As you know, this isn't really a typical post of mine, but since I'm no stranger to chronic pain as well as dysmenorrhea, I had to get this out. In fact, I have been seeing so many people ask, "What other alternatives other than Advil or Motrin can I take for pain since now it's much more dangerous as thought?" Let me first explain my situation. I have been suffering since I was 12 years old with menstraul cramps. It got worse as I got older, but since the age of 12, I have been taking 800 mg of Motrin around the clock for one week out of the month. I switched up to Advil after the age of 30 so that I could take less pills, because it felt stronger to me. Long story even longer -- I ended up with stomach bleeding which kept me in the hospital for a few days. I had about three endoscopies, which led to more acid reducers, (mostly H2 blockers) where I had to figure out a way to limit the intake of NSAIDs. They were destroying my stomach. I thought that was the only bad side effect. As it turns out, the news reported that once you pop an ibuprofen, your chances of heart attacks and strokes increases by 50%. That's a lot. It also debilitates the life saving effects of aspirin to help you survive a heart attack. So the real side effect is "fatal heart attacks" -- not survivable ones. Once you take ibuprofen, there is no way for aspirin or other life saving remedies to help you. It blocks off all things that are life saving.
So with that being said, I have found a couple of things. The first thing is more of a home remedy: good old fashioned French's Yellow Mustard. (And no, I am not promoting their company.) You can use any brand, but this is the one that works best for me. The ingredients are turmeric (a natural anti-inflammatory), vinegar and salt. It has no calories and about 50 mg of sodium. And get this -- no side effects. Take 2 heaping teaspoons of yellow mustard and swallow fast. Do not dilute it. In minutes, you will feel your pain dissipate. Athletes have been doing this for years for excruciating leg cramps as well as other types of pain. I tried this myself this past week. I had terrible leg cramps (mostly in my calf) -- enough to keep me up at night. I SO wanted to grab my Advil, but I was too scared. So I tried the mustard thinking
maybe it'll help. I am not exaggerating -- within minutes, the pain disappeared. It worked even faster than ibuprofen.
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| No endoscopies anymore! |
I'm scheduled to have a partial hysterectomy due to my intense pain with dysmenorrhea. It has ruined my quality of life. I was scared to experience my last menstraul cycle because I was not going to be able to take my Advil. Well, strange as this sounds, the yellow mustard made my pain tolerable to non-existent. I can't even tell you how happy I am that this worked well for me. I'm actually thinking about canceling surgery. Why haven't we known about this before? I mean -- I could have saved a ton of money from not buying the OTC meds, like Advil and Prilosec as well as not having so many endoscopy procedures! You don't even know how happy I am that I finally found a solution to my pain. This also works for inflammation with arthritis pain. You know what frustrates me? How much you wanna bet that these pharmaceutical companies knew about this all along? I'm hoping someone out there who doesn't know about the dangerous life-threatening side effects of ibuprofen will Google my article and find this. Anything like, Advil, Naproxen, Aleve, Motrin and even the heavy duty super star of 'em all like, Toradol are to be avoided! If you desperately have to take any medication, let it be Tylenol. But remember, Tylenol wreaks havoc on your liver. You cannot drink any alcohol on it, and if you do, it should be taken after the half life expires (4-6 hours later) and moderate amounts (no more than 2 drinks).
I am not a doctor (and I don't play one on TV), but I am a chronic pain sufferer. I know my meds. I know every single side effect of everything I take because I am a hypochondriac. Don't forget, sometimes pain relievers don't help due to the level of pain you're experiencing. So keep in mind that the mustard may not work all the time. The other thing that I have been learning dealing with pain is 'acceptance'. When you experience pain, stop resisting. Start accepting it. Like that old saying, "Whatever you resist, persists," applies here. In your mind, just tell your pain, "C'mon -- bring it. I can take it." Embrace the pain. Feel the pain. Once you acknowledge the pain, it seems to lessen for whatever reason. The mind is a powerful tool to overcome a lot of things. Since I've been practicing this, it has been a huge help to not only my physical pain, but to how I respond to all things I'm uncomfortable with in life. I'm still a work in progress, but this is what's helping me now.
I was so eager to share this info with you. I have seen so many people ask questions about what alternative painkillers can they take besides ibuprofen. Even before you grab the Tylenol, go into your fridge and grab the mustard instead.
If you tried this and it has helped, I would love to know! Please leave a comment
on this link (which is my Facebook page) and tell me your story.
For more of Deb's articles, please visit: www.debrapasquella.com or join her on Facebook and Twitter. Check out her cooking blog for some of her famous recipes!
