Missing Lymph: Blog

What if your body cut back the time it took to heal noticeably? Mine has since my tonsils re-grew; cuts, bruises, blisters and burns heal much faster than before. Which makes me wonder: how does lymphatic fluid promote cell repair and how did my body heal itself before, when I didn't have tonsils?

The current wound I'm healing: a blister on my foot from walking in the wrong pair of shoes w. my husband.

My challenge: how to bring my rapid healing to the attention of the right scientists, any suggestions?

Is this a women's beauty commercial? No, this is the third in the "Lymph Flows" series I started to report how my life is different as I live it with tonsils. As many of you know, I regrew my tonsils accidentally and now I'm convinced lymph is more than science currently knows. Today, I'll tell you about my new nails and hair, both which became markedly different after my tonsils regrew.

This is the first time I discuss with you results other than neurological of my tonsil regrowth - I'd categorize these results as dermatological. I hope my efforts bring attention from the world of dermatology to how lymph may interact with skin, hair and nails.

1. Nails:

Before: Sometimes bitten, dry and brittle
Now: Prettier, stronger yet pliant, nails. My pinky finger on my right hand seems to have acquired a life of its own, growing the smallest of measurements longer than the one on my left. Underneath that right, pinky finger nail, that the skin looks healthier (i.e. rosier) than the others. I suspect that slowly, my body is going to make all my nails look just like that one. My fingertips, especially of the right pinky, seem to have increased sensitivity, as if I could be the type of person that could sense with her fingertips the smallest of, say, tumors.

2. Hair:

Before: Breaking off easily and very fine, after my "palatine" tonsils (the ones that were removed and the last ones to become noticeable -- after my sublingual and nasopharyngeal ones were "reactivated" by my cell renewal regimen) were more noticeably back in working order, my old head of hair has slowly fallen off, to make way for my new hair.
Now: Thicker and shiny, I believe eventually, my hair will reach a new balance that includes the lymph that must flow in micro-amounts to my scalp. I can sense now that my hair follicles seem to have gotten deeper, and if by mistake I pull out some of my hair, it hurts a lot more than it did before.

I'd like to suggest another study based on my new nails and hair: how do the hair and nails of tonsillectomized people differ from the hair and nails of their "tonsils-intact" counterparts?

You may wonder if I show benefits to my skin: I do, my skin has become more supple but I suspect I have not shed all the pre-tonsils/lymph-deprived skin I had. The process is probably going to take awhile, I'm making sure that all the factors I do control (diet, exercise, rest, relaxation) are as close to optimal as I can muster (I get an "F" in exercise this past weekend but usually I'm pretty good!).

Hello to all the Venture Capitalists (VCs) who found this through Brain Waves.

This is second posting in a series I named "Lymph Flows" to discuss how regrowing my tonsils restored the flow of lymph to my head, in a very noticeable way, and seemed to re-energize my entire nervous system. The first, Lymph Flows 1.1, discussed how I'd reached my Missing Lymph tonsillectomy survey goal and how I enjoy helping people who want to know more about the possible long-term effects of their tonsillectomies and people who have contemplated having a tonsillectomy but are still entertaining other options.

Other Missing Lymph postings are:

1. A suggestion for all VCs to design a "tonsil implant" to be used by anyone who was tonsillectomized who is in serious lymphatic imbalance, to strengthen their nervous system and to improve their quality of life.

2. A listing of all the scientists with whom I've already communicated about my theory that lymph is "second to blood" in neurological ways currently unknown to science and medicine.

3. The first of a series of research questions I've thought of as a tonsillectomy research advocate, other questions include how do tonsillectomized mice differ from "tonsils-intact" counterparts.

Today, Lymph Flows is dedicated to my stronger backbone. As some of you may know, tonsils are located @ the sides of your throat, practically @ the top of your backbone. Ever since my tonsils re-grew, I've felt lymph flowing through my back, in a painless way, making me stronger and able to stand straighter (something I had always wondered about, I had a mini-dowager's hump noticeable on my 15th birthday, ten years after my tonsillectomy). A stonger backbone has also given me the most powerful lymphatic relaxation I have ever experienced. Now, on my yoga mat, I can focus on my backbone and how it relaxes every nerve ending of my body. I know that, without tonsils, my body had never relaxed as deeply, even though I'd been in excellent shape, doing Pilates with relaxation exercises frequently.

VCs around the world are invited to invest in research to prove that lymph adds power to the nervous system, and by the same token, it makes a nervous system much more capable of deep relaxation.

Awhile ago, I made a mental note to post for you the numerous research questions that I can think of as a tonsillectomy research advocate. The first I'd like you to ponder is "how does lymph influence neurogenesis (neuron creation)?" The report that triggered my idea was about pioneering research carried out by Elizabeth Gould, a Princeton University professor. Here is the part of that article that struck me:

"... several important areas of the brain continue to create neurons throughout
life, a process called adult neurogenesis. In recent years, Gould has
investigated factors that influence the rate of adult neurogenesis and the roles
played by the new brain cells. ... recent studies examined neurogenesis in a
part of the brain called the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and
memory as well as in responding to stress. Previous studies had shown that
stress can significantly reduce neurogenesis."

Tonsillectomy research advocacy will bring you to some of the brightest minds in science. I plan to present to you, one by one, all the outstanding scientists that I've "met" in my quest to spur scientific research into the long-term effects of tonsillectomies and in my quest to have science discover that lymph adds power to the nervous system and supports the brain making it more stable, happier, put-together and healthier overall.

Here's the list, in alphabetical order, and with sketchy details, of the first batch I've worked on:

Jonathan D. Cohen, Director, Center for the Study of the Mind and the Brain, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ: While Dr. Cohen is on sabbatical, someone else handled my email - I think my best route here is to recruit interested and somewhat renegade students to use tonsillectomies as research criteria!

Eric Connor, Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD: I think my written eloquence fluctuates sometimes, the email I sent Dr. Connor is one of the best I've created putting "fingers to keyboard" rather than pen to paper! Yet, I think Dr. Connor's lab may not be set up for the kind of research I wrote to him about... dead end? Nah, I'm going to ask him if he knows someone else @ Hopkins who may be set up to run tests on tonsillectomized folks...

Lutz Jaencke, Germany: Has shown great kindness when replying to my inquiry. An email I wrote to him equated researching lymph beyond immunology to declaring the earth is round when everyone else considered it flat!

Wolf Singer, Director, Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Germany: We are talking neurological research royalty here, wish me luck not getting bounced out of the virtual door!

Thomas Metzinger, Max-Planck-Institute for Brain Research, Germany: Same as above

Filippi Massimo, Italy: Dr. Massimo "heard" my request and asked me to be patient, it takes time to make things happen in science.

Osaka, Japan: Dr. Osaka utlized fMRI technology to publish a paper which I am having trouble finding for you right this minute but which I hope to find eventually to quote for you!
Whew! If any of you would like to volunteer to lobby these or any other scientists, let me know!

As some of you know, regrowing my tonsils restored the flow of lymph to my head and restored part of me to how I was just before my tonsils were removed. If you'd like to know what happened, email me, please, because at this time the story is still too personal to share with people I don't know in an open forum like this one. Instead, I've begun a "Lymph Flows" work in progress as I report to you how my life is different now, as I live it with tonsils:

Today, completed Tonsillectomy Surveys #49 and #50 alighted to my delight in my emailbox @ TigerNet, Princeton's online alumni community. With #50 I've reached my goal, yet there are a few outstanding surveys people have promised to return which I hope to accommodate, so the sample size will exceed my goal.

I've also enjoyed being able to respond, with knowledge and practical advice, to people with concerns about their tonsils or their tonsillectomies. If my childhood dream of going to medical school still comes true, I'd become the first physician to regard her niche as "tonsillectomy reversal" and also the one to scientifically prove that lymph is "second to blood" in ways that are currently unknown to medicine.