The therapeutic use of mud and clay to eliminate toxins from the body has been practiced since ancient times. Today this therapy is being rediscovered by a number of physicians in "alternative" medicine as an effective means of clearing the body of accumulations of toxic elements and to reestablish normal nerve and energy flow.
A leading proponent of mud pack therapy is Robert Marshall, PhD, CCN. His company Premier Research Labs of Austin, Texas. (www.prlabs.com) produces nutritional products including therapeutic grade clay and moor mud packs. Dr. Marshall teaches seminars to health practitioners on Quantum Reflex Analysis (QRA), a form of applied kinesiology or muscle testing he developed that provides a means of identifying imbalances in the body and stressors contributing to poor health. One of the most important and often overlooked areas that prevents the body from healing according to Dr. Marshall is the physical trauma caused by things such as fractures, injuries, surgery scars and vaccination scars. These areas can become weakened causing toxic chemicals and metabolic toxins to accumulate there and creating interference fields or blocked energetic pathways that can weaken organs and glands. Through the use of mud packs toxins can be pulled out externally from interference fields reestablishing normal healthy energy which can resolve physical symptoms and chronic health conditions.
If this all sounds a bit "out there" I admit that I had reservations about the theories of Dr. Marshall and the effectiveness of mud packs. However I was willing to give them a try because it was recommended by Dr. Ralph Golan, a medical doctor whom I highly respect and have consulted many times over the years about my health. Dr. Golan found that nutritional and hormonal treatments are often helpful for his patients but sometimes they are not helpful enough to resolve chronic symptoms and conditions. By incorporating QRA and mud packs into his practice he has gotten much better results.
Through QRA Dr. Golan identified three interference fields in me: a Cesarean scar, an episiotomy scar, and a vaccination scar. I mud packed these areas according to a subscribed schedule and instructions which included mixing up the mud pack mixture in a nonmetallic container; then letting it sit covered while I "pretreated" the area to be treated with a vial that contained highly charged herbs and crystals to strengthen the electromagnetic fields of the body; applying the mud on the skin of the targeted area and waiting ten minutes while sitting in a chair outside facing north or east; and finally after washing off the mud doing a hand or foot bath in warm water containing a mixture of mineral-crystal complexes, herbs and other ingredients to draw out the released toxins. The entire procedure took about an hour and while I found the whole thing to be somewhat relaxing I couldn't help but wonder how many people would be open minded enough to follow through with this program which included mud packing each area for several days in a row.
Mud packing my Cesarean and episiotomy scars went smoothly, however when I tried treating my vaccination scar, I had a bad reaction similar to the one I get when I consume a stimulant or take a drug resulting in very disturbed sleep and night sweats. When I had the area retested by Dr. Golan it had not cleared and my "download" sites in my hands and feet, areas where toxins leave the body were blocked. I then went through a lengthy schedule of mud packs to unblock these areas and repeated treating the vaccination scar but had the same bad reaction several times. According to Dr. Golan's analysis through QRA the vaccination scar was "reflexing" off my adrenal glands, a chronically weak area for me.
My health search in the meantime led me to LENS or Low Energy Neurofeedback System, a form of neurofeedback that contributed substantially to my recovery from Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia. (For more on my experience with this got to: fibrofriends.typepad.com/fibro_friends/2010/05/biofeedback-therapies-for-cfs-fms.html) About five months into the therapy I went through a period of several months when I experienced a strong taste in my mouth that lasted up to 15 minutes following each weekly session. My intuition was that this had something to do with resolving detoxification problems and may have reversed what is referred to as the Methylation Cycle Block in persons with CFS. Several months after this occured I repeated the mud pack therapy on my vaccination scar with no adverse affects. Initially I felt a dramatic positive shift in my health resulting in improved sleep and a lessening of all my remaining symptoms for several days. Although this shift proved temporary, I feel that a layer of stress was lifted from my body as a result of the mud packs on the vaccination scar. A chronic pattern of pain on the left side of my body starting at the top of my head, going down the left side of my neck and into my left shoulder and mid back, which was often triggered by stimulants and stress has not reoccurred since I treated the vaccination scar on my left arm and I seem to have reached another level in my overall recovery.
Mud pack therapy may be beneficial for others with Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia in resolving stressors that may be contributing to their conditions but I do not think that it is a key therapy for reversing these syndromes. It is important to note that I was not able to follow through with this program until after I had done substantial work with LENS.