I got in a car accident in 1990 that almost took my life. My jaw was broken in 6 places and every tooth in my mouth was moved. They had to wire my jaw shut for 10 weeks and when they took the wires off, I had extensive dental work done.
I asked the dentist to just pull the remaining teeth… but they insisted fixing them would be better for me in the long run. Within weeks, my mouth was full of root canals and 16 amalgam fillings.
The next tragedy in my life was when a Rottweiler took hold of my left wrist and shook it like a rag doll. Later, surgeries would reveal that I was missing ligaments in my wrist and tendons were partially severed.
After surgeons and specialists did all they could for the wrist injury, I continued to have debilitating pain that radiated from the left wrist but went all the way up to my shoulder and beyond. Eventually, I was diagnosed with “chronic reactive arthritis.”
No arthritis medicine helped me, although the doctors prescribed several different medicines for arthritis. I tried glucosamine and chondroitin and every other anti-inflammatory supplement that I could find information on. I went back to school to study nutrition and anatomy so I could fix myself.
I wound up taking 8-12 Ibuprofen a day and Percocet when the pain got to be too much. I had to go to “pain management” psychologist in order to get the heavy duty pain meds… but it was the only way I could sleep because the pain was that bad.
Grape Seed Extract
In 1997, I finally found that if I took enough grape seed extract, which is a pycnogenol and an antioxidant — that made the pain disappear. The first brand I was taking, I had to take 27 pills a day in order to stay pain free. That cost me $30 every other day or $450 a month to stay pain free.
I quickly found a higher quality grape seed extract so I could save money. The one I settled with is made by a network marketing company called USANA and I took this product for 15 years. I only had to take 1 or 2 pills a day to stay pain free… and I knew when I needed more because the pain would come back slowly and then full force if I ignored it.
I have tried all the cheaper brands from CVS, GNC, and even some from vitacost, Nature’s Way and Source Naturals… none of them took the pain away like the USANA brand Proflavanol.
***USANA Proflavanol seems to be unavailable – check out Japanese Knotweed! ***
Japanese Knotweed
I tested positive for Lyme Disease in April 2011. My doctor thinks, from my medical history I was probably born with it. He had me take 5 of the herbs Stephen Buhner talks about in his book Healing Lyme. The first one I took made me not need the Proflavanol (Grape Seed Extract) anymore because it kept the inflammation down as good if not better than the Proflavanol.
I bought a pound of loose powder and made my own pills, and sometimes I added the herbs to tea, smoothies or food. http://1stchineseherbs.com – look for Japenese Knotweed or Reservatrol.
Recently, I stopped taking Proflavanol and Grapeseed extract. I no longer have arthritis pain for the first time in over 20 years!
I no longer need anti-inflammatory herbs or any of the other herbs and supplements I was taking to attempt to get my health back. I found a nutritional cleanse that is getting the toxins out and keeps me pain free and feeling great!
Very interesting story Heather……I saw many doctors myself, including dr. klinghardt and dr. shoemaker among…others and very good dentists. I now have reactive arthritis and I can knock it back but may have to go back on the Klinghardt Lyme cocktail for a while (contains some of Buhners herbs)…….what exactly did you take? and how did you keep your costs down?……btw….the toxins are the main problem….it takes a long time to figure that out but I need to deal with this Arthritis stuff as it is getting me down…..
Cheers,
Robert
I have done Buhner herbs too… I buy from 1stchineseherbs.com … I buy bulk herbs by the pound and that keeps costs down. The Japanese knotweed really seems to keep the arthritis/swelling down.