Chronic Pain, Finally Some Relief!

We were vendors at a Christmas Show at the Castle of Muskogee here in Oklahoma. It was a long-running show which started on Black Friday, November 23rd, 2018, and ran every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through December 9th. Then it became every night from December 14th through December 31st.

Normally when we do shows, I stand the entire time, as I am the main salesperson in our booth, and of course author of my horror movie trivia books which are on display. This means I am really the most informed about the items we sell and therefore the reason I am the main person. Usually our shows are one-weekend deals. If it is a three day show, we set up on Thursday or early Friday, and break things down, pack up, and go home on Sunday. They key is, no matter how much the weekend takes out of me, I usually then have at least Monday through Thursday for my body to recover if we have a show the following weekend, or longer if we don't have a show right away.

Let's backtrack a bit now. I am now 47 years old, and obviously not as young as I used to be. A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a pinched nerve in my upper spine region, essentially between my shoulder blades. This was after I overdid things while laying a concrete foundation for my wife's grandparents' new home. It was a family affair that day. The problem is, while everyone else was taking breaks, the job I was doing would have been harder for me to stop and someone else to take over. Therefore, I was the only one who went nonstop from start to finish. By the time we were done, my lower back was in major pain. As I walked back across our yard to our house it was a struggle. When I got to our back steps (4 steps high), I wound up having to crawl up them because my lower back just would not support me being upright anymore. Ever since that day I have experienced back pain, and of course the pinched nerve. The amount of pain varies greatly depending on what I am doing, and sometimes times even when I am not doing anything at all it just wants to be annoying.

Now back to the Christmas show. After 18 straight days of being on my feet at least five or six hours every night on a hard concrete floor, coupled with an hour drive each way to get to and from the show, my body essentially shut down. I was in pain from head to toe nonstop and to varying degrees. For the most part it was unbearable; at best I could shut out the pain and function at a low level. I've been trying to think of a way to explain it, and the best I can come up with is this: Picture your body as a connect-the-dots puzzle. Each dot is a joint in your body; ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and add in a quite a few dots to encompass your back. Now connect all those dots - the connections are made with shooting pains between each of the dots. From the moment I sat up in bed and put my feet on the floor to stand, the pain began shooting everywhere. Walking started as little baby steps. Often times the steps got larger, but while hunched over a bit and arms just dangling at my sides because swinging them like a normal person caused more pain.

I have never been big on going to the doctor. I essentially go only when I need refills on medicines they have me taking.That winds up being once or twice a year. Last year, however, I started going to a chiropractor. She was helping with a lot of the pain I was having from the pinched nerve and lower back pain. Around August of last year, I lost my medical insurance and stopped going to see her. Luckily I got new insurance at the start of this year. Because the pain was not going away after the Christmas show, we decided I should start going to the chiropractor again.

That was about eight weeks ago. I think I have had 10 appointments in those eight weeks. Getting adjusted was definitely helping, some. The problem was that after a few days -- sometimes less, sometimes more -- things reverted and the pain came back on varying levels.

Two weeks ago in the middle of discussing how things were going, Dr. Sarah stopped what we were doing and went out into the lobby of the office. She came back with a bottle of pills and said take this home with you today and start taking this once a day. It was a bottle of P-5-P, which stands for Pyrodoxal - 5 - Phosphate. It is essentially a Vitamin B-6 supplement. Dr. Sarah is big on prescribing natural and organic medicines whenever she can. This is no different. It is purer than anything you can buy at the store, and it only costs $18.75 for a three month supply. This particular supplement works as a diuretic that was supposed to help with some swelling and inflammation I was having. Things did improve after taking it for just three or four days.


She had also suggested in the past that I try something called Sta-Restored, a supplement that is supposed to support healthy joints. The main thing she mentioned in this supplement was the glucosamine or Gluca-gel, but there are many other good things in them. Once again, it is all natural, organic ingredients and better than anything you can buy off the shelf at your local Wal*Mart. This one I have to take three pills a day, so this bottle will last one month and costs about $35. That arrived in the mail one week ago today. (Last Friday)



The final supplement I am now taking is a product called HempFX Relax. It is technically a sleep support formula, but is good for much more than that. In case the name doesn't give it away, this contains Cannabinoid (CBD) oil. It also contains things like lavender and peppermint oils, as well as melatonin. This one says to take 1mL of the oil blend a day; using the dropper, you place the oil under your tongue and hold it for 60 seconds before swallowing. The bottle is 30mL. Dr. Sarah said she takes 0.5mL during the day because she needs to be awake and alert. Her husband/receptionist says he puts a few drops in his Bi-Pap machine at night and it helps him sleep better. I have been taking 0.5mL twice a day. My sleep schedule varies greatly from day to day, so I usually take it about an hour before I think I am going to sleep, and then the second dose about 12 hours after that. This arrived one week ago as well.

This too is made of all natural ingredients. The company that makes it even grows everything that is in it. Another great thing about it is that it is fully tested and guaranteed to contain the levels of things it says it does. Since products like this do not need FDA approval, many products can -- and have been proven to -- have different levels of CBD and THC than they claim to have. These HempFX products contain 750mg of hemp phytocannabinoids; the minute amount of THC that is present in all of their CBD products WILL NOT show up on a drug test, which is important for many in the workplace.

So, we are now seven days into taking the Sta-Restored and HempFX Relax, and about 14 days into taking the P-5-P supplement. I am thrilled to say that I am so much better! I would estimate it at feeling around 85 or 90% better. The main thing sticking around is the pain in my hands and elbow, but nowhere near as bad as it was. There were times I couldn't effectively use them, and now I can do most things with them -- type, open things that twist (bottles, jars, doorknobs!). Dr. Sarah has now shifted me to "As Needed" appointments instead of weekly or more frequent. There seems to be a shimmering light at the end of the tunnel that I can see now!

Oh, speaking of shimmering light, I forgot to mention the laser light treatments she has done on my hands three times now. It is an amazing little machine! For my hands it takes about 5 minutes. All she does is take this handheld machine that they paid $10,000 for and it shines two blinking strips of laser light onto my hands as she moves it around to cover all surface areas. It is a global treatment, meaning she is only applying it to my hands, but it encourages quicker healing of joints, nerves, and muscles, not only in my hands but all through out adjacent areas.

With that, during the first treatment the hand pain literally went away. It was THAT fast, no exaggeration. She did warn me to not be surprised if it didn't last. She was right; about 7 hours after the treatment, my hands had reverted. The next time, a week later, the treatment lasted longer, and the return of the pain was more gradual. The third time, it again extended for a longer time.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed (now that I can cross them again!) that this mix of supplements, CBD oil, and chiropractic care keeps things going in the right direction. I certainly feel better than I have in months. If you are in pain and have access to a chiropractor, I recommend you give it a try. If you happen to be in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, let me know and I will give you details on Dr. Sarah.

Below I am including more specific information on the three items described above.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a medical professional and do not suggest using any of these products before consulting your own doctor. Some of these products may include ingredients that could adversely effect other medications you may be taking. For example, one of the HempFX products not mentioned here contains St. John's Wort, which is known to interact with things like depression, anxiety, and heart medicines. Be smart; talk to your doctor before adding or removing any supplements or medications!

Images:
Mr. Meeseeks from Rick & Morty - It is a button we sell, forget the original source.

Castle of Muskogee - okcastle.com

Medication images property of designs for health and Youngevity

Encino Man gif from giphy.com