Advil subsitute

Submitted by Old Fashioned Life on October 26, 2018 - 8:17am
Body: 

Not sure if this is the Forum Topic that this should be in but I figured it was a good guess as I'm looking for a natural food/tea to use instead of Advil.

A few days ago I was climbing over a wood pile so I could get to the side where we were stacking it. The wood shifted and I kept myself from falling but in the process I heard my shoulder making a few snapping/cracking sounds similar to when you have a joint making a cracking or snapping sound. I figured as long as I was over the wood I might as well get it stacked so I spent the next 2 1/2 hours getting it all stacked. After the wood was stacked I went inside and my shoulder was hurting a lot - probably overdid it as the day before I stacked for about 1 1/4 hours. I took Advil and got my shoulder warmed up. I injured this shoulder about 20 years ago in an automobile accident and have had aches and pains in it when the weather changes or it gets cold for years now so I am used to dealing with those pains and the pains I have now are similar but also have some pains if I move my shoulder in certain ways - they are getting better daily - I know that in time the pain will be back to my normal but I have been taking Advil to deal with the pain.

Daily I have been taking Advil a few times throughout the day so I can get things accomplished. The shoulder hurts when I do simple things like wiping down the table/island or putting wood in the stove. I have full range of motion of the shoulder but it hurts doing certain movements. It is getting less painful; I would like to stop taking Advil but also don't want to have the pain when doing these things that need done.

I have been trying to get away from taking any form of medicine. I would like to find a natural food or tea that I could eat or drink that would help with this kind of pain. Advil works good for it but I really don't want to take it on a regular basis. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Forum:

Christine

October 26, 2018 - 10:58am

Hi OFL,

We have very poor analgesic medication in this country (I imagine it is the same elsewhere in the world of Big Pharma), which of course is by design.

Ibuprofen is a COX2 inhibitor, which means it shunts inflammation to the other (lipoxygenase, or LOX) side of the body’s 2-prong inflammatory cascade. The medical literature clearly states that severe gastrointestinal, renal, cardiovascular, liver, and central nervous system effects can result from long term use. How much and how long, I do not know. Older people are most susceptible.

I keep a large jar of white willow bark, from which I make a strong tea for headache or musculoskeletal pain. It works very well.

We also have access to a more wicked herb called Larrea tridentata, which grows throughout the SW US and northern Mexico. It is both a COX2 and 5-LOX inhibitor, so has powerful anti-inflammatory effects. The extremely bitter tea can hardly be choked down, which prevents overdose. The active ingredient is very liver toxic when divorced from the parent plant, so the pharmaceutical companies have not been successful in patenting a drug from it. The natural herb has long been revered and respected by native people.

The topical ointment Traumeel is wonderful for musculoskeletal pain.

There is another common herb that grows widely in the US called wild lettuce, which I’ve used for pain with moderate results.

Perhaps others have ideas as well.

Christine

Typicalme

October 29, 2018 - 11:28am

I'm no expert but I thought I'd just add in an idea - goose fat. Not sure how that came about but people in my family's village would use goose fat as a salve, especially wrapped and heated, for pain (and also on the chest/throat for coughs, flu, etc).

i googled it just now to see if anyone's heard of it (or if i was just crazy lol) and it does come up as an option for arthritis pain....
Not sure if it would work but could be worth a shot to avoid taking pain medicine....

now that I think of it i should try it for my toe.... I'm having a burning pain in the first joint of my toe. That toe joint also pops very often, pretty much any time i bend it. recently it's been painful and burning- but only when I bend it.
Everything online talks about the bunion joint but this is the very first toe-knuckle (if you will). I might have to go and try to find some goose fat myself :)

Old Fashioned Life

November 18, 2018 - 12:50pm

Thank you Christine - I will look for those things online to purchase to try.

Old Fashioned Life

November 18, 2018 - 12:51pm

That is very interesting Typicalme. Thank you.