The Step-by-Step Approach to Pain

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As I wrap up preparations for tomorrow’s Managing Pain Super Bowl Webinar, I wanted to provide you with a little more information—specifically, how I’m going to use a step-by-step approach to deal with pain.

The typical approach used by the medical profession is to try a treatment and if that doesn’t work, try the next step in the recommended treatment plan.

What I’m going to teach you is how to use several modalities or approaches simultaneously to manage your pain. For example, let’s say you have a painful joint. In order to build muscle in that joint, you may begin with using light weights; you may use a dietary supplement to decrease inflammation at the same time. It would also be a good idea to do some fascia stretching to stimulate the breakup of adhesions that contribute to the pain. I could go on, but that’s the idea.

You can still participate in the live webinar if you sign up by Sunday at noon Eastern Time. If you can’t make it, I’ll automatically send you a link for the replay when it’s ready. This is an important webinar because it addresses the one question I get all the time. Join me for an hour Sunday afternoon; it just might make a big difference in your ability to live your life.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Help for Long-Haulers

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Many people suffer from a myriad of symptoms after contracting a COVID infection. Muscle and mental fatigue seem to be common among these “long-haulers”—more technically called post-viral fatigue syndrome. Based on prior research by the investigators, they randomly selected twelve subjects with long-haul COVID symptoms. Half the subjects took four grams of creatine monohydrate for six months; the control subjects took inulin fiber.

Every measure of energy production in muscle and brain demonstrated improvement. Questionnaires on fatigue and muscular pain matched the improvement in energy production in the tissues that were tested. Did increased energy account for the benefit? While the study was small, mostly due to the complexity of the research methods, it appears that’s a reasonable conclusion, although larger studies should be done.

Creatine is just one of the modalities I’m going to cover in this weekend’s Managing Pain webinar. Pain can be the result of several body systems that are not working properly; the objective is to use a step-by-step approach considering many systems to manage pain. Sign-up today for the live webinar Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Food Science & Nutrition. 2023. 11(11):6899-6908

Gas Station Heroin

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I have to admit that I’d never heard the headline’s words strung together like that until I read about the banning of several products that contained an anti-depressant called tianeptine, which is approved in some countries (not the U.S.) as a prescription drug for the treatment of depression. It is a tricyclic antidepressant; in some cases, it has a mood elevator effect. I can’t confirm that it is a high similar to fentanyl as claimed in some articles. While the products have been pitched as dietary supplements, they most definitely are not.

Here are three rules to follow when considering a dietary supplement:

  • Know the active ingredient you’re looking for, whether it’s a vitamin, mineral, herb, or other supplement like glucosamine. If you’re not sure, don’t make an impulsive purchase because a friend recommended it.
  • Check the label for a certification from a legitimate testing company like NSF or the USP, the two most prominent certification companies.
  • Most important, don’t buy dietary supplements from convenience stores or gas stations. What are you thinking? That area around the cash register can be a minefield of promises from energy to libido. Don’t fall for it!

The Managing Pain webinar is a week from tomorrow. Reserve your spot for the live webinar; spaces are limited and going fast. I hope to see you live. I’m ready to teach!

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Managing Pain

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Quick: what’s the location of pain that’s experienced by most adults in the United States, regardless of age?

Pain afflicts everyone at one time or another, but the older we get, research shows that we’re more likely to experience chronic pain. That time you twisted your knee when you played a pick-up game of basketball? When you rolled your ankle playing tennis? That time you were rear-ended in a car? How about when you slipped and fell on the ice? You may have had pain then and recovered, but all of those things could have caused micro-tears in connective tissue and now the bill has become due.

In this webinar, I’m going to cover the most common forms of pain experienced by people of all ages. By the way, the most common type? It’s lower back pain. While the focus is going to be joints and extremities, the approach can be used with other forms of pain such as migraines and fibromyalgia.

The objective of this webinar is to give you a step-by-step approach on how to deal with chronic pain. The goal is that you can use it to help yourself in the future. Every known modality will be discussed.

The Managing Pain webinar will be held Sunday, February 25, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time. If you’re not available at that time, no worries. The replay will be available later that day and for the next six months. The cost of the webinar is $13.95; Member and Insider discounts apply.

There are many places you can be on a Sunday afternoon, but this is an opportunity to help yourself for years to come. Spend a little while with me and learn to change your life. Sign up today.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Coffee to Go

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The health benefits of tea are substantial, and in some ways, coffee is even better. They both have substantial amounts of  phytonutrients, but this isn’t about the benefits to your heart, your liver, or your brain. This is about the comparative benefits to your digestive system of coffee and tea. While the fiber approach wasn’t really significant, one of the nutrients in both drinks was.

While I’ve never given it much thought, some people feel the urge to defecate shortly after drinking a cup of coffee, and to a lesser extent, tea as well. With all those phytonutrients, researchers selected a nutrient common to both to test: caffeine. That appeared to be the only study done to directly test the impact of caffeine on bowel movements.

The subjects were required to insert an anorectal manometer into their rectum to test the pressure of the anal sphincter muscles. (Let’s pause here to say a thank you to all the people who volunteer as subjects in these health studies.) There was no response to drinking plain water, but after caffeine ingestion there was a significant increase in pressure at 10 minutes and even greater pressure at 15 minutes. In short, the increase in pressure indicated the ability to “go” once the muscles relaxed.

The only issue I see is the amount of caffeine: the researchers tested at 3.5 mg/kg body weight. For a 180-pound person, that would be almost 300 mg caffeine in one dose, or almost four cups of coffee at one sitting. It would have been nice to see the lowest dose that worked, because not many people would tolerate that much caffeine in one dose. Then there is the issue of genetics, comparing fast metabolizers versus slow caffeine metabolizers.

The Bottom Line

That’s the scoop on poop from a coffee versus tea perspective. You probably never thought about it, but that morning cup of Joe just might help you go. Enjoy the Super Bowl—or not. But if you only watch it for the half-time show, you might want to consider your timing on what you drink, when you drink it, and how much caffeine you get.

Remember, the Aging with a Vengeance: Managing Pain webinar is in two weeks on February 25. Information will be coming soon.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Dis Colon Rectum. 2008 Jun;51(6):928-31.

Fiber, Coffee, and Tea

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Paula’s recovery from her knee replacement is going well. While she’s been rehabbing, she does a lot of reading and recently passed on an article that compared the health benefits of coffee vs. tea. One of the comparisons was about fiber: did either have any? The article suggested that there was 1 to 1.5 grams of fiber per cup of coffee. If true, that would help fiber-lacking Americans reach their RDA of 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day.

I checked it out. In a single study, researchers found that there was about 0.5 g fiber in 3.3 ounces of brewed coffee or just over a gram per 8-ounce cup. If you drink coffee like I do, that could add up. But what about tea? Nothing really, whether brewed black or green tea. Matcha (green tea) does have fiber, but it’s not clear whether it’s just in the residue after brewing or in the liquid itself.

What coffee and tea both have are phytonutrients and plenty of them. While fiber might not be readily available, could there be something else that could help with digestion and especially, elimination? Yes, and I’ll tell you about it on Saturday.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Mar 7;55(5):1999-2003.

Super Bowl Webinar and a Slip on the Ice

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Now that the snow has almost melted, I’ve taken to walking outside. When I walk, I think. On yesterday’s walk, I was thinking about the Super Bowl Webinar. Without warning, I slipped on a patch of ice and landed on my butt. In the annals of slipping and landing, it was perfect. Legs out, butt first, then elbows. Didn’t hurt a thing. I had no problem getting up and getting moving, but I think it knocked some sense into me.

Paula’s recovering from knee replacement very well, although she’s learned that having gone through one knee replacement doesn’t mean the second will be easy. The problem is that sitting at her desk for hours every day, creating and editing all the graphics and info in enough time to have it ready by February 11 doesn’t make sense for her recovery. Therefore, the Aging with a Vengeance: Managing Pain webinar will be held on February 25. Regardless of age, that’s the number one question I get asked. That’s the topic, so save the date. More information will follow.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

What Your Body Needs for Bone Repair

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Note: As this email hits your inbox at 6:15 a.m., Paula and I are already at the surgery center where she’s getting her right knee replaced. She had the left one done six months ago, so the recovery routine is familiar. We know we need to concentrate on bone repair, and since it’s slip-and-fall season here in the North, I thought this would be a good time to remind everyone of the nutritional requirements for bones. That’s why we’re rerunning this Memo from last February.

When it comes to broken bones, especially in adults, what can be done to help the healing process? Pain management is always paramount because of the second reason: joint rehabilitation. If any movement is too painful, no one wants to rehab the muscles and tendons surrounding the joint, especially with a dislocation that stretches them beyond their normal capacity. Putting the bone in place is one thing, but getting the tendons and muscles to repair is another. There’s no being brave or gutting it out; rehab is necessary to restore complete joint function.

That raises the question: are there any supplements that can help with the healing process? The research is virtually non-existent, as outlined in a recent article, but there are some nutrients that make sense:

  • Vitamin C: an additional 1,000 to 2,000 mg per day. Vitamin C is involved in building connective tissues; bone, tendon, and ligaments are all connective tissue.
  • Vitamin D: an additional 50 to 100 mcg per day. Vitamin D is known for helping build bone, so it makes sense to increase the amount.
  • Glucosamine: 1,200 to 2,400 mg per day in total. Glucosamine, like vitamin C, is used in making all connective tissue. This appears to be important within the first two weeks after the injury, based on animal studies.
  • Calcium: 500 to 1,000 mg/day in total. The formation of the callus and conversion to bone requires calcium. Taking an extra amount, providing stone formation is not an issue, is important.

The final part of bone repair is patience. We all progress at our own pace. If ever there was a time to be consistent, this is the time.

Manage the pain, perform the rehab once you’ve been given a program, take some nutrients that can benefit bone growth, and don’t stop until you have full function. That’s the bottom line on broken bones.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: J Orthop Res 38:695–707, 2020.

Find Your Way

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How are you doing with your 2024 weight loss efforts? Or your fitness regimen? Eating more vegetables and fruits? Taking your supplements regularly? Is it going smoothly at about three weeks in, or not so much? I know I’ve slipped up. Based on Dr. Barabási’s research, that doesn’t mean you’re doomed to failure. Remember what he found: it isn’t your age that determines your productivity, it’s your creativity.

Not Your First Rodeo

If you’ve been successful at changing a health habit, losing weight or getting fit, particularly when you were younger, you found a way to do it. Over the years, especially with weight loss and fitness, life happens, and your body changes; you go back to old habits and gain back weight or lose fitness.

There’s a tendency to try to recreate that experience again. In other words, you’re going to try the same workout routine, the same way to lower calories, whatever helped you achieve that goal. But life isn’t static and maybe it doesn’t work the same way. You decide to try another type of diet, such as the ketogenic diet, and that worked great—for a while. But you slowly returned to your old habits and gained back the weight. Because you’re older and with the change in metabolism that seems inevitable, you lose the passion for trying.

You just get tired of trying. You may be saying something like, “You’re just not into it,” or you make up some other excuse. But whatever the reason, you quit trying.

Never Stop Trying

At the end of his TED talk, Dr. Barabási’s said: Creativity has no age; only productivity does. What that means applies as much to health as it does to being a successful scientist or attaining any goal. Keep trying to find that one thing, that one way that will work for you. It doesn’t matter what diet you use, what aerobic workout you try, or what method you use to gain strength. The only thing that limits you is not your age but your willingness to keep trying until you figure it out. No matter your age, no matter your limitations, that way exists. You just must find it and make sure it’s sustainable for life.

The Bottom Line

Near the end of the movie “City Slickers” the character played by Jack Palance tells Billy Crystal’s character he knows the secret to life. Billy says, “Well, what is it?” Jack tells him that’s what he must figure out. Find that one thing and nothing else matters.

Whether it’s changing your weight, getting fit, lowering your blood pressure, or any other health goal you want to attain and maintain, that’s what you must figure out. No gimmicks, hacks, or short cuts. Find your way. I remain committed to helping you find it.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Ted Radio Hour. Late Bloomers. 9-1-2023

Can You Still Reach Your Goals?

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As I was working out the other day, I listened to a podcast about different takes on aging from people in a variety of fields. But one stood out to me, so let me tell you a little bit about it.

Dr. Albert-László Barabási is a physicist who studies networks; genetic expression, disease development, and the world wide web are some networks he has studied. But his forte is examining networks in many different areas of study. For example, regardless of your level of competence as an artist, he can look at the network of where you’ve displayed your work and be able to predict whether you’ll be a successful artist or not. The possibility of success wasn’t dependent on ability alone, although that is important.

He decided to look at his own profession: being a physicist. What he found was that if you don’t write that seminal paper that gets your research published by 35 and then referenced by many others, it will never happen. Now that he’s over 50, he decided to look further at the real question. What he attempted to examine is this: is it your actual age that predicts success or is it creativity? If you keep trying, could you ultimately succeed, or was it all over at 36?

You may wonder what this has to do with health. I’ll put it together for you on Saturday and believe me, for your health goals in 2024, it’s one memo you don’t want to miss.

Tomorrow night is the Insider Conference Call. I’ll answer some recent questions about vitamin C as well as the topic for this year’s Super Bowl Webinar. If you become an Insider by 8 p.m. Eastern Time tomorrow night, you can join the discussion.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Ted Radio Hour. Late Bloomers. 9-1-2023