Cartilage rejuvenation research to help alleviate painful joints
joyfulguy
4 months ago
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The "new knee" coming in late Sept...oh joy...;-)
Comments (17)You should definitely not be dreading it. If you did your homework and know your surgeon is one of the best then you should be celebrating that your days of pain will soon be over for good. My doctor waited and waited to replace my knees because as he put it "I was so young." Under 60. I insisted and well, it's the best decision I've ever made. I had them done one at a time because he told me both at the same time is too hard on the patient and could be dangerous because if infection should set in that would be very complicated. He said it's just better to have a good leg to stand on while recuperating from the other knee surgery. I'm going to recommend you buy this book entitled Total Knee Replacement & Rehabilitation. You can find it on Amazon for not much money. It's written by Daniel J. Brugioni, MD and Jeff Falkel Ph,D., P.T., CSCS If my memory serves me, one of the authors actually went through a knee replacement. At any rate they are in the business and this book is an excellent guide to prepare for what is to come. Being informed and ready for the pain afterward, the PT and how difficult it can be at times, etc. is the key to a fast and successful recovery. Remember to always take your pain meds 1/2 hour before therapy. This is imperative. Another word on pain meds. Take them as instructed. Do not skip or be late because you don't want to the pain to get ahead of you and my last personal piece of advice is ice, ice, ice. This is what keeps the swelling down because it's the swelling that causes the pain. In the book I'm suggesting they talk about pre surgical exercises. I can tell you these made a world of difference in my recovery because I had built up the muscles in my leg which helped me get around by day 2 with a walker. I'll tell you I suffered like heck. I was 3 weeks after my first one and I told my DH I couldn't wait to get the other one done and his comment was "are you nuts?" That's because he'd listened to me yell, cry, complain after surgery, but the fact is I knew by the 3rd. week I had made the right choice in having it replaced and couldn't wait for round 2. Round 2 was 3 months later and it also hurt like heck. LOL There are lots of forums and discussion boards on the net that you can go read from other people who have gone through the surgery and there's nothing like getting first hand knowledge and hearing how others have faired. You'll read bad stories, but the majority are victories. I know of one very good forum but because my memory is not worth a darn anymore, for the life of me, I cannot remember the name of it. When it comes to me I'll post it here for you. So don't dread this surgery. Prepare as much as possible and you will up and dancing in no time!! Good luck....See MoreThe Virgin Diet Anyone?
Comments (18)"I'm used to eating ... whole grain bread or my discs...magic pops which are made with wheat...and pasta, and eggs, and cheese and crackers and peanut butter." along with the other foods you are listing is un-healthy eating! ... " Most of the foods you are eating sound bad! I understand you were looking for someone who has tried it and succeeded. I can only report that, although I am cheating, I have stopped buying products or eating meals that contain those foods. Easing my way there, lol. So my intake is way down. It's hard to contemplate but in reality is not all that hard to do. I guess gluten is one of the hardest to give up. Maybe dairy. I also incorporate anti-inflammatory foods in my diet. Once you start thinking this way, you will see all those processed and so-called "healthy" foods as unappealing junk food. The less the better. Of course your favorites are harder to let go of. But there are still yummy foods to eat and you don't have to go hungry as on a low calorie diet. 2000 calories of mother nature is not the same as 2000 calories of man-made junk. Your taste and the cravings do change. It's simple. Fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy lean meats, almond/coconut/flax seed milk, Soy-free Earth Balance for butter (you won't miss it!). Nuts, seeds, berries. Grass-fed beef is supposedly as healthy as fish. I don't drink milk but use one or more of the alternates on cereal and it tastes fine that way. Ick used for things like yoghurt or ice cream, but those are unhealthy processed foods anyway. The coconut ice cream I tried was edible but nothing to look forward to, imo. I have tried brown rice pasta (Joy) and it is a good substitute, better than the old wheat pasta we were supposed to be switching to. I don't know if it is on their plans and is certainly not a great choice if losing weight is your goal. I need to come up with some healthy desserts and snacks, bread alternatives. At least try Dr. Fuhrman's way of looking at things, focusing on high-nutrient foods. His patients also reap the big health benefits but are not specifically told to eliminate certain foods. He tells people to follow "the salad is the main meal". Load it with vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts. You might want to start slowly since your system is sensitive. I wonder if pro and pre-biotics would help straighten things out there. It sounds like you could have a gut imbalance. There are also enzymes for gas that a lot of people say works. I don't think you need to question whether or not it works, although of course it won't "cure" everyone. These aren't your typical infomercials. They are MD's for the most part. JJ is a Ph.D. They all have patient practices. This is now scientifically backed research. I don't think they are lying and the patients are made up stories. They aren't some of those doctors who try to sell their own magical supplements you can't live without either, although they might offer books, diet plans and some food products. This post was edited by snookums2 on Mon, Sep 23, 13 at 17:55...See MoreWere you born in the early 1950's?
Comments (23)Born in 1953. When I was around 47, I suddenly had all kinds of really bad joint pain. I could barely walk...feet, legs....got frozen shoulder, too. Health care folks thought osteoarthritis, but the bone scan was fine. Then, they thought fibromyalgia. I started gaining weight because I couldn't move very well and had no energy. Fast forward...I started taking potassium supplements when I tried the Atkins diet for a few months. The pain went away. Rewind...up until about that time, my GYN had me on aldactone, a potassium-sparing diuretic, to help with PMS. I had stopped taking it when I had to switch providers. So, I guess my body was missing the potassium. Back to the future...3 years ago, I caught a respiratory virus that sent me to the ER. My heart went wacko on me. I was born with mitral valve prolapse w/regurgitation. It hadn't really bothered me until I caught that virus. The virus lasted almost 5 months! I was put on atenolol, a beta blocker and promptly gained a lot more weight, was out of breath, no energy, etc. from that experience. So...DH insisted that I retire from my job (June 2006) to take care of myself. Everytime I turned around, I had something to follow-up...suspicious mammos, biopsies, etc. He told me my job was now "to get healthy". Bless him. For the last few years, I've been trying to figure out how to make myself healthy. Last year, I was able to slowly wean myself off of atenolol. A pulse over 100 was normal and I have low blood pressure. Tired person! I also started taking kelp, which cleared up my sinusitus and tinnitus within the first few days of taking it. Don't ask me why I needed it. I was just researching my multitude of problems and decided it wouldn't hurt to try it. As soon as I retired, I made myself exercise and get outside as much as possible. I tried all kinds of diets. My weight stayed locked on the same number no matter how little I ate or how much I exercised. My body temp was usually around 97.1, but I'd have bouts where it would drop down in the 96 range and I'd get chilled. Thyroid tests showed 3.0, so my doc won't treat that. On January 9, 2008, I tried something new. Trader Joe's came to town, so we started purchasing 100% of our food from them and have almost completely stopped eating out at restaurants. I was already in an exercise routine, but I just mixed it up to add frequent bursts of intensity among steady exercise...stationary bike, Bowflex weights, crunches, yoga, walking the dog, etc. I have an outdoor bike, a kayak and a swimming pool, so I'm also accustomed to doing those when the weather permits. I just spent 3 hours this morning in my garden, moving shrubs around. I started keeping a daily dairy (spreadsheet) of EVERYTHING that I eat to try to stay between 1200-1300 calories per day and also low fat. I rarely go above 45 grams of fat for an entire day. When I bring home the groceries, I enter every item's nutritional content into that spreadsheet to help me easily track what I eat. I use measuring cups and spoons to make sure that I've got my portions matched to the nutritional portions. I stopped drinking "brand name" diet sodas. I drink TJ's diet soda with no preservatives, no sodium. I no longer crave sweets at all. I don't get hungry at all. It is so easy to eat the right portions. DH is experiencing the same thing, although he gets larger portions and more calories. I take TJ's high potency vitamins for women -- you take 5 pills a day instead of one pill -- spread out over the day. I take potassium due to my particular problems. I get vitamin D because I do get sunshine, even in winter. Our house is passive solar, so even on a cold sunny day, I can sit out on our front porch and toast. The results? I've lost 12 lbs, but I stalled at 6 lbs for several weeks and have stalled again at 12 lbs. I tend to increase my exercise, so I'm hoping these stalls are due to muscle weighing more. Anyway, I still need to lose 10-20 lbs. I have lost 4 inches in my waist! To get out of the first stall, I started drinking green tea 4 times a day. That helped to boost my metabolism up to a temp of 98.3. My husband has also started drinking the green tea, too. He is also losing weight, btw. What we've BOTH noticed...our skin and hair looks and feels so much younger. We both have a lot of energy. We feel great with no aches and pains. We feel like our circulation is better. My bp is around 88/60 and my pulse is down to 65-70 beats per minute. This sounds strange, but my body feels "quiet" now that my pulse is under control. I feel "light" inside my body like my organs have more room. Could it be the lack of artificial stuff and preservatives in the food? Could it be that restaurants (we don't do fast food) are really surving food so full of calories and fat even in small portions? Anyway, I'll see how the weight loss goes over the next year. I got interested in the green tea from going to the Real Age website and catching Dr. Oz on TV. Hope this helps someone else. IMPORTANT: I got my physical in January before starting all of this. So, my doctor knows what I'm doing, what I'm eating and the supplements that I'm taking....See MoreWonderful Health Benefits and Uses Of Cherries
Comments (1)I think this post would be better on the herbalism forum. Rodney...See MoreNinapearl
4 months agosephia_wa
4 months agolast modified: 4 months agojoyfulguy
4 months agolast modified: 4 months agojoyfulguy
4 months agolast modified: 4 months ago
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