It’s a devastation I’ve seen first-hand, since my mom was diagnosed with the disease when I was still in elementary school.

However, she had been living with constant challenges for close to a decade before she was ever diagnosed…

For years, she was shuffled from doctor to doctor looking for answers to why she was so exhausted she couldn’t get out of bed, why she cried for no apparent reason or why her eyes bothered her.

It was almost a relief when she was diagnosed because at least there was a name for the issues plaguing her life.

And it meant that she could finally start looking for treatments that might help, rather than just trying to survive each day.

Now, researchers are revealing that not only does MS start sooner than doctors believed, but that there are three types of issues patients commonly experience that could help identify the disease and offer access to early interventions.

As it turns out, my mom suffered from all of them…

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A vague confluence of symptoms

Researchers at the University of British Columbia started with the health and insurance data of more than 12,000 people. One thing stood out: People with MS began using healthcare services at elevated rates 15 years before their first obvious neurological symptoms appeared.

Some of the most common complaints they sought help for in the decade and a half leading up to a diagnosis included fatigue, anxiety and pain.

But because symptoms like these are considered vague, they’re often ignored or mistaken for other conditions.

Fortunately, because this study went further back into patient history, these findings may help doctors recognize early warning signs that could lead to earlier detection and intervention.

Compared to the general population, patients eventually diagnosed with MS had a steady buildup of engagement with healthcare providers that looked like this:

• 15 years before recognized symptom onset: Visits to general practice physicians increase, especially for symptoms like fatigue, pain, anxiety, dizziness and depression.
• 12 years before: Visits to a psychiatrist increase.
• Eight to nine years before: Visits to neurologists and ophthalmologists increase, possibly due to issues like blurry vision or eye pain.
• Three to five years before: Emergency medicine and radiology visits increase.
• One year before: Doctors’ visits reach a peak, with trips to neurology, emergency medicine and radiology.

“These patterns suggest that MS has a long and complex prodromal phase, where something is happening beneath the surface but hasn’t yet declared itself as MS,” said Dr. Marta Ruiz-Algueró, a postdoctoral fellow at UBC and the study’s first author.

“We’re only now starting to understand what these early warning signs are, with mental health-related issues appearing to be among the earliest indicators.”

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Get the support you need

If you recognize this pattern in yourself or a loved one, have a serious discussion with a doctor.

Though there is no single test for diagnosing MS, there are several that, together with patient history, can aid in diagnosis.

It’s unknown exactly what causes MS, but some researchers believe a combination of genetic and environmental factors triggers the disease. 

Some studies have found significant differences between the gut microbes of patients with MS and those without the disease. However, the mechanism through which these microbes may influence the disease is still unclear.

But research over the years has suggested ways to support your body against the ravages of MS:

• Supplements – Vitamin D, Omega 3’s, melatonin and antioxidants (CoQ10, vitamin E, quercetin and lutein-zeaxanthin) have been researched for positive impacts on autoimmune issues and some specifically on MS. Also, an acid found in fruit peel was found to reverse the myelin damage of MS in mice.
• A simple sugar – N-acetylglucosamine, a form of glucosamine that’s shown to be effective for joint discomfort and often used in supplements, was found to reduce multiple inflammation and neurodegeneration markers in MS patients in research done at the University of California, Irvine.
• Diet – Dr. Terry Wahls is a physician and also a patient with progressive MS. To fight back against the disease, she created The Wahls Protocol, in which she credits diet and lifestyle interventions with helping her leave her wheelchair behind.

Sources:

Fatigue, anxiety, pain? They might be MS in disguise — ScienceDaily

Early Detection and Treatment — National Multiple Sclerosis Society

The post 3 common complaints may be the earliest signs of MS appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

However, as is so often the case with medications, the truth is somewhat murkier. The gabapentinoid class of drugs, which includes gabapentin, has been associated with a 30 percent higher risk of hip fracture.

And some of the possible side effects of gabapentin use include fatigue, dizziness, headache, difficulty speaking, memory loss, movement problems and unusual eye movements and double vision.

All of that is disturbing enough. But for people who have taken gabapentin for years, an even more alarming side effect could be waiting for them…

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Gabapentin linked to increased cognitive impairment and dementia risk

A team of U.S. researchers examined real-time data from TriNetX, a health research network containing electronic health records from 60 U.S. healthcare organizations.

They studied the health records of adult patients who had and hadn’t been prescribed gabapentin for chronic low back pain between 2004 and 2024 (with 26,414 in each group). They took into account demographics, co-existing conditions and the use of other pain-relieving drugs.

The results were astonishing…

Those who had received six or more prescriptions for the drug were 29% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia and 85% more likely to be diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) within 10 years of their initial pain diagnosis.

What’s more, when the records were stratified by age, those between the ages of 18 and 64 who were prescribed gabapentin were more than twice as likely to develop either dementia or MCI than those who hadn’t recieved a prescription. That’s a lot younger than those normally considered at risk for those conditions.

When the younger cohort was broken down further, there was no heightened risk found among those between the ages of 18-34 who were prescribed the drug.

But for users between the ages of 35-49, the risks of dementia more than doubled — and MCI more than tripled. A similar pattern was found in those between the ages of 50 and 64.

There was also a correlation between risk and prescription frequency. Patients with 12 or more prescriptions were 40% more likely to develop dementia and 65% more likely to develop MCI than those prescribed between three and 11 times.

As recently as 2023, gabapentin was ranked #10 in a list of the top 50 most commonly prescribed drugs in the U.S.

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A worrisome association

Because this is an observational study, no firm conclusions can be drawn about cause and effect. The researchers also note they weren’t able to account for dose or length of gabapentin use.

However, they conclude, “Our findings indicate an association between gabapentin prescription and dementia or cognitive impairment within 10 years. Moreover, increased gabapentin prescription frequency correlated with dementia incidence.”

These findings provide “a foundation to further research whether gabapentin plays a causal role in the development of dementia and cognitive decline,” the investigators write in the study.

In the meantime, they say their observations “support the need for close monitoring of adult patients prescribed gabapentin to assess for potential cognitive decline.”

If you use gabapentin for pain or seizure control, you may want to talk to your doctor about whether you should switch to a different medication. Definitely don’t stop using it without speaking with your doctor first about an alternative.

Sources:

Nerve pain drug gabapentin linked to increased dementia, cognitive impairment risks — Medical Xpress

Risk of dementia following gabapentin prescription in chronic low back pain patients — Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine

Does Gabapentin Raise Dementia Risk? — Medscape

The Top 50 Drugs Prescribed in the United States — Healthgrades

The post A top 10 commonly prescribed drug linked to dementia appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This is due to a combination of factors, including decreased digestive enzyme production, slower muscle contractions in the digestive tract and lifestyle choices that have left their mark.

The result: nutrient deficiencies, acid reflux and constipation.

But there’s one outcome of this slowdown in digestion that can be extraordinarily painful and even land you in the hospital.

Luckily, there are five things you can do to prevent this painful and potentially life-threatening condition…

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5 ways to reduce risk for diverticulitis

Diverticulitis is a condition where small pouches, or diverticula, in the wall of the colon become inflamed or infected. Most of the time, diverticulitis resolves without any treatment.

Age is a risk factor you can’t control. Age-related deterioration in the walls of the colon means that by the time you’re 50, you have a 50/50 chance of developing diverticulitis.

But a decades-long observational study by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital has identified five factors you can control that can dramatically reduce your risk.

After assessing the health records of 179,564 people from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), the NHS II and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), the researchers developed a “Healthy Lifestyle Score” (HLS) linked to diverticulitis risk over around 20 years.

Five factors were linked to a lower risk of diverticulitis:

• Healthy body mass index (BMI)
• Being physically active
• Not smoking
• High fiber intake (Women, aim for 25 grams daily; men, 38 grams)
• Low or no red meat intake

One point was given for each of these five factors, and every one-point increase in HLS meant a 12 percent lower risk of diverticulitis.

Those with a “full house” – a point given for all five factors – were 50 percent less likely to be diagnosed than those with zero points.

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Prevention tips, and when to seek medical attention

Of course, scoring a point for all five factors will also make you less of a target for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

But aiming for three or four will lower your risk dramatically. You can do that by:

• Staying away from red meat
• Eating plenty of high-fiber fruits and vegetables
• Moving your body daily (even a daily walk counts!)
• Don’t smoke, or get help with quitting
• Keep your weight within healthy limits

But doing these things isn’t an iron-clad guarantee, so it’s crucial that you know the symptoms of diverticulitis. If you don’t seek help, complications can be life-threatening and require immediate medical attention.

If you experience severe abdominal pain (usually on the left side), fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, or difficulty passing stool, you should seek emergency medical care.

Left untreated, an attack of diverticulitis can lead to life-threatening complications:

• Peritonitis – an infection of the abdominal lining
• Abscess – a collection of pus in the abdomen
• Bowel obstruction – a blockage in the colon
• Colon perforation – a tear in the wall of the colon

But don’t let this scare you. Even if you’re 50 or beyond, if you follow these guidelines, you stand a good chance of never developing diverticulitis.

Unfortunately, some chronic conditions are associated with an increased risk for diverticulitis. Those include:

• Polycystic kidney disease
• Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid)
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease

Omega-3 supplements are sometimes suggested to reduce inflammation, flare-ups and improve the intestinal barrier in people with diverticulitis. In addition, probiotics, vitamin D and glutamine may also be beneficial.

If you’re on medication for the condition, let your doctor know if you take supplements.

Sources:

These five things halve your risk of common age-related gut pain — New Atlas

Lifestyle factors, genetic susceptibility and risk of incident diverticulitis: an integrated analysis of four prospective cohort studies and electronic health records-linked biobank — Gut

The post 5 ways to slash risks for painful diverticulitis appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, at one point he threatened to start sleeping in the guest room if I didn’t wear warm socks to bed instead of warming my cold toes up on his legs.

Well, that was before I got my Hashimoto’s under control. But if you’re dealing with cold toes and you don’t have a thyroid problem, don’t ignore this distress call…

That’s because cold feet can be a sign of a serious circulation problem that may start in the small blood vessels — but can signal big trouble…

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Blood vessels and your feet

Since your circulatory system is responsible for head-to-toe blood flow — the blood vessels in your feet can often sound the first alarm of problems to come.

That’s because your heart works extra hard to pump blood through arteries that reach vital organs, like the brain.

But by the time your blood vessels reach your feet, they’ve branched in numerous directions, getting smaller and smaller in size much in the same twigs branch off of a tree.

And it’s these smaller vessels where trouble can quickly escalate…

Tiny little masses called microemboli, made up of blobs of cholesterol, can get stuck.

While these little clots, also known as emboli, pass easily through large vessels, they struggle to pass through as vessels become smaller— making it easy to cut off the blood supply to your toes.

Two signs you shouldn’t miss

When this happens, your feet are going to sound an alarm — and it won’t just be cold feet…

It’s feet that are so cold they’ll be painful and even change color, turning blue or purple.

Doctors call it blue toe syndrome.

It can be dangerous because when the tissues of your feet are starved of oxygen, it can lead to cell death, gangrene and even amputation of the toes and feet.

What’s worse is that the microemboli that cause blue toe syndrome can indicate a potentially serious problem in larger arteries that are upstream from these little guys.

Other signs that could indicate blue toe syndrome include:

• Foot pain
• Muscle pain in the legs
• Ulcers on the feet
• Nodules or lesions on the feet
• Bruising

Be sure to let your doctor know if any of these are occurring.

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Supporting head-to-toe blood flow

The little clots that clog small vessels are typically made up of cholesterol and fibrin. Often they have broken off from a plaque forming in a larger artery.

Fibrin is a protein the body uses under normal circumstances to keep a clot from spreading while tissue heals. When the clot is no longer needed it dissolves. But sometimes the process doesn’t go as expected, depending on the health of the arteries involved.

That’s where nattokinase, an enzyme from a fermented soybean dish called natto, is especially helpful…

Nattokinase was discovered over 40 years ago by a Japanese medical researcher named Hiroyuki Sumi, M.D., who demonstrated its ability to support blood flow. It works in much the same way as Pac-Man^®… going to work to thin the blood for smooth circulation.

You can find natto at your local Asian or Japanese market. But most Americans don’t like the texture, taste or smell. But that doesn’t have to be a deterrent…

The benefits of nattokinase have been researched in over 17 scientific studies — including human clinical trials — and supplements are an option. According to the University of Cincinnati, a single dose of Nattokinase at 100 mg was enough to show an enhancement in both thrombolysis while also assisting anti-coagulation profiles.

Since nattokinase does a great job of promoting normal circulation, if you’re taking blood thinners you should consult with your health care practitioner first.

What is blue toe syndrome — Medical News Today

Blue Toe Syndrome — DermaNet

An often overlooked body part could give you clues about your health – CNN

The post The weird warning your feet send about your blood vessels appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And despite new medical advances and age-old traditional approaches, chronic pain still holds millions of people prisoner.

Many turn to opioids, and still more make liberal use of NSAIDs such as ibuprofen and other pain relievers, unaware of their potential dangers.

But a team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, has discovered something that could radically improve the way we treat chronic pain…

It may also explain why some painkillers work better for women than men and why postmenopausal women experience more pain.  

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Hormones and immune cells trigger natural opioid

The meninges are the tissues that surround and protect the spinal cord and brain. Until now, it was assumed that this protection was their only role.

However, the research team discovered that the meninges are filled with T-reg cells (immune cells). To learn what their function was using mice, the researchers disabled these cells in mice.

When they did this, they found that the female mice became more sensitive to pain, while male mice did not.

When the scientists looked a little further, they were amazed to discover that the female hormones estrogen and progesterone were prompting the immune cells to produce the natural opioid enkephalin.

This series of events explained why the female mice became more sensitive to pain when their T-cells were disabled.

“The fact that there’s a sex-dependent influence on these cells — driven by estrogen and progesterone — and that it’s not related at all to any immune function is very unusual,” said first author of the study, Elora Midavaine, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow. 

The researchers have begun investigating the possibility of engineering T-reg cells to produce enkephalin on a constant basis in both men and women for pain relief. 

“If that approach is successful, it could really change the lives of the nearly 20% of Americans who experience chronic pain that is not adequately treated,” says Dr. Allan Basbaum, the study’s co-author.

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Towards ‘natural opioid’ pain relief

More research is needed to learn precisely how the hormones and immune cells work together to produce this natural opioid. Still, the discovery of this sex-dependent pathway is likely to lead to new and much-needed approaches for managing pain… 

It could be especially helpful for women who have gone through menopause and no longer produce estrogen and progesterone, many of whom experience chronic pain, and may not be candidates for hormone replacement therapy.

Additionally, it may help physicians choose medications that could work more effectively for their patients — depending on their sex. Certain migraine treatments, for example, are known to work better on women than men. 

We know this because this is not the first time that hormones, particularly female hormones, have been found to act on pain receptors…

Previous research also found that the actions of a female hormone are responsible for increased functional pain in women. Functional pain refers to pain that occurs without injury. Migraines and fibromyalgia (both conditions that affect far more women than men) fall into this category.

Until then, this natural opioid can be put to use, check out these 18 prescription-free ways to help ease pain.

Sources:

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids — Eureka Alert

Chronic pain: medication decisions — Mayo Clinic

The post Sex hormones can trigger opioid-like pain relief appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Making matters worse, very few things work reliably to eliminate back pain, especially lower back pain, the most common complaint of all.

The thing is, much of our back pain is self-inflicted. And since there’s no reliable fix for back pain, the best thing you can do is to avoid movements and activities that cause it in the first place.

I recently came across an article describing some of the most common movements that tweak our backs. Here’s what to avoid, what to do instead and how to support your muscles and ease the pain…

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Ditch these habits that hurt

The B.L.T.  No, not the sandwich. This B.L.T. stands for “bend, lift, and twist.”

Doing all three at once “maximizes stress on the disc, making it more likely to rupture,” says Dr. Arthur Jenkins, a New York neurosurgeon who specializes in spinal surgery.

And it doesn’t take something as strenuous as snow shoveling to injure yourself this way. Something as simple as twisting around to grab shopping bags from the back seat of your car can do it.

One way to avoid this injury is to take a few seconds to recognize the moves you are about to make and do them separately, rather than doing them all at once.

Warm up before playing. You may not think of golf or table tennis as high-risk activities. But they often involve sudden twists that can be jarring on the spine.

Flexibility is key. Warming up and stretching before and after your game will keep your spine flexible enough to avoid injury.

Don’t overload your carry-on bag when traveling. Lifting a heavy bag over your head is not a motion you do every day. Your back is not used to it, and injury can occur easily.

Before leaving home, see if you can easily lift your bag to waist level. If not, unload a few items. On the plane, lifting your bag to your waist and then up over your head should be a two-step process because the muscles that lift the bag from floor to waist are stronger than those that take it from waist to overhead.

Remember this as well when you go to store a box of seasonal decorations or clothes on a top shelf of your storage closet.

Avoid sit-ups. According to Harvard Health, sit-ups push your curved spine against the floor and work your hip flexors, the muscles that run from the thighs to the lumbar vertebrae in the lower back. When the hip flexors are too strong or too tight, they tug on the lower spine, creating lower back discomfort.

If you want to strengthen your core, exercises such as planks, Plates, swimming, yoga and the elliptical machine “are a lot healthier for your back in general,” says Dr. Jacob Joseph, a neurosurgeon at the University of Michigan Health specializing in spinal injuries.

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Nutrients that support your aching back

No matter how careful you are, anyone can overdo it and experience back pain. But the more active you are, especially working to strengthen your core to support your back, the stronger you are.

That added strength and flexibility could mean fewer injuries and quicker healing. The right nutrition can also help in this department…

A study into nutritional considerations for injury prevention and recovery suggests promoting injury-healing amino acids and protein intake, antioxidants, creatine and omega-3s.

For muscle injury.:

• Creatine is an amino acid that can boost muscle strength and endurance. It can keep your back (and other) muscles from atrophying if you’re immobilized due to a back injury.
• Omega-3s help prevent muscle loss while recovering from an injury and can help with pain.
• Resveratrol is an antioxidant that has been found to help astronauts maintain their muscle strength on long missions.
• Vitamins C and E, also antioxidants, fight against the increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) after muscle injury. ROS will damage the cell’s basic building blocks, including DNA, proteins, and lipids.

For joint and tendon injury:

• Collagen is a natural protein in your body that gives your cartilage its strength. Hydrolyzed collagen powder is a great choice.

For bone injuries (and pain):

• Vitamin D and calcium support bone health, and healthy bones heal better.

Previous research has also linked low vitamin D levels to back pain. Women who were deficient in vitamin D reported more cases of severe back pain, more fractures, disc degeneration and greater limitations in performing activities of daily living than women with adequate levels of vitamin D.

Research has also indicated that vitamin D affects the body’s inflammation response in a way that lowers the sensation of pain, so it’s not only helpful in supporting your bones but also in alleviating pain.

Sources:

The worst habits for your back, according to spine surgeons — NY Times

Chronic Back Pain — Health Policy Institute

Want a stronger core? Skip the sit-ups — Harvard Health

Back, Lower Limb, and Upper Limb Pain — CDC

Nutritional Considerations for Injury Prevention and Recovery in Combat Sports — Nutrients

The post 4 common movements that cause back pain & what helps appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Muscle cramps are a common problem with a lot of potential causes. But no matter what’s causing your muscle cramps, regular cramping isn’t something you should ignore. It’s your body’s way of telling you something’s not right…

It’s not always easy to get to the bottom of mysterious muscle cramps. But if you pay attention to the signs you can most likely narrow it down to one of six common causes of cramping:

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1. You’re overworking your muscles

If you’re exercising extra hard, you could end up with muscle cramps. These type of muscle cramps are pretty easy to spot because they usually happen after a vigorous workout. The best way to prevent cramps caused by overworked muscles is to tone down you exercise routine and make sure to stretch before you work out.

You also may have strained a muscle. A strain happens when you’ve stretched your muscle too far. And muscle cramping is one sign of a serious strain.

Read: 13+ natural ways to ease leg cramps

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2. You’re dehydrated

Dehydration is probably the most common cause of muscle cramping. That’s because low water levels can lead to low sodium levels. When you’re muscle isn’t getting the sodium it needs, it starts cramping.

Of course, there is an easy fix for this… stay well hydrated.

Read: 4 surprising dehydration danger signs

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3. You have a compressed nerve

If the nerves in your spine are compressed, you can experience cramps in your legs. You can tell if this is the cause of cramping, because the pain gets worse the longer you walk. The pain should also improve a bit if you walk with your back in a slightly flexed position, like you would if you were pushing a shopping cart.

Read: 3 steps to natural nerve pain relief

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4. You have poor blood circulation

If your legs aren’t getting enough blood, it’s likely you’ll experience some painful cramping. If poor blood circulation is the cause of your cramping, you’ll feel more pain while you’re exercising. When you stop exercising, the cramps should get better.

You can also boost your circulation with this veggie juice.

Read: This ‘hero’ may save you from poor circulation

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5. You have a mineral deficiency

Missing minerals are a likely culprit if you’re having mysterious muscle cramps. Some mineral deficiencies that can cause muscle cramps are potassium, calcium and magnesium deficiencies.

If you suspect one of these deficiencies is at the root of your constant cramping, you can get a simple blood test to know for sure.

Read: 5 Common signs of nutrient deficiencies (infographic)

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Hopefully, you can finally get the bottom of your cramping muscles. Once you do, you’re one step closer to a permanent solution for this pesky problem. In the meantime, if you’re looking for immediate relief from a painful muscle cramp you can try:

• Stretching. It will help get blood flowing to the muscle. Get up and stretch this way to feel great!
• Essential oils. Clove oil and wintergreen oil can ease a cramping muscle if you apply them directly to the site. They both have anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Peppermint oil is also a good choice.
• A heating pad. Heat can also increase blood flow to the site. A heating pad is even more effective if you alternate it with an ice pack.
• Massage. If you apply light pressure to the cramped muscle, you can improve blood flow and loosen up the tight muscle.
• Vitamin E. Taking vitamin E can improve the health of your arteries and enhance blood flow to your muscles, which makes muscle cramps much less likely — so can beet root juice.

Sources:

1. Muscle Cramp — The Mayo Clinic
2. 11 Best Home Remedies For Muscle Cramps — Organic Facts

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Nine detox foods that “cool down” inflammation

A gentle, seasonal cleanse is an excellent way to jumpstart your body’s healing capacities and cure chronic inflammation, reduce stress, heal ongoing infections and unhealed injuries, relieve allergies and much more. Continue reading…

The post 5 health issues that cause muscle cramps appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And I’m sad to say that I’m one of them.

So, I understand better than most when I say it can feel as if migraines run your life.

After all, dealing not only with the horrible pulsing headache but also the nausea and extreme sensitivity to lights and sounds for days to weeks at a time can damage or utterly destroy your quality of life.

And far too often, the medicines doctors prescribe to reduce migraine frequency and duration are both ineffective and come with unwanted side effects.

Fortunately, a recent paper published in Practical Neurology may offer a ray of hope to migraine sufferers everywhere. It highlights four supplements that have been tested and shown to be effective in managing chronic migraine, potentially bringing much-needed relief.

Here are the ones to try:

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#1 – Butterbur

According to the research, the herb butterbur may reduce migraine frequency.

Derived from the Petasites hybridus plant, butterbur is surprisingly the most widely studied natural substance for migraine, even though most of us have probably never heard of it.

A few of the most important points to note when it comes to butterbur are:

• The American Headache Society and the American Academy of Neurology have recommended butterbur since 2012.  Their research concluded that “butterbur demonstrates effectiveness for migraine prevention and is a valid option for patients with migraine to reduce both the severity and frequency of migraine attacks.”
• In a 2022 review of available research involving randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trials, scientists found that “with Petadolex [a popular butterbur supplement] migraine attack frequency was reduced significantly at 150 milligrams (mg)/day, and no relevant abnormal liver function was reported.”
• A second review in 2024, which delved into the results of five separate clinical trials, showed that butterbur reduced the number of headache days by ≥ 50 percent in the first three months of use. It was also well-tolerated by patients of all ages.
• That finding backs up a second 2022 review showing butterbur to be safe and effective for preventing migraines.

Butterbur can cause an allergic reaction in people who are allergic to plants like ragweed, chrysanthemums, marigolds and daisies.

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#2 – CoQ10

Butterbur isn’t the only supplement they recommend for fighting the pain of chronic migraine.

The scientists also concluded that Coenzyme Q10 or CoQ10 appears to reduce headache frequency and duration.

This is likely due to the fact that a study published in the journal Neurology in 2005 found the coenzyme Q10 cut the frequency of migraines for 50% of people who took it.

Other research has concluded that some of the best supplements for migraine prevention are a combination of magnesium, riboflavin and coenzyme Q10.

The recommended doses are 500 mg magnesium, 400 mg riboflavin (vitamin B-2), and 150 mg coenzyme Q10.

#3 – Vitamin D

The scientists also found that, based on the available research, vitamin D may also help reduce headache frequency.

In fact, a study published in the International Journal of Clinical Practice in 2014 found that vitamin D levels were significantly lower in people with migraines.

#4 – Curcumin

Finally, the researchers say that it’s possible curcumin, a spice from turmeric, could provide migraine relief. However, more research is needed to confirm.

With its inflammation-reducing powers that could help you feel better overall, curcumin might be a good bet.

Previously, in 2018, a published paper associated migraines with various nutrient deficiencies. In addition to vitamin D and CoQ10, that paper listed magnesium, niacin, riboflavin, cobalamin, carnitine and alpha lipoic acid. It’s worth noting that butterbur is a source of magnesium and small amounts of niacin.

Overall, the paper concluded that “Correcting nutrient deficiencies may also be an important integrative strategy when it comes to preventing migraines.”

Sources:

Nutraceuticals to Consider for Chronic Migraine – Integrative Practitioner

The Simple Vitamin Cocktail Cure for Migraines – Easy Health Options

The post 4 nutraceuticals for natural migraine relief appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

An estimated 2.7 million people in the U.S. are hooked on opioids despite widespread public health warnings and media attention focused on the dangers of opioid addiction. In 2022, roughly 82,000 deaths in the U.S. were linked to opioids.

This epidemic of opioid addiction is a big reason why investigators continue to search for alternative pain relievers. And they may have found one that doesn’t affect the brain —  despite its mind-altering source…

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Cannabis-derived, sobriety ensured

Marijuana, also known as cannabis, has been used medicinally for thousands of years, including to treat pain. However, its status as an illegal drug and its effects on the mind have kept researchers from fully exploring its potential as a pain reliever.

Natural molecules found in the cannabis plant, referred to as cannabinoid molecules, are the source of the mind-altering properties of marijuana. They bind to the cannabinoid receptor one (CB1) on the surface of brain cells and pain-sensing nerve cells throughout the body.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Stanford University designed a cannabinoid molecule with a positive charge, preventing it from crossing the blood-brain barrier while allowing it to engage CB1 receptors elsewhere in the body. This compound, unlike cannabis, is modified to only bind to pain-sensing nerve cells outside the brain, thereby achieving pain relief without the usual mind-altering effects of cannabis.

The researchers tested the modified synthetic cannabinoid compound in mouse models of nerve-injury pain and migraine headaches, measuring the mice’s hypersensitivity to touch as a proxy for pain. They then applied an ordinarily non-painful stimulus to indirectly assess pain in mice.

The results were impressive — injections of the compound eliminated touch hypersensitivity in both mouse models. And since the compound doesn’t affect the brain, it avoids the mind-altering side effects and abuse potential of opioids.

“The custom-designed compound we created attaches to pain-reducing receptors in the body, but by design, it can’t reach the brain,” says the study’s senior author, Dr. Susruta Majumdar, a professor at WashU Medicine. “This means the compound avoids psychoactive side effects such as mood changes and isn’t addictive because it doesn’t act on the brain’s reward center.”

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Using CBD for pain

Given its long-term effectiveness and its lack of tolerance, this cannabinoid compound holds great promise as a nonaddictive pain reliever. It could potentially provide relief to the estimated 50 million chronic pain sufferers in the U.S. This news may bring a sense of hope and optimism for those struggling with chronic pain. Moving forward, the researchers plan to develop the compound into an oral drug and evaluate it in clinical trials.

Until then, what can chronic pain sufferers do to manage their pain without resorting to dangerous opioids?

Well, there’s always cannabis itself. There’s a lot of evidence that the two primary compounds in cannabis — tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) — provide pain relief. One study even found that cannabis reduced pain in 95.9 percent of cancer sufferers who tried it.

Now that cannabis is legal in many states, it’s easier to acquire and use to treat pain. Just make sure you get Cannabis indica, which is the strain shown to be more effective for pain relief.

If you’re leery of the cannabis “high,” give CBD a try. CBD has many of the same anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties as cannabis, but you don’t get high from using it. Just make sure you get a high-quality CBD supplement that’s guaranteed to contain the amount of CBD it says it does.

Editor’s note: Have you heard of the entourage effect? Dozens of studies show it is now the most effective way to get the most out of a CBD supplement. If full-spectrum, doctor-approved, highly bioavailable CBD oil is for you, click here!

Sources:

Compound harnesses cannabis’ pain-relieving properties without side effects — EurekAlert!

A cryptic pocket in CB1 drives peripheral and functional selectivity — Nature

Medications to Treat Opioid Use Disorder Research Report — National Institute on Drug Abuse

Can cannabis help relieve pain? — Harvard Health Publishing

The post Getting effective pain relief from cannabis appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

At my annual physical, I’m always reassured that my cholesterol levels are in tip-top shape. But other than having a blood test, how would I know if that were to change?

Turns out there are some common symptoms that can forewarn you. The trouble is, many people ignore them, writing these signs off as a result of too much or not enough walking, sitting too much, or sometimes even just a common occurrence with age.

If you’re experiencing leg spasms or cramps, you may be one of them…

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When leg cramps aren’t just leg cramps

When arteries narrow, and the smooth flow of blood to your body parts is disrupted, often the first noticeable sign something is awry is often felt in the legs.

Leg spasms or cramps can be the first sign of peripheral artery disease. They can feel like clenched muscles and are very painful.

Leg cramps have various causes, but the pain of PAD usually shows up as something called intermittent claudication.

This pain in your leg muscles happens when you’re active and stops when you are at rest. Intermittent claudication can also make your legs feel numb, weak, heavy or tired.

Peripheral artery disease can also lead to burning or aching in the feet and toes while at rest, especially while in bed and lying flat. (But if your feet are tingling and you feel that “falling asleep” numbing sensation, it may be another problem.)

There are other signs, too — cool skin on the feet, redness or other color changes of the skin, and toe and foot sores that don’t heal.

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Testing and dealing with symptoms

Although there are many signs and symptoms of PAD, just as often there are none at all. But if you do experience any of the signs of PAD discussed here, don’t wait to see your doctor.

In the meantime, there are ways to relieve the uncomfortable muscle cramping associated with PAD…

Applying heat to muscles using a heating pad or even taking a warm bath can help. This can help increase blood flow to the cramping muscle so it can relax. On the other hand, applying an ice pack to sore muscles can help relieve pain.

Stretching is also relieving but a certain kind, called passive stretching, was actually found to improve blood flow, blood vessel dilation and stiffness.

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Keep cholesterol under control

Doctors recommend statins for cholesterol. Cardiologist Dr. Elizabeth Klodas provides the information here that she tells her patients.

But as with most health problems, there are lifestyle adjustments you can make that can help you work towards healthy cholesterol levels.

Nutrition is an important part of that. Studies have shown that people with PAD have lower a lower omega-3 index compared to people who don’t have the disease. Oily fish such as salmon, sardines and herring are high in omega-3s.

Weight training is a form of exercise that’s been shown to improve the benefits of HDL (“good cholesterol”) for your heart and circulatory system.

Finally, if you’re a smoker, make every effort to cut back or quit.

Smoking is a “double whammy” when it comes to cholesterol and PAD. Not only does it make LDL stickier, so it clings to your artery walls and clogs them, but it lowers levels of HDL, which work to clean those LDLs from your artery walls. 

Here are seven things that can make quitting easier.

Source:

Peripheral artery disease symptoms and causes — Mayo Clinic

High cholesterol early symptom: Spasms or leg cramps could be the first noticeable sign of clogged arteries —Times of India

New research shows people with PAD could have an omega-3 deficiency — Eureka Alert

The post When leg cramps may be a serious warning sign appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Studies have shown omega-3s help lower triglyceride levels and reduce risks for stroke and heart attack. In fact, the FDA has acknowledged that two of the three primary components of omega-3s — docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) — may reduce the risk of hypertension and coronary heart disease.

But that’s far from all omega-3s can do. After much debate on their brain health benefits, the final answer is in: Omega-3s help protect against Alzheimer’s… as long as you take a high enough dose.

And many of us — especially those with arthritis — swear by it for pain relief.

EPA converts into prostaglandins, which are essential to cardiovascular health, but also help conditions tied to inflammation, like some allergies and pain. Interestingly, EPA has been known to reduce neuropathy.

However, the science behind why it relieves pain hasn’t been completely understood — until now…

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How EPA essentially blocks chronic pain

Sometimes the body experiences neurological, metabolic and immunological disruptions that emit a pain signal. When this happens, a form of cellular signaling known as “purinergic” chemical transmission leads to the binding of energy carriers like adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to “purinoreceptors.” This causes and exacerbates the perception of neuropathic and inflammatory pain.

The ATP-purinoreceptor binding is mediated by a vesicular nucleotide transporter (VNUT), which then becomes the key molecule in setting off purinergic signaling.

Researchers at Okayama University theorized that EPA targets VNUT, blocking the chemical transmission and reducing pain perception.

They decided to test this hypothesis both in vitro using human-derived VNUT, and in vivo using a wild-type mouse model and one that’s deficient in VNUT.

“We found that low concentrations of EPA completely and reversibly inhibited the release of ATP from neurons, without inhibiting the release of other neurotransmitters,” says research professor Takaaki Miyaji of Okayama University. “Compared with other drugs, EPA demonstrated a higher analgesic effect and fewer side effects.”

The research opens up several avenues not just for exploration in treating neuropathic pain and its associated insulin resistance, but the analgesic effects of EPA can further extend to chronic pain associated with several other conditions like chemotherapy, diabetes, rheumatism, gout, sciatic nerve ligation and inflammation.

Additionally, purinergic chemical transmission is also associated with a variety of conditions including Alzheimer’s disease and depression, for which EPA can be explored as a therapeutic strategy.

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Best sources of Omega-3s to get plenty of EPA

Omega-3s, including both DHA and EPA, are “essential” because the human body cannot make them on its own. This is why we need to eat certain foods or take supplements to obtain omega-3s for health support.

These omega-3s are abundant in fish oil capsules, oily fish like salmon, sardines, cod liver, herring, mackerel and halibut. It’s also found in hemp and linseed oils and some algae like spirulina.

Krill oil is also an excellent source of omega-3s. Some studies indicated that the fatty acids in krill oil are more easily absorbed. A 4-week study found taking krill oil versus fish oil resulted in higher levels of both EPA and DHA in the bloodstream.

In addition, many food suppliers now include algae and/or flaxseed in the diet of their hens to produce an egg that is rich in omega-3s. These omega-3-enriched eggs provide 20 percent of the recommended amounts of ALA and 25 percent of EPA and DHA.

As for what dosage of EPA to take every day, many studies have demonstrated 500 mg of EPA and DHA as being safe and effective for boosting omega-3 levels in the blood. For reference, one gram of fish oil gives you around 300 mg of combined EPA and DHA.

Sources:

Elucidating the Molecular Targets of “Eicosapentaenoic Acid”: A Natural Remedy for Chronic Pain — Okayama University

Vesicular nucleotide transporter is a molecular target of eicosapentaenoic acid for neuropathic and inflammatory pain treatment — PNAS

FDA Announces New Qualified Health Claims for EPA and DHA Omega-3 Consumption and the Risk of Hypertension and Coronary Heart Disease — U.S. Food and Drug Administration

4 Fish Oil Facts to Help Ease Joint Pain — UPMC Health Beat

The post The omega-3 fatty acid that essentially blocks pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Conventional wisdom says that chest pain, sweating and shortness of breath are the classic signs of a heart attack.

And while this is true, there are other signs that aren’t talked about nearly as often, if at all.

They can be subtle, and they can differ from person to person.

When cardiologists were asked to share some weird symptoms that people often brush off, but that could be signs of a serious heart problem, here’s what they came up with…

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9 symptoms you should never ignore

1. A sinking feeling in your chest. People describe this in many different ways — like a goldfish flipping around in their chest, for example, or that sinking feeling you get in an elevator when it starts to descend quickly.

Don’t brush off any new or strange chest sensations. Bring them to your doctor, who will do an EKG and possibly send you home with a heart monitor. You could have a heart rhythm disorder like atrial fibrillation.

Keeping a log of what’s happening when you experience this sensation is also a good idea.

2. Whooshing in the ear. “Sometimes there are peripheral symptoms that one wouldn’t think are cardiovascular at all that could be a manifestation of cardiovascular disease,” says cardiologist Dr. Heather Gornick, who’s also a professor in the school of medicine at Case Western Reserve University.

“And the one I see the most is patients who have a pulsating sound in the ear,” often in tune with their heartbeat. 

Known as pulsatile tinnitus, it can signal a narrowing of the blood vessels that carry blood between heart and brain, as well as with arterial blockages, tears and aneurysms.

3. Pain or fatigue in the legs while walking. This could be a manifestation of peripheral artery disease (PAD), where the arteries carrying blood to the legs get clogged. It’s associated with a greater risk of heart attack, stroke and early death.

If this feeling persists for a week or two, see your doctor. They’ll do a physical exam and an ankle-brachial index test, which measures blood pressure in your legs and arms.

PAD is a serious condition that, left unaddressed, can lead to amputation.

4. Changes in your feet or legs. Peripheral edema (swollen feet, legs and ankles) can be a sign of congestive heart failure. If the swelling is in both feet rather than just one, and it comes back for a few days in a row, it’s time to see your doctor.

Also keep an eye out for abrupt color changes. Blood clots can turn your legs purple or, in some cases, totally pale and white. Blood clots are a medical emergency.

5. Jaw or neck pain with exertion. If it’s triggered by exertion and relieved by rest, get it checked out. Your doctor will do a stress test to see if you’re at heightened risk of a heart attack or stroke.

6. Indigestion and nausea. That chest discomfort and belching may not be the tacos you ate for dinner. It could signal ischemic heart disease. If it doesn’t go away, call your doctor.

Pay attention to nausea, too, especially if you’re also feeling jaw or back pain, lightheadedness or unusual fatigue.

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7. Carpal tunnel discomfort paired with shortness of breath. Wrist pain after typing, pins and needles, or hand weakness when accompanied by shortness of breath, may be symptoms of cardiac amyloidosis, when proteins deposit in the heart and disrupt function. Nowadays, there are effective treatments for this condition.

8. Sudden stabbing chest pain. This could be caused by aortic dissection, a tear in one of the body’s major arteries. If not caught in time, half of those who experience this will die. This is a medical emergency that will probably require open-heart surgery.

9. A hard time with regular daily activities. Valvular disease indicates the heart’s valves are not working like they should be. That can make someone feel tired and not up to tasks they’d normally had no problem with. They may require frequent rest breaks.

It’s important to alert your doctor if you notice feeling this way when doing regular activities, like housework, grocery shopping, driving or taking a walk.

Sources:

9 Weird Symptoms Cardiologists Say You Should Never Ignore — Time

The post 9 strange symptoms of heart trouble you can’t ignore appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

This is often how someone finds out they have gout.

Until now, science has attached a stigma to this painful condition. Sufferers have been led to believe that they are causing their own pain, mainly through poor diet.

Fortunately, new research has blown that stigma out of the water.

If you suffer with gout, you’ll be happy to know that it is not your fault.

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Rheumatoid arthritis vs. gout

Gout is a “first cousin” to rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is the result of excessive uric acid (also known as urate) in the body. When urate levels are high, needle-shaped urate crystals form in the joints, causing intense pain.

The immune system of a person with gout is “primed” to attack these crystals, causing further pain and swelling.

While RA usually occurs in the small joints of the hands, wrists and feet, gout usually occurs in the foot. It’s most common at the base of the big toe but can also attack the foot and ankle.

In its later stages, gout may affect other joints in the body and can also cause kidney damage.

Gout is mainly genetic

“Gout is a chronic disease with a genetic basis and is not the fault of the sufferer – the myth that gout is caused by lifestyle or diet needs to be busted,” says Prof. Tony Merriman.

Merriman teaches in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Otago in New Zealand.

He is also the senior author of a major international study which has shown that gout is primarily a matter of genetics.

The study analyzed the genetic information of 2.6 million people. Much of the data was gathered from customers of 23andMe, Inc., a direct-to-consumer genetics and preventative health company, who agreed to participate in the research.

Through this analysis, the researchers were able to determine that inherited genetics is an important part of why some people get gout and most others don’t.

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The study identified a large number of genes and signaling pathways that could eventually be targeted with therapies to prevent gout attacks.

For now, though, this information encourages people with gout to pursue available treatments.

“This widespread myth causes shame in people with gout, making some people more likely to suffer in silence and not go and see the doctor to get a preventive drug that lowers urate in the blood and will prevent their pain,” says Prof. Merriman.

Reducing uric acid is key

Research from Boston University’s School of Medicine demonstrates that consumption of omega-3 fatty acids via supplements or from fatty fish is associated with a lower risk of gout flare-ups.

And it just so happens that there’s already a diet custom-made to help control gout.

The DASH diet was originally meant to lower blood pressure. But it’s also been proven to significantly lower uric acid levels, especially for people whose levels are already high.

On a more sinister level, high levels of uric acid can be a sign of coronary artery disease (CAD). Studies show that each 1 mg/dL increase in blood uric acid levels increases the risk of heart-associated death by 12 percent.

The current go-to medication for gout, allopurinol, lowers blood uric acid levels by about 2 milligrams per deciliter. In studies, the DASH diet lowered blood uric acid levels as much as 1.3 milligrams per deciliter.

Need an even quicker way to take levels of uric acid down? Eat a handful of this super healthy nut daily.

Sources:

Study busts myths about cause of gout — Eureka Alert

The post Busting the myths about what causes gout appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

We might also feel irritable, worthless or helpless and lose interest in hobbies or activities we once enjoyed. Depression can even make a person have dark thoughts that include suicide.

These feelings are associated with the mind. But depression isn’t just a disease of the mind; it affects the body as well and can result in actual physical symptoms of depression.

Knowing the physical symptoms may help someone struggling with depression understand the true source of their pain so they seek a resolution that really works. Here are the physical signs of depression to take note of…

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Sleep problems

According to Johns Hopkins, 75 percent of people with depression have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. This shortens the amount of restorative slow-wave sleep a person gets each night.

Oversleeping or sleeping too much is another hallmark of depression. While it’s unclear whether oversleeping causes health problems, it has been linked to type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, headaches and a greater risk of dying from a medical condition.

Chest pain

While chest pain is normally associated with heart attack, it can actually be a symptom of depression. When you are depressed, your heart rate, respiration and blood pressure can increase and potentially trigger chest pain. Of course, if you experience chest pain, you should see a doctor immediately to rule out any heart, lung or stomach problems that might be causing it.

As far as the connection with heart health goes, depression can raise your risk of heart disease. And people who have had heart attacks are more likely to be depressed.

Fatigue

People who are depressed tend not to have the energy for everyday tasks. They often report feeling tired even if they’ve had plenty of sleep. Chronic fatigue can also cause depression, so the two can go hand in hand.

Pain

This is another situation where it can be difficult to know which comes first, the pain or the depression. When you live with ongoing pain, it can raise your risk of depression. And people who are depressed are three times as likely to experience regular pain and four times more likely to get intense, disabling neck or back pain.

Depression is connected to pain because the two conditions share chemical messengers in the brain: serotonin and norepinephrine. Dysregulation of these transmitters can cause both depression and pain.

Digestive issues

It’s become increasingly clear in recent years that there’s a strong connection between our brain and digestive system. This is why many of us get stomach pain or nausea when we’re stressed or worried.

Depression can upset the delicate balance of the digestive system and trigger nausea, indigestion, diarrhea or constipation. Some studies indicate both the depression and the stomach issues stem from the same cause: low levels of serotonin.

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Headaches

The type of headache that most commonly accompanies depression is tension-type headache. However, depressed individuals can also suffer from other primary headache disorders, like migraines or cluster headaches.

In fact, research shows that people with major depression are three times more likely to have migraines, and people with migraines are five times more likely to become depressed.

Weight or appetite changes

Depression can affect appetite in both directions. Some people can’t stop eating and gain weight. Others feel less hungry when they get depressed and lose weight as a result. This lack of appetite is likely caused by anhedonia, a core feature of depression that causes you to feel less pleasure from things you normally enjoy.

Depression has been linked to eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia or binge eating.

Agitation or restlessness

Surprisingly, depression doesn’t always just manifest as sadness or hopelessness; it can actually make you irritable or restless. One group of clinicians surveyed thousands of their psychiatric patients about whether they had recently experienced anger episodes. Two-thirds reported notable levels of irritability and anger, and half reported it at a moderate or severe level. Men are more likely than women to experience this symptom.

Sexual dysfunction

People who are depressed tend to lose interest in sex. This is in part because of the depression itself and in part because some prescription drugs for depression can affect sex drive and performance.

One activity addresses multiple symptoms

There is one activity that can help with many of the physical symptoms on this list: exercise. Research suggests regular exercise releases chemicals in the brain that make you feel good, improve your mood and reduce your sensitivity to pain. And exercise helps you sleep better as well.

Yoga has proven especially effective for reducing signs and symptoms of depression. But even just taking a walk around the block can help get those feel-good chemicals moving in your brain.

Sources:

Slideshow: Physical Symptoms of Depression — WebMD

Depression and Sleep: Understanding the Connection — Johns Hopkins Medicine

Oversleeping: Bad for Your Health? — Johns Hopkins Medicine

What Depression Feels Like — UPMC MyHealth Matters

The Link Between Depression and Physical Symptoms — The Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

A Moody Gut Often Accompanies Depression—New Study Helps Explain Why — Columbia University Irving Medical Center

The Link Between Mental Illness and Your Headaches — Verywell Health

If You’re Often Angry Or Irritable, You May Be Depressed — Harvard Catalyst

How Depression Affects Your Appetite — Plus, 5 Ways to Manage It — Everyday Health

The post 9 physical signs you could have depression appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Here’s a stumper for you: of all the muscles in your body, which one can cause back and lower knee problems, including sciatica and arthritis?

Give up? It’s your butt muscle – your gluteus maximus, in more technical terms.

If you sit all day at your desk or elsewhere, you’re probably already experiencing some of the effects of what doctors are now calling “dead butt syndrome.”

It’s no joke. Here’s everything you need to know.

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What is gluteal amnesia?

When I get up from my desk after a day of writing, I often feel a little stiff. That’s natural, I figure. My hips and lower back need stretching.

But now I know that I may be setting myself up for a potentially debilitating condition called gluteal amnesia, or “dead butt syndrome.”

Dead butt syndrome happens when the muscles in your rear become weak from inactivity – so weak that it seems like they’ve forgotten how to function. This means they may be slow to activate, or not activate at all.

You won’t feel pins and needles or anything like that; it’s not like a compressed nerve.

But the possible effects of this condition on the rest of your body are huge…

Nothing funny about these dangers

Dr. Jane Konidis is a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic. Here’s what she says:

“The name sounds silly, but the side effects are serious. The gluteus maximus is one of the strongest muscles in the body and biggest shock absorber. If it’s not working properly, it can cause a domino chain of issues, from hamstring tears and sciatica to shin splints and arthritis in the knees.”

Your glutes consist of three muscles on the outside and back of your hips. Together, they act as a base for the spine, keeping the pelvis and core stable.

When you take a step forward, the glutes activate first. However, repeated eight-hour desk days can cause a delay in the neurons that signal them to activate. Over time, this causes the glutes to get weaker which has been linked to lower back and knee pain.

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How to prevent dead butt syndrome

As you might expect, the only way to keep this from happening to your body is to move.

This doesn’t mean you have to start engaging in strenuous exercise. But the right exercise is crucial to keeping those glutes alive.

Here are a few things you can do:

Set an alarm. Stand up every 30 to 50 minutes and gently tap your butt cheeks with your fingertips. “That little bit of stimulation reminds the brain that those muscles are there,” says Dr. Konidis.

Work your glutes. Not your whole body, just your butt muscles. Exercises that target this area include:

• Marching in place
• Hip circles
• Squats
• Clamshells
• Hip thrusts
• Side planks
• Single-leg glute bridges

I suggest you put together a simple routine that involves three repetitions of two or three of these that you can do whenever you rise from your desk, as well as at other times.

Finally, if you walk or run regularly, that’s great, but don’t assume that this means your glutes are strong, according to Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.

Adding some squats or lunges to your walking or running routine will keep your glutes activated and save you from the agony of back and knee pain.

Not much work for a big payoff!

Sources:

Sitting All Day Can Cause Dead Butt Syndrome — NY Times

The post Is ‘dead butt syndrome’ behind your low back and knee pain? appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

I mean, when your back hurts, probably the last thing you’re thinking about is moving more – you simply want to sit down or lie down and stay put.

But if you suffer from lower back pain (about 80 percent of American adults will at some point in their lives), you need to know that one of the least expensive, most effective sources of relief and prevention is as simple as putting on a pair of sneakers and heading out the door.

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Why is low back pain so common?

Our lower back is the central point of our whole body. It needs to be able to bend and twist in multiple directions while also bearing the weight of our body.

Our spine is surrounded by a group of core muscles.

We tend to think of our abdominals as the main muscles that support our spine. But the core muscles that surround our spine include the deep back muscles, as well as the hip muscles, quadriceps and hamstrings, which support our spine and pelvis.

These muscles work similarly to a back brace, keeping our midsection stable and upright. That’s why wearing a brace provides short-term pain relief for patients with lower back pain.

However relying on a brace for too long can weaken those core muscles.

“If you can develop your own internal brace, that is more effective,” says Dr. Sean Barber, a neurosurgeon and spine specialist at Houston Methodist Hospital.

Study shows that walking keeps back pain away

In a newly published study, regular walking helped adults with a history of low back pain go nearly twice as long as they had before without a recurrence of pain.

A clinical trial by the Spinal Pain Research Group at Macquarie University in Sydney followed 701 adults who had recently recovered from an episode of back pain.

Participants were randomly assigned to either an individualized walking program and six physiotherapist-guided education sessions over six months, or to a control group.

“The intervention group had fewer occurrences of activity-limiting pain compared to the control group, and a longer average period before they had a recurrence, with a median of 208 days compared to 112 days,” says Prof. Mark Hancock, senior study author.

In other words, people who walked had longer pain-free periods, and when they did have back pain, it tended not to interfere with their daily lives.

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How walking helps relieve back pain

Besides strengthening those core muscles that support the spine and lower back, Prof. Hancock believes there are other factors involved:

• Oscillatory movements – Walking causes the spine to swing back and forth like a pendulum
• Weight-bearing – Muscles and spine are gradually strengthened when those swinging movements are combined with being required to carry some weight
• Relaxation and stress relief – Next time you’re feeling tense or nervous, take a good, brisk walk and see how you feel afterward!
• Release of endorphins – Endorphins are your body’s natural pain relievers and mood boosters. Exercise is one way to release them. So are music, meditation, and certain foods like dark chocolate and strawberries.

Other ways to strengthen your core for less back pain

Here are a few other options you can pursue to help relieve your lower back pain and keep it away for longer periods of time:

Hip stretches. This video demonstrates some easy hip stretches that can strengthen your back.

Yoga.  You don’t need to go to a class for this. There are many at-home videos available online. If you’re not sure where to start, look for videos for beginners.

Chiropractic treatment. Chiropractic is one of the best-proven methods of relieving back pain. It’s even covered by most insurance plans. Here’s what to expect when you see a chiropractor for the first time.

The moral of this story: you don’t have to sit still for chronic back pain when there’s so much potential relief out there.

Start walking and see how much better your back will feel. But if you still need a little help, add fish or krill oil to your routine. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) — an omega-3 fatty acid — is known to reduce both neuropathic and inflammatory pain.

Sources:

Walking brings huge benefits for low back pain — Science Daily

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of an individualised, progressive walking and education intervention for the prevention of low back pain recurrence in Australia (WalkBack): a randomised controlled trial — The Lancet

How Simple Exercises May Save Your Lower Back — New York Times

Elucidating the Molecular Targets of “Eicosapentaenoic Acid”: A Natural Remedy for Chronic Pain — Okayama University

The post Low back pain? Walking it off really works appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Not only have I lived with migraines since my 20s, but I’m also a chiropractor who has treated numerous patients with both tension and migraine headaches.

And there’s one thing I can tell you without a doubt…

What’s happening in your neck plays a major role in your headache pain.

It’s a fact that I saw far too many medical doctors ignore in my patients and in myself.

Yet, it’s a fact that has finally been confirmed by undeniable research presented to the Radiological Society of North America.

Here’s what you need to know…

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Neck inflammation and primary headaches

The research specifically focused on people suffering from what are known as primary headaches. These are tension headaches, as well as migraines – or a combination of both.

As a quick refresher, tension headaches are usually associated with stress and present as a tightening in the head with mild to moderately dull pain on both sides. Two out of every three adults deal with this type of headache.

Migraines on the other hand produce a severe, throbbing type of pain, which usually occurs on only one side or is worse on one side than the other. They are often accompanied by nausea and light sensitivity. And like me, a whopping 37 million people in the U.S. live with chronic migraine.

And whether you suffer from tension headaches or migraines, neck pain seems to go with them like peanut butter goes with jelly.

However, no one had ever objectively studied the link between inflammation of those muscles and the resulting headaches it causes. So scientists in Germany set out to correct that oversight…

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The proof

Researchers specifically looked at the involvement of the trapezius muscles (large triangular-shaped muscles that connect from your upper neck to your middle back) in primary headache disorders using MRIs.

The prospective study included 50 participants who underwent 3D turbo spin-echo MRI of their bilateral trapezius muscles looking for inflammation and association with:

• The presence of neck pain
• Number of days with headache
• Number of myofascial trigger points in the muscles

All in all, the scientists found that the tension-type headache plus migraine group demonstrated the highest levels of inflammation in the trapezius muscles. This inflammation was also significantly associated with the number of headache days and the presence of neck pain.

“Our findings support the role of neck muscles in the pathophysiology of primary headaches,” said lead researcher, Nico Sollmann, M.D., Ph.D. “Therefore, treatments that target the neck muscles could lead to a simultaneous relief of neck pain, as well as headache.”

Caring for your neck to reduce headache pain

So how can you target those neck muscles to find headache relief?

Here are a few tips that I suggest.

#1 – Check your posture

Bad posture is often the root cause of neck problems. The truth is that we were born with a curve in our cervical spine that is vital for our health. However, things like spending too much time on our phones or at our computers, can greatly reduce or even reverse that curve.

Check yourself from the side. Your head should sit directly above your shoulders, which should be back and down. If you have a head-forward posture, your curve and the health of your neck muscles and spine are in trouble.

Luckily, you can improve your curve.

My favorite way to do this is to lay face-up with my head relaxed off the side of my bed, allowing my neck to stretch back. Be sure to start off slow at just two minutes and add one minute per day until you get to 15. Then do this daily.

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#2 – Get a massage

Finding a good massage therapist who can address your myofascial trigger points can help greatly reduce your neck issues and even reduce your number of headache days.

You can also use trigger point massage at home to improve neck issues.

Find the tight spots (odds are you won’t have to look too hard).

Simply press your fingers firmly into the trigger points and repeat for three to five minutes. This can be done up to five times daily.

#3 – See a chiropractor

Chiropractors are trained to successfully address neck issues, including spinal misalignments, muscle pain and inflammation. They are very good at diagnosing the cause of your pain using orthopedic and neurological testing. And at times, they will send you for X-rays or MRI, especially if your condition was caused by trauma, or they suspect an underlying infection, tumor or osteoporosis.

Additionally, your chiropractor can look for and treat other conditions that could play into your headache symptoms, treating your body as a whole.

#4 – Supplement to beat inflammation

Finally, to reduce the fires of inflammation that fire up your headaches, be sure to add inflammation-fighting nutrients to your daily diet.

My colleague Virginia-Tims Lawson has put together a list of five of the best here, along with recommendations for using exercise to render pro-inflammatory molecules powerless.

Sources:

Common headaches tied to neck inflammation – ScienceDaily

The post Neck inflammation: an undeniable link to headache pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

PAD is caused by the buildup of fatty deposits in arteries and reduces blood flow to the limbs, particularly the legs.

Because of this, walking often becomes painful and difficult due to fatigue in the feet, calves or thighs. These symptoms should dissipate with rest, but over time, people with PAD become less able to walk.

The good news is researchers recently made a startling discovery that could result in an inexpensive, readily available therapy for PAD…

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PAD patients on nicotinamide riboside walked farther

U.S.-based investigators recruited 90 people with PAD and an average age of 71 to explore the effects of the over-the-counter supplement nicotinamide riboside, a member of the vitamin B3 family that also includes niacin and niacinamide.

Nicotinamide riboside is a precursor for NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), an essential compound that is related to energy generation, improved blood flow and DNA repair in the body. NAD helps power mitochondria, which are often referred to as the “powerhouse” of the body’s cells.

Because PAD is associated with problems generating energy within muscle cells, the researchers theorized that nicotinamide riboside could help improve walking in people with the disease.

Results showed exactly that. After six months, participants taking nicotinamide riboside daily walked an average of 23 feet more in a six-minute walking test, while those taking a placebo walked 34 feet less. Interestingly, those who took at least three-quarters of the pills they were supposed to take walked even farther, adding more than 100 feet to their walking distance compared to those taking a placebo.

The researchers discovered one mechanism of the improvement was because nicotinamide riboside supports the production of nitric oxide, a signaling molecule and natural vasodilator, in the endothelial lining of the arteries.

“This is a signal that nicotinamide riboside could help these patients,” says Dr. Christiaan Leeuwenburgh, a University of Florida professor and senior author of the clinical trial report. “We are hoping to conduct a larger follow-up trial to verify our findings.”

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Supporting your body’s energy production

The researchers want to do more research before recommending that healthy people take NAD, especially older adults to improve walking performance.

But nicotinamide riboside is currently available as a supplement to anyone that chooses to take it.  

Participants in the study were taking 1,000 mg of nicotinamide riboside a day. They didn’t experience any severe side effects, and most studies show that nicotinamide riboside is well-tolerated, even at high doses.

But if you looking for an energy boost, we observed in an earlier issue that many people notice an immediate energy boost after taking just 250 mg of nicotinamide riboside twice daily.

If you want to get an extra boost of nitric oxide, which was shown to be one mechanism of the improvements seen in the study, just eat beets. Beets support the body’s natural production of nitric oxide, known to support blood flow by signaling arteries to expand.

PAD is associated with diabetes and smoking, as well as kidney disease and heart disease. Plus, if you’re African American, your risk of PAD is twice as high.

Lifestyle changes such as regular exercise and following a healthy diet can go a long way toward helping you avoid PAD. But there is presently no cure for PAD once you have it.

Sources:

Over-the-counter supplement improves walking for peripheral artery disease patients — ScienceDaily

Nicotinamide riboside for peripheral artery disease: the NICE randomized clinical trial — Nature Communications

The post OTC supplement improves walking for people with PAD appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Then there are those who suffer from chronic pain. For them, every day is an ordeal. Pain robs them of simple pleasures the rest of us take for granted — visiting friends and family, playing with the kids or grandkids, traveling or even just working around the house.

What’s really frustrating is doctors don’t really know how to get to the root of the problem. They just write a prescription for pain pills and send the chronic pain sufferer on their way. Well, sometimes those pills don’t work, and when they do, they can cause other problems like addiction.

So, if you suffer from chronic pain, what can you do instead? One answer is surprisingly simple and doesn’t require any expensive pills or procedures…

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Exercise boosts pain tolerance

In 2023, researchers in Norway did a study of more than 10,000 adults that found those who were physically active had a higher pain tolerance than those who were sedentary. And the more active they were, the higher their pain tolerance.

They wanted to know whether this finding held true over long periods of time. So they conducted a second study to understand how physical activity could affect the odds of experiencing chronic pain several years later.

The study included almost 7,000 people recruited from the large Tromsø survey, which collected health and lifestyle data over decades.

The researchers obtained information about the participants’ exercise habits during their free time. Then, they examined how well these same people handled cold pain in a laboratory. Later, they checked whether the participants experienced pain lasting three months or more, including pain located in several parts of the body or pain that was more severe.

Related: The omega-3 that blocks pain

Among the participants, 60 percent reported some form of chronic pain, with only 5 percent having severe pain in multiple parts of the body. Few people experienced more severe pain conditions.

“We found that people who were more active in their free time had a lower chance of having various types of chronic pain 7-8 years later,” says doctoral fellow Anders Årnes at UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the University Hospital of North Norway (UNN), one of the researchers behind the study.

“For example, being just a little more active, such as going from light to moderate activity, was associated with a 5 percent lower risk of reporting some form of chronic pain later,” Årnes adds.

Higher activity was associated with a 16 percent reduced risk for severe chronic pain in several places in the body.

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How to get started

According to the researchers, the ability to tolerate pain played a role in the apparent protective effect. This explains why being active could lower the risk of having severe chronic pain.

“This suggests that physical activity increases our ability to tolerate pain and may be one of the ways in which activity helps to reduce the risk of severe chronic pain,” Årnes says.

The researchers say when it comes to exercising with chronic pain, physical activity isn’t dangerous per se. But chronic pain sufferers can benefit greatly from having an exercise program that’s adapted so that they don’t put in too much or too little effort. Healthcare professionals experienced in treating chronic pain can often help.

Related: Chronic pain? Swap you NSAID for this vitamin

“A rule of thumb is that there should be no worsening that persists over an extended period of time, but that certain reactions in the time after training can be expected,” the researchers say.

It’s good to start simply, with something like 30 minutes of walking a few times a week. Walking is low impact and can be tolerated by most people, even those with chronic pain. Other low-impact forms of exercise that have proven effective at treating pain include yoga and tai chi.

Just remember the two-hour rule — if the pain is worse two hours after finishing your exercise routine than it was before you started, this indicates you’ve overdone it and should scale back next time.

Sources:

Did you know that physical activity can protect you from chronic pain? — EurekAlert!

Does pain tolerance mediate the effect of physical activity on chronic pain in the general population? The Tromsø Study — Pain

The post Easing chronic pain the drug-free way appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It can eventually lead to falls, infection and even amputation, and has a lifetime prevalence of more than 50 percent in people with diabetes.

A half a billion people globally have diabetes, which means at least 250 million people are suffering from DSPN.

And according to a recent study, many of them don’t even know, or know that they may have a syndrome that quadruples their risk for DSPN…

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Lack of diagnosis of neuropathy

“More than one-third of people with neuropathy experience sharp, prickling or shock-like pain, which increases their rates of depression and decreases quality of life,” says study author Dr. Melissa Elafros of the University of Michigan. “People with neuropathy also have an increased risk of earlier death, even when you take into account other conditions they have, so identifying and treating people with or at risk for neuropathy is essential.”

The study included 169 people from an outpatient internal medicine clinic serving mainly Medicaid patients in Flint, Michigan. The average age of the participants was 58, and 69 percent were Black. One-half of the participants had diabetes, and a total of 67 percent had metabolic syndrome.

The participants were tested for DSPN, and information about other health conditions was also collected.

According to the results:

• A total of 73 percent of the participants had neuropathy — and 75 percent of them had not been previously diagnosed, so were unaware they had the condition.
• Of those diagnosed with neuropathy, a whopping 74 percent had metabolic syndrome.
• Almost 60 percent of those with neuropathy were experiencing pain.
• Only 54 percent of those who did not have neuropathy had metabolic syndrome.

After adjusting for other factors that could affect neuropathy risk, the researchers found people with metabolic syndrome were more than four times more likely to have neuropathy than those who didn’t have the syndrome.

“The amount of people with neuropathy in this study, particularly undiagnosed neuropathy, was extraordinarily high with almost three-fourths of the study population,” Elafros says. “This highlights the urgent need for interventions that improve diagnosis and management of this condition, as well as the need for managing risk factors that can lead to this condition.”

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What to do about neuropathy

The treatment plan for peripheral neuropathy is usually to treat the condition that’s causing it, like diabetes. Your doctor may also prescribe pain medication if needed.

The results of this study also show the great impact metabolic syndrome has on neuropathy, and that managing these risk factors should be paramount.

Metabolic syndrome is defined as having excess belly fat plus two or more of the following risk factors:

• High blood pressure
• Higher than normal triglycerides
• High blood sugar
• Low HDL cholesterol (the “good” type)

A Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil and fatty fish, has been shown to reverse the risk factors for metabolic syndrome.

And research indicates that fish oil may reduce neuropathic pain and can help lower high blood pressure and cholesterol and reduce insulin resistance.

There are also some natural ways to manage the pain caused by peripheral neuropathy, such as magnesium supplements. Magnesium decreases nerve pain by calming the neurotransmitter NMDA.

Finally, if you’re experiencing pain from diabetic neuropathy, you may want to add a vitamin D supplement to your daily regimen. Studies show people with painful diabetic neuropathy tend to have lower vitamin D levels than those without neuropathy, or whose neuropathy is painless.

If possible, get regular exercise. It can help relieve pain by releasing endorphins and reducing inflammation.

Click here for natural pain relievers and what the science says about them.

Sources:

Neuropathy very common, underdiagnosed — ScienceDaily

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Distal Symmetric Polyneuropathy Among Predominantly Non-Hispanic Black, Low-Income Patients — Neurology

Pathogenesis of Distal Symmetrical Polyneuropathy in Diabetes — Life

The post The syndrome that quadruples the risk of diabetic neuropathy appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

CMP affects more than 40 percent of the world’s population. It’s a leading cause of disability and can impact patients’ cognitive function.

How is that last bit possible? Well, some research indicates there may be a link between brain aging and CMP because inflammatory markers associated with brain aging are higher in CMP patients.

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It’s all in the genes

To further explore this connection, an international team of researchers decided to examine the profiles of brain aging patterns and underlying mechanisms in different types of CMP. They used structural MRI data from more than 9,000 individuals to develop a model to compare brain age to chronological age.

What they found was that individuals with knee osteoarthritis pain (KOA) experienced more rapid brain aging than healthy individuals. In addition, they found regions in the brain responsible for cognitive function, such as the hippocampus, were associated with this accelerated brain aging.

“We not only revealed the specificity of accelerated brain aging in KOA patients, but importantly, we also provided longitudinal evidence suggesting the ability of our brain aging marker to predict future memory decline and increased dementia risk,” says Tu Yiheng, a professor at the Institute of Psychology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and corresponding author of the study.

The researchers identified the gene SLC39A8 as a shared link between KOA and faster brain aging. This gene is particularly expressed in microglial cells and astrocytes and underscores the potential role of inflammation and neurodevelopment in the phenomenon of pain and accelerated brain aging.

Microglial cells are the first immune cells to respond when there’s something wrong in the brain. Astrocytes are a subtype of glial cells in the central nervous system that perform various tasks such as clearing excess neurotransmitters, stabilizing and regulating the blood-brain barrier and promoting synapse formation.

These results provide evidence for the neurocognitive impacts of KOA and could open new channels for early detection and intervention strategies targeting dementia risk factors.

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Reduce pain, inflammation and symptoms of brain aging

Managing CMP can be difficult since the source of the pain is often unclear. But given the results of this study, reducing inflammation could be a first step.

Fortunately, there is a diet that can take care of both these issues. The keto diet has been shown in studies to both reduce chronic pain and quell brain inflammation.

Keto involves significantly reducing carbs in your diet and replacing them with fats. When you do this, your body goes into a metabolic state known as ketosis, where it begins fueling itself with ketones (derived from fat) instead of glucose (derived from carbs).

Research shows that by stopping your body from turning to glucose for energy, keto activates a protein that suppresses inflammatory genes. This impacts everything from pain to anxiety and depression to brain inflammation.

So if you’re looking to manage chronic pain, you may want to give keto a try. Just be warned — it is a challenging diet to follow. An alternative is the cyclical keto diet. On this version, you follow the keto diet for five days, then go high carb for two days.

You can also consider adding inflammation-fighting supplements to your daily regimen. One that pulls triple duty for beating back pain, inflammation and brain aging is the omega-3 fatty acids. You can also find them in fatty fish, nuts, seeds and plant oils.

Sources:

Chronic musculoskeletal pain may accelerate brain aging — EurekAlert!

Morphological and genetic decoding shows heterogeneous patterns of brain aging in chronic musculoskeletal pain — Nature Mental Health

Chronic or Persistent Musculoskeletal Pain — NHS Tyneside Integrated Musculoskeletal Service

What Do Microglia Really Do in Healthy Adult Brain? — Cells

Histology, Astrocytes — StatPearls

The post An unexpected effect of chronic pain: Brain aging appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

But there are times when you may not be sure what’s causing your legs to hurt.

Anytime you have pain, be sure to discuss it with your doctor, especially if you’re currently being treated for a condition or taking medication.

Whatever the source, no one wants to suffer through pain, much less worry whether the cause is anything serious or not.

Here are 10 conditions that can contribute to or cause leg pain…

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Arthritis

This common condition causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. If your pain is localized to the hips, knees or ankles and makes it tough for you to walk or do everyday activities, you could be suffering from arthritis.

If you’re experiencing these symptoms, talk to your doctor. They’ll likely conduct a physical exam, X-rays and blood tests to determine whether you have arthritis.

While there is no cure for arthritis, getting regular exercise can help keep your hips, knees and ankles limber, and maintaining a healthy weight can take pressure off the joints. Over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen or ibuprofen can help relieve pain and swelling, as can applying heating pads or ice packs to the affected joints.

You can also add certain foods and nutrients to your diet to help manage the inflammation associated with arthritis. Fish oil in particular has been found in multiple studies to help relieve arthritis symptoms, mainly because it’s loaded with inflammation-busting omega-3 fatty acids. If you’re not a big fan of eating fish, you can always take an omega-3 supplement derived from fish or krill. In fact, krill oil contains phospholipids that may enhance the absorption of omega-3s.

Deep vein thrombosis

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) occurs when a blood clot forms in a vein in your thigh or lower leg. While DVT can occur without symptoms, it often causes pain and swelling in the leg, and the limb may be red and warm to the touch.

DVT can lead to pulmonary embolism, a potentially deadly condition that occurs when the clot breaks off and enters the lungs. That’s why It’s important to call your doctor immediately if you notice any of the above symptoms. They can give you medicine that keeps clots from forming, growing or breaking apart.

If you want to stop DVT before it starts by preventing blood clots, make sure you’re getting regular exercise. Even a daily walk around the block will help keep your blood from pooling and settling in your legs, increasing the likelihood of clot formation.

Certain nutrients like nattokinase have been shown helpful in issues affecting blood flow. Nattokinase is found in fermented soybeans and has been found in multiple studies to help improve circulation and relieve leg pain.

Muscle cramps

Cramps happen when a muscle (usually in the calf) suddenly gets tight, bringing on a sharp pain and a hard lump of muscle. They tend to happen more with age and can also be caused by an imbalance in your body’s electrolytes.

Electrolytes are minerals like sodium, potassium, and calcium that help your muscles work properly. You lose electrolytes through sweat when you exercise or spend time in hot weather, or when you get certain medical treatments like chemotherapy. If you lose too many electrolytes, your legs can cramp up or feel weak or numb.

Leg cramps aren’t usually a sign of an underlying health issue. Still, you should see your doctor if you have them a lot.

While leg cramps do tend to go away on their own, there are things you can do to more quickly ease the discomfort they cause. If you’ve been sweating a lot, try having a sports drink with electrolytes or adding some electrolyte drops to your water. You can also drink some water while eating foods rich in electrolyte minerals, such as bananas, spinach or dried apricots.

You can also try using a foam roller or tennis ball to apply pressure to the cramping muscle. These are gentle yet firm, allowing for compression of tight muscle tissue without fear of bruising or injury.

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Peripheral artery disease

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) can keep the legs and arms from getting enough blood. This usually happens when the arteries become narrowed by fatty plaque buildup. PAD may leave your legs feeling weak, numb, crampy or cold, and the limbs may become an unusual color. It can even cause muscle loss and sores or ulcers on your limbs.

PAD can sometimes be managed with changes in lifestyle habits, like quitting smoking, changing your diet and adding regular exercise. If that doesn’t work, your doctor may be able to prescribe medicine to treat PAD or the pain that accompanies it. If the condition is severe, it may require surgery to correct.

Luckily, there are natural ways of helping to manage or avoid PAD. Omega-3 fatty acids have been shown in studies to improve the function of the lining of your blood vessels (endothelium). Omega-3s also can relax smooth muscle cells, allowing the blood vessels to dilate so blood can flow freely. Other potential benefits include a decrease in artery wall stiffening, a delay in the development of plaques in the vessels and a reduction in inflammation and clot formation. As mentioned above, omega-3s can be obtained by eating fish or taking fish oil or krill oil supplements.

Low dietary magnesium intake is also associated with PAD. You can read up on how to identify the signs of a deficiency and correct it here.

Peripheral neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy occurs when there’s damage to the nerves in your body that send messages to and from your brain. It’s most commonly caused by diabetes, though it can also be the result of other health conditions, medicines, injuries or infections.

When peripheral neuropathy affects the nerves in your legs, it can cause them to feel prickly, tingly, numb or weak.

Usually, your doctor will treat peripheral neuropathy by treating the condition that’s causing it, along with pain medication if needed. However there are a few natural ways to manage the pain caused by peripheral neuropathy.

First, try adding a magnesium supplement. Magnesium decreases nerve pain by calming the neurotransmitter NMDA. Nerve pain is often a result of magnesium deficiency.

There are also plant-derived substances that can reduce spasms and inflammation, both of which can help prevent and reduce nerve pain. These include devil’s claw, burdock, turmeric, German chamomile and zanthoxylums. Vitamin D3 is also great for reducing inflammation.

You should also make sure you’re getting regular exercise, since it boosts levels of a protein that reduces inflammation and, thus, nerve pain.

Sciatica

The leg pain caused by sciatica comes from a pinched or inflamed nerve in your lower spine. This pain can range from a bad cramp to a strong shooting pain that makes it difficult to sit or stand. Some common causes of sciatica include a herniated disk, slipped vertebra, butt muscle spasms or spinal stenosis.

Typical doctor-recommended treatments for sciatica include physical therapy and over-the-counter pain medications, though more serious cases may require surgery. However, if you have mild sciatica, there are ways for you to manage it on your own through stretching and yoga, as well as light exercise.

Another way to relieve sciatic pain naturally is by applying ice or heat to the area for 20 minutes every 2 hours. You can even alternate between the two. Also, to reduce the inflammation around your sciatic nerve, you can try supplementing turmeric, ginger and Boswellia, all of which have anti-inflammatory properties.

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Spinal stenosis

Spinal stenosis occurs when the space inside the spinal column narrows, putting pressure on the nerves in the area. This can cause pain, tingling, numbness or weakness in your legs, as well as balance problems.

It’s important to see your doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms. They’ll likely recommend pain relievers and physical therapy to start. However, if these don’t work, surgery may be required.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot that can be done to reverse spinal stenosis once it occurs. But you can help prevent it from developing by keeping your spine healthy and flexible through exercise and flexibility practices like yoga.

Stress fractures

If you have pain that feels like shin splints but doesn’t get any better, you could have a stress fracture in your shinbone. Stress fractures occur when the muscles around the bone are overused and stop cushioning the impact of movement the way they should.

If your doctor diagnoses you with a stress fracture, they’ll likely tell you to rest the body part in question. It takes 6 to 8 weeks for a stress fracture to heal, so make sure it’s healed completely before you start exercising again so you don’t worsen the injury.

Some studies show that reducing oxidative stress can help protect your bones from fracturing. To do that, you’ll want to include plenty of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables in your diet, and ones that contain the “anti-fracture” vitamin.

Tendinitis

Tendinitis is when the flexible tendons that connect muscles to bones become inflamed. It’s a painful condition that can affect your hip, knee or ankle and is often caused by wear and tear on the joints.

See your doctor if you’re experiencing pain around a certain joint. If they diagnose tendinitis, they’ll likely recommend R.I.C.E. (rest, ice, compression, elevation) to treat it, as well as over-the-counter anti-inflammatory medications like ibuprofen or naproxen.

Some plant-based substances can help reduce the inflammation associated with tendonitis. These include such as turmeric and Boswellia, the same remedies recommended for sciatica. Switching to a keto diet may also offer some relief if the tendinitis is chronic.

Varicose veins

Varicose veins can make your legs feel heavy and burn, throb or cramp, as well as raise your risk of blood clots. They tend to bulge and appear twisted, blue or dark purple. They look that way because the veins have to work extra hard to transport blood back to the heart.

Varicose veins tend to occur with age, or if you’re overweight, pregnant or stand or sit for long stretches. Thus, one of the best ways to combat them is to lose weight and exercise. Wearing compression stockings helps as well since they promote healthy circulation in your legs.

Interestingly, eating more fiber to keep you regular may help improve varicose veins as well. Researchers believe the straining that accompanies constipation can put added stress on your veins.

Sources:

What’s Causing Your Leg Pain? — WebMD

FAQs about Arthritis — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Natural Remedies for Tendonitis — Verywell Health

Healthy Foods High in Electrolytes — Nourish by WebMD

Association between dietary magnesium intake and peripheral arterial disease: Results from NHANES 1999–2004 — PLOS One

The post 10 reasons your leg could be hurting appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Living with chronic pain, or the constant threat of pain, can affect memory and cognitive ability, and increase the risk of dementia.

Natural medicine offers a wide array of options for controlling or even eliminating chronic pain, including acupuncture and meditation.

Now, research has uncovered yet another option, one that’s probably the last thing you’d think of doing…

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Exercise more and tolerate pain better

Full disclosure: I’m not a big fan of exercise. And when I’m in pain, it’s the last thing I want to do.

But science is showing us that exercise is, in fact, another great tool in our arsenal of natural pain relief methods.

Researchers at the University Hospital of North Norway used data from a large population study of 10,732 adults to analyze subjects’ self-reported physical activity, as well as their pain tolerance. Subjects were surveyed twice, about eight years apart.

Pain tolerance was measured by submerging people’s hands in ice water and having them rank their pain on a scale.

Those with more active lifestyles were found to be more tolerant of pain. Not only that, but the more people said they exercised throughout the study, the more their ability to withstand pain grew.

After the second survey, those who had increased their levels of physical activity during the preceding eight years reported greater pain tolerance over time.

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Do medications work on chronic pain?

Yes, but they come with a price. Celebrex, a drug known as a COX-2 inhibitor, which works by blocking enzymes that cause inflammation. Older adults are at higher risk of side effects that include stomach bleeding, ulcers, dizziness and high blood pressure.

If chronic pain becomes severe enough, many people turn to opioids for help. Unfortunately, research shows that over time your body adapts to these medications and they bring less and less pain relief.

Shockingly, even just a few days of use can increase the risk of addiction. Researchers have found that the chances of being on opioids a year after starting increases after only five days of being on the medication.

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How to use exercise to tame pain

No one is suggesting you go out and run a marathon tomorrow. In fact, before starting a new exercise program, it’s best to consult with your doctor, particularly if your chronic pain stems from a medical condition.

Here are some things to keep in mind when you want to use exercise as a way to deal with chronic pain.

Break up your exercise. Don’t worry about those guidelines that say you should be exercising 30 minutes a day. If you’re in pain, the rules are different for you. Research shows that short bursts of activity, or exercise “snacking,” can help control pain.

Think out of the box. “You don’t have to limit yourself to traditional exercise like walking on a treadmill for a certain number of miles or minutes,” says Kirsten Ambrose of the University of North Carolina’s Arthritis Research Center. “You can count gardening or walking the dog.”

“The goal is to increase the amount of time spent moving versus sitting.”

Follow the two-hour rule. Listen to your body.If pain is worse two hours after finishing exercise than it was before you started, this is an indication that you have overdone it and should scale back the next time.

Sources:

Exercise May Help You Better Tolerate Pain — Time

Longitudinal relationships between habitual physical activity and pain tolerance in the general population — PLOS One

Chronic pain: Medication decisions — Mayo Clinic

How to Exercise With Chronic Pain — NY Times

The post The daily trick for overcoming pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Frequently, fibromyalgia symptoms begin after an infection, surgery, stressful events or some type of physical injury. However, it can also strike with no obvious cause.

But a study at York University in England shows that doing yoga exercises can help reduce the physical pain of fibromyalgia, and here’s why…

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A needed boost of cortisol

According to scientists, yoga influences what is called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA axis).

The HPA axis consists of a cascade of endocrine pathways that respond to specific negative feedback loops involving the hypothalamus, anterior pituitary gland and adrenal glands. One role of the HPA axis centers around the release of the hormone cortisol.

Studies show that women with fibromyalgia have below-average cortisol levels. Those reduced levels make them much more sensitive to stress, pain and fatigue.

It’s been proposed that adrenal fatigue or adrenal insufficiency is part of the cause behind fibromyalgia.

The adrenal glands are small glands that sit atop both kidneys. They’re your “lifesaving” organs — a  nickname they earned because they act as a control center for our “fight or flight” response by secreting hormones that kick in during stressful situations.

However overworked adrenal glands become fatigued and function much less effectively, resulting in insufficient output of cortisol.

The research shows that doing 75 minutes of yoga twice a week for at least two months can beneficially increase your cortisol levels and help the body produce cortisol at the correct times of day.

“Ideally, our cortisol levels peak about 30-40 minutes after we get up in the morning and decline throughout the day until we’re ready to go to sleep,” says researcher Kathryn Curtis. “The secretion of the hormone, cortisol, is dysregulated in women with fibromyalgia.”

She adds that “Hatha yoga promotes physical relaxation by decreasing activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which lowers heart rate and increases breath volume.”

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Give Hatha yoga a try

Hatha yoga is a term that encompasses most types of yoga practiced in the Western hemisphere, including vinyasa, believed to open up the body’s energy channels and let the energy flow more freely.

In fact, in my experience, yoga and other types of strengthening and balancing exercises can also improve your mood and sense of well-being by demonstrating how you can shape your mind and body for the better. No matter what physical problems you may suffer, whether it is fibromyalgia or some other chronic issue, yoga can often help you cope with its symptoms more effectively.

Although today’s conventional doctor seems to feel as though almost every problem should be treated with medication, exercises like yoga, and even vitamins and herbs that reduce pain, demonstrate that you have the potential for aiding your own wellness — and that’s healing that a doctor can’t provide.

There are several easy-to-follow yoga videos available on youtube.com if you don’t have a local yoga studio in your community. But if you do live near a studio, I would highly recommend you go. Part of what makes yoga a soothing, healing experience is personal instruction.

The post Boost this hormone to banish fibromyalgia pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

From Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s to heart disease to viruses, poor gut health seems to be the trigger that can start it all.

That’s why finally more and more doctors are beginning to recommend nutrients that help repair a leaky gut and promote healthy bacterial levels.

Now, there’s one more reason to focus on your gut health — pain relief.

According to research published in the journal Current Rheumatology Reports, there is a complex interaction between the gut and joints that could not only initiate arthritis pain but also offer a pathway to healing.

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Intestinal permeability and inflammation

“We know about the intricate relationship of the gut to the brain, lung, liver, and skin, so it’s not surprising that research is expanding about the gut-joint axis,” said probiotic expert and best-selling author Ross Pelton, RPh, CCN.

The gut-joint axis is exactly what the latest research set out to explore by reviewing a multitude of studies that delved into how gut health influences joint health.

Here’s how the results of their review boiled down:

1. Toxic leaking – The researchers discovered that leaky gut syndrome results in the release of bacterial endotoxins and metabolites, including lipopolysaccharides (LPS), into the bloodstream, which increases joint pain.
2. Bacterial imbalance – Gut dysbiosis (when bad bacteria outnumber the good in your gut) increases the production of zonulin, a protein that contributes to intestinal permeability. This increased permeability allows even more toxins to cross the gut lining to destroy your joints.
3. Systemic inflammation – All those leaking toxins result in chronic systemic inflammation, which attacks the synovial fluid in your joints, breaks down cartilage and magnifies joint pain.

Overall, the researchers say that their research proves that poor gut health leads to joint pain by kicking off osteoarthritis and accelerating its progression.

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Better gut health for better joints

So what do they recommend you do about it?

Well, past research has suggested that rebalancing the gut microbiome could enhance cartilage healing by creating metabolites with immunosuppressive properties.

To rebalance your gut microbiome:

• Eat gut-friendly – To improve gut health, avoid high-fat foods and instead eat a more Mediterranean-style diet, which can even include bread.
• Avoid sugar and processed foods – Ubiquitous in the Western diet, sugar and processed foods can negatively alter gut bacteria and leave your joints aching.
• Add probiotics – Probiotics are the healthy bacteria that live in your gut. Getting more of them on a daily basis, whether through supplementation or foods like kefir and yogurt, can help you tilt the balance to the good side.
• Include prebiotics – Prebiotics act as food for probiotics, so you can increase the results you get by combining them. Good sources of prebiotics include chicory root, Jerusalem artichoke, dandelion greens, garlic, leeks, onions, asparagus and green bananas.
• Move more – Exercise has been shown to be a great way to boost gut health, so be sure to hit the gym regularly. Continuing movement through osteoarthritis is also beneficial.
• Nutrients that repair leaky gut – You can find a full list here.

Sources:

New Information About the Gut-Joint Axis – Integrative Practitioner

The post 3 ways an unhealthy gut worsens arthritis and joint pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Many people say the crushing, constricting pain of a heart attack is like an elephant sitting on their chest. Sometimes that pain spreads through the arm and up to the jaw.

Once the heart attack has been treated, the pain generally subsides. But what if pain lingers long after the heart attack has passed?

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Don’t ignore post-heart attack pain

Unfortunately, some heart attack sufferers often report feeling moderate to extreme pain about a year after their heart attack. Even though this pain is commonly due to other health conditions and is usually not related to heart disease, it could be cause for serious concern…

“Pain causes significant loss of function and may lead to disability, all of which contribute to major, global public health issues,” says Dr. Linda Vixner, a professor at Dalarna University in Falun, Sweden.

“Research indicates that pain is linked to higher risk of cardiovascular disease and overall death; however, the impact of pain on death after a heart attack has not yet been examined in large studies,” Vixner adds.

To rectify that, Vixner and a team of researchers analyzed health data from more than 18,300 adults with an average age of 62 who had a heart attack, from the Swedish quality registry called SWEDEHEART. The data was obtained from a two-month follow-up visit and a participant questionnaire completed one year after their heart attack.

Researchers assessed the data to determine whether the participants had no pain, moderate pain or extreme pain. And their findings were alarming:

• Almost 45 percent of the participants reported moderate or extreme pain one year after their heart attack.
• An estimated 65 percent of participants experiencing pain at their two-month follow-up were still experiencing pain a year after their heart attack.
• During the study period of 8.5 years, heart attack survivors with moderate pain were 35 percent more likely than those with no pain to die from any cause.
• Heart attack survivors who reported extreme pain were more than twice as likely to die during the study period than those who had no pain.
• The ability of pain one year after heart attack to predict death risk was found to be more pronounced than that of smoking.

The survey didn’t specifically ask about the duration of pain experienced by the participants. But since a majority reported having pain both two months and one year after their heart attack, this indicates the pain lasted a long time.

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Communicate pain to your doctor

Vixner, an author of the study, says the results show it’s important for doctors to assess and recognize pain after a heart attack as an important risk factor of future death.

Many people don’t tell their doctor they’ve been experiencing pain after a heart attack, particularly if the pain seems unrelated to their heart. But in this case, any pain can be a sign more needs to be done for the patient to ensure their long-term survival.

If you have had a heart attack and are still experiencing pain long after the attack has been treated, you should tell your doctor immediately. And that includes all pain, not just chest pain.

Vixner notes it’s especially important for patients with pain after heart attack to reduce heart risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. If you’re not already taking steps to mitigate these issues, it’s a good idea to start now.

My colleague Joyce Hollman has some great tips for quitting smoking. And Dr. Adria Schmedthorst suggests adopting this healthy post-heart attack diet.

Sources:

Experiencing pain after a heart attack may predict long-term survival — American Heart Association

High Self‐Reported Levels of Pain 1 Year After a Myocardial Infarction Are Related to Long‐Term All‐Cause Mortality: A SWEDEHEART Study Including 18 376 Patients — Journal of the American Heart Association

The post The post-heart attack symptom you should never ignore appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And although the surgery itself went well, the pain of recovery kept me from getting the sleep I needed to truly feel better. The longer I went without rest, the more stressed I felt and the more pain I felt.

It was a cycle that seemed to build and build — until finally I had enough and broke down in tears.

Luckily, I had a doctor that recognized what was happening and addressed not only my pain, but my sleep issues, so that I could start feeling like myself again pretty quickly.

But not everyone is so lucky, especially those that live with chronic pain, rather than an acute condition, like I experienced.

In fact, according to researchers at the Regenstrief Institute, although symptoms of the body and mind seem to go hand-in-hand, doctors all too often neglect signs of depression and anxiety in patients suffering from chronic pain.

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The relationship between pain and mood

According to Kurt Kroenke, M.D., of Regenstrief Institute, pain, which is the most common symptom that takes a person into the doctor’s office, is inextricably linked to depression and anxiety — making it vital that a physician delve deeper than the just muscles and nerves.

“One of the reasons for the bi-directional linkage between pain and depression, as well as anxiety, is the existence of a feedback loop,” says Kroenke. “Individuals with pain don’t sleep well and their resulting tiredness affects their mood, making them vulnerable to depression and anxiety. Having problems with depression or anxiety can increase susceptibility to pain.”

Additionally, studies have proven that areas in the brain that control the level of pain a person experiences are also connected to regions that work to regulate mood.

This creates a close association between mental and physical symptoms.

It also explains why researchers have long known that successfully treating depression and anxiety can result in an improvement in pain.

And while reducing pain has not been found to have as profound an impact on anxiety and depression as improving mental health does on pain, taking an active approach to both ends of that feedback loop can bring big benefits.

“Symptoms of the body and the mind are frequent fellow travelers,” Dr. Kroenke reminds us. “But patients seeing their primary care physician for a headache, back or muscle or leg pain or stomachache often neglect to mention the symptoms commonly associated with depression and anxiety that they are also experiencing such as fatigue, lack of motivation, nervousness and moodiness. And physicians don’t always ask about symptoms beyond the ones which brought the patient into the office.

“Un- or under-treated, these emotional symptoms can cause long-term suffering and impaired quality of life.”

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Breaking the feedback loop

So if you want to feel better, don’t forget to care for your emotional health, as well as take steps to reduce your pain.

To improve pain symptoms, consider these 10 natural pain relievers backed by science.

And to help overcome mood problems that are keeping you down, try taking a few small steps that can add up fast like:

• Move for just 10 minutes a day – As little as 10 minutes of exercise each day can offer powerful relief from depression.
• Downward dog – Yoga is great medicine for depression. And as an added bonus, it can help ease chronic pain too!
• Natural anti-inflammatories – Omega-3s offer big benefits against both depression and pain thanks to their anti-inflammatory properties.
• Magnesium power – A study of 126 adults with mild to moderate depression showed that just six weeks of taking 248 milligrams of elemental magnesium per day resulted in a significant improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms.

Sources:

Symptoms of the body and the mind are frequent fellow travelers — ScienceDaily

The post Break the feedback loop that fuels pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Without a functioning, pain-free hip joint, we can’t walk, run, dance or even stand. Living with constant hip pain can change your life, making you dependent and immobile.

What’s challenging is that there are so many different ways in which the hip can be harmed and so many different conditions that can cause pain.

If you’re living with hip pain, it’s important to know the possible causes and to have some safe ways to ease the pain. It’s also important that you talk with your doctor about what’s causing your pain and what can be done to help.

Why are the hips so vulnerable?

You have two hip bones, left and right. Together, they form part of the pelvic girdle, the structure that attaches your trunk to your legs.

Your hip bones have three joints, so there are three places where things can go wrong.

The sacroiliac joint attaches the hips to the bone at the base of your spine. The pubic symphysis is the joint between your left and right hip bones.

The joint we commonly think of as our “hip joint” is where the hip bone connects with the femur (thigh bone) on each side of the body.

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4 common causes of hip pain

Depending on what’s making your hip hurt, you might feel discomfort in other places, including the thigh, groin or buttocks.

Here are four common causes of hip pain:

Osteoarthritis. The cartilage that cushions your hip joints breaks down, leaving bones rubbing on bones whenever you move. This causes pain, stiffness and ultimately can cause loss of movement in the joint. When someone has a hip replacement, it’s often due to osteoarthritis.

Trochanteric bursitis. The bursa, or fluid-filled sac, at the outside point of the hip becomes inflamed. Injury, disease, and even posture can be the cause. If you have pain when lying on one side of your body, this could be the cause.

Tendonitis. The tendons that surround the hip become inflamed, irritated, or swollen due to injury, overuse or age, as they lose their elasticity. Tendonitis can lead to immobility because the pain involved in moving the joint can be so intense.

Osteonecrosis. Literally meaning “bone death,” osteonecrosis is a condition that occurs when blood flow to the bone is insufficient. Bone cells die, and the bone itself may collapse. The hip joint is one of the most common sites for osteonecrosis to occur.

Does your hip pain warrant a doctor’s visit?

Hip pain may also be a result of a strained muscle, a dislocated joint or a fractured hip.

While it’s always a good idea to consult your doctor about how to treat hip pain, there are certain times when it’s an absolute must:

• the hip pain came on suddenly.
• a fall or other injury triggered the hip pain.
• your joint looks deformed or there is bleeding.
• you heard a popping noise in the joint when you injured it.
• if you have hip pain at night or when you are resting.
• the pain is intense.
• you notice swelling, redness or warmth around the joint.
• you can’t put any weight on your hip.
• you can’t move your leg or hip.

The bottom line: Take care of your bones and joints

Your hip joints bear your body weight whether you’re sitting, standing, walking or running. To preserve your mobility and independence as you age, you’ll need to take care of your hips. And there are many ways to do that.

Nutrition and supplements. Make sure you’re eating foods that protect your joints from inflammation and help relieve joint pain.

Research shows that omega 3’s found in fish and fish oil supplements can make arthritic joints both healthier and less painful.

Three other nutritional supplements work wonders for keeping your hip joints healthy and pain-free:

Resveratrol. Found in red wine and dark chocolate, as well as in supplement form, this antioxidant supports heart, eye and brain health.

Recently, it’s also been shown to slow the progression of osteoarthritis by activating a gene known as the “longevity gene” and allowing it to protect your body.

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Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps maintain adequate levels of calcium and phosphate to keep bones strong.

If you have osteoarthritis and are carrying some extra weight, research shows that maintaining adequate levels of Vitamin D will help you control joint pain and allow you to be more active, which in turn helps control both your weight and your pain.

But few people know that vitamin D affects the body’s inflammation response in a way that lowers the sensation of pain. That makes sense since vitamin D deficiency is tied to an increased risk for pain-related conditions like fibromyalgia and rheumatic diseases.

Vitamin K. Be sure to include plenty of Vitamin K-rich vegetables in your diet, like kale, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and asparagus. Kiwi fruit is also rich in Vitamin K.

Vitamin K is needed for Vitamin K-dependent (VKD) proteins, which are found in your bones and cartilage. Without enough Vitamin K, this protein can’t help your bones and cartilage grow and repair themselves.

Calcium. Your doctor will advise you, based on a bone density scan, if supplementing with calcium is needed.

Keep moving. Weight-bearing exercise is important for keeping your hips strong. Walking, jogging, dancing and most aerobic exercises fit the bill.

Sources:

Ways to Ease Hip Pain — Web MD

The Hip Bone — teachmeanatomy.info

10 Common Causes of Hip Pain and When to Seek Treatment — Illinois Bone & Joint Institute

Trochanteric bursitis — Cleveland Clinic

The hip joint: big, powerful and important  — susaningraham.net

The post Why your hips hurt and the supplements that help appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

When the pain rears its ugly head, I go to my local marijuana dispensary and purchase some CBD oil. A few drops under the tongue, along with my regular medication, really takes the edge off.

Even after all this time, this licensed dispensary does not have an account that would let them accept my debit card. It’s cash only.

Why?

Because even though medical marijuana is legal in my state, the federal government still considers it a dangerous Schedule 1 drug, right along with heroin and LSD.

For this same reason, any research into the benefits of CBD for illnesses like cancer has been limited to government-supplied cannabis.

No one’s been able to assess the benefits of “over-the-counter” cannabis products like the one I use for pain or sleep.

But now, for pretty much the first time, someone has found a way around that – and has proven the benefits of cannabis products for people with cancer.

Cannabis, chemo brain, pain and more

Federal law prohibits university researchers from possessing or distributing cannabis for research unless it’s government-issued or of pharmaceutical grade.

So Dr. Angela Bryan, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at CU Boulder and a cancer survivor, took a different approach.

Dr. Bryan collaborated with oncologists at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus to observe 25 cancer patients for two weeks. All of them were users of cannabis products.

She and her research team assessed patients’ baseline pain levels, sleep patterns, and cognition. Then, the 25 patients were asked to purchase an edible product of their choice from a dispensary.

They were offered many choices, including chocolates, gummies, pills, and baked goods that had various ratios of THC (the hallucinatory part of marijuana) and CBD (the non-hallucinatory part). A wide range of potencies was also offered.

After two weeks of use, a follow-up exam assessed their levels of pain and cognition.

Patients reported that within an hour, cannabis eased their pain significantly, but made them feel “high,” which impaired their cognition.

But after two weeks of use, all of them reported improvements in pain, sleep and cognitive function. Objective measures of cognitive function, such as reaction time, also improved.

A doctor who was also a cancer patient

In 2017, Dr. Bryan’s work life and her personal health collided when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Suddenly, she could find out first-hand what medical cannabis products could do. After surgery and chemotherapy, she turned to cannabis to help ease her pain.

But she discovered one big stumbling block.

“The doctors were so supportive of what I wanted to do, but they had no idea what to tell me,” she says. “There was just no data.”

On her own, she created a custom regimen of cannabis products: more THC-heavy when her pain was intense and she didn’t have to be mentally sharp, and milder, CBD-heavy products during the day to keep her pain manageable.

Because she had the knowledge needed to do this, Dr. Bryan was able to avoid using opioids for her pain.

“I was extremely lucky because I had some knowledge about this. Most patients don’t,” she said. 

She hopes her research, and more to come will help cancer patients (and other people) make better decisions in the future about how to use cannabis to manage pain and improve sleep.

Cannabinoids in surprising places

If you live in a state where you have legal access to marijuana, trying it once or twice to see if it helps is pretty risk-free.

When you go to the marijuana dispensary, you’ll see that marijuana comes in many forms and varieties. Don’t worry. There are experts there to help you. Just tell them what issue you’re trying to resolve (insomnia, pain, etc.) and they’ll show you what type will help you most.

If marijuana is still illegal in your state, you might want to try eating more foods with omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, tuna, eggs, flax seeds and walnuts.

Omega-3’s contain endocannabinoids, compounds that in studies have been shown to play a useful role in cancer prevention… and maybe even treatment.

Editor’s note: Why full-spectrum CBD? It’s called the ‘entourage effect’ and dozens of studies show it is now the most effective way to get the most out of a CBD supplement. To see what CBD can do for you and has already done for others, Click Here!

Sources:

Cannabis knocks down pain, improves sleep and lifts brain fog in cancer patients Eureka Alert

Cannabis use in cancer patients: acute and sustained associations with pain, cognition, and quality of life

The post What a doctor with cancer discovered about cannabis appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, golf has been proven to be one of the best activities for those with this condition. The low-impact nature of the sport is a huge advantage, but that’s only one of the many benefits of golfing for people with osteoarthritis. 

Let’s explore some of the reasons golf is an amazing sport if you’ve got the condition and why you absolutely should consider taking it up if you haven’t already! 

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How does golf benefit people with osteoarthritis? 

Contrary to what your instinct might tell you, movement is an excellent remedy for all the symptoms associated with osteoarthritis. Your doctor might tell you to do light physical activity, so sports like golf might not cross your mind. 

But the truth is, golfing is one of the best things you can do if you’ve got bone and joint issues and you still want to stay active. Here are some of the reasons you should definitely be considering it. 

Physical Benefits of Golfing 

One of the biggest problems that people with arthritis have is finding a sport that doesn’t cause them more pain than they already have. Golf is perfect — it’s low impact, improves flexibility, and strengthens the muscles. 

Low Impact 

The low-impact nature of golf means that it’s a great sport for those with any kind of joint issues. There’s no harsh impact on the joints with golf — it’s all walking and on soft, shock-absorbing surfaces. 

Even if walking is hard for you, the golf cart is ready and waiting to be used! Even the impact of the golf club hitting the ball is minimal, so there’s no need to worry about hurting your hands, especially if you choose to wear golf gloves. 

Improves Flexibility 

The golf swing is a fluid motion. There’s no jarring or impact, so as long as you get your form right, the movement can actually help to improve your flexibility. 

The more you practice your golf swing, the better your range of motion will become. While this might not help your fingers, it could help to prevent the stiffness from extending to other joints. 

Strengthens Muscles 

While golf isn’t the most muscular of workouts, it definitely offers some muscle-building benefits. If you’re playing on a regular basis, you can expect your muscles to get stronger, although they may not get bigger. 

Stronger muscles can provide extra support for the joints. When your joints are stiff or unstable, having strong muscles can just give you that little bit of structural support you need to keep you moving with confidence. 

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Pain management and relief 

Aside from not contributing to pain and helping you to gain physical strength benefits, golfing also offers some pain relief effects. It might sound counterintuitive, but playing a round of golf can help reduce the ache! Here’s how. 

Increased Circulation 

The movements associated with golf — fluid swings and walking — help to increase circulation throughout the body as your heart rate increases and pumps the blood around the body. That means that blood gets to your extremities faster, bringing oxygen and nutrients to painful joints for healing. 

Endorphin Release 

Along with better blood flow, exercise also stimulates a release of endorphins. Endorphins are “happy chemicals” in the brain, which boost calm, improve mood, and lower pain. Plus, evidence suggests that exercising out in nature can compound these good effects, so golf is a win-win situation! 

Mental health benefits of golfing

Physical health isn’t the only thing that gets a nice boost when you get out on the golf course. Your mental health does too. It’s not unusual for people with osteoarthritis to struggle with their mental health too. 

Being in pain can make it hard to stay positive. You also might find that you struggle with tasks you used to find easy, which can lead to sadness and feeling despondent. Ultimately, you might find that you end up grieving for the things you’ve lost. 

While golf isn’t going to fix everything, the sport can give you a mental health boost. Those endorphins we mentioned can boost your mood and make you feel a whole lot happier, as they take the edge off the pain. 

They also counteract the effects of cortisol, the stress hormone, so you can expect some of your stresses to melt away when you’re on the course. It’s the perfect place to be mindful and change your frame of mind, so you can find creative solutions to things that may be stressing you out. 

It’s also ideal for those who may be grieving the loss of their ability to play other sports or do other physical activities. Getting onto the course, learning the game, and challenging yourself without aggravating your joints is a joyful feeling when you’ve been struggling with osteoarthritis. 

Social benefits of golf

Let’s not forget about the social benefits. It can be hard for people with osteoarthritis to socialize because they may not be able to take part in some of the same activities their friends or family enjoy. This can lead to feeling guilty that plans must revolve around you or simply worrying about being the reason others might miss out on the fun. 

The golf course is an excellent place to meet people who could become regular golfing buddies! Or, you can invite your friends or family members to join you for a round, making it as much a social experience as it is a sporty one. 

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Need proof of golf’s benefits for osteoarthritis?

Osteoarthritis doesn’t have to hold you back from living a fun-filled, active life. Yes, you may have to make some changes to your lifestyle, but you can still enjoy sports and the outdoors and stay healthy at the same time. 

In fact, a research team including academics from Australia and the UK found that golfers with osteoarthritis experience less psychological distress and better health in general compared to most folks.

According to lecturer and occupational therapist, Dr. Brad Stenner, “Our research has highlighted the important role that golf has in building friendships, contributing to community and bringing a sense of belonging, all of which are known to contribute to mental health and wellbeing.”

Of course, staying active and exercising regularly is one of the most important aspects of managing osteoarthritis.

“Lower impact activity such as golf can assist in maintaining activity whereas higher impact activities such as running, jogging and gym may place significant stress on the joints, contributing to increased symptoms and pain,” says Dr. Stenner.

If you’re looking for a way to get the joints moving, blood flowing and the endorphins rolling, and have some fun without pain, try golf! 

Source:

Osteoarthritis sufferers swing their way to better health — EurekaAlert

The post Got osteoarthritis? Why you should be golfing appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Common causes include a herniated disc, spinal stenosis, or degenerative disc disease; treatment typically involves pain management through modern medicines, physical therapy, and sometimes surgery.

Despite the increasing dominance of modern medicine, the effectiveness of natural remedies should not be disregarded. Although conventional medications have advantages, they are not always the ideal solution for everyone, particularly when treating and relieving pain such as sciatica.

Thankfully, numerous natural remedies can effectively overcome this incapacitating condition. These remedies range from gentle exercises and stretch to herbal supplements and essential oils. Numerous methods are available for managing sciatica pain without harsh chemicals or invasive procedures.

Therefore, if you are looking for a holistic and natural approach to managing your sciatica symptoms, do not hesitate to explore available options.

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Importance of Natural Remedies

Natural remedies can play an important role in maintaining overall health and wellness. They can prevent illness, manage symptoms, and complement conventional medical treatments.  Some key benefits of natural remedies include:

Reduced side effects

Unlike prescription medications, natural remedies are often associated with fewer side effects, making them a safer and more tolerable option for some individuals.

Cost Effective

Natural remedies are often less expensive and can be an affordable option for individuals not covered by health insurance or who cannot afford expensive medical treatments.

Improved Overall Health

Natural remedies can help support overall health and wellness by promoting a healthy immune system, reducing inflammation, and improving digestive health.

Availability

Many natural remedies can be found in local health food stores, online retailers, or even in the kitchen pantry, making them accessible to a wide range of individuals.

Sustainability

Natural remedies are often derived from natural sources, such as plants, and can be a sustainable and eco-friendly option for individuals concerned about the environmental impact of conventional medications.

It is important to note that while natural remedies can be effective for relieving sciatic pain, they may not be suitable for everyone. It is always best to consult with a healthcare professional before trying new treatments, especially if you have a pre-existing medical condition or are taking medication.

7 Natural Remedies to Ease Sciatic Pain

While medical treatment may be necessary for severe cases, natural remedies can help alleviate sciatic pain. Here are some natural remedies for sciatica.

1. Stretching Exercises

Gentle stretching exercises can help relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve. Some recommended stretches include the following below:

a. Hamstring Stretches

Stretching the hamstrings can alleviate sciatica discomfort as the sciatic nerve passes through these muscles at the back of the thigh. If hamstrings are tight or shortened, they can pressure the sciatic nerve, worsening sciatica symptoms.

By stretching these muscles, any tension built up in them is released, reducing the pressure on the sciatic nerve and relieving sciatica pain. Consistently performing hamstring stretches can also enhance flexibility and blood circulation in the affected region, promoting healing and reducing inflammation.

b. Piriformis Stretches

Stretching the piriformis muscle can be beneficial in reducing pain as this muscle is situated close to the sciatic nerve and can potentially press or inflame the nerve, resulting in sciatica symptoms. Stretching this muscle helps relax and relieve pressure on the sciatic nerve, thereby relieving sciatica pain. However, it is crucial to ensure that the stretch is done gently and carefully, as excessive stretching or overexertion can lead to further injury or worsen the symptoms.

c. Lower Back Stretches

Sciatica pain can be relieved by performing lower back stretches as the sciatic nerve starts from the lower back and passes through the buttocks and legs. Tightness in the lower back muscles can exert pressure on the sciatic nerve, worsening sciatica symptoms. By stretching these muscles, tension is relieved, and pressure on the sciatic nerve is reduced, reducing sciatica pain.

2. Hot and cold Compress

Applying a hot or cold compress to the affected area can help reduce inflammation and relieve pain.  When experiencing sciatic nerve pain, using a hot compress can be beneficial in promoting muscle relaxation and increasing blood flow to the affected area. In addition to reducing inflammation and stiffness, this can alleviate nerve pressure, resulting in decreased discomfort.

Alternatively, a cold compress can numb the area and reduce inflammation, helping to alleviate pain and discomfort. Additionally, the cold can help reduce swelling and muscle spasms, which can contribute to sciatica pain.

Application Techniques:

Hot Compress

Fill a hot water bottle or heating pad with warm water and adjust the temperature comfortably. Apply a hot compress to the affected area for 15-20 minutes. Be careful not to place the hot compress directly on the skin, which can cause burns. Instead, wrap it in a towel or use a cover designated for use with a hot compress.

Cold Compress

Apply the cold compress to the affected area for 15-20 minutes at a time. Be careful not to place the cold compress directly on the skin, which can cause frostbite. Instead, wrap it in a towel or use a cover designed for use with a cold compress.

3. Massage Therapy

When alleviating sciatica pain, massage therapy can be beneficial as it targets the root cause of the discomfort, muscle tension and pressure on the sciatic nerve. Massage therapy can diminish inflammation and encourage recovery in the affected region by enhancing blood flow and lymphatic drainage.

Moreover, it triggers the release of endorphins, the natural pain-relieving chemicals produced by the body, thereby lessening pain and inducing relaxation.

4. Essential Oils

Some essential oils, such as peppermint and lavender. Have anti-inflammatory properties that can help alleviate sciatic pain. Mix a few drops of essential oil with a carrier oil, such as coconut oil, and apply it to the affected area.

5. Herbal remedies

Turmeric, ginger, and devil’s claw are herbal remedies that have been used for centuries to alleviate various types of pain, including sciatica pain. Here’s how each of them works:

a. Turmeric

It contains a compound called curcumin, which has powerful anti-inflammatory properties. Turmeric helps to reduce inflammation which can turn, help reduce sciatica pain.

Here are some ways to use turmeric for sciatica relief:

• Turmeric Tea: Boil a cup of water and add 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric. Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes, and strain the tea. You can add honey or lemon to taste.
• Turmeric Milk: Add 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric to a cup of warm milk. You can add honey to taste. Drink this milk once a day before bedtime.
• Turmeric Paste: Mix 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric with ½ teaspoon of water to make a paste. Apply this paste to the affected area and leave it on for 20-30 minutes before rinsing it with warm water. Do this once a day.
• Turmeric Supplements: You can take turmeric supplements in capsules, tablets, or powder. The recommended dosage of turmeric supplements is usually 500-2,000 mg daily.

b. Ginger

It is another natural anti-inflammatory agent that can help reduce sciatica pain. It contains compounds called gingerols and shogaols, which have been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. Ginger also helps to improve circulation, which can reduce pain and inflammation.

Here are some ways to use ginger for sciatica relief:

• Ginger Supplements:  You can take ginger supplements in the form of capsules or tablets. The recommended dosage for ginger supplements is usually 1-2 grams daily.
• Ginger Tea: You can make ginger tea by boiling a few slices of fresh ginger root in a cup of water for 10-15 minutes. You can add honey or lemon to taste.
• Ginger Oil: You can apply ginger oil topically to the affected area to help reduce inflammation and pain. Mix a few drops of ginger oil with a carrier oil such as coconut oil and massage the affected area.
• Ginger Compress: You can make a ginger compress by grating fresh ginger root, placing it in a cloth, and placing it on the affected area for 15-20 minutes.

c. Devil’s Claw

A plant that is native to southern Africa. Its roots contain compounds called iridoid glycosides, which have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and analgesic (pain-relieving) effects. Devil’s claw also helps to improve circulation, which can help to reduce inflammation and pain.

Here are some ways to use Devil’s Claw in sciatica relief:

• Devil’s Claw Supplements:  Devil’s claw supplements are available in capsules or tablets. The recommended dosage for Devil’s Claw supplements is usually between 500-1000 mg daily.
• Devil’s Claw Tea:  You can make devil’s claw tea by making a teaspoon of dried devil’s claw root in a cup of boiling water for 10-15 minutes. You can add honey or lemon to taste.
• Devil’s Claw Ointment:  You can apply devil’s claw ointment topically to the affected area to help reduce inflammation and pain.
• Devil’s Claw Compress: You can compress a devil’s claw by soaking a cloth in a solution of devil’s claw tea and placing the cloth on the affected area for 15-20 minutes.

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6. Yoga

The practice of yoga can enhance flexibility, boost circulation, release muscle tension, and induce relaxation, which can alleviate sciatica discomfort by incorporating stretching and strengthening exercises.

However, it is crucial to realize that some yoga poses may not be suitable for individuals experiencing sciatica pain, as they can increase pain or put excessive pressure on the sciatic nerve.

It is recommended to seek guidance from a certified yoga teacher who can modify or avoid poses that may cause problems. Some recommended poses include the following below:

a. Downward Dog

This pose is beneficial for easing sciatica pain as it stretches the hamstrings and calves, helps lengthen the spine, improves circulation, and strengthens the core of the lower back, hips, and legs.

b. Spinal Twist

This pose stretched the muscles of the lower back, hips, and glutes. It also improves spinal mobility and improves circulation.

c. Pigeon Pose

This yoga pose is a hip opener that helps ease sciatica pain. It stretches the piriformis muscle that is in the glutes. Also, it stretches the hip flexors, improves circulation, and promotes relaxation.

It’s important to practice the yoga poses correctly and not overstretch, as this can aggravate the sciatica pain. Always listen to your body and work within your limits.

7. Acupuncture

Acupuncture can help to alleviate pain by stimulating specific points in the body and promoting the release of natural pain-relieving chemicals.

Conclusion

Using natural remedies for sciatica pain can be a safe and effective way to manage the symptoms of this condition. From gentle stretches, ginger, and turmeric to devil’s claw, yoga, and acupuncture, many natural remedies can help ease pain, reduce inflammation, and improve mobility. It’s important to remember that natural remedies may not work for everyone, and it’s always best to consult a healthcare professional before trying any new treatment.

However, by taking a holistic approach to managing natural remedies in your daily routine, you can promote healing and feel more comfortable and confident in your body. So don’t be afraid to try these natural remedies and see what works best for you. With patience, persistence, and the right support, you can find relief from sciatica pain and start living your life to the fullest.

The post Breaking free from sciatic: Natural remedies to ease the pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

In fact, people have been turning to massage to help their muscles feel better and grab that relaxation sensation for more than 3,000 years.

But if you’ve only thought of massage as an indulgence, I have news for you…

According to a team of scientists from Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, massage does more than just help you relax and relieve aches.

It really makes your muscles heal faster and stronger following an injury — by activating helpful responses from your immune system.

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The secret that speeds healing and banishes pain

This is a fact that will come as no surprise to many athletes out there. That’s because athletic trainers for the most elite sports teams have been recommending massage for decades to help athletes rehabilitate their bodies after intense exercise so they can stay in the game.

However, the mechanism behind how massage worked in healing has been a mystery. So the Harvard and Paulson researchers set out to clear things up…

They used a custom-designed robotic system to mimic massage and apply a consistent force into the legs of mice. And what they found was exciting.

The team discovered that by applying this mechanical load, immune cells, known as neutrophils were rapidly cleared from even severely injured muscles. This resulted in a down-chain response that also cleared inflammatory proteins, called cytokines (which are released by neutrophils from the muscles).

The end result? Dramatically improved muscle fiber regeneration.

“Our work shows a very clear connection between mechanical stimulation (massage) and immune function. This has promise for regenerating a wide variety of tissues including bone, tendon, hair, and skin, and can also be used in patients with diseases that prevent the use of drug-based interventions,” explains Dr. Bo Ri Seo, first author of the study, in a university release.

Just two weeks delivers impressive results

And this isn’t the first time that massage has been found to have powerful healing effects.

The same researchers studied the effects of mechanotherapy on injured mice a few years ago, discovering that a good rub-down doubled the rate of muscle regeneration while reducing tissue scarring — in just two weeks.

So what type of massage works for healing? After all, the first thing any therapist will ask is whether you want light or deep pressure.

Well, the researchers have the answer to that one too…

The team used a science called “soft robotics” to monitor and control massage force in those study mice.

And they found that when they applied a greater force, the injured muscles became stronger.

In other words, it’s deep tissue for the win!

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No longer just a guilty pleasure

So if you have a muscle injury, it’s time to schedule a massage.

Another option that I like to use at home is a massage gun. It can be used to deeply penetrate muscles and is easy to use on your own for areas like hips and thighs, or with the help of your partner to work on painful areas in your back.

Additionally, you can further accelerate healing by adding certain supplements to your daily regimen that help lower inflammation.

It’s also important to stay active and consider how your thoughts may be making your pain even worse on a daily basis.

Sources:

Massage doesn’t just make muscles feel better, it makes them heal faster and stronger — Wyss Institute

The post No longer a guilty pleasure: Massage heals muscles faster, stronger appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

If you’re one of them, you know how the pain of achy, arthritic knees can impact your life, leaving you unable to perform the activities you love, preventing you from getting the exercise you need and even keeping you from spending time with your family.

Is it any wonder with the problems caused by knee pain that the rate of knee replacement surgeries has risen steadily? In fact, the number of knee replacements performed in the U.S. doubled between 2000 and 2010. And by 2019 knee replacements had increased 17 percent.

But, if you don’t want to go through the agony of surgery or even the inconvenience of attending physical therapy sessions, there are some simple exercises you can do at home to help alleviate your chronic knee pain and get back to the life you love.

#1 – Straight leg raises

This exercise strengthens your quadriceps muscle, a common contributor to knee pain.

All you need to do is lie down on your back and bend one knee, placing your foot flat on the floor. Lift your other leg straight up to the height of your opposite knee then repeat on the other side. Do three sets of 15.

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#2 – Side lying leg lifts

Lie on one side with your legs straight and together. Bend the elbow closest to the ground and use your hand to support your head.

Slowly lift your top leg to your shoulder height and lower. Do 15 – 20 repetitions and then repeat on the other side.

#3 – Calf raises

This exercise is as simple as it sounds.

Just stand with your feet flat, holding onto the back of a chair or a cabinet for support. Slowly raise up onto your toes and lower. Do three sets of 15 each.

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#4 – Chair sits

The name pretty much tells you everything.

Stand in front of a chair with your feet shoulder-width apart. Push your bottom back and down as if you were going to sit down in the chair and then raise up again. Repeat 15 times.

Chair sits give you the benefit of squats without the potential damage to your knees since you’re not lowering yourself as far.

#5 – Hamstring stretch

Just like weak quadriceps muscles can cause pain, tight hamstrings can also be behind your knee problems.

This stretch helps to release your hamstring muscle and should always be done in a gentle manner.

Simply lie on your back in a doorway with your hips in line with the door. Leave one leg flat while you raise your other leg straight and place it against the doorjamb to stretch the back of your thigh. Keep a slight bend in your knee and hold for a count of 15.

You can also use a belt or a yoga strap looped under the bottom of your foot to perform the stretch if you prefer.

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Things to remember

While all of these exercises can help your knees feel much better, there are some things to remember…

Never perform an exercise that is causing your chronic knee pain to worsen. Muscle soreness is fine but sharp or shooting pain in your joints is not what you’re going for.

And remember, the old saying — “move it or lose it” — is true. So even if these exercises are hard for you to do, at least try low-impact exercises like walking and swimming to improve your knee pain.

Chronic knee pain doesn’t have to ruin your life and you don’t have to end up in surgery to fix the problem. Start the exercises above today to strengthen and stretch your leg muscles and get rid of that knee pain for good.

Sources:

1. Chronic Pain Rates Shoot Up Until Americans Reach Late 50s — Gallup, Inc.

The post The 5 best exercises to get rid of chronic knee pain appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

Turns out I should have explored this habit a bit more thoroughly…

While it may seem comfortable to sit with our legs crossed, this action has a lot of downsides when it comes to our health.

12 consequences of crossing your legs

1. Hip misalignment. Crossing your legs can cause one hip to shift higher than the other. This can lead to the pelvis becoming misaligned.

2. Spine and shoulder misalignment. Because of the way your skeleton is connected, a misalignment of the pelvis can lead to a misalignment of the spine and shoulders.

3. Misaligned head position. When you cross your legs, your spine compensates to keep your center of gravity above the pelvis. And when this happens, this can change the bones of the neck, throwing your head position out of alignment.

4. Muscle weaknesses. When your hips become misaligned, prolonged stretching of the gluteal muscles on the higher hip side weakens those muscles. The resulting poor posture, stresses and strains caused by sitting with your legs crossed can also cause weakness in the muscles of the pelvis, lower back and neck. The more you cross your legs when you sit, the more pronounced these imbalances and weaknesses will become.

5. Increased scoliosis risk. When you constantly sit with your legs crossed, you increase the odds of developing an abnormal alignment of the spine known as scoliosis, as well as other deformities.

6. Greater trochanteric pain syndrome risk. Sitting with your legs crossed raises your risk of developing trochanteric pain syndrome, a common and painful condition that affects the outer side of the hip and thigh.

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7. Leg and foot abnormalities. Consistently crossing your legs when you sit can compress and injure the peroneal (or fibular) nerve in your lower leg. Two symptoms of this condition are weakness when trying to lift the side of the foot where your little toe is located and foot drop, where the whole of the foot hangs down. Usually, these symptoms are short-lived and return to normal within a few minutes.

8. Higher risk of blood clots. Crossing your legs changes the speed at which blood moves through the blood vessels in the lower limbs. This can raise the risk of blood clots forming. If a clot forms in one of the deep veins of the legs, that’s known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and can cause leg pain and swelling. DVT can lead to pulmonary embolism, a dangerous condition where the clot breaks off and travels to the lungs, blocking blood flow there.

9. Cuts off circulation. Sitting with your legs crossed can cut off circulation. This can contribute to a sudden drop in blood pressure known as orthostatic hypotension, which can cause dizziness upon standing too quickly.

10. Causes leg cramps. Long periods of sitting with your legs crossed can deplete the nutrients your muscles need to function properly. This can lead to painful leg cramps. 

11. Increased blood pressure. Have you ever noticed that the nurse always tells you to keep your feet flat on the floor when taking your blood pressure? That’s because crossing your legs at the knees can cause your blood pressure to rise. What happens is when you cross your legs, your blood pools in the veins, causing your heart to have to work harder to pump blood through the body. This can increase the risk of blood vessel damage.

12. Reduced sperm production. For optimal sperm production, the temperature of the testicles needs to be between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius below standard body temperature. Crossing the legs could reduce sperm count and quality because it raises the temperature of the testicles by as much as 3.5 degrees Celsius.

What about the lotus pose?

There’s more than one way to sit cross-legged. When you’re sitting in a chair, you can either cross your legs at the knee or the ankle. Crossing at the ankle isn’t as hard on the body as crossing at the knee, though it still can cause misalignment and muscle imbalances.

Then there’s the common yoga or meditation pose known as lotus position, where you sit on the floor with your legs crossed like a pretzel rather than straight in front of you. There isn’t a lot of data as to whether long periods of time spent in this position can cause the same issues as sitting cross-legged in a chair. But both yoga and meditation have so many health benefits that they probably offset any downsides to the short amount of time spent in the lotus position.

Overall, when you’re sitting in a chair, it’s best to sit with your legs uncrossed and feet flat on the floor. Using a footrest should be fine as long as your legs face forward and your feet rest evenly on the footrest.

It’s also crucial that you not sit still in the same position for too long. Try to take breaks every hour, at minimum, and stand up or walk around for a few minutes before resuming your seat.

Sources:

Don’t Sit With Your Legs Crossed. An Anatomy Expert Explains Why. — ScienceAlert

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) — Mayo Clinic

Best Posture for Sitting at a Desk all Day — Sydney Sports & Exercise Physiology

The post 12 reasons to stop sitting with your legs crossed appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

You’re going about your day and then the pain starts. Within minutes, you can go from happy and productive to out for the count.

While most of us think of migraine when it comes to debilitating headaches (they’re so common that 30 percent of us will suffer from one this year), migraine isn’t the only type of headache that can ruin your day.

In fact, cluster headaches, which occur in groups and have been linked to low oxygen levels, can affect both men and women and come on in waves.

Now, there’s evidence that both of these severe headache disorders could be linked to the body’s biological clock.

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Do your headaches happen at the same time every day?

For many people who live with migraine and cluster headaches, it seems that their pain hits at approximately the same time of day, no matter what other headache triggers they’re exposed to.

It’s a fact that led researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston to wonder whether there might be a connection between headaches and circadian rhythm — the body’s internal system that tells us when it’s time to sleep and when to wake.

To test their theory, the researchers combed through all available studies on cluster headaches and migraine that included circadian features.

They looked at the timing of headaches during the day and during the year. And they delved through data on whether genes associated with the circadian clock are more common in people with these headaches.

They even took a deep dive into studies that linked cluster headaches and migraine to hormones related to the circadian system, like the stress hormone, cortisol, and the sleep hormone, melatonin.

Here’s what they discovered by headache type…

A definite circadian connection

When it came to cluster headaches and the circadian rhythm, the research revealed:

• 71 percent of cluster headache sufferers had headaches at approximately the same time, showing an undeniable link to sleep rhythms.
• Most cluster headaches occur either late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
• Cluster headaches are more likely to occur in the spring and fall.
• Cluster headache was associated with two main circadian genes.
• Five genes that increase the likelihood of having cluster headaches are genes with a circadian pattern of expression.

Additionally, the researchers found that people who live with cluster headaches have significantly higher cortisol levels and lower melatonin levels than people without cluster headaches.

When it came to migraines and circadian rhythm, the connection was similar:

• 50 percent of migraine sufferers showed a circadian pattern of attacks.
• Migraines are more likely to occur from late morning until early evening and less likely to happen overnight.
• Migraine was associated with two core circadian genes, and 110 of the 168 genes associated with migraine were genes with a circadian pattern of expression.

Like people with cluster headaches, people with migraine had lower levels of melatonin in their urine than people without migraine. And, melatonin levels were quite a bit lower during a migraine attack.

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Harmonize your clock to reduce headaches

According to the researchers, “The data suggest that both of these headache disorders are highly circadian at multiple levels, especially cluster headache,” said study author Mark Joseph Burish, MD, PhD.

“This reinforces the importance of the hypothalamus — the area of the brain that houses the primary biological clock — and its role in cluster headaches and migraine. It also raises the question of the genetics of triggers such as sleep changes that are known triggers for migraine and are cues for the body’s circadian rhythm.”

This means that for those of us who suffer from migraines or cluster headaches, harmonizing our body clocks to ensure a healthy circadian rhythm is vital.

Because melatonin levels may be low, as the research indicates, supplementing the sleep hormone may improve circadian rhythm, especially if it’s disrupted by sleep problems. But that’s not all…

Supplementing melatonin has been associated with greater than a 50 percent reduction in migraine frequency in a head-to-head study against Amitriptyline.

Never take more than is directed. If melatonin doesn’t help you sleep, consider your vitamin D levels. The two have a synergistic relationship and if your vitamin D blood levels are low, melatonin won’t work as well for you.

Sources:

Cluster Headaches – Johns Hopkins

Headache Disorders – World Health Organization

Do your headaches happen at the same time of day? – ScienceDaily

The post When your headaches happen at the same time of day appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It stands to reason that too much weight could put undue stress on your joints.

The Arthritis Foundation reports that being overweight causes nearly one-fourth of all diagnosed cases of arthritis.

And if you’re obese, you’re 60 percent more likely to end up with arthritis compared to someone with a lower body weight.

But that’s not the whole story.

What happens inside the joints of obese people to cause arthritis reads something like a spy novel…

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Obesity turns normal synovial cells rogue to degrade joints

Previous research has shown that fat tissue that has been metabolically altered by obesity releases proteins called cytokines which are known to promote inflammation around the body, including in the joints.

But a new study has found that, in someone who is obese, there’s a “stealth operation” going on that doesn’t just destroy joints, but actually “recodes” normal cells crucial to joint health and turns them into “enemy” inflammation-producing machines.

According to Dr Susanne Wijesinghe from the Institute of Inflammation and Ageing at the University of Birmingham, “Obesity is creating an environment in the body, which is negatively affecting cells called synovial fibroblasts, which are stem cells involved in regulating the lubricating fluid [synovial fluid] of the joints. The effect is that these cells get recoded into those that promote inflammation within the fluid around the joints.

“Then, like bad apples in a barrel, they begin to affect the whole joint, increasing secretion of chemicals such as CHI3L1 which degrade the joint and increase the progression of osteoarthritis.”

She and a team of researchers used biopsy information from both weight-bearing joints, like the hips, and non-weight-bearing joints, in the hands, from sixteen patients who had a BMI over 30 (which made them clinically obese), to confirm that weight alone did not account for the molecular changes seen in the joints.

Zoe Chivers, the Director of Services at Versus Arthritis, the UK charity that funded this study, summed it up this way, “The research reveals that obesity can lead to a change in the cells in the joint lining to make them more inflammatory and that these changes occur not only in load bearing joints such as the knee and hips but also in non-load bearing joints such as the hand.”

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Overweight and in pain — what to do

Hopefully more will come from this research to help improve treatments for arthritis. And even better, the researchers wonder if they treat osteoarthritis patients with obesity as a clinical sub-group, could they also see whether specific therapies that address the metabolic element driving osteoarthritis can halt their underlying risk.

But until they know more about how managing weight might impact the progression of arthritis, there are many good health-related reasons to give it a try. And the pain of arthritis is certainly an incentive. Still, that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

There are so many diets to choose from, that alone can be confusing. But a couple of years ago, a study determined that the Mediterranean diet may be the easiest for people to stick to — and that’s a recipe for weight loss success.

The Mediterranean diet also promotes healthy oils, especially omega-3s from fatty fish, and there are two very relevant ways they can help…

• The University of Surrey looked at previous research on the connection between diet and osteoarthritis. Based on 68 studies, they confirmed that fish oil reduced inflammation and decreased pain in people with osteoarthritis. Just one gram of fish oil per day can do the trick.
• Research published in the Journal of International Society of Sports Nutrition, found that six weeks of supplementing fish oil significantly increased lean mass and decreased fat mass in a group of 44 men and women.

Sources:

Obesity turning arthritic joint cells into pro-inflammation ‘bad apples’ — Science Daily

Obesity defined molecular endotypes in the synovium of patients with osteoarthritis provides a rationale for therapeutic targeting of fibroblast subsets — Clinical and Translational Medicine

The post Obesity and arthritis: The real reason behind the pain and progression appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

It can stop you from doing things you love, like golf or spending time with your grandkids. It can even stop you from getting out of bed.

So it’s no wonder that so many of us turn to our doctors to help us find relief and end up filling prescriptions for things like muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatories, steroids and even opiate drugs.

The question is…

Do they work and are they safe?

Sadly, according to researchers from UNSW Sydney, the answer is maybe not.

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A shot in the dark

Despite the fact that doctors are more than happy to prescribe a multitude of medications for low back pain, there hasn’t been a lot of science to back up the practice.

So those Australian researchers decided to see if they could finally prove there was a benefit.

The team looked at 69 different medicines or combinations of analgesic medicines, from Tylenol to hydrocodone and everything in between. And they delved into how the medications performed in cases of low back pain across 98 randomized controlled trials, involving over 15,000 participants.

And what it came down to was this…

No matter how popular these drugs are in the treatment of low back pain, when they were compared with a placebo, there was considerable uncertainty about how much pain relief they could provide.

In other words, it was a shot in the dark as to whether or not they could help.

To top it off, the researchers’ results even called into question the safety of the drugs, finding that some analgesic medicines could increase the risk of adverse events and side effects, like nausea, dizziness and drowsiness.

When asked about their findings, Professor James McAuley, Director UNSW’s School of Health Sciences, summed it up by saying:  “Despite more than 60 years of research, we are still uncertain whether any analgesic medicine provides meaningful pain relief for people with low back pain.  We recommend that doctors and patients take a cautious approach to managing acute low back pain with analgesic medicines until higher-quality trials of head-to-head comparisons are available.”

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A safer path to pain relief

So if you’re living with low back pain and can’t rely on these drugs for safety, much less relief, what can you do?

Believe it or not, pain is one area where the American College of Physician’s guidelines admits that alternative therapies may work best:

• For sub-acute low back pain, they recommend a combination of heat, massage and acupuncture.
• For chronic low back pain, the ACP recommends a multi-pronged natural approach including exercise, acupuncture, mindfulness-based stress reduction, tai chi, yoga, motor control exercise, progressive relaxation, biofeedback and other similar therapy modalities.

Additionally, vitamins and supplements can be surprisingly effective for pain relief — especially these:

• Research shows that taking vitamin D can help sleep and reduce pain, which could make it a good option for low back issues.
• Omega-3s have been shown to essentially block pain by blocking chemical transmissions that exacerbate the perception of neuropathic and inflammatory pain. Omega-3s are found in fatty fish, fish and krill oil.
• CBD has been found to be surprisingly helpful with arthritis pain, with six out of ten people reporting that cannabis products were more effective than other drugs they used at managing their pain.

Editor’s note: Before jumping into any CBD product, make sure it’s full-spectrum, doctor-approved and bioavailable. Learn more about Prosper CBD Oil today!

Sources:

Effectiveness and safety of analgesics to treat low back pain ‘uncertain’: study – UNSW Sidney

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That’s why the most noticeable symptom of PAD is claudication — leg pain and leg cramps that occur most often when walking, caused by too little blood flow to the muscles.

If you’re over 60, have kidney disease or a family history of heart disease, you’re at higher risk for PAD. If you’re African American, your risk of PAD is twice as high. Now, there’s no cure for PAD, but lifestyle changes — pretty much the same that apply to heart disease — can help reduce symptoms.

Better yet, putting those lifestyle changes, like regular exercise and following a healthy diet, to work early on will go a long way in helping you avoid PAD.

Just be sure to put the most recently discovered modifiable risk factor associated with PAD to work for you, or else your risk of developing this clotting condition could shoot up almost 75 percent…

The effect of short sleep on PAD

Insufficient night-time sleep and daytime napping have previously been associated with a raised risk of coronary artery disease which, like PAD, is caused by clogged arteries, according to Dr. Shau Yuan of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. And that’s concerning…

“In addition, sleeping problems are among the top-ranked complaints in PAD patients. There are limited data on the impact of sleep habits on PAD and vice versa, and our study aimed to fill that gap.”

The study was conducted in two parts and involved more than 650,000 participants. First, they analyzed the links between sleep duration and daytime napping and the risk of PAD.

Then, they used genetic data to examine causality and show whether the sleep habits were causing PAD or the other way around.

The strongest evidence indicated that fewer hours of sleep impacted PAD — and it was a two-way street…

• They found that sleeping less than 5 hours a night was associated with a 74 percent greater likelihood of developing PAD when compared with sleeping 7 to 8 hours a night.
• In the causal part of the study, getting less than 5 hours of sleep increased the risk of PAD, and having PAD increased the likelihood of short sleep duration.

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Regarding long-duration sleep, in an analysis of 53,416 adults, they found sleeping 8 hours or more was linked to a 24 percent higher risk of PAD than sleeping 7 to 8 hours. Napping was linked to a 32 percent greater risk of PAD. But the second part of the study failed to identify causal links.

“More studies are needed on the relationships between lengthy night-time sleep, daytime napping and PAD,” said Dr. Yuan.

Another argument for the sleep sweet spot

Getting good sleep matters — so much so that the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 acknowledge the research that getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep helps people better manage various aspects of their heart health — and how shortchanging that can have dire consequences.

Dr. Yuan’s study seems to be right in line with that, or at least pretty close: sleeping less than 5 hours a night greatly increased the risk for PAD, compared to sleeping 7 to 8 hours. Maybe sleeping no more than 8 hours is a sleep sweet spot to shoot for.

But because having PAD was also a causal reason for short sleep duration, people living with PAD may have to work harder at sleeping longer. That means managing the leg pain that accompanies PAD.

One supplement that may help is vitamin D…

It’s known that both vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D insufficiency are significantly associated with PAD. And that short-coming may also impact pain levels.

A review of the scientific literature related to vitamin D and pain management conducted by researchers at The Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil found vitamin D affects the body’s inflammation response in a way that lowers the sensation of pain.

Those same researchers believe vitamin D’s ability to regulate the sleep cycle may add to its ability to reduce pain as well. Vitamin D also works well with melatonin, the sleep hormone available in supplement form. Some research argues that melatonin has a role in cardiovascular health.

If you’re on medication for PAD, it’s a good idea to discuss these supplements with your doctor before adding them.

Sources:

Short night-time sleep linked with nearly doubled risk of clogged leg arteries — European Society of Cardiology

Sleep duration, daytime napping, and risk of peripheral artery disease: multinational cohort and Mendelian randomization studies — European Heart Journal Open

Life’s Essential 8 – How to Get Healthy Sleep Fact Sheet — American Heart Association

The post Peripheral artery disease: How sleep contributes to the pain in your legs appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

They are often sudden and painful, and they come with little warning. Sometimes, though, they do offer warning signs like shortness of breath, visual aura and nausea. At other times, your experience with their appearance lets you recognize when one is coming.

While many people take prescription and over-the-counter medications to relieve the pain of migraine and headaches, there is a more natural way…

Using the simple method of self-acupressure to the specific points shown here, you can relieve a migraine greatly or stop its onset before it takes hold. These acupressure points come from ancient Chinese acupuncture but are done with only finger pressure. No need for needles.

Here is a series of points to locate, press and rub for 30 seconds each, from leg to hand to head, that can help reduce your pain and symptoms while helping reduce your dependence on medications.

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Leg Points

While it seems counterintuitive, points on the legs are very powerful for treating the body and head, especially where pain is associated. For this article, we will use two leg points, one on the shin and the other on the foot.

Gallbladder 34: This is the 34^th point located on the gallbladder energy channel. It is located in the depression just below and behind the head of the fibula. It is a great point for headaches because it is related to the sinews as well as the liver. When the liver qi (energy) stagnates from anger and stress, the sinews become tense and pain arises — especially with migraines, wherein blood vessels constrict to cause pain. Compressing this acupressure point releases the liver qi, opens the meridian, relaxes the sinews and helps reduce pain.

Gallbladder 42: This is the 42^nd point on the gallbladder energy channel meridian. It is located on the top of the foot between the pinky toe and the neighboring toe, next to the fourth metatarsophalangeal joint. It is used for headache and eye pain (think “cluster headache”), and it moves liver qi and heat from the gallbladder. When liver qi stagnates from stress and anger or if there is too much liver heat from alcohol or gallbladder heat from fatty or fried foods, the heat rises into the head and causes a headache. Think of your typical anger or hangover headache or the pounding feeling of a migraine.

Hand Point

The hand and arm also contain a vast number of powerful acupuncture points. For migraines, the point known as Large Intestine 4 (LI4), is of particular help. This is the fourth point found along the large intestine meridian. It is related to the intestines and digestion, and it is the so-called “command” point for the head and face. While this point has many uses, it works extremely well for headaches related to food triggers and is great for pain, anywhere in the body.

Head Points

Since the head is the location of migraine and headache pain and throbbing, it seems like this should be the first place to press points. However, to be most effective, I recommend releasing the points first in the legs and hands to remove blood stasis, energy blockages and other issues that can continue to cause migraine and headaches, even when direct points on the head are activated.

Yin Tang: This is a special point located on the forehead between the eyebrows. It is where many traditions locate the “third eye,” which is why its Chinese name “yin tang” can translate to “hall of impressions.” Based on personal experience, I tend to locate this point slightly above the central point between the eyebrows, in the depression just above them. The point is most useful for headaches, heavy head, foggy thinking, sinus blockage and insomnia: all things related to migraine.

DU 15: This point is located on the back of the head, just above the hairline at the occiput, below the spinous process of the first cervical vertebra. It is related to vitality and emotional issues, deafness, stiff neck and headache. Of these, stiff neck and emotional issues can trigger headaches and muscle tension in the base of the skull can trigger pain in the trigeminal nerve, which travels up the head from the back of the skull to the front.

Du 20: This is the so-called “hundred meetings” point where so many acupoints and vessels converge. It is on the top of the head, directly in the middle and is located by drawing a line from the top of both ears to where it meets on top.

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How to Apply

Self-acupressure is simple and easy. Simply use your thumbs or forefingers and press in and then rotate slowly for 30 seconds while pressing on the tender space at the points. Be gentler for toe points so you don’t bruise or injure the small toe bones. Press and rub to open the point and release the energy blockage. This helps restore balance in the meridian and, thus, remove what can negatively affect the body and cause migraine.

Check out my video for guidance on using acupressure for headache pain.

The post Simply press these points for headache relief appeared first on Easy Health Options®.

And while it can be temporary, millions of Americans not only live with long-term tinnitus, they live with it at a level that’s disabling.

It’s a condition that doctors have no real way to treat, and for the most part, can’t even determine the cause. They simply consider it one of the mysteries of the human body that has yet to be solved.

Well, science has finally caught up with that mystery.

And according to researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the cause of your tinnitus could be sitting in your medicine cabinet at this very moment.

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The over-the-counter and prescription medication culprits

Frankly, it has once again come down to drugs we are told are safe for regular, ongoing use — but oftentimes carry side effects we’re clueless about until they hit us like a ton of bricks.

So, here’s a mugshot list of the “tinnitus suspects” the researchers say we should watch out for:

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (or NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and naproxen
• Acetaminophen, better known as Tylenol
• Aspirin
• COX-2 inhibitors such as Celecoxib

Now, let’s to get down to the nitty-gritty of the study…

The Brigham and Women’s researchers already knew that very high doses of aspirin can lead to reversible tinnitus, so they decided to look at other commonly used medications at various dosages to see if they could cause the infernal ear-ringing condition as well.

To do so, they delved into the health data of 69,455 women gathered over 20 years.

The team found:

• Frequent use (6 to 7 days per week) of moderate-dose aspirin was associated with a 16 percent higher risk of tinnitus in women under 60, but not among older women.
• Frequent low-dose aspirin (≤100 mg) was not associated with elevated risk of developing tinnitus.
• Frequent use of NSAIDs or frequent use of acetaminophen was associated with an almost 20 percent higher risk of developing tinnitus, and the magnitudes of the elevated risks tended to be greater with more frequent use.
• Regular use (2 or more days per week) of COX-2 inhibitors was associated with a 20 percent higher risk of developing tinnitus as well.

 “Our findings suggest that analgesic users may be at higher risk for developing tinnitus and may provide insight into the precipitants of this challenging disorder,” said lead author Sharon Curhan, MD.

“Even though these analgesics are widely available without a prescription, these are still medications, and there are potential side effects. For anyone who is considering taking these types of medications regularly, it is advisable to consult with a health care professional to discuss the risks and benefits and to explore whether there are alternatives to using medication,” she continued.

Her recommendations?

If you have to take any of these medications, do so mindfully and limit their use as much as possible.

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Taming tinnitus

The researchers say that it will be interesting to see the results of future studies focusing on whether stopping these medications could reverse tinnitus, in the same way the condition can be reversed in people whose cause was high-dose aspirin.

In the meantime, however, there are a few options you can try to ease your tinnitus symptoms.

My colleague, Margaret Cantwell, has reported on two separate studies that discovered a drink to help avoid tinnitus and a mineral to dial it down.

There’s also an app patients have used to train their brains to ignore the sounds.

Finally, here’s information on a one-minute exercise, including a video of how to do it, that may help you find the relief from your tinnitus that you’ve been looking for.

Another option may be choosing natural pain relievers and anti-inflammatories instead of the OTC versions. Both vitamin D3 and omega-3 essential fatty acids may fit the bill for many.

Previous research found that vitamin D affects the body’s inflammation response in a way that lowers the sensation of pain. That makes sense since vitamin D deficiency is tied to an increased risk for pain-related conditions like fibromyalgia and rheumatic diseases.

Omega-3s, like those found in fatty fish and supplements, help balance the body’s production of prostaglandins, a hormone-like substance that helps manage inflammation and pain.

Sources:

Frequent use of over-the-counter analgesics associated with risk of tinnitus – EurekAlert!

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