01.17.11
Health Push
As part of starting the new year, I have a confession to make. I can be pretty stubborn and as a result can lead to me learning some lessons the hard way. The good side is that once I’m convinced I’m wrong, I will admit my error.
Those who know me know that I’ve had serious health challenges in my life. I tried to read up on various healing modalities then incorporated the ones that made sense to me. Then I tossed out the ones I tried that didn’t seem to work. One of those things were bottled supplements.
To make a long story short, I managed to run myself down after my dad passed away last July. I have been struggling ever since to regain my health (thank God my blood counts didn’t seem to take a hit, but my skin and energy level did as well as several other things that cropped up). I did some research to try to figure out what the heck was happening to me, and found to my dismay that I was seriously nutrient deficient. I have since started supplementing with vitamins and minerals and am happy to say that I am finally really starting to feel and see that I’m getting the upper hand again. Whew. What a ride! As a little peek at what supplements I’ve been taking. . . B complex, biotin, vit e, molybdenum, vanadium, multi-mineral supp, D3, and magnesium oil/flakes. I’ve also pulled out the juicer again and have been juicing about 2x a day with Romaine lettuce, cucumber, dandelion greens, cilantro, celery, and an occasional carrot. I toss in some flax seeds and probiotics to the juice. I’m starting to feel like my old self. What a relief!
So what got me so deficient? Well, in retrospect, I think I was always still deficient although I had a least managed to get my blood counts back up. I still had skin issues and started battling things like UTI’s and eye infections. As a result, I did a big no-no. I abused goldenseal, which in addition to my already existing health problems and the stress of losing my dad sent me on a downward spiral to obvious clinical nutritional deficiencies. I didn’t mean to abuse goldenseal, but things kept cropping up where the goldenseal seemed to just work magic. But I have since found that prolonged use of goldenseal can have similar effects of using prolonged conventional antibiotics. I found that it could interfere with the body’s ability to utilize vit B’s. Deficiency in vit B’s in turn is a recipe for deficiencies in all other vits and minerals. It was a very hard and painful lesson, but I hope I’ve learned it good and won’t have any repeats!
So bottom line? Quality bottled supplements can improve one’s health, and may even be necessary for some people like me. Don’t abuse goldenseal! There’s a reason why they recommend only using it for two weeks at a time. And if you do have to take it for any reason, take a probiotic as well. B vits are crucial. I know that now. And magnesium oil can really do seemingly miraculous things just like the literature claims. I still have a ways to go to be in tip top shape, but I’m much better now. So much so that I’ve gone ahead and booked for our yearly Philippine trip. Almost thought I was going to miss it this year.
Hope this means that I’m starting this new year off right this time!
Marlakins
