Michael van Straten s Healthy and Essential Fact Sheet with Classic Gold Radio

Transcription

1 Michael van Straten s Healthy and Essential Fact Sheet with Classic Gold Radio Inflammation Infection, irritation or injury can all cause pain, swelling, heat or local areas of redness, all as a result of inflammation. It can be internal or external and present in an astonishingly wide variety of health problems. Toothache, joint pain, inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohns' disease, diverticulitis, ulcerative colitis, irritable bowel syndrome. Period pains, headaches, eczema, boils, almost any painful or uncomfortable symptom may be caused by localised or general inflammation. How you deal with individual conditions varies greatly and many of these separate symptoms are dealt with in the Healthy and Essential website. As a general guide inflammatory pain may be helped with cold compresses, icepacks and anti-inflammatory herbs like Devil's Claw or ginger. Cloves are an effective treatment for inflammation of the nerve root which causes toothache, whilst a simple cup of mint tea can relieve the inflammation of acid indigestion. PAIN PRESCRIPTIONS - IT'S TIME TO THINK NATURAL Since the thalidomide tragedy the public have become more anxious about the safety of prescribed drugs. Unfortunately the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession don't seem quite so concerned. In the last few months serious questions have been raised about the safety of unlicensed antidepressants prescribed for children, one of the most successful of the new medicines for the treatment of arthritis has been withdrawn and now there are worries about addiction to a widely prescribed antidepressant. So why aren't doctors using the natural remedies which are both safe and effective?

2 All drugs that have a beneficial effect are also likely to have some form of side effect and this is true whether they are prescribed medicines or over- the-counter herbal remedies. The prime consideration must always be the balance of risks and benefits and in almost every single case the risks of using natural medicines is small and insignificant. No sane person would want to deny the enormous contribution of the pharmaceutical industry to the treatment and cure of many life threatening diseases and it's also true that natural doesn t necessarily mean safe - some of the most potent poisons are found in plants. But a recent paper by Professor Munir Pirmohamed, Professor Thomas Walley, Professor Alasdair Breckenridge and colleagues in the British Medical Journal last July paints a frightening picture. The researchers suggest that hospital admissions for the treatment of adverse drug reactions costs the NHS 466 million per year and was the equivalent of seven 800 bed hospitals filled with patients because of these drug reactions, at any one time. They also estimate that around 10,000 people may die annually because of prescribed drugs with low-dose aspirin and other non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs being the most common cause. Over 70% of these reactions were either possibly or definitely avoidable. Arthritis and rheumatism sufferers are the biggest users of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs and these are prescribed and bought over-the-counter in enormous quantities despite the fact that they are responsible for 12,000 hospital admissions and around 3,000 deaths each year. When the new anti-inflammatory drugs - Cox-2 inhibitors - were launched here in 1999, they were hailed as the 'super aspirin', more effective and with less side effects than either aspirin or NSAIDs. In the same year I warned that there were serious concerns amongst American heart experts that these new pills were causing problems. So, it should not have been a surprise when Vioxx (rofecoxib) was withdrawn from the market

3 recently. In June 2000 the American authorities were warned of the dangers and in its first year on the English market it was responsible for 11 deaths and 1,000 reports of suspected adverse reactions. Three of the deaths were caused by heart failure. NATURAL WAYS TO HELP ARTHRITIS There's now growing scientific evidence that many of the old wives' treatments for arthritis and rheumatism are extremely effective, as good at relieving pain and inflammation as the powerful drugs, but with no risk of significant side effects. Fish Oils - Nature's magic The Vikings used them, Eskimos thrive on them and in the 18th century doctors at Manchester Infirmary gave them to patients with rheumatism and arthritis. By the 19th century doctors discovered that they could both prevent and treat the crippling childhood disease of rickets. Now, Professor Bruce Caterson at Cardiff University, has unravelled the mystery. "We were amazed to find that natural components shut down the activity of damaging enzymes which destroy protective cartilage and cause the inflammation which makes arthritis a progressive disease", says the professor. His latest studies on damaged knee cartilage also show that the Omega-3 fatty acids can even reverse the damage done to inflamed cartilage, so make sure you eat plenty of oily fish if you've got any form of arthritis or rheumatism, unless it's gout. The richest source of the Omega essential fatty acids are extracted from the flesh of oily fish and the most potent of these is MorEPA with more of the valuable oils and less of the unnecessary fats than other fish oil supplements. Order at or by phone on

4 When it comes to dealing with inflammatory problems associated with allergies and women's hormonal problems, then Barleans Omega Twin combines flax seed oil, the richest of all sources of alpha-linolenic acid with borage oil, the richest source of gamma-linolenic acid. This provides the perfect balance of Omega-3 and Omega-6 fats. Again order at or by phone on Comfort from the Kalahari Devil's Claw is the traditional anti-inflammatory remedy used by the Bushmen from the Kalahari Desert and it's been a favourite of herbalists and complementary medicine practitioners for some years. Now scientists at the University of Keele in Germany have shown that 8 out of 10 patients with moderate or even severe back pain improved after taking the herb for 14 days. Ginger up your joints Ginger has been used in Chinese medicine for 5,000 years. It's a great treatment for early morning sickness in pregnancy, travel sickness, and circulatory problems, but some of the inedible Chinese gingers are powerful antiinflammatories. Professor Roy Altman at the University of Miami has compared ginger extracts with conventional NSAIDs in a large scale study of patients with arthritic knees. Almost 70% of the patients had as much, if not more relief from severe pain using ginger rather than conventional drugs. "Long term use of NSAIDs can have serious side effects so I'm happy that using ginger as an alternative treatment produced no untoward reactions."

5 Pineapple power Since the early 1900s boxers have known that pineapple reduces pain, swelling and bruising. Wherever it grows pineapple is used in the relief of pain and Dr. Ann Walker at Reading University has done large scale double blind trials using the pineapple enzyme bromelain. The results showed clinical proof that it reduced swelling and pain, improved mobility and helped repair damaged tissues, all without side effects. Foods for Arthritis Eat lots of oily fish for fatty acids; shellfish for zinc; apricots, peppers, kiwis, citrus fruits for vitamins A and C; nuts, seeds and olive oil for vitamin B; chillis, turmeric and ginger to reduce joint pain. Consume less red meat, game, alcohol and coffee to reduce joint inflammation. Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis may respond to a reduction of dairy products. Arthritis Supplements: MorEPA High Strength Fish Oil capsules Zinaxin Ginger Capsules Ortis Devil's Claw Gel Minalka Danish mineral supplement for joint pain