Determination with chronic pain.

Hi,

Just wanted to make a post that deals with the need for serious determination when dealing with chronic pain. A lot of people with chronic pain look only for effective pain relief, and that is OK as far as it goes. Isn't that really the goal, somehow, some way, getting pain relief?

Yes and no, the yes, I want pain relief, but not entirely the only result I want. I want healing also. So I continue to try anything and everything that seems to promise help. Diet adjustments to eliminate inflammation, nutrients to help my body heal, physical therapy to strengthen my bones and muscles.

It takes a lot of determination to keep researching and trying new things. Persistence is the name of the game. Going sugar free had been the best thing so far, that I have done. Not easy but definitely worth it. Of course I have to keep reminding myself of the pain the sugar causes. I've also found that once I was off of sugar for 1 week, I could tell if anything else was causing me inflammation and thus more pain. Corn, was one of those that popped up.

I have supplemented with D3 20,000IU for the last two weeks and that has helped with pain reduction and feeling less stiff. Today I reduced that amount to 10,000IU and will take this amount for 10 weeks then take 5,000 IU for the rest of the year. This is a protocol I came up with form my research. You will need to do your own research to determine home much or even if you would like to try this.

I also have supplemented with NAC (n acetyl-cysteine) methy B-12 and methylated Folate for about 3 months now and have not really found any pain relief from that protocol. So I will probably stop these supplements and see what happens. Sometimes it is when you stop a supplement that you find out it really was helping just in such a suttle way that you don't notice until you stop and the benefits go away.

I am also using some magnetic insoles I picked up for cheap at Natural Grocers. I wear them in my work shoes and I do see some pain relief also with them.

My physical therapy seems to be helping some with my muscle strengthening but not as much as I would like. Perhaps I need to just walk more. And this I will do as the pain allows.

As I said, determination and persistence is the name of the game when trying to get to the bottom of chronic pain. My next addition will be hyaluronic acid that I plan to add as soon as I get enough to start taking 3 doses a day for at least a week. It is expensive so I am ordering it online to get enough to give it a good try. My research indicates that it may help with bone and ligament repair. I good to try any supplement that appears like it will do no harm.

Does it get expensive? Truthfully, yes. However, I view it as less expensive than surgery and with just as much a chance of helping me with the help being much more holistic and beneficial in the long run. I am all in for the long run and not just the temporary relief. Research, research, research! Try, observe results, try again.

I know that now that I am off of sugar, I have gone back to some of the things I have tried previously to see if maybe the benefits of those earlier tries were overshadowed by the sugar inflammation pain.
It never hurts to renew and refresh your mind as to what kind of helped in the past too as those things may be more helpful now with the new regimen you are on. My opinion only.

Yes I am stubborn and will keep working at addressing my pain in as healthy way as I can. Yes and most likely unconventional way. So be it.

Each to their own journey. I am just sharing my journey with the hope there might be some little something there that might help other people with chronic pain out even if it is just a little bit.

At present I am watching the iThrive docu-series that documents Jon McMahon's journey of weight loss. While I disagree with much of their "expert's" opinions, I do very much agree with one of their main points which is that we have control of what we eat and what we eat does hugely affect our
health! It is very encouraging to make the dietary changes you need to make to get and stay healthy. What that dies might consist of, once again, in my opinion is no flour, sugar or anything processed. Organic as much as possible. The rest is up for debate and debate the experts do.

Well till next time. Strive to be happy, healthy and wise. Take charge of your own health as much as possible  and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Healthbug

Supplements and Chronic Pain

This has been a hard post to write. The subject of vitamins and supplements is huge. Just as with diet, what we put in our mouth and thus our bodies, does affect every part of our health!

 If you think the foregoing statement is not true, just try eating only protein, sugar, or ..... well anything single food for even a few days. It is a safe bet that you will feel the affects of whatever mono diet you are eating.

 One item to note is that any diet, supplement or vitamin regimen must be followed for at least 3 months to be able to tell if the new regimen is of any benefit! I know three months should like a long time, but less that that is usually really not enough time to tell anything. You don’t want to waste your efforts!

There are always exceptions to the above, when I stopped eating anything with aspartame! was able to tell within 1 week that I felt a lot better without it and a lot worse when I ate anything with aspartame in it!  

The only time I would quit a regimen before the 3 months is when I felt much worse after starting the diet or supplement. Then, of course I stopped immediately.

I have determined I cannot take Alpha Lipoic Acid on an empty stomach after only 3 doses.  I just seems to explode in my stomach about 5-10 minutes after I take it and causes severe stomach pain. Use your common sense when trying new supplements. 

MSM helped my sleep tremendously. With better sleep, I have a better chance of healing my bones, muscles, etc. Vitamin C is my good all around go to vitamin for preventing and staving off infection and  general all around feeling good vitamin. However, MSM did not help directly with my pain.

I have tried many supplements and vitamins to aid with my pain. Most have not yielded the results I wanted which was some good pain relief. I seek supplements that will heal versus supplements that will cover up the symptoms. 

Dr Sherry Rogers has written many books about taking charge of your own health and give numerous suggestions as what to do in the various situations. Her book on chronic pain is chock full of suggestions. Of course, you will need to try each supplement one at a time, otherwise you will not know what it was that made things better or worse as the case may be. 

To be honest, I have not found any supplement (yet) that helped much with my pain. I have tried MSM, curcumin, turmeric, glucosamine, chondroitin.  What I have found the most helpful is the not eating something. Like not eating anything with aspartame, not eating sugar,  not eating anything with high fructose corn syrup. 

My supplement regimen now consists of NAC (N Acetyl Cysteine) one, three times a day. Methyl-folate 1 a day and methyl B-12 one a day. As I suggested, I am giving it a 3 month’s trial. This regimen was suggested to me by Dr Neil Rawlins who practices in Richland, Wasington. I have been taking these supplements for one month. Hows it going so far? I don't see a down side ans it no negative side effects. I do think they are helping, but in all reality, it is just too soon to tell. Some changes are so subtle that I keep a log of how my pain is doing so that I can look back and note more objectively whether my pain is better. The placebo effect can sometime convince myself something is helping when, in the long run it is only a brief, in my mind, so to speak. I’ll let you know.

So until next time, be healthy, never give up looking for your health answers! You are your best health advocate and only you know you like you do.:-}

Healthbug

Gut-Brain Connection

Just a few weeks ago I attended a day long educational seminar taught by Merrily Kuhn RN,CCRN(r) PHD, ND,PHD. It was a very informative event. I learned a lot and had much of what I already know validated.

We all kind of sort of know that our gut health is very important! After all, when we have a stomach ache or some other abdominal pain, we just feel miserable. We know that diarrhea and constipation are related to our gut health, but did you know that the gut is the source of 90% of our immune system and that the gut and the brain are intricately related to our mental health?

Well known neurotransmitters are made in the gut. Check out Dopamine. 50% of this important neurotransmitter is made in the gut and 50% made in the brain. 95% of Serotonin is produced in the gut. GABA, Glutamate and Norepinephrne are also found in the gut. Now the light comes on and it makes so much sense. When you are nervous, you can get a stomach ache, diarrhea and more. This is personal validation that the gut is definitely influenced by the emotions, so it makes perfect sense that the brain would be influenced by the gut.

At birth, our gut is populated by the needed bacteria while coming through the birth canal. Breast milk contains a substance that the baby cannot process. Why is that? Research has verified that this substance is need by the bacteria to make it healthy. When our gut bacteria is healthy then we are happy and healthy. It is a symbiotic relationship which means that the bacteria and our bodies help each other out.

Many things in our diet and lives is detrimental to our gut bacteria and thus to our health. This is being recognized more and more by healthcare workers all over the country. Environmental toxins, antibiotics and nutrient depleted diets are part of the reasons why our gut bacteria can become unhealthy and candida, which is not so good for our health, can become a big time health problem.

Making sure that you take a probiotic when taking an antibiotic is very important. Just make sure you don't take the antibiotic and probiotic at the same time of day. Wait at least 2 hours between to make sure that the antibiotic does not destroy the probiotics. Eliminate sugar completely from your diet and limit the processed foods as much as possible.

The subject of healthy gut and it's connection with a healthy brain is vast. If this subject interests you I would suggest that you do additional research on the subject as the vast amount of information out there is just too big for the scope of this blog.

To your health and happy research.

Until next time,

Healthbug