My journey from drugs to herbs – Part Two

If you didn’t catch Part One of My journey from drugs to herbs, you might want to read the post in order to understand how I got to this point.  You can go here if you would like to read it first.

I have given a lot of thought as to  how I should cover all the herbs I take and I decided to break them up by symptoms.  I will be covering five (5) categories that I take herbs for.  They are Sleep, Pain, Gut, Respiratory, and Immune system.  Part Two (today’s post) will cover sleep and pain.  Part Three (Wednesday’s Post will cover Gut and respiratory).   Part IV (Thursday’s post)  I will cover Immune system and how to get the herbs you need at discount.  I think that will make this all much easier for you all.

Now…One more story to help fill in the blanks.  Several years ago, after years and years of being unable to sleep through the night, my therapist suggested I see the psychiatrist and see if she could suggest something to help me sleep.  I was desperate even though I was wary.  The psychiatrist thought with my history of adverse reactions to medication I would be a good candidate for Ambien.  I had never heard of it, so … I agreed to take it.  Before I left her office, the doctor gave me a warning, which looking back now should have sent up all kinds of red flags.  She told me to make sure I was close to my bed when I took the medication because it worked really fast.  Boy, she was not kidding.  I took the medication standing next to my bed that night.  The next morning when I regained consciousness, I was lying on the floor right where I had been standing the previous night!  I learned to take the medication while I was in my bed!

I was on Ambien for about a year.  Every time I would see the psychiatrist, she would up the Ambien because it was no longer working.  I eventually got to the point I was taking more than the recommended dosage.  I also got to a point where I was looking at taking medication to wake me up after the Ambien knocked me out.  I finally had enough and threw all my meds away.  Unfortunately – or fortunately – that wasn’t the best way to handle the lengthy hangovers and the ever increasing need for more.

I started having the shakes, sweats, agitation, and a maddening craving for more Ambien.  I realized quick enough I was going through a severe withdrawal and needed help.  My chiropractic/natural doctor helped me for the next two weeks to come off the Ambien.  This became another defining moment for me.  I was adamant that I would not let drugs determine when I would wake up and when I would go to sleep.  I had had enough.

At my next appointment with my chiropractor, I asked him if he could help me with my sleep problems.  I was tired of not sleeping at all for days, or having interrupted sleep, or sleeping all the time.  He suggested, Formula 303.  God I wish I could describe how thankful I am for this one herb!  Oh my gosh!  I love this stuff.  Formula 303 has a combination of natural sleeping herbs like passion flower and Valerian root as well as magnesium.  I think it is the magnesium that did it for me because melatonin and Valerian root by themselves never worked for me.

This product is a God send.  I take 2 an hour before I want to go to sleep.  Formula 303 relaxes my body and within an hour I am yawning and ready to go to sleep.  Better yet, I wake up in the morning naturally.  No alarms – nothing.  No hangover.  No fog.  Nothing.  Most mornings I am able to get out of bed in 15 minutes and under.  On really bad days, it might take me an hour or two, but those are not the norm when I am taking this product.  In addition, I can take as much or as little as I need.

If for some reason, I wake up in the middle of the night, I just take another pill and go back to sleep.  I absolutely love this stuff.  It is an absolute necessity for me. I buy Formula 303 in bulk.  It is pretty expensive but I sign up and get the discounts plus at Earthturns I can get it for almost half price.  In addition, 250 pills last me 4-5 months.   They do carry smaller sizes if you prefer.

That is all I take for sleep.  Nice and simple.

The herb(s) I take for pain actually came about from the constant recommendation of my mom, dad and youngest sister.  They all use it and were raving about it and trying to get me to try it.  I finally gave in, and wow, am I glad I did.  The herb is, Phenocane.  It actually works so well that more often than not, iHerb.com runs out of it.  This herb is a life-saver.

When I get FMS pain, it can be really bad.  A constant 9-10 and sometimes a 12+.  Nothing that I have ever taken touches the FMS pain.  Not even morphine.  Phenocane on the other hand, works like magic.

When I started, I was told it might take up to two (2) weeks for a therapeutic level to build up and it did.  I took 2 bottles in the first two weeks because I was in such a painful flare-up.  That’s 120 pills.  But … I didn’t have one side affect and in two weeks my pain level dropped to 1-3 level.  I have been on this herb for almost 2 years and I can’t live without it.

Again, the benefits here are no side affects and I can regulate how much or how little I take.  Most days I take 2 pills 2 -3 times a day and I stay around 3-5 pain level range.  I have actually had days with NO pain.  Uh huh!

On days with severe FMS flare-ups I might take 15-20 pills a day.  That sounds like a lot, but the truth of that matter is that I can take it with no adverse reactions and IT WORKS.  No matter how much of the drugs I took, it never worked.  I either had an adverse reaction or it didn’t take my pain away.

One other thing.  I have discovered if I stay ‘ahead of the FMS pain’ be taking a ‘maintenance’ level every day whether I need it or not, I have far less flare-ups.  This last flare-up I recently had in April 2010, came a year after my last one!  Now that works for me.

As far as pain goes, I stumbled on to another discovery.  I added Quercetin with Bromelain (pineapple) for its anti-histamine/anti-inflammatory properties.  Little did I realize the side benefit I would garner from this herb.

I have noticed that many of us have pain in our hands.  My hands even feel like they are swollen and inflamed – like I have arthritis or something.  The Quercetin (along with the Phenocane) have almost completely eliminated the pain in my hands.  It is incredible.  I had no idea when I started taking it that I would see these kind of results in my hands, but I have definitely found I have far less problems with my hands when I take the Phenocane and the Quercetin with Bromelain.

I have to tell you, it was a long road of trial and error to find the herbs that work for me, but I am so glad I did, because every day they give me even a modicum of relief, that is a much better day then I ever had on drugs.

Well, tomorrow I will cover the herbs I take for Gut, Immunity and Respiratory.

Determined to continue forward,