Wrist Pain/Carpal Tunnel - What to do?

As we are seeing more people suffering from wrists pain or carpal tunnel syndrome, there are more desk jockeys at present time then decades ago. Conventionally, when we have a pain in a specific location in the body, we tend focus on that spot. Basically, treating the symptoms, aspirin for headache, or surgery for low back conditions. In this post, we are going to dive into some of the main triggers for wrists pain and what we can do to reduce or get rid of that problem.

As a sufferer myself, many years back, I experienced minor wrists pain and I didn't know what were the causes and how to fix it. For a moment, I thought it was regular hours of playing badminton as a sport when I was younger. Then, I found out by self experiment that it was combination of both foods reactivity (inflammation of the joints) and chronic poor sitting posture, and massive usage of computers. I was skeptical during the first phase of research, but I had to remove the reactive foods and amend my sitting posture and perform corrective exercises to counter the over used of forearm flexor muscles. 

It is important to realize that wrist pain condition or similar carpal tunnel syndrome could be more then one causal factors. It may be solely due to one chronic trigger, or perhaps combination of poor physical posture due to chronic sitting, regular use of forearm flexor muscles (primarily using computers and writing) and also foods which causes inflammation of the joints. And for most people, depletion of certain nutrients can also prevent the nerves tissues from regenerating and healing itself. 

Most people tend to think of physical pain is mainly if not solely because of wrong movements or poor posture integration. Example, how many people would believe that gluten or wheat can cause inflammation of the joints? Or WGA in grains bind to tissues in the joints and cause low level inflammation? And in most common cases, sugar. especially processed sugars and carbohydrates can lead to increased levels of Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs) which lead to further inflammation. 

The goal here is to reduce or remove foods which cause inflammation, and implement a diet which is anti-inflammatory and support nerves tissues repair and healing. If you are eating a high sugars, wheat and trans fat diet, there is a very high chance you may experience joints pain somewhere in the body. You are literally flooding your body with high amounts of cytokines and inflammatory chemicals. Joints pain is the least of the concern here, with cardiovascular disease and cancer are some of the bigger  health problems that you will potentially face if poor diet prolong for years. 

Although there are no guarantee that any solution can fix this condition entirely and permanently, I hereby provide some of the simple (if not easy) steps to practically implement in your daily lifestyle. For some, you may feel the difference almost immediately or within 24 hours, but for others, it may take a little longer to see improvements. Bear in mind, this is a non-invasive protocol, yet natural and non drugs based. 

1) Straight fingers Pressed 

Straighten all fingers as much as possible, you should feel the upper arm muscles contract.

2) Palm Stretching

Stretch out the fatigue overworked muscles of the bottom part of the forearm. Perform this stretch for 30-45 secs each palm.

3) Pectorals myofascial release

You could either use a myofascial ball, lacrosse ball or even pointed rehab tool (seen in pic) for pectoral muscles release. Focus on deep breathe inhale and exhale for 90-120 secs for each pectoral area.

4) Removal or inflammatory foods

• -Wheat or wheat based foods
• - Refined sugars
• - Trans fat (vegetable oils)
• - MSG

5) Nutrition/supplement

Magnesium oil - Supplement form, or diet rich in magnesium as mineral. It help relax blood vessels and muscular tissue that can cause compression of nerves in carpal area. For magnesium oil, apply topically onto the area which is experiencing pain, massage for couple of minutes and let it absorb into the skin.

Wintergreen essential oil - Contain analgesic effect, calms down inflammation. Apply few drops topically onto the area of the wrists. You can mix with coconut oil too. 

Vitamin B6 and B12 - Supports nerves tissues to regenerate and heal. Some of the foods are organs meats. seafoods, and high quality organic free range animal based products. Foods which contain a complete range of  B complex.

Anti-inflammatory foods - Ginger, turmeric, bromelain (pineapples), Omega 3 rich foods, organic vegetables, etc

Depression : Is it seratonin or SSRI deficiency? (Part 5)

As we have discussed and learnt about various factors which could trigger depression or similar brain disorders, the question we should all be asking ourselves (including medical professionals), are we suffering from SSRI deficiency? Or are we all in need of pharmaceutical drugs to address this medical condition? 

Depression, is now regarded as the 2nd leading cause of disability globally, and it is certainly affecting many people around the globe. People who suffer from depression tend to experienced conditions such as sleep disruptions/insomnia, eating disorders, digestive dysfunctions, mood problems, and for some, social detachment. 

From a sabotaging poor diet to inflammation, why are these factors not looked into by conventional dietitians, medical doctors and even alternative health professionals? Bear in mind that our body works as entire unit itself, and not isolated parts or systems. For instance, whatever happens to the mind, it will reflect the physical body, or whatever happen to the physical body, we will feel it in the heart or our soul. And if your heart is hurt, we will feel it mentally and also physically as well. Trying to only treat serotonin chemistry in the brain is more like only attempting to clean one small part of the entire dirty car which needed a comprehensive wash. Sounds like an easy fix to the problem, an easy way out convincing patients that a pill will fix your depression, and you depend on it for as long as possible. 

Let's dive into some of the ways to manage the factors which could contribute to depression or similar brain dsyfunctions. We will also look into some of the alternative anti-depressants for natural solutions and treatments. 

DIET

A huge factor which directly impact the brain and mood. Brain fog, headaches, mood swings, energy level fluctuation, all these are symptoms of primarily related to foods one consume. You can try to do an experiment to convince yourself, below is a simple.

Test 1

Eat a bowl of cereals with low fat milk, add with 2 slices of any bread of your choice. Sounds like a 'healthy' morning breakfast right? Low fat, grains and perhaps even whole wheat bread. Observe your [ mental clarity and focus, energy levels, cravings, bloating, gas ] and after 1 hour,and for the next 3 hours or so. How you feel after 1-3 hours upon ingestion of those foods will tell you a lot about the state of the brain, mental and physiological functions. Remember, you are eating a carbohydrates based meal, a low fat content, which what the dietary guideline recommended. 

Test 2

One whole avocado. A very high fat low carbs food/meal. Perform the same observations and ensure both these tests are done on separate days. Please sleep on the same time the night before, for fair accurate assessment. 

Apart from the simple test, bear in mind that eating a typical Western American diet, or even high carbs non organic home-cook meals coupled with wheat, it is a recipe for chronic inflammation of the brain and the rest of the body. The goal is to feed the brain its preferred fuel and nutrients, and remove or reduce as much inflammatory food groups or ingredients from your diet. Stop fueling the fire in the brain!

ALTERNATIVES NATURAL ANTI-DEPRESSANTS

• Chamomile
• Tulsi  (Arguably the most potent anti-stress herb on the planet)
• Licorice root ( help to regulate cortisol pathway, not meant for everyone, avoid drinking at night)
• Turmeric (curcumin) (shown in studies to combat inflammation in the brain)
• Coconut oil ( one of the superfoods to reduce inflammation and provide ketones for the brain)
• Omega 3 fatty acids
• Magnesium Oil (apply topically on the skin)
• Raw cacao powder (rich in trytophan and magnesium)
• Brocolli sprouts or sulfur based supplements (key in detoxification to eliminate toxins)
• Ashwagandha (help support thyroid and regulate stress, avoid night consumption for some people)

MANAGING TOXICITY, FREE RADICALS, INFLAMMATION

Anything that you put in your mouth, water or foods, will likely to determine if it's pro-inflammation or anti-inflammation. Doesn't matter if it's water or cheeseburger, your body will either classify the ingested substance as foreign invaders or nutrients for assimilation. It will either attack the pathogenic substance or digest the nutrition in the foods for the body's benefits. If it's activating immune response from either the the soda beverage you consume, or perhaps fluoride exposure from various sources, free radicals and inflammation will occur.

Be it from sugar or wheat in the foods you consume, or fluoride in the toothpaste or even polluted air which inhaled in the lungs, oxidative stress is coupled with stolen electron resulted in domino affect in the body, and inflammatory cytokines such as IL1, IL6, IL17 and TNF- Alpha will be flooding the gut, brain and the rest of the body too. As I've elaborated in previous post about inflammation, how it affect the conversion of tryptophan to 5-HTP, as BH4 is extremely fragile to oxidative stress. Same apply with conversion of phenylalanine to tyrosine to DOPA, your reward or pleasure hormone and also a critical neurotransmitter called dopamine.

Imagine, an average Joe, eating his typical processed foods diet on daily basis, high in refined sugars and wheat, that itself is enough to trigger high amount of inflammation in the gut, and thus, activating the GUT-BRAIN AXIS. Whatever happens in the gut, it will affect the brain. If you have regular brain fog, that's your brain on fire. Bloating primarily represents inflammation in the gut, be it from food sensitivities or just inflammatory foods such as grains, wheat, soybean, nuts, legumes, sugars, dairy products, etc.

The end goal is to remove these foods from the diet first hand, and identify the top of your list REACTIVE foods. Then, you might want to add more bio-available anti-oxidants from organic whole foods or supplements, whichever suit your better in long run.



EXERCISE

By now, everyone know exercise is good for you. Be it brisk walking in the park, or high intensity training, some movement is better then no movement. Is that right? Of course there are good and not so ideal form of exercises. As I blogged before, there are certain extreme exercises which may cause more damage then benefits to the body and health.

For instance, an individual has loaded his GI tract with sugars and wheat based foods for breakfast and lunch. Daytime stress level is high at work, and he or she decided to hit the gym at night for RPM or 90 mins or treadmill. The amount of cortisol produced throughout the day and night for this person, not only increased permeability of the gut, but resulting in even higher amount of oxidative stress and inflammation.

Solution? Simple. Listen to your body. Whenever you feel exhausted at work or lack of sleep the night before, avoid long duration cardiovascular type of exercise, or any extreme long bouts of training especially at work. You can either meditate in a dark quiet room, or relaxing form of yoga or energizing chakras work in exercises. Breathing exercises is beneficial to restore balance to the biological oscillators. And of course, go to bed early by 10pm latest.



VITAMIN D

Sun exposure is crucial, when it comes to regulating the neurotransmitters in the body and brain. As many people are avoiding the sun like a plaque, we are not only seeing more mental and brain disorders, and also chronic degenerative diseases such as cancer and stroke. This potent hormone regulate all vital neurotransmitters needed for brain functions, and it also inhibit inflammatory responses in the body. It is also a powerful anti-cancer substance needed to keep us all healthy. The darker your skin tone is, the more sun exposure you need. Get tested for 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D level, to find out if you are deficient in Vitamin D.




Now, what next? Where do I start? With so much of information, most people may feel overwhelmed, and for some, they may give up before trying any of these factors management and hitting the pills back again.

Do what you think you can first hand, and if you are a depression or anxiety patient, do not taper off the meds immediately before you manage your diet, lifestyle and factors which I discussed. Try natural alternatives anti-depressant solutions, different individuals will achieve various results. Remember, no one is destined to suffer from depression or similar brain disorders. Same apply with other neurological or chronic degenerative diseases.

Why Malaysia has become one of the most diabetic countries in ASIA?

I think this has to stop, I mean seriously. The population has become the VICTIM of health problems, particularly diabetes, obesity and chronic degenerative diseases. Strolling along the parks or window shopping in shopping malls have become a regular sight of noticing overweight obese people all around you. Being officially certified fattest country in South East Asia, Malaysia has become a nation of embarrassment, which regards to health status and weight management. 

In today's post, I would want to share with you all about one of the many cases which came to me, stories and real life experiences from my clients, and friends. Many of us are still in the dark about what conventional dietary professionals are taught, and is REALLY being prescribed as diet plan or protocol to their clients. How many of us realized that most of the Degrees of Dietetics and Nutrition are sponsored by Food and Pharmaceutical companies?

Imagine this, you are overweight and diabetic, and you need help to fix your diet and get your health and weight back on track. The next thing in your mind is getting professional help, in this case, consult a Registered Dietitian or Nutritionist. So, what do you do? Of course in almost every case, most people would either go to a hospital or contact these professionals. With high hopes of getting your life back on track, and being positive that you can get help to reverse diabetes from so called dietary experts, you have no idea what's coming next. 

A client of mine, recently came to me with desperate help of tackling her husband's health condition and hopefully being able to be normal healthy adult again. An individual and a patient of diabetes, and recent sufferer of Pulmonary TB ( being on antibiotics for 6 months ), he went to a specialist hospital and consulted a registered dietician. Keep reading...

I urged my client to bring me the diet plan which was prescribed to her husband, and after days of waiting, she finally sat down and showed me the Diabetic Dietary Plan. It was disastrous, utterly a recipe for diabetes, obesity and pro-inflammatory. The diet plan was so simple, and below are the translated version of Bahasa Malaysia.

Panduan Pemakanan Untuk Kawal Diabetes - Food Guideline for Managing Diabetes

Diabetes Diet Plan? 

Nasi -  Rice
Mihun - Noodles
Macaroni/Spagetti/Mee - maccaroni, spagetti, noodles
Bubur Nasi -  Porridge
Tosai - Made of flour and black lentils? High glycemic index
Putu Ayam - made of rice flour, usually eaten with refined brown sugar
Bun Kosong -  Plain Bun
Roti -  Bread
Oat (Mentah) - Oats
Biskut Krim Kracker - Biscuit Cream Cracker

Ubi Kentang - Potatoes  (starchy carbs)
Ubi Keladi -  Yam      (starchy carbs)
Labu Merah - Pumpkin    (starchy carbs)
Kentang Putar - Mashed Potatoes   (starchy carbs)
Jagung - Corn

From the above diet plan for diabetic patient, it is a recipe for dysregulating blood sugar and insulin resistance, developing diabetes, and setting one for other chronic degenerative diseases such as heart disease, cancer, etc. A heavily high glycemic carbohydrates dietary plan, grains based protocol.  It sounded more like a diet meant for developing diabetes. Where are the healthy fats? Where are the leafy green organic vegetables? What happen to ancestral animal based foods? 

I wonder, why are rates of diabetes and obesity keep alarmingly increasing in industrialized countries such as USA, Australia and UK? Why wouldn't we become overweight, diabetic and diseased with the dietary recommendations endorsed and prescribed by dietary professionals as such? Even countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt are now influxed with American fast foods and processed foods too.These countries are one of the most obese and diabetic in the world. 

As everyone knows the food pyramid and the endorsement and recommendations from so called dietary experts in respective countries, we are all getting from bad to worst, while trying to eat a so called 'healthier' low fat, high carbohydrates diet. To be precise, a high glycemic refined carbohydrates diet loaded with sugars. 

Now, back to my client's husband case. He was given a general pamplet of Food Guideline for Managing Diabetes. No assessment made, no detailed testing conducted, pamplet given, and was asked to follow the diet plan for 3 months. It sounded very similiar to what American Dietitics Association professionals would prescribed to their clients in general. A diet plan based on calories in calories out, high GI carbohydrates blood sugar spiking foods, and no management on micronutrients nor inflammation, how would it be possible to even scratch the surface of managing blood sugar or reversing diabetes? Not to mention toxicity (such as pesticides, chemicals) in the foods or even intolerances and sensitivities? 

Are these dietary professionals bad people? Of course NO! Same apply with medical doctors who are not taught nor educated about information and fields which they are misinformed. I believe these professionals want to help their patients or clients, but in sad reality, the industries of diet, nutrition, and health/medical, have been so corrupted and powerfully influenced by the food and pharmaceutical powerhouses. 

One of the specialist hospitals in Malaysia, diatetics group

A dietary plan for diabetic patient? 

An organization which the population seek advise for dietary help, is sponsored by food and pharmaceutical companies. 

Reference: 
http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/AND_Corporate_Sponsorship_Report.pdf