CASE II: A 53 year old professional woman came in with thumb pain which had been present for around a year but had worsened dramatically over the past few weeks. My diagnostic impression was an acute flare of a chronic tendinitis and we’ve done 5 laser treatments. She says it is 75% improved so far. She had to leave town on business and when she returns we will try to get the other 25% fixed.

CASE III: A 61 year old beautician came in with thumb pain and bilateral ankle and foot pain. Both had been there several months and the onset was gradual. She thought she might have a spur on the ankles. My diagnostic impression was tendinitis of the thumb and quite frankly I don’t know exactly why both ankles hurt. We did 9 laser treatments. I called her just moments prior to writing this and she said she is doing "very well" with the thumb. She says she has occasional weakness of the thumb which she suspects is arthritis but minimal pain. She said the bilateral foot pain is gone and she said she would recommend laser.

An active and lively 77 year old woman became a new patient about six weeks ago. I asked if I could tell her story in our newsletter and she agreed.

Her chief complaints were low back pain across the belt line and bilateral lower neck and upper back pain. She said she had pain daily, some days better than others. She described her pain as achy and stiff, and explained that she had been diagnosed as having severe spinal arthritis. She had been placed on Celebrex about 7 or 8 years prior which she took daily to control her arthritis pain.

Things changed for her when she changed doctors a couple of months ago. Her blood testing had shown kidney damage from the Celebrex use so her new medical doctor took her off all pain medications. Now her back and neck and shoulders were much worse.

I did the standard new patient evaluation including xrays. We began some very gentle hands on procedures intended to reduce the stiffness and pain. She also had ultrasound and interferential therapy with heat. I asked if she was open to an alternative approach to her arthritis and she said she was. I suggested she take 1500 milligrams of glucosamine sulfate a day, a teaspoon of fish oil daily, and a Pure Encapsulations product called Pain Relieve as necessary.

Glucosamine as most of you know has been studied widely and around 60% of those who try it say it helps their arthritis symptoms. It breaks down quickly in the system so it is necessary to take the 1500 mg in a divided dose....in other words take a 500 mg tab morning, noon, then evening.

Fish oil helps people on several levels. It is rich in omega-3 oils and in Vitamin A and D. Omega-3 affects prostaglandins, which is a group of molecules in the body linked to inflammation. Sub optimum levels of Vitamin D have been linked to the percep-ion of joint ache and pain in adult subjects more than one study has shown.

Pain Relieve is a propriatory formula of the nutritional company Pure Encapsulations. It contains willow bark, devil’s claw, vitamin c, boswellia, turmeric, and dl phenylalanine. It is essentially a botanical formulation for pain as the name implies.

(They have a great website: purecaps.com)

The woman was in yesterday for her 7^th office visit and she cannot believe how well she feels. She only has to take the Pain Relieve occasionally if she does some unusual activity such as raking, or if the weather changes. Moreover, she had a follow up appointment with her medical doctor and her kidneys tests were improved and her blood pressure was lower. She said her medical doctors inspected the recommended nutrition and told her to keep doing what she was doing.

I asked her if she had ever tried Aleve or Advil and how the Pain Relieve compared. She said for her it was no comparison...the Pain Relieve was the best.

I asked her if she was a bit miffed that the medical community would wreck her kidneys and not offer a safer alternative and of course she is.

I share this because this might work for you too. But I want all readers to understand that this plan which worked so well for her might not work for you and therein lies the challenge.

Nutritional remedies, botanicals, therapies, and pharmaceuticals are a bit like a basket full of keys. Imagine that I pull a couple dozen of Schlage keys out of the basket and tried to put them into a Weiser lock. The key wouldn’t slip in the key hole at all. Likewise some remedies that work well for some people don’t work at all for other people.

The same Schlage keys when inspected from across the room all look similar. They all slide into a Schlage lock. On close inspection there are slight differences in the bumps and grooves and those small differences mean everything when it comes to turning

the lock. Likewise with all remedies. When we get a great fit for an individual, as in this case, great things can happen.