JOINT INFLAMMATION is a very painful, with multiple sets of conditions (100), progressively leading to joint damage, deformity and loss of mobility. Swelling of extremity joints is the hallmark of the syndrome. Chronic pain, disability and death are unfortunate results.

Joint inflammation problems include:

• pain
• stiffness
• damage to joint cartilage (the tough, smooth tissue that covers the ends of the bones, enabling them to glide against one another) and surrounding structures.

Below you will find discusson on how Chinese medicine, pain herbs and food therapy are employed to bring these conditions back to balance.

  

UNDERSTANDING JOINT INFLAMMATION?

JOINT DYSFUNCTION doesn’t take place suddenly and once grasped, can be transformed faster than you can appreciate. According to Chinese medicine, the primary problem underlying arthritis is obstruction with painful results. With varying degrees, there is an exhaustion of both the Liver and Kidneys and insufficiency of the physical energy (qi). The blood has become blocked by external cold or hot-damp or drying imbalancing influences. The condition includes:

• cold or hot and painful joints
• difficulty in flexing and extending the joints
• aversion to cold or hot with attraction to the opposite condition
• In some cases the limbs and joints will be aching, numb, painful
• overall physical body feels heavy.
• tongue is a light pink or dark red

   

There are graduating arthritic conditions where the site of pain and deformity is more intense, with heat or cold predominating, however, the primary appraoch is to get the obstruction to move. This is done by changing the internal environment by opposing the wind-cold/hot-damp/dry and altering any external conditions contributing to the obstructions. Additional attention needs to be given to the general emotional state that may indirectly support the blockage.

 

HOW DO WE GET BETTER?

JOINT INFLAMMATION: FOOD THERAPY  & CHINESE MEDICINE

“We are what we eat.” The majority of us would concur that a good number of imbalances are caused by what we swallow. We unkowingly create imbalances by not being aware of how critical this area is, especially in the latter years.If we select foods and supplements which break down our homeostasis then it would benefit us to become very attentive to our constitution and foods which improve equilibrium. Below, you can begin to choose foods that deliver balance for this obstructive condition: 

Foods That Benefit & Foods To Avoid

Foods to Counter Joint Pain: Asparagus, Cabbage (poultice & ingestion), Celery, Cod, Cherry, Chives, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Ginger, Goats milk, Grape, Kelp, Oranges, Papaya, Pineapple (Bromelain), Pumpkin Seeds, Royal Jelly, Scallions, Sesame oll, Spelt, Spirulina, Soy products, Strawberry, Sprouts (mung, red clover, radish, mustard, lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds), Tumeric, Water melon, Barley products, Wheat grass products, Alfalfa products (tablets, tea), Chlorophyll foods, Almonds (5-6 dy.),

Foods to Avoid: Excess meat (some fish is best), Excess protein, Intoxicants (alcohol, coffee, tobacco, marijuana, etc.), refined sugar and other sweets, Oxalic acid foods (rhubarb, cranberry, plum, chard, beet greens, spinach), Solanine foods (Nightshade family veggies: tomato, eggplant, bell pepper, potato, if sensitive), Dairy (cow’s milk & bi-products), Nuts, Nut butters, oil-rich seeds,

HERB FORMULAS FOR PAIN   Formulas are created and rendered, taking into consideration, a person’s constitution, environment, life energy (qi), lifestyle and emotional status to name a few concerns. Chinese medicine focuses on bringing all these areas into balance. The principal focal point requires a compound that purposely targets the site of pain, remedies the fundamental disequilibrium of the body without generating additional side effects.

JOINT INFLAMMATION is a very painful, with multiple sets of conditions (100), progressively leading to joint damage, deformity and loss of mobility. inflammation and engorgement of the arm and leg joints is characteristic of the disorder. Chronic pain, disability and death are unfortunate results.

Joint inflammation problems include:

• pain
• stiffness
• damage to joint cartilage (the tough, smooth tissue that covers the ends of the bones, enabling them to glide against one another) and surrounding structures.

Below you will find discusson on how Chinese herbs for pain and food therapy are employed to bring these conditions back to balance.

  

UNDERSTANDING JOINT INFLAMMATION?

JOINT DYSFUNCTION doesn’t take place suddenly and once grasped, can be transformed faster than you can appreciate. According to Chinese medicine, the primary problem underlying arthritis is obstruction with painful results. With varying degrees, there is an exhaustion of both the Liver and Kidneys and insufficiency of the physical energy (qi). The blood develops obstruction due to cold weather or internal damp-heat or drying imbalanced characteristics. The condition includes:

• cold or hot and painful joints
• difficulty in flexing and extending the joints
• aversion to cold or hot with attraction to the opposite condition
• In some cases the limbs and joints will be aching, numb, painful
• overall physical body feels heavy.
• tongue is a light pink or dark red

   

There are graduating arthritic conditions where the site of pain and deformity is more intense, with heat or cold predominating, however, the primary appraoch is to get the obstruction to move. This is done by changing the internal environment by opposing the wind-cold/hot-damp/dry and altering any external conditions contributing to the obstructions. Further consideration needs to be focused on the general emotional state that may ultimately support the obstruction.

 

HOW DO WE GET BETTER?

JOINT INFLAMMATION: FOOD THERAPY  & CHINESE HERBAL HERBS

“We are what we eat.” Most of us would agree that most conditions of imbalance are determined by what we put in our mouth. We unintentionally produce imbalances by not being conscious of how important this concern is, particularly in the mid to elderly years.If we select foods and supplements which break down our homeostasis then it would benefit us to become very attentive to our constitution and foods which improve equilibrium. Below, you can begin to choose foods that deliver balance for this obstructive condition: 

Foods That Benefit & Foods To Avoid

Foods to Counter Joint Pain: Asparagus, Cabbage (poultice & ingestion), Celery, Cod, Cherry, Chives, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Ginger, Goats milk, Grape, Kelp, Oranges, Papaya, Pineapple (Bromelain), Pumpkin Seeds, Royal Jelly, Scallions, Sesame oll, Spelt, Spirulina, Soy products, Strawberry, Sprouts (mung, red clover, radish, mustard, lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds), Tumeric, Water melon, Barley products, Wheat grass products, Alfalfa products (tablets, tea), Chlorophyll foods, Almonds (5-6 dy.),

Foods to Avoid: Excess meat (some fish is best), Excess protein, Intoxicants (alcohol, coffee, tobacco, marijuana, etc.), refined sugar and other sweets, Oxalic acid foods (rhubarb, cranberry, plum, chard, beet greens, spinach), Solanine foods (Nightshade family veggies: tomato, eggplant, bell pepper, potato, if sensitive), Dairy (cow’s milk & bi-products), Nuts, Nut butters, oil-rich seeds,

HERB FORMULAS FOR PAIN   Formulas are created and rendered, taking into consideration, a person’s constitution, environment, life energy (qi), lifestyle and emotional status to name a few concerns. Chinese Herbs and medicine focuses on bringing all these areas into balance. The principal focal point requires a compound that purposely targets the site of pain, remedies the fundamental disequilibrium of the body without generating additional side effects.

The viewpoint that the explanation for all the menopause symptoms is due to an instability of hormones is a superficial understanding and requires a deeper insight.

Traditional Chinese Medicine viewpoint: Menopause is considered a weakened condition of the liver and qi (life force). Once the blood and energy quality is weak and obstructed then all of the organs are not able to execute their duty. This condition causes the liver to overheat which rises through the body, wreaking havoc in its path. The heart, lungs, digestion, glands, throat, mouth & teeth, nose, eyes, ears, brain, skin and hair become heated and dried resulting in the body heat ailments. In addition, the liver does not filter the blood where it becomes sluggish and clotted.

Because the body is deficient of life-giving body energy, quality filtered blood and diet, therefore the glands do not perform normally. Their secretions may well be sporadic or non-releasing altogether. When the blood is filtered, normally, enriched subsequently all the body’s organs get stronger. Progressively, the energy comes back and they are able to function normally. The glandular functions, emit once again, assisting the body in its healthy function.

The physical body isn’t missing chemical hormones. The blood is clogged like sludge. Glands are not receiving/transmitting life-giving messages, timely and/or minimally!

So therefore why do we add or provide more hormones. Doesn’t that risk an overload of hormones? Remembering back when you were younger and your kidneys were in high gear. You won’t want to chance of experiencing that again. You have adequate hormones. If you nourish your blood, keep fit, sleep, deal with stress, etc. Our hormones revive back and reenforces increased balance.

So if Chinese medicine knows the problem, then what is their solution to this weakened conditioneath

What Restores Usual Hormone Function? Traditional Chinese medicine has understood the core problem and remedies for over a thousand years! Traditional Chinese Medicine has 20+ formulas for menopause. But which one is the best? To determine this requires a seasoned Master herbalist. While nearly all women fall into 6 main constitution types: 1) cold 2) damp 3) deficient 4) hot 5) dry and 6) excess 

On the whole menopausal women benefit 95% of the time from Chinese herbs contained in Menopause Comfort. The exception occurs during the summertime. Particular women, who are more hot than the usual population, require a colder menopause herbs, Paramalin, to offset the surplus inner heat produced in the liver.

You can look at the top 10 menopause Chinese herbs, the most effective  menopause formula, listed in more depth, at Longevity Mountain.

Though this sounds redundant, the phrase is an attempt to capture the essence of what herb medicine is all about – pure organic plants without contamination and re-structuring. With all the genetic manipulation by corporate food giants, no current pure botanic material exists, anymore. But, as much as possible, it is to everyone’s benefit that we protect our interests before we reap the unknown consequences of changing the genetic structure of what we put in our bodies. Before it’s too late, we must commit to this quest. Unadulterated herbs and herbal formula extracts do still exist in protected environments. Agricultural scientists are ascertaining the world over that hybrid contamination is on the increase. Scientist have determined that all, so called, 100% organic farms in the U.S. have at least 2%+ contamination from mutant products thus affecting the original impact of herb medicine. It is extremely important to source traditional herbs and traditional Chinese herbs from protected pollinated farms, free from genetically modified organism (GMO) seed.

Currently, experiments in India and Japan are being conducted with the emphasis on increasing the medicinal properties of the herbs. The key to herb medicine potency is in wide dispute. The GMO camp believes you can improve specific alkaloids in the overall herb composite. The anti-GMO herb camp holds that when you change the property ratio then you, in effect, change the medicinal value which stems from the original structure. The argument that a specific alkaloid is responsible for the medicinal impact versus the whole or synergistic effect of the herb is an ongoing disagreement that needs to be watched carefully.       

Besides the changes to the original plant structure, GM herbs are philosophically opposed to the premises of natural, alternative medicine. These ethical concerns deserve respect and careful consideration before admitting these foods into the gene pool. Input from the herb medicine & research community needs to be acquired before making these changes. Decisions by big corporate business are absent, by nature, conscience in this regard. Though many execs may intend well, it would be to their benefit to attract unbiased feedback as to whether to choose GM procedures in their development. What are the consequences versus the profit?

Most Master Herbalists, specializing in Chinese Medicine, focus on food as a therapy. Here are some points to consider about the food nutrient (incl. herbal herbs) industry:

• In the U.S. alone, between 1997 and 1999, gene-modified (GM) ingredients suddenly appeared in 2/3rds of all processed foods.”
• Be sure to choose organic soy milk. Most soybeans in America are genetically modified. Unrefined (organic) soybeans are not genetically modified.
• If the supporters of GMO are so clever then why do we still have nutrient deficiency in our food products?
• That carrot has about 57% less magnesium and 16% less calcium in it than the ones our parents ate, a banana 87% less folic acid, and spinach 59% less vitamin C!
• Whereas there is an increase in vitamin and mineral supplement sales to cover the our food nutrient deficiency, more city/county public works departments are transporting by the multiple truck loads, the remaining tablets to sanitation dumps. The only real working source of nutrition comes from food that our body absorbs or supplements based on whole food sources.

Genetically modified foods can have decidedly unhealthy effects. One solid conclusion found that:

1. More than half of the offspring of rats fed on transgenically modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight.
2. Mothers who include GM foods in their diet during pregnancy may unwittingly endanger their unborn babies. A statement by the corporate GM giant, Monsanto, exposed that rats fed a diet containing GM corn had reduced sized kidneys and increased blood cell counts compared to those that ingested a natural strain, signifying likely damage to their immunity systems.

 

The nutrient value of food has fallen drastically while the price is skyrocketing:

Minerals & Vitamins in mg/100g		1985	1996	Reduced value expressed in %
Broccoli	Calcium Folic acid Magnesium	103 47 26	33 23 22	- 68 % - 51 % - 15 %
Beans	Calcium Folic acid Magnesium Vitamin B6	56 39 26 140	34 34 22 55	- 39 % - 13 % - 15 % - 61 %
Potatoes	Calcium Magnesium	14 27	4 18	- 71 % - 33 %
Carrots	Calcium Magnesium	37 21	31 9	- 16 % - 57 %
Spinach	Calcium Vitamin C	62 51	19 21	- 69 % - 59 %
Apples	Vitamin C	5	1	- 80 %
Bananas	Calcium Folic acid Magnesium VitaminB6 Potassium	8 23 31 330 420	7 3 27 27 327	- 13 % - 87 % - 13 % - 92 % - 22%
Strawberries	Calcium Vitamin C	21 60	18 13	- 14 % - 78 %

        Source: 1996 Geigy Pharmaceuticals, Foodstuffs laboratory, Karlsruhe / Obertal Sanatorium.

Boosting our immune systems, metabolic and vascular efficiency with suitable mineral and vitamin supplements compensates for some of these effects, acts preventatively, and assists us in countering deficiencies. However have you ever seen how wasted our elderly become when sustained on ENSURE in a nursing facility? The ignorance can only be rationalized and accepted for how long?   Reliance on healthy, nutrient rich foods and herbs are the essential foundation for sustaining life.

The bottom-line is this. Greed has, unconsciously and consciously, crept into the way we develop our food supply. At any time the food supply is administered in an remote manner there is increased probability for abuse. Though this development is not everywhere, it is extensive enough now that balance in the industry is fargone. This condition, may be, beyond the ability of mankind to retrieve it unless radical changes are implemented.  

Mark Hammer, C.M.H., Master Herbalist, Longevity Mountain

1. India working on GM herbs, says Greenpeace, Joe C Mathew / Business Standard New Delhi (November 05, 2008)
2. “50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods” By Nathan Batalion

Herbal Formulas have been the chief agents of Chinese Medicine for over 4000 years. In its primary theory, the human and the natural world are considered an inseparable whole. Knowing how to work with Yin Yang, Meridians or channels, differentiation, etc., are considered essential to sustain the balance of the whole body. A Chinese herb master aids the body to unclear the channel of energy hence enhancing natural healing. The stasis, excess or deficiency of energy will finally make the body vulnerable to “evils” or external invasions. For example: Evil heat is very similar to infection. The English word of Medicine transferred to China in the late 16th Century, without the knowledge of modern chemistry. The Chinese used the word “Chinese Medicine” and “Chinese Drug” as a way to translate or help the English speaking understand their healing methodology before there was a FDA regulation outlawing the use of Chinese/American medical terminology.

Chinese medicine is still used in most of European countries and recognized as a viable contribution to the health arts and practice. Again, the term was coined to help English and Chinese speaking medical practitioners understand, bridge and assist in the exchange of information. The goal was to never replace one another’s art but to share between methodologies. Accurately, Chinese medicine is not a chemistry form of medicine. Herbs are not drugs but food. In fact, if you were to look for nutritional content in herbs and in pharmaceuticals, observation would indicate the obvious, there are nutrients in herbs while American medicine is absent of nutrition which qualifies it as chemical.  

Two thousand years ago, Dr. Hauto, the most respected doctor of Chinese medical history declared that, ” Herb is food, food is medicine”. At that time, the English term of medicine did not exist yet. Language, on occasion, can become the source of problems. This is especially true when you are still learning a foreign language. The current situation is a challenging paradox for American Chinese herbologists who have to live under the standards of traditional American medical doctors while in the U.S.A. While, in China, both conventional medicine from America and traditional medicine from China are esteemed, equally. In the U.S., its OK or legal for Chinese acupuncturists and herbologists to say, “Chinese Medicine heals the body, but herbs are not medicine”. This is difficult to understand when the Chinese practice of medicine has existed 4000+ years as compared to the 200 year practice of American traditional medicine.

Eventually, the sharing of both remedial regimens would give way to additional trust and communication. By and large, progress in the curative ability will increase from this combined effort and eventually the ailing will reap the reward providing genuineness and the patient’s welfare are appreciated.    

Most of the menopause products are created based on 3 strategiess:

• a single supplement/herb wonder
• a combination of past researched supplements/herbs with an addition of the latest fad herb
• in most cases a newbie manufacturer/distributer copies another company’s product that is selling well

The result is that it is difficult for the consumer to determine what works. So how do you know what works?

Anybody can produce testimonials but long term repeatable, sustainable results are very challenging to produce. The research on the research demonstrates that women are not getting the truthful facts but rather a marketing spin to get you buy their product or one where they share in the proceeds. In most cases, the manufacturer may truely believe they have a formula that will work based on misinformation on a herb’s benefits.

The right herbs for menopause will primarily 1) raise the body’s energy, 2) nourish the blood, 3) cool the body and 4) normalize the body’s thermostat. And indirectly, because the underlying imbalance is corrected, the menopause symptoms will begin to dissapate within 2 hours.  

Most discoveries about herbs have come from Chinese herbal medicine but revealed to the American public in an incomplete manner. The American manufacturers share the info about an herb as a solution for everyone who has a particular symptom. Nevermind, all the body of Chinese medicine and theory that understands that there are different body types or constitutions that may accompany those symptoms. Menopause is a hot body type condition requiring specific emphasis on cooling the liver. 

Chinese herbs which have proven to be effective for hundreds of years on millions of patients. Chinese master herbalists comprehend, on a beginning level, how extensive Chinese medicine is and that through thousands of years of practice, further research is not necessary. Its essential to apply the right formula to the right constitution and symptoms, not just the symptoms. In addition, in order to discern this  relationship between body constitution and herb formulation, it is essential to choose the most knowledgeable practitioner.

A Practicing Master Herbalist Knows More About Herbs Than Any Other Profession?

A seasoned master herbalist (10 years+) who works with herbs every day is the best source for herb medicine. The time element is critical to allow the practitioner to get the kinks out and test his/her knowledge. What is taught in our traditional Chinese herbs and herb medicine schools is only a beginning knowledge and needs to be tested. Optimally, post-graduates should continue to extensive apprenticeship prior to being ready to remedy ailments with patients. Medical doctors rely on their Physician’s Desk Reference for information on herbs which is truely a beginning base source. A one herb or multiple herb formula is not going to work for all. They may work for a quarter of the population or people who have a similar constitution but not everyone. For instance, the Chinese herb, Black Cohosh, has been exposed as unsuitable for menopause. Its used for fevers.Notwithstanding, American supplement makers have discovered a method to take advantage of the half truths provided to everyone and so the tale carries on. Never mind that its short term benefits decay in 2-3 weeks.A proven improvement with other homeostatic herbs would be to ingest bupleurum.

In summary, the best choice of herbs for menopause will take into consideration the woman’s constitution or body type when constructing a formula. Additionally, herbs that have a long established record for hundreds to thousands of years must be perceived with greater preference over herbs with a minimal account. I encourage everyone to seek a seasoned source in herbal medicine.