EP. 18: Alternative Medicine
I sent out a topic for all my followers to answer on an upcoming podcast episode: Tell me about a time when alternative medicine helped you and maybe when traditional medicine did not.
I had several responders and two very different stories that surfaced. Interestingly, both of these perspectives are from the male point of view. But their situations happen without regard to gender. Maybe their experiences could help you with whatever you're going through, too!
Listen to this month's Holistic Health Anonymous and at the end of the episode I'll announce next month's question! Would you like to share your experience?
Show Notes
0:00:00
So today's podcast, we have our Holistic Health Anonymous, and we have two fantastic followers and listeners that would love to share their story with you. And this is something that I just want to continue each month. I want to hear from you guys. What is something alternative or holistic that's changed your life? Maybe you're still skeptical, rightfully so, and that's why I'm here. I'm here to give you guys the research behind it.
0:00:32
So I'm gonna go ahead and let my anonymous guests share as much or as little as they would like with what alternative health technique they've used for conditions when traditional medicine wasn't meeting their needs. All right, Jeremy, so again,
0:00:50
thank you so much for coming on the show. I would just like you to share with our listeners what experiences you have with alternative medicine, what you found helpful when possibly traditional medicine hasn't given you the results that you were looking for. So go ahead and share your story with everyone.
0:01:10
I have acid reflux and it's you know when you're having a episode of it it's really bad and when you explain it to your doctor they send you right away to the hospital for for heart testing because it's like everything happens in your chest so then when they you know decide that it's not your heart and they continue on with treating acid reflux and I was taken I took two or three different kinds of prescription meds and I had I was allergic to all the prescribed meds that they gave me anywhere from rashes
0:01:57
to my throat would swell shut on one and so I decided that I would just curb my diet to try to avoid foods that activated it. Everyone that I know that has acid reflux swears by apple cider vinegar that it helps them but most people only take it when they're actually having an episode when I had an episode I never noticed any difference During the episode no matter what I did and I I could not drink Apple cider vinegar because it's just pretty much over over the sink for like 10 minutes after I drink any of it
0:02:43
So I look for a pill form and I found an apple cider vinegar pills with the mother. I take one a day, mainly on the bottle it says it's for dietary, but I'm not taking it for dietary. So I just go with one a day and after about two or three weeks of taking one a day, I noticed that I wasn't having any episodes anymore and so I continued on with it and it's been I don't know two or three years and I was having an episode like once a week before and now I'm down I have it'll be maybe once a year the trigger foods that cause it for me. Awesome. What did you notice were your trigger foods for reflux?
0:03:40
For me, it was tomato-based products like spaghetti sauce and pizza. It wasn't real bad because I don't really eat tomatoes. I don't care for tomatoes in general, but I did. I was very fond of ketchup and had to find something other than ketchup to use. What's the dosage on the supplements that you take? I mainly stick with one from I think it's called BITOL and they're about 1100
0:04:13
milligrams per pill. Yeah I think that's that's amazing and preventatively too. And there's supposed to be other health benefits to apple cider vinegar that I've heard but I don't I didn't research any of that I wasn't concerned about that. Yeah yeah there's fantastic research for its effect on metabolism and the other kind of secret one is for sinus infections. So what I typically recommend you know I I heard you say that drinking apple cider vinegar did not go very well and I
0:04:49
always kind of cringe when a patient says they just drink straight apple cider vinegar because that acidity can affect the esophagus. So there's different cocktails and combinations of doing apple cider vinegar with a little bit of warm water, a little bit of ginger or turmeric, and some raw honey. And that seems to kind of aid in protecting the esophagus but getting those beneficial effects. But the supplements also have great research
0:05:16
behind them as well. Yeah, and it's nice that you brought up the importance of the mother. The apple cider vinegar we use at our house is Bragg's. I mean, that's the most famous one. And it's always good to kind of invert it
0:05:30
and shake it up before you use it. And yeah, I mean, it's one of those remedies. It used to be an old folks tale and kind of poo-pooed upon with traditional medicine because we didn't have the research behind it, but now we're seeing it does really affect metabolism and helps with reflux
0:05:49
and a lot of other conditions. Right. Yeah, and that's great that you are so in tune with your body to understand the side effects of the medications because you're exactly right, they work you up for a heart assessment if that's good then they just
0:06:03
put you on a pill and keep you on that the rest of your life when let's address the root cause which you did diet and supplements. Oh yeah I wanted to add that when when you're having an episode I that there's really nothing that helps stop it but I did discover that because because it's acid that's coming up and I did find out because I was thinking about the acid and I remember when my mom when I was young would make chili she would put sprinkle a little sugar in it to kill some of the acid in the tomato juice so
0:06:41
the one time I had a real bad episode and I I thought you know what, I'm just going to take a tablespoon of sugar, or you know, two teaspoons. And I took that and it literally almost cut it in half, like right off the bat. And I mean, in an emergency when you're having one of those episodes, it really hurts. Pretty much a lifesaver for like the next four hours of your life. When you're in that moment, there's really not much you can do. That's really intuitive that you thought about,
0:07:19
how do I negate this acid, right? A lot of people go for milk, but you're exactly right. With chili, you add a little bit of honey or sugar to change the acidity. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing your experience with alternative medicine. What did you turn to and why when traditional medicine just wasn't meeting your needs?
0:07:48
Okay, well, I have very advanced osteoarthritis in both knees, as you know. And it was getting to a point where I was taking ibuprofen every night to get to sleep. Like, I was in such pain, I had to take that to get to sleep. I had lack of energy. I was taking naps the next day because I wasn't getting a full night's sleep. And it was interrupting my daily activities, like working out and just everything I do.
0:08:15
So what happened was a friend of mine, I saw him posting stuff on Facebook about this X39 patch. And I was actually very desperate at this point because I was actually supposed to go in for a full knee replacement last August, but I thought, hey, I'm going to give my buddy a call and see what this patch is all about called the X39 patch. And I thought, what do I got to lose? So I talked to him and he introduced me to it and set me up with it and I thought, I'm going to give it a shot for 30 days. So I get on what's called this X39 patch,
0:08:51
which is a non-transdermal patch. It's this little white patch right here. It's about the size of a quarter. And I thought, what do I got to lose? And within three, four days, I was sleeping through the night, which amazed me.
0:09:08
And I thought, is this like a placebo? Is this really working? Well, then about three weeks in, the pain in my knees literally, virtually went from like a 10 down to like a two or a three.
0:09:19
And then after like a month, the pain in my knees were gone. Inflammation was gone, had more energy. I just felt a whole lot better and I was able to get back to like normal activity. So I now have been on this patch for, it'll be coming up on a year
0:09:36
and it's been a game changer for me and what it's done for me. So that's basically a short version of what it was, what took place. I was very skeptical at first, but I was looking for something because I was living on ibuprofen at night just to get to sleep because the pain was so bad in my knees. So when I started on the patch, it was a game changer, just changed everything for me.
0:09:56
And then I actually canceled my knee replacement and my orthopedic surgeon when I talked to him about it he said hey whatever you're doing keep doing even if it's a placebo effect he said as long as you keep your own joint the better you're gonna be and so I yeah I haven't had to I'm not even thinking about knee replacement at this point with what it's done for me and it's also you know you were working on that one issue with my neck yeah and my upper that has completely gone away too.
0:10:29
So, to me the patch has been awesome, it's been great. It's called phototherapy, and it's just called the X39 patch. Yeah, and that's awesome. You know, having worked in an orthopedic practice,
0:10:40
if you were to ask, and we've had this conversation before, any of the doctors, if they would have a replacement, none of them would. Nothing is like your own joint. So if you can preserve it and do alternative medicine to help manage the symptoms of inflammation, that's
0:11:02
definitely a game-changer. Yeah, it was, I really did not want to get a knee replacement. It made me very nervous to do so. I'm not sure why because I've had multiple surgeries of different types, but it was just the one thing I was not excited about getting done. Because I mean, I'm fit and healthy for the most part, and I thought I'd go back to normal activity, but there is a slight chance that you know, you may not have as much mobility and things can go, you know, haywire, but I didn't want to get the knee replacement. So when my buddy
0:11:31
introduced me to the patch, I really had nothing to lose at that point. I was actually very desperate because of the pain and I was losing sleep and I don't nap and I was literally napping every single day. And it just really interfered with my daily activities because as you know I'm very active with coaching
0:11:52
and being a personal trainer and other things that I do. So for me it was actually a game changer and I just feel 100% better. Yeah and what I love about that patch because I know you've showed this to me before is it has measurable number one it has research behind it number two it has measurable outcomes so we can check your blood work to notice changes
0:12:18
the science behind it and I'm sure you've looked into this having the It actually affects a copper peptide. Yes. GHK. Yep. And that, of course, can affect, you know, it's anti-anxiety, anti-pain, it repairs DNA,
0:12:37
helps with inflammation. And, of course, kind of up and coming, you know, stem cells and PRPs was the big kid after steroid injections. Now peptide injections are kind of new and this is the transdermal approach of that versus doing a sub-q injection. Yeah. So yeah, there's research behind it and you know even if it is placebo, which we know it's not, it works. You know he, the
0:13:06
guy who invented it, it's FDA approved, he's, it's a patent product and it's really only been the mark on the market for like two or three years, but the company's been around for 20 years. And I tried everything. I've done all the shots, PRP, steroid, you know, everything. And those were just Band-Aids.
0:13:26
And with me in my 60s, it was just, you know, getting worse and worse, being bone on bone. But it has helped other avenues for me. And I was looking for something more holistic. I didn't want to really take any medication. I wanted to get off the ibuprofen because I had kidney cancer at one time, so they don't want me taking that kind of stuff.
0:13:51
Like I said, it's absolutely been a game changer for me, and I'm back to normal activity. My understanding is it activates dormant stem cells, which I'm starting to really believe that's what's going on. I've done the research behind it. That's what I really loved about the product is that, you know, there's a lot of research behind it.
0:14:05
It's FDA approved. And we're seeing some great testimonials from a lot of different people. So it's been great for me. Yeah, and you know, as you said, you're into health, you coach, you train,
0:14:19
you also mountain bike, and you're in your 60s and you're mountain biking. So yeah, no side effects with this patch, and it works, which is the beauty of it. Yeah, no side effects. The thing that was really bothering me is the fact that I was not motivated to go back into the weight room to mountain bike. I was losing my motivation to do all my activities
0:14:39
because my knees were bothering me so much. And that's when I really felt like, okay, I'm a little desperate here. What am I going to do? And it just happened that a buddy of mine, I seen him, his wife has fibromyalgia for 28 years and the patch really helped her huge in a great, you know, in a lot of ways. And then I reached out to him and that's how I got connected with it. And I'm glad I did. I'm glad I, you know, took the chance on it and I, cause I had nothing to lose at that
0:15:07
point. So, um, I won't stop using it. So. It's a great, great option. Yeah. So.
0:15:17
Well, thank you so much for taking the time and sharing your story. Well, I appreciate you having me on. I hope that, you know, I gave you enough information, but again, it's been a game changer for me. And I've gone back to all my activities, mountain biking, lifting, everything. I feel great again. And I've been on for just, not quite a year yet, but coming up on a year. Yeah, I really appreciate you having me on
0:15:40
All right. Yeah, thanks for taking the time Greg. Okay. Have a great day. Have you take care? Yeah, I yeah so for our upcoming holistic health anonymous what I would like to hear from you guys is What have you noticed diet wise or what changes have you noticed that have really impacted your health? So for example a few episodes back I shared about my son having artificial colors
0:16:11
and being just a different kid because of it. So what have you noticed with yourself with joint pain or your spouse with that issues or your kiddos? Have you connected the dots with something? Or are you skeptical and maybe diet's not really impacting health? So give me your thoughts, give me your feedback. If you would like to share and be on the next
0:16:36
Holistic Health Anonymous, we would love to hear from you.
Transcribed with Cockatoo