living atoms and the life force that animates it.

I myself have had good experiences with a competent Cranial Osteopath. When the one dog started limping after he got chased out of the back of the truck by grandpa's wheelchair, I searched out someone who uses cranial technique on animals. "Ask and ye shall receive, search and the door shall be open to you." The other dog was adopted at approximently 6 years old, and three years later he was still a nervous wreck, acting like he expected to get kicked to the curb at any moment.

The "injured dog" took to the work immediately. Two sessions later, no more limp.

The "heartbroken dog" has taken a lot more work. At the start of the first session, he wouldn't let the lady touch him. She asked me if it was okay if she worked 'remotely' - I said it was fine by me. She sat some distance away from the dog (2 or 3 feet), and did her thing as I watched. Before long, he opened up to the treatment, and allowed her to proceed.

"Heartbroken dog" has had ... probably around 8 sessions, and he's totally changed. Whereas before he was in a constant state of panic, he's now happy and playful. Whereas before his ears were constantly pulled back, as if to say "oh no, what have I done!", the ears are now perked forward, as "hey, what's going on here?"

My aunt adopted a one-eyed 6-month old Doberman almost 3 years ago. The dog was wild; my dad said he needed Ritalin. "Cowboy" wouldn't let the cranio-sacral therapist touch him at all for the first two sessions, and she did her work separated by a couple feet of air. I had to sneak him out of the boarder's for the second session, and the lady who was staffing the front desk said "you can go get him, because he doesn't like me." A week and a half later I saw her again, and she said "he's [cowboy] not as aggressive as he used to be..." After the third session everyone started noticing what a changed dog he was. Today that same staffer at the dog boarding house commented on how "cowboy loves me now" - quite a change from the "I'm gonna kill you" bark he used to give her.

I'm sure there will be any number of

ah, but the thing is, the discomfort's there from the moment I sit down. It started 7.5 years ago, in my first semester at college. I learned to ignore it, and while it does get worse if I don't take a break, the difference between taking a break and not is nearly imperceptible. Your suggestions might have done something for me then, but based on what I've learned since I started with the Osteopathic treatment program, what I've been through these last few years was inevitable.

But I'm getting better now. The difference between tonight & 4.5 years ago (when I was still in College) is amazing. Before I was miserable after 30 minutes, now it takes 6 hours to really screw me up. Which is why I pimp Osteopathic care every chance I get.

It seems like your fiance would benefit from a consult with a capable Cranial Osteopath, or "biodynamic" cranio-sacral therapist. At least pick up a copy of Andrew Weil's Spontaneous Healing and read chapter 2. :)

such a simple question, and yet I'm thinking through all the books I've bought, and none of them really talk about what I've learned from my cranial osteopath or the biodynamic cranio-sacral therapist (superior, imho, to regular craniosacral therapy, as taught by the Upledger Institute) I've also worked with.

The Edgar Cayce Manual for Health through Drugless Therapy was written by an Osteopath, but he practiced before Dr. Sutherland's "cranial" technique (a supplemental to Andrew Still's system of osteopathic manipulation) became widespread.

If all you want to do is learn how to visualize, start with Win Wenger's techniques, or start by learning Self Hypnosis, or The Silva Method / Silva Ultramind, or start with a notepad to write down your dreams every morning (working towards waking up in your dreams, commonly known as "lucid dreaming").

In another post, I talked about how I discovered I had a problem 7 years ago... I missed the first week and a half of my senior year (I bumped my head, and don't remember 2 weeks), and went out on the internet to get information about speed reading, so I could catch up in my classes. I ended up buying Win's The Einstein Factor, which uses visualization for creative problem solving. "Wow, neat, I want to be able to do that." Win says that visualization is a natural human ability, and even people who don't visualize can easily be taught.

For me, Win Wenger's methods didn't work. So I picked up a silva method book. Then self-hypnosis books. These books all have steps to follow techniques to get the skills (creative problem solving, self mind control, visualization, etc) promised. I was also interested in Lucid Dreaming, and learned all I could about dreaming, what to do, which vitamins to take, etc. I did all these things, and still I couldn't even remember anything more than the tiniest fragments of my dreams when I woke in the morning, let alone "picture" something when I was wide-awake.

After stumbling around for six years, I figured that my problem was related to my disfunctional body, and that I needed an osteopath to fix that. My mother frequently told me what a difficult baby I was. Now I know that crying is an indication that baby hurts. Osteopathic Manipulation is especially good for children - ADHD, chronic childhood ear infections, ... etc. - all are a good indication that the kid's body is out of alignment, and needs proper attention.

Dr. D. says that one of the purposes of osteopathic treatment is to remove trauma from the body. I needed osteopathic treatment because of unresolved brith trauma and the afore-mentioned head injury. Most people (99.9+%) are nowhere near as bad as I was, and can learn visualization without going through all the hoops I've been through.

Healing Through Cranial Osteopathy by Tajinder Deoora - I don't have this book, but it does seem like a good modern take on what Cranial Osteopathy is good for.

Also see chapter 2 of Andrew Weil's Spontaneous Healing.

(not all Osteopaths are equally talented. The most specialized form of osteopathic manipulation treats the patient's visual perception, but my osteopath says there's only about 100 D.O.'s in the country who've taken the training. Cranio-Sacral therapy is osteopathic manipulation done by non-osteopaths. Your mileage will vary with CST practitioners - some are very good, some so-so, some have just taken a week or two of courses & set up shop as a CST. Biodynamic certification is a good indication of competency; some Biodynamic practitioners may be more advanced than cranial-academy certified docs.... ? - gotta build your own road map here. :)

Hope this helps.