Chronic Pain Relief Without Drugs: Introducing the Oska Pulse
Clinically Proven Technology Using Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF)
- The Oska Pulse is an FDA-registered, Class 1 medical pain relief device.
- While the Oska Pulse is a fairly new product, the technology behind it has existed for six decades, and there have been over 10,000 clinical studies on it.
- The Oska Pulse is clinically proven to reduce inflammation, increase circulation, improve mobility, and relieve pain.
- Users of the Oska Pulse have reported it being effective for reducing headaches and improving sleep, in addition to relieving pain.
- It has even been useful for pets, helping with issues like hip dysplasia.
- Get $55 off the purchase of your own Oska Pulse! Details can be found at the end of this episode.
The technology for pulsed electromagnetic field devices (PEMF) has been around for 60 years and used in healthcare systems around the world. Oska Wellness has revolutionized this technology by producing a miniaturized version for personal use, the Oska Pulse. Tami interviews the founder, Greg Houlgate, about the history, the mission, the research, and his own personal use of this new product. Does the Oska Pulse belong in your fibromyalgia toolkit?
About Greg Houlgate
Greg Houlgate is the founder of Oska Wellness. He’s a board member, the chief product and business development officer, and has been an innovator of new technologies in both medical and consumer products. He has over 25 years of senior management, sales and marketing experience in many companies, including DJO’s Global Recovery Science Division, which is a Blackstone Company; Onsite Network, which is also an interactive media company; West Coast Trends, who is a leading travel luggage and golf bag provider; Porsche Design; and Callaway Golf. Greg holds a bachelor of science degree in economics from UC Irvine and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
Links & Resources
Note: This episode’s show notes and transcript contain affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, we will likely receive a small commission. Read about what we do and don’t promote here.
- Get free copies of Tami’s books here
- The Conquering Fibromyalgia Summit (affiliate link) is happening right now and runs from September 9th through the 20th, 2019. This is an online conference featuring doctors, researchers and advocates, and it’s hosted by a doctor who also has fibromyalgia. Our own Fibro Coach, Tami Stackelhouse, is one of the speakers and will be offering an exclusive bonus class for conference participants.
- Get $55 off the purchase of your own Oska Pulse! Since this episode was released, we have had to update the discount code and can no longer put the code on our website. To get your discount, contact Oska Wellness, tell them you heard about the Oska Pulse on the Fibromyalgia Podcast™️ and give them the code that’s in the episode audio. They will help you update to the new code and give you your discount.
- The tracking tool mentioned in this episode can help make visits to your doctor more effective, giving them documented evidence for your pain and your fatigue levels. Access this tracking tool and all of our bonus materials using this link.
Research Studies
- Hijmans, Jamie G., et al. “Insufficient sleep is associated with a pro‐atherogenic circulating microRNA signature.” Experimental physiology 104.6 (2019): 975-982.
- Shurman, Joseph, et al. “Treating Chronic Pain Using the Oska Pulse Device: A double blind clinical trial with placebo.”
- Note: Additional studies on PEMF can be found by visiting Google Scholar.
Transcript
You are listening to the Fibromyalgia Podcast with Tami Stackelhouse, Episode 19.
Welcome to the Fibromyalgia Podcast! I’m your Coach, Tami Stackelhouse.
In today’s episode, I’m going to be talking about the Oska Pulse. This is an FDA-registered, Class 1 medical pain relief device.
[01:05] Now, before we jump in today’s episode, I do have another listener shout out for you, and this comment came from my public Facebook page and was posted by Angela McMillan Jenkins. She says, “I just discovered your podcast and am loving it. It seems like I have been walking in slow motion before and since my diagnosis. Now I’m beginning to think I can get through this and live a new, normal life without being consumed by pain, frustration, and guilt. Thank you.”
Thank you so much, Angela! Thank you for sharing this. You can live a new, normal life and feel better. That is exactly what my team and I want for each and every one of you who are listening here today.
[01:54] Please keep tuning into our podcast episodes, and if you haven’t yet, be sure you go grab a copy of my books for free. They are at FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/books and of course if there’s ever anything we can do to help, you can always request a consultation online as well.
I also want to remind everybody: these comments, these reviews, are fuel for us to keep doing what we’re doing. I love it so much when you guys share your experience with the podcast, whether it’s posting on our Facebook page or writing a review in Apple Podcasts, it means a lot to us and it helps keep us going in the days when it feels like it’s hard.
[02:47] I also want to let you guys know about an event that is happening right now as you’re listening to this episode if you’re listening to it right when it came out. The Conquering Fibromyalgia Summit is happening right now and runs from September 9th through the 20th, 2019. This is an online summit, for those of you who are listening, like I said, as this episode comes out, this is happening right now. So, make sure you go to this website so you can participate. For those of you who are listening after the fact — like if you ran across the podcast a little bit farther down the road and are listening to this episode afterwards — then this may or may not be available. It just depends on what they decide to do with replays.
But this summit, The Conquering Fibromyalgia Summit, really has a lot of amazing speakers. I’m one of the speakers. So is Dr. Ginevra Liptan. There are other doctors, researchers and advocates, and it’s hosted by a doctor who also has fibromyalgia. There are going to be really amazing interviews. You might be able to tell from the title, it’s all about conquering fibromyalgia, and that is the website as well. So if you’re interested in checking this out, just go to ConqueringFibromyalgia.com and you’ll be able to register to get those interviews. They’re actually doing them by email, so just register with your email address. They will send those interviews right to your email box. And for those of you who are listening after the fact, you’ll just have to go to that website and see if they’re offering replays.
I am giving an exclusive bonus class for all the conference attendees. In addition to my talk I do as part of the summit, I am doing an additional class that is going to be a live class all about how to master your fatigue. And by live class, I mean that exactly. I am going to be teaching it live. It will be online, but it is going to be live. That means you are going to get to interact with me directly as part of the class. We’ll have all of this information, all the dates, the link, and everything all in today’s show notes. Just go to FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19 and I really hope that you’ll register and take advantage of all the amazing training that’s part of this summit.
[05:30] All right, now, on to today’s episode. As I mentioned at the beginning, today I’m going to be talking about the Oska Pulse. And before I get started, I have to do my little medical disclaimer that I probably should have been doing all along. Just make sure that everyone understands the information in this podcast should not be considered as medical advice. I’m definitely educating you, but it is not intended to replace you working with a doctor or other healthcare provider. So, take this as education, and take it to your doctor. Your doctor is also, of course, welcome to listen to this episode if they want to learn more about this device.
[06:15] Now, first I’m going to give you a little history on Oska. I will tell you a little bit about the founder who I’m going to be interviewing. Then, we are going to jump right into the interview. When the interview is over, please keep listening. I actually just received my own Oska Pulse. Right after I complete my interview with Greg, I’m going to be doing an unboxing. I will try to describe for those of you who are listening to this episode, but we will have the video of the unboxing at FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19. If you want to actually see the device — and Greg demonstrates it during our interview — you can just go to the website, FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19, and you can watch that video and see the device, see a little bit more about how it works, and watch the unboxing.
[Note: I have been using the Oska Pulse for a few weeks since I recorded this episode. I have included notes on my own use of the Oska Pulse at the end of this transcript.]
[07:18] Also, at the very end and during my interview with Greg, we have a discount code, which will get you a $55 discount if you wish to purchase your own Oska Pulse.
[07:34] Oska Wellness was founded in 2015 after aiding in the recovery of a koala, badly burned in a brush fire. The prototype of the Oska Pulse was developed by Mike and Shirley Hawker in Australia. The Oska Pulse found its way to the United States where the device landed in the hands of founder Greg Houlgate, who was already familiar with the pain relieving effects of PEMF, which, by the way, stands for pulsed electromagnetic field.
[08:15] He became reinvigorated by the technology and saw a massive improvement in the health condition his father had, which he will actually describe in our interview. He’ll tell you a little bit more about that. Greg redesigned the product and brought the disruptive technology to market for chronic pain suffers nationwide. You’ll hear in the interview why we talk about this being disruptive technology — because it’s a technology that has existed for a long time yet also is completely new, which is a contradiction, I realize. But you will understand when we get to the interview.
[09:02] For those of you who are curious, like I was, the name Oska honors that Aussie koala. His name was Oscar, and they decided to call the device and the company “Oska” because as Americans and Australians we would both say it the same way. That’s where the name comes from, which I think is great. For those of you who have wondered how to pronounce that, whether it’s “oh-ska” or “ah-ska”, just think Oscar and pretend like you’re Australian. It’s “ah-ska”.
[09:45] Today, I am interviewing the founder, Greg Houlgate, and like I mentioned, stick around after the interview because I’m going to do that unboxing. I’m also going to be giving you the code where you can get $55 off of your own Oska Pulse.
Greg is the founder. He’s a board member; he’s the chief product and business development officer of Oska Wellness, and has been an innovator of new technologies in both medical and consumer products. He has over 25 years of senior management, sales and marketing experience in many companies. I’m just going to mention a few of these, just because I think you’ll recognize some of them. He worked with DJO’s Global Recovery Science Division, which is a Blackstone Company; Onsite Network, which is also an interactive media company; West Coast Trends, who is a leading travel luggage and golf bag provider; Porsche Design; and Callaway Golf. Greg holds a bachelor of science degree in economics from UC Irvine and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.
[10:57] TS — All right, awesome. Welcome Greg. Thank you so much for being here and doing this interview with me.
[11:02] GH — Thank you for having me on today.
[11:04] TS — Awesome. I first became aware of Oska Pulse because several of my clients and many of my students use it, and it’s really become a key factor in a lot of their fibromyalgia tool boxes. It’s one of the key ways they manage their pain. That’s how I was introduced.
I have tons of questions. I’m super excited to ask them all. And, I think the best place to start is — How did this even come to be? Let’s start at the beginning.
[11:40] GH — So, first off, great intro. I think most good ideas come from necessity, right? So, the original device was actually developed by a husband and wife in Western Australia. He is an engineer, and she is a mothercraft nurse. They have a daughter that suffers from chronic pain. I don’t know if she’s actually been diagnosed with fibro, but a lot of her conditions are a high inflammatory state.
[12:10] GH — So, for about 10 years, they were playing with PEMF, pulsed electromagnetic field, devices. And, again, the technology has been around for 60 years and used in lots of different healthcare systems around the world.
So, fast forward, they developed a prototype of a miniaturized version, and they had brought it to the U.S. to find a way to take it to market. And them being an engineer and a nurse, they weren’t really business people but had been around the technology for a long time, and they used versions of it to help people in Australia.
[12:46] GH — So, I was introduced to the device. I was told by the people that introduced it to me that it did all these great things. And, like most people that have dealt with people that are in pain, I was skeptical, but not my father who’s now 89, just celebrated his 89th birthday. He suffers from a condition called peripheral arterial disease, neuropathy, diabetic wounds, and severe edema.
For the last 13 years I’ve been working with his doctors and caregivers to keep him from losing his legs because with the wounds, they continue to want to amputate. I’ve actually taken two sabbaticals over the last 13 years, working with his doctors, doing everything from hyperbaric chambers to chelation therapy to all kinds of invasive surgeries. And fortunately we’ve been able to save his legs.
[13:44] GH — But about three and a half years ago, he was having a really bad episode, and I was introduced to this device. I took this little tiny device, about the size of your cell phone, and I put it between his legs. After a very short trial, in the same day, his legs went from the size of a grapefruit back to normal, and he was able to walk for the first time in three days.
[14:08] TS — That’s amazing.
[14:09] GH — That was my moment where I said, “Okay, time out. What’s going on?” The reason I was introduced to it was I had spent the last 13 years in medical devices working with TENS units, ultrasound, and muscle stim, and all kinds of different technologies that help people get out of pain and get back to being ambulatory, back to regular life. I know about this technology, but I didn’t know that you could miniaturize it and make it personal and portable. So, that’s how I was introduced to it.
[14:42] GH — We redesigned the product, and put a brand on it, and took it to market — and in the process of doing so, the FDA made us a Class 1 device in two weeks.
[14:55] TS — Wow. That seems awfully fast for the way the FDA moves.
[14:58] GH — Yeah. I was actually called by the examiner and they said, “Please take this product to market. We need products like this in the U.S.” I was inspired by that and my father to really push hard on bringing this forward.
[15:16] TS — Awesome. Had you ever, with all the work that you’ve done with medical devices, had you ever seen results like that?
[15:22] GH — I’ll be honest with you. No. I was a bit shocked. And this will give you a little insight into my personality, I did spend the next twenty hours reading everything I could find on PubMed. I probably read close to 1000, maybe 1200, abstracts on probably 100-200 clinical studies and found that this technology existed for six decades and there are over 10,000 studies on it. Typically, it’s been used by the medical device industry for bone growth stimulation, for wound healing and progression. But those devices are very large. They tend to be about the size of a fishing box, and they cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000. So, they’re not really approachable for the average person to use and get the benefit of it.
[16:13] TS — Right. That sounds more like a device your doctor might have in the office, and you come in and get a treatment and go home, not something that you just have at home to use when you need it.
[16:22] GH — Correct. Yeah, exactly. And then, by the way, I’m guilty. I was in the med device business and sold bone growth stimulators that billed out at about $5,000 and we had a lot of success with them. But, when you’re done using them after your prescription, typically a 30, 60, or 90 day prescription, they are dead. You can’t turn them back on. The battery stops working, so they become landfill. So I didn’t like that business plan. I didn’t think we were helping patients with that. That’s one of the reasons I left that business and got involved with this company.
[16:56] TS — That’s amazing. So, tell us what PEMF does. How does it work?
[17:02] GH — Sure. So, PEMF is also pronounced “pem-f” for pulsed electromagnetic field therapy. It is based on the science that your cells are electrical fields, and if you can increase and decrease the polarity of those fields, you can re-regulate the cell. When you re-regulate the cell, you allow for nutrients to come in and waste to go out of the cell. By doing so, by increasing that circulation at a cellular level, it allows the tissue to recover.
[17:37] GH — The trick is, all the other devices out there tend to run on a single frequency, and they tend to need a practitioner to dial in a frequency for your body. What we did was, we took that science and we send a signal that frequencies on nerve, bone, soft tissue, and your circulatory system, which includes your lymphatic system, which is very important because all of those systems work in congress to help your body either #1. Be in distress or #2. Feel better. That’s what’s different about PEMF in the Oska device over all other devices.
[18:16] TS — So, the other devices are keying into one of those things?
[18:20] GH — Correct. Yeah.
[18:22] TS — Right. Okay. Amazing. One of the things I learned when I was talking with your staff was that it actually doesn’t have to be on your body, that it has a field that you’re working with. You want to talk about that a little?
[18:35] GH — Correct. Yeah. So, I’m going to turn the device on, and you may or may not see a little light in the background on here. That’s just an indicator to let you know that it’s on. The field is about the size of a beach ball. And the beauty of that is, it can go onto my shirt. It doesn’t need to be on my skin. So, what’s really important about that for your audience is that, at least this has been my experience, most of the fibro warriors and people out there that are really struggling with that condition have comorbidities, and they have other things going on. A lot of times even wearing clothing is painful.
[19:13] TS — Right.
[19:14] GH — The beauty of this is that if you have distress in your elbow, maybe your fibro is currently emanating down your forearm, you can literally put this device next to you while you’re sitting down, or put it in your purse while it’s next to you, and the field will transmit into your body. That’s a really important point.
Also, this is a non-ionizing pulsed electromagnetic field; your cell phone is an ionizing electromagnetic field. This device is safe. Your cellphone is not so safe.
[Note of correction: The electromagnetic field produced by your cell phone’s antenna is also non-ionizing. However, Greg is right about the “not so safe” part. This article from the American Cancer Society lists study results as “inconclusive” on whether the electromagnetic radiation from cell phones cause cancer or not. “Updated Cell Phone Study Findings Still Inconclusive“, American Cancer Society, February 2, 2018.]
[19:51] TS — I was hoping we were going to get to that, because I actually just told somebody last week that I’m super curious about this because you know, electromagnetic fields, we hear about cell phones being bad. So how is this good? I’m glad you addressed that.
[20:07] GH — So, that’s the difference. And what’s really important about that is the FDA has oversight on over 187,000 different medical technologies. Just think about that for a second. Of all the technologies that they have oversight on, this is the only technology, pulsed electromagnetic field, that has never had an adverse event ever reported to the FDA in 60 years. So, it is the safest thing you can use.
[20:42] GH — And, for somebody that’s really struggling with inflammation and pain, and fibro being one of those conditions, as you know, on the spectrum of different things from POT syndrome [postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome] to CRPS [complex regional pain syndrome], they’re all inflammatory situations. People will do crazy things like ketamine injections or chelation. They do these very expensive and wild things. This is an opportunity for them to try something that’s not going to hurt them, first of all, which is big. And there are no side effects that have ever been recorded. And it can be reused over and over and over. So, it builds up over time and is a greater help to them over time.
[21:25] TS — Right. How long does it last? When you turn it on and it runs, what’s the typical cycle? Those kind of things.
[21:32] GH — Yeah. So, the protocol — or what we like to tell people is the best use case — is it’s got a ninety-minute program that cycles through those different cell types: nerve, bone, soft tissue and circulatory, over the ninety minutes repeatedly. But you can turn it back on again, and run it again for another ninety minutes. You cannot overdo it, which is the beauty of it.
[21:56] GH — What we’ve discovered and what we’ve learned, and we don’t have studies from our own device with fibro, but what we do have is a lot of patient testimonials, what they tell us is they tend to be very sensitive to electromagnetic fields. They’ll tend to put it maybe eight or nine inches away from them to start, and then move it a little bit closer as their body adapts to the signal, because it’s a healthy signal and their bodies are in an unhealthy place.
[22:22] TS — Right, exactly. You can have a healing crisis.
[22:27] GH — Right. Which is exactly the right explanation.
[22:32] TS — Yes.
[22:33] GH — We don’t want that. The other thing that we recommend to you, and this may be hard for some people, is if your body’s low in sodium, potassium, or magnesium and you’re not hydrated, it won’t work as well. We highly recommend that you work collectively with your dietitian, nutritionist, or your doctor, and try to give yourself the best chance to recover and feel better.
[22:56] TS — Right. Right. And you know the hydration thing, I wouldn’t have thought about that, but it totally makes sense because electricity transmits through water faster and easier.
[23:08] GH — You’re exactly right. And it’s simple science, right? It’s actually very simple, and we don’t think about the fact that we can actually impact ourselves positively by drinking water. It should be clean water, right?
[23:20] TS — We’re not talking diet coke here.
[23:22] GH — And you should have good nutrition in your body to help accelerate the process. Those are things that are common sense. But you’d be surprised. A lot of people will feel something different. Well, you’re not hydrated. Your body’s not going to respond as well. And so it’s not a cure all. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not immediate. It took you years to get into this condition, and it’s going to take some time to get you out.
We recommend people use it as much as they possibly can the first thirty days. We tell them, use it as much as you can. You’ll start to feel better typically in 2-3 weeks. And the crazy thing is, a typical patient tends to have a pretty positive response within the first couple of weeks.
[24:09] TS — That’s cool. That’s cool. So, does it primarily work, then, on the inflammation that we’re feeling, or is it working on other things then as well?
[24:17] GH — Yes. I like to explain for the layperson. You may have people listening that aren’t necessarily scientific. Think about when we were in high school, and we had a lock that you had to use on your locker, right? So, you had a combination lock. Think of the cells just like a combination lock. If you can dial in that combination correctly, you’ll allow for the most amount of access of nutrition, and allow the waste in the cell to get out, so that the cell can re-regulate. So that’s how it works. Physiologically the science behind that is very, very well studied and very well understood.
[24:55] GH — We call that the mechanism of action. For anybody that’s listening and understands medical stuff, we’ll talk about the drugs they take. There’s a mechanism of action on the drug. Most doctors and providers understand that. But a lot of patients don’t quite understand why they’re being given a drug, or that they’re trying to accelerate some sort of a mechanism of action. Our device does exactly what your body does or wants to do. A lot of times drugs don’t. What they are trying to do is interrupt a signal to make something else happen. So, this is obviously one of the safer ways of helping yourself.
[25:31] TS — Okay, cool. What kinds of pain does it seem to work on best? What things does it work on best?
[25:39] GH — So, I may have to break this question down into a couple of parts.
[25:46] TS — Please do. I don’t know what I’m even asking here.
[25:48] GH — So… What does it work best on? What we try to guide people on, and what the literature also supports is: PEMF works really, really well on inflamed tissue. So, if you think about that, a headache or PTSD or plantar fasciitis or spinal stenosis, they’re all inflammatory states. We have patients that have claimed that they are getting relief from all of those conditions.
[26:16] GH — Fibro is, in part, an inflammatory state. It’s not all inflammatory. Some of it is disruptive nerve signal, and some of it is DNA. It’s like you just were born with a certain wiring that’s very difficult. So, for a fibro patient, we tell them if you’re going to use the device, you really need to work your way into it. You also need to understand what other kinds of therapy you’re doing to help benefit your body.
[26:48] GH — So, when you ask what kind of pain it works best on, it works for all types of inflammatory states. I personally use it for my low back. I have an L6 vertebrae, so I should be taller, but I’m not. I have an L6. Everyone has a down to a L5 and the sacrum. I have an SI joint, I have an L6, and it wants to fuse with my sacrum. And so for the last three years I’ve been using this. When I go and get an X-ray, my joints are not connected. I have all kinds of circulation. The tissue is very strong and by the way, also flexible. So, that’s why I use it. It’s also very useful for when I travel. I stick it under my pillow at night and I sleep like a baby.
[27:37] GH — We highly recommend that people use it like that because you need circulation, to calm down the central nervous system, to relax and sleep. We discovered that when we worked with the Navy Seals, and two weeks after using a device, they called us back in and said, “Hey, we thought we were going to use this for soft tissue injury. The guys in the field are using it in their packs at night because it’s so bright in the dark. They don’t want anyone to see them out in the field. So they stuck them in their packs, and when they came in off the field, they all claimed they had better sleep.” So, guess what? All of us start to use it for that. And guess what? We find out that people who use it get better sleep, and who doesn’t want that?
[28:14] TS — Right! And with fibromyalgia, that is huge because #1, if you don’t have good sleep, then nothing else really works. Right? And #2, we have poor sleep. That’s one of the hallmarks of fibromyalgia. So anything that helps us get better sleep is golden.
[28:30] GH — Yeah. I would tell you, we know that sleep and pain are absolutely connected. Yes. There’s a study that was just completed at University of Colorado, Boulder on the mRNA. So you have DNA, and then you have three different types of RNA in your system. The mRNA is the communicator. If you don’t get seven hours of restful sleep a night, that means the mRNA does not get to do its job. This is a root cause for pain and sleep.
[29:05] GH — We haven’t done the study yet, but we know that our device increases circulation. So, if the mRNA is part of the cell activity, and we can increase or accelerate that process, we think there’s a link there. We haven’t done the study work yet, but doctors and professionals have kind of indicated that’s probably the missing link. We recommend this to our patients. You can absolutely benefit from sticking it under your pillow. The funny thing is that your spouse or loved one, anyone else in bed with you, or even your pet, also gets good sleep, right? We have people claiming this all the time. That’s what we highly recommend.
[29:42] TS — That’s cool. You know, there are so many fun things that happen in the brain when we sleep. You know, like flushing out the toxins in your brain. I bet it really helps with a lot of those things.
[29:53] GH — Yeah. We haven’t done the study work on it, but we can tell you that in three and a half years you learn a lot about how people use a device. Think of all the things that we have, like we use toothbrushes to clean our toilets, right? Like when did that happen?
[30:06] TS — Right.
[30:06] GH — Right. Hopefully, you don’t use it again at home, but you know people use things differently. We knew when we started the company that this was going to help people get out of pain by increasing circulation. We didn’t realize to what level it was going to help them. This is one of the reasons why the product has been so successful with so many different types of pain conditions.
[30:29] TS — That’s really cool. One of the things I’m excited to try is — I do a lot of travel. I fly from Seattle to Washington, DC, often, and in that six-hour plane ride, I end up with swollen feet quite often, even with compression socks and fun things. And what you were talking about with your Dad’s story, I’m like “Hmm, I’m going to have to try that!”
[30:51] GH — This is my trusty travel companion. It is in the seat with me on the plane as I fly 50% of the time, and it’s in my hotel room. Think of all the strange hotel rooms you have to stay when you travel, right? Most people have a hard time sleeping in their own bed, let alone a foreign bed. For me, I sit it on the pillow and it’s like I’m at home. It puts me to sleep. So, yeah, for travel and especially when you’re going up in altitude, this is really, really helpful.
[31:17] TS — So, that’s not one of the things you have to turn off when they tell you to turn off your devices.
[31:20] GH — No. We actually are TSA approved for travel.
[31:24] TS — Oh, cool.
[31:24] GH — Yeah, because it is an electronic device with a battery and it’s rechargeable. You can actually recharge it on the plane, if they’ve got an outlet there for you.
[31:36] TS — What is the most unusual “use case” you have heard that you’re willing to share? I’ll add that willing to share part.
[31:47] GH — Well, that’s a good one. I walked in the other day and one of our staff had it strapped to her head and I said, “Were you out drinking last night or something I should know about?” She suffers from migraines. And I can tell you, I’ve seen people doing this, and also I will tell from you my own personal experience. I was about six months in with the business, and we’re shipping the product and I had gone home because I was feeling kind of rundown. I sat down on my couch and my head was starting to hurt, so I went to grab a bottle of Advil and I’m like, “Seriously, Greg, come on dude.” It’s like grabbing a baseball cap.
I stuck it in my cap and I kid you not, about 20 minutes later, it was like a light [came on]. Everything was clear. About once a year I get a migraine. Now, every time I feel that come on, and it’s only been a few times in the last few years, I’ll put it into a hat, walk around with it, and 20 – 30 minutes later, I’m as clear as day.
[32:48] TS — That’s amazing.
[32:50] GH — I know it sounds silly, but yeah, it really works. There are lots of stories, anecdotally. We have a lot of people that love their pets, right? So, their companions, cat or dog… I’ve witnessed my own dog that had really bad hip dysplasia. She wore it on her hip and you know, thirty minutes later she’s up running around the house and nobody can figure out what’s going on. They use this technology in horse racing and other things. So, animals know. I know you asked me what’s the most unusual use. I do think using it on your pets is unusual, but we have a lot of people that will tell you that it’s an absolute godsend for them to use on their loved ones.
[33:41] TS — Sure, sure. I totally can see that. So, tell us a little bit about the research. I know one of the things that your team sent me was a page with some of the research on there. One of the things I thought was cool is you did a double blind study. I assume that you had a device like that one with guts and one with just a light. Something like that.
[34:05] GH — Yeah, so we said “lights are on, but nobody is home.” Perfect. We actually did a study at Scripps here in San Diego and La Jolla. Scripps is a really well-respected research institute. We worked with the chairman of the pain management care, who is one of the founders of some really innovative, integrated pain management, and several other doctors there. We did something for which I was told I was crazy when I signed up for it. So, I’ll just declare that up front.
I told them we would take any patient, as long as they had chronic pain — that means more than three months. I said, “We’ll take any patient, but let’s try to narrow it down to the back and knee.” Some of them had comorbidity, some were overweight, some had been in car accidents, some were prior military, but we didn’t care. Just do the back and knee.
[34:56] GH — We did 15 patients on a real device and we did 15 on a placebo. We basically just turned off the pulsed electromagnetic field. They used it for three hours a day. 100% of the 15 patients that used it over a two-week period had clinically reduced pain. The 15 that used the placebo had a net zero effect. So, there was no placebo effect. And if you look at the literature for pulsed electromagnetic field, that is consistent across the last six decades of studies.
[35:28] GH — You can run the signal without your feeling it, right? I will tell you, someone’s listening right now, someone’s going to get this device and go, “I can feel it.” There is 1% of the population that we know who can feel the pulsed electromagnetic field. It’s happened at a trade show, I go into a doctor’s office, there’s always one out of a hundred that knows it. But the placebo effect is very valid. That pilot study led us into a further step, where we’re working with the National Institute of Health right now to do studies — further pain studies — now.
[36:00] TS — Cool. That’s pretty unusual to have zero on the folks who are getting a placebo because our minds are so powerful that we often see it just because, you know…
[36:11] GH — Yeah, the examiners were totally baffled. They were surprised. But then we showed them all the literature from the other studies, because we didn’t want to end it. By the way, they couldn’t tell which device was which. In fact, I got a phone call from one of the doctors about a week later and he says, “I think I know what’s going on.” And I said, “No, you don’t.” And when we showed them the data on the back end, he was blown away. He was absolutely blown away.
[36:34] TS — That’s awesome. For our people who might not know, would you define the clinically significant improvement?
[36:41] GH — Sure. So, typically, if someone were taking a drug, you would expect a 30-40% reduction in pain across the majority of the audience. You don’t ever expect to get it across all of them. So, we had people that were dropping from an 8 to a 5, and from a 5 to a 2. Usually a two to three point swing for most of those patients, and in a two-week period on three hours only a day.
[37:09] TS — That’s amazing.
[37:10] GH — So, that’s a pretty large thing. What’s interesting is: every one of the 30 patients asked to buy a device at the end of the study. So, yeah that tells you the power of the mind, but also the belief in what they were seeing. Because, obviously, these patients are all sitting in different clinics, but they talk to each other — so, you try to avoid that — but at the end of the study, they all say, “You’ve got to get this device. This thing’s working. It’s amazing.”
[37:36] TS — Right. Wow, that’s really cool. So, for everybody who’s listening in, I just wanted to stop and remind you we have the show notes out there. This will be at FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19 and we’ll have the links to everything out there. I also have a code for you guys if you’re interested, with everything that you’re hearing here, on trying the Oska Pulse for yourself. We’ve a code out there that’ll get you $55 off. Yes, I do get a little bit from that , it goes to help produce the podcast, so it’s all cool. Just use the code. We’ll have that out there in the show notes. All right. [Update: To use the discount given in the podcast, contact Oska’s customer service at (844) 630-9932. Tell them you heard about the Oska Pulse on the Fibromyalgia Podcast™️ and would like to receive your $55 discount.]
[38:17] TS — Anything else that you want to share with us that we should know about Oska?
[38:23] GH — Yeah, just so you know, our mission has been, from day one, to help people get out of pain without drugs. We’re not saying throw away your drugs. We’re not saying throw away your therapy or don’t go to your doctor. What we’re saying is: in your toolkit — and I think you said it really nice at the beginning of this interview — that you need to know what’s out there. We’re a new device. The technology is not new, but we’re a new device. We’re $400. You’re going to give your listeners a discount of $55, and they can’t buy it any better anywhere else. That is the best deal. Give it a try. If it doesn’t work call us. We make the product right here in the U.S. We stand behind the product. If it doesn’t work, we have a money-back guarantee on the product.
[39:10] GH — So, those that are really struggling, and, unfortunately, we’re probably the last ditch effort for some of these people. We’d like to be on the front of their journey, right? So, if someone’s newly diagnosed and they’re also listening to you and talking inside the communities, they’re giving us a try early on, and this is giving them a chance to get better.
[39:30] GH — That’s really our mission. Our missions are linked. We are trying to help people. And I love that you’re educating everyone about what’s going on and empowering people to figure out a way to do things better. This is one of those tools. We have content around that, and we have a really informed staff. Our team really cares about our patients that are working with us on the device, and our providers. We have healthcare providers working with our device, as well. We appreciate the opportunity to share about what we’re doing. So, thank you.
[40:01] TS — Yes, absolutely. And for those of you who might not know, Oska actually donated a device that we gave away as part of our last graduation, back in July. I’ve noticed, you guys just show up everywhere. I’m always seeing you at events and things, and there always seems to be a device that’s been donated. So I can tell that your mission really is to help people get better, not just sell a bunch of products.
[40:30] GH — Yeah, yeah. We’re very committed. We’re committed to helping. I mean, I’ve lost a brother to substance abuse because he didn’t have the tools or ways to break away from it. I’ve lost family members, and I think everybody listening has their own story. You’ve got to really care about people or you can’t be in this business. I don’t think it’s possible.
[40:48] TS — No, I know. I don’t think so either. And, unfortunately, the way everything’s going right now with opioid medications, a lot of us who are in pain are having options removed, and it’s nice to have something that maybe can be added.
[41:05] GH — Yeah. Well, just to respond to that point, real quick. Opioids, over time, interrupt sleep. They interrupt the body’s chance to heal. And so what we’ve learned, and we’re doing this as a study with the NIH, but if you remediate people from their opioid use and you put this device on them, you’ll find that in 3-4 weeks people stop reaching for their drugs because they don’t have the inflammation and the pain.
[41:34] GH — And they’re sleeping. How nice a benefit is that? That was a total gift to us, that we’d be able to help people that way. And so the community of fibro patients, again, tend to be linked with lots of other communities because of the comorbidity factor. If you’re identifying with that and really struggling with it, you should give this a chance. You have an opportunity to get better and we’d like to spread the word of hope. I so appreciate your efforts.
[41:58] TS — Absolutely. I just had a thought, real quick. Is there anyone who shouldn’t use this? Are there any interactions with anything?
[42:08] GH — There are 3 contraindications by the FDA.
- If you have a pacemaker. Pacemakers fire at 800 hertz and above, so you would need to talk to your doctor. This device runs at 150 hertz and below. So, they don’t interact, but you have to check with your doctor.
- Anyone who’s on active chemotherapy are contraindicated for its use because we can’t study that population.
- Anybody who’s pregnant because we can’t study that population.
So, those are the three contraindications.
[42:35] GH — If you had a total knee replacement, that’s a titanium joint typically. So, it’s non-metallic and this is non-ionizing. There are no interactions with that, but we always recommend to people, “Look, you’re going to try a new therapy, do something new. Have a talk with your doctor. That’s not going to hurt you.” And, by the way, you might educate that doctor. He or she may go educate some patients and totally help them, without having to put them on drugs.
[43:04] TS — Right. This is something that we can add to our routines. Whatever medications you’re on, whatever other therapies you might be doing there, other than those three things you mentioned, there’s no reason not to try it.
[43:18] GH — Yeah, exactly.
[43:19] TS — Cool. One more question for you… They just keep popping into my head. I can’t help it!
Have you noticed a change with their moods or things like that? I know you mentioned PEMF for depression. I imagine this then would be the same. Can you talk a little bit about that? Because that sometimes is a really hard thing, when you have a chronic illness that just won’t go away.
[43:44] GH — Yeah. The experience for us has been, and again I’ve worked for 13 years in med device, so I’ve seen everything from long-term care to rehab centers and hospitals, and when you get somebody’s pain level to go even from an 8 to a 6, you kind of changed their day. They go from an 8 to a 6, and from 6 to a 4. You are really changing their life, right? So, that instantly lifts your mood when you start to feel better, because now you can get up, and you can reach for a dish, or you can go for a walk, or you’re not so miserable in the morning when you get up, and you’re not getting sick. So, yes, we believe that they go hand in hand.
Typically, the reports we get are, “You really, really changed my day”, and “You changed my life.” When you read the testimonials on our website, they’re all unaudited, they’re right there for you to read them, good and bad. You’ll see what people’s real experiences are. I’m sure a lot of people that are listening to this podcast will recognize themselves in some of those messages.
[44:49] TS — For sure. And I know that a lot of the advocates that I know, especially bloggers, many of them have actually written about this device. If you guys go out there and even just search for the Oska Pulse, search for reviews, you’ll probably find a lot of them out there. But, yet, not enough, right? Because we still have many more people to help.
[45:10] GH — Yeah. It’s only one in three Americans who have chronic pain. So, what percentage of that is fibro patients?
[45:15] TS — We’re about 3 to 6% of the population, and in women it’s higher. So, that’s about 1 in 20 women and usually about 1 in 60 to 80 men.
[45:27] GH — So, if you walk down the street, there’s a good chance, on a busy street, that you’re going to bump into someone, or more importantly someone that knows someone that’s dealing with that problem.
[45:37] TS — Exactly. I was just somewhere right before our call, and the woman I was talking with at the store, her neighbor has fibromyalgia. So, you’re going to run into people everywhere.
[45:49] GH — Yeah. I think as a disease state, fibromyalgia is something that we’ve learned a lot about in the last 20 years. And, as we talked earlier about this, it’s really misunderstood. It’s a silent, invisible disease. And chronic pain as a category is also a silent disease. It’s invisible, and nobody gets to go inside your head but you. So finding communities and people that can help lift you up and bring you forward, with the work that you’re doing, those are the things we want to support and get behind. We’re really committed to that.
[46:24] TS — Awesome. What research do you find exciting to you, about fibromyalgia specifically? And what do you think we need to study more? I’ve been asking everybody those 2 questions.
[46:34] GH — Yeah, great question. One of our medical advisors, Dr. Jonathan Kost, in West Hartford, Connecticut participated in a day of lectures I sat through. They looked at chemical reactions in the body, and some of the biomarkers they believe exist for fibro, that are unique and can easily be identified. I don’t know enough about the science yet to tell you these are the ones you should look at, but I will tell you that the NIH, the FDA, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the Health and Human Services, are all focusing on: Can we map biomarkers for conditions? And if we understand it, because now we understand genomes, right? We can do 23andMe. We might even be related and we don’t even know it. Right? You’re starting to find that.
And so I would say the area of focus is really around understanding where the disruptions are in the cellular chain, and as they find those, then you’ll be able to identify those things. We won’t be able to cure everything, but we sure as heck might be able to go in and put some buffers in place to kind of help people live healthier lives. I think our devices should be part of the toolkit on that action. But, if I was someone who was really focused on researching fibro, I would start looking at what types of biomarkers they are studying and why.
[48:02] TS — Right. Because if we know what’s going funky in our bodies, then we can better target fixing that, or addressing it, or like you said, putting in a buffer that makes it not matter as much.
[48:16] GH — Yeah. I don’t like the word “mutation” because it connotes lots of things, but that’s how they talk about in gene therapy. They’re doing it in cancer and in heart conditions and many other conditions, so they’re looking at these. We’re on the periphery of that. We work with a lot of those groups. And so, for someone that’s working with fibro patients, which tend to have comorbidities, they’ll probably find a string of different mutations that are going on. That, by the way, I believe they’re very personal to you. I think that whatever’s driving your fibro could be totally different than the person sitting next to you. I think what they’re discovering is, people aren’t dreaming this up. “Hey, my pain is really unique to me” and actually at a DNA level it might just be true.
[49:07] TS — Right. Which would totally explain why so many of us have similar symptoms, but then what works for each of us is completely different.
[49:16] GH — Correct. I think we’re at the age now where we’re starting to really understand the difference in that.
[49:22] TS — Yeah, that’s awesome. Cool. Well, it’s been fun totally geeking out on the science with you.
[49:30] GH — Thanks for having me.
[49:31] TS — Yeah. Any last thoughts for us before we wind wind this up?
[49:35] GH — I’m just excited to see forums like this starting to come up for patients, because I do think that when we were kids, our parents just went to the doctor, were told what to do, and they just did it. We don’t have that type of orientation to information these days. So these types of vehicles that you’re supporting and that your listeners are paying attention to, that’s how we’re getting the information out quicker and better, and, you know, stay on the fight. Really. That’s my comment.
[50:14] TS — Awesome. I love it. Thank you so much and thanks for all that you guys are doing also, because like I said, we need more options, not less options. I’m glad you guys are out there doing what you do, too.
[50:24] GH — That’s great. Thank you very much. Appreciate that.
[50:27] TS — All right, you guys. Thanks for sticking in a little bit longer after I finished my interview with Greg. I actually received the delivery of my very own Oska Pulse. They had sent it to me earlier, and Greg and I were joking around about the fact that the doorbell was probably going to ring during our interview. It didn’t, it was right afterwards, but I thought since I received it today and since it happened right after the interview, it might be kind of fun to do a quick unboxing for you guys. Now, those of you who are listening only to this, I will do my best to describe what you would be seeing. There are a few things I want to point out, in case you’re wondering, “How do you know this already if you are just now unboxing it?”
[51:17] Well, here’s the deal, you guys. I actually recorded this unboxing once already. But I did not even think about the fact that, when I turned the device on to show you guys what would happen, that it would create feedback in my microphone. It created this horrible buzzing noise. And I know, especially for those of us with fibromyalgia, that wasn’t anything that I could leave in. We needed to re-record so there wouldn’t be that awful buzzing noise. That just would be not happy for fibro brains.
[51:51] There were a few fun things in the box that I really want to make sure and point out to you guys. So, I will describe that in words for those of you who are just listening on audio. But if you are interested in actually seeing the unboxing, go to FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19. There will be a show notes page for this episode, and we will have the whole video there. Also, you’ll be able to see Greg’s demonstration of it. You will also see this unboxing that I’m about to do.
[52:23] I also want to remind you guys that we’ve got all the links for the study Greg talked about. They will be there too. We’ll have links to the Oska Wellness website. We will also have links to pictures, so you can see it.
[52:44] The discount code for you guys to use is there, and for those of you who are listening, the discount code is [given in audio only]. That’s the discount code that will get you $55 off. Yes, that is an affiliate link. That means I do get a little bit of a kickback on that, but honestly, we use that money to go right back into producing this podcast. I’m paying for things like the transcription and the video production and the sound editing and the hosting and all of the things. If you guys don’t want to use the code, that’s totally fine too. Just go to OskaWellness.com and you’ll be able to order it right there. But who’s going to say NO to $55 off? That’s a pretty good deal.
[53:33] All right, so this is the box. I made sure it’s off on the inside, so it won’t interfere with the sound.This is a nice box in a sleeve, and when you slip the sleeve off here, you can see the device on the inside. It’s actually very nicely packaged.
[53:54] The device itself, for those of you who are listening, is an oval shape. It’s got some black grippy-like rubberized part to it, which is nice because it’s not going to slip out of your hand. It’s also going to stay where you put it. If you want to put it somewhere, it’s not going to slip off the table or anything like that.
[54:19] And then between the rubberized surface, for those of you who are listening, it is a clear blue. You can actually see some of the insides of it which, in my opinion, looks really cool. It looks super tech-y and science-y, which is super fun.
[54:37] It does use a micro USB port, which I love because I’m actually going to be taking this traveling with me, and that means I don’t have to take another cable or another device, so it’ll be super easy to charge. I’m already taking one of those cables with me to charge my noise canceling headphones that I use on the plane. I’ll be able to use the same one there.
[55:03] Then, there’s a round button, which I actually won’t press because that turns it on and you’ll hear the buzzing. So, when we get to the end, I’ll actually show you that. The other thing about this that I want to show, for those of you who are watching, I want to compare the size to my phone, so you can see — well let me get it in the camera here — you can see it’s about the same width as my phone, and it’s a little bit shorter than my phone, and it’s a little bit thicker than my phone. If I stack them up here, you can see the thickness compared to my phone, and you can see, you know, it’s a little bit shorter, a little bit wider, so you can see that now.
[55:51] And, just for those of you who are listening in audio only, I’m comparing it to an iPhone XS. It’s about three times the thickness, and just a tiny bit shorter, and just a tiny bit wider. So, it’s basically the size of a cell phone, which I think is great. That’s a good size. A lot of us carry our cell phones around in our pockets or in our purses. This isn’t that much different. It’s thicker, but the size itself is pretty much the same.
[56:21] The other thing about this that Greg did mention, but I think it’s important to highlight, is that the device itself creates a field. It doesn’t have to be right on you. So, for instance, me sitting here at my desk, I could — yeah, if I didn’t have the microphone on — I could actually have it sitting right here next to me on the desk, and the field would reach far enough that it would reach my arm, my belly and across my body that way. It’s not enough that it would reach my feet on the floor, and probably not enough to totally reach my head. But if I had a sore arm or even abdominal pain, sitting right here on the desk, it’s actually going to reach that far, which is cool.
[57:15] The other thing that is awesome that he did point out, for those of us who have allodynia — that sensitivity where even clothes hurt — that means it doesn’t have to touch your body in order to work. I’m also super excited to try it for headaches and to try it for sleep. I’m going to be sticking it under my pillow tonight, just to see what happens and see if it makes any difference in my headaches.
[57:44] You guys probably remember, because I have mentioned it a few times, that I’ve dealt with chronic headaches since I was a kid. The first neurologist I went to was when I was in high school, so it’s been a long time that I’ve had headaches, and there’s a lot of things that I’ve done to help manage them and to help manage migraines. But, even though I’ve got my fibro totally under control, the headaches aren’t where I would love them to be just yet. So, yes, I’m going to try putting that thing on my head and seeing what it does for headaches, because that’ll be super interesting.
[58:18] Since it works so well on inflammation, I am interested in other things, as well. Like when I get a massage and my massage therapist works a little bit too deep. I can tell that I’m not just a little flared up, but my body, my tissue itself feels puffy and flared up. It’ll be interesting to see if that helps calm it down.
[58:45] Like I said in the interview, when I travel and I’m sitting in an airplane for six hours, the blood flow doesn’t move quite the same. Even with compression socks, I sometimes end up with puffy feet and ankles. I’m super curious to see how that helps me when I travel, and I will be letting you guys know.
[59:07] If you decide to try the Oska Pulse, I would love to hear from you about what you thought as well.
[59:14] I am going to try to hold this next to the camera and not next to the microphone. In fact, I think what I might do is to turn the microphone off for a quick second, just for those of you who are watching this, so you can see what happens when you turn it on. I’ll hold it up here by the camera and turn the microphone off for a quick second.
[59:49] Alright for those of you who were listening, hopefully that all worked. So, if you were watching, what you saw was, I hit the button once, the lights started flashing just to let you know that it was on. That’s how you know it’s on, because you’re not going to, or most of us aren’t going to feel it at all. It’s just to let you know that it’s on. Then, if you need to turn it back off before the 90-minute cycle is finished, you just push that button three times and that turns it back off. So, those of you who are listening and it wasn’t very exciting for you, it was just a few minutes of silence but that’s what happened during those few minutes of silence. It was quite magical.
[01:00:41] To give you guys a little bit of a heads up for the things we have coming up in future podcasts. We have Dr. Jarred Younger scheduled. He had said yes a few weeks ago, but with his teaching schedule we weren’t able to actually get him on the calendar. We have him scheduled now. He will actually be speaking with us in Episode 21. This is Episode 19 — two episodes from now we should have Dr. Jarred Younger on, and it actually ties in quite a bit with what we talked about today. Greg talked about the inflammation with fibromyalgia, and that’s actually one of the things that Dr. Younger has studied: the inflammation in the brain of people with fibromyalgia.
[01:01:33] You know what, you guys, I totally forgot to show you the rest of the box. It was because I did it once already. So, let me show you really quick and we’ll come back to Dr. Younger. So, you pull the device out, there’s a card in there. This card is actually pretty important, so I do want to highlight it for you guys, so I’ll hold it up to the camera. There. You can see down at the bottom is the phone number and email address. If you have any questions. If you need help. If you’re wondering whether it’s working. If you’re experiencing anything odd. Any questions at all, just reach out to them by phone or by email. I have been so impressed with the responsiveness of this company when I reached out to them.
[01:02:22] It was kind of at the last minute when I reached out to them to see if they would consider donating one for our Stories of Hope and Healing event back in July. It was just a few days before, and I actually heard back from them pretty immediately with a yes! I was surprised I didn’t have to convince them to donate anything. We didn’t have to negotiate or anything. They just said yes. It was awesome.
[01:02:47] If you have any questions about your device, reach out to them. I have also heard through the grapevine that, while they do have a return policy, I’m actually looking here really quick. I don’t see it right in front of me. I want to say it’s a 30-day money back guarantee, but double check that because I don’t have it in front of me. I have heard through the grapevine that if you’re getting close to the end of your return window and you’re still not sure about it, reach out to them. Contact them because they can give you some ideas of maybe different ways to try it or to use it. I’ve even heard of them extending the return policy sometimes because they really want to help people and they want people to use it and have success. So, if you guys do decide to try this, don’t be afraid to reach out to them for help, for advice, or even to extend that return policy if you feel like you need a little longer to try it before making your decision.
[01:03:50] The next thing in the box is like a little quick start guide. One of the things that I really like about it is, it actually has a little tracker right there where you can keep track of your use and keep track of the results that you see. I’m also going to put in a link, if you go to today’s show notes. Go to FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19. We will also have a link to the tracker that I created that lets you track your pain and your fatigue symptoms.
[01:04:24] There’s also a third line on that tracker which I believe says Medications. I’m totally blanking on what it actually says, but I’m pretty sure it’s Medications. Anyway, what you can do on that line is you can also track, maybe use an O for Oska, to track that you used the Oska Pulse that day, and be able to see if your pain level changes at all as you use this. I will have a link out there for that symptom tracking log for you to be able to use. Which is also an awesome thing for you to be able to use with your doctor, to show them both your pain and your fatigue levels, but also to show them your results with this device.
[01:05:13] Next, we have another little divider right there, and underneath is where you’ll find the full user’s manual. The charging cable is just a regular USB charge cable, which is why it’s so great with traveling. I won’t have to take anything extra. And the elastic strap. If you have low back pain and you want to wear it around, you can put this around your waist and the device with it. And that rubber grippy part isn’t going to let it slide out of there. You can just strap it to your low back. That is everything that was in the box. I’m so sorry about that, you guys. I missed giving you everything there.
[01:06:02] Now, back to Dr. Younger. He did some research showing the inflammation in the brains of those of us with fibromyalgia. We’re super excited to talk to him about it. He’s also done a lot of research on the use of low-dose naltrexone for fibromyalgia. He actually published, I believe, the first study that really looked at LDN for fibromyalgia. There’s honestly so many things I would like to talk to him about. He’s done so much good work for those of us with fibromyalgia that we could probably have him on here for five episodes. We’ll just have to see what we end up discussing in that interview. I know we’re going to talk about the studies on inflammation. We’ll just see where we go from there. I hope you guys will tune into that. That will be episode 21.
[01:06:52] Our next episode is going to be our “Ask The Coach” Episode. It’s also our “Dear Tami” episode, and I’m going to be talking about a question sent in from a listener. That is what that episode is all about. And the question from the listener was: How do I lose weight with fibromyalgia? In our next episode, I am answering that question. Well, kind of. I actually take you back a step further and talk about why we have a hard time losing weight, why we gained weight in the first place, because there’s a few things that really need to be checked out and addressed beforehand, in order to make any kind of weight loss routine work for you.
[01:07:39] There are a lot of things with fibromyalgia that are going on in your body physically, and a lot of things that control your hunger and also control your appetite. They then control how your body processes the food that you eat, whether it stores it as fat or burns it as fuel. There are a lot of things going on in your body that, if you just try to lose weight without addressing those things, it’s just going to be so frustrating for you, and you’re going to honestly feel like a failure because it’s not going to work very well.
[01:08:15] I’m going to be talking about all of those things that are going on in your body, so that you know what to talk to your doctors about. Make sure that things are working first. And then pretty much most things are going to work for you. So go take a listen to that episode when it comes out in a couple of weeks and let me know what you think. If you have more questions, we can totally address them as well.
[01:08:40] Thank you guys so much for being here. Thanks for watching our second unboxing of the day. It’s been awesome doing this for you guys. I love it. Please do share this with your friends. Rate us on Apple Podcasts. Do a review if you can. The reviews often help people decide whether or not they’re going to listen to something. You guys know how that is for you, and other people are no different. So if you’ve enjoyed this podcast, if you’re learning things, I would really love it if you would give us a rating and review.
[01:09:19] Don’t forget all of the goodies are out there at FibromyalgiaPodcast.com/19. We’ll have that discount code. We will have the unboxing video. We will have that tracking log. We’ll have all the goodies for you. The $55 off coupon. That’s all out there.
[01:09:37] I will see you guys here next time. Bye!
Additional Notes:
As this episode is released, I’ve been using the Oska Pulse for three weeks. Here are the things I’ve noticed:
The first day, I had a bruise and large tender spot on the inside of my forearm where my massage therapist did some deep work on muscles that were causing some tingling in my fingers. The area was about the size of my palm, was raised and red (kind of like a welt or like hives), and it ached every time I moved my hand or arm. I sat and watched some TV with my husband and rested my arm on the Oska Pulse for one 90-minute cycle. When I went to bed, my arm was a lot more comfortable. I could move my hand and arm with very little soreness. The next morning, however, I was shocked. There was NO redness, the swelling was gone, and even the bruise was almost gone! I was stunned. I think my email to Oska started with, “Holy crap!” LOL
I did try sleeping with the Oska under my pillow that same night. I had forgotten what Greg said about fibromyalgia bodies needing to get used to the PEMF field. Oops. I ended up with a massive migraine that next day. To listen closely… EASE INTO IT. He wasn’t kidding!
I have used the device pretty regularly for the last three weeks and have found that my head is still more sensitive to it. As long as I keep the device below my shoulders, it doesn’t trigger a migraine. I’ve heard so many good things about people using it for migraines that I expect it to help in the long run, once my body gets used to it.
And ladies, I also discovered it is amazing for those monthly cramps! Any of you who also have endometriosis, fibroids, PCOS, and just regular cramps should try this. I asked the gals at Oska about it and they said, “Oh yes! We all use it for that!”
My husband has used the device a few times too. He’s used it for back pain and on his knees and feet. Greg warned me that it’s common for people to “lose” their Oska to someone else in the house, so I’m keeping a close eye on mine! Even my cat, Sam, has benefitted from the Oska, since he often sits on my lap while I’m using it.
All in all, I’m super excited to have another tool in my toolbox for managing my health. I almost wrote “manage my fibromyalgia” but read what I wrote above… this is WAY more than just fibromyalgia!
Let me know what you think when you give it a try!
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