Archive for the ‘Arthritis’ Category
How to Relieve Pain in Joints and Body
Do you suffer from pain in the joints and body that you can’t seemed to explain? Perhaps you have already been diagnosed with having osteoarthritis, or rhemautoid arthritis and wanting to find other ways to relieve the condition. Or you don’t have these conditions but wondering why you seemed to have chronic aches in the body.
If you suffer from any medical condition, please seek appropiate treatment from the doctors. However, I would like to recommend some holistic methods that may help you to relieve your discomfort:
Theory of Inflammation
Due to unsuited diet and inactive lifestyle, the body- fascias, joints and muscles may be inflamed. You could have eaten something that results an allergic reaction to your body- and that could escalate or cause the onset of autoimmunity diseases such as RA.
There are 4 lifestyle changes you can make to reduce pain and inflammation on your body:
1. Drink lots and lots of water
2. Reduce sugar intake as much as you can
3. Reduce intake of deep fried (even BBQ) food (especially meat)
4. Take fish oil tablets/supplements
5. Adequate exercise
6. Reduce caffeine like coffee/ tea.
Body Pain may be due to Chronic Sinus
Reuters published an article “Body Pain may be due to Sinus Trouble” with the title above dated 22 September 08 linking the connection between ongoing sinus inflammation in relation to body pains. It is said that especially on older adults, conditions may be diagnosed as arthritis, depression, fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome- is relieved once the patients undergo the sinus surgery.
Endoscopic sinus surgery is being recommended. Refer to ehealthMD for a better description about endoscopic sinus surgery whereby the possible advantages & complications are explained in brief.
Even though the study gives a ray of hope to those who are suffering from sinus AND body pains, I would not think it is a good idea to jump straight into the surgery because:
1. Effectiveness of sinus surgery in permanently curing sinus
2. Sinus happens when there is an allergic reaction- is our body’s way of warning us
Stiff or Painful Joints- Take immediate action before it’s too late
Stiff joints and reduced mobility have been accepted as part of the aging process. Here’s the typical scenario once this condition sets in:
pain and stiff joints—> see doctor —> eat painkillers —> more pain —> doctor say the painkiller’s dosage is getting too high, better cut down-–> walk with aid such as cane
The following conditions above will take a few years to set in. Then, if nothing much is being done and the person or the family of the senior “just let nature takes its course”, the following will happen:
—> no energy on the legs and pain, so walk less, sit down more—> even the other leg got even more pain –> wheelchair seemed to be the only option to move–> eventually, the legs degenerate in size and loses energy —> full blown arthritis sets in–> the person becomes paralysed and subsequently bedridden
It is only a very simple thing and can happen at any age- whenever you want to get up from a chair, do you need to use your hands to support on something in order to push yourself up? Can you squat down fully and then get up without using any support?
A New Revelation Brings Hope to My Early Stage of Osteoarthritis
I started develop very strong interest in subject of health and fitness, after experiencing first hand the benefits from proper eating and exercising in eliminating certain chronic conditions. As you would invariably notice from the various health related topics from this blog, I am really committed in sharing as much information as I can to benefit others who suffers from any health related issues. On every health issue posted here, I’ve known at least one person whom I care about who are suffering from the ailment.
From exercising and eating, I am now exploring another possibility- energy healing. What made me belief that energy healing works is because it relieved the current condition that I am on the early stage of osteoarthritis- characterized by the decrease in synovial fluid on my right knee. As the result, my right knee creaked a lot each time I bend and straighten it.
Previously, it was painful but once I started adding aerobic exercise and weight training, as well as making some dietary changes, the pain got to very minimal. But try as I do, I could not ignore the unnerving ‘creaking’ sound that my right knee makes each time I do a ‘front kick’ motion while being seated. It’s scary but to my knowledge, there is no cure for osteoarthritis.
Inexpensive Detox Using Salt Water
There are ‘detox’ plasters being sold in pharmacies- basically you just stick it, usually to your foot before you go to sleep for overnight. The next day when you wake up, the plaster, which is clear in colour will be black and wet, supposedly due to toxin removal.
From my science background, I conclude that it’s the principal of osmosis is at work here- diffusion of water from a more concentrated to a less concentrated surface through a membrane.
A friend who is well experienced in using traditional healing method taught me another inexpensive method- using salt water.
It works for:
- Knee pain, due to excessive wind element (examples through constantly taking cooling food like Ceylonese tea or bathing at night)
- Morning sinuses
- General detox
Caffeine & Its Effect on the Body
In my opinion, there must be something wrong about taking strong doses of caffeine. It may not apply to others. But if you suffer from these symptoms each time you have your daily caffeine fix, you may want to seriously rethink about gradually reducing the dosages:
- tendency to develop sinus or running nose when taking strong doses of latte from San Francisco or Starbucks. On bad days, rashes or skin irritation happens. It is as if the body develops and allergy to it
- more incidents of gastric, gas and acid reflux. Strong doses of coffee are very acidic and if taken on empty stomach over long term, it may lead to stomach ulcers- an extremely painful condition
- pain on the lower back, around the kidney areas- sometimes when getting up from sleep
- weak bladder- inconvenience because always need to do to the washroom due to the caffeine’s diuretic effect
- knee pain or joint discomfort
- numbness of the limbs- legs or joints- sometimes occurring even though you only sat down for a while
- feeling very tired and drained out at the end of the day (because after the effect of that latte wears off, both the body and mind can be very exhausted)
To test out, try to cut down the intake and gradually stop taking. See if any of the signs goes off.
Effects of Caffeine on Exercise and Health
From my personal experience, caffeine intake right before exercise affects exercising in the following ways:
- heart beat much faster than normal
- dizziness
- gastric
- weakness in limbs— especially if you drink Ceylon tea prior to exercising
- sometimes headache
The signs are felt more strongly especially if the caffeine dosage is high, for example in latte or expresso. I felt these signs even though I am so used to caffeine that I have no problem sleeping even right after a latte from Starbucks at night.
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