Tag Archives: fish oil

Arthritis, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

bike crash

July 21, 2014 betsyjbell 5 Comments

Gentle Reader,

I did not write last week. I had to let the effects of a bike crash at the beach take hold before I let you in on it. I was off at the beach with the Finneys, my stepfamily, who turned out in big numbers to enjoy Long Beach, WA’s wave action, drift wood, secluded and roomy campsites. It was wonderful to be with all of them, including a great-grandson, age 11, who I have not had a chance to get to know before this. He lives with his mother, my late husband, Chuck Finney’s oldest granddaughter and her husband. They are a Navy family, stationed in Japan. At age eleven, they decided he was old enough to come to the US for the summer. What a delightful young man! All 15 of us took off on our bikes last Wednesday afternoon for a glorious ride along the tarmac bike trail through the dunes.

After riding for about 8 miles, we came to the main road connecting Long Beach’s shops with the beach. As everyone began the onward 3 miles, congestion developed. I waited my turn and then powered up the narrow paving, skirting around the post in the center of the entrance. The front tire slipped into the sand and down I went, grazing the post with my back ribs, catching the ground with my right knee and left elbow. The bike crash was in slow motion, so slow, in fact that my step son-in-law was asking “are you alright?” before I hit the ground. It took a minute to find breath and respond. I was not all right. Nothing was broken. That’s a good thing. But the back ribs hurt something awful, as did the knee.

On the Bell side of the family, five people–adults and children–commute by bike to work or school. All of them have been in at least one bike crash, some requiring surgery and stitches. At one time in the distant past, I commuted to a job from Montlake to the middle of downtown Seattle and back. I biked to the University for another job, rain or shine. Luckily, I only had one bike crash when another bike and I collided coming around a corner. The bike was totalled, but I was fine. I was young then. I’ll be 77 in a couple weeks. I would be safer on a bike if I road more regularly. In spite of not riding often these days, the dune ride was glorious: wind in the hair, the smell of low tide beyond the waving grasses, shore birds soaring over head. After the crash, I was more disappointed than hurt, or so I thought.

Here’s what I did to get moving again. I lay on a picnic table and relaxed as best I could. I rolled my elevated knees from side to side. I stretched my arms up and out and breathed as deeply as I could. I took a couple Pain Relief Complex. When everyone came back, I got down from the table. Walking was possible. A good sign. Someone else put the bike in the truck. At the ice cream store, Cynthia, my step-daughter who is a nurse (always good to have one in the family), got ice from the soft drink machine and found a plastic bag so I could begin icing the two most painful spots, back ribs and muscles plus the right knee.

The minute we got to the campground, I fixed a 180 protein shake. This soy powder has extra leucine. Leucine is an amino acid that helps knit, heal and keep muscle intact. The latter is important if you are using the 180 smoothies for weight loss. A dieter wants to lose fat, not muscle. I also filled two zip lock bags with ice and began icing in earnest. Someone had a camp chair that tipped feet-up which was a great help to the knee.

My dear stepson, Steven, gave me his bed in his camper for the night so I didn’t have to get up from the air mattress on the ground, a very painful operation. More Pain Relief Complex and the frequent application of Shaklee’s Joint and Muscle Pain Cream helped the healing process. By morning, I could walk the beach, slowly, taking care not to choose a path which required stepping over logs. I didn’t try pushing the bike-peddle. I could tell by climbing the steps into the trailer that my knee couldn’t take that. I also took extra vitamin C, and the anti-inflammatory supplements GLA, fish oil (Omega Guard), and lecithin. I am not 100% as I write this report, but I was able to hang out three loads of laundry this morning.

I have been reminded through this ordeal of Kay Ferguson who is now in her 90s. She was putting items in a small moving van and fell off the tailgate onto the ground. Looking quickly to see if anyone saw her fall, she picked herself up, went in the house and drank a smoothie of Physique (similar formula to 180), the Workout Recovery Drink Shaklee developed for the Yale swim team years and years ago. The team wanted help to recover more quickly from their workouts and asked Shaklee to come up with a formula. Physique has been used by athletes in extreme situations –and regular ones—to heal torn muscles after a workout so they could get up and do it all again the next day. She fared as I did. Yes, there were bruises, but no broken bones and no long lasting muscle soreness.

Kay Ferguson, 88 yrs old, June 2008. Picking raspberries.

Kay has been my hero since I first met Shaklee products. A friend introduced her to Alfalfa to help with her terribly debilitating arthritis, but not until she learned to take 15 – 20 a day did those little green tablets bring her relief. She was headed for the wheel chair in her late 50s. Here is a picture of Kay among her raspberries.

I saw my doctor today, just to make sure there is nothing further I need to do to heal the rib cage, knee and elbow. I do believe the best antidote to injury is to keep moving as much as possible. There are a few more adventures to be had this summer including a couple of big hikes and a trip to Long Beach, CA for the Shaklee annual conference in mid August.

The week camping with the family resulted in a major stomach upset. Delicious blue berry pancakes for breakfast, pizza night at a local hang out, corn bread baked in a camp oven are all foreign to my regular diet. I ended up constipated, bloated and uncomfortable. For me, it does not pay to leave my vegetable-heavy, no refined carbohydrate diet even for 5 days. Perhaps you do well, or at least, OK, when taking liberties on vacation. I do not.

Will I go again next year? You betcha. The planning email is circulating. Will I make sure I have available the food that makes me happy and comfortable? You betcha. I will take my bike along and pay more attention. These family gatherings are precious and fleeting as the children go to college, get jobs and marry. The same configuration across the generations will not repeat; the delightful campfire conversations will.

May your summer be filled with good conversations, a campfire or two, walks and rides with family and friends. May you stay upright and injury free. No bike crash!

By all means, Be well, Do well and Keep Moving.

Betsy

206 933 1889

www.EmpoweredGrandma.net

betsy@hihohealth.com

http://www.grandmabetsybell.com/shop-shaklee-products/

Arthritis, Be Well health tips

tennis elbow and fatty acids

May 15, 2014 betsyjbell

Gentle Reader,

Fatty Acids, Antioxidants May Help “Tennis Elbow”

Are you plagued with tennis elbow? Other inflammed joints? Perhaps this Danish study on the use of fatty acids to reduce tennis elbow inflammation will be of interest.

natural anti inflammatory for tennis elbow

FREDENSBORG, DENMARK (Reuters Health) – A combination of essential fatty acids and antioxidants appears to be an effective treatment for the inflammatory injuries commonly known as ‘tennis elbow’ and ‘golf elbow’.

Soren Mavrogenis, a physiotherapist with Denmark’s Olympic Committee, tells Reuters Health that he has effectively treated several hundred cases of recurrent inflammatory injuries. He and his colleagues recently conducted a study in order to document the anti-inflammatory properties of this new treatment, which was tested for the first time in 1996 on a group of rowers from Denmark’s National Rowing Team. The study will be published in a scientific journal of sports medicine in the near future.

Typically the injuries are treated with rest, physiotherapy, and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to treat pain and inflammation.

“The results of this research confirm our clinical observations and leave us with the clear impression that inflammatory injuries can be treated without the use of NSAIDs. I see this as a regular breakthrough in modern physiotherapy. For the first time we are able to offer our patients a safe and reliable treatment for stress injuries with chronic inflammatory response. In fact, it is our experience that with this new treatment, as opposed to conventional treatment, athletes are able to train actively while receiving treatment,” Mavrogenis explains.

The nutritional supplement used by Mavrogenis and colleagues to treat the athletes contains omega-3 (fish oil), omega-6 (borage oil) and vitamins A, B6, C and E plus selenium and zinc. According to Mavrogenis, most patients respond positively to the treatment in a matter of 2-3 weeks, depending on the severity of the injury, but in more serious cases it may take several months.

“The bad cases require the use of intensive ultrasound and certain massage techniques in addition to the antioxidants and essential fatty acids, but in the milder cases the use of nutrients alone is adequate,” Mavrogenis says.

Generalist Dr. Claus Hancke also supports the use of essential fatty acids and antioxidants in treating inflammatory injuries.

“Strenuous exercise is known to produce an overload of harmful free radicals that damage healthy cells by oxidizing the phospholipids in the cell membrane. Antioxidants neutralize the free radicals and limit their destructive impact, which is why athletes must make sure to get adequate amounts of antioxidants to protect themselves against stress injuries. In addition, essential fatty acids are important since they support the body’s production of beneficial type 1 and type 3 prostaglandins, those which counteract pain and inflammation,” Hancke tells Reuters Health.

“Personally, I see the nutritional approach to inflammation as a big advantage, and I am convinced that essential fatty acids and antioxidants taken in combination have the same, or maybe an even greater, anti-inflammatory potential than NSAIDs,” he added.

In Norway, where inflammatory injuries in shoulders, elbows, knees and Achilles tendons account for 25% of all job-related absences, the new anti-inflammatory regimen is presently being tested by NIMI (Norsk Idrettsmedisinsk Institut), one of Scandinavia’s leading treatment facilities for sports injuries and rehabilitation.

I can personally vouch for the success of this approach. I take 800 mg of Vita-E Plus, Vita-Lea, and 4 each of the GLA and EPA on a daily basis. When I get tennis elbow or bursitis in my shoulder, I increase my GLA and EPA to 10 each/day. The inflammation is gone in two to three days!

Shaklee's fish oil: Omega Guard — Shaklee’s fish oil: Omega Guard

Dr. Steve Chaney

In my own case, I supplement with GLA and OmegaGuard, Vita-E, Vita Lea Gold and am able to avoid flare-up cases of inflammation. It is unlikely that the medical profession in the US will prescribe fatty acids for tennis elbow any time soon, but that doesn’t prevent you from experimenting to see if the “Danish effect” is available to you. I cannot vouch for any other brand except Shaklee, which I know works.

Be well, Do well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

206 933 1889

PS I know my readers would love to hear your fish oil/inflammation stories, so please share.

Scientific resources

lower Cholesterol

May 6, 2014 betsyjbell

Cholesterol Reduction Complex††

First: A few facts on Heart Health

Next: Sterols and stanols and how they work

Followed by: HDL VS. LDL

Concluding with: The Shaklee’s Difference & TLC

Would you like to lower Your Cholesterol Naturally? Are YOU Among the Millions of Americans with High Cholesterol?

One in three adults in the U.S. has high cholesterol, which can affect anyone at any age, and can negatively impact heart health and cardiovascular function over time. People with high cholesterol have a higher risk of developing heart disease compared to those with optimal levels. Among the culprits are genetics and diet. Some people are predisposed to high cholesterol and produce more of it in the liver, while others get too much from the foods they eat—foods such as bacon, hot dogs, and sausages that also contain high amounts of saturated fat.

These foods may sit well on your palate, but without proper measures to control intake and reduce body cholesterol levels, they can lead to some major health challenges.

Here are some facts…….Did You Know?

• A 10% reduction of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol equates to a 10%–20% decrease inheart disease risk.

• If you eat foods such as pizza, hamburgers, and steak on a regular basis, you may be increasing your chances for developing high cholesterol.

• The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends consuming no more than 300 mg of cholesterol a day; those with heart disease should consume less than 200 mg of cholesterol.

• According to the AHA, eating one egg for breakfast, drinking two cups of coffee with 1 tablespoon of half-and-half each, lunching on 4 ounces of lean skinless turkey breast with one tablespoon of mayonnaise, and eating a 6-ounce serving of broiled short loin porterhouse steak for dinner yields 510 mg of dietary cholesterol. That’s nearly twice the recommended daily amount!

• Men tend to have higher cholesterol than women. However, after menopause, cholesterol levels in women increase due to a decline in estrogen production. The heart-healthy choice that provides 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols per day

For detailed foundational information about cholesterol, please click on this article.

Shaklee Cholesterol Reduction Complex†† is a proprietary formulation with clinically proven ingredients that help prevent the absorption of cholesterol and lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. It contains plant sterols and stanols that, when added to a healthy diet, have been shown in numerous studies to significantly reduce LDL cholesterol.

• Made with a powerful blend of sterols and stanols, which are found naturally in plants, fruits, vegetables, and grains

• Plant sterols and stanols have been clinically proven by more than 80 studies tolower LDL cholesterol

• Delivers daily 100% of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) recommendation for plant sterols and stanols*

• Gluten free

• Star-K certified

††Products providing 800 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily, consumed with two different meals as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Cholesterol Reduction Complex provides 1,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols per serving, and 2mg daily when used as directed.

*NIH recommendation for lowering cholesterol: eat less saturated fat and cholesterol, exercise, lose weight, eat more soluble fiber, and consume 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily.

Plant Sterols and Stanols — The Smart ChoiceSo how, exactly, do plant sterols and stanols work?

Plant sterols and stanols are ingested from food or supplements.
Because they are structurally similar to cholesterol, plant sterols and stanols compete for absorption in the intestines.
Plant sterols and stanols bind to receptors in the intestines, leaving cholesterol behind. The net result is that less cholesterol is absorbed by the body, and less ends up in the bloodstream. Included in this document is a hot link where you can view an animated version of sterols and stanols at work in the blood stream. You may find this helpful for yourself and your costumers!

HDL Versus LDL: What’s the Difference?

Not all cholesterol is bad. The good kind—HDL cholesterol, short for high-density lipoproteins—offers some great health benefits. It’s the LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, or lowdensity lipoprotein, that we really need to watch out for. In general, cholesterol—a type of fat— plays a role in maintaining cell membrane structure and hormone production. However, excess LDL cholesterol can build up in the arteries, leading to an increased risk of heart disease. Here’s where You decide…….. We know that Cholesterol Reduction Complex provides 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily. To get that same amount of sterols and stanols, consider what you’d have to eat every day.

Now for those of you who on a daily basis consume 6.5 cups of soybeans or 59 oranges or 47.5 cucumbers there is no need to be concerned about getting adequate amounts of sterols and stanols. To make sure you get the 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols take 2 Cholesterol Reduction tablets twice daily up to 30 minutes before mealtime.

Who Should Take Cholesterol Reduction Complex?

High cholesterol is one of the major controllable risk factors for coronary heart disease. As blood cholesterol rises, so does the risk of developing heart disease. Your chances of having high cholesterol are greater if you are a male, are older, are a woman experiencing post menopause, have a family history of high cholesterol, or if your diet is high in saturated fat and cholesterol. The good news is you can lower your cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease by taking responsibility in managing your cholesterol levels.

This product is not intended for pregnant or lactating women and children under 12 years of age. Consult your physician if you are using cholesterol lowering medication. Take Action today, naturally and follow these tips from the National Institutes of Health’s

Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Program to help lower your cholesterol:

Decrease your intake of saturated fat to less than 7% of total calories
Decrease your dietary cholesterol intake to less than 200 mg per day
Lose 10 pounds if overweight
Add 5–10 g of soluble fiber to your diet each day
Add 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols to your diet each day

Now the healthy approach to lowering LDL cholesterol is Shaklee’s Cholesterol

Reduction Complex†† delivers 2,000 mg of a combination of sterols and stanols, an efficacious intake level recommended by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC), Your Guide to Lowering Your Cholesterol with TLC. The TLC recommendations are a comprehensive approach to reducing elevated LDL cholesterol levels for the purpose of reducing the risk of heart disease. The essential components include:

• Reducing the dietary intake of LDL-raising dietary factors (saturated fats, trans fats, and dietary cholesterol)

• Increasing the intake of LDL-lowering dietary factors (consuming 10–25 g of soluble fiber and adding 2,000 mg per day of sterols/stanols)

• Losing weight and increasing exercise

Plant sterols and stanols are found in the cell walls of plants and occur in very small amounts in plants, fruits, vegetables, seeds, and grains, that’s why supplementing the diet with sterols and stanols was shown to significantly lower LDL cholesterol in a recent meta-analysis of 84 studies. This effect has been shown in as little as three to four weeks. Furthermore, another meta-analysis of eight studies shows that intake of sterols and stanols can further reduce cholesterol levels even in those already using statins.

Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally with FDA-approved Cholesterol Reduction Complex††!

― The Smart Choice.

*NIH recommendation for lowering cholesterol: eat less saturated fat and cholesterol, exercise, lose weight, eat more soluble fiber, and consume 2,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily.

** These statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. ††Products providing 800 mg of plant sterols and stanols daily, consumed with two different meals as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Cholesterol Reduction Complex provides 1,000 mg of plant sterols and stanols per serving, and 2mg daily when used as directed.

Arthritis, Be Well health tips, Health and Fitness, Keep Moving: Managing Arthritis

The Nutritional Management of Chronic Pain

November 2, 2012 betsyjbell 1 Comment

Gentle Reader
Are you like me, suffering from chronic pain? Do you wake up every morning and check to see which joints are hurting? A friend of mine describes sitting on the edge of the bed wondering if she can actually stand and walk to the bathroom. I’m better off than that, but the first ½ hour each day is loud, you know the groaning and moaning. Too bad there’s no one around here but the cats to sympathize.

I when it was announced that Dr. Frank Painter would give a seminar on Chronic Pain management. This post contains careful notes from that seminar.

Dr. Painter is a major research and practicing chiropractor and maintains the research pages for the Chiro.org online resource for his profession. It gets thousands of hits a month and is the most go-to site for alternative health care regarding chiropractic treatment. You can look him up here.

He began with shocking statistics (sometimes I glaze over with too many statistics, but I know professionals quantify results so bear with me.) Chronic pain causes UNBELIEVABLE suffering, disrupts careers and lifestyle, and brings about unimaginable financial drains on our society. It’s now estimated that 24 percent of Americans (or approx. 48 million people) suffer from chronic pain. More than one-third of them regularly take pain medicine to manage their suffering. Those statistics are very frightening.

Pain is caused by tissue injury, surgical procedures, and a variety of illnesses. The common pain we experience from a cut or bruise is very well understood. It is referred to as acute pain, and is accompanied by the inflammatory response, which involves local swelling, increased temperature, redness, and loss of function.

Damage to cell membranes during an injury releases two substances that initiate the inflammatory response. They are called prostaglandins and bradykinins. These molecules cause nearby nerve cells to transmit pain information to the brain. Following the formation of a stable clot, fibroblasts migrate to the site of injury to repair the damaged tissues. That is when acute pain is normally extinguished. This explains how the acute pain and swelling when I hurt my wrist hiking gradually stopped hurting. The body rushed repair mechanisms to the place where it was most damaged and in a few hours the acute pain was gone; in a few days all pain was gone.

Chronic pain is different, because chronic pain persists.

Dr. Painter focuses on safe supplementation as an alternative to pain medication. He also talks about our diet and why chronic pain is so much more common today than in the past.

He reports on a recent study involving hundreds of patients who underwent surgery on their ankle or knee. The patients who took 1000 mg. of vitamin C for 46 days after their surgery reported 80% reduction in what is called complex regional pain, compared to patients who did not take vitamin C. If you are planning surgery, especially in a limb (knee or hip replacement for example) begin taking 1000 mg of Sustained Release Vita C before surgery and continue for at least 46 days to prophylactically avoid pain.

Can you believe that more than a 3^rd of all people with pain take medication? When we suffer acute pain from surgery or an injury, the inflammatory response, loss of function, redness and damage to the membrane is alleviated by medication. And then you stop taking it. With chronic pain, the wound never heals. Chronic pain keeps on going. Any pain that lasts more than 6 months and has no end in sight, like arthritis, cancer is chronic.

A chiropractor once explained to me that injury sustained in a car wreck creates a pain path in the nervous and muscular system. The next fender bender is nowhere near as traumatic, but the pain is worse. This pain path is reactivated, familiar and more challenging to cure. Believe me, I had a series of car accidents each one less violent than the previous one. Funny how the pain increased with each one.

How does our diet contribute to chronic pain?

Because of radical changes in the American Diet since the 1950’s, our diet is now pro inflammatory and contributes to both chronic pain and autoimmune system diseases. I’ll remind you what these changes were: milling of wheat and other grain to make a ‘whiter’ end product, ie. refining our food; manufacturing foods with high amounts of hydrogenated oils.

Let’s see what’s going on here. In a plain food diet (no processing), the oils—omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are in equal balance. Dr Painter points out that there are 49 known essential nutrients—nutrients our body cannot make but must get from food. These two oils are among them. They work in concert in the body regulating thousands of functions through the prostaglandin pathways. I created a link here in case you, like me, are curious about these babies, prostaglandins, which I’ve been hearing about for all these years of studying nutrition’s effect on our body. Check it out. Fascinating.

Omega 3 (we eat salmon and buy fish oil for this one) helps the prostaglandins with inflammation, cardio health, allergies, immune response, mylin sheath protection, hormone modulation, and behavior. Omega 6, found in borage oil, evening primrose oil, initiates the chemical cascade in the inflammatory response to any injury or infection.

Here’s the problem with this duet. We used to eat a balance of the omegas 3 and 6, short and longer chain fatty acids: one to one. Now, with all these refined foods the balance has changed to twenty to one, omega 6 over omega 3. Think of the Omega 6 as the gas pedal on your car i.e. body, and omega 3 as the breaks. Omega 6 turns on the inflammatory response. Omega 3 (fish) turns it off.

The car is headed for the cliff, folks and the brake pedal is too weak to stop us from hurtling into a world of pain.

We need both Omega 3 and Omega 6. We need them in the correct ratio. Omega 6 comes from hydrogenated oils which are found in virtually all processed foods. Removal of the grain coatings (brown rice, wheat), increased sugar consumption (sugar interferes with synthesis of these fatty acids) and the increase in consumption of deep fried foods and margarine prevent with the healthy marriage of the two fatty acids. The 1:1 synthesis isn’t happening.

What’s the ratio in your life between corn, sunflower and sesame oils (which appear is most processed foods as hydrogenated oils) and cold water fish, sardines, salmon and anchovies? Too many Omega 6’s = chronic pain.

Impact of chronic pain

People hurt too much to get up and go to work. We lose $3 billion in income each year because of pain. Stuff doesn’t get done because we hurt too much to do it. $60 billion a year in lost productivity. Sixty million of us have arthritis, 1 in 3. Family members living with someone in chronic pain have to deal with the frustration, anxiety and misery of the suffering person. How disruptive to family life it is to have all this depression and a sense of helplessness caused by pain!

How do we manage this pain?

Standard medical management: pain meds, the most popular, aspirin, NSAIDS. We spend $2.6 billion a year on prescription NSAIDS and another $6 billion on over the counter pain meds. Most of us are unaware of the lethal side effects of these pain killers. Stanford University reviewed Inflammatory rheumatoid Arthritis (IRA) drug use in 15,000 patients. Projecting the findings from this well controlled study to the entire US population, they found that 107,000 rheumatoid Arthritis patients were hospitalized for complications from these drugs, a large number of whom never left the hospital alive. They bleed out before anyone can help them. 16,500 a year die this way. That’s only the IRA sufferers. What about everyone else who takes these meds?

You get no warning signs for the stomach trouble that results from taking these medications. You just bleed to death.

People with osteoarthritis and IRA are more likely than the regular population to be hospitalized because of GI bleeds. The risk of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or NSAIDS is constant but increases over time with continued use. The longer you take these drugs, the higher the risk becomes. Drugs used to coat the stomach do not lower this probability. The only way to prevent this stomach damage is to stop taking the non steroidal pain medication. Dying from bleeding to death because of taking too many NSAIDS is the 15^th cause of death in America.

By the way, when’s the last time you picked up a bottle of aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen and stopped by to chat with your pharmacist about possible interactions with any other drugs you are taking? No? You are not alone. Of all the readers of Consumer Report magazine who answered their survey, only 38% who picked up these drugs when prescribed by their doctor talked to the pharmacist about dangers or interactions. Only 29% who bought the OTC versions checked with their pharmacist. We used to be more cautious, before usage became so common. Eight years ago, Consumer Report did the same survey and over 50% of the people purchasing these medications checked for side effects, dangers and interactions with other medications. Our pharmacists are trained in drug, supplement and food interactions (not our doctor) and should be used for their expertise. Avoid risk.

Two neurosurgeons at U of Pittsburg Medical Center decided to explore natural substances to use as a substitute for NSAIDS. They gave their IRA patients fish oil and after 75 days, 60% of the people had been able to completely discontinue their NSAID usage and were also able to drop off their other pain meds. 88% were extremely satisfied with their pain reduction from taking fish oil. They would continue to buy fish oil even though it costs more than the medication.

Natural relief

I am going to shamelessly talk about Shaklee’s pain management products. Dr. Painter is specific about Shaklee as the manufacturer in his presentation. This company’s large staff of medical scientists studied the problem of prostaglandins and pain, created biochemical models and searched until they found herbs and safe substances that would interrupt the pain path. I was blown away by the slide presentation Dr. Les Wong made at the annual conference the year Pain Relief Complex was introduced.

Pain Relief Complex. A compliment of medicinal herbs designed to treat pain. The primary ingredient Boswellia extract has been used in India for a long time for joint and arthritic pain as it contains very powerful analgesic properties. In a study people with severe osteoarthritis knee pain where able to get more flexibility and much less pain with Boswellia extract, and thereby increase their walking distance dramatically. The frequency of swelling in the knee joint decreased. Boswellia has also been used to heal the stomach from ulcerative colitis. In other words, it helps heal a stomach damaged by Celebrex or other NSAIDS.

Jt. Health Complex. When in pain we develop pain avoidance behaviors like limping. Other daily activities are avoided because you know its going to hurt too much to do it. I know I leave stuff lying on the floor and put off raking leaves because I know I’m going to hurt when I bend over too often.

When we stop moving to avoid pain, we actually increase the likelihood of increased pain. Why is that? Joint tissue—ligaments, bone, have no blood supply of their own. They eliminate their waste products through a pumping motion when the joint moves. Nutrition to the joint also depends on pumping, or moving. Waste products out, nutrition in, through motion. Without motion, waste products build up around the joint which inhibits the nutrition from being absorbed. Nutrients move from the high concentration in the blood to diffuse themselves into the joint. This process requires movement. If your joint is smothered in waste products, the nutrients don’t go there—too crowded—and the cells start to die because there are no nutrients to feed them. The cartilage begins to degrade and then the bones start to get closer and closer together. The body tries to stabilize that joint by importing minerals like calcium and magnesium to build extra protection around that joint. If you took an x-ray of the joint, you’d see little growths where they should not be. The objective is to reduce the pain so you get more motion in the joint and clear the waste and allow nutrients to enter. Joint Health Complex provides dramatic and speedy pain relief to get you moving again.

NSAIDS actually accelerate the deterioration of cartilage. 36% of liver failure is being cause by acetaminophen (Tylenol) toxicity. One out of three liver transplants is because of the use of acetaminophen. This research and the death of children from Tylenol drove the search for anti-inflammatories with no side effects.

Jt Health Complex leads the way. Boswellia seratta has a long use as an herbal anti-inflammatory. It works. It can be used to treat osteoarthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, RA and asthma. Boswellia was first introduced in Shaklee Pain Relief complex in 2003. It is so powerful they decided to add it to the Jt. Health Complex. Joint Health Complex includes as a major ingredient glucosamine. It has been shown in clinic studies that combining chondroitin with glucosamine reduced the body’s ability to absorb the glucosamine. In redesigning the Jt. Health Complex, Shaklee scientists made sure there was no chondroitin mixed in with it.

Testing

Once they had the new formulation completed, they tested it head to head with the leading pharmacist recommended product, Walgreen’s Osteobyflex. In a clinical trial they found that Jt. Health Complex was 28% faster acting than byflex for providing pain relief. If you were beginning for the first time to take the product, it took only 5 days to get relief with Jt. Health Complex as opposed to 7 days with Osteobyflex. With the addition of boswellia, Jt. Health complex gave 45% better pain relief than the Walgreen product. Shaklee found a vegetarian source for glucosamine. Most glucosamine on the market is sourced from shell-fish. They also made use of a carrier molecule that does not have salt (some products on the market are as much as 30% salt!) which, if you had high blood pressure could be bad—1 third of a tablespoon of salt? I don’t think so. Jt. Health Complex uses hydrochloric acid instead of sulfate to deliver glucosamine. It also contains zinc, manganese, copper and Vita C to nourish the developing cartilage. Glucosamine has been researched extensively since 1970’s and has been found to be at least as effective in relieving pain and NSAIDs without any dangerous side effects. In one study it was shown that there was an actual increase in the cartilage with glucosamine.

Joint and muscle pain cream. Helps with pain from over use during exercise. Active ingredient is menthol. Shaklee improved on the healing characteristics by improving on the delivery of the menthol with a liposome delivery system. This liposome delivery provides prolonged release and deeper penetration. If you’ve used Flexall 454, Icy Hot and JointFlex, your may get temporary distraction from pain, but you are probably throwing your money away. Topical local anesthetics, topical capsaicin are basically aspirin in creamy form and could affect your stomach the way taking aspirin does.

I strongly recommend this trio of pain relief products for chronic pain. I use them to great advantage. Dr. Painter provides the scientific back drop to prove the effect is no placebo.

If you suffer from chronic pain that does not seem to associated with a joint, Omega guard is the #1 nutrient solution. Shaklee’s OmegaGuard, DHA, EPA and 5 other naturally found omega 3 fatty acids provides the missing link for halting diet induced inflammation. Get the balance back between omega 6 and omega 3, supplement with Omerga 3 so the ratio is 1:1 and you will have less pain. OmegaGuard naturally balances the prostyglandins that prolong the inflammatory response to pain stimulus. Rather than using drugs to suppress the inflammation, re-balance the body’s own ability to handle pain by changing your diet to eliminate hydrogenated fats and excess sugars plus taking enough OmegaGuard to change the Omega3:Omega6 dance back to 1:1.

That’s it. Thanks for reading all the way to the end. May you be well, pain free and able to keep moving.

What’s next?

Tell us

Do you check your meds and OTC drugs with the pharmacist?

What pain relief rubs have your tried? Results?

Have you given up hope or are you willing to try another way to get relief?

If you decide you want to try these products, go to my blog page, http://www.grandmabetsybell.com/shop-shaklee-products/ and browse the product guide.

Get in touch via the comment section.

If you have found value here, feel free to share on your FB page or with your friends and colleagues suffering from chronic pain.

Fondly, Betsy

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving

BetsyBell’s Health4u

www.GrandmaBetsyBell.com

206 933 1889 1 888 283 2077

betsy@hihohealth.com

Arthritis, Health and Fitness

But I have to have an operation!

March 12, 2012 betsyjbell 6 Comments

Gentle Reader,

I was talking with a guy last night who had to have an operation for his hip. The osteoarthritis had become so advanced into the hip joint that various movements were impeded. A long time supplement user, he fortified himself with various supplements in order to tolerate the operation well and heal quickly. He is a little disappointed with how long it has taken to get back to a range of motion he hoped for. He is apprehensive about the operation waiting for his other hip.

As a wellness advisor, I have counseled many people about steps they might take to prepare for surgery, all kinds of surgery, whether for cancer or for arthritis and bone issues. I thought I would share with you the document I have developed over the years. Please add your own thoughts if you have had surgery and found alternative supplementation and actions that have helped with healing.

Before Surgery:

Soy protein 2 x daily (if taking chemo, increase to 3-4 x daily)

Vita-Lea 3-4/daily (Shaklee’s multivitamin-mineral supplement)

Fiber Tablets or Mix: Soluble fiber (bloodstream), insoluble fiber (gut)

Herb Lax: Cleanses gut, blood

Vita. C Sustained Release w/bioflavinoids: anti-inflammatory, new cells grow faster, immune system support, helps w/pain. Take a minimum of 3-4 of 500 mg./da – up to 10,000 mg. (gradually decrease since body has to adjust to excreting excess)

B-Complex: aids in good digestion. Depleted by stress. Take 8/da – space out

Zinc: Helps w/pain, healing, no more than 50-60 mg./day except when there is trauma like a cut or incision (up to 120 mg./da until healed). Body can’t make new cells w/o zinc, protein, & C.

Immunity Formula I: 2-8/da (A proprietary Shaklee supplement to enhance the immune response.)

Carotomax: Cleanses cells, reduces inflammation (swelling), makes mucous membranes healthy. Especially helpful if using breathing machine.

Vitamin E: Oxygenates cells, gets rid of toxins of anesthesia.

DO NOT take GLA, E, OmegaGuard (fish oil), Garlic or lecithin before surgery. Stop 1 week prior.

Alfalfa (vitamin K): 10-20/da to reduce bleeding during & after surgery.

Garlic: Helps flora, antibacterial agent. Not before surgery as is a blood thinner.

NutriFeron: Take 4 for 2 weeks. (A proprietary herbal blend that stimulates interferon production.)

OsteoMatrix: Coats nerve endings, helps repair them quicker, helps you relax so you can sleep deeper (can take w/Gentle Sleep Complex). (This is Shaklee’s calcium product.)

Iron: Need blood test to know if needed. (Shaklee’s comes with vitamin c to help absorption.)

After Surgery:

Performance: Dilute more than usual, make ice chips out of it, & start taking slowly as soon as feel like it. (Shaklee’s rehydrating drink, perfectly balanced for absorption.)

Protein: Take as soon as can drink but don’t feel nauseated. Alternate with Physique. (Physique is Shaklee after workout maximize, excellent for healing sore muscles.)

Liver DTX: 2 at night (Shaklee’s detox milk thistle product to help restore normalcy after the medications of surgery.)

Stomach Soothing complex: Helps calm digestive system if feeling queezy. Made with peppermint and ginger, can be taken as a tablet or dissolved into hot water for tea.

Vita-Cal: Helps reduce gas bubbles. (A chewable Shaklee calcium product)

Fiber: Start w/very small amounts to start cleansing. A Fiber Blend tablet or ¼ tsp. Fiber Blend.

Vitamin E 400+: 4-6/da. Prevents blood clots, oxygenates. Start slowly if high blood pressure is an issue.

Lecithin: Helps build sheath around nerve endings which helps reduce pain. 6 daily

GLA: Up to 6/da, anti-inflammatory. (Shaklee makes their GLA from borage oil for best absorption and least contamination)

Omega Guard (fish oil): If you digest it well.

Alfalfa: Diuretic, liver cleanser, reduces swelling, helps kidneys, etc. start working again. 20 daily

Herb-Lax: Start slowly. Very helpful after surgery as elimination slows down so much from the anesthetic. Take to the hospital. From personal experience, this is super important.

Purified Water: very important

B-Complex: Promotes healing, increases energy level.

Ginseng: Helps energy & supports adrenal glands. (Shaklee’s CorEnergy)

Dandelion leaf: Swelling & inflammation. (Not a Shaklee product)

Optiflora pills and powder is strongly recommended to rebuild the flora. 1 serving daily of this pre and pro biotic made by Shaklee

This is a tall order when you may not be used to taking so much stuff.

The minimum pre-op is Energizing Soy Protein, Vita C, Optiflora, Vita lea Gold and Alfalfa

Post op: Physique, Vita C, Vita E, Optiflora, Vita Lea Gold, Alfalfa, Herb lax, Lecithin.

I have gleaned this information primarily from Carol Dalton, a nurse practitioner in Colorado who, during her long practice, has found the Shaklee supplements to work best for her patients. People who have followed this protocol have had remarkable healing and suffered the least from the trauma of surgery.

Be Well, Do Well and Keep Moving,

Betsy

BetsyBell’s Health4u

206 933 1889

www.HiHoHealth dot com