A Few Simple Steps to Making a Cayenne Pepper & Castor Oil Mix

Materials
Castor Oil
Cayenne Pepper
An Empty Container that can withstand heat
Optional: Lavender Oil

Step 1: Gather all your materials together in one place. Open your empty container.

Step 2: Place your desired amount of Cayenne Pepper into the container. I always am very liberal with how much I add because Cayenne Pepper is a strong anti-inflammatory, and I know that the more I add, the more potent my mix will be.

I didn't bother to measure how much Cayenne Pepper I put, I just put a lot!

 Step 3: Pour in your Castor Oil.

Getting ready to pour in the Castor Oil.

After pouring in the Castor Oil. I didn't measure the amount of Castor Oil either,
just made sure to add enough to more than cover the Cayenne Pepper.

The stuff that changed my life! <3_<3

 Step 4: Seal your container and store in a cool dry place.

This is what your finished product will look like.

After the Castor Oil is poured in to your container, don't mix around the oil! As the Cayenne Pepper absorbs the Castor Oil it will turn a darker color, showing that it is saturated with oil. You don't want any of the Cayenne Pepper to settle on top of the castor oil, because then it won't saturate. However, if that does happen, simply place your tightly sealed container into another container of hot water, and shake it up until the castor oil and cayenne pepper are completely mixed together, with no cayenne pepper sitting on top of the oil.

When you are ready to use your oil, either use it as is, rubbing the oil between your hands to heat it up, or place the tightly sealed container into another container full of hot water to heat your oil. When I heat my oil, I usually place the container into boiled water to get maximum potency, and then I use the oil once it's heated.

Boiled the water on the stove top and placed the oil mix into the hot water.

Be careful not to let any water get into your container! That will make the oil mixture start to go bad.

Optional: Add a few drops of lavender oil to your mix to make it smell nice! As I've mentioned before, Lavender Oil also has anti-inflammatory properties. :)

Read About Even Flo - Yet Another Natural Supplement to Manage Sickle Cell!

I just noticed that SS Natural Healings, which I have a subscription to but almost never read (lack of time/I forget) just posted about EvenFlo, which is a natural supplement to treat sickle cell. I have copied and pasted the first paragraph of the original post, and there are links to the post here as well. 


Post copied from:
http://ssnaturalhealings.blogspot.com/2015/05/even-flo-natural-supplement-to-manage.html

"Even Flo - Natural supplement to manage Sickle Cell disease! 

Even Flo is a natural pain reliever, which contains the highest quality herbal extracts and nutraceuticals, was created to manage pain in sickle cell patients and decrease the frequency of crisis they experience. The product has undergone rigorous clinical tests and has shown none of the side effects usually associated with prescription pain medications. EvenFlo can also be used to alleviate arthritis pain, ischemia in varying locations of the body, PMS, muscle pain, hypertension, nerve pain, low energy, and anemia..."

Read the rest of the post here!

 http://ssnaturalhealings.blogspot.com/2015/05/even-flo-natural-supplement-to-manage.html

I don't know much about Even Flo, except what's mentioned from the post on SS Natural Healings, but it sounds good so far, I'm definitely going to look more into it.

Even More Benefits of Castor Oil

Lately, I've been wondering if I can take Castor Oil internally without the laxative effect. A few months ago, the thought of taking Castor Oil internally would have really grossed me out, because as a kid, I was forced to drink it as a laxative (any other Caribbean kids out there who went through the same thing?). However, since I've discovered that Castor Oil is basically God's gift to humanity for things such as minor burns (I used it to treat my relaxer burn that I got on Saturday. It was mild, didn't pierce the skin but just hurt. The Castor Oil cleared the pain up in about 2 days. Gotta love it!), hair growth (my eyelashes have gotten thicker & longer since I've been using it on my face! But be careful though ladies, if you have a naturally hairy face, it'll only make it hairier! Lol ;-) ), acne (I use it almost every single night to treat my acne and I mix it with Cayenne Pepper to make it more potent. It's a powerful anti-inflammatory! Has saved my face from painful breakouts on countless occasions!), joint/muscle inflammation (like 2 days after my wisdom teeth extractions, and I went in twice for surgery, the swelling was all gone!), etc. I could go on. I really could. I love Castor Oil so much, I just have to keep extolling its benefits, because THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS. So, back to my main point. I was ordering stuff on Swanson Vitamins (my favorite website of all time!) and getting my new 16 oz bottle of Cold-Pressed, Cold-Processed Castor Oil, when i saw that it was available in pill form. Naturally, I looked into the benefits of taking it internally. Apparently it's good for the gastrointestinal system! I could definitely use benefits in that area. I'm no longer taking Cayenne Pepper Pills everyday, only as needed, and I usually don't get stomach pain anymore (YAYYYYY!!!! CHEER WITH ME FOLKS, MY STOMACH HAS BEEN A PROBLEM AREA FOR OVER 3 YEARS!!!!), but it would be great if the occasional stomach pains would go away. I'm thinking that maybe if I take the Castor Oil internally it will help my stomach issues out even further. In any case, here are some resources on the benefits of taking castor oil internally. Enjoy reading! :)

http://www.homeremediesweb.com/castor-oil-health-benefits.php

http://www.castoroilhome.com/health-benefits-of-castor-oil

http://www.stylecraze.com/articles/amazing-benefits-of-castor-oil/ 

http://castoroil.org/uses-and-benefits/

A Few Warnings About Using Castor Oil - Always Good to Know!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/04/28/castor-oil-to-treat-health-conditions.aspx

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/

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!

Click Here!

Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup

Here is a delicious and healthy recipe for Sweet Potato Soup that is incredibly easy to make. I had the idea to throw this together when I began to get tired of eating boiled and baked sweet potatoes. At the time I first made this, I was also starting to get pain in my eyes again, which first started to happen around the time I was 14, due to the blood vessels in my eyes being obstructed from misshapen cells. Since then I've had treatments on my eyes and they usually don't bother me anymore, but I haven't had any treatments in a while, over a year I think, hence the pain. Sweet potatoes and carrots are a great source of Vitamin A, so they make up the basis of this soup. It comes out pretty tasty, I hope you'll enjoy it! Also, please forgive me, because when I make up recipes, I never use a measuring cup or anything like that, so I'm going off of imprecise measurements for some of these things, but I'm guessing as best as I can. Hope you enjoy and benefit from this recipe!

Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup

Ingredients:
4  Sweet Potatoes*
5 medium sized Carrots
1 very large Onion
Salt (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)**
Water (about 8 cups, possibly more/less, depending on the consistency you want your soup. I actually measured for you guys! :)***

1. Bring the water to a boil. While the water boils, peel the carrots, sweet potatoes, and onion. Cut the onion in half or in quarters. Add the carrots, onion, sweet potatoes, and salt to the water.
2. Allow the vegetables to boil, bringing the fire down to a simmer and covering the pot with a lid while the vegetables cook. Test the vegetables with a fork to see how soft they become in the water. Once a fork can go straight through the sweet potatoes and carrots, turn off the fire and allow the vegetables to cool. Do NOT throw out that veggie water, it's got tons of vitamins in it from the vegetables and you don't want those vitamins going away!
3. Blend the vegetables using the water that they were boiled in. I usually put in one sweet potato to my Nutribullet at a time, along with the boiled water. Once everything has been blended, you're good to go! Serve yourself a nice warm bowl, or have it chilled, whatever makes you happy. Enjoy the soup and the fact that you're having yourself a healthy thiocyanate and Vitamin A filled meal! Bon appetit!

The last time I made this recipe, which was last Sunday, I added an extra onion and brown sugar, and it was even more delicious than the other times I've made it. But the recipe tastes just fine this way too. Experiment and see what works for you! I'd love any comments from anyone who tries or wants to try this out! :)

Also, I wanted to add that I've been taking a Vitamin A pill daily to help with the eye pain, and making sure to drink more water, which have both helped, thank God :)

* I tried making it with only 3 large sweet potatoes and it came out too thin, sorry for the changes!
** I'm still not sure how much salt I used when it tasted best, but just put less salt if you think it'll be too salty. You can always add more later if you so choose :)
*** About 8 cups of water should do the trick, I made it last night and measured the water and it came out to 8 cups.

Keeping Inflammation Down

A huge problem with Sickle Cell and a cause of a lot of pain is the inflammation. From what I've learned, when a crisis begins, after the cells get stuck in the veins, an inflammatory response is triggered, which worsens the pain, and which can stick around long after the actual clot is gone. In the daily diet, their are things that can be done to help reduce overall inflammation in the body. To help reduce inflammation, I first looked up things that cause it. Sugar is a primary culprit, so I try to reduce sugar in my daily diet. I try to stay conscious of how much I'm having and try to keep it to a reasonable amount. Another thing I do is avoid white rice and refined flours and pasta. I don't eat a lot of bread, eat practically no rice (such a turnaround since rice was a staple when I was growing up!), eat very little (white) bread and pasta. When I do eat the above mentioned, I do later feel a difference in my body as if there is more inflammation going on. (I also break out! -__-') These are just the things that I do based on what I've learned about my own body and the way it works (and doesn't work.) Hopefully the observations I've made can be helpful to you!

Health Chart Update!

I am really glad that I had the idea to keep track of what I am eating and my supplements daily with a chart! It has been 12 days since I began using my chart and it shows me what I need to eat more (greens) as well as showing me trends in my diet. The first page of my charts is finished (I made 5 copies of the original, which I drew up by hand, no need for complicated computer work!) and I wrote a conclusion at the end to sum up all my data. This weekend I was feeling some mild pain in my legs and arms, which felt like they could have been crisis pain, and yesterday I did take 1000mg of paracetamol (acetaminophen) for it, but other than that, I've been okay. It seems like the Nattokinase has been doing its work to keep my blood from clotting, for which I am thankful! I have been feeling good since I added it to my diet.

I had to stop working out due to what I mentioned earlier, but I walked a lot today. One thing I must note, my body feels different when I drink tap water, and from what I have read about parasites, which I talked about in another post, I feel like I have an infection. For that I am eating carrots on a empty stomach (eat nothing else for 30 minutes afterward) and will be trying the garlic cleanse mentioned on this website. Today, I also started with something I hope to keep up, which is to eat a clove of raw garlic on an empty stomach 15 minutes before a meal (yes, I am worried about how I will smell -_-'). I had to take it with two spoonfuls of honey because it is very strong. Garlic is also good for the flu and many other things! Though it did give me a bit of an upset tummy! I am going to try eating it the way it's suggested on this website. Sorry to have to talk about parasitic infections here, I know it's totally gross, but it's very real and incredibly common and is affecting my health! Definitely won't leave that stone unturned!

Insomnia or Waking Up Too Early

Yesterday was day 5 of my new workout routine, which made me really happy. I was also rather fearful as well, because my health has been very good. Yet this is such an unpredictable disease and it could turn at any moment, so I've been wondering, since last night, if my health will continue to remain in a good condition, or if it may suddenly all go to pieces. Of course, I have been keeping up my daily health practices, but yet the worry still remains. 

A few days ago, I began taking the Nattokinase that I finally ordered. I'm not sure I feel any different from taking it, and I also feel that a few other factors might be masking the effects that I could be feeling. I have a really bad cold with a pretty deep cough right now, that I have been remedying with a tea made of lemons, onions, and honey, but I also have to use my inhaler because of my asthma. The cough that I have gets deeper and more painful if I don't use my inhaler, and I think I could have prevented it from getting so bad if I had used it a bit more consistently, and sooner, while the cold was developing. One of the side effects of the inhaler is that it increases my heart rate (I guess that means it raises my blood pressure?). Because of that, I've been having trouble sleeping for the past few nights and have been waking up around 4am, and I don't know if it's because of the Nattokinase or because of the inhaler (I use Ventolin).

Workin' It Out!

I must say, I am incredibly proud of myself today! I feel absolutely terrible, I have a cold/flu type thing going on, but not only did I make it to work and saw most of my students (was late to my first class so the first batch got a free period!), I also did my 10 minute workout today! I figured that if I am already feeling terrible, I might as well work out anyways because it could help me feel a bit better. In any case, I have spent years dreaming of being fit and not breathing heavily when I go up the stairs, and am still at point A because I've never had the stamina to see me through to point B. If I don't take now, the beautiful present moment, as my time to seize upon and take advantage of, then I know I never will. It really is now or never! Very happy to have noted down on my health chart that I got in my 10 minute workout today :D

In other news, I received my shipment of health supplements from Amazon.co.uk (thank you Amazon for your loyal and quick service!), so today is my first day on Nattokinase! We will see how it makes me feel as I progress with it, and whether or not I notice a difference. From my chart, I can see that I am on quite a few supplements, but it is better than not having taken any steps and constantly being afraid of my next hospitalization! Also, a word about supplements, if you can get something naturally from food, go for that as your source! The more natural it is in form, the more beneficial it is to your body. The natural form, such as fruits for instance, which have natural sugars, also have fiber in them. When fruits are eaten, instead of imbibed as a juice, the sugars are more slowly absorbed, because the fiber from the fruit is there to help slow down the sugar absorption. That's one tiny little example, but I hope you get my point. The more natural it is, the better it is for your body, because it also comes with the fibers and other nutrients that will benefit your body. I wish you good health, my friends! :)

Other Factors that Affect my Health

Recently, I began eating raw carrots as a method of doing a cleanse, but since they are also high in Thiocyanate, I think I will continue eating them after I'm done with the cleanse. (They also taste yummy!) The cleanse is to help rid my body of parasites, which are quite unaddressed in Western Medicine, and yet can make the body feel off center. There are many different types, and sometimes when I feel things are not right with my body, when I have persistent joint pain for example or my stomach feels different in a gross sort of way, I suspect that the culprit might be parasites in my body from drinking unfiltered water. I'm very sensitive to the type of water I drink and therefore usually only go for filtered. However, when I'm incredibly thirsty and don't have options besides buying an expensive bottle of water, I usually opt to refill my water bottle from the tap. That's what I did last weekend and my body took to feeling weird a few days after. Hence, the cleanse. You can read more about parasites and their symptoms here.

As a woman, another factor that affects my health is my period, which, unfortunately, comes around every month. Back in October and November, when I had my two crises in my back, they both came right after my period. When I realized that was happening, I decided to go back to my diet and see if things improved. Looking back, I also realized that I had the same back pain, but not crisis level, in August before leaving. Looking further back, I realized that in my first few months of high school, I also was having crises in my back, though I can't remember if those were linked to my period or not. Realizing that my body feels a certain type of way (weak!) at a certain point in the month helped me to make my decision to go forward and be healthier. Starting an observation routine, by using a chart or a journal, can help you to figure out what's happening to your body and when, because our bodies do have their own rhythms, and can best help you figure out how to manage your health.

Starting a New Workout Routine

Tonight, I did a workout routine after months of being turned off from working out. I took a health class last spring semester that got me really motivated about working out, and I wanted to begin right away, but alas, I began too fast and too soon. Everything I tried was too difficult, or I just didn't stick with it very well. What I found was that after working out, my ribs would hurt, and I attribute that to having done too fast, too soon. But I now realize the necessity and great importance of starting off slow. A slow start will allow me to work up to a good level of aerobic health, which I especially need because I have asthma and going up a flight of stairs usually kills me! I do think my aerobic health has improved a bit here because I've been doing more walking. However, I want it to continue to improve and to do so faster, and I also want to build up my strength, especially in my legs and arms. Down with weakness! I say yes to strength and health and no to all else! My goal is to keep doing my 10 minute workout, and I started with this video, but mostly kept it on as background noise and moved along at my MUCH slower pace, for a week, after which I will update about how my workout routine is going. I think that after two steady weeks of the same 10 minute workout,I will be ready to increase it to 15 minutes. For now, I am going VERY SLOWLY and at my own pace, because it's better to start off slow than not to start at all! Wish me luck in my workout journey! :)

P.S. It's about 15-20 minutes after my workout and I feel the need to note that I feel great, I feel like there was a boost of serotonin and energy and I am definitely looking forward to my next workout tomorrow! :D

This is My Story

When I was sixteen and learned what my disease truly entails, I became convinced that I would die by the time I was thirty. Up until that point, I hadn't really understood what it was, though the doctor had once given my sister and I a booklet explaining the disease, and what causes the pain. I began doing research about it as a result of having persistent wrist pain while playing the clarinet. My music teacher took it upon himself to call my parents and tell them about the pain I was experiencing because he wanted me to be well. I was taught to be independent, and didn't want my parents more involved with anything than they had to be, so him calling my parents was a big thing for me. He got in touch with my mom, and told her about my wrist pain, and she revealed my big, shameful secret. I had Sickle Cell Anemia, and that's what was causing all my problems.

Dealing with SCA all my life and being excluded from my gym classes as a decision by my mom had made me feel like an outcast. A guilty outcast who was different and had something to be ashamed of because I had a disease that I didn't understand that kept me from participating, and sometimes made me have pain. (I was also lactose intolerant which sometimes made me sick, but I didn't figure that out till I was fourteen. It was a difficult journey.) Because of that shame and guilt, I always felt that I had to hide it, so having my mother tell one of my favorite teachers my secret was a HUGE deal for me. Suddenly, he knew that something was wrong with me, and he as well as my mom and doctor were now advising me to take my Folic Acid regularly. At the time, I wouldn't, because when I would remember to take it was always at night, and whenever I take vitamins at night I have trouble sleeping. I always preferred having a night's sleep to taking the vitamin. 

My mom was convinced that if I just took my Folic Acid, I would be fine, and that's what she told my music teacher. I wasn't so convinced, and with the research that I began doing online, finding out what my disease really entailed made me pretty depressed. I remember sitting in my purple bathrobe one night, holding my clarinet after a practice session and a bout with wrist pain, and I'm pretty sure I burst into tears that I was going to die young because of my disease. With the ideas I had in my head by that time, all I wanted was to be married in my early twenties so that I could give my best years to my husband and my kids. I also developed a pretty morbid sense of mortality that I didn't stop talking about until my guidance counselor died of meningitis when she was twenty-eight.

Throughout the years, my sense of guilt about my disease did not diminish. As I got older and my symptoms grew worse, and I had to rely on my parents and sister(s) to take care of me when I was sick, it grew. Though my father almost died from it when he was in his twenties, he and my mother seemed to believe that I would be doing better if I only went to church more and had greater faith. Some of the things they would say did nothing to boost my morale, so I was really grateful to have my sister(s), who did take care of me without judgment and understood me. 

I must say that when I started taking my Folic Acid regularly, I did start to feel a bit better. But high school and college were incredibly demanding in their schedules, college less so than high school, and with their work loads, and with my small understanding of my disease and lack of information about healthy, natural alternatives, I know I abused painkillers by taking too many at once, and I may have done lasting damage to my body. I'm sharing my story because I don't want this to be yours or your child's. 

SCA can be devastating with the way Western medicine treats it. It doesn't offer up much besides heavy painkillers, and medicines with terrible side effects. I am sharing my story so that more people will know what they can do for themselves to get to a healthier place. It may be expensive to order extra supplements to take daily, it may be expensive to buy more vegetables to eat, but it is a lot more expensive to pay those hospital bills and to have to miss days or even months of school or work and to deal with all the pain. I am not in a picture perfect state of health, but I am in a much better place than I was in November, when all I wanted to do was kill myself, or over the summer, when the suicidal thoughts began crossing my mind in earnest. Please share this blog, please share my story, because it can get better. This is my story and it is real, and there are so many more out there who are doing better on natural alternative. Sickle Cell - Natural Healings is just one example. Maybe one day Western medicine will invent a cure that doesn't endanger patients lives as they go through it. For now, this is what I have to offer. I hope this helps.

The Mighty, Mighty Egg

Yesterday and today I was feeling weakness in my bones, and I haven't eaten eggs in about a week. Given those two facts, I made a correlation and think that maybe the weakness in my legs is due to the fact that I haven't been eating eggs, which are packed with natural nutrients that are great for the body. Two things that eggs have that are wonderful are naturally occurring Vitamin D and B12, and Vitamin D is important in helping the body use Calcium to build healthy bones. I take a 5,000 i.u. Vitamin D3 supplement every other day (as recommended on the bottle), but it is important to get any type of vitamin or mineral in its most natural form rather than as a supplement. There is more information about the benefits of the mighty, mighty egg here. From now on I will go back to eating eggs daily as part of my nutritious breakfast. I've always found that they are a great way to start the day, but was worried that I wasn't getting enough thiocyanate in my diet and was replacing eggs with thiocyanate heavy foods for breakfast. But given that eggs are full of so many nutrients, I think it will be safe to keep eating them and reaping their many benefits. I will just make sure I get my thiocyanate at other times during the day. 

(Thiocyanate) Rich Foods To Eat Daily or Multiple Times Per Week

Today, again, I was feeling down because I was feeling under the weather, and so, even though I bought prepared lentils and white kidney beans to eat for dinner and also planned on eating spinach, all I really wanted was chips (comfort food). I didn't even want all natural chips, I wanted the French imitation of Pringles. The ingredients listed on the package aren't too promising. In a previous post, I mentioned meal planning so that I would have preventive actions instead of just writing food down after I eat it. That fell through because it is difficult to stick to exactly, especially when I spend a good part of the working day away from home. At least, for me I've found it difficult to add to all the extra things I have to keep track of. So what I just thought of, about 20 minutes ago, is to write down a list of Thiocyanate rich foods that I enjoy eating and that I should eat multiple times per week or daily. Here goes!

(Thiocyanate) Rich Foods To Eat Daily or Multiple Times Per Week
Bananas (daily - great source of potassium as well!)
Carrots (daily)
*Oranges (multiple times per week)
*Pears (multiple times per week)
*Apple/*Pear or *Apple/Peach Sauce (multiple times per week)
Lentils (multiple times per week)
Spinach (multiple times per week)
*Beets (multiple times per week)
Plantains (multiple times per week)
Brussel Sprouts (multiple times per week)
*Mixed Veggies (multiple times per week)

**Starred foods are not rich in thiocyanate but are packed with other vitamins!

These are the things I eat on a regular basis, but I don't think I eat enough meat. I'm actually having trouble trying to eat a well balanced diet. Oh life! Why you gotta be so difficult! Sigh. Suggestions for balancing things anyone? My bones are feeling weak today which is what has me feeling down. I guess that means I haven't been getting enough Calcium. 

I must note, one of the things that has put a dent in my plantain eating flow is the fact that the store I usually go to to buy them has been closed for the past week. Talk about super inconvenience! On another note, Blogging JJ conveniently reminded me to look into using Nattokinase, and I am looking into it to see what units I should order. I will be doing a bulk order of Nattokinase, Serrapeptase, and Liquid Chlorophyll shortly to make sure that I have enough supplies to last me for a while. I have a lot of Serrapeptase left, but my Liquid Chlorophyll has been running low. Blogging JJ referred me back to Sickle Cell - Natural Healings as a reference for the Nattokinase, and I began reading her blog from the beginning to get the most out of it. It's quite informative, and I highly suggest reading it for anyone who is looking for natural ways to deal with this.

Moving On, Getting Healthier

Last night, I was feeling pretty down. I mentioned before that I have a skewed relationship with pain from having to deal with so much of it for so long, and I posted about my troubles in the Sickle Cell Warrior Group. People got back with their comments, and there are others who feel the way that I do, who are just tired of the pain. Thankfully I am feeling better today, and someone also posted a link about Discovite, which I am looking into and will also spread the word about. She said that she has been taking it and her health has been great. These natural alternatives are so much better than the harsh medicines with heavy side effects that the doctors prescribe to us. I think I mentioned before that my body has been feeling tense due to the winter cold, and I remembered that back in the Spring of last year, when I was taking a health class, I began a stretching routine that relieved some muscle pain in my legs that had been recurring for several years. Since I started that stretching routine, though I haven't continued with it, I have not had that pain get so bad that it made me have to stay home in bed. I have had muscle inflammation in that place, but because of the stretching, it never got back to the point where I couldn't walk, which was what it did before. Remembering that made me decide to go back to a stretch routine, and my body has been feeling a bit better though it is only my second day back to stretching. Simple yoga exercises, since the stretching exercises that I do are very close to yoga positions, seem like a good and easy way for me to build up my strength, which is something I really want to do. Back in the Spring when I was in my health class, I tried  to start a workout routine, but the things I was doing were too fast, too difficult, and too soon, so I will work on building my strength slowly but surely. One easy thing that I can do is to hold my leg stretch positions for longer because they don't overstretch my muscles, but will allow my legs and arms to become stronger. One thing that I really took away from my health class was something my professor said, which was that our genetics determine a small part about our body's health, but what we do for ourselves, our lifestyles, plays a greater part than genetics. With that in mind, I am encouraged to keep on the path I am on, and to go farther and keep getting better.

Getting Back Up

I must admit, I was feeling pretty down last night because my body was feeling sore/achey and I needed to take Ibuprofen and Doliprane, which is a French version of Acetaminophen. I had a long day babysitting, and though it's not difficult work, it's a bit tiring, especially having to pick up the baby now and then, which has been making my arms sore. Add to that the fact that my body has just been feeling a bit down in general, I mentioned in earlier posts that I felt tired and it's a feeling that hasn't gone away for weeks. I attributed it to overdoing it at first, too much going out and not enough resting, and then I got back to working after the holidays ended, and my schedule was full. The best way to describe how my health feels is to say that it feels as though I fell a while back and haven't been able to get up since. 

Last night, I rested when I got home and had some Speculoos cookies since I needed comfort food to help me feel better. Reflected on what I've been doing and what I could be doing better, and felt a bit down. Took my painkillers, drank my Liquid Chlorophyll, as well as increased my doses of Serrapeptase, I think I took about 480,000 i.u. last night, and what I like about it is that there are no negative side effects, the only thing I stand to do is gain from taking it. The Serrapeptase reduces inflammation, which is why I took the doses I did, as well as taking my Ibuprofen. Read a bit on the Sickle Cell Warriors page and briefly wondered if I should post about my feeling down because I wasn't feeling well even though I am on a better diet and take my Liquid Chlorophyll and Serrapeptase, and decided against it since I haven't had actual personal interactions with anyone on the page. Talked to some special people, which picked up my spirits a bit. Then I slept and did feel better when I woke up, though not back to 100%. But it has been some time since I have been feeling 100%. 

I'd say that today I'm feeling about 85-90% well. There is still inflammation in my ribs and in the muscles in my upper right thigh, so I'm hoping that inflammation will go down tonight. I don't have a heavy schedule tomorrow, so I'm hoping that will allow my body the time it needs to continue healing. After last night, I also decided that my diet must change some more. I usually eat eggs for breakfast because they are great for energy, are packed with nutrients, and I find that they are a great way to start the day. But after reflecting last night on how I could get more Thiocyanate into my diet, since it is usually my dinner that is based around it, I decided that breakfast from now on will center around beets and lentils, or some other Thiocyanate containing foods, possibly lima beans.