Cayenne Pepper: The Miracle Spice

Can we just talk about how much I love Cayenne Pepper? I've been taking it consistently for the past year and a half I think, maybe only a year, I forget. But I've been taking it for my peptic ulcers, as it is the only thing that has given me consistent relief from the pain and allowed me to live a normal quality of life again with eating food. My ulcers have been a real pain over the past 3-4 years, and the medicine that the doctors gave me only made me feel worse rather than better, so I gave up on those and looked for natural treatments. So, Cayenne Pepper is good for peptic ulcers. Among many other things!!! It is great for circulation. Every time I take a few pills, I get a warm feeling in my stomach (sometimes a bit of pain if I don't eat too much, I have to be careful with it too! But most of the time I don't get pain from it because I eat enough) and the rest of my body starts to get warm too. It helps to open up those blood vessels so that the blood can flow more easily through them. Of course, that should have led me to realize that meant it is an anti-inflammatory, but somehow that escaped me. It was only recently that I realized that Cayenne Pepper is an anti-inflammatory, because after I would take a few pills, I would get a really strong urge to pee (sorry, too much info! Lol). That made me realize the work that the Cayenne Pepper is doing in my body besides giving me relief from ulcer pain. Of course to be sure of its anti-inflammatory properties, I looked it up online (research is my favorite :) and my suspicions were confirmed. Apparently, Cayenne Pepper is also great for stopping pain signals throughout the body as well! Yet another score for the fantastic Cayenne Pepper :) I also added Cayenne Pepper to some Castor Oil as a muscle relaxing/pain relieving treatment for my jaw after my wisdom teeth were removed. The combination was really helpful in terms of getting my face back to normal! You can check out for yourself the benefits of Cayenne Pepper at these links:

http://www.cayennepepper.info/health-benefits-of-cayenne-pepper.html

http://www.natures-health-foods.com/Cayenne.html

http://commonsensehome.com/home-remedies-for-sore-muscles/

Enjoy reading! :)

Royal Jelly: A Cure for My Stomach Ulcers?

Recently, my sister ordered Royal Jelly from Swanson Vitamins (my favorite website!). The order arrived yesterday (on my birthday! :D) and she told everyone in my house to take 1-2 teaspoons a day. Obedient as I am, I took one teaspoon today, grimacing all the way as it's disgustingly sweet. However, I fought my way through, being a trooper. And then, I did my research. I know I had heard somewhere before that honey is good for curing peptic ulcers, so I went and looked into it further. The information I found was encouraging: many people have found relief and healing from ulcers in their digestive systems through consuming Royal Jelly, and that happens within 7-30 days of regular consumption of the sweet stuff. Of course, I would never leave you without links to the information I find.

You can check it out for yourself here:
http://caspianapiaries.com/presentation/Ulcer%20treatment.pdf

So, God willing, maybe in about 30 days I'll be able to report that I can once again eat beets, pineapples, sour apples, oranges, red cabbage, and other things that have been eliminated from my diet because they cause me stomach pain. I'm hoping really hard, because it's been such a pain to have my diet become more and more limited since my diagnosis 3 years ago!

Moringa for Sickle Cell Anemia

Ladies and gentleman, it is now time for my long awaited testimony about the benefits that Moringa has provided to my life. How did I discover Moringa? I read about it in passing on Facebook, one of the Sickle Cell awareness pages that I was following at the time, and briefly looked into it, seeing that some people used it to treat SCD effectively, before writing it off as impossible to obtain. Where would I get this foreign, exotic leaf that was so highly touted and had all these great benefits? I couldn't afford it. I put it out of my mind.

One fateful day, in August 2013, The Vitamin Shoppe sent me a coupon (those manipulators! lol jk) giving me 20 or 40% off if I were to go spend money at their store (see the manipulation?). That coupon proved to be a Godsend, and even the guy at the store remarked to me that the coupon I had received was very rare (yet again, a sign that it was the working of God Himself. Thanks, God :). I browsed The Vitamin Shoppe with my friend SSW (her nickname), and as I searched the shelves for something worth my hard earned money (I try to spend wisely always, lest I end up broke), I came upon a small, 8 oz can of Moringa. I was a bit intrigued, as I had previously read about this leaf on the internet, and here it was, before my very eyes in the store that had drawn me in with their lovely, rare coupon. Before I spent my hard earned dollars on this little can of green powder, I asked if the guy at the store would help me look up information about the leaf online, and he ended up letting me use the store computer because I needed more help than he could give (there were other customers to get money from). At that time, I didn't have a smart phone (that came along about 8 months later, when my poor dumb phone got damaged). After doing some research and talking about the Moringa with SSW, I decided I would purchase it. That warm day in August, I walked out of The Vitamin Shoppe with a can of Moringa and less money in my bank account.

That was the beginning of yet another new lease on life. Moringa has changed my life dramatically, as it helps my blood cells to stay round and healthy, which is all that you need with Sickle Cell Anemia in order to have a higher quality of life. When I first began taking it, I started to feel better. About a month later, I went to work at a daycare with kids ages 6 months to 4 years (that position only lasted 6 weeks, I love kids, but the position was too physically demanding for me). Since I was working with little children (germ machines) I started taking more Moringa in order to boost my immune system. I think that I originally started with 1/2 a teaspoon daily and I upped it to 1 teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half. I also would take Vitamin C, and I'm telling you, the combination helped me to kick some colds that would have turned really nasty had I not been taking it. I have asthma as well (due to the SCD), so when I get a cold, the cough tends to stick around for ages, which makes it even more unpleasant.

Since the day I purchased my first can of Moringa, I have gone never a day without taking it (I think. I might have missed 1 or 2 days when I ran out and was waiting for a new order). The reason why I take it so faithfully is because I notice that when I take it, I feel stronger. My body feels better, less achy. It's been so long that I've been taking it, it's become such an important part of my diet that I can't remember what it's like to not take it. During the winter time, I take less painkillers because the Moringa helps my blood cells so much. My blood cells don't speak to me, they don't tell me they're staying nice and round, but I know they are because I feel less pain overall, and I'm better able to bear the cold. I do NOT do well with cold weather; in fact, this winter, with having hurt my tail bone and with the mounds of snow, ice, sleet, rain, and slush that have been falling from the sky, I've just been staying home whenever I don't have to go out. But, when I do go out, I can deal with the cold weather better and with taking fewer painkillers. Also, I rarely ever get colds since I've been taking Moringa (also since I stopped drinking milk, but that's a different story).

Honestly, Moringa is such a huge benefit to me that it's extremely hard for me to sum it up in one little blog post. I'm trying to put it into words, but words fail to express how much this little leaf powder has helped to turn things around for me in a healthier, better direction. Moringa HELPS with Sickle Cell Anemia, my life is a living testimony to it. It helps to reduce the sickling, whenever I feel my body going into crisis mode, I take my painkillers and I also take more Moringa. My body bounces back a lot faster than it used to. Last semester I missed two days of school from having Sickle Cell pain, and it was pain in my hip that made it hard to walk. It wasn't pain that required a hospitalization. I managed at home with Tylenol Extra Strength and that was good enough. When I was working last year at a school, I never missed a day of work from November to June (I was late plenty of times, but that's a different story. MTA troubles >.<). I haven't had a lingering cold in ages and I used to get them quite frequently.

And the pain!!!! I haven't had a serious Sickle Cell Crisis requiring hospitalization or emergency room treatment since October 2012 and the Moringa has only helped me in that direction.

The cost for my healthy Moringa habit? $17.99 for one pound of the stuff, and I get it with free shipping on Ebay.

I cannot stress enough how much this little leaf powder has changed my life. This little leaf is now a staple in my diet, I take two teaspoons of the stuff daily, and it helps keep me on an even keel. Don't get me wrong, there are still those days when I need to rest and what not because I still have the disease. But because of my dietary changes, and because I've added Moringa, it rules my life less and less, and I get to have a more normal quality of life more and more.

Moringa has been a tremendous blessing to my life and there are a ton of links throughout this post that attest to the benefits of this plant. Look into Moringa, see what it can do for you. I hope that this post will encourage someone to give this green leaf a try. It can work for you too!

Benefits of Moringa:

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/moringa.html
http://moringaphilippines.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-moringa-can-reduce-sickle-cell.html
http://ssnaturalhealings.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-miracle-plant-moringa.html
http://imaginezambia.org/3281/sickle-cell-anemia-moringa-news/
http://www.moringasource.com/pages/moringa-health-benefits
http://moringa4health.com/Moringa_-_Benefits.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/037735_Moringa_superfood_health_benefits.html#
http://www.reshapeyourbody.org/incredible-moringa-nutrition-story-sickle-cell-anemia/

Battling the Flu

Five weeks ago, right at the start of my very busy winter semester (my second in grad school, yay?), I caught the flu from my poor old mom. This was only about two weeks after having fallen down my front steps on an icy, rainy, horrible winter day, and hurting my tail bone, so needless to say, I was miserable. Oh, and did I mention I was just coming off of antibiotics for Strep Throat when I picked this thing up? So my immune system was totally down. I picked up the Strep Throat from one of the kids at the preschool where I did my fieldwork in January, she coughed right in my face (gotta teach the kids not to share germs!). I started feeling sick on Thursday night, but unfortunately for me, I was half in denial, and half didn't realize why I was coughing. On Friday I was coughing a bit, and since my mom was sick too, I figured I better up the ante by adding Vitamin C, honey, and Echinacea to my Moringa in the mornings. I took about 3,000 mg of Vitamin C on Friday, so I thought I was good. Unfortunately for me, Saturday rolled around, and though I took my Vitamin C, Moringa, honey, and Echinacea that morning, I felt awful by the middle of the day. I took my temperature and it was running at 100.7ºF. I felt like I was going to pass out. My body felt as though I was getting some aches and I felt chills as well.

Now, when I was younger and I would get the flu, it would automatically set off a Sickle Cell Crisis and I would also throw up and be bedridden, useless, and in pain for three days. This time was different. Yes, I felt awful on Saturday, but my aches were pretty minor, and I managed my fever with Tylenol Extra Strength 500mg. As well as a bit of bed rest on Saturday and Sunday, but I wasn't bedridden and useless and in pain.b Also, my lovely, delicious combination of Vitamin C, Moringa, honey, and Echinacea restored my immune system in about a day and a half, I kid you not. Saturday was my worst day, and I can't recall how many milligrams of Vitamin C I took that day, probably about 6,000. I drank my lovely Vitamin C, Moringa, honey, and Echinacea concoction about three times on Saturday, probably once on Friday about probably about 2-3 times on Sunday. So by Monday, my flu was just a lingering cough (bronchitis) and by Tuesday I felt like a real person again. All natural remedies (plus Tylenol). They really do work! Also, I had my mom taking the same concoction and she got better within the week as well. My whole house was either sick or getting sick, my poor dad was coughing and I think my sister too. We were all drinking honey like crazy, we ran through about 48 ounces of honey within a week. Sweet stuff! :)

So, my lovely concoction, for anyone who would like to give it a shot (make it sweet!!!)
I poured honey into the bottom of a mug, added about 2 teaspoons of Moringa, opened a capsule of 400 mg of Echinacea into it, and opened 2 capsules of Vitamin C (1000 mg each) into that, and added hot water. Smelled good, tasted interesting. Lol, again, make it sweet, add more honey if you need to. I only opened up the Vitamin C capsules to give my poor ulcerated stomach a rest from having to do the work of absorption. I opened the Echinacea capsule because it's a herb and I personally think it works better when mixed with hot water, but however you want to take your Echinacea or Vitamin C is fine, I just like to have mine this way.

Hope this helps someone kick the flu!!!

Let Us Now Address Castor Oil: Pain and Inflammation Treatment

Castor oil has saved my life, many many times. And I'm not talking about the stinky stuff, I'm talking about the cold-pressed, cold-processed, low on odor stuff. (But the stinky stuff would work just as well, I just can't stand the smell! lol.)  How did this story begin? Again, I have to thank my second oldest sister, who purchased Castor Oil off of Swanson Vitamins. I must also thank my cousin, who once recommended using topical treatments for joint/muscle pain. Well would you know that Castor Oil is great for treating joint and muscle pain? Among a bunch of other benefits that it has? There was that one day that I had some joint and muscle pain, I'm guessing it was in my hip, which has been a continuous source of trouble for me over the years, but a source of trouble that has shown improvement since I changed my diet, thank God. That one fateful day, I decided (probably out of irritation, annoyance, and desperation) to rub my hip or whatever joint it was with that sticky Castor Oil before I went to bed. Yes, it was a bit sticky and it had a bit of an odor, but who cares? Because by the time I woke up, the odor was gone. AND SO WAS MY PAIN. I call Castor Oil "God's Magic Oil" now. I cannot tell you how much I love the stuff. I was getting frequent pain in my ribs, a dull, annoying ache most of the time, and what did I end up treating it with? Castor oil. (The pain is mostly gone now, hasn't presented itself in months, I'll write another post to address that. :) I fell down the icy stairs in front of my house on January 18th, as I was on my way to class, landed right on my tailbone. If I hadn't been wearing my two coats (yes, two, I CANNOT deal with the cold weather) I probably would have broken my tailbone rather than bruised it. Let me tell you, I cried like a baby, it hurt so much. What reduced my misery and gave me back a normal quality of life after that great fall? Massages with Castor Oil (which I had to give myself, what an embarrassing place to have to get a massage, right near the tush! I still get some pain in my tailbone, but that's usually when I sit in a bad chair, and I can easily help that with a coccyx cushion. I am mostly 99% tailbone pain free!) I had two wisdom teeth pulled last Monday, and what did I use to treat the swelling once I got home? Warmed up Castor Oil. It took me a while to learn, but from the tailbone incident, I learned that Castor Oil works even better when it's warmed up! I put some in a little bottle, and place that bottle into a container of hot water, and voilà. A few minutes later, my Castor Oil is ready to use and ready to heal my pain once I massage it into the area that's bothering me. My neck also received a Castor Oil massage after my dental extraction, and so did my wrist, where my IV went, because my wrist was sore as well. I cannot say enough how much this stuff really, truly works."God's Magic Oil" is fantastic guys, and I would love for you to benefit from it too!

Of course, here are some lovely links where you can purchase your own bottle of Castor Oil, aka "God's Magic Oil." Hope this helps someone!
This is the one I purchase: http://www.swansonvitamins.com/home-health-castor-oil-cold-pressed-cold-processed-16-fl-oz-liquid
And here is one with free shipping. You gotta love Ebay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CASTOR-OIL-USP-GRADE-COLD-PRESSED-ORGANIC-PURE-HEXANE-FREE-16-OZ-/111453859391?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19f32aee3f

Cherry Juice & Cherry Extract for Your Pain

There are natural alternatives to treating the pain of Sickle Cell, as well as natural alternatives to treating the condition overall. One thing I've never liked about taking painkillers is this: though they may treat the pain, desensitizing our bodies to it, they don't give us the strength that our bodies need to keep the pain away. They only treat a symptom, not the cause. And of course, there are the ever present side-effects! The Ibuprofen that I was told to take by my doctor ruined my stomach and it still hasn't healed completely, to my knowledge. I was prescribed a medication  to "treat" my stomach lining, which has been compromised by the formation of peptic ulcers (I have a post about it somewhere on this blog) and it made me feel worse!!! I decided not to take it, and instead take Cayenne Pepper in capsules daily (450 mg/80,000 Heat Units. Talk about hot!!!). The Cayenne Pepper pills have given me a sense of normalcy again, as they allow me to mostly eat without any trouble. Except, unfortunately for me, I must still avoid citric and acidic foods. Though I do break the rule occasionally to eat pasta or pizza. A girl's gotta live!

So, the Cherry Extract! For years, my second oldest sister kept telling me, "Try Cherry Extract, it's good for inflammation! It will help you with your pain!" For years, I was too skeptical, hurting, and miserable from  SCA to even bother trying her ridiculous natural pain remedy. I mean really, who on earth would ever consider Cherry Extract for pain? It's made from cherries for goodness sakes. Well, one fateful day in Sept. 2014, when I was feeling somewhat miserable with pain and had dragged myself to school only to find out I had no class that day (thanks, professor!), I came home and my dad and I decided to visit the Vitamin Shoppe, because they had mailed me a coupon and I just had to use it (see the manipulation there?). At the Vitamin Shoppe, I finally decided to ask where I could locate the Cherry Extract, which was so much cheaper with my lovely coupon (cheap, but not free! lol). Thus began my journey with Cherry Extract as part of my life. I found out that it really does help with pain and inflammation. I took several of the pills that day, as I was having some pain in my hip, besides my other dull, generalized body pains. I also took some Tylenol Extra Strength that day, which is my go to painkiller these days (just more proof of how my life has changed because I changed my diet).

The combination worked!!! Tylenol Extra Strength and Cherry Extract pills. Tylenol to treat the pain, and Cherry Extract to treat the pain AND the cause (inflammation!). Let me tell you, there are some moments when I take one Cherry Extract pill and one Tylenol Extra Strength, or even other times when I take two Cherry Extract pills to treat my pain, and they work. One of the things I LOVE LOVE LOVE about Cherry Extract is that IT HAS NO SIDE EFFECTS. NONE. IT'S ALL NATURAL. Now please, join me in my joy and say "Yay!!!!" After I purchased my first bottle of Cherry Extract from the Vitamin Shoppe, I switched to purchasing it online at Swanson Vitamins, a website that sells good quality vitamins and supplements, etc. My favorite thing about this website is that they often have sales, so I often purchase their lovely vitamins and supplements to keep me healthy. Of course, here is a link to my lovely Cherry Extracts, the exact brand that I purchase. I'm telling you, I really really love this stuff, and if you give it a shot, I think it may be able to help you too. Not only do they sell the dried extract from the cherry, but they also sell tart cherry juice, which my second oldest sister recently purchased for me to help me through my worst days. I haven't yet used it, but when the time comes, I will! And to add to this story of cherry greatness, I had 2 wisdom teeth pulled one week ago, and guess what I was taking besides the Codeine to help with the pain? Two cherry extract pills daily. I came off of the Codeine within three and a half days but have still been taking my lovely side-effect free cherry pills :) Anyone ready to give Cherry Extract a try? I hope it works for you too!

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