Nature's medicine?

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BuckMoon

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Pharmaceuticals give me the fear tbh. I'm quite young and don't like the idea of being on high dosage pain meds that may or may not rupture my insides by the time I'm 50.

Hence, I'm trialling turmeric+cumin caps, CBD oil, omegas 369, creatine and most recently I'm on to manuka honey which research would suggest is one of nature's finest medicines in terms of dealing with inflammation and more.

I would be keen to hear anyone's opinions and thoughts on these supplements and am always open to any natural suggestions be it food, herbs, ointment, tea whatever.

Thanks in advance for responding.
 
To add; I'm really desperately needing a sleep aid. I find I'm coping with my pain about as well as I could but perhaps I could deal with it better if I could sleep. I have tried valerian and chamomile teas and such not much help.
 
If you live where it is legal, you could try cannabis, which is for many an excellent sleep aid. Additionally, combined with CBD it is a good pain medication.
 
Hi BuckMoon - I very much understand you being wary of meds, esp. because they harmed me a lot. Also your idea of improving sleep first, that was also my priority. We've got quite a few threads on these 'nature's medicine" if you use the search function, but:
  • I first needed also to hunt for and prevent all environmental triggers (mattress/topper, pillows, bedclothes, cold/heat, light, noise, air, heating and more) stopping me from sleeping, as well as getting local pains down with physiotherapy (osteopathy, cryotherapy, acupressure, exercises/yoga, stretching, trigger pointing arnica cream).
  • Regarding sleep I also didn't find help (rather often harm) from valerian, chamomille, as well as hops and other herbs, also not from 5-HTP, L-tryptophan, ashwagandha, normal dosed passiflora (2x 0.3g), CBD oil and melatonin, all of which are recommended to try. Instead what now very much helps me is higher dose passiflora (4x.3g starting at 7pm), which has a lot of evidence for it, and the amino acid GABA, balanced by glutamine & theanine, as I am low in serotonin, also NAC, whilst I don't notice the effect of magnesium malate and magnesium (bis)glycinate seemed to get me too awake, and similar with theanine, so I'm now only those that in the mornings to get awake again.
  • Before sleep I always need to cold or at least alternate shower to keep pain (esp. lower back) & thoughts down, to "reset".
  • Regarding your other herbs/supps: turmeric+cumin caps are often recommended as anti-inflammatory - for me they and others such as ginger and capsaicin increase my stomach acidity (so "rupture my insides") - if that's no problem for you then why not try those 2 and more spices?
  • CBD oil is no problem for you, but is not helping? (The high quality sort I tried zombified me, so I'm not considering alternatives.)
  • Omegas 369: Omega 3 is the needed type, best from fish oil or microalgae, whilst as far as I know we have more than enough omega 6 and 9 anyway, so supplementing them would cause a dysbalance, even if your product tries to balance them (e.g. omega 3 to 6 in the ratio of 5:1).
  • Creatine: hadn't heard of this, can see it might be good for muscles and mitochondria/energy, but I wouldn't want the sfx (e.g. gastrointestinal, cramps, weight/hypertension).
  • Manuka honey seems to have a high probability (80%) of fake products with no positive effects (see wikipedia) and I can't see that the evidence for it being particularly high - as we can't share links here, what's the name of the study you are referring to? (Or which site refers to the study? And how can you be sure your product isn't fake?) You've got a small amount of quercetin and luteolin in there - why not take quercetin highly dosed and get luteolin from broccoli, carrots etc.?
  • What about magnesium malate and/or glycinate e.g. for muscles, without the common gastrointestinal side effects?
  • What about ALC or (not and) L-carnitine e.g. for energy (more brain or more body)?
  • What about things like NAC, CoQ10 (praps as ubiquinol), SAM-e or selenium? D-ribose (for energy, but again GI-sfx)?
 
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Hi JayCS, thanks for such a detailed reply - this is very helpful to me.

Trigger hunting is perhaps necessary, 5htp and melatonin were a miss on me too and I can't say I've heard of passiflora so I'll look into that.

I used to drink teas with ginger in and stopped for no reason at all actually so I may try some ginger and lemon again that's a good shout!

The CBD seems to have no bad side effects for me, sometimes I question if it's helping much as it's kinda subtle but I continue to take it as I have no side effects and do believe in the product.

Ahh, with the omegas knowledge I'll probably switch to explicitly fish oil.

I believe creatine can also improve cognitive function but honestly I take this primarily to help build and maintain muscle, it seems to help me regulate my weight as I was previously very skinny and weak.

And for the honey, its actually been shown in studies that high grade manuka honey can work just as well as pharmaceutical anti inflammatory drugs, they drew the same conclusion when testing people with bad coughs, the honey seemed to work as well as cough medicine in most instances. Then there's also respiratory benefits and also all the benefits of regular raw nutrient packed honey only the stuff seems to be even more nutrient dense. I'm aware there's lot of fake products and certainly some scam marketing but the company I order from seem pretty legit and each tub has a serial code you can track its origin back to the hive it came from in New Zealand so I think it's legit.

As for the other suggestions I've never heard of these but appreciate the suggestions and will look into them
 
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Hi Buck Moon, You say that "it's actually been shown in studies" that manuka honey does various things.
We here would like to know your source for this information. Please note that it is not permissible for you to post a direct link on this site for this reference, (and your post will not appear if it does contain a link), but I am asking you to tell us the name of the study or studies, who performed these and where, and where it has been published and peer-reviewed. For instance: (making this up )
Drs Greer and Sullivan, Harvard edu, 2018, study named "The effects of ZXY on Fibromyalgia pain symptoms"

I ask for this because a great deal of information is presented in so many places on the internet, saying "studies have shown/proven...." but without some reference to what study that was and where a person can find it to read and evaluate, it is not useful information. Some people have posted highly erroneous statements and claimed that they were backed by "studies" which, on investigation, turned out not to exist or to be one study done on 16 people or something of the kind.

As a result, we ask anyone who is posting information here and stating that it has been studied and proven to name that study and give information, without a direct link, on how we can look it up and read for ourselves. If this is not possible, please do not state that something has been found or proven in a study.

I am sure you can understand how important this is, as this forum is for people who are here because they have a challenging physical syndrome and are seeking ways to reduce their symptoms. We want to do as much as possible to make sure that what is presented here is as accurate as possible. thanks.
 
Of course. I get it, my bad. If you want to remove or edit the post please do.

To clarify, there isn't enough scientific evidence on the topic. I have spoken with doctors that have been aware of some trials in where they tried say 10 people with inflammation on the honey Vs over the counter anti inflammatory meds (same with coughs n such) and in some cases it worked just as well. Of course we can't conclude scientifically that the honey itself did this as other factors may have been prevalent but honey is itself proven to have anti inflammatory properties, and the manuka honey potentially more so. But you are right and I didn't mean to imply that manuka honey = anti inflammatory meds. Apologies.
 
No worries, Buck Moon, just clarifying how we operate here. :)
You are most welcome to be here and to add to our discussions with ideas and experiences that you have had.
 
I would encourage you to research kratom. It has been shown to be extremely effective for many fibro sufferers and is becoming more and more easily and readily available. In addition most vendors are more than happy to make recommendations and give advice as far as which strains are most effective for what, symptoms, dosages etc.
 
Hi Buckmoon,

I've also taken creatine at various points over the years to complement strength training, and tried it in relation to fibro symptoms, but didn't find that it made much difference in that context for me - the opposite might be true for you, of course!

For sleep, I'll second JayCS's suggestion of magnesium. I take Magnesium Glycinate, and it has dramatically transformed my ability to sleep and also improved my anxiety.

I also take Acetyl L-Carnatine, CoQ10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, and Boswellia. This is the result of a lot of trial and error, experimenting with different supplements to discover what helps my symptoms.

Challengingly, we all seem to be a bit different, responding to varying things, but it can be worth being a guinea pig for a while to figure it out! The medications I was prescribed for fibromyalgia made me pretty ill, so I also took the path of trying to find other solutions. I would recommend that as you go, you do some decent research on possible side effects and interactions of everything you try. Even with herbal supplements, they can interact with each other and do things like lower blood pressure too far - when you know what to look out for, you can self-manage, risk-assess, and tweak things to find your sweet spots!

Many of us seem to make really good headway, so I think there's reason to be optimistic that you will too. Good luck to you!
 
I would encourage you to research kratom. It has been shown to be extremely effective for many fibro sufferers and is becoming more and more easily and readily available. In addition most vendors are more than happy to make recommendations and give advice as far as which strains are most effective for what, symptoms, dosages etc.
Please, everyone, be aware that there is no research that shows kratom is effective for chronic pain.
Medical sites online such as the Mayo Clinic warn against it. Unlike medical cannabis, with kratom here are many adverse side effects including
  • Dizziness
  • Drowsiness
  • Hallucinations and delusion
  • Depression and delusion
  • Breathing suppression
  • Seizure, coma and death
Kratom has been reported to cause abnormal brain function when taken with prescription medicines. When this happens, you may experience a severe headache, lose your ability to communicate or become confused. (this information from the Mayo Clinic)

Additionally kratom is not regulated whatever in the USA., so if you buy it, especially online, you don't know what you are getting.
It is recommended that you stay away from kratom until more is known about it and/or there are actual studies that show it is effective for chronic pain. So far those studies have shown that it is not effective to any degree that would justify risking serious side effects.
 
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